Indians Confidential

Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta talks about Michael Brantley being back in the lineup, starter Mitch Talbot being stuck at 8 wins, and pitcher Aaron Laffey’s recent rehab start…

Cleveland Indians right Fielder Shin-Soo Choo is back from the disabled list and will be batting third in tonight’s game. He is joining short stop Asdrubal Cabrera in the line-up who just came off the D.L. on Tuesday after recovering from a broken arm.

Choo, who went on the D.L. with a thumb injury, will take the roster spot of left-hander Aaron Laffey, whose claims of a “dead arm” period prompted the Tribe to have him undergo an MRI on Thursday. Laffey is dealing with left shoulder fatigue that has landed him on the DL, retroactive to July 20.

Manager Manny Acta said that nothing was seen on the MRI that was out of the ordinary, and Laffey just needs some rest. As for Choo, Acta said, “It’s nice to have him back. He’s another threat in the line-up, and gives us some stability.” With Choo back in right field, Trevor Crowe moves over to left and Michael Brantley stays in center. As for who will be the permanent left fielder Acta said, “We’ll have to wait until [Austin] Kearns comes back”.

Acta also said that when Kearns is fine, he should play left. He also said that Trevor Crowe can play all three outfield positions and will give the team flexibility off the bench.

The road to Texas has not been an easy one in years past for the Indians, but Monday night they used the long ball along with a good outing from pen to top the first place Rangers 8-3.

Not all went well though for the Tribe, as first basemen Matt LaPorta, who has been hitting well since his return from Triple-A, left the game after getting elbowed in the head playing first.

All LaPorta had done to that point was walked and scored in his first at-bat, then in the third hit a two-run bomb, his 5th of the year, to give the Indians a 4-0 lead.

“He was actually feeling nausea and he threw up a little bit too,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “It was a no-brainer to take him out of the game.”

LaPorta was taken to a hospital for a precautionary CT scan. LaPorta suffered a concussion when he was hit in the head by a pitch while playing for Team USA in the 2008 Olympics, and the Indians didn’t want to take any chances with one of their top young players, and right now, maybe their best offensive threat.

His teammates picked him up though, as Carlos Santana hit a second deck homer, and recent pickup Jayson Nix hit two bombs in the five-run win.

Nix did it in front of family and friends, as was born and still lives in Dallas in the offseason. “It’s a special night,” said Nix, who had 15 family members and friends at the game. “It’s great to be here at home and playing here. To be able to do that in front of them is special.”

Laffey had a 6-2 lead, but could only go 4.1 innings, and gave way to the pen. Sinkerballer Joe Smith got the win to move to 1-1, he allowed two hits in 1 2-3 innings of scoreless relief for his first major league victory.

The Indians are now 16 games under .500, not bad considering it was just over a week ago they were a season high 21 games under the .500 mark.

Tuesday night their series in Texas will continue, as they play the Rangers once again.

Coming into this season the Indians were supposed to be a solid hitting team with many question marks pointed straight at the pitching staff.

Now we are nearing the All-Star break and the Tribe’s pitchers are starting to be the strength of the team. In the last five games, every starter has earned the win with closer Kerry Wood getting three saves.

The other two games were saved by Chris Perez on Wednesday night, and Frank Herrmann getting his first Major League save yesterday afternoon completing a four game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays.

This was also the first four game sweep of the Jays since 1995. Overall the pitching staff has a home ERA of 4.16 and a road ERA of 5.14 this year. Starter Justin Masterson has looked stronger and stronger each time he takes the mound.

Opening day starter Jake Westbrook is 5-2 with a 4.18 ERA over his last ten starts. Fausto Carmona is 7-6 with a 3.68 ERA, and Mitch Talbot is 8-6 with a 3.88 ERA this season. With the struggling David Huff (2-9, 6.04 ERA) being sent down to AAA Columbus, Aaron Laffey (1-2, 5.55 ERA) has been put into the fifth starter spot for now.

The bullpen has settled in with Chris Perez (0-2, 2.90 ERA) setting up for Wood (1-3, 6.62 ERA) nicely at the back end. Herrmann (0-0, 2.13 ERA) has pitched extremely well in his thirteen appearances walking only two batters while striking out seven. The bullpen has a record of 5-14 with a 4.94 ERA through 72 games.

While Aaron Laffey was probably not going to come in and throw a 9-inning game Friday night against the Reds, it sure would have been nice to at least get 5-7 innings out of him.

Instead, the just called up lefty continued a troubling string of Indians starters that have been shelled as of late, going just four innings as the Indians were pounded by the Reds 10-3 at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

The loss combined with Thursdays beat down in Philadelphia means the team has been outscored 22-6 in their last two losses. They have dropped 6 in a row, and have lost 10 of their last 11 games.

Laffey got the start after David Huff, who was 2-9 on the year, was sent to Triple-A earlier in the week. He failed to do much with the chance, walking three batters, and allowing five earned runs in four innings.

“I just got to do a better job getting ahead of the hitters and throwing quality strikes with my first pitch,” Laffey said. “I was just missing all around the plate, not really erratic or anything like that.”

The flood gates opened when Drew Stubbs hit a two-run homer off Laffey in the 2nd inning, but the real issues for the lefty came in the third when he allowed a single, double, walked the next two batters to score a run, and then two sac flies to make it 5-0.

“I just gotta work on pitches around the plate,” Laffey said. “The sinker more than any other since that is the pitch I throw the most.”

The Indians offense got a homer from rookie catcher Carlos Santana in the 5th to make it 5-2, but he had to leave the game after a contusion on his left thumb. X-rays were negative, and his status for Saturday is up in the air.

Joe Smith came in for Laffey in the 5th, and gave up four runs to put the game away, not getting an out until after allowing five straight hits, including a solo homer to Scott Rolen to start the inning.

“Second inning I kinda got back on track, but by then it was too late,” Smith said. “If I do my job it’s 5-3, and that looks a lot better, especially to your hitters.”

While the starting pitching has been failing the team, the bullpen hasn’t been much better, and the team is now in its worst funk of the 2010 season, 20 games under .500.

Jhonny Peralta hit a solo homer for the Indians for their only other run of the night. Aaron Harang got the win for the Reds, throwing 7 innings, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits.

Justin Masterson tries to break the losing streak for the Indians Saturday night against the Reds.

The Indians had a move to make as the team had to replace struggling starter David Huff in the lineup with a thrower. The team decided to go with lefty Aaron Laffey, who is currently in Columbus. Laffey has been back and forth with the big league club, and his call up isn’t much of a surprise.

The other option would have been Carlos Carrasco, who is currently 5-3 with a 4.29 ERA. He has started 13 games, and from all indications he will be with the Indians at some point in 2010.

“We’re still working on some developmental things with Carrasco,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “Right now Laffey has experience, he’s done it here in the past, and done it well. This way we can finish what we’re doing with Carlos.”

While it seems like moving Shin-Soo Choo to the two-hole was a great decision by Manny Acta, he couldn’t throw innings of relief pitching for the Indians Friday night, as the team fell for the 5th straight time, losing to the rival Reds 7-4. Choo slammed a pair of homers, and had three hits, but it was not enough as Aaron Laffey’s issues out of the pen continued.

The Indians clawed their way to a 4-4 game after Choo hit his second homer in the 5th as the team scored three runs. Laffey, coming in for starter Jake Westbrook, gave it right back, throwing pitches up in the zone as the Reds scored twice in the top of the 6th to go up 6-4.

“Just not really commanding the ball the way I was from the beginning of the year,” Laffey said. “It’s just a matter of executing the pitch, and following through, and throwing the pitch where I want to. I haven’t been able to do that the last couple of times.”

Laffey has allowed runs in all of his last three outings, including Friday as the Indians didn’t push another run across in falling 10 full games under .500 at 15-25.

“Once we score runs like that to tie a game or get ahead, you have to get your bats back in the dugout and swing again right away,” Acta said. “Giving (runs) back right away is not a good feel.”

Westbrook went five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, walking two and striking out three. Kerry Wood, who gave up five runs in the 9th against KC on Wednesday, allowed a solo shot to Brandon Phillips in the 9th for the final run of the game to make it 7-4.

Laynce Nix had three hits, including the tiebreaking double in the sixth inning for the Reds, and Jonny Gomes also homered for Cincinnati. The win for Cincy comes a day after they blew a huge lead in losing to the Braves. “You can dwell on it and stay in it or you can put it behind you,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “That shows the kind of character this team has. You have to do that in this game. You don’t have time to feel down about the game you just played. When that happens, depression sets in and nothing good comes out of it.”

Poor defense and no luck on a call in the 11th cost the Indians a shot to make sure they came home Tuesday night with a winning road trip. Instead, they let the very good Tampa Bay Rays back in the game Monday night, and then things fell apart and they lost 4-3 on a bunt in the 11th inning to fall to 15-21 on the season.

The Tribe held a 3-2 lead in the 8th, but Aaron Laffey couldn’t pick up a good outing from Fausto Carmona, and then Chris Perez allowed a two-out single to Hank Blalock which tied the game. In the 11th, John Jaso hit a one-out infield single against Jamey Wright and went to third on Gabe Kapler’s hit-and-run single to right.

Then Jason Bartlett won the game for the Rays as he laid down a sacrifice bunt. Put the partial blame on Luis Valbuena, who allowed Jaso on with some shaky defense. Manny Acta felt that Jaso was out at first, and argued the call. “He had the runner beating the throw, which I was thought was absurb,” Acta said. “I hate to see the human element being taken out of the game, but I see why so many people ask about instant replay about everything. We played so hard and that guy had no business being on base.”

Trevor Crowe, filling in for injured center fielder Grady Sizemore, put the Indians up 3-2 with an RBI single during the sixth. Carmona was very good, allowing two runs and five hits over 6 2-3 innings. He left with a lead, but the bullpen couldn’t close it out, which is a shame.

A win tomorrow means the Tribe comes home after a 5-3 road trip, but a loss in their afternoon game vs the Rays means another .500 trip at 4-4. Bottom line, they should have won Monday night, but as young teams go, this one was another tough setback.