Indians Confidential

As another fellow pointed out to me just minutes ago in the Indians press box – “This is going to be a long season.”

I’m not ready to give up just yet. After all, they are 0-5, have had good days of hitting, and some shallow moments of pitching, and there is a lot of baseball still to be played. On the other hand, this is getting frustrating.

Saturday was met with more concern over last seasons CY Young Winner from the AL – Cliff Lee, who was again not on, and was beat on for four runs on 7 hits in just five innings. His control was off again, walking four and striking out five. Lee threw 102 pitches in 5 innings, 57 strikes.

Lee has for some reason looked more like the 2007 Lee than the 08 Lee, and that is already a major concern. He is not hitting his spots, and in his first two starts the Rangers and Jays batters are catching up with him WAYYYY too much.

Kelly Shoppach didn’t exactly have a great day either. Dropping a ball on a sure out at home, striking out twice (once with two on with no outs), and then hitting into a 4-6-3 double play in the 9th, the catcher wins my vote as “goat of the day.”

The rest of the Indians offense didn’t give any support to Lee or the other two Indians throwers till the 9th, as they pushed across just one run, and that came when the team was already down 4-0 in the fifth. You had a sense that the game was already decided once Jays starter Roy Halladay and the team got that lead off of Lee.

It was good to see the team fight back in the 9th, as if it were not for Shoppach’s double play, the team likely would be celebrating their first win of the season. Mark De Rosa finally got a hit that meant something, as his two-out double got the team to one, but Victor Martinez’s strikeout allowed the Jays to escape 5-4.

So now this team really needs a win. Tomorrow Anthony Reyes gets his first start of the season, and he threw well at the end of last season. He goes up against David Purcey at 1:05pm.

The Indians made some interesting roster moves today that will round out the 4th and 5th starters in teams start of the 2009 season. First, the team sent Aaron Laffey to AAA Columbus to start the season.

Then, the team named lefty Scott Lewis and righty Anthony Reyes as the 4th and 5th starters. They join Cliff Lee, Fausto Carmona & Carl Pavano. Lee will start the season opener (4/6) with Lewis starting the home opener (4/10).

Here are notes on the two new starters in the rotation:

SCOTT LEWIS

Recalled from AAA Buffalo on Sept. 7 and earned his first Major League win in MLB debut on September 10 at Baltimore, a 7-1 Indians win… He was outstanding as he tossed 8.0 shutout innings holding the Orioles to just three hits while striking out three… 8.0IP, 3H, 3K, 96P… Since 1956 only 4 other Indians pitchers have tossed more innings in their debut than Lewis… The 8.0 shutout innings by Lewis is the 2nd longest start since 1956 in club history w/o allowing a run… Won his 2nd start w/6.0 more shutout IP on Sept. 15 vs. Minnesota (6.0IP, 3H, 0R, 2BB, 5K)… According to ELIAS, the last Indians pitcher to not allow a run in his first 14.0IP as a starter was Dennis Eckersley, who had a 14-IP streak in May 1975…Won his 4th start at Chicago on Sept 26 (5.0IP, 6H,4ER, 3HR) to move to 4-0…No Indians pitcher has started his career by winning 4 straight starts since at least 1969 (Elias SB)…Named AL Rookie of the Month for September as he was T1st among AL pitchers in wins (4) and 11th in ERA (min 20.0IP, 2.63ERA)…

ANTHONY REYES

Was acquired in late July and was a solid member of the rotation for 6 turns in August and early September before being shut down for the season with a sore right elbow after his final start on Sept. 5 at Kansas City…With Cleveland he was 2-1 w/a 1.83 ERA in 6 starts (34.1IP, 31H, 7R/7ER, 12BB, 15K)… His 2.01 ERA during the month of August was 3rd best in the AL (min 30.0IP, 31.1IP, 30H, 7R/ER)…Did not allow more than 2 runs in any of his 6 starts and over his last 3 starts his ERA was 1.06 (17.0IP, 12H, 2R/ER)… With the Indians batters hit .242 (31-128) w/a 2HR…Combined on the year for Cleveland and St. Louis he was 4-2-1 w/a 2.76 ERA in 16 games (6GS, 49.0IP, 47H, 15ER, 15BB, 25K)…Pitched at least 6.0IP in 4 of his 6 starts with the Indians.

The Indians had one wild fifth inning Friday night at Kauffmann Stadium, seven consecutive hits, five successive RBI singles, six runs, as the Tribe topped the Royals 9-3. The fifth inning took what was an Indians 2-0 lead and extended it to 8-0. Pitcher Anthony Reyes wasn’t able to do much Friday night, as a sore elbow stopped him after just three innings. He is still having a solid year for the Indians, as he continues to make a push for a look at being in the rotation in 2009.

The win for the Tribe matches the fourth-longest road winning streak in franchise history and they now have won five straight and 13 of 18 overall. The win puts the Indians at 68-71 on the year, just three games under .500. They are still 10.5 games back of the White Sox, but are looking more and more like the worst they will be this year is a third-place team, as they are two full games ahead of fourth-place Detroit.

The offense for the Indians was paced by 12 hits. Everyone minus Franklin Gutierrez had at least one hit, and Jamey Carroll, Victor Martinez and Shin-Soo Choo each had two hits. Zach Jackson (0-1, 6.17) goes Saturday night for the Indians against Royals starter Gil Meche (10-10, 4.07 ERA) at 7:10pm.

* The twilight of the season has hit the Indians, as the team continues to put a positive spin on a season that has been a big letdown in the eyes of many fans.  One bright spot as of late has been the pitching of former Cardinal pitcher Anthony Reyes, who was impressive again Saturday in holding the Mariners to two runs over 7 innings in the teams latest 4-3 10 inning setback.

Reyes has stepped in and revived his career.  He has gone 2-1 with the Indians, and in all five starts has allowed two runs or less.  I could easily see him being the teams 5th starter last season if he can continue to get his pitches over and have the type of success he’s already had.  Let’s not forget he started game one of the World Series just two years ago with St.Louis.

* The team has been scuffling on offense the past two days, and manager Eric Wedge said yesterday that credit goes more to Mariners pitchers Felix Hernandez and Jarrod Washburn than the issues with the Indians hitters.  The team has been held to five runs in the last two losses after coming off a road trip where they scored 42 runs in 6 games in going 6-0.

* The team will make their call-ups in the next few days as they prepare for the final month of the season. Look for reliever Rich Rundles to get a call up from AAA Buffalo, where he has 57 K’s and an ERA of 2.82 this season.  The team will look to put as many band-aids on the pen this final month as they possibly can, and you can bet that is one area they will look to rebuild in the 2008 offseason.

CLEVELAND, OH — The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has acquired RHP ANTHONY REYES from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for RHP LUIS PERDOMO.

Reyes, 26, has split the 2008 season between the St. Louis bullpen and AAA Memphis rotation. He was on the Cardinals’ opening day roster and posted a mark of 2-1 w/a save and a 4.91 ERA in 10 relief outings (14.2IP, 16H, 8R/ER, 2HR, 3BB, 10K), recoding scoreless outings in 6 of 10 appearances. The Whittier, CA native was on the Major League disabled list from June 16-July 5 with a right elbow sprain. Between his 2 stints in St. Louis and the DL he has gone 2-3 w/a 3.25 ERA in 11 starts for Memphis (52.2IP, 51H, 19ER, 4HR, 21BB, 47K) and has limited AAA hitters to a .250 (51-195) average against.

Reyes has pitched his entire pro career in the Cardinals organization after he was selected in the 15th round of the 2003 draft out of the University of California. He has appeared at the big league level over each of the last 4 seasons since 2005 w/St. Louis and owns a career Major League ERA of 5.38 in 53 games/38 starts (10-24 record, 220.2IP, 214H, 132ER, 168K). He started and won Game 1 of the 2006 World Series at Detroit for the eventual World Champions (8.0+IP, 4H, 2R, 1BB, 4K). His minor league career record is 18-12 w/a 3.23 ERA in 71 starts (409.0IP, 347H, 147ER, 435K), including a career Triple A ERA of 3.17 (53GS, 304.0IP, 253H, 107ER, 77BB, 298K, 3.9 K/BB ratio). He was the Top Pitching prospect in the St. Louis system and among the Top 100 Overall Minor League Prospects according to Baseball America entering both the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

Perdomo, 24, is currently on the AA Akron roster where he has appeared in 9 games in relief (2-0, 3.52ERA, 9G, 15.1IP, 12H, 6ER). He began the year at A Kinston.

Reyes will assume a spot in the AAA Buffalo rotation as his option has been transferred from Memphis to Buffalo.