Indians Confidential

Maybe now with the latest Cleveland choke job with the Cavs out of the way, people will start actually caring about the Indians. After all, what else does the city of Cleveland have to look forward to when it comes to sports? Yeah, the Browns seem to be on the right track, but per usual they will win 4-6 games. The Cavs will be a total afterthought after LeBron decides there’s better chances to win elsewhere – leaving Cleveland sports fans with – yes, the Indians.

Sunday was a good start for fans that want to start jumping the bandwagon, as Jake Westbrook threw his best game in a long time, going the distance as the team beat on the awful Orioles 5-1. Westbook allowed one run on 9 hits, walking one and striking out 8. He goes to 2-2 on the season, and his ERA is now 4.27. Combine that with the outing of Mitch Talbot and 9th inning from the offense last night, and the weekend in Baltimore was a success.

Westbook is truly a guy you want to root for. Always willing to talk to the media no matter what, he’s the type of clubhouse leader that the team needs. He’s not all that loud, but he gets his message across, and when he throws games like Sunday, you get a sense of just how good he can be, and now this team can quietly be more competitive than people think.

On offense, the team got some rare power from Matt LaPorta, who hit a two-run homer, his first of the year, and Russell Branyan, who hit his 4th homer in the 9th, another two-run shot to make it 5-1. The club now sits at 15-20, and they have a short two-game stretch in Tampa Bay before they return home to start an 8-game homestand with the Royals, Reds and White Sox.

Heading out west is never easy, but one would expect the Indians offense to at least show up. They failed to do so on Friday night, as they were blanked 10-0 by Justin Duchscherer and a couple other A’s throwers. Duchscherer, who threw 7 shutout innings against the Mariners two weeks ago, threw 6 shutout innings against the Tribe.

Of course the Indians were their own worst enemy, as they hit into double plays in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th innings. In other words, they had their chances, but didn’t take advantage of it. Matt LaPorta continues to scuffle at the plate, as he hit into two of the double plays, and is hitting just .200 on the season.

Jake Westbrook kept the team in the game as long as he could, giving up a run in the fourth with two outs, but then three more in the 6th before he was lifted. The game got outta hand in the 8th when an error by Luis Valbuena opened the door for 6 Oakland runs to give them the blowout 10-0 win.

The three-game set continues on Saturday afternoon. The team sits a 7-9 on the season, and the offense continues to be the head scratcher of the first part of this young season.

The Indians today announced that JAKE WESTBROOK underwent successful right hip arthroscopic surgery in Nashville, TN. Dr. Thomas Byrd performed the surgery. Westbrook will be on crutches for 4 weeks before he can resume his normal strength and conditioning program. The surgery will not affect his return to throw program as Westbrook is scheduled to begin throwing off flat ground around Thanksgiving time.

For those that were wondering where the money is going on the Indians roster this season, consider the following when it comes to what the following players are making, and where on the club they rank:

1. Jake Westbrook $10 mil per year – On the DL for the rest of the year after major surgery, and may not be ready to go again till the summer of 2009.

2. Travis Hafer $8 mil per year - Has never hit the same after getting his new deal, and was struggling before that. Is on the DL with a shoulder issue that really has never been fully disclosed.

3. Paul Byrd $7.5 mil per year – 3-10 this year w/ a 5.53 ERA. Was the subject of a steroids scandal story in the ALCS, and since then he’s been cleared, but has never pitched as well as last season.

4. Casey Blake $6.1 mil per year - Having a solid season, batting .279 with 8 homers and 47 RBI, but likely will be traded before the deadline.

5. Victor Martinez $4.4 million per year - Tweaked his hamstring opening day vs the White Sox, and has not been the same. Lack of power alarming as he’s hitting just .278 with no homers and 21 RBI. Also on the DL.

7. David Dellucci $3.7 mil per year - Has basically been a bust in the two seasons with the team, hitting just .220 with 7 homers and 27 RBI, was hurt a good portion of last season, and will be gone when his contract is up.

9. Masa Kybayashi $3 mil per year - Has had good and bad moments in his first year playing ball in America. Has four saves and an ERA of 3.21. The team has hopes that he may eventually be the closer.

10. Jhonny Peralta $2.5 mil per year - Hitting .250 with 14 homers and 40 RBI. Still blasted by many for his shoddy play at short and lack of big hits, Peralta has never regained his 2005 form when he hit .292 with 24 homers and 78 RBI.

The other two players in the Top 10 not listed are Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore, two players that have lived up to or even passed expectations for this season.

1. Injuries: Jake Westbrook (elbow surgery) out for a year, catcher Victor Martinez (elbow surgery), Josh Barfield (finger surgery) out for a few months, Travis Hafner (shoulder) out for who knows how long, Adam Miller (finger surgery), Fausto Carmona (hip) having another “setback,” his return time is now the middle of July.

2. Bullpen: Currently ranks second worst in the American League in Earned Run Average. Once was a stable entity in the past. They are also last in the A.L. in saves.

3. Hitting: Indians currently sit last in the American League in hits and 11th out of 14 teams in the A.L. in on-base percentage. The injuries have taken there toll on the offense!

4. Void fillers: Guys like Peralta, Blake, and Garko have continued to struggle in the absences of Hafner and Martinez. In the past these players have stepped up when others were slumping, which has not been the case this year. None of these three players are currently hitting over .270.

5. Can’t win the Close ones: The Indians are currently 6-8 in games decided by one run. To be a contender these are the games you must win. (See Bullpen above)

6. Slow Start: With the high expectations for this team going into the year the Indians needed to jump out early. With the team being fairly young in age it was imperative for them to have some success in the early months of the season. March-May their record was 25-30.

7. Streaks: The Indians have gone on 2 runs this year in April they won 5 straight, however in May they lost 7 straight.

8. Struggling Ace: C.C. Sabathia has since turned his season around, but he began the season 1-5. His earned run average was 7.51 at that time and this did not bode well for the Tribe, nor the reigning Cy young Award Winner. His E.R.A. is currently 4.06.

9. Can’t Capitalize: The Indians are in the second worst division in all of baseball, yet they can’t seem to make ground on the other teams in the Central. The Detroit Tigers also came into the season with high hopes and they got off to an even worst start than the Tribe, but they now sit a game and half ahead of Indians in the standings.

10. Consistency: This team has not found any one thing that they are good at and consistent at. This has made Eric Wedge’s job more difficult and even more impressive.. If the team is good at one aspect of the game, then he could rely on that one thing and dwell on the many others. When it is all said and done, this could be Wedge’s best year in terms of managing because of the way that he has dealt with all of this teams obstacles.

As if playing shorthanded is not bad enough, the news went from bad to worse for the Indians this afternoon, as not only has catcher Victor Martinez been placed on the DL, the team also announced today that he will be arthroscopic surgery tomorrow to remove loose bodies from his right elbow joint.

Word is that Victor will be out 6 to 8 weeks, and that now the duties of the catcher role will be for Kelly Shoppach (.225 3 homers 7 RBI) and Yamid Haad, who was called up from Buffalo. Martinez has had a tough 2008, first he hurt his hamstring on opening day vs the White Sox and missed a few games, and now the elbow injury. So for now, here is the list of those hurt for the Indians:

C Victor Martinez
2B Josh Barfield
DH Travis Hafner
P Fausto Carmona
P Jake Westbrook (done for the year)

Hate to say it, but the winds of despair are blowing more than ever at Progressive Field, and morale has got to be on life support at this point after the news today.

Not a good sign for starter Jake Westbrook, who today will fly to Los Angeles to see arm specialist Dr. Lewis Yocum.  Westbrook Tuesday was placed on the 15-day disabled list on due to a sore right elbow.  Yocum is considered an expert in the field of ligament transplant surgery for pitcher’s elbows.  He is also the team physician for the Los Angeles Angels.  Westbrook had made just one start coming back off his last stint on the DL for a left intercostal strain.    

For the 2nd time in 2008 the Tribe is placing Jake Westbrook on the 15-Day DL, this time with swelling in his right elbow. The team is also getting Jensen Lewis back to the Major League roster. Below is a presser from the Tribe about the move:

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has placed RHP JAKE WESTBROOK on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Wednesday, May 29th with a right elbow inflammation. To replace Westbrook’s spot on the Major League roster the Indians recalled RHP JENSEN LEWIS from AAA Buffalo.

Westbrook has made 5 starts for the Indians so far this year as he is 1-2 with a 3.12 ERA (34.2IP, 33H, 13R/12ER, 7BB, 19K). He experienced some soreness in his right elbow following his last big league start of May 28 vs. Chicago, a 6-5 loss to the White Sox (5.0IP, 5H, 3R/ER, 2BB, 3K). Today marks the 2nd DL stint (April 20-May 28 w/ left intercostal strain) of the season and the 6th DL stint of his Major League career.

Lewis began the season with the Indians going 0-2 with a 3.58 ERA (27.2IP, 29H, 11R/ER, 15BB, 19K) in 20 appearances before being optioned to AAA Buffalo on May 24th. While at Buffalo he has made 2 appearances going 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA (4.0IP, 5H, 2R/ER, 2BB, 6K). He wears #50 and will be in uniform tonight when the Indians take on the Texas Rangers at 8:05PM EST in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.