Indians Confidential

It seems to be that every other year the Indians bullpen is very good.  The problem with that is that means this year is one of those “off” years for the pen, and that fact reared its ugly head again on Saturday as the bullpen allowed six runs in the teams latest setback 8-4 to the Tigers.  Aaron Laffey had done a solid job getting the Indians to a 3-2 lead in the 7th, going 6.2, allowing only a two-run homer to Carlos Guillen.  It was after he left that the wheels simply came off.

Starting with the 8th, Masa Kobayashi allowed two runs in just 0.1, giving up a homer to Marcus Thames, to tie the game at 3, then allowing a double to Mags Ordonez.  Enter Rafael Betancourt, who threw a meatball to Miguel Cabrera who singled to deep left to score Ordonez.  Betancourt, who has continued to take major steps back this season, then allowed another single, a sac to put runners on second and third, and then after an intentional walk to load the bases he struck out Ryan Raburn to give them two outs.

As has happend all year long though, the pen was unable to get that all important third out, and Betancourt again threw one over the plate, this time to Edgar Renteria, who didn’t let him get away with it, putting it out for a grand slam to make it 8-3.  The line on Betancourt, 1 inning, four runs, three hits, one walk and one strikeout.  Last season Rafael was 5-1, three saves, and an ERA of 1.47.  After 27 appearences in 2008, he is 1-3, 4 saves, and has an ERA of 7.27.

While Laffey was the bright spot, the offense did what it could to try and give him a win.  They put up three runs, one on a Franklin Gutierrez fielder’s choice in the 2nd, and then a Kelly Shoppach double to make it 2-0.  Guillen’s homer made it 2-2, but the Indians responded with a Ryan Garko sac fly in the 6th after an error by Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers opened the door.  It looked as if it would be enough until Masa and Betancourt gave it away.

The loss puts the Indians at 28-34 on the season.  They will throw Jeremy Sowers (0-0, 5.23) vs the surprising Armando Galarraga, who is 4-2 with a 3.76 ERA.  He beat the Indians back on April 16th in Cleveland going 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on one hit.

CLEVELAND, OH — The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has recalled INF MICHAEL AUBREY from the AAA Buffalo Bisons. To allow room for Aubrey on the Major League roster the Indians optioned LHP JEREMY SOWERS to AAA Buffalo.

Aubrey, the club’s 1st round pick (11th overall) in the 2003 draft, will be making his debut at the Major League level. He began the year at AA Akron where he hit .277 (28-101) with 9 2B, 2HR & 16RBI in 24 games. At the time his 9 doubles were tied for 3rd in the Eastern League. He was promoted to AAA Buffalo for the first time on May 2nd and has hit .341 (15-44) with 4 2B and 5RBI in 11 games with the Bisons (hit safely in 9 of 11G). Combined on the year he is hitting .297 (43-145) between the two stops, has hit safely in 31 of 35 games and has hit .395 (15-38) with RISP. He will wear #23.

Sowers made his 2nd Major League start of the 2008 season last night in Cincinnati vs. the Reds (5.0IP, 5H, 3R/ER) and is 0-0 w/a 5.23 ERA in 2 starts for Cleveland (10.1IP, 12H, 6R/ER). He returns to AAA Buffalo where he has gone 2-2 w/a 2.21 ERA in 7 starts (40.2IP, 34H, 10ER, 14BB, 26K, .231 avg against). His 2.21 ERA ranks 5th in the International League.

In their first interleague game of 2008, the Indians offense went back to sleep walking, having one big inning with fireworks, but otherwise taking the night off in a 4-3 loss to the Reds.  Falling behind early 3-0, the Tribe rallied behind three solo homers in the 6th, as Casey Blake, Travis Hafner and Jhonny Peralta all went deep to tie the game at three.

The offense managed two hits after that, but could not put a run across, as the Reds put together a rally of their own to put across the winning run vs Jensen Lewis in the 8th.  Brandon Phillips drew a walk with one out, Joey Votto smacked a double to left that put runners on second and third. Edwin Encarnacion drew a walk to load the bases and then Adam Dunn drew yet another walk to win the game.  Lewis did get out of the inning, but the walks haunted him and the Tribe was not able to generate any offense whatsoever.

Jeremy Sowers started for the Tribe, getting the call up earlier in the day.  He was not as effective as his prior start, going five innings, allowing three runs at five hits.  He gave up two homers (Phillips and Dunn), and walked two and struck out two.  The three relievers used were good minus Lewis, as Jorge Julio and Rafael Perez went 2.1 innings, not allowing a base runner and striking out four.

The offense struck out 12 times, left seven men on base, and the top four in the lineup went a combined 1-for-14 with four strikeouts and six men left on base.  It was not the best of nights at the plate to say the least.  On the positive side it was good to see Hafner hit his first homer since April 17th vs the Tigers.  The team falls to 22-20 on the season, the Reds improve to 19-23.  Saturday in game two of the three game set it’s Fausto Carmona for the Indians vs Aaron Harang at 3:55pm.

In a move that the team announced to us yesterday, the team today called back up Jeremy Sowers, while they have designated Jason Tyner for assignment. Here is the release from Bart and the team.

CLEVELAND, OH — The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has recalled LHP JEREMY SOWERS from the AAA Buffalo Bisons. To allow room for Sowers on the Major League roster the Indians designated OF JASON TYNER for assignment.

Sowers will make his second Major League start of the 2008 season tomorrow night in Cincinnati vs. the Reds. The Louisville, KY native made a spot start for Cleveland on Saturday, April 26 vs. the New York Yankees in Progressive Field (ND, 5.1IP, 7H, 3R/ER, 1BB, 3K) and was optioned to Buffalo the next day. He has made every other turn in the rotation at AAA Buffalo where he has gone 2-2 w/a 2.21 ERA in 7 starts (40.2IP, 34H, 10ER, 14BB, 26K, .231 avg against). His 2.21 ERA ranks 5th in the International League at present. Since his return he has made 3 May starts and is 2-0 w/a 1.00 ERA (18.0IP, 16H, 2R/ER).

Tyner has appeared in 1 game in Cleveland after being promoted from AAA Buffalo on May 11.

Bit of a shock here, as the Indians sent Jeremy Sowers right back to Buffalo today and called up Brad Snyder, who will make his MLB debut when he gets into a game. Snyder was only hitting .236 in AAA, while I thought Sowers looked pretty good in his 5.1 innings vs the Yankees Saturday. Nevertheless, here is the presser from the Tribe on the move:

CLEVELAND, OH — The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has recalled OF BRAD SNYDER from the AAA Buffalo Bisons. To allow room for Snyder on the Major League roster the Indians optioned LHP JEREMY SOWERS to AAA Buffalo.

Sowers was impressive yesterday (5.1IP, 7H, 3R/ER) in a spot start against the Yankees as the returns to the Buffalo rotation.

Good times continued on Saturday at Progressive Field, as the Indians wrapped up their fifth straight win with a gutsy 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees. They got another solid outing from a starting pitcher, this time it being just called up Jeremy Sowers. They earned the win with getting out of some tough jams by a bullpen that was led by Jensen Lewis and Masa Kobayashi, who earned his first win in the Majors.

Back to Sowers, who went 5.1 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. He walked just one and struck out three. With the news coming out that Jake Westbrook will miss four weeks instead of just two, having Sowers on the Major League roster pitching well is an added bonus. The bullpen did its job, with Lewis and Kobayashi going a combined 3.2 innings, allowing no runs on five hits with five strikeouts.

The offense put up three runs in the second, as Grady Sizemore walked in a run, David Dellucci hit a sac fly, and Travis Hafner singled in another. Sowers did a great job of making that hold up until the Yankees tied the game with three runs of their own in the 6th. It stayed tied till the Indians pushed a run across in the ninth.

With one out, Sizemore singled, Dellucci singled, and then both advanced on a wild pitch. They walked Hafner, and then Victor Martinez singled to left the game-winning run. The win puts the Indians at .500 at 12-12 for the first time since they were 4-4. They also move within a game of the first place White Sox, who fell Saturday. Sunday it’s C.C. Sabathia vs Chien- Ming Wang at 1:05pm.

The Indians just sent out this presser about the roster move to get Jeremy Sowers back on the MLB roster:

CLEVELAND, OH — The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has recalled LHP JEREMY SOWERS from the AAA Buffalo Bisons. To allow room for Sowers on the Major League roster the Indians optioned OF BEN FRANCISCO to AAA Buffalo.

Francisco returns to Buffalo after being recalled by Cleveland on April 22nd when Jake Westbrook went on the disabled list.

Here is the Indians updated pitching rotation against the Yankees this weekend:

Fri., April 25 vs. New York-AL (7:05PM ET, WTAM, IRN, STO)

RHP Paul Byrd vs. LHP Andy Pettitte

Sat., April 26 vs. New York-AL (3:55PM ET, WTAM, IRN, FOXTV8)

LHP Jeremy Sowers vs. RHP Ian Kennedy

Sun., April 27 vs. New York-AL (1:05PM ET, WMMS, IRN, WKYC, TBS)

LHP CC Sabathia vs. RHP Chien-Ming Wang

Mon., April 28 vs. New York-AL (7:05PM ET, WTAM, IRN, STO, ESPN)

TBD vs. RHP Mike Mussina