Indians Confidential

The Indians lost to the Chicago White Sox tonight 10-6. It sounds pretty simple, but this four hour and eleven minute, twelve inning marathon was everything but simple. There were a combined three home runs, a hit batter, thirty-five hits, sixteen runs, and an error.

Tribe starter Mitch Talbot (8-11, 4.61 ERA) went five innings giving up five runs on ten hits and struck out two. He did not figure in the decision. The Sox got to him early when with two men on base in the first, Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko hit a 2 RBI double that set the tone for most of the game. Chicago scored three more in the second off Talbot to put the tribe down 5-0. When asked about his outing tonight Talbot said, “Today was kind of a frustrating day, you know. I didn’t feel that they hit a lot of balls hard. I think they found some holes and hit them where the defense wasn’t.”

Tribe reliever Justin Germano gave up an Alex Rios solo home run in the sixth to make it 6-0. Rios had an outstanding night going 5-6, with a home run, a walk and 4 RBI.

The Indians started their comeback in the fourth inning on a Jayson Nix two-run home run off of Sox ace Mark Buehrle (12-10, 3.95 ERA) to make it 6-2. Nix would be tossed from the game in the seventh for a disagreement with home plate umpire Bill Welke. Buehrle went six innings giving up three runs on six hits and struck out five. He also had a no-decision. Cleveland made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth scoring three runs off of Chicago closer Bobby Jenks to tie it at six and push the game into extra innings.

Both teams had a scoreless tenth, then the wheels came off as Tribe pitcher Rafael Perez gave up four runs in the top of the eleventh to put the Sox up for good and take the loss. Scott Linebrink had a scoreless outing for the win.

What got lost in the game was a good outing by designated hitter Travis Hafner who went 4-5 with three doubles. As a side note, Chicago second baseman Gordon Bekham was hit in the seventh and left the game with a bruised right hand. X-rays came out negative, and he is listed as day-to-day.

Righty Justin Masterson will toe the rubber for the Tribe against Chicago’s Edwin Jackson in game two of the three game series on Tuesday.

Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta talks about the tough extra-inning loss to the White Sox, Travis Hafner’s resurgence in the middle of the lineup, and Jayson Nix’s comments to the umpire that got him tossed from the game…

The Cleveland Indians have traded away most of the veteran players they started the season with. They are the youngest team in Major League Baseball with an average age of 26.5. With that said, there is really no one in the clubhouse that is taking the reigns as a leader of men. Someone needs to take that responsibility, and I think short stop Asdrubal Cabrera could be that man.

Although he is only 24 years old, and along with Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore, he is one of the only players left on the team that went through the playoff run of 2007. Both Sizemore and Hafner have been with the team longer, but have made no effort to become a vocal leader in the clubhouse.

Cabrera comes off as a really quiet and introspective person, but manager Manny Acta has another viewpoint. He said jokingly, “He’s quiet in English, he’s not quiet in Spanish”. The organization wants him to take that leadership role, but they aren’t going to force it. Acta also said, “He’s a gamer, man…he’s a guy that wants to be out there all the time, that’s why I feel he can be one of the leaders going forward.”

Hopefully Cabrera will be here for the whole season next year and not on the disabled list. At least there is no Jhonny Peralta to fall on him anymore.

Despite playing well out of the All-Star break, the Cleveland Indians once again find themselves sellers in the trade market which reared its head again at Progressive Field Wednesday night.

About 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the Indians-New York Yankees game, word came down the pike about a deal the Tribe had made with the Detroit Tigers, sending third basemen Jhonny Peralta to Detroit for a Class A pitcher.

The move is the end of the road for Peralta in Cleveland, a player that had been in the Indians organization since the age of 17.

“It was emotional for all of us,” Indians manager Manny Acta said of telling Peralta. “A lot of people only see the guy in uniform, but Jhonny is a fantastic human being, he lives in this community, he married a wonderful girl from this area, this is the only place that he has been.”

Players in the locker room that have been here and have made it through trades before are becoming accustomed to seeing the team make moves this time of the year.

Two years ago the team shipped Cy Young award winner C.C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers for current first basemen Matt LaPorta.

Last season it was another Cy Young award winner, Cliff Lee, who was shipped to Philadelphia Phillies, and then later on it was catcher Victor Martinez traded to the Boston Red Sox.

For current DH Travis Hafner, seeing friends leave the locker room is becoming a sight he is getting use to every July.

“Jhonny was a great teammate,” Hafner said. “He was a guy who played everyday, played hard, and was a really talented player. Everyone in the clubhouse is going to miss him, and the organization is going to miss him as well.”

Peralta was not going to be around after 2010, as general manager Mark Shaprio told the media Wednesday night the team was not going to pick up the team option on the player.

Nevertheless, losing a player that had been with the Major League club since 2003 is always tough, even if in the end the move is mostly applauded by fans.

“It’s always tough to see, unfortunately it’s been that way the last couple years,” Hafner said. “It is a business and that is part of it, but it still doesn’t make it any easier.”

Now the players that remain have to sit back and wait to see if anyone is next. Pitcher Jake Westbook has been talked about as possibly being next, and Austin Kearns is another player that could be moved as well.

Right now, Hafner says he and the team cannot worry about if there are going to be anymore moves, as they have to worry about the task at hand.

“Guys are just focused on their jobs, you can’t be worried about the outside,” Hafner said.

Once again it was the curse of the dreaded three-run homer that was the Indians downfall on Sunday, as they dropped the rubber match of the series with the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 at Progressive Field.

The shot, much like Saturday’s deflater from the Rays Ben Zobrist, came with two outs and the Indians up 1-0 in the second. It came from Reid Brignac, who had just five homers on the season entering the game.

Justin Masterson threw Brignac a slider that frankly didn’t slide, and just like that Tampa Bay was just 3-1. The Indians got a run back off rookie pitcher Wade Davis in the 2nd, but Tampa added another run on a Carl Crawford sac fly in the 5th to round out the scoring.

The Indians had their chances, but never were able to push another run across as their lost for the third time in four games, and are now 7-3 after the All-Star break.

Masterson falls to 3-9 on the year, he went 6.2 innings, allowing three earned runs, five hits, two walks and five strikeouts.

Davis, who is now tied with the Indians Mitch Talbot for most AL wins by a rookie, goes to 8-9 by throwing 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on 7 hits with one walk and four K’s.

The Rays took two of three in the series to improve the majors’ best road record to 33-18. They scored five or more runs six times in going 5-4 on a trip to New York, Baltimore and Cleveland.

Tribe DH Travis Hafner went 4 for 4, but the Indians were only 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position—making them 1 for 26 over the past four games.

Now at 41-57 on the year, they will take on the NY Yankees for the first of four starting on Monday night at 7:05pm.

It seems that there has been a “Pronk” sighting on East 9th and Carnegie. In the last six games Indians designated hitter Travis Hafner has hit four home runs, one being a grand slam, with eight RBI. Hafner has brought his home run total for the year to eight tying him for the team lead with Russell Branyan.

Travis has also brought his batting average up fourteen points over the same stretch going from .243- .257. Through sixty-four games he has 26 RBI.

If he keeps at this pace he is projected to get 66 RBI by season’s end. This is a far cry from the 2004-2008 seasons where he averaged over 100 RBI, but he seems to be heating up here in the month of June.

With 170 home runs hit for the Tribe in his career he is in tenth place all-time in club history, just ten dingers behind the legendary Rocky Clolavito who is in ninth place.

Jim Thome has the club record for home runs with 334. The closest Indian on the current roster is Grady Sizemore with 129, and he is lost for the rest of the season with knee surgery.

Unfortunately, The Indians will be closing out this home stand tomorrow night and will be going on the road for nine games all in national league parks where the designated hitter is not used.

When asked about the prospect of having his hottest hitter sitting on the bench for nine games skipper Manny Acta said that Hafner will be a great guy to have available in pinch-hitting situations.

Going into Pittsburgh, Philly, and Cincinnati both Hafner and outfielder Shelley Duncan can give the Tribe some big bats off the pine.

The Indians are on a three-game winning streak after Jake Westbrook went 7 plus innings in the teams 7-2 win at Progressive Field. Indians Confidential Site Editor Matt Loede gives all the details.

The opportunities were there Tuesday night for the Indians, but has been the case plenty of times for the 2009 season, the club let them slip through their fingers. The Tribe lost 5-4 to the Angels in the first of a three-game set, but it wasn’t due to a lack of chances.

The best shot came in the 7th, as the Indians were able to take a 5-3 game and make it 5-4 with the bases loaded with one out. Enter Travis Hafner, who despite having a decent comeback year has not been the same player the team thought they were getting when he got his monster deal last season.

Hafner, who had scrapped all night, hit a slow roller to second that ended up as a 4-6-3 double play. The play at first was close, but Hafner was out, and the Indians best threat of the night was over. The team went quietly in the 8th and 9th, and the team dropped to 51-67 on the season.

LA took a 3-1 lead off Fausto Carmona with a single run in the first and two in the second, then went up 5-1 with two more runs in the third. The Indians rallied to draw within 5-3 with two runs in the third, but then the only other run came in the 7th, but it should have been more.

Carmona was not very good, allowing five runs, three earned on 10 hits in 5 innings. He gave up four strikeouts and two walks as well. He falls to 2-8 on the season, and while the rest of this year will all be about getting him right for 2010 and beyond, it would be nice to see him more consistant.

The Indians did pound out 12 hits in the loss. Asdrubal Cabrera led the way, going 4-for-5 and he’s now hit in 12 straight games, a career-high. The two teams do it again Wednesday night at 7:05pm.