Player of the Game

Jeanmar Gomez picks up today's Player of the Game  with a stellar performance on the mound for his second start in a row. Gomez earned a 7.77 with 6.1 shut out innings and only 6 base runners allowed. Gomez was aided by a couple double plays, including one he started himself. This is not just his second consecutive award, but 4 of the last 6 have been won by the Indians starting pitcher of the day. More on that later.

Feathers Up

How did this happen? The last time through the rotation, every single starter had a good outing going back to Jeanmar Gomez's last start. Gomez continued this success in today's start as he went 6.1 scoreless innings. Over those 6 games Indians starters have thrown 41 innings (6.8 per game) and only allowed 7 runs for an ERA of 0.65.

Asdrubal Cabrera hit a solo home run today to provide for enough runs to win the game. It is his 5th of the season and although he may never hit for as much power as he did in 2011, he is showing that it wasn't a total fluke.

The Bullpen Mafia was impressive today, making up for their less than remarkable outing yesterday. Joe Smith started off by getting a double play to end his inning and Vinnie Pestano followed with a perfect inning including a strike out to earn his hold. Chris Perez finished the game off in style as three Marlins hitters never lifted the bats off their shoulders as he struck out each batter looking.

Feathers Down

Edward Mujica pitched a 1-2-3 inning today. I don't think he ever did that during his entire career with the Indians. What's up wit dat?

Play of the Game

In the 6th inning, Jeanmar Gomez helped himself out after hitting a batter by fielding a ball and going to second for the double play.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Miami Marlins 0

Player of the Game

Justin Masterson pitched 7 innings as tonight's Player of the Game with a score of 3.92. In his no-decision, Masterson gave up just 2 runs and struck out 5. He allowed 6 hits and 3 walks, but was helped out by his battery mate, who threw out 3 base stealers. The is Materson's 3rd Player of the game award of the season, tying him for 2nd on the team.

Feathers Up

The bottom of the lineup came through for the Indians to score their first 2 runs in the 2nd inning. Johnny Damon walked with 2 outs in the inning, then Casey Kotchman doubled, scoring Damon. Lead off hitter, Shin-Soo Choo, then singled, scoring Kotchman. The bottom of the lineup has proven to be critical the last few games, coming through to produce runs.

Carlos Santana threw out a career high 3 attempted base stealers. The Marlins tried running on him early in the game. They attempted 4 stolen bases, the first of which was successful when Santana threw the ball into center field, but he nailed the next 3 runners. The Marlins did not attempt another stolen base after the 5th inning.

Feathers Down

The Tribe bullpen went to work in the 8th inning when the game was tied at 2. Tony Sipp recorded one out and walked a batter, before handing the ball over to Joe Smith. Smith then forced a come-backer to the mound, but committed an error when trying to pick the runner off second, which allowed him to go to third. This situation with one out was perfect for the Marlins to hit a sacrifice fly and take the lead.

The Indians only had 4 hits tonight, making it difficult to score more than 2 runs.

Play of the Game

Carlos Santana guns down 3 runners attempting to steal.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Miami Marlins 3

The Indians sweep of Seattle brings their winning streak to 4, immediately after having a three game losing streak. This streak has moved the Indians to 4 games ahead of the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. This is thanks to the series sweep of the Tigers by the Minnesota Twins. There will be a few familiar faces when the Indians play the Marlins as former central division foes John Buck (Royals), Omar Infante (Tigers) and Mark Buehrle (White Sox) currently reside in Miami. Former Indian outcasts Austin Kearns and Edward Mujica have also found a home with the Marlins. After seeing Carl Pavano and Jamey Carroll with the Twins and Eric Wedge with the Mariners its like all the Indians mistakes are coming back to play against them. Maybe this was the plan the whole time. Sign a bunch of terrible players then distribute them among the teams so the Tribe get to play against them.

May 28th, 7:05 EST: Carlos Zambrano, RHP, 1-2, 1.88 ERA vs Justin Masterson, RHP, 1-3, 5.40 ERA

Sometimes when you put crazy and crazy together they cancel each other out. This appears to be the case with Carlos Zambrano this year, as his union with Ozzie Guillen as been a success to this point. Zambrano was amazing as the Cubs ace, steadily improving from 2002 through 2007, but had fallen off in recent years. His decline in effectiveness and his childlike temper tantrums were enough to make Chicago give up on him. He has found new success in his new home, however, as he has only allowed 10 runs all season in almost 50 innings. In his last three games he has allowed only one run and struck out 21 in 23 innings. The one crack in Zambrano's game to this point in the season is that he is still wild. He has allowed 20 combined walks and hit batters, two things that the Indians excel at.

Justin Masterson has been really hard to figure out this season. In his last outing he was bombed by the Red Sox for 6 runs after having three straight quality starts. It's possible that the Red Sox had been under performing and they used that series to break out of it, but some of the blame has to fall on Masterson. He was uncharacteristically wild, hitting three batters, and when he did throw strikes, they got hit. On the season the Marlins have not been a great offensive team (144 runs scored, .238 batting average), so Masterson may be able to keep them in check a little easier than the Red Sox. Offensively the guy to look out for is Giancarlo Stanton, who has 8 home runs and 24 RBI through a month and a half. Their lineup isn't very deep, so if Indians pitching can limit the damage by Stanton and Hanley Ramirez, it shouldn't be too hard to deal with the rest of the roster. 

May 29th, 4:05 EST: Anibal Sanchez, RHP, 2-1, 2.28 ERA vs Jeanmar Gomez, RHP, 2-2, 3.75

Sanchez has thrown a quality start out there every time out so far, but hasn't gone much further from that. He has only given up more than 2 runs once this season (his first start), but has not thrown past the 7th inning. This series should feature some tough pitching match-ups in general as each team is sending it's three best starters out there.

After only giving up 4 runs in April through 15.1 innings, Gomez has allowed 11 runs in 20.2 innings during May. This includes his last time out when he threw 7 innings and didn't allow an earned run. It's not surprising that Gomez has pitched better against Minnesota, Oakland and Kansas City and worse against Chicago and Texas. Too this point Gomez is doing his job by beating the teams he is supposed to and some of those he isn't. He would like to continue this trend with a good outing against the weak hitting Marlins.

May 30th, 1:05 EST: Josh Johnson, RHP, 1-3, 5.36 ERA vs Derek Lowe, RHP, 6-1, 2.05

Johnson has definitely been hittable this year. Over his career he has a 3.12 ERA, but since coming back from injury he has struggled some. Twice this year he has not been able to get through the 4th inning and he has given up 5 or more runs 3 times. Out of the three games this series, this one will feature the Marlins worst pitcher against the Indians best.

Derek Lowe pitched a complete game shutout in his last start. This is madness. Manny Acta doesn't let starters throw nine innings!

Injury News: Travis Hafner is currently day to day after being hit by a pitch in the hand. He will probably miss the opener, but should be back by Saturday.

Jack Hannahan, who has missed the last 4 games with a strained back, is on schedule to be back in the starting lineup during this series, at least by the finale on Sunday.

Grady Sizemore took batting practice before the game on 5/16, but will not be back in the lineup until mid June at the earliest.

Player of the Game

With a game-tying homer in the bottom of the 8th inning, Jose Lopez won Player of the Game with a score of 6.27. Before the home run, Lopez had an error, a strikeout, and 3 runners in scoring position left on base, but the 3-run homer made up for all of that. In the 10th inning, he walked and later scored another tying run. Lopez won his 2nd Player of the Game this season, his other one coming on April 9th.

Feathers Up

The Indians bats (at least Jose Lopez's) came alive in the 8th inning. It looked like the Indians were going to take a 4-1 defeat until they tied it up in the 8th. Carlos Santana started the inning with a walk. Casey Kotchman then doubled. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Jose Lopez hit a home run off the railing in left field, tying the game at 4. This took Zach McAllister, who pitched a very average game, off the hook for the loss.

Tony Sipp pitched a flawlessly in relief today. He pitched the 9th inning and one out of the 10th, facing the minimum 4 batters and striking out 3 of them.

When it looked like the Indians were going to lose after giving up a run in the top of the 10th inning, they came back to ties the game. Jose Lopez and Jason Kipnis walked, and Asdrubal Cabrera drove Lopez in to score the tying run.

The Indians won the game in the 10th inning after Seattle pitcher, Brandon League, walked several Indians hitters and Carlos Santana singled in the game-winning run.

The Indians have completed their 2nd 2-game series sweep in a row. The go into the weekend with a 4 game winning streak.

Feathers Down

The Indians defense was a little rough today. In the 5th inning, Jose Lopez had a fielding error and Carlos Santana had a passed ball, which combined led to an unearned run. In the 8th inning, there was a high pop up in far territory right in front of home plate which Casey Kotchman attempted to field, running all the way from first base. In his nice hustle attempt, he dropped the ball. Justin Smoak was credited with a single on the play, but it obviously should have been an error. Hits like that should be easy outs.

Travis Hafner was removed from the game after getting hit by a pitch on the hand.

Play of the Game

Jose Lopez ties the game in the 8th.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 - Seattle Mariners 5

Player of the Game

Travis Hafner knocked in 3 runs tonight in three separate at bats and won tonight's Player of the Game with a score of 6.77. Pronk had an RBI ground out, double and solo home run to account for those runs. He also scored two runs. Positive outings by Jairo Asencio, Tony Sipp and Ubaldo Jimenez along with the demotion of Dan Wheeler have lead to the Indians having no negative players on the current roster. There are a few players that are close, but every player on the team has been a positive part of the total effort this season.

Feathers Up

Shin-Soo Choo looked good in the lead-off spot again today. Since being moved there he has been 6-12 with 2 doubles, a home run, two RBI and four runs scored. The move was made to give more at bats to the Indians most effective hitters. It may be unconventional, but this lineup will almost certainly score more than one with a fast player that hits .220 at lead-off.

The Indians success against the Twins wasn't too much to get excited about as they are a last place team throwing out rookies and soon to be retirees, but scoring 8 runs against Felix Hernandez in 4 innings is very impressive.

The Indians finally wizened up and replaced Dan Wheeler with Jeremy Accardo, the pitcher who would have won the job out of Spring Training if the competition had truly been fair. Accardo made his Indians debut tonight and pitched a single perfect inning with a strike out. This note is very similar to tonight's Feathers Down.

Feathers Even? Ubaldo Jimenez wasn't vomit inducingly horrible tonight. Of course he was pitching against one of the worst offenses in the Majors and he still allowed 3 runs and threw over 100 pitches in 6 innings. It may be a step in the right direction, but it wasn't a very big one.

Feathers Down

At some point the Indians may want to stop watching Matt LaPorta set records in AAA, while Casey Kotchman sits at the bottom of the league in batting average. I know he has already had a ton of chances, but he never struggled to hit over .200. Kotchman went 0-3 with two strike outs and a double play tonight which puts his season average at .196 while LaPorta is hitting .331/.403/.644. Matt set a new record for most home runs at the Clippers new stadium tonight. Nobody wants to set minor league records. Give him a break. Trade him, release him or bring him up. Matt LaPorta can do absolutely nothing more at AAA. (This could have been about how Lonnie Chisenhall should be on the team instead of Jose Lopez, but LaPorta hit that home run).

Play of the Game

Carlos Santana stole second, took third on an over throw and scored on another one. Asdrubal Cabrera also scored on the play.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 9 - Seattle Mariners 3

The Indians Minor League system is filled with talented players. You hear about these players when they are drafted or traded for, but then they disappear from the mainstream media until they get to the Majors. How will you know the Indians of next year before they actually become Indians? I'm here to help you out with the Indians top ten Minor League players of 2012 so far. There will be four of these throughout the season. Once a player has been featured he will no longer be eligible for the list, so we will feature 40 different players. Players that have played in the Major Leagues are also ineligible as they cannot really be considered prospects anymore. This will keep this article from featuring the 2011 Cleveland Indians who are currently in AAA.

1. T.J. McFarland - SP - AA Akron - Drafted Round 4 in 2007

T.J. McFarland's complete dominance over all of AA has been an integral part of the machine that is the Akron Aeros. Akron currently leads all Eastern League teams with a 23-13 record. Seven of those wins belong to McFarland. He has only started 8 games and has a decision in each. T.J. currently holds a 1.86 ERA with a WHIP of just over 1.07 in 48.1 innings pitched. He has never pitched higher than AA, but look for him to make the jump later this season. This is McFarland's fifth professional season.

2. Chen Lee - RP - AAA Columbus - International Free Agent 2008

Chen Lee is the best example of an improved international scouting department in the Indians organization. Lee was signed out of Taiwan in 2008 and is currently in his fourth season in the Indians farm system. Lee has only thrown 7 innings out of the bullpen this year for the Clippers, but his consistency has not wavered since he got to Columbus. In parts of two seasons with Akron and Columbus, Lee holds a 2.80 ERA (so far this year with Columbus it is 2.57). His K/9 has been over 10 for every single MiLB season so far reaching as high as 12 strike outs per nine innings in Columbus last year. He needs some more time in AAA to make sure he can sustain his success, but he is definitely on the horizon for the Bullpen Mafia. Look for Lee as early as late 2012 and to be a competitor for a spot on the 25 man roster next Spring Training.

3. Steven Wright - SP - AA Akron - Drafted Round 2 in 2006

If it wasn't obvious before it should be now. The Indians are very deep in starting pitching at the mid to low Minor League levels (they are an Ubaldo Jimenez trade away from being deep at the upper level). Steven Wright is absolutely dominating AA hitters so far this season. In his 6th professional season Wright has struck out 38 batters over the course of 43.1 innings. Even more impressively he holds a 1.87 ERA over this time. This is the most successful he has been throughout his Minor League career with a career low in ERA and the highest K/9 rate at any level above Lake County. Wright definitely looks like one of the next starting pitchers to make the trip from Akron to Columbus.

4. Francisco Lindor - SS - A Lake County - Drafted Round 1 in 2011

In just 33 games at single A, Lindor has already hit 13 extra base hits including 3 triples. He also has stolen 11 bases making him look like the rarity that is the speed player with some power. He is only 18 and in his first full season with the Indians, but will hopefully move quickly through the system over the span of the next two years. He may still have some defensive issues to work out, but he has plenty of time for that. Look for him in Columbus by 2014. 

5. Adam Abraham - 3B - AA Akron - Drafted Round 13 in 2008

Abraham has moved slowly up the system, but it is probably for the best as it has allowed him to increase his power output during the last couple of seasons culminating in 17 home runs and 72 RBI in 2011(Kinston). This is his first season in AA and while it may look like he has struggled (.256 AVG), he has maintained in the more important categories of getting on base and hitting for power. His 20 walks have kept his OBP afloat at .393 and his extra base power has his slugging percent at .467, the highest of his career at any level. This is Abraham's 5th season in the minors and he is already 25, but at the least we can expect him to be the eventual replacement of Lonnie Chisenhall in Columbus when the Indians realize they need him in Cleveland.

6. Beau Mills - 1B - AAA Columbus - Drafted Round 1 in 2007

The Indians struggled with early round draft picks for a few years in the early 2000's and looked to come out of it with the selection of Beau Mills in 2007. Since then, only Lonnie Chisenhall and Francisco Lindor remain as first round picks. The Indians have high hopes for Mills as first base is not a deep position for the team at the Major or Minor League levels. This is his 6th season and his .231/.279/.436 line doesn't give much reason for the Indians to move him along any further. If he doesn't step up his game soon he may be could be traded or end up as a rule 5 player at the end of the season. Of course if he doesn't play any better, why would any other team want to take a risk with him.

7. Jose Flores - RP - A+ Carolina - International Free Agent 2005

The Indians have taken it slow with this reliever, pitching him two seasons in the Dominican Summer League before allowing him to pitch in the U.S. Flores is currently having his best season yet as the closer for the Mudcats. He has finished 11 of his 15 games pitched in and has struck out 21 in only 17.2 innings. His 1.02 ERA is extremely impressive and his 7 saves show he can take the pressure of being a low level minor league closer. At his current pace he will be ready to leave Columbus sometime in 2016, but his talent level should allow him to move up a little faster than that. Instead, look for him to be in Columbus within the next two years.

8. Cody Anderson - SP - A Lake County - Drafted Round 14 in 2011

In just his first full Minor League season Cody Anderson is already showing some promise. In the 43 innings he's pitched since he was drafted last season he has only allowed 9 runs for an ERA of 1.88. He has won 4 of his 6 starts and struck out 31 compared to 9 walks. The basics are there for Anderson, it will just take some more time to see what kind of pitcher he will really be. After the routine AA broken finger and AAA Tommy John surgery, how much will he have left in the tank? Assuming none of those things happen, Anderson could be expected to be at a pro level by late 2015 or 2016.

9. Eric Berger - SP - AAA Columbus - Drafted Round 8 in 2008

The best mustache in baseball has jumped around a lot since joining the Indians system in 2008. In 5 years with the Tribe he has played for 5 different teams including time in Akron in 4 separate seasons. He started this year in Akron, but was quickly moved back to AAA, where he has pitched admirably. In 2 starts Berger has struck out 10 and only allowed 3 runs. Berger may be a pleasant surprise to most Indians fans as he hasn't seen much press as an 8th round draft pick, but most people hadn't heard of Zach McAllister before last season either. Berger could be Major League ready by season end and should definitely be in mind as a possible deep rotation starter or long reliever in 2013.

 10. Tim Fedroff - OF - AA Akron - Drafted Round 7 in 2008

Tim Fedroff spent last season at AAA, but has been demoted back to AA for the start of 2012. This probably has more to do with the glut of outfielders the Indians aquired before the season this year. New this season were Trevor Crowe (back from injury), Ezequiel Carrera (demoted from Cleveland) and Ryan Spilborghs (Minor League Free Agent). Since the beginning of the season Crowe has hurt himself again and Spilborghs has been traded, possibly leaving an opening for another outfielder on the Clippers' roster. Fedroff has played well enough for the promotion with a line of .333/.422/.468. His 5 steals with 3 times caught do leave some room for concern however as the Indians would like him to be a speed-type player. Fedroff does have 3 triples already, so he is probably just picking some bad places to run.

There are your top ten Indians Minor Leaguers through May. They are not specifically the best ten in the system right now, just those athletes that I felt should be recognized at this point in the season. Look out for ten more sometime around the beginning of July.

The Indians just completed a quick 2 game sweep of the Minnesota Twins. Many positive things came out of this series: starting pitching was strong, the offense started producing runs, they hit a 4 home runs in 2 games, and Johnny Damon is no longer in the lead off role. Next, the Indians return home for another 2 game series, this time against the Seattle Mariners, who are currently in 3rd place in the AL West, and 8 games behind the Texas Rangers.

This is the second series against the Mariners this season. The Indians took the first series from them, 2-1. With consistent pitching and solid offense, the Indians should sweep this series as well. The Indians are currently 2 games ahead of the second place Tigers, which guarantees them first place standings at the end of this series.

May 16th 7:05 EST: Felix Hernandez, RHP, 3-2, 2.29 ERA vs Ubaldo Jimenez, RHP, 3-3, 5.18 ERA

The last time the Indians faced the King (4/19), he pitched 8 shut out innings and left for the 9th where the Seattle closer blew the game. This was one of the rare time where the Indians strategy of striking out constantly to increase a starters pitch count actually worked. Twelve Indians struck out, but it forced Hernandez to throw 126 pitches, a number that Eric Wedge was not comfortable with. The Indians abillity to work the count is one of their greatest strong points and they will need to be very selective against Hernandez.

The reason the Indians were able to come back in that game was because Josh Tomlin kept the Mariners to a single run. After his time out against Boston, I'm not sure that Ubaldo has it in him to do that. There are a couple of ways to look at the series in Boston. One of those is that Boston is a high level team that has been playing very poorly so far and they finally got it together when the Tribe came to town. It still doesn't fit exactly with his dominance of an even better offensive team in the Texas Rangers, but it can go a little to explain how he gave up 7 runs in 4 innings.

May 17th 12:05 EST: Hector Noesi, RHP, 2-4, 6.32 ERA vs Zach McAllister, RHP, 1-1, 4.15 ERA

Noesi is a rookie for Seattle and has yet to pitch against the Indians. He has struggled some this year, specifically against the Rangers and White Sox where he was unable to go more than 3 innings, but has also shown moments of greatness. In two games, against the Twins and the A's, he allowed one run in 7 innings and had an 8 inning shutout. Those four games can probably be considered outliers in a short career so far. More likely he will be like his other three starts where he has allowed between 4 and 6 runs in 5 to 7 innings.

McAllister has pitched well in each of his two starts, especially considering that he pitched the last one on less than a days notice. This will be the first of his three starts this year that has been scheduled in advance, so he should be able to be a little more prepared for the hitters he is going to face. Of course the hitters for Seattle are nowhere near those of Chicago or Boston, so he should get some help there too.