It has been a long and bumpy road for Fausto Carmona. Once upon a time he was 4th in the voting for the American League Cy Young. Before that he illegally changed his name and age to make himself more likely to be signed by a Major League team. After many struggles in the majors (and minors) and a short prison sentence ended with community service, Carmona is back, this time using his real name of Roberto Hernandez. Now, three years older than previously though, Hernandez will be looking to make a comeback and the question remains, can he still pitch? 

The Indians have had no short list of troubles with their starting rotation and will gladly welcome anyone who could throw 6 innings per game and keep an ERA under 4.00. Whether Hernandez can do that or not is extremely doubtful. After his struggles and return to the minors in both 2008 and 2009, Carmona had a pretty good 2010. Good enough to be an All-Star at least. He regressed in 2011, putting up what could have been considered his worst season in his career as he lost 15 games and posted a 5.25 ERA over 32 starts. Roberto hasn't faced Major League hitting since the end of that season and will not get a chance to face a true big league team until his return on August 11th. 

Until then Roberto Hernandez will be undergoing his 3 week suspension that is well deserved and well needed. It will give him time to pitch against professional baseball players in game situations instead of the batting practice he was throwing in the Indians Dominican Republic training facility. The Indians front office wants to keep a close eye on him, so he will likely start for Lake County and move up through the system as he makes 4 to 5 starts in the Indians minor league system. He should have to make at least one start at AA and two at AAA before he is deemed ready.

Once his suspension is served and his sinker is sinking there will certainly be a spot in the rotation for him. If the Indians think with their heads rather than their wallets he will replace Derek Lowe in the rotation rather than the expected Josh Tomlin. Lowe has gotten worse from start to start and is obviously out of gas after an extremely lengthy career. The best move for the Tribe would be to make him a long man out of the bullpen to replace one of the inconsistant pitchers there, preferably Jeremy Accardo. This would also give the Indians another option if the Roberto Hernandez experiment fails miserably. Rather than releasing Lowe or sending Tomlin to the minors, they would have his replacement ready to go immediately. 

This is all still three weeks away so a lot could still change. One thing I know for sure is that I don't want to hear a single person say that this is like the Indians making a big trade to get another starting pitcher. It is nothing like that and they should still be aggressive in the trade market trying to get another pitcher and another right handed hitter. If the Indians traded for a pitcher of Hernandez's caliber the front office would be booed out of Cleveland so they shouldn't try to make this a bigger deal than it is.

Welcome back Fausto. We love you, we really do.

The pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona joined the club today and had a press conference this morning. He currently is serving a 3 week suspension issued by Major League Baseball. Look to Burning River Baseball later in the day for more information about Carmona.

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana provided much of the Indians offense today. He had 3 hits, including a single, double, and 9th inning home run. His score of 5.37 gives Santana his 7th Player of the Game this year.

Feathers Up

Josh Tomlin was very hittable today, but he kept the game manageable. He gave up 8 hits in 6 innings, 7 which were singles. He had great control and did not walk a single batter. Though he received the loss, Tomlin pitched a solid game and deserves some positive praise for his outing.

It sure is nice when the Indians put some hits together to score some runs, but did they really have to wait until the 9th inning? The 9th inning saw a single by Michael Brantley, a 2-run homer by Carlos Santana, a double by Shelley Duncan, and an RBI single by Travis Hafner. The rally was ended when Johnny Damon flew out and Asdrubal Cabrera struck out to end the game.

Jim Thome did not hit a home run today.

Feathers Down

The first 2 relievers today gave up runs, making an Indians win even more unlikely as the game progressed. Esmil Rogers, who has been a solid reliever since the Tribe acquired him, gave up a run in the 7th inning. Jeremy Accardo came on in the 8th inning and gave up a solo home run. With the Tribe rally in the 9th inning, these runs proved to be costly.

The Indians are now below the .500 mark for the first time since April. Detroit won today, and they have sole possession of first place. The Indians need to start winning as the red-hot Tigers come into town on Tuesday.

Play of the Game

Asdrubal Cabrera makes a nice play in the 1st to get Tomlin out of the inning.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Baltimore Orioles 4

Visa Update: Fausto Carmona has been granted his return to the United States and will be in Cleveland tomorrow for a press conference. Carmona was suspended for 3 weeks starting today for lying about his name actually being Fausto Carmona. Roberto Hernandez Heredia (back of jersey will say Hernandez 55) will be allowed to rehab in the Indians minor league system while suspended and will be able to return to the Tribe on August 11th.

Roster Update: The Indians signed reliever J.C. Romero to a minor league contract and sent him to AAA Columbus in an effort to make the Clippers more like the Twins teams of the mid 2000's.

Player of the Game

Shin-Soo Choo wins tonight's Player of the Game on the strength of his solo home run, the only run scored by the Indians during the game. It was his 11th on the season and gave him a Player of the Game score of 2.90, just edging out tonight's starter Zach McAllister who earned a 2.33. McAllister has had 9 straight positive games this year, the longest stretch of any Indian player this year.

Feathers Up

Zach McAllister had much better command over his non fastball pitches than in any other game this season as he dominated the Orioles over 6 innings. Of course he pitched into the 8th inning, so that kind of marred his night.

Both teams played spectacular defense in tonight's match up, backing two solid pitching performances. Especially impressive was each team's third baseman as there were a few tough plays at the hot corner for both sides. The best play of the night has to go to this one, however, a web gem of a catch by Nick Markakis.

Feathers Down

Jim Thome hit a home run last night, but it wasn't mentioned, because it wasn't important to the final score. Tonight's home run was. Thome hit a two run home run (career 611, 7th All time) in the 7th inning for the O's, giving them a one run lead, their first of the night.

You don't win many games when only scoring a single run and you don't win many series when scoring a total three runs during the first two games. This offense isn't reminiscent of the Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez years (two players the Indians could have had this year on multiple occasions and still could), but it isn't this bad either. It seems very improbable that this many good players (Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis, Travis Hafner and Asdrubal Cabrera) could all be struggling at the same time. Any way you put it, the Indians will not go to the playoffs by playing .500 ball and they are currently sitting there while Detroit has taken advantage of the White Sox struggles and has moved into first place.

Play of the Game

Shin-Soo Choo lead off the game with this solo home run, his 5th to lead off a game this year.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 - Baltimore Orioles 4

Roster Update: Prior to the game, the Indians demoted Scott Barnes and brought up right handed reliever Cody Allen from AAA. Allen was featured in this month's Minor League top ten, which can be read here. He was just drafted last season and was a late round pick (23rd round). In recent memory I cannot recall the Indians bringing a player to the Major Leagues this soon after being drafted. In fact, only one other player from the 2011 draft has made it to the Major Leagues and he was the third overall pick in the first round. The Indians will most likely be looking for someone to fill the role of early inning pitcher (coming in for the 4th through 6th innings) who will throw strikes and not give up a home run per inning. He will probably just be a stop gap as Rafael Perez is scheduled to return within the next week although the Indians could always demote someone else (like Jeremy Accardo or Tony Sipp).

Player of the Game

Jack Hannahan wins the honor of taking the Player of the Game in one of the worst games for the Cleveland Indians this season. Hannahan hit a solo home run after the game was already decided and struck out in each of his other 3 at bats. Asdrubal Cabrera was a close second with another solo home run, but he managed to make 3 outs even though he only had two other at bats (strike out and grounded into a double play). The real difference maker between the two scores was Cabrera's stupid play when he went home with a ball in the third inning that he should have thrown to first. The award is Jack's second on the season and first in exactly 3 months.

Derek Lowe's score of -13.29 was the lowest score of any Indian this season and was enough to push him into negative numbers for the season as a whole. It was the fourth consecutive negative game for the Indians starting rotation and by far the worst of those games.

Feathers Up

The reason we all still remember Kevin Kouzmanoff hitting a grand slam on the first pitch he saw in his career is because that type of thing doesn't happen very often. Cody Allen's Major League debut was not quite as memorable, but he certainly didn't stink up the place as he pitched an inning trying to bail out Derek Lowe. He did allow Lowe's inherited runner to score, but he also struck out his first Major League batter and didn't allow a hti during the inning.

If you exclude the 3rd and 4th innings, the Indians would have played to a tie game at 2-2.

Chris Perez padded his stats with a scoreless ninth, striking out the side and only allowing a single hit in a non save situation.

Feathers Down

When Derek Lowe couldn't get out of a pretty easy situation in the first inning (he allowed a run to score from third with two outs on a wild pitch) it looked pretty bad. When he gave up 5 hits (all doubles) in the first three innings it looked worse, but he finally showed how bad he could be by giving up a three run home run right before the end of the third and another solo shot to begin the fourth.

You can't exclude the 3rd and 4th innings.

When the Tigers are playing the White Sox it should be a guaranteed win situation for the Tribe. Either way they would gain a game on one of the two teams. All they had to do was win. They didn't win.

Play of the Game

Johnny Damon caught this foul ball in an attempt to save Derek Lowe's life by sacrificing his own.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Baltimore Orioles 10

The Indians will be returning home after a rough road trip following the All-Star break. The Tribe is just 3-4 since the break and just split a series 2-2 with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Indians remain in 3rd place in the AL Central, 3 games behind 1st place Chicago and 1.5 games behind Detroit. The Indians should be better off in the upcoming series, facing 3 right handed pitchers and just one lefty. The Orioles come into the series in 2nd place in the AL East, but they have a 9 game distance between them and the Yankees.

July 20, 7:05 PM EDT: Miguel Gonzalez, RHP, 1-1, 2.59 ERA vs Derek Lowe, RHP, 8-7, 4.43 ERA

Derek Lowe is coming off of 2 solid starts. He has thrown quality games, but usually has one rough inning where multiple runs are scored off him. His July starts have been consistent to his season stats, holding a 4.50 ERA for the month. His record of 5-1 and 2.86 ERA at home may prove advantageous to him this series.

Miguel Gonzalez will be making just his 3rd start of the season. He has only pitched in 5 games so far this season, but he can go deep into games when needed. Gonzalez walks 2-4 batters per appearance and is not a strike out pitcher. This will be the first time he faces the Indians.

July 21, 7:05 PM EDT: Chris Tillman, RHP, 1-1, 1.00 ERA vs Zach McAllister, RHP, 4-1, 3.17 ERA

Zach McAllister has had nothing but great starts since he was called up from Columbus. He took the win in his last start, pitching 6 innings and allowing no runs on 3 hits. McAllister finds himself in a good position to stay in the Majors the remainder of the season as the rest of the rotation has lacked his consistency.

Chris Tillman is another youngster, making just his 3rd start of his Major League career. In his first start against Seattle, he pitched 8.1 innings of shut out baseball. In his most recent start against Minnesota, he wasn't able to pitch out of the first inning. That, however, should be no indication of his pitching ability, since only one of the 7 runs the Twins scored was earned. Tillman does not walk a lot of batters, but he is capable getting strike outs. 

July 22, 3:05 PM EDT: Zach Britton, LHP, 0-0, 9.00 ERA vs Josh Tomlin, RHP, 5-6, 5.51 ERA

Josh Tomln has been inconsistent of late. He usually alternates good starts and bad, but luckily for the Indians, he is due for another quality start. July has been his best month this season, with a 3.55 ERA and a .188 batting average against. If Tomlin stays focused, he should have no trouble against the Orioles.

Zach Britton will be making his 2nd start of the season on Sunday. He is a lefty, so the Tribe bats may be fearful. His only start this year came against the Twins. He gave up 4 runs in 4 innings. He appears to throw a lot of pitches, averaging 25 pitches per inning. In his last outing, he walked 6 batters and only struck out one, so if the Tribe is patient, they may overcome Britton's left-handedness.

July 23, 7:05 PM EDT: Tommy Hunter, RHP, 4-4, 5.71 ERA vs Justin Masterson, RHP, 6-8, 4.29 ERA

Justin Masterson appears to be in the same pattern as Josh Tomlin, throwing a quality game every other start. Of late, Masterson has been either phenomenal or really bad. His last start proved to be awful as allowed 4 runs on 7 hits and walked 7 in just 4.1 innings pitched. The next outing, however, should be masterful.

Tommy Hunter is the seasoned veteran for the Orioles this weekend. He is coming off a quality start against the Twin in which he only gave up one run in 7.1 innings. He will not strike out many batters, but he won't walk them, either. He usually gives up at least one home run a game; he has only had one outing in his past 10 games when he has not allowed a homer. 

Player of the Game

Jeremy Accardo was today's Player of the Game with a score of 1.03. In his solo inning pitched, he gave up a double and struck out 2. Accardo now has 2 awards on the season.

Feathers Up

The Indians managed three walks (two of Carlos Santana) against David Price, even though he is a notoriously accurate thrower. Jose Lopez also had a single in the 5th inning to break up the no hitter.

Feathers Down

Luke Scott (aka Sabertooth) has been fairly terrible all season against every team but one. Scott has destroyed the Tribe this year, hitting another home run in today's game giving him a batting average of .424 against the Indians this year along with 9 RBI, 3 home runs, a triple, 4 doubles and 5 runs scored. The team he has played next best against is the Toronto Blue Jays where he has hit .219 with 2 home runs and 10 RBI in 8 games so far. Even Ryan Reynolds with laser eyes couldn't defeat Luke Scott at this point if he put on an Indians jersey. Thankfully the Indians are done playing Tampa this season.

Ubaldo Jimenez turned a 'meh' start into a bad one as he allowed 4 runs to score in the 6th inning after he already had two outs. Scott Barnes came in for relief but allowed the 4th run to score. Barnes is only on the team right now because Nick Hagadone punched a wall and will likely be sent back to Columbus for more work in a day or two when Rafael Perez returns.

Play of the Game

Ubaldo Jimenez tagged out Desmond Jennings as he tried to score from third on a safety squeeze by Sean Rodriguez.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 0 - Tampa Bay Rays 6

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana is back and better than ever as he wins his first Player of the Game in about 60 games. In the first 32 games this season Santana won 5, but he had been shut out to this point in the year. Tonight he earned his score of 7.73 with a three run home run to increase the lead in the 7th and an RBI single in the top of the 9th.

Feathers Up

After ending his second 10 plus game hitting streak of the season on Monday night (5 walks this series but no hits), Michael Brantley hit a triple to lead off the second inning tonight. Of course the Indians were unable to score him from third even though their two best power hitters (Carlos Santana and Travis Hafner) were coming to bat, ruining what should have been a joyous occasion.

Esmil Rogers came with the bases loaded and one out in the 5th inning and proceeded to strike out Elliot Johnson and get B.J. Upton to ground out to end the inning with no damage. He then went on to pitch the next inning and struck another batter out while only giving up a single walk.

Feathers Down

There are no complaints about the umpires tonight. Justin Masterson earned all 7 of his walks tonight.

Tony Sipp has been ineffective most of the season and has pitched in two straight games, yet Manny Acta went to him first once the Tribe took the lead. Sipp gave up a single and a walk and was quickly removed. Joe Smith, the pitcher that should have been brought in in the first place, quickly got a double play and was out of the inning with only a single run scored.

Acta did it again in the 9th as the Indians increased their lead past the point of save eligibility so the manager brought in Jeremy Accardo instead of Chris Perez. There are players you can trust in this bullpen and those you cannot. The trust list currently consists of Perez, Pestano, Smith and possibly Rogers with no one else even close to making the list. Pitchers not on the list should not see game time while the Indians have a lead of less than 8 runs until they can prove themselves in no risk situations. Accardo did finish the game, but he allowed a run on a walk and a double.

Play of the Game

Jason Kipnis hit an RBI single up the middle to knock in the game tying run in the 7th inning. He ended up scoring on a Carlos Santana home run after the Tribe took the lead on a Michael Brantley single. The play also earned Joe Maddon an ejection from the game.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 10 - Tampa Bay Rays 6

Lou Marson has been the Indians back-up catcher since 2009 and he is finally starting to deserve all the at bats he has been given through the last four seasons. Although his playing time has been very limited this year (after starting the first two months batting under .200) he is now on pace for career highs in runs scored, hits, triples (already tied for career high), walks and all his rate stats (AVG, OBP, SLG) are already at career highs. This is not coming at an increase in playing time as is usually supposed (he has played less this year than the previous two seasons), but at a change in strategy against right handed pitchers. Over his career, Marson has hit .206 against righties, but this season he has turned things around and is currently hitting .322 on the season.

Recently most of Marson's starts have come against left handed pitching, although he does get a rare start against a righty every once in a while. In a recent tear, Marson had RBI in 4 consecutive games spanning from June 30th through July 7th. Three of those games featured left-handed starters and the Indians won all four of them, despite having a terrible record against left handed pitching this season (10-18 despite winning four of their last 6). Of the last four wins against left handers, Lou Marson went 1-3 with a double, walk and run scored against the Orioles' Bruce Chen (6/28), 4-5 with a double, triple, walk and 3 runs scored along with one driven in against the Orioles' Dana Eveland (6/30), 1-3 with an RBI and a steal against the Orioles' Brian Matusz and 1-3 with a double and a walk along with a run scored and an RBI. If he could do this every day then he would be an acceptable starter, but we already know he is incapable of that. As it is he deserves to take Casey Kotchman's place in the lineup for every game against a left handed starter, which will allow Carlos Santana to play first base. There is no question that Marson has been very instrumental in the Indians recent successes against left handed starters.

An aside for those of you calling for Lou Marson to take the starting job from Carlos Santana, here is a recent history lesson. Before Marson, the Indians had a back-up catcher named Kelly Shoppach, who had a decent season as a back-up in 2007 when he hit 7 home runs and drove in 30. He replaced super star Victor Martinez when he was injurred in 2008 and had a very good season hitting 20 home runs. This gave the Indians the confidence to allow him more at bats in 2009 by playing Martinez at first base almost half the time. Shoppach responded by batting .214 and the Indians were forced to trade him to Tampa Bay for Mitch Talbot. Before that the Indians had another catcher named Josh Bard who tried to cut it as a starter, but couldn't beat out Martinez either. Bard hit .193 in his final season with the Tribe before being traded for Kelly Shoppach. Skipping Tim Laker, who never tried to be a starter, will show the most offensive example of them all. Following the 2000 season the Indians decided they didn't need to resign their superstar catcher, current bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr, because they had the future in tow in Einar Diaz. Diaz played very well as a reserve in 1999 hitting .281 and 2000 hitting .272. Even in 2001 he was not terrible as he hit .277 and knocked in 56. Diaz then fell apart in 2002, batting .206 over 102 games with just 21 total extra base hits and only 16 runs knocked in. The best thing that every happened because of Einar Diaz is that the Texas Rangers were so stupid they traded Travis Hafner for him prior to the 2003 season. Alomar went on to play most of the rest of the decade, while Diaz retired after 2006.

The moral to this story is that a back-up catcher should stay a back-up catcher when playing behind a superstar, unless you can trade him for another superstar. No one has every said that Lou Marson could be a multiple time All-Star and possible Hall of Famer, but people have said that about Carlos Santana. Give him some time to recover from his injuries and let him get back to his old self. The Indians aren't the Browns and Santana isn't Tim Couch, I mean Kelly Holcomb, Charlie Frye? Brady Quinn? Derek Anderson? I guess it's Colt McCoy now isn't it. Feel free to constantly boo the current guy and beg for the next guy with the Browns, but the Indians don't work that way. When you get a guy like Carlos Santana for a player like Casey Blake, you keep him for as long as he will stay.

Player of the Game

Tony Sipp pitched strong in relief today, which was enough to win him Player of the Game honors. Sipp came on with 2 outs in the 6 inning and continued to pitched through the 7th. He did not allow a single runner and struck one out, giving him a score of 1.82. After 90 games into the season, Sipp finally wins his first PoG.

Feathers Up

Tribe hitters took advantage of walks as they inched their way back. Their first run came in the 4th inning when Jose Lopez hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. Their next run came in the 5th inning when Jason Kipnis singled Lou Marson home. The Indians offense drew 4 walks in the first 5 innings.

Josh Tomlin has a wonderful moustache.

Feathers Down

Josh Tomlin is coming off of a strong start, but he quickly got behind in today's game. He gave up a lead-off single (Shelley Duncan's marvelous defense held him to a single) and then a 2-run home run to Carlos Pena, giving the Rays an early lead. The inning continued with a walk and a Luke Scott triple (which should have been a single if Shin-Soo Choo cut it off properly), giving the Rays their 3rd run of the inning. Josh Tomlin gave way to Tony Sipp in the 6th inning after allowing the Rays to score their 4th run.

The Indians only managed 4 hits today, one to each of the first 3 batters in the line up and one to Casey Kotchman. All of the hits were singles. They were lucky to score 2 runs on just the 4 hits. They did, however, have several opportunities to score with the bases loaded.

Play of the Game

Shin-Soo Choo sldes to cut off a ball and misses, allowing a single (or double) to turn into a triple.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Tampa Bay Rays 4

Player of the Game

Zach McAllister took his second consecutive Player of the Game and his 4th win of the season. McAllister pitched 6 innings and struck out 5 while only allowing a single Tampa Bay run. His only weak point was his control as he walked 4 batters, but who didn't during this game. A few other players had games worth mentioning as Shin-Soo Choo, Jason Kipnis, Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez all earned more than 2.00 Player of the Game points. McAllister finished ahead of every one with 6.16.

Feathers Up

Rafael Perez threw his second inning of relief in Akron today and has only allowed a single hit in two outings thus far. He will need to throw a few more times in AA to be ready, but the Indians can definitely use him now that Nick Hagadone has gone and punched himself out of the big leagues.

Michael Brantley walked three times while Travis Hafner walked each of his first two times up. Shin-Soo Choo, Jason Kipnis, and Casey Kotchman all took bases on balls as well. Exciting baseball tonight at the Trop. Don't worry, no base runner scored for either team after getting on base via the walk.

Milestone Update: Johnny Damon's 522nd career double ties him with Ed Delahanty and Garret Anderson for 41st all time.

Feathers Down

A challenge on the first play of the game slowed things down and they never sped up as each pitcher dealt with a strike zone the size of a cantaloupe. Alex Cobb was pulled from the game in the 4th inning after walking 5 and throwing balls for exactly half his pitches. McAllister didn't have it any easier as he threw 6 innings and walked four as well, throwing 42 of his 99 pitches for balls.

McAllister held the Rays hitless for the first three innings, but that isn't as impressive as it sounds. Three Rays starters came into the game with batting averages below .200 and only two hitters were above .260. When they did start hitting in the 4th they started hitting Zach. McAllister took a hard line drive in the arm that allowed the Rays first run.

The Indians starting lineup was an odd mix today as Jose Lopez hit higher in the order than Travis Hafner and Carlos Santana. It's nice that Lopez has played better than expected, but on no planet is he better than either Hafner or Santana. In tonight's game he managed to line, ground and strike out into double plays after striking out his first time up.

The Indians had a lot of chances they weren't able to cash in on tonight, the most egregious one being a bases loaded no out situation in the 4th during which the Indians were unable to score. The biggest villain of the night was Asdrubal Cabrera who went 0-5 with 4 strike outs and 4 runners left in scoring position.

This may seem like a lot of negatives for an Indians win, but here's another. This game lasted almost four hours so I had plenty of time to write down every bad thing that happened.

Play of the Game

Jeff Keppinger hit a foul ball against Vinnie Pestano that landed about an inch outside of the line in the 8th inning. The play occured with a runner on second that would certainly have scored the tying run. Keppinger later flew out to center.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Tampa Bay Rays 2