Roster Update: The Indians claimed starting pitcher, Chris Schwinden, off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays and optioned him to Triple-A Columbus. Johnny Damon returned from paternity leave. With Carlos Santana back and healthy, Luke Carlin was sent back Columbus.

Player of the Game

The offense was very productive tonight, but it was Michael Brantley who led them all. Brantley extended his hitting streak to 14 games in the 1st inning when he hit a long, 3-run home run over the right field wall. This was Brantley's first home run of the year. This home run gave Brantley a score of 5.36, giving him his 4th PoG of the year. Also with high scores tonight were Shin-Soo Choo (3.76), Johnny Damon(4.44), and Casey Kotchman (4.15).

Feathers Up

The Indians came out hitting today. Michael Brantley and Casey Kotchman each had a home run. Shin-Soo Choo added 3 hits and Asdrubal Cabrera had 2. The Indians scored 9 runs on 9 hits, earning them their 2nd win in a row.

The Indians defense continues to impress.

Indians bullpen dominated tonight, giving up no runs in 4 innings of work. They recorded 3 holds (Tony Sipp, Joe Smith, and Vinnie Pestano) and a save (Chris Perez).

Milestone: With the win tonight, Manny Acta is now ranks in the top 20 all time in Indians wins by a manager.

Milestone: Vinnie Pestano is now tied for 7 all-time for Indians holds with Bob Howry.

Feathers Down

After pitching a great game, Jeanmar Gomez fell apart in the 5th inning. In the first 4 innings, Gomez gave up just 2 hits, both solo home runs. In the 5th inning, he gave up 4 runs on 5 hits. Lucky for him, the Indians offense supported him with 9 runs, so he was still able to get the win.

Play of the Game

Johnny Damon robs Prince Fielder of a home run in the 2nd inning. 

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 9 - Detroit Tigers 6

Roster Update: Carlos Santana returned from the 7 Day Concussion DL and Juan Diaz was sent back down to AA Akron. You would think he deserved to at least go to AAA after his success in the bigs, but they just didn't have enough room for him there with Jason Donald and Cord Phelps in the middle of the infield.

Player of the Game

Ubaldo Jimenez becomes the first starting pitcher to win the Player of the Game in 10 games as he picks up his 3rd award on the season. He was impressive as the aggressive Tigers hitters allowed him to pitch ahead in the count. His score of 5.97 was his second highest on the season. Jimenez pitched 6.2 innings with 5 hits and 1 run allowed while earning the win. With the win he continued his streak of getting a decision in every game this season after his first start.

Feathers Up

Quintin Berry playing shallow. The Indians scored their first three runs because the Tigers centerfielder was playing too shallow against Asdrubal Cabrera and Lou Marson. Each player burned him deep for an RBI triple. After Marson's, Shin-Soo Choo hit a single through a drawn in infield to score Marson.

In related news Lou Marson has been aflame since his return from injury. He is hitting .385 (5-13) over his last four games (.186 on the season before today) with 2 runs and 3 RBI.  His season average stands at .213 postgame. Is it a coincidence that Marson starting hitting as soon as his possible replacement was brought up from AAA? Sure, you can think that.

The extra time off seems to have done Ubaldo Jimenez good as he pitched his second best game of the the season today against the Tigers. His key to success? It was the first time this season that he only walked a single batter and it happened in the 7th inning. In fact he had walked at least two batters in every single start before this one. The Tigers' only run scored after Ubaldo hit the first batter of the game, he stole second on an errant throw by Marson and was knocked in by a Miguel Cabrera double.

Feathers Down

Johnny Damon is coming back tomorrow and the Indians will be forced to continue this rediculous experiment. Say goodbye to Luke Carlin's 2012 Major League season.

Play of the Game

Asdrubal Cabrera tied the game up with this triple over the head of Quintin Berry.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 - Detroit Tigers 2

The Indians are 4-12 against left handed starters so far this season. This is the third worst record in the Major Leagues behind the Cubs and Padres who are both in last place in their divisions. Luckily for the Tribe, they have gone 24-13 against right handed starters, allowing them to stay in second place. There has to be some explanation for this discrepancy and I don't think it is a straight down the line reason like, "the Indians lineup is full of left-handed batters and left-handed batters as a rule can't hit left handed pitchers." 

So far this season, Indians hitters have batted .214 (last in MLB) against LHP and .272 (6th in MLB) against RHP. The top team in both splits is the Texas Rangers who have somehow managed to bat just one point different (.288 vs RHP, .289 vs LHP) between the two. The Rangers do have quite a few right handed batters on their roster, but three of their strongest hitters, including their MVP centerfielder Josh Hamilton are lefties. Assuming the immediate return of Carlos Santana, the daily lineup for the Indians should look something like this for the near future:

RF Shin-Soo Choo L

2B Jason Kipnis L

SS Asdrubal Cabrera S

C Carlos Santana S

CF Michael Brantley L

3B Jose Lopez R / Lonnie Chisenhall L

1B Casey Kotchman L

DH Shelley Duncan R

LF Johnny Damon L

We already know which side of the plate each batter hits from, but not necessarily how well they do against pitchers of the same or opposite handedness. Whose fault is it the Indians can't score against lefties?

Starting at the top there is an immediate problem. Shin-Soo Choo is hitting LHP at a pace of .143 on the season while he is hitting .339 against RHP. When Choo was at his best back in 2010, he hit .264 against LHP and .319 against RHP. This proves that Choo wasn't always this bad against left-handers, something must have changed. Even last season when he struggled most of the year he hit .269 against LHP and .254 against RHP. Having a lead-off hitter who can't get on base against a third of Major League pitchers is a big part of the problem, but he isn't the whole lineup.

Jason Kipnis also has a serious difference in his splits. He has hit .210 this year against LHP (much better than Choo, but still poor) and has shelled RHP by hitting .323 against them. His slugging splits are also significant at .346 vs LHP and .519 vs RHP, but he still produces against lefties as he leads the team with 2 home runs and 13 RBI against left handers. The verdict on Kipnis is that he isn't really helping the Indians against lefties, but he isn't hurting them eier.

Next in the lineup come the two switch hitters back to back. You would expect them to both hit better against lefties than the rest of the lineup and you would be half right. Asdrubal Cabrera is currently leading the team with a .339 batting average against lefties and Santana is hitting .231. Cabrera is obviously not the problem here. Carlos Santana is an interesting case because while he hits better against right handers, he gets on base more against left handers. This probably has to due with the fact that he has struggled this season, but is more confident against righties, so he swings more freely. Against left handers he is more patient and has drawn far more walks per at bat (13 BB in 52 AB vs LHP, 17 BB in 103 AB vs RHP). Carlos Santana is a problem, but not the left handed exclusive problem we are looking for.

Michael Brantley is proof that you don't have to be right handed to hit left handers well. Brantley is second on the team with a .296 average against LHP and has 6 extrabase hits against them as well with 12 more against RHP. All his line stats drop slightly against RHP, but he is pretty even across the board. It's not his fault.

With Jack Hannahan's injury, he has two replacements at third. Jose Lopez is hitting .267 vs LHP, good for third on the team and Chisenhall has gone 0-5 so far. Neither player has been starting long enough to draw any real conclusions, but it is safe to say that Lopez is playing way over his head right now and can't be to blame for any poor Indians offense.

Of the bottom three hitters, Kotchman is hitting .160 against LHP while Damon and Duncan are doing slightly better at .231 and .245. Both Duncan and Damon are significantly worse against RHP while Kotchman is slightly better. This part of the lineup hasn't been responsible for much of the run scoring this season so they wind up being slightly insignificant.

The answer to the Indians problems against left handers is the top of the lineup. While some of the problems occurred while Travis Hafner was still playing (.150 vs LHP), he will not be part of this team for the next month, so they will have to move on without him. Choo is the main player at fault at this point and it would probably be beneficial for the Indians to move him down in the lineup and place Brantley in the lead off spot against left handers. As for the rest of the problem it seems to be mostly from the fact that the Indians are hitting better against right handers than expected. No one can expect a lineup with Johnny Damon, Shelley Duncan, Jose Lopez and Casey Kotchman in it to out hit anybody, especially the way they are playing this season. What is keeping the Indians up against righties is the fact that Jason Kipnis, Shin-Soo Choo and for a time Hafner and Hannahan are tearing the cover off the ball against them. This success has made the bottom half of the lineup, which hasn't been able to produce against anyone less important against right handers.

In general along with a lineup change, the Indians are just going to play more small ball against left handers. They should learn from Carlos Santana and be more patient at the plate and not waste at bats. Choo and Damon could also benefit from using the opposite field a little more. Manny Acta could also help his team out a bit by continuing to use Lopez against lefties and possibly adding in Matt LaPorta's bat to give the Indians another look from the right side.

The Indians and Tigers each lost their last series while the White Sox won, making the top of the AL Central look like this:

The Indians are in no danger of falling into third at this point, but need to end this current losing skid (2-7 in their last 9 games) if they want to regain control of the Central. The good news is their last winning streak came against the Tigers (a three game sweep). The bad news, the Tigers are throwing out two left handed pitchers of their three starters this series. The Indians have epically struggled against left handers this season (expect a more in depth article later today), especially young ones and they will face two in Smyly and Crosby.

The real good news going into this series is that Carlos Santana should be back for tomorrow's (6/5) game. He is going to DH in Lake County today and if everything goes well could be activated for the opener. The Indians should announce a corresponding roster move later today or tomorrow. It will likely see either Luke Carlin or Juan Diaz being sent back down to AAA (or AA). Since coming back from injury Lou Marson has played better than he's ever played before, almost like his career depended on it (and it did), so he will most certainly remain as the back-up.

Finally, the Major League draft starts tonight and the Indians have the 15th pick in the first round. They will likely choose a college pitcher to replace all the other college pitchers they have drafted in recent years, then traded away.

June 5th, 7:05 PM EST: Ubaldo Jimenez, RHP, 5-4, 5.79 ERA vs Drew Smyly, LHP, 2-1, 3.46 ERA

The thing the Indians traded all their draft picks for will be starting this game after getting destroyed his last time out. An interesting point here is that Ubaldo has only allowed more than 4 runs in a game three times and each time he allowed 7 runs against some kind of Sox (twice against White, once against Red). He did beat the Tigers the last time he faced them, going 6 innings and only allowing 3 runs also known as a miracle in Cleveland. Incredibly, Jimenez has a decision in every start this season except his first. When he starts, the game is over by the time he leaves it. It is extremely important for the Indians that he put up a good showing in game one to try to regain some ground against the Tigers.

The Indians have yet to face Drew Smyly and he is putting in a Rookie of the Year type performance so far this year. This could end badly for the Tribe. If it is any consolation at all, Smyly is yet to pitch through the 7th, so the Indians should get a couple innings against the Tiger bullpen after Smyly shuts them out for the first half of the game. Seriously, this one doesn't look good.

June 6th, 7:05 PM: Jeanmar Gomez, RHP, 3-4, 4.42 ERA vs Max Scherzer, RHP, 5-3, 5.55 ERA

Gomez's last two starts (against Kansas City and Chicago) were his worst two combined starts of the season, but they followed his best start and the Indians only win against the Marlins this year. Jeanmar is yet to face the Tigers this year and in his career he has pitched 20+ innings against them with an ERA of over 7.00. He will have to turn things around as this game is the Indians best chance for a win in this series.

Scherzer has not faced the Indians to this point in the season, but has faced them many times over the past few years. He currently has a career ERA against the Tribe of about 5.00. Adding to that the return of Santana and the first right hander that the will play against in four days, the Indians should have no trouble scoring runs in this game.

June 7th, 1:05 PM: Derek Lowe, RHP, 7-3, 3.06 ERA vs Casey Crosby, LHP, 0-1, 16.20 ERA

As predicted, Derek Lowe destroyed the Twins and wouldn't have allowed a single earned run if the game was scored properly. It will be interesting to see what the old man can do this time out as he has yet to face the Tigers this year.

Hopefully Matt LaPorta will stay on the roster for this game, even though Johnny Damon is scheduled to return on the 5th. Nobody hits AAA pitchers like Matt LaPorta. Over his minor league career, Matt hit .311/.400/.569 in 159 games at the AAA level and this season had already hit 14 home runs, 8 doubles and knocked in 32. Crosby is recent enough out of the minors that LaPorta may be able to hit him still. He just made his Major League debut against the Yankees and was rocked to the tune of 6 runs in 3.1 innings.

Jack Graney was another player who managed to stick around for a long time, even though he wasn't the most talented player, and turn it into a solid career. From 1910 to 1919 Graney was the starting left fielder until he was replaced by another long term Indian, Charlie Jamieson. During his time, he racked up significant at bats to be in the top five in career walks (he is also in the top ten for single season walks with 105 in his 1919 season), top ten in triples and eleventh in games played. All these numbers combined helped him get listed as one of the Indians top 10 left fielders. He won his ring in 1920 as part of the Indians first championship team, but didn't fare to well himself. He had already been replaced as a starter in the lineup and only received three at bats during the series. He went 0-3 with two strikeouts.

If all that isn't enough to make Jack an all-time great, here is why he is truly listed. After playing his entire career with the Tribe, in 1933 Graney became the first former player to announce games for the Cleveland Indians on the radio and he held his position until 1953. He was loved by the fans and is still held in high esteem today as one of the most popular Indians announcers of all time. Graney died in 1978, but is still being honored as he was placed in the Indians Distinguished Hall of Fame for non-uniformed personnel in 2012. He was the first announcer to be placed in the Indians Hall of Fame solely for his announcing.

Roster Move: The Indians have finally brought up Matt LaPorta from AAA Columbus. Johnny Damon was put on the "having a baby" list, which made room for LaPorta on the 25-man roster.

Player of the Game

Lou Marson won today's Player of the game, his second of the year. His RBI double in the 7th inning was the major contributor to his score of 1.73.

Feathers Up

Michael Brantley continued his hit steak, which is now at 12 games.

Feathers Down

The Indians defense allowed 3 bunt singles today. The Minnesota offense was aggressive with the small ball today, bunting pretty much every opportunity they could get. Even with the corner infielders playing in, in anticipation for the bunt, the Indians could not defend the speedy Minnesota line up.

Justin Masterson kept the game close, giving up 3 runs in 6 innings pitched. When he left the game, the Indians were trailing by just 1 run. Nick Hagadone pitched 2 outs in the 7th inning and allowed 2 runs to score. Another run was scored by the Twins in the 8th inning, which was unearned after Michael Brantley has a throwing error.

The Indians have now lost 3 series in a row. They are comfortably sitting in the second place position in the division, 2.5 games back of Chicago and 3.5 games ahead of Detroit. After an off day tomorrow, the Indians head to Detroit for a 3 game series against the Tigers.

Play of the Game

Michael Brantley makes a nice running catch in the 2nd inning.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3  - Minnesota Twins 6

Player of the Game

Jason Kipnis did not win tonight's Player of the Game, but he was close. Michael Brantley took tonight's honors with a score of 2.51, which included a single and 2 RBI. Kipnis took second tonight with a score of 2.43, which included 2 singles, a stolen base, and 2 runs scored. Brantey's PoG award gives him 3 for the season.

Feathers Up

After trailing 4-0 after the first inning, the Indians offense slowly fought their way back. The Indians scored one run in 4 different innings to eventually tie the game in the 5th. The Indians scored all of their runs via singles and walks. Unfortunately, the offense could not score any more runs.

The White Sox finally lost tonight, snapping their 9 game winning streak.

Feathers Down

Carlos Santana is not expected to return from his concussion until Tuesday. He was originally slotted to come back this weekend, but he is not quite ready to return from the head injury.

Josh Tomlin gave Minnesota the early lead. The Indians were down 4-0 before they even had the opportunity to bat in the 1st inning. After the first inning, Tomlin remained hittable, but was able to keep the Twins from scoring until the 6th inning, when he gave up a solo home run to Trevor Plouffe. Tomlin allowed 5 runs on 10 hits (9 of which were singles) in his 6 innings pitched.

With the Indians within 1 run, Tony Sipp came on to pitch in the 7th with hopes of keeping the game close. He gave up an infield single to the lead off hitter then gave up a home run to Joe Mauer. The 2 runs that Sipp gave up gave the Indians a 3 run disadvantage.

Play of the Game

Michael Brantley singles in the 5th inning, scoring Jason Kipnis to tie the game at 4.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 - Minnesota Twins 7

Player of the Game

Jason Kipnis scored 7.31 points tonight as he won his 6th Player of the Game of the season. With Carlos Santana and Travis Hafner out, Kipnis is taking over the leading role of RBI man on this team. Tonight he had a single and a steal to go along with the Indians first grand slam of the year. Derek Lowe (6.13) and Lonnie Chisenhall (5.61) each had scores over 5.00 as well. The Indians team score of 27.31 was their highest since April 15th against the Royals when they won 13-7.

Feathers Up

Lonnie Chisenhall is on fire as the little mustach beat the big mustache (Carl Pavano). Lonnie hit his second home run of the season in just four games and added two singles and a steal as well. You can and should vote for Lonnie Chisenhall to win the Golden Groomer Award by tweeting Lonnie Chisenhall with the hashtag #GoldenGroomerAward

Starting with Jeanmar Gomez's start on May 19th the Indians went almost two full times through the rotation with great starts every night. Gomez ended that streak with his performance on May 30th and started a new streak of terrible starts that lasted one time through the rotation. Lowe's start tonight was the best Indians start since Gomez on May 25th and ends the streak of awfulness.

Just as I predicted, Derek Lowe pitched masterfully and the Indians dominated the Twins all night. Look for this to continue on throughout the series and the rest of the season as the Twins continue to swing and miss as they try to break their way out of that paper bag.

Feathers Down

A couple defensive miscues cost the Indians a run in the 7th. Derek Lowe bobbled a ball at first and Johnny Damon booted a ball in left as the Twins only run scored. While it didn't matter in this game, it could matter in another game. The Indians need to clean up their defense as a whole if they want to compete.

Play of the Game

Jason Kipnis hit his first career grand slam to give the Tribe a lead they would never lose.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 - Minnesota Twins 1

Wow, that was a mess. The Indians starting pitching staff continues to struggle as the Tribe just lost a three game series to the Kansas City Royals. Now, we at Burning River Baseball aren't like the rest of the media who think that the Royals are terrible just because Mike Moustakas hasn't become a household name yet, but the Indians should still have won the series.

The Indians also found out during the last series that Travis Hafner will be out until mid-July as will Grady Sizemore. Hafner had surgery today (5/31) to repair his right meniscus, while Sizemore has yet to begin what will surely be a lengthy rehab process. The Indians will go ahead with Lonnie Chisenhall and Jose Lopez splitting time at third and DH. The Indians should be getting some good news off the DL soon as well as Carlos Santana has been cleared to run and is eligible to come off the DL this weekend. With his return the Indians should be able to either place Lou Marson on the DL for the needlework in his face or send him down to Columbus. Keeping Marson and sending Luke Carlin back to AAA would be a huge mistake.

With the Indians firmly entrenched in second place, 1.5 games behind the White Sox and 4 ahead of the Tigers, I think we all need a little positivity to get us back on track. For that reason the rest of this preview will be written with as much homerism as if I worked for WGN.

June 1st 7:05 PM: Carl Pavano, RHP, 2-4, 5.46 ERA vs Derek Lowe, RHP, 6-3, 3.25 ERA

The Indians scored 4 runs against their old teammate Carl Pavano the last time out. Look for them to double it this time while playing in the friendly confines of Progressive Field. Look for Derek Lowe to get back on track against the second worse offense in the league as he will surely get his 7th win of the season.

June 2nd 7:15 PM: P.J. Walters, RHP, P, 2-1, 2.96 ERA vs Josh Tomlin, RHP, 2-2, 4.99 ERA

The Indians have never faced Walters before and since he is a right handed pitcher, they should have no problem. Carlos Santana will be eligible to come of the disabled list by this game and will probably play and hit about three home runs. Tomlin will be making his second start back from the DL and everyone knows that the second start back is the good one. The Indians should take this game easily.

June 3rd 3:05 PM: Scott Diamond, LHP, 3-1, 2.27 ERA vs Justin Masterson, RHP, 2-4, 5.14 ERA

Scott Diamond is a lefty so the Indians best bet will be to take a lot of pitches and foul off the strikes to get his pitch count to 100 before the 5th. Then they can take apart the Twins bullpen so Justin Masterson can get that third win that he so rightfully deserves.

There you have it. Indians sweep and since the White Sox are going to get swept by the Mariners this weekend as well, the Tribe should be back in first by Monday. This is all incredibly stupid, I don't know how Hawk does it.

The results are in. Here is how your Tribe players fared in the month of May. The order is based on the entire seasons performance while the stats and rating are just based on May. Here are April's rankings to compare (the difference is noted in parenthesis).

 1. Jason Kipnis Above (+2)

5 Home runs: After going homerless in April, Jason Kipnis found his power stroke (and his running shoes) in May. He lead the team for the month in both home runs and steals and is also leading in leadership. This is the new face of the franchise. We are all Kipnisses.

2. Asdrubal Cabrera Above (+6)

14 RBI: With injuries to Hannahan, Santana and Hafner, Cabrera has found himself in a middle of the lineup role that he is taking well too. Cabrera lead the team in slugging for the month of May and was second in walks as well as he shows himself to be a well rounded player.

3. Derek Lowe Even (-1)

8 Walks: Lowe has been extremely frugal in allowing walks, but his 40 hits allowed have kept his WHIP higher than he would like. He saw a little drop back in May from his hot start, but is still performing at a better level than expected.

4. Jeanmar Gomez Even (+1)

3 Losses: It seems unfair that Gomez and Jimenez should have the same amount of losses. He has easily been the second best pitcher on the team to this point in the year although he, like Lowe, has seen a step back since April. He has the opposite problem of Lowe in that he doesn't allow many hits, but walked 15 during May.

5. Michael Brantley Above (+6)

7 Steals: Brantley is tied with Kipnis for most steals on the team. Most impressively, after starting off even in April (2 SB, 2 CS) he has since only been caught 2 more times. I said last month that Brantley was improving at the end of the month and he was, in every facet of his game.

6. Justin Masterson Even (+1)

30 K's: The Indians ace continues to lead the team in strikeouts as he shows at least some spark of improvement. Masterson definitely was better in May than in April, but still has work to do to become the dominant pitcher he was in 2011.

7. Chris Perez Above (+7)

100% Saves Converted: Perez certainly brought the Rage in May as he earned every Indians save but 2 and never blew an opportunity. He currently leads all of baseball in saves and fist pumps. What more could you ask from a closer?

8. Shin-Soo Choo Even (+7)

18 Runs: As Cabrera is learning to be a middle of the lineup hitter, Choo has been learning to lead off and taken very quickly to his new role. He was second on the team in runs for the month and has started stealing bases again (5 SB, 0 CS in May).

9. Vinnie Pestano Above (+1)

8 Holds: Pestano had an ERA of 2.25 and 9 decisions (1 win, 8 holds) in 13 games played in May. Pestano is basically dominating the entire league, just about every other day.

10. Casey Kotchman Even (+10)

6 Doubles: Kothman's rise has more to do with the large list of players no longer on the roster than his own improvements, but he has improved. He has hit this month the way he was expected to before he joined the Tribe. A lot of singles, a few doubles and one or two home runs. If he can play the rest of the season like he has this month, there is going to be a place on the roster for him.

11. Jose Lopez Above (+12)

.410 SLG: Jose Lopez has to have been the biggest surprise on this team. The Indians looked to be in trouble when Hannahan was hurt the same time Chisenhall was on the MiLB DL, but Lopez has filled in admirably. In limited action (17 games) Lopez had 12 RBI and 5 doubles and didn't play too bad defensively either.

12. Nick Hagadone Above (+10)

2.25 ERA: With Rafael Perez being placed on the 60 Day DL Hagadone is here for the long haul and that's not a bad thing. So far this year he has a .077 batting average allowed against lefties. This is one prospect that doesn't need anymore seasoning.

13. Josh Tomlin Even (-4)

3 Home Runs Allowed: Tomlin missed a couple starts this month with wrist problems, but in those he did make he showed the same results as last year. His .206 BAA and 1.09 WHIP show he doesn't give up many hits, but when he does they leave the ballpark. His inflated ERA of 4.42 can attest to that as well.

14. Joe Smith Below (-2)

4 Wins: I'm not sure what happened to Smith this month. He pitched in more games than any other reliever and did pick up 4 wins, but he also allowed 19 total hits and walks in less than 12 innings along with 7 earned runs. 

15. Ubaldo Jimenez Below (-2)

2.00 WHIP: How does a former Cy Young award winner get a WHIP over 2.00? By walking 28 batters in 32 innings. Ubaldo has lost all control over his fastball and has struggled just as badly this month as he did last.

16. Shelley Duncan Below (0)

.214 ISO: Isolated power is the difference between slugging percent and batting average. This year, that ISO puts Duncan among players like Mark Teixeira, Luke Scott and Mike Moustakas. The difference between Duncan and a possibly All-Star bid? None of those other hitters are batting .167.

17. Johnny Damon Below (New)

.261 OBP: An on base percent of .261 is really impressive when you're batting just .171. If you didn't think someone could be worse both offensively and defensively, then meet his replacement.

18. Jeremy Accardo Above (New)

9.72 K/9: Accardo has been nothing but great since joining the Tribe in the position he should have held all year. It is such a waste that the Indians allow contract situations to dictate how they make their team. 

19. Aaron Cunningham Below (-1)

.150 AVG: The lowest batting average (of players with more than 11 at bats) on a team full of low batting averages belongs to Cunningham. I know he doesn't play every day, but neither did Mario Mendoza and he still managed a career average of .215.

20. Tony Sipp Below (-1)

.267 BAA: Sipp has vastly improved over April's debacle and his batting average against is the best stat to show it. Although he still allowed more than 5 runs per 9 innings he is starting to get things under control.

21. Lonnie Chisenhall Even (New)

3 Games Played: The rash of injuries has forced the Indians the Indians to bring up a few young players, but Chisenhall is one they should have brought up anyway. He hit a home run in his first at bat and will look to increase his level of play in the coming months to earn a permanent job as the Indians starting third baseman.

22. Juan Diaz Even (New)

4 Hits: Diaz has been extremely impressive as a call up straight from AA. He was the only option at shortstop while Asdrubal Cabrera was injured and hasn't looked like he is playing out of his level at all.

23. Luke Carlin Even (New)

100% SB%: Carlin stole a base during the last game of the month to give him a perfect stolen base percent. He also has a fantastic mohawk that helps protect him from getting a concussion when hit with a foul ball.

24. Scott Barnes Even (New)

1 IP: Scott has pitched an inning. It was a good inning. He walked two batters and struck out another, but didn't allow any runs.

25. Lou Marson Below (-1)

4 Hits: Marson has the same amount of hits as Juan Diaz even though he has 10 more at bats. Juan Diaz was in AA two weeks ago. Marson should be in AA now. He does, however, currently lead the team with facial stitches with 3.

No longer with us (in no particular order):

Demoted or Released (April ranking in parenthesis):

Jason Donald Below (17)

Zach McAllister Even (DNP)

Jairo Asencio Above (25)

Dan Wheeler Below (21)

Disabled:

Carlos Santana Below (6)

Travis Hafner Below (1)

Jack Hannahan Below (4)

Those are my rankings and assessments. I dare you to tell me I'm wrong. @BRBBlog on Twitter.