Player of the Game

Asdrubal Cabrera showed some offense after a short slump with a 2-run home run over the left field wall in the top of the third inning. This home run gave Cabrera enough points to win "Player of the Game" with a score of 4.40. This is Cabrera's 17th award of the season, the best on the team by 6 games. Jason Donald came in second in the PoG race tonight with his solo shot, giving him a score of 3.68.

Feathers Up

The Indians hit the scoreboard early tonight. Kosuke Fukudome hit a long single in the top of the first inning and Carlos Santana would later hit a double, which scored Fukudome. Jim Thome singled Santana in, giving Masterson a 2-0 advantage before he even threw a single pitch.

Jason Donald hit his first home run of the year in the top of the fourth inning with a solo shot to left field. This was Donald’s first Major League home run since August of 2010.

Justin Masterson received plenty of run support from his offense tonight. In the first inning alone he got more support than he did his entire last outing. The Indians hitters gave Masterson a 5-run buffer tonight, which was enough to give Masterson the win.

The Indians bullpen was perfect again tonight. Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez combined for 2 innings pitched, retiring all 6 batters faced with 2 strikeouts.

Feathers Down

In the same at bat he hit the home run, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a foul ball off his knee. He continued that at bat and remained in the game for defense in the bottom of the third inning. With just one out in the inning, the pain was unbearable and he was removed from game.

Carlos Carrasco joins Michael Brantley on the list of Indians out for the season. Carrasco is scheduled for Tommy John surgery, effectively ending his 2011 campaign and putting 2012 in doubt. This is especially disappointing as the Indians are now have very little pitching depth outside of the Major League roster.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Kansas City Royals 4

Roster Updates: The only September call-up today was rookie pitcher Corey Kluber who will be making his Major League debut in his next appearance. The Indians did make one other move, however and have some others planned for the near future.

Shin-Soo Choo was placed on the 15 Day DL with the left side injury that has been bothering him over the last week. This was mostly an administrative move as it was necessary to bring up Nick Hagadone from AAA after spending less than 10 days in the minors.

Tomorrow the Indians plan to call up relief pitcher Josh Judy, who has already spent some time on the team, pitching in 3 games during his three stints on the Tribe.

Rumor has it that Jason Kipnis could return to the Indians lineup as soon as September 5th against Detroit. This would be the biggest addition of all as there has been a glaring hole at second base since he went down with a hamstring pull.

Player of the Game

Today's reluctant 'Player of the Game' is Lou Marson, who was one of the only players with a positive score. His amazing final score for the game was a 0.40, the lowest score of the season for the 'POG' winner. The previous low was Chad Durbin with a 0.98. Marson had two singles and a walk as well as a nice play where he got the runner at second on a sacrifice bunt. On the other side of the ledger, Marson allowed three steals (although only one was his fault), struck out and had a terrible play at the plate where he decided to block the plate by standing behind it, then dropped the ball anyway. Great day all around for everyone as the final team score was -4.01. The game score makes the worst game for the Indians since July 29th, when the Indians were shut out 12-0 against Kansas City.

Feathers Up

Nick Hagadone made his Major League debut today and was very impressive getting out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the 7th. Fausto Carmona had left the bases loaded due to a couple poor defensive plays and Hagadone only allowed one unearned run to score. If Hagadone pitches as well as he is projected to, it will make Mark Shapiro look even better for making the Victor Martinez trade, even though he made VMart cry.

Feathers Down

Corey Kluber made his Major League debut today and was very unimpressive, not getting out of a bases loaded, 2 out jam in the 8th. Nick Hagadone had left the bases loaded due to a couple singles and a walk. The reason Kluber's is bad and Hagadone's was good was because Hagadone got 5 outs before any earned runs score, while Kluber allowed hits to the first 3 hitters he faced. Of course the A's were aided by some terrible defensive plays yet again, this time a bad block of the plate and a dropped ball by Lou Marson and a misplay by Jason Donald that almost got Carlos Santana's head taken off.

The Indians made some moves today, but not all the right ones. If anyone should have been brought up from AAA early for Shin-Soo Choo it should have been Matt LaPorta, not a pitcher who started in AA and has never thrown a pitch in the Majors. Hagadone could have been brought up in a couple days, while now the Indians will have to wait until September 9th to bring him back.

Asdrubal Cabrera has really struggled of late. Excluding his great game August 27th against Kansas City, he has 3 hits in his last 9 games. This includes only one hit in the current series, after which he was immediately caught stealing. Cabrera's defense has also been off as of late, as he has not made some plays that he did early in the season, mostly ones that involved extending his range and making a tough throw to first. Cabrera should be really happy when Kipnis returns as it could allow him to take a day off with Jason Donald playing short. He will also have to cover a little less range behind second base.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 0 - Oakland Athletics 7

Player of the Game

Jack 'Super Mannahan' Hannahan won tonight's 'Player of the Game' after almost winning it yesterday. Since one home run wasn't enough yesterday, he hit two more today as well as the game winning single in the 16th inning. When the game was over, Hannahan added 3 more RBI and two more runs scored to his season totals. His final 'POG' score was 7.64, which is his best this season. Two of his best three games have come in the last two games, the other game being opening day. Frank Herrmann grabbed a close second in tonight's race with a score of 5.77 for his 4 perfect innings pitched in relief. If it wasn't for either of these two players, the Indians would not have won tonight.

Feathers Up

There's no such thing as a lucky home run (unless you're playing against Jose Canseco). Jack Hannahan has hit three over the last two nights, to bring his final line for August up to .420/.491/.660. These are rediculous numbers for anyone, especially a career AAAA defensive specialist like Jack Hannahan. Some of this improvement can be explained through luck, with balls falling in where they didn't before, but that doesn't explain his 3 home runs this month. Hannahan claims the improvement came from using a heavier bat, allowing him to stay back on the balls. I guess we won't know for sure until the steroid test results for August come out.

Rosters expand tomorrow, so expect to see a lot of familiar faces return from AAA and maybe some new kids as well. This will help the Indians rest some players who have had to play everyday at high energy positions (Carlos Santana, Asdrubal Cabrera and Ezequiel Carrera) and should help the bull pen as well if Manny Acta allows any of the new players to pitch. Some of the call ups the first week in September could include Matt LaPorta, Travis Buck, Luis Valbuena, Grady Sizemore, Mitch Talbot, Carlos Carrasco, Zach McAlister, Nick Hagadone or Josh Judy.

Feathers Down

Lou Marson and his great arm had two terrible throws late in the game and overall allowed 4 stolen bases today in 4 attempts. If Matt LaPorta isn't back with the Indians tomorrow (September call-ups) you can expect a lot more negative Lou Marson news.

Ubaldo Jimenez was like two different pitchers tonight. The problem is that the bad pitcher used up all his pitches, so when he changed into good Ubaldo he wasn't able to pitch very long. Over the first 3.2 innings, Jimenez gave up all 6 hits he allowed as well as 3 runs and a couple steals that really weren't Lou Marson's fault. Over his last 2.1 innings Jimenez struck out 6 batters (out of 7 outs) and did not allow a baserunner to reach. It was extremely important that he came back and pitched well over those innings, as it kept the Tribe in the game, so they could eventually take it to extra innings.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 - Oakland Athletics 3

Player of the Game

Starting pitcher Jeanmar Gomez won tonight's 'Player of the Game' (his first of the year) he beat the A's, holding them to just 1 unearned run. Gomez allowed only 1 walk and 6 hits while striking out 4. This was Gomez's first start since July 17th, where he was blown out by the Orioles. His final score of 5.12 makes this, by far, his best game of the season and brought him within 2 points of a positive score for the season.

Feathers Up

Grady Sizemore is back, well, almost. Sizemore will be DH-ing in AA Akron tomorrow and will play 6 innings in the outfield on Thursday. We hope to see Grady back in Cleveland very soon. Trevor Crowe started his rehab assignment tonight in AAA Columbus.cher

Two infield singles and a Kosuke Fukodome double led to the first runs of the game. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, both Lou Marson and Ezequiel Carrera reached on infield singles, both of which were knocked in on Fukodome’s gap shot.

The Indians did not strike out much tonight. Tribe hitters only K'd 3 times, the first one not coming until Lou Marson struck out in the bottom of the 5th inning. This is a big improvement from last night when Indians batter struck out 10 times.

Jeanmar Gomez pitched a strong game tonight, going 6 innings and only giving up one (unearned) run. The run came on his own error, so while it was unearned, he is the reason for it scoring. Called up today for Matt LaPorta, Gomez gave up just the one run on 6 hits.

Carlos Santana takes a trip to Souvenir City for the 2nd time in two nights. Santana's two-run shot tonight came in the bottom of the 6th inning with Jim Thome on first after Thome walked for his 1,001st time as an Indian. Jack Hannahan followed a few batters later with a two-run home run of his own.

Feathers Down

Chris Perez did not record his 31st save of the year tonight. There was no save situation since the Indians we up by 4 runs, but he could have gotten a three-inning save if Manny Acta had let him.

Final Score: Oakland Athletics 2 - Cleveland Indians 6

Player of the Game

David Huff won tonight’s Player of the Game award with a score of 6.72. You couldn't have asked for a much better start from Huff. Huff pitch six shut-out innings, giving up just 3 hits. This is Huff’s fourth award of the year.

Feathers Up

The Indians did not provide much offense tonight, but it was enough to support David Huff’s great start. The first Tribe run came in the bottom of the 6th inning when Kosuke Fukudome hit a double, scoring Ezequiel Carrera from first. The second run came in the bottom of the 7th inning when Carlos Santana powered a ball over the fence in right-center field.

Even though the Mafia gave up a run, the Tribe bullpen did not give up the narrow 2-run lead. Pure Rage Chris Perez closed the game in the 9th with a 1-2-3 inning with 2 strike outs. Chris Perez now has 30 saves this season.

Feathers Down

Jason Donald was a late scratch today with a contusion on his index finger. Cord Phelps  took his spot in the lineup.

Congratulations, Brandon McCarthy, for getting a new career high for strike outs in a game. The A’s starter struck out 10 Indians hitters in 8 innings.

After a great weekend crowd for the return of Jim Thome, attendance was pathetic tonight. It could be because the excitement for Thome’s return has worn off. It may also be due to the fact that today was the first day of school for many Ohio kids. Just from reading a few Tweets over the weekend, it is obvious that big crowds pump up the players. If we truly are in a pennant race, the attendance numbers do not show it.

Final Score: Oakland Athletics 1 - Cleveland Indians 2

Summary:

Last Wednesday in New York, former Indian OF Coco Crisp went 4-for-4 with two homers and five RBI. ... May 4 in Oakland, Trevor Cahill moved to 5-0 with a 3-1 victory over the Indians. The Indians are 36-29 at home after winning two of three from Kansas City over the weekend. ... They have 32 comeback victories overall. ...  Jason Donald is hitting .375 (9-for-24) in his last six games. ... Carlos Santana is hitting .292 (26-for-89) with four homers and 15 RBI in his last 22 games.

Pitching Matchups:

Indians LHP David Huff (1-2, 2.70 ERA) vs. RHP Brandon McCarthy (7-6, 3.72), Tonight at 7:05

TBD vs. RHP Trevor Cahill (9-12, 4.13), Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.

RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (2-1, 5.79) vs. RHP Rich Harden (4-2, 4.55), Wednesday at 7:05

RHP Fausto Carmona (6-12, 4.85) vs. LHP Gio Gonzalez (11-11, 3.35), Thursday at 12:05 p.m.

A's Injuries:

• RHP Michael Wuertz (right thumb tendinitis) went on the 15-day disabled list July 30. He played catch Aug. 15, and was scheduled to do so a few more times before throwing off a mound. As of Aug. 28, he was close to starting a rehab assignment.

• RHP Trystan Magnuson (right shoulder tendinitis) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to Aug. 16. He was transferred to the 60-day DL on Aug. 23, ending his season.

• LHP Brett Anderson (sore left elbow) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to June 6. He underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery July 14, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on July 31. Anderson was expected to be allowed to stop wearing a brace on the arm in late August, and he was increasing range-of-motion exercises.

• LHP Dallas Braden (left shoulder stiffness) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 17. He played catch for the first time since the injury May 2, but it didn't go well. He had season-ending surgery May 17 to repair a torn anterior shoulder capsule, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on June 7.

A's News/Notes:

• LHP Jerry Blevins was designated for assignment between games of Saturday's doubleheader at Boston. Blevins must clear option waivers, a technicality, before returning to Class AAA Sacramento. He worked the sixth and seventh innings of Game 1 Saturday—with a 45-minute rain delay in between them.

• RHP Graham Godfrey was recalled from Class AAA Sacramento on Saturday to start Game 2 of a doubleheader at Boston. Godfrey, who also spent a stint with Oakland in late June and early July, gave up a two-run homer by David Ortiz in the second inning and allowed six hits and three runs in all in his four innings before an hour-long rain delay ended his day.

• 2B Jemile Weeks stole a career-high three bases in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Boston. At 24 years, 213 days old, Weeks is the first A's player under the age of 25 to record a three-steal game since Jose Canseco on April 21, 1988 (23 years, 294 days).

• C Anthony Recker recorded his first big-league hit on Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park. Recker had to sweat out an hour-long rain delay to make sure the game—and his hit—wasn't washed out.

• LHP Josh Outman, recalled Friday, worked four innings in finishing up Game 2 of a doubleheader at Boston on Saturday. He allowed one unearned run and struck out seven. Manager Bob Melvin said that performance was the best he has seen from Outman, who will remain in Oakland's bullpen.

This season we have seen several offensive sides of Jack Hannahan. In April, he was a typical, average hitter. From May through July, he was below average, and in August, his numbers have been astonishing. This article will compare Jack Hannahan’s stats throughout the season and provide some analysis behind the numbers. One of the key stats examined is Batting Average on Balls in Play, or BABIP. Because BABIP is based on balls “hit in play,” strikeouts are factored out of this equation. BABIP typically shows how lucky hitters are on the balls they hit. If BABIP is high, it usually means that balls hit in play found holes in the defense. If BABIP is low, it usually means that balls hit in play were right at a defensive player. Players with extremely high or extremely low BABIP typically tend to regress toward the league average. The league average BABIP is usually around .300. Therefore, if a player has been “lucky” with his hits and has a high BABIP, his hit pace will usually decrease and more balls hit into play will be at defensive players, dropping his BABIP.

April

Jack Hannahan started the season off strong. He won the starting third base position out of Spring Training when Jason Donald was sent to the disabled list after being hit by a pitch in a pre-season game. In the month of April, Hannahan batted with an average of .273, which included 21 hits, 4 of which were home runs. His On Base Percentage (OBP) was .349 and he had a Slugging Percentage (SLG) of .481. In the month of April, Hannahan’s BABIP was .309. This number was just about the league average.

May-July

There was a big drop-off in numbers for Jack Hannahan from May through July. In these three months, Hannahan only batted .187 with an OBP of just .282. His SLG was almost cut in half from his April number, down to a .265. In these three months, Hannahan only hit one home run in 166 at bats, compared to the 4 he hit in April in just 77 at bats. From May though July, Hannahan’s BABIP was .244. Though this number was under the league average, it was not enough to make any difference. Maybe a few more of his outs could have dropped for hits, but that still would not bring his batting average much over .200, which is still low for a three month span.

August

August is showing a new hope for Jack Hannahan, by far his best month of the year. As of August 28, Jack Hannahan has 15 hits in just 39 at bats, giving him an average of .385. He finds himself on base in nearly half of his plate appearances with a .478 OBP. His SLG is almost the same as April, at .462. Hannahan has yet to hit a home run this month and has not hit one since June 8th. When looking at his .385 average one must think: is this luck or is Hannahan hitting the cover off the ball? When you take strikeouts away, Hannahan has a BABIP of .517 in August. Part of this is due to the fact that Hannahan has struck out 10 times in 39 at bats. This shows that Hannahan is getting extremely lucky with his hits and that his trend of batting nearly .400 will probably not continue through the month of September.



Player of the Game

Carlos Santana was today’s Player of the Game with a score of 1.53. Santana contributed a single and an RBI, walking with the bases loaded. Justin Masterson was a close second with a score of 1.39 in his loss today.

Feathers Up

Jared Head made his Major League debut today as the Indians left fielder. He received his first big league hit in his first at bat with a weak ground ball past the pitcher. With the injuries to Choo and Brantley, Head will probably see a lot of playing time.

Minimize the damage, that’s what Justin Masterson did today. Masterson did not have his greatest start, but he kept his team within striking distance. Despite giving up 9 hits in 6 innings, all of which were singles, only two of those runners came around to score.

Feathers Down

The Indians lose Michael Brantley for the rest of the season. Brantley, who has been battling a hand injury for the past few weeks, will have season-ending surgery. Shin-Soo Choo is also out the next few days with a strained left oblique.

The Indians offense was quiet today after scoring 8 runs last night. The only scored one run today, and it came on a bases-loaded walk. They only had 5 hits, all of which were singles, and did not get a single hit past the 3rd inning. Bottom line is that you have to score runs to win games.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 - Kansas City Royals 2

Player of the Game

Asdrubal Cabrera hit the game winning home run and was only a triple away from the cycle as he won his team leading 16th 'Player of the Game' award. Cabrera scored 7.74 'POG' points for his 3-5, 4 RBI night. By my accounting, this was his third best night of the season statistically, behind only the two games he hit two home runs in.

Feathers Up

Jim Thome hit an opposite field home run to tie the game against the Royals at 4. It was his 335th home run in an Indians jersey and his 602nd all time. I don't know if I'll keep mentioning it, but as the team leader in home runs, walks and strike outs, every time he does one of these things, it will be a new Indians record. They are also all records that are unlikely to be broken anytime soon. There is certainly no one involved with the Indians right now that has the capability of breaking any of them.

Jack Hannahan has been very hot of late, especially in the last two games. In the last two games, Hannahan has had multiple 2 out hits with runners on base. In his last 4 games, Hannahan has 9 hits (all singles except for the triple tonight) and 6 RBI, including one in each game and three tonight. Hannahan's hot play has lead Lonnie Chisenhall, who has struggled some (but not that badly), to spend an inordinate amount of time on the bench.

Leading off Kosuke Fukudome tonight was a good move by manager Manny Acta. Since Michael Brantley will be out for an unknown amount of time, it is important to find a replacement that has a little more experience and is a little more dependable than Ezequiel Carrera and Jason Donald. The top of the lineup in tonight's game was stronger than any in a long time with Fukudome followed by Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo, Carlos Santana and Jim Thome. Now if Matt LaPorta ever gets back into the lineup the Indians should be able to score as much as any other team.

Feathers Down

Shin-Soo Choo started tonight's game, but was removed after his second at bat with the same sides sorenes that has been bothering him over the last couple days. I wouldn't be surprised to see Choo held out of tomorrow's game, as it is a quick turn around in a 1:05 start.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 8 - Kansas City Royals 7

Roster Update: Injuries have really killed the Tribe this season and we have two more to add to the list. Michael Brantley's day-to-day wrist problem has pushed him onto the 15 day DL along with starting pitcher Josh Tomlin, who is out with right elbow soreness. These two bring the Tribe DL to 7 players, all of whom are starters except for Trevor Crowe, who has yet to play a game on the team this year. Nick Hagadone and Jim Thome were brought up for Brantley and Tomlin.

Player of the Game

Ubaldo Jimenez won his first 'Player of the Game' as an Indians, going 7 innings for only the 2nd time in 5 starts and only allowing one run on a solo home run. Jimenez struck out 10 and only walked one, giving him tremendous K/9 and K/BB rates for the game. Ubaldo had exactly the kind of swing and miss stuff that the Indians expected from him when they traded Alex White and Drew Pomeranz to Colorado. With the win, his final 'POG' score was 6.29, his second highest score of the year and enough to almost bring him back to 0.00 on the season.

Feathers Up

Shin-Soo Choo has returned from his side injury, and only ended up missing one full game. Choo didn't start today, but came in as a very talented defensive replacement in the 8th inning. He grounded out in his only at bat, but showed enough progress that he should start tomorrow.

Ubaldo Jimenez became the strike out machine that he is supposed to be for the first time today, striking out more than 7 batters in a game for the first time as an Indian. Jimenez struck out double digits for the 11th time in his career.

Feathers Down

It is much better to slide outside the plate when trying to score than to slide on the inside of the plate. There is a lot more room to manouver out there and it is harder to block the plate. Hopefully Kosuke Fukudome will learn this lesson from Carlos Santana. Who ever though Carlos Santana would be better at baserunning than anyone else.

When everyone was reading off Jim Thome's team records before the game started, the one they forgot was the one he leads by the most in. Strike outs. Thome had struck out 1,377 times prior to tonights game and added another 2 during the game. This now gives him more than 550 more than the next worst on the list, Travis Hafner. Unless the a young Indians phenom ends up turning into Mark Reynolds, this is one record that Thome may hold eternally.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Kansas City Royals 1