4/27 Recap: Indians 3 - Royals 2

Written by Joseph Coblitz on Apr 27, 2013 17:45.

Player of the Game

Michael Brantley had the hot stick tonight, knocking in the Indians only two runs in the ninth inning and giving them their other great scoring opportunity as well. He ended the game two for five with a double and a triple in addition to the two RBI. If there was one player who truly deserved absolutely no blame for tonight's loss, it was Brantley.

Feathers Up

After an off day and a rain out, the Indians are just happy to be playing baseball. The time off allowed a few Indians to fully recover from their individual ailments and the Indians used their entire starting lineup for the first time in four games. It also allowed the bullpen to rest, making sure they will be strong going into the rest of the series. For tomorrow's games the Indians will be allowed to add a 26th player.

Scott Kazmir was much better this time out than his first start this year. He admited he was nervous his last time out after taking more than a year away from Major League Baseball, but those jitters seemed to have gone away. He pitched five solid innings tonight against Kansas City, allowing just two runs on a two run home run by Salvador Perez.

Cody Allen has seen a change in usage under manager Terry Francona. After skyrocketing through the minors last year, he was used primarily as a single inning (or less) pitcher. This year, he has pitched more than one inning in three of his last four games and four of his seven total outings. He has taken to his new role quite well, pitching 6.1 scoreless innings with 11 strike outs.

Milestone Update: Scott Kazmir struck out his 1,000th batter tonight, making him the 461st player to do so. Ubaldo Jimenez is just 7 strike outs away from the same milestone so excuse me for not mentioning it when he does so within his next two starts.

Feathers Down

Despite having the full starting lineup on the field, the Indians were unable to score against the Royals. Of course, much of this could have to do with facing Ervin Santana who, while with the Angels, threw the only no-hitter in the history of Jacob's and Progressive Field.

Bryan Shaw showed the first chink in his armor this season, walking the only two batters he faced in the seventh inning and uncorking a wild pitch. Shaw was brought in to face Alcides Escobar with one on and two out and ended up putting his replacement, Rich Hill in a very precarious positition. Hill walked his batter to give the Royals a three run lead and needed Joe Smith to finally put an end to a very messy inning.

Nick Swisher has had the chances, but he just hasn't been the Matt LaPorta type of hero the Indians have needed. Early in the game Swishalicious grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end the third. Then, in the 8th inning he came to bat with a runner on third, but was unable to score him when he took a walk.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Kansas City Royals 3

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Series Preview: Indians at Royals 4/26-29

Written by Mike Melaragno on Apr 25, 2013 16:26.

Cleveland Indians (8-11) at Kansas City Royals (10-8)
Series 8, Games 20, 21, 22 and 23
Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City: 0.863, Extreme pitchers park.

Friday, April 26 8:10 EDT (STO)
Scott Kazmir (0-0, 16.20 ERA) vs. Ervin Santana (2-1, 2.48 ERA)

Santana now has quality starts in each of his past three appearances, a 2-1 record, 2.48 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 26:5 K:BB ratio in 29 innings over four outings. Considering his previous career best in ERA (3.38 in 2011), it remains to be seen if he can sustain his peripheral numbers, namely a 1.55 BB/9IP, according to ESPN Stats and Info. He'll attempt to do so in this game vs. the Indians, against whom he's racked up a 3.72 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 33 strikeouts in 46 frames in seven starts over the last three seasons. However, this is an entirely new lineup he faces. As a four-seam fastball pitcher, Santana is naturally more of a flyball pitcher. Although it worked for him in Angel’s Stadium, it will be interesting to see what heppens once the midwestern heat and humidity reaches Kansas City this summer as he never had success away from his home ballpark in Los Angeles. Santana does tend to put unpredictable spin on the fastball though, which I’ll assume helps him sit around a 38.3% groundball rate for his career. He also does fairly well with strikeouts. His slider is the main culprit for swings and misses, and at a 17.6% whiff rate, it’s something to watch out for in the batter’s box, especially with 2 strikes. Look for the Indians left-handed hitters to have good success against Santana, as the pitch f/x data indicates that his stuff certainly does not favor them. The first thing I noticed when analysing the data is the most of his pitches are down and away. This is typical of any pitcher facing opposite side hitters. The fastball and changeup match up most with each other, but while you can see that the fastball includes pitches up and in, if he missed with his changeup, it was almost always down or away. A changeup in from a right handed pitcher to a left handed batter is not a good combination. Then there is the slider, and it’s pretty evident that if he’s throwing a slider, it’s probably going to be a strike or lower. In fact he had the greatest success in 2011 throwing the slider for strikes at a 65.7% clip, compared to a fastball at 63.1% and the changeup at 57.4%. Of how often each pitch was thrown, it was 62.3% fastballs, 32.4% sliders, and 5.4% changeups. Michael Brantley, who I think will have a big night in Kansas City, in 17 AB's against Santana is hitting a mild .294/.333/.529.

Saturday, April 27, 7:10 EDT (STO)
Ubaldo Jimenez (0-2, 10.06 ERA) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (2-0, 3.86 ERA)

The 34-year old right-handed Guthrie was drafted in the 1st round of the 2002 draft out of Stanford University by the Indians and made his major league debut in 2004. He had several lackluster years with in the Tribe farm system, before he was released in 2007. Guthrie has a compact delivery, throwing from a high 3/4s arm slot. He throws 2 and 4-seam fastballs in the 89-94 mph range (average of 92 mph, down from 94 in 2008) and gets good downward movement with the 2-seam, but his 4-seam is straight as an arrow. He also throws a sharp, late-breaking slider (84 mph), a tight curve (will only throw it once or twice a game) and a decent change (85 mph). He falls behind in the count often. His fastball and slider are his two best pitches, and he throws them a combined 86% of the time. This year he's increased the use of his slider to 26%. He has had a very good season so far for the Royals. His last start was another strong start for Guthrie, who was able to maintain his current 15-game streak without a loss, dating back to August of last season. This will be a tough game for the the Indians to win, as they have exhibited a tendency to struggle against pitchers who have sharp sliders, as Guthrie has.

Sunday, April 28, 2:10 EDT (STO)
Justin Masterson (4-1, 1.85 ERA) vs. Luis Mendoza (0-1, 6.17 ERA)

Mendoza was skipped over in his last scheduled start since he last started on April 12 against Toronto. He pitched out of the bullpen on Wednesday against Detroit and threw 2 1/3 and did not give up a run but walked three. He will make his next start against the Indians and it should be interesting to watch him pitch. Mendoza is a big guy (6-foot-3 235 pounds) so one would think Mendoza would be a bit of a power pitcher. But in reality, he is not anything close. He comes from a high 3/4rds arm slot, could almost be considered overhand. According to most scouts, out of the stretch he is slow to the plate. This is mainly caused by his long arm action. He hides the ball from righties fairy well, will show the ball to lefties. Mendoza has bounced around the majors. Signed in 2006 by the Red Sox, he was part of trade that sent him to Texas that same year. In 2007 he made the jump from AA to the majors and saw most of his time from the bullpen while collecting one start. He did get 11 starts in 2008, but went 3-8 with at K/9 of nearly 5 and a BB/9 of nearly 4. While at AAA he was used as a starter, but in the majors he is a bullpen/six starter/long relief arm. His career BB:K is as close as 1:1 as your can get. He certainly does not have amazing stuff, but he wants you to hit his pitch. He favors his sinker which averages 92 MPH. In an odd way, this pitch reminds one of former Indians pitcher Roberto Hernandez as he uses it to keep the ball off the fat part of the bat and induce weak contact. When you see it, it looks more like a 92 MPH changeup. His fastball is his go to pitch when he is in negative counts and needs a strike. It averages 93 MPH, which favors the batter. It should be easy to sit on the sinker and react to the fastball. His curveball is big and loopy, tops out at 81, and loves to throw it to righties when he is ahead in the count. In fact, when he gets to 0-2 on RHH, that is what he will throw 95% of the time. With the free swinging Indians, he could cause some headaches.

Monday, April 29, 8:10 EDT (STO)

*Corey Kluber (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Wade Davis (2-0, 2.25)

Davis is coming off an absolutely terrible outing against the Tigers after looking steller against the Braves on April 17th. In his fantastic outing against the Braves, Davis didn't allow a base runner past first until Jason Heyward hit a two-out double off him in the sixth. According to ESPN Stats and Info, he threw 92 pitches (62 for strikes) and induced seven ground ball outs. While the Tigers fair much better against righties, (.326 as a team), there was no excuse for how badly Davis threw. He only lasted 3 2/3 innings while giving up three earned runs while walking four. To his credit, the game temperatue was listed at 41 degrees (so he probably couldnt feel his fingertips as Royals manager Ned Yost alluded to.)

(*As of this publishing, this is Corey Kluber's scheduled start in the rotation as he is filling in for the injured Brett Myers. However, right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka could very well be given the nod for this one as his outing Tuesday for Columbus was his best of the year thus far going 6 1/3 and striking out eight while only allowing two earned runs, suggesting Trevor Bauer may not be at the top of the list should the club make a change between now and when Myers returns from the disabled list. Stay tuned.)

Prediction: Royals win three out of four.

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All-Time Indians: Tito Francona

Written by Joseph Coblitz on Apr 25, 2013 00:58.

Name:	John Patsy Francona									Position:		Left Field
Nick Name:	Tito									Number:		14,24
Tribe Time:	1959-1964									DOB:		11/04/1933
Accolades:	1961 All-Star, Top 5 MVP 1959
Stats	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	SB%	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS	ISOP
Best Season (1961)	155	592	87	178	30	8	16	85	272	56	52	2	1	67%	.363	.459	.301	.822	.159
Career	835	2926	413	832	153	19	85	378	1278	296	358	21	8	72%	.353	.437	.284	.790	.152

The Cleveland Indians were Francona's third team after leaving the military in 1955. He came to the team in 1959 when he was traded for Larry Doby the second time (the first time was from the Orioles to the White Sox) this time coming from Detroit. While he played his first season in Cleveland in centerfield, he soon moved to left and then to first base. By the end of his career Tito played in more than 100 games at four different positions (LF, RF, CF and 1B).

From 1959 through 1963 Francona was one of the top offensive performers on the Indians along with catcher Johnny Romano and first baseman Vic Power (in fact, Francona took over first in 1962 when Power left the team). He hit at least 10 home runs each of those seasons as a light hitting outfielder, topping out with 20 in 1959. He also batted .363 that season, his career high. In 1961 he had his most productive season, setting career highs in runs, RBI and triples.

After a subpar 1964 season, Francona was purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals, his first of five more teams before ending his career. In his entire career he hit 125 home runs, 85 of which were with the Indians. His offensive contributions were enough on their own to make him one of the greatest Indians left fielders in team history. His son Terry followed in his father's footsteps in 1988 by joining the Indians himself. The younger Francona came back in 2012 and is the current manager of the Indians.

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4/24 Recap: Indians 2 - White Sox 3

Written by Joseph Coblitz on Apr 24, 2013 12:48.

Roster Update: The did something very dumb today as they brought back Lou Marson from the DL in exchange for Yan Gomes, who went back to Columbus. The Indians claim they sent Gomes back to AAA because they want him to play everyday, but with Carlos Santana and Nick Swisher signed long term, it is unlikely that Gomes would ever be the starting catcher for the Indians and he is already better than Marson both offensively and defensively. There was absolutely no good reason for this move.

Player of the Game

Jason Kipnis wins his first Player of the Game of 2013 with a single, two steals and one of two Indians RBI. He also made a great diving catch early in the game. His final score was 1.99.

Feathers Up

Jason Kipnis came through in the clutch in the sixth inning, knocking Jose Quintana out of the game after he had pitched just under 19 consecutive shut out innings. Kipnis singled after Drew Stubbs and Michael Brantley had already reached base and knocked in Stubbs for the first run of the game. It was just his third RBI of the season and his 9th hit, so, like Asdrubal Cabrera yesterday, it was good to see him do something positive.

In other good Kipnis news, Jason has three stolen bases in the past two games after just one in his first 11 games. A couple of close games against the White Sox have shown the team speed off more than in the first two weeks of the season with Stubbs, Brantley and Kipnis standing out particularly by taking extra bases in both Chicago games.

The bullpen was great again today, but it was a slightly different cast than normal. Rich Hill took over with two outs in the sixth and struck out both batters he faced. Bryan Shaw then took over for Hill in the 7th and also promptly recorded two outs. Shaw did give up two baserunners in the 8th, but Nick Hagadone came in and struck out the only batter he faced, following which, Joe Smith induced an inning ending double play. The Indians currently have six members of the bullpen who have an ERA sub 2.00 with at least 4 innings pitched.

Feathers Down

Lou Marson is back with the team and already cost the Indians a run. In the first inning tonight, Marson almost threw the ball into centerfield, allowing Alejandro De Aza to steal second easily. De Aza later scored on a single that was followed by a double play. A decent throw (like those made by Yan Gomes earlier this week) would have caught De Aza at second and ended the inning after the double play.

Ryan Raburn (batting fifth for some ungodly reason) had two chances to tie the game today, once with the bases loaded in the fourth inning (down 1-0) and later with a runner on third in the sixth (down 3-2). In the first instance he swung at the first pitch and grounded into an easy double play, ending the inning and the scoring threat. Learning from his early mistake, he swung at the first pitch again in the sixth, flying out to left to end the inning. Of course this isn't Raburn's fault, he is a .177 hitter over the past two seasons. He shouldn't be on the roster at all, let alone batting fifth, but there he was, batting ahead of starters Lonnie Chisenhall and Drew Stubbs as well as Mike Aviles.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Chicago White Sox 3

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April Prospect Report

Written by Joseph Coblitz on Apr 23, 2013 00:29.

The first prospect report of 2013 featured upper level prospects who were likely to make their Major League debuts this year. They weren't necessarily the prospects with the highest ceiling however. This is the first top ten based on stats from the 2013 season. Only a few of the teams are in season now, so just Columbus Clippers, Akron Aeroes, Carolina Mudcats and Lake County Captains will be included in this list. As always, a player is not considered a prospect once they have played a single game in the Majors and players are only eligible to be ranked once per season. Special notice should go to Jesus Aguilar who was ranked 5th in the first set of ten prospects and now leads all Indians minor leaguers with 22 RBI for Akron.

1. Francisco Lindor - SS - Advanced A Carolina - Drafted Round 1 in 2011

Lindor is considered not just the Indians top prospect, but one of the best short stops coming up in all of Minor League Baseball. He is so good, the Indians are already considering moving Dorssys Paulino (another great short stop prospect) to second or third so they can both play on the same team together. This also pushed another top infield prospect, Tony Wolters to be switched to catcher.

So far early this Spring, Lindor is batting .321 with 3 triples and 7 steals (stats through 4/21) If he continues his progression at this pace he could finish the year in Akron and be starting in Columbus as early as 2014. As of now he definitely seems the heir apparant for Asdrubal Cabrera. I've saw him play in a few games in Spring Training and he is definitely Major League ready defensively and is closer than his current level would make him seem with the bat.

2. Cody Anderson - SP - Advanced A Carolina - Drafted Round 14 in 2011

Anderson was the ace for the Lake County Captains lase season and has been even better so far this year in Akron. This is his third season with Cleveland and he looks to be one of the Indians top starting pitching prospects. In three starts he has allowed just four runs (2.25 ERA) and is 2-0. While the Indians have a glut of middle infield prospects, they aren't very deep in starting pitching at the minor league level, so Anderson should be particularly exciting. He will likely spend the entire season in Carolina, so he is still a few years away from the pros, but will be one to watch over the next few years.

3. Joseph Wendle - 2B - Advanced A Carolina - Drafted Round 6 in 2012

Just drafted last season, Wendle is yet to play a significant amount in the minors, but is already an exciting prospect. So far this year he is batting over .400 in a very impressive Mudcat offense, most of which is also on this top ten list. He has been a productive member of that offense, knocking in and scoring ten runs each. In 75 MiLB games since being drafted last season, he has a .342 average and 100 hits. He has played some at third base as well as second over the past two seasons, but is significantly better defensively at second.

4. Matt Langwell - P - AAA Columbus - Drafted Round 11 in 2008

The only member of the Clippers to make this month's list, mostly because the rest of the team is ineligible as they have already played in the Majors. Langwell started in the starting rotation, but was bumped out after injuries and roster moves stacked the Columbus rotation. In 5 games (8 innings), he is yet to allow a single run, and has only allowed 6 base runners (3 walks, 3 hits). With at least four starters ahead of him on the depth chart (Daisuke Matsuzaka, David Huff, Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer), he is unlikely to see the Majors this year as a starter, but could be used as a short term reliever if an Ubaldo Jimenez start forces the Indians to use 8 innings of relief pitching in a single game.

5. Tyler Naquin - OF - Advanced A Carolina - Drafted Round 1 in 2012

Similar to Wendle, Naquin was drafted last season and is now a big part of the Mudcats offense. He is batting just over .300 this season with 10 RBI and 10 runs of his own. Naquin played well this Spring for the Indians and should see an early call-up to AA as the most advanced player from the 2012 draft.

6. Michael Peoples - RP - A Lake County - Drafted Round 14 in 2012

Peoples has come up quick as a right handed reliever, holding an ERA of 1.65 in 32 career innings (0.00 ERA in 9 this year). Most impressively, he has struck out 12 batters already this year, giving him a K/9 of 12 (do the math on that one). He has also walked just two, giving him 6-1 K-BB ratio. He did have some issues defensively last season with three errors out of six fielding chances, but so far he fielded two balls in 2013 and is yet to make an error.

7. Toru Murata - SP - AA Akron - 2011 International Free Agent

Murata is going into his third season with the Indians at the ripe old age of 27 and has become a starter after initially being used in relief. This has been his best season (at least early on) at his highest level, averaging almost 6 innings and 5 strike outs per start. At his age, he will need a quick promotion to AAA before he gets to far past his prime to be a real Major League prospect.

8. Giovanny Urshela - 3B - AA Akron - 2008 International Free Agent

Urshela is one of the Indians top third base prospects at this point. He was the starting third baseman for his home country of Colombia in the 2012 World Baseball Classic qualifier and is now one of the top hitters on the Aeroes. Through less than a month he already has 5 doubles and 8 RBI. To go along with his production he has a line of .300/.333/.433, one of the best on the team.

9. Eric Haase - C - A Lake County - Drafted Round 7 in 2011

Haase is having the best year to this point of his minor league career, batting almost .300 with 7 early season RBI. This is also the highest level Haase has played at. The Indians are incredibly weak at catcher below the Yan Gomes level, so any positive is huge for the organization.

10. Jacob Lee - SP - Advanced A Carolina - Drafted Round 9 in 2012

Lee was used mostly as a reliever in his first half season last year, but has been moved to the starting rotation and has impressed. He leads all Mudcats with his 16 strike outs and in his two years has struck out 63 in just 60 innings pitched. The large amount of recent draft picks (from 2011 and 2012) on this list are from a combination of a weak upper level of the Indians system and great draft picks over the last two years.

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4/22 Recap: Indians 3 - White Sox 2

Written by Joseph Coblitz on Apr 22, 2013 17:47.

Player of the Game

Justin Masterson won his team tying third Player of the Game of the season with his fourth win. His ERA actually increased, despite allowing just two runs, to a hefty 1.85. Masterson struck out five batters while allowing just four hits in 7 innings. His final POG score was 4.43, making it his worst win of the year from a statistical stand point.

Feathers Up

A bad hop and some hustle lead to the Indians first run as Jason Giambi scored from second on what should have been a Lonnie Chisenhall single. Alejandro De Aza completely whiffed on the ball, allowing Chisenhall to reach second, knocking in the Indians first run.

With the White Sox threatening in the seventh inning with two on and nobody out, Carlos Santana caught pinch runner Blake Tekotte out at second while De Aza was trying to sacrifice bunt. The pressure off, Justin Masterson induced an easy double play to Jason Kipnis.

The Indians had a new hero tonight as Asdrubal Cabrera came through in the clutch for the first time in a long time. With runners on second and third after a botched pick off, Cabrera knocked a single to center to score both Drew Stubbs and Michael Brantley with two outs. The hit brought his average up to .156 and the RBI were his first that didn't come from a home run. Stubbs deserves a lot of the credit as well as his prior steal of second caused the throw to second that moved both him and Brantley up a base. Because of this meddlesome base running, the Indians were able to score both the tying and the go ahead runs on Asdrubal's single.

Feathers Down

Justin Masterson had some control issues early allowing two base runners in each of the first two innings and his first home run of the season. Masterson still had a nice line (7 IP, 2 ER, 4H), but many of his outs were fly or line outs, something he generally tries to avoid.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Chicago White Sox 2

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Burning River Radio Ep. 5

Written by Joseph Coblitz on Apr 22, 2013 14:13.

Check out the best episode of Burning River Radio yet! Listen to Mike's great argument about why Bob Wickman's number should be retired throughout the league because he was the first teletubby to play professional baseball. Also, there are things we actually talked about like Mariano Rivera Day, Killing the AAA Astros, retiring the 1995 Indians, Omar's music career, lineup madness and the arch nemesis of Burning River Radio: Lou Marson.

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Series Preview: Indians at White Sox 4/22-24

Written by Mike Melaragno on Apr 22, 2013 00:46.

Cleveland Indians (7-10) at Chicago White Sox (7-11)
Series 7, Games 18, 19 and 20
U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago: 0.827*, Extreme pitchers park.

Series Overview

The Indians will play the White Sox for the second series this season. The first series was very entertaining and I expect this one to be the same.
Slugger Adam Dunn has certainly struggled this season so far. He is batting just .098 this season and has played in all but one game, when he was held out during an inter league game at Washington with the DH spot unavailable. He has two home runs and five RBIs with a .213 slugging percentage and a .154 on-base percentage over his first 16 games.
Dayan Viciedo was diagnosed with a left oblique strain was put on the disabled-list on April 20th. He injured himself on a swing Thursday night at Toronto and was immediately removed from the game. It didn't look serious, although he was wincing in pain immediately after he was removed from the game. The left fielder was batting .229 with a .417 slugging percentage over his first 14 games, hitting two home runs with five RBIs.

Despite a 7-11 record to start the season, I believe the White Sox will eventually win the division. This is another chance for the Indians to prove they belong in the race.

Prediction: Indians lose series 2-1. Justin Masterson pitches a masterpiece and out duals Dylan Axelrod for the only series victory.

Monday, April 22 8:10 EDT (STO)
Justin Masterson (3-1, 1.67 ERA) vs. Dylan Axelrod (0-1, 4.70 ERA)

In what would be considered a disappointing start this season, Masterson allowed four runs over five innings and was the losing pitcher Wednesday against the Red Sox. He gave up 11 hits while walking one and striking out five. After allowing just one run over his first 22 innings of work this season Masterson was "hit around" as the Red Sox were able to put three runs on the board in the first inning. His ERA on the season now stands at 1.67 to go along with 25 strikeouts and nine walks.Axelrod, who is getting the start in place of the injured John Danks, will get his chance to finally prove that he belongs in the big leagues as a starting pitcher. San Diego drafted him in the 30th round in 2007 out of Cal Irvine, where he was a reliever. The Sox signed him out of the Frontier League and converted him into a starter and he has flourished. His stuff is average at best, but he has fantastic control and knows how to pitch. Axelrod posted a BB/9 of 1.1 in 2010 between high-A and AA and followed that up with a 2.1 BB/9 mark in 2011 between AA and AAA. Last season, he earned a 7.06 K/9 pitching both out of the bullpen and starting rotation for the Sox. Despite low walk numbers and low ERA's, Axelrod didn't get any attention until he had a strong September call-up with the Sox in 2011 (2.89 ERA, 19 K, 9 BB in 18.2 IP).

Tuesday, April 23, 8:10EDT (STO)
Zach McAllister (1-2, 3.12 ERA) vs. Jose Quintana (L) (1-0, 2.55 ERA)

Quintana had a very good start against the Indians on April 12 which he lost because the Sox did not score any runs off Justin Masterson to support their starting pitcher. It took a ninth inning game winning single from Nick Swisher to break the 0-0 tie and win the game.
Throughout his career, Quintana has displayed a ground ball tendency and pretty strong control. His minor league history also showed solid strikeout rates. His fastball velocity isn’t great at 90.4 miles per hour, but acceptable for a lefty, and is likely a good reason why he only throws it a bit more than 50% of the time. In the start against the Indians and his subsequent start against Toronto, he started to mix in his curve-ball more. After throwing it an average of 15% of the time both in the minors and majors, he has thrown it an average of 22% in his last two starts. It's too early to tell if this is a new trend from him or not.

Wednesday, April 24, 2:10EDT (STO)
Corey Kluber (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Chris Sale (L) (1-2, 4.50 ERA)

A multitude of events are the reason why Corey Kluber will get his first start of the year on Wednesday. Personally, I favored Kluber from spring training to win a spot in the rotation. He has fantastic stuff with very good movement on his breaking balls. Because he has deep pitching selection, he is best suited for the starting rotation as opposed to the bullpen.

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4/21 Recap: Indians 5 - Astros 4

Written by Joseph Coblitz on Apr 21, 2013 11:39.

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana took home the Player of the Game today in his first game at first base in 2013. Santana hit a huge home run to left in the fifth inning to give the Indians the lead and had doubled and scored earlier in the game. His POG score of 4.41 just beat out Yan Gomes who had a home run and triple of his own.

Feathers Up

When Lou Marson is set to come off the disabled list next week, maybe they should send him back to Columbus instead of Cleveland. Yan Gomes hit his second home run of the season today in just four games, giving him more home runs in his Indians career than Marson has had in the past three seasons combined (151 games). Going into the season it was obvious that Gomes was a better player now and had a higher ceiling than Marson and that fact is even more obvious now.

Mark Reynolds has only won one 'Player of the Game' this year, but has been the team's top offensive player to this point. His home run today gave him seven on the year (tied for the AL lead) and 18 RBI. He has been everything that was expected of him and more. His home run today gave the Indians back the lead after it was squandered by starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.

Ubaldo Jimenez was not as bad as he was last time. Or the time before that.

Brett Oberholtzer may be a super star some day or he may be a career AAAA middle reliever, but he can always remember that the first Major League batter he faced was Carlos Santana and that he hit a ball as hard as humanly possible that was only stopped by a concrete wall well past the outfield wall.

For the first time since the second game of the season, the Indians went into the seventh inning with a lead of under three runs. One of the greatest parts of this Indians team is the back-end of the bullpen and that has been neutralized as there have been very few close games. Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez got to do their jobs today with a one run lead and performed admirably, earning two holds and a save between them.

Feathers Down

Jimenez still wasn't very good. At one point he set down 14 straight batters, but it needs to be taken into consideration that he was facing the worst offense in the American League. He looked poised to pitch into the sixth and possibly earn a win, but a single and triple to lead off the inning forced him out of the game before he retired a batter.

Play of the Game

Drew Stubbs hit his first home run as an Indian and his 9th against Houston, but where it landed is what made this the play of the game. Check out the video here as a fan caught the home run ball in his popcorn. Don't worry, Fox Sports Ohio's own Katie Witham bought him a replacement box.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Houston Astros 4

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4/20 Recap: Indians 19 - Astros 6

Written by Joseph Coblitz on Apr 20, 2013 16:11.

Roster Update: Indians starter Scott Kazmir was recalled from the 15 day DL just before the game and infielder Cord Phelps was sent back to AAA in his place. Phelps was only on the team to help out at second while Jason Kipnis was recovering from his elbow injury. Now that Kipnis is back, Phelps is not needed. Other moves expected in the near future include Brett Myers possibly going to the DL, Lou Marson returning from the DL and Matt Albers coming back from paternity leave.

Player of the Game

Jason Giambi did what he does best and hit his second home run of the season to win him his first Player of the Game for 2013. He also hit a double, making all three of his hits on the year extra base hits. In a very productive game, Giambi lead all Indians with five RBI and three runs scored and walked twice as well. His score of 10.42 gives him the second best single game of the year.

Feathers Up

Following an out by Michael Brantley to lead off the game, the next nine Indians batters reached base, scoring 8 runs on 8 hits. The eight runs scored in the first represent the same amount the Indians have scored in total in the past three games and more than they have scored in any one game in the past week.

The Indians didn't stop scoring in the first inning as they batted around again in the second, scoring another 6 in the second. They kept scoring and put up another five, giving them 19 runs before it was all over. They scored in each of the first five innings and didn't go down in order until the 7th inning.

Milestone Alert: Jason Giambi's 4th inning home run was not just his first home run against Houston, giving him home runs against every single team in Major League Baseball, it was also career number 431, tying him with Cal Ripken, Jr. for 42nd all time in baseball history.

Other offensive notes: Nick Swisher set career highs in hits (4), runs scored (3) and doubled his doubles for the season with another career high of three.Every hitter on the Indains roster (except Ryan Raburn) had a hit within their first two at bats, including early replacement Mike Aviles who hit an RBI single. Along with Swisher, Jason Giambi, Carlos Santana, Michael Branltey and Mark Reynolds each knocked in multiple runs. Each of the Indians starters (and Aviles) scored at least one run with Giambi, Swisher and Santana each scoring three. The Indians walked 8 times in addition to their 22 hits. They were also helped out by three Astros errors.

Feathers Down

Asdrubal Cabrera hurt his wrist after his second at bat in the first inning and left the game before ever getting into the field. He is day to day.

Lost in all the run scoring, Scott Kazmir had a fairly terrible game, giving up six runs in four innings. He lucked out by the barrage of offense, keeping him in a game that he probably would have lost on any other day this year. Even so, he wasn't able to earn his first win in two years as he was pulled from the game during the fouth inning. His high pitch count forced to use a lot more of their bullpen than the Indians would have liked to in a game that was almost a guaranteed win by the second inning.

Nick Swisher was unable to grab a fifth hit tonight, despite three at bats after his fourth. The first four spots in the lineup batted 7 times each tonight, essentially giving them two nights worth of offensive stats.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 19 - Houston Astros 6

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