Good For Wedge

Nothing seems to be working, so now Eric Wedge has gone to ripping a player directly, by name, to the media. Said Player: Rafael Betancourt. The best set up man in baseball in '07 has been the polar opposite this year and it is killing the Tribe the same way the lack of clutch hitting is.

Great stuff from Wedge:

"It's nothing I haven't said to him, or Carl [Willis, pitching coach] hasn't said to him, 100 times," said Wedge. "So I'm saying it to you. The bottom line is until he has enough trust and passion about throwing the ball inside, they're going to go out there and hit it.

"That ball was four or five inches off the plate with two strikes. Granted it was up a little bit, but Pierzynski just leaned over and punched it the other way. We've seen right-handers do it to him, we've seen left-handers do it to him."

The Realtor's Response:

"No, not really," said Betancourt, when asked if he's been throwing inside. "It's something they told me to do, I can't say I always pitch like that. When things go wrong, you have to change something. I have to do that . . . especially when you give up a hit like that."

"Maybe last year, no one asked me that question," said Betancourt. "All I have to do is pitch and do my job. If I have to pitch inside, I have to do it. If I have to pitch to the outside corner, I have to do it."

Betancourt is killing us. The guy who was so dominant last year has vanished. Why is it that every other year, the Tribe bullpen turns from Gold to Gas Can? The bottom line here is the Tribe bullpen blew a lead in as meaningful of a game in late May as you are going to find. This was a huge two game swing. The Indians now sit 5.5 games out of first place instead of 3.5. The bats actually rallied for a 5-3 lead thanks to Jhonny Peralta's team-high 11th pizza, yet Rafael Perez and The Realtor failed to do their jobs.

To make matters worse, the Tribe again had a shot to tie or win in the 9th. With runners on second and third and one out for their #3 and #4 hitters, nothing happened....again. Ben Francisco and Victor Martinez both popped out weakly.

To quote Yogi Berra "its getting late, real early." This team's lack of talent offensively and the bullpen struggles continue to waste the best starting pitching in the league. C.C. will be gone at the end of the year, most likely Paul Byrd will be as well. Pitching like this doesn't come around too often and when it does, you MUST capitalize. The Indians flat out aren't doing so.

Now comes word that prized prospect Adam Miller needs surgery on his finger and will most likely be out for the season, wasting another year of development. I'm starting to think this kid will never see his potential as injuries continue to derail him.

The season of dreams has turned into a nightmare.

Shapiro Is To Blame

Another night, another brutal close loss. The Indians find new ways to strand baserunners and now find themselves in a huge hole in the AL Central, five games back of the White Sox. The Tribe looks very soft and its best players just do not deliver in the clutch, they don't. And the guy to point the finger at is GM Mark Shapiro.

His counterpart with the White Sox made some very bold moves this offseason and knew he had to upgrade his club. Heck, Kenny Williams did that in 2006 even after his team won the World Series. Shapiro? This offseason he did squat! Baseball is a game that can fool you. Certain players have "career years" and as a GM you have to identify which of the crop has hit its ceiling. In 2006 the Detroit Tigers reached the World Series and Dave Dombrowski stuck with average players like Brandon Inge and Craig Monroe and it came back to haunt him the following season. This winter, Shapiro needed to address the LF and 3B spots and failed to. He did add a reliever in Masa Kobayashi, which was a nice manuever, but not enough to counter what Chicago did. With a bevy of arms in the system, you can't tell me Arizona would not have dealt the Tribe Carlos Quentin? Do you know what the D-Backs got for Quentin? A minor league FIRST BASEMAN!!! I think the Tribe leads the planet in First Base prospects.

Bottom line is Grady Sizemore is not a leadoff hitter and he still leads off. Victor Martinez is not a cleanup hitter, yet he hits fourth. Travis Hafner now says his shoulder hurts, so he is a waste of a roster spot on a team that only carries 24 players anyways (Andy Marte is 25th but Shappy is so scared to death to lose him for some reason so he is just stashed away in moth balls). Tribe got fat and sassy after getting to the ALCS and if you don't get better, you get worse. And that is where they are today thanks to Shapiro.

TGIB

Thank God It's Benny. Ben Francisco's arrival and subsequent insertion into the lineup every day is vital. This organization screwed up majorly by not having him in LF on opening day. Now Benny is swinging the bat in a big way and thank god for Number 12.

Benny was robbed of a HR by the umps on Friday, so what does he do on Saturday against the Rangers? He hits a no-doubt-about-it three run slice of heaven off Scott "Hello" Feldman to help pace the Tribe to a 5-2 win.

“It was nice to get it over the rail and make it no doubt,” said Francisco, who has hit safely in 14 of his last 18 games, going 23-for-62 (.371) with 11 RBI.
“We definitely needed a win,” Francisco continued. “They got the lead on us, but Cliff pitched great, we got some hits and came back."

When Victor comes back from his finger injury, Benny should be hitting 3rd, Martinez 4th and Travis Half-ner fifth. Period. End of story.

Stop Laughing Cuz It Aint Funny

Anyone catch last night's Tribe game? Another lackluster performance at the plate and this time the starting pitcher cannot hold the slim lead as the White Sox pound the Indians 7-2. That is now five straight losses and tonight Chicago goes for the back to back sweep. First the Reds and now the slo-pitch Sox. Who would bet against Chicago tonight? Seriously. The Tribe at-bats are feeble, I cannot recall the last time I saw a guy not named Francisco or Aubrey drive a baseball to the gap, and they seem to be okay with it.

Last night Victor Martinez kicked a bucket of sunflower seeds in the dugout and his foot got stuck. It became a comedy show in the dugout and guys were laughing. Fine. have some fun. But, what the beatwriters and reporters did not see was the laughing and smiling from the face of Grady Sizemore after the final out of the 8th inning when he and Francisco were running back to the dugout.

What is so funny Grady? You havin fun losin? Sizemore should be sprinting his 254 hitting ass into the dugout with no grin at all. This team lacks leadership on the field and if a guy like Trot Nixon was still around, I doubt he would have allowed for "the greatest player of our generation" to be hamming it up down 7-2 to a rival. Travis Hafner has taken some heat and well he should, but, it is time for the "great" Grady Sizemore to get his act together. His numbers have also been in decline the last couple of years and his weak ground outs to the right side and constant K's cannot keep happening. "Krady" has 38 strikeouts to his 43 hits! That is pathetic.

It is not funny. This division sucks. Get your act together and go win a ballgame or two. Shin Soo-Choo is hitting 353 at Buffalo and will be in the state of Ohio this weekend playing against Columbus. Hopefully soon he will be making the trek up I-71.

Ugh

Nice day in Cleveland Sports. The Cavs choke away a third chance at winning a game in Boston and get eliminated while the Indians end up getting swept in Cincinnati and the offense continues to show its true colors. This isn't a slump folks, this is the real thing - The Indians offense stinks. Pure and simple.

This starts from way back too. Trace this back to Eric Wedge's decision to cut Brandon Phillips for Ramon Vazquez four years ago. Watching Phillips destroy Tribe pitching all weekend was quite a sight. Wouldn't he look good in a Tribe uniform right now, playing gold glove defense, going 30-30, and giving this team some edge, which they sorely lack? This current roster SCREAMS for some help, and a guy like Phillips is just what they need. Blame Eric Wedge for being so pig-headed and kicking him off the team when he clearly was the better player. But the true blame goes to GM Mark Shapiro for going along with this decision and making the worst call of his career.

Back to the offense. David Dellucci batting third. CAN THIS PLEASE STOP!!!! My lord! How many more K's does one man have to have before being moved out of the spot he has no business being in. Double-D is now hitting a robust .224. with 4 HR's and 14 RBI. That's the kind of production you want out of your three-hole hitter isn't it? He is so lucky he hit that three-run homer off of Joba Chamberlain three weeks ago. That bought him a few weeks.

Everyone loves to stroke Grady Sizemore, but doesn't he deserve some flack for an average year at best thus far? He's only hitting .268. Saddest story of it all - he's got the third best batting average on the team behind Victor "still searching for his first HR" Martinez and Ben Francisco.

What about Franklin Gutierrez? What has happened to Franky G? .234 batting average and locked in a 4-26 slump while looking real bad doing so. Asdrubal Cabrera is still under .200. Actually, .180 to be exact. Ryan Garko's pinch hit single (he got thrown out trying to stretch it into a double) move him UP to .241. Pronk? He's "raking" at .228. Jhonny Peralta is hitting .225 and Fake is still Fake, a point higher at .226.

Andy Marte? What's he still doing here? I keep hearing "Shin-Soo Choo is coming back soon." Let me ask you this, was he really that good when he was around two years ago? He's a slap hitter. He'll get extensive run when he comes up, but is that going to help? Doubtful. Was it Charles Barkley or Bill Parcells who said "you are what you are?" Well that Tribe is a great pitching team with a sad sack offense that shows no signs of improvement.

The thing of it is, with their pitching, there is zero reason they shouldn't win the AL Central.

Never Thought I'd Say This.....

Where's Joe Borowski when you need him?

All of a sudden the Indians have two issues - the on-going struggles offensively and now the inability to close out games. Rafael Betancourt wasn't the answer, Masa Kobayashi gave up the three-run pizza to Adam Dunn in his first real shot as closer yesterday, and the Tribe has lost two games in a row they probably should have won, both because of their bullpen.

JoBo cannot come back fast enough. Did I really just say that?

What's Eric Wedge to do? Stick with Masa until Borowski comes back and see what happens after that. If Jo-Blow returns to his old form, then Mark Shapiro has to look into dealing for the A's Huston Street, who is rumored to be available.

Then there's the offense, which seemingly hits homers or singles. Ben Francisco is by far and away the team's best and hottest hitter not named Victor Martinez. Don't besurprised to see hit hitting third for a while, though he is doing a nice job in the five hole. The David Dellucci in the third spot experiment has run its course needs to be put down for good. Once we get past this Interleague crap, here is the lineup I'd like to see:

1. Sizemore - no brainer
2. Peralta - seems to have taken a liking to this spot
3. Francisco - why? why not, nobody else is worthy of this spot right now.
4. Martinez - see Sizemore
5. Hafner - Maybe, just maybe, he is warming up a tad?
6. Garko - Righty to protect Pronk. I think he comes around soon.
7. DD/Gutierrez - Struggle city USA resides at #7
8. AC/Carroll - Boy, do our second basemen know how to hit!
9. Fake - Seems most comfortable and at his best here

Back Where We Belong

And Now.... Your.... First Place...... Cleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeveland Indiannnnnnnnnns!

The Tribe busts out the brooms at the Jake on Thursday with a 4-2 win over Oakland. Aaron Laffey continues to impress and the starting pitching has been off the hook. Cleveland completed a 6-1 homestand in which it allowed runs in just four of 64 innings. The starters went 6-0 with a 0.16 ERA and haven't allowed an earned run in 50 1/3 innings. Only "The Realtor" Rafael Betancourt has allowed an earned run over the last six games and unfortunately he has given up 4. He'll turn it around. Laffey goes 7 and gives up just the unearned run, which was actually his own throwing error (stupid MLB rule by the way). Jhonny Peralta with a homer and Benny Francisco adds three hits and an rbi. Tribe now up SIX, count em.. SIX games over heavy payrolled Detroit in the AL Central.

Meantime, Fox Sports's Ken Rosenthal is reporting that if Colorado continues to swan dive, the Rockies may look to deal Matt Holliday, who becomes a free agent after the 2009 season. Holliday is a Scott Boras client and will demand huge money in two years and the Rockies likely will not be able to pay him. Here is what Rosenthal writes in regards to possible teams that could trade for the 28 year old stud LF:

Among the clubs that could pursue Holliday:
Cleveland. The Indians need to inject offense. They might prefer to upgrade in their infield, but their production in both outfield corners is poor.

DCB's thoughts? GO GET HIM NOW SHAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We Can't Hit - Underwood Can't do Play by Play

You see the first inning? A two out bloop single to center by the A's Ryan Sweeney. Here's Souvenir Shitty's call:

"A blooper into center and that's gonna tie the game" (as Grady is picking up the ball and attempting his throw home.)

Frank Thomas comes chugging home slowly...

"and he's is out at home!"

The Souvenir Shitty spends the next half inning explaining why he thought the game would have been tied, but anyone else other than Thomas would have scored, etc etc.

This clown needs to go!

As I type this, the Tribe has one run on four hits in the bottom of the 8th.

Do Not Mess With Wedge

Classic Quotes today from the Tribe Skipper. Eric Wedge is none too pleased with his team, even after the Wahoos take three out of four from the Fighting Gibbons' from Toronto. Nothing like having your starters go 18 scoreless and only come out with a split. Wedge's pearls:

It's a triple play," snapped manager Eric Wedge after the game. "I'm not going to talk about it. We didn't win the game."

"Our approach was as poor, if not the poorest, I've seen here all year." "There's no excuse. We gave away at bats all night long. Their kid [Marcum] is a helluva pitcher, but we gave away at bats all night."

I like this. It is easy to walk away and say "Hey we got a split and the pitching was great" but Wedgie did not do that. He knows that his club could be three or four games up in the AL "Comedy" Central Division if the bats weren't so darn cold. I think Eric made an error in sitting DD yesterday for Jason Tyner in Game 2.

A Ode to Fake & the Stupidity of The Rain Out

Look, we still think the guy is a scrub, but there is no denying that Casey Blake is getting the job done right now. The PD's Dennis Manoloff wrote this column to give the devil his due. His 15 RBI in his last 15 game stretch has put him at 25 for the year, leading the Indians. He is on pace for 112 RBI. If that happens, I will move to Africa. Manoloff states the facts:

Blake has:

-- 30 of 32 starts in the lowest three spots in the lineup. Rare is the player in the AL top 50 in RBI who hits in the bottom of the order.

-- 106 at-bats. It was the lowest total among any of the AL top 20 in RBI.

-- two homers. It was the lowest total among any of the AL top 19 in RBI.

-- a .236 average. It was second only to David Ortiz's .234 for lowest among the AL top 11 in RBI.

-- Blake has piled up the RBI by raking with runners in scoring position. He is batting .444 (16-for-36) with RISP. The average ranked third in the AL entering Sunday.

Does this mean we are officially off of his case? Of course not! We are awaiting the next major skid he hits, because like death, taxes, and Cleveland teams not winning championships, it is inevitable. Until then, we will try to enjoy the ride on the Fakey Fake Express.

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Who is the idiot who decided to call a rainout yesterday? Not only did it stop by 3 PM and didn't come back until after midnight, but don't these people know anything about momentum? The Tribe is coming off of back to back offensive explosions to the tune of 18 runs, and someone calls a rainout? Our Tribe spies tell us that Jim Folk, the man who is in charge of deciding the rainouts was out in Arizona, so it wasn't his broke-ass call to postpone the game.

The good news for yours truly is that we have tickets for tonight and will be getting two for the price of one. The twi-night doubleheader is the first of its kind at the Jake in over 10 years. The move I will be pulling is to arrive at the Jake around 5:30, watch the second half of the first game and the first half of the second game, getting us home in plenty of time to see the second half of Cavs/Celtics. Fausto Carmona and Cliff Lee will face A.J. Burnett and Shawn Marcum.

More good news (or not), the weather is shitty here again. Could a brother get some nice weather for once when we have tickets?

Shake That Laffey Taffy

Half game back! Tribe wallops the Jays 12-0 last night. Grady Sizemore leading off the game with a HR and finishing with 5 RBI. Aaron Laffey continues to impress with seven scoreless innings; how about his ERA is 1.83. You have to wonder now if Laffey may overtake Paul Byrd at some point this season and that is no knock on the Byrd Man. This kid is a big league pitcher.

Great to see the Tribe offense explode and they are delivering all kings of big hits now in big spots, something they did not do for most of the season. Hopefully the rain holds off today. By the way, best of luck to Tom Mastny. "Nasty" has not seen a ton of action and will be optioned down to Buffalo for now. No word on who is coming up to take his spot. Tommy will be back!

Buh Buh Buh Benny And The Jets

Is this really happening? Broadcasters and writers referring to Fake as "clutch"? After last night, it is hard to argue as DCB's favorite whipping boy delivers in a big 6 run 7th inning as the Local Nine take care of "Doc" Halladay and the Jays 6-1. Casey, with the bases loaded in a 1 -0 deficit, bangs one off the wall and the Tribe never looked back. Another big hit delivered in a PH role by Benny Francisco. This dude is dinero en el banco (money in the bank) as he takes a Jeremy Accardo (Accardooooh how are youuuuu) pitch and smokes it to the wall in left scoring two. What an inning and what a much needed explosion!

CC Sabathia looks like he is back. The big man strikes out 9 in 7 innings for his second win. “We’ve been struggling to score for C.C. and to be able to do it feels good,” said Fake, a .228 career hitter with runners in scoring position who is batting .429 (15-for-35) with all but one of his 24 RBIs this season coming in that situation.

Even Pronk showed up with 2 hits and reaching base three times. Toronto deserved to lose after optioning down DCB favorite Joe Inglett to AAA before the game. How dare they.

Act As If.....

Remember that quote from the underrated flick Boiler Room? Ben Affleck, in a cameo role, tells his sales trainees that when they are on the phones, they need to act as if they have done this 1000 times and they are confident in their abilities. There is a difference between confidence and sheer cockiness, and folks, this brings us to Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain.

In the 8th inning of yesterday's 6-3 loss in the Bronx, the dominant reliever got the Indians 1-2-3, capping it off with a strikeout of David Dellucci. As DD K'd, Joba decided to scream and pump his fists like this was game seven of the World Series. When it happened, the first thing I said was "what a friggin loser." Correct me if i'm wrong, but yesterday was MAY F'ING 8TH!!!! Correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't Dellucci just tag this loser for a three-run, game changing pizza two nights earlier, blowing his team's one run lead? Did you see DD running around the bases like a jack-ass.

Nope.

You know why? Because he is a pro and he's been there before. ACT AS IF Joba! This will all come back to him. Don't miss Dellucci's comments in today's New York Times:

“If he wants to yell and scream after a strikeout and dance around the mound, that’s what gets him going,” he said. “My home run was in a much bigger situation, a much more key part of the game, but I didn’t dance around and scream.”

“If a hitter did something like that, everybody would say it was bush and that you shouldn’t do that,” he said. “It’s kind of funny how a pitcher can get away with it.”

Good for Dellucci for calling him out. This kid a bright future in front of him, but he is doing himself no favors with this clown act on the mound. Same thing happened last year with "The Savior" Joel Zumaya of the Tigers. He pulled this same crap on the Indians one game, then choked out three times in a row afterwards. What goes around comes around.

-------

I know this site is named "Dump Casey Blake," but today, I give him credit. The last two games, he has come out with big RBI's, moving his total to a team-leading 22. Yes, he is still hitting .210, but he is hitting .500 (8-16) with runners in scoring position with 21 RBI. Doesn't mean we here at DCB have changed our minds; we still want him gone.

Cliff is God and Underwood is an Amateur

Seriously, who is this man dressed as Cliff Lee, wearing #31, looking ultra-confident, and where did he come from? Whoever he is, thank goodness Mark Shapiro didn't deal him in the offseason. For the sixth consecutive time, he has dominated his opponent, this time the mighty Yankees, to lead the Tribe to a 3-0 lead and a guaranteed season series win over the Bombers for the first time since 1992.

Lee was spectacular, busting the Yankees inside all game long, striking out seven, walking nobody, and giving up six hits, four of which were bloops. Three runs were more than enough for the man we used to call "Stiff." Clutch two-out hits by Fake and David Dellucci produced runs did the damage. (SIDE NOTE: Nice at bat by Hafner with the bases loaded in the 9th. Seriously, I think he is not snapping out of this slump. This is the real guy we are watching.) Lee, Raffy Left and Raffy Right took it home from there. Lee is now 6-0 with a 0.81 ERA. He has allowed just four earned runs in 44.2 innings, striking out 39 and walking just two.

As great as Lee was last night, the highlight of the night by a mile was the banter between Tribe announcers Matt Underwood and Rick Manning. Underwood is clearly an amateur, with his constant reading from the game notes, cheesy "souvenir city" home run call, and his horrible attempts at analysis. Take these three samples I jotted down while watching the game:

Underwood: Blake flips to first and Lee is beaten to the bag!

Manning: Naaaah...terrible flip.

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Underwood: Farnsworth met with the dean of discipline Bob Watson yesterday. He was there for two hours. What could they have talked about for two hours?

Manning: Please, that's what the media says. He was probably there for two minutes.

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Underwood: I know they are starting to vote for the all star game. You'd have to say that Cliff Lee looks like he should start the game.

Manning: Its waaaaaaaaaaay too early for that. Way too early. You've got all of May, June, and half of July. What's that, 15 starts? Way too early.

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Underwood: curiously, Giambi is on deck. You'd think he'd be saved to come up as the tying run.

Manning: Well, look who he's hitting for. Ensberg. He's a righty. They don't have any other better options to keep the inning going.

It is so clear Manning has zero respect for Underwood. He was really on his game last night. He rightfully ripped Wedge for putting on the botched hit and run/double steal saying "why would you do that with your best hitter up? Let him hit!" He also was on point dissecting Asdrubal Cabrera becoming pull happy: "he isn't trying to use the whole field as he did last year." Finally, for the second straight day, he continued to give Andy Marte the benefit of the doubt, telling the audience "its impossible to get into any kind of groove when you haven't started back to back games all year and had 13 at bats in the first month." Manning is a real pro.

No Fake and a Win

Not that Andy Marte did anything last night, but with no Casey Blake in the lineup, the Tribe emerged victorious thanks to one swing of the bat from fellow DCB whipping boy David Dellucci. DD's pinch hit, three-run jack of of Joba Chamberlain was an absolute stunner to just about everyone watching live or on television. This was Joba's first career regular season blown chance in the 8th inning. The only other time it happened was last year in the infamous Bug game in Cleveland, Game Two of the ALDS. The 5-3 win was much needed.

Not that the offense set the world on fire, but I guess this is a start. They only had six hits and scored all five runs on two homers, a two-run shot by Jhonny Peralta (who was hitting third) and the Dellucci three-run pizza. Ben Francisco got the start in left and moved over to right when DD pinch-it for Franky G. He went 1-4. Vintage Eric Wedge before the game. With the offense struggling, you'd think we'd be seeing a lot of Francisco, but in Wedge-speak: "I don't see him playing everyday." Seriously though, mad props to Dellucci for that big-time jack. Lets hope this is the game we can point to later in the season where the Tribe offense turned the season around.

Today we get to see a great pitching matchup of Chien-Ming Wang and Cliff Lee, arguably the two hottest pitchers in the American League. This is an ESPN tilt. One can only hope Joe Morgan is not involved. We've been saying it for years and people are finally starting to come around - he is the worst color man in baseball bar none. Does anyone make less sense and repeat themselves more? Dude is the worst.

Nightly News: NO FAKE!!!

Could Eric Wedge be wising up? Tonight's lineup features no sign of Mr. Clutch himself and a radically changed look against lefty Andy Pettitte. Check it out: Tribe/Yankees lineup card

1. Sizemore - CF
2. Carroll - 2B
3. Peralta - SS
4. Garko - 1B
5. Gutierrez - RF
6. Hafner - DH
7. Francisco - LF
8. Shoppach - C
9. Marte - 3B

Lets see how this works out....

Nothing Better than a Casey Rip Session on a Tuesday

Perusing the boards on The Cleveland Fan website, I came across many threads about how bad the Tribe offense is, but none is better than the one titled "Blake Has to be Benched!" Here are some of my favorite posts:

hornet84 wrote:

Everytime I see Casey Blake's face, I see the 5-4-3 DP in Game 7. I don't think I will ever get past that. Do I need to seek professional help?

Steve Buffum wrote:

Absolutely. Simply watch the replay of his 10th-inning strikeout last night, and the image will vanish. Look, you can't spell "Blake" without an K *and* an E, and then all you have left is "bla." This season, I blame the lack of beard.

Duane Kuiper write:

Blake since his outburst in KC. .125 .250 .208 .458 24 AB 11 K 1 RBI

Eckersley wrote:

Wedgie has a man crush on Blake & as we've seen in the past, whoever is in Wedgie's doghouse sits the bench or is traded while his boys get most of the AB's. It shouldn't be that way, but it is & has been for years. Casey is going on 35. I don't see any team offering him a multi-year deal next winter, so he'll probably come back for at least 1 more season with the Tribe.

Emmo213 wrote:

While these are the same numbers from other threads if there's an anti-Blake thread I must participate. Since Jen doesn't like career numbers I'll look for Casey to start hitting like he has the last couple of years soon. Don't all clubs have a full time 3rd baseball with a .207 RISP?

2007 RISP: .190

2007 RISP w/2 outs: .163

2006 RISP: .261

2006 RISP w/2 outs: .281

2005 RISP: .171

2005 RISP w/2 outs: .085

buckeyehopper wrote:

Y'Know, there's something to be said about doing many things (like playing every position in the field) well enough to warrant a roster spot. But, as the saying goes...jack of all trades, master of none!!!

If Casey Jake doesn't embody that saying, I don't know who does. The guy gives away as many games jaking it in the clutch as he does when he comes through, so he is a wash in the clutch category.

But it's the day-to-day #s where this guy needs work...and a lot of it. He is barely hitting above the Mendoza line and that won't improve if he has the same BA in a couple weeks.

Casey Jake is a liability if he is hitting anywhere other than 9th in the order. (I would prefer him to hit 10th on days when Sabathia is on the hill, but that's just me).

Thankfully, this chump is a FA after this season. Shapiro should turn into the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man if he is even thinking about signing this AAAA player to another deal.

Eckersley wrote:

Casey could go 1 for his next 99 & would not be cut. He would still be starting nearly every day. That's pretty much carved in stone as long as the current manger remains at the helm.

buckeyehopper wrote:

Casey Joke sucks golf balls through garden hoses as a stress reliever. He is the poster child for this team's pending mediocrity. So, for the millions he's making to f--k up at playing a kid's game, I think he can take the rap if the team is going down in flames.

Note to anybodywho believes that Casey Joke is the best 3B the Tribe has: It is an opinion that Casey Joke is the best 3B on the Tribe because it has not been proven beyond a doubt that anyone else on the Tribe can play 3B.

If you only had one chance a week to show what you had, you'd be a little rusty, too. That would be the problem Mr. Marte is having, thanks to Mr. Wedge. Casey Joke is hitting .202 and falling and still starts...everyday.

Pardon me for thinking that Wedge isn't doing all he can to improve his team or put his best team on the field. As long as Casey Joke is starting everyday, Wedgie won't be fielding his best team...plain and simple.

slegend wrote:

What? Do not play Marte because of a lackluster scouting report, well here is the scouting report on Blake:

- No range defensively to his right or left at 3B, hitters should try and pull everything to the left side.

- Hits like shit, so just throw crap that lands on the plate and leaves a mark, this moron swings at it.

- Worst everyday player in MLB today. Do not ever walk this guy, like giving a NL pitcher a free pass.

Later K-Mike

The only thing I'm going to miss is the slick-back blonde do. According to the Plain Dealer's Paul Hoynes, Jason Michaels, the man we have dubbed "K-Mike" has been designated for assignment to make room for Ben Francisco.

"We think Ben can give us a spark," said GM Mark Shapiro. "We think he could be more than a platoon player. He hits right and lefthanders. This will give Eric Wedge a chance to keep David Dellucci healthy and strong in left field. Ben can also spell Franklin Gutierrez in right field."

"This one move will not cure our offensive woes. Jason Michaels wasn't the pressing cause of our problems. When you have five to seven players struggling, you can't make one or two moves to solve those problems. The answer has to come from within."

All I can say is Amen. K-Mike was the outfield version of Casey Blake. It was worthless to keep him around at this point. He is 32 years old, clearly isn't a part of the team's future, isn't hitting, and is strictly a platoon guy at best. Why they gave him a two year extension last year when they had guys like Shin-Soo Choo and Francisco in the pipeline defied logic.

Why not cut bait with K-Mike in the offseason and give Kenny Lofton a one year deal if you were going to go with a veteran? Why not just give Francisco the roster spot he deserved right out of Winter Haven? He proved he could handle major league pitching last season, has good speed (something this team sorely lacks) and is the 207 AAA batting champion.

The handling of prospect position players in this organization continues to be maddening. They always seem to wait too long before they jettison veterans (Oldberto Hernandez, Aaron Fultz, Jason Johnson, Trot Nixon, Mike Rouse) yet gave away prospects like Brandon Phillips and Ryan Church. It's all hindsight, I know, but in this current economic environment, the Indians and Mark Shapiro have almost no margin for error and cannot afford to make mistakes.

Last year they had such great success by handing jobs over to the kids like Franklin Gutierrez, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jenson Lewis, and Raffy Perez, so it is completely head-scratching to us why they would stick it out with a journeyman like K-Mike. Well, that mistake is now over with. next up: getting ourselves a real third baseman!

AMEN - Francisco's Back

After watching another pathetic offensive display, Mark Shapiro has finally had enough. According to the Buffalo News' Bison beat reporter Mike Harrington, Ben Francisco has been informed by manager Torey Lovello that he has been recalled to the big club. No roster move has been announced by the Tribe, but expect long man Tom Mastny to be sent back down.

All we can say is it's about damn time. How many more straws can break the camel's back? The stat of the year is that the Indians have played 31 games and have scored three runs or less 16 times. Take away Ryan Garko's 2-4 in the seven hole, and the rest of the bottom five, or the "slump patrol" as I like to call them, went 0-12. Poor Aaron Laffey deserved a better fate. Nothing like throwing seven innings of four hit, zero earned run ball, and getting the loss.

Our boy Fake is now down to .202 and still is playing every single friggin day. Did I mention today when his fifth inning, two out, air mail throwing error on an easy play to second gift-wrapped the Royals winning run? I'm sure he'll be rewarded by moving up in the order or continuing to play every day without a rest.

Next up is the Yankees. Lets see how many more great pitching performances the Tribe can waste this week.

Old Bit Getting Older

Is it just me, or does the Indians offense score two runs every game for five days, then score 8-10 in one game to c-tease us, then go right back to the two run outputs? Another pathetic performance down at the Jake tonight on several levels. The weather. The Bats. The matchup relief pitching. With a chance to put themselves inexplacably in a first place tie with the Twins and White Sox, the Tribe bats once again were lulled to sleep. This time by rookie Luke Hochevar, reliever Ron Mahay, and closer Joakim Soria.

Memo to Eric Wedge and Mark Shapiro - It ain't workin with these players, no matter where you put them in the lineup. Look at the bottom five of the order tonight:

Jhonny Peralta 0-3, 2 left on base, now hitting .222

Travis Hafner 0-3, 1 left on base, now hitting .215

Ryan Garko 0-3, 2 left on base, now hitting .229

FAKEY FAKE 0-3, 4 left on base, now hitting .209...209!!!!!

Asdrubal Cabrera 0-2, 1 left on base, now hitting .198

The Indians two runs came on a wild pitch and a solo homer by Grady Sizemore. Talk about the weak beav.

Fake came up in a big spot in the second with two on and two out. Guess what he did? It rhymes with Mike Kraut. It's getting downright embarrassing and the fact that Eric Wedge refuses to sit this no talent waste on a roster spot defies logic. Imagine how bad Andy Marte must be if he can't take this stiff's job. Yet he continues to sit on the roster taking up the spot of Ben Francisco, who could be up here getting hits. If Marte is this bad, then cut his ass!!!! Instead, the roster carries both he and Fake.

You'd think the organization would see this after six years. Nah, not Wedge and Shappy, they are too busy tonguing Fake's balls to realize that new troops are needed and the man who wears #1 needs to become a bench player immediately. How much more do they need to see from this guy?

I Hate Him

The game isn't over, but I've been drawn to the blog. I'm back to the end of my rope with the deuche bag to the right of the text. In one fell swoop, just like he did against the Red Sox in Game Seven last year, he made a pathetic error costing the Indians the game and Paul Byrd a much deserved win, then compounded his mistake by K'ing with the bases loaded and one out in a tie game in the 10th after Mariners closer J.J. Putz couldn't throw a strike. This time around, the blunders were in reverse order.

The error was a joke. Victor Martinez had Ichiro nailed on his attempted steal of third with a 1-0 lead, but Fake couldn't catch a simple everyday throw to third, allowing Ichiro to trot home from third and tie the game at 1-1.

Oh, but he had a chance to redeem himself and be the hero in the 10th with the scored tied at two. I got the following text from my boy Ags: "dp or k, guaranteed." He was right. David Dellucci followed with a K of his own to end the rally.

Did I mention Eric Wedge's bright idea of hitting Fake second and Dellucci third tonight? What on God's green earth gave him the idea that this was a smart move? That brilliant line of thinking was good for one run of four hits through nine innings.

SERENITY NOW

No Pronk = Eight Runs

With DCB spies amongst the 5,000 or so people in the stands at The Jake, The sleeping bats of the Wahoos suddenly woke up, busting out for eight runs on 11 hits and ending a three-game losing streak (which by the way was already their 4th three game losing streak already this season). Eight runs was plenty for Cliff Lee who extended his scoreless inning streak to 27 until Wladimir Balentien chased him with a three-run shot in the 7th. A few quick hits from last night:

1. Once the sun went down, it was freezing down there. There was a a stiff wind blowing from right to left. Thank goodness I was smart enough to bring gloves. The attendance read 15,279 in the paper this morning. Not a chance.

2. Bad job by the people who run the stadium. Only once, they flashed a Cavs score on the scoreboard and that was at the end of the third quarter. Not even when the game was over did they flash the final score. Yet, every five seconds I was reminded that the Mets lost to the Pirates 13-1 earlier in the day.

3. Back to baseball - last night again proved that Grady Sizemore getting on base is the key to this team's success. When he doesn't get on, the team doesn't score. He seemed to start every rally the Tribe had the last two nights. He led the game off with a solo pizza, had another double that turned into a run, and moved his average up to .287. Watching Dave Dellucci lead off two straight games was plenty for me.

4. Joel Skinner must leave his position as third base coach. He is clearly effected by the infamous Kenny Lofton stop sign in lats year's Game Seven of the ALCS. Last night on a bloop single by Kelly Shoppach to center, he waved home Fake with nobody out and Ichiro threw him out by a mile. Instead of having bases loaded and nobody out, Skinner sent home the first out of the inning. Naturally the next two hitters, K-Mike and Asdrubal Cabrera K'd ending the inning with no damage down.

5. I know Fake didn't really hit 5th last night did he? Yes, he hit an RBI double in the five run 5th, but again, this wasn't when the Indians were trailing 2-1 in the seventh. It was when the Indians were up 4-0 already. I know this may be seen as nit-picking, but seriously, can he ever come through when we need it the most? Of course not.

6. I sound like a broken record, but there is ZERO reason for K-Mike to be on this roster. Can you give me Ben Francisco already. You know he went 3-4 with a HR, 3 RBI and a stolen base Monday night? Can we please get this kid up here? Meanwhile, K-Mike continues to flounder, hitting .207.

7. Don't look now, but Franky G is hitting .276 after another 2-4, 3 RBI game last night.

8. The bottom of the lineup at first glance looked atrocious last night with Pronk and Jhonny Peralta getting much deserved nights off. Do you think the following scared any pitcher wearing a Seattle uniform last night? - Blake, Gutierrez, Shoppach, Michaels, Cabrera. Somehow, these guys combined for six hits and five RBI.

9. Cliff Lee looked great again last night. This was my first time seeing him in person this year and he looks like a completely different guy; so confident and eager to bust his fastball in on every hitter. He looks fearless actually. The way he is going right now going along with the rest of this deep rotation, if the bats would only wake up, the Tribe would be just fine.

10. Thank the lord that the White Sox can't hit and the Tigers can't pitch. As poorly as the Tribe has played in the month of April, finishing 13-15, they sit only two games out of first in a division that looks ripe for the taking. Now if Pronk would wake up.....