Morning Update: Lee and Carpenter prepare for Cy Young Showdown

Two non-baseball related thoughts are on my mind today as I type this.

1.) My mouse is flashing the red button, which means it is just minutes away from losing battery power. I've told you the exploits of my battery troubles before, in which the Akron Campus sold batteries at an alarmingly high price. Well I don't think I have any batteries in the house and my mom doesn't sell them downstairs, so unless there are batteries in the drawer that I didn't think about, soon I will have no mouse, and will either have to go out and get some today, or survive the day without them.

This is sad news, especially since I have to start linking things soon.

2.) I'm heating up a Bob Evans breakfast bowl. My loving mother bought it, and it's French Toast Stuffed with apples and cream cheese.. Oh my god, it sounds good but also kind of gross.. I'll have the verdict for you by the end of this entry as it is heating up now.

Today, Tomo Ohka still shouldn't have anything to be ashamed about. His career numbers against Albert Pujols aren't good, but as Eric Wedge astutely points out, no one really does.

"[Pujols] has good numbers against a lot of people," manager Eric Wedge said.

"Tomo did a great job," said Wedge. "He pitched an outstanding game. We didn't do a very good job offensively. We chased some bad balls early and missed some opportunities later in the game."

Wedge said his tempo was good, he was just throwing the ball and relying on what he had. Pujols was just too tough for Ohka. There are superstars that can win you games by themselves, and Pujols is definitely one of them and this was one of those games.

Two quotables on the base running mistakes. First Josh Barfield on his screw up.

"I kind of got caught in no-man's land," Barfield said. "I should have just held up at first. They always say you should be standing on second on a popup, but the ball has to be hit high enough that you can make it there."

His mistake... Victor Martinez's mistake was he should have just kept going. Wedge said he should have trusted his instincts. Even if he was going to get thrown out, I'd have told him to keep going at that point. Once you stop, you are dead meat anyway.

Meanwhile, the guy Ohka was filling in for has finally been heard from. It's been a few weeks with Fausto in exile and now.. Wedge speaks on him.

"I don't think he came into camp in the condition he needed to be in which means he didn't leave camp in the condition he needed to be in," said Wedge. "Was that part of the problem? I don't know.

"Was he in the shape that we would have liked to see him coming into spring training? No, he wasn't. Normally I don't say that. So if I say that, I feel that."

Remember earlier in spring when Wedge was pretty peeved with a few of the players for coming into camp out of shape? It was no secret that two of those players were Fausto Carmona and Andy Marte.

Fausto is working with a pair of coaches in Steve Lyons and Dave Miller and "mental coach" Julio Rangel. Carl Willis is in contact daily with both coaches and they are not creating any sort of time line for Fausto's return because it would just create more stress.

"He's on a program that we feel good about," said Wedge. "He's throwing off the mound a little in the bullpen. It's more about recognizing about where he's at, why he's there and what he needs to do to fix it.

"We want to make sure the time we spend in Arizona helps him to realize why certain things are or aren't [working]. ... Things have been good in the short term, but it's a process."

It's sounding more and more like this wasn't so much a mental break, it was for him to get into shape as well as clear his mind and fix his mechanics. Wedge says that Carmona is in a "pretty good place physically."

Hopefully.. Just hopefully...

We've got a big game tonight. National television, ESPN Sunday Night attention. Tomorrow's game against the Brewers is also an ESPN telecast, but this is big time. Cliff Lee and Chris Carpenter, Two Cy Young award winners squaring off.

Just another day at the office for Cliff Lee though. He's been matched up against good pitchers all year, Carpenter is no different.

"I'm not that worried about it," Lee said. "Obviously, you know [Carpenter] is a great pitcher, so you can't give up many runs or wind up in the hole. Hopefully our guys put up some runs and stay out of the norm of how successful he usually is."

Jamey Carroll knows how tough Carpenter is, and his history against him is probably a reason he'll be in the lineup tonight. Not that he has a very successful history, but the fact he's actually had history.

"He's got a little bit of everything," said Jamey Carroll, who is 5-for-14 in his career against Carpenter and is the only member of the Tribe with an extensive history against him. "It's going to be a tough day."

Carpenter pretty much echoed Cliff Lee's thoughts... While Lee realizes he's pitching against Chris Carpenter, he's actually pitching to the Cardinals hitters and most specifically the guy we talked about earlier, Albert Pujols.

"You get the scouting report and use it accordingly," Lee said. "He's one of the best hitters in the game. You just have to treat him like any player in any other lineup. You've got to make sure you don't miss out over the middle of the plate. He's smart enough to recognize what you're trying to do against him. So you've got to be unpredictable."

Words from Jake Westbrook on his latest rehab start.

"My velocity is fine," said Westbrook. "I'm throwing 90 mph to 94 mph. I just hope I get that zip back in my arm."

First hand account of Westbrook's start from IPI, where Brian Hagerman said that Westbrook could have gone another inning if he wasn't rehabbing from a major elbow surgery. That's how efficient he was.

More Gull Chatter.... The Indians did fireworks again and it worked. Gulls came after the game when the fans stayed to watch a showing of Major League. They had to shoot off more fireworks to get them to scatter.

Under Eric Wedge, the Indians are nails after the All-Star Break. Check out the latest Hey Hoynes for the list of records. Combined, the Indians have a record of 233-201. He's had the team above. 500 every year after his first year.

Finally... Did someone tell Thom Brennaman and Mark Grace the reason for the uniforms? They kept harping on the year they selected and wondered why because that year, both teams were bad.

It was an anniversary, the anniversary of Major League. DUH! Come on guys, you should notice those are the uniforms they wore in Major League.

Okay, update.. The Mouse died just as I was finishing and it turns out, I have batteries! Winner!

The breakfast bowl was gross. I finished it, even threw in an Eggo French Toast with it.. But that thing was 450 calories. Even though I'm not a calorie counter, I try and keep an eye on what I eat on a daily basis and that's going to really hurt me in the long-run today. Never buy the Bob Evans breakfast bowl with apples, cream cheese and french toast. It is gross tasting.