Yardbarker: Jeremy Sowers

Inside The Box August 18th Edition

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:23:12 -0500

Today's brief has a waiver pickup with an .832 OPS, a Giants pitcher with his eyes on The Count, a player responding to a benching, the new walk-off kings and a lot more.

Wakeup Wahoo: Hafner to DH Tonight in Buffalo; Lewis gets the job done

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:18:57 -0500

Travis Hafner makes his return to baseball action as he heads to Triple-A Buffalo on a rehab assignment to DH for the Herd. Josh Barfield will tag along and Victor Martinez will be right behind them on Tuesday. Plus the Vanderbilt tandem of Starter and Closer has re-surfaced in the Major Leagues and the reworkings of Asdrubal Cabrera.

Tribe Steal Series from MLB-Best Angels

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:19:49 -0500

The Cleveland Indians, backed by Jeremy Sowers' six plus strong innings, win a series from the AL West Leading Los Angeles Angels. Ryan Garko and Franklin Gutierrez were un-solvable and Jensen Lewis navigated his way through a tougher than it should have been ninth inning to convert save chance 3 of 3.

Sunday Pre-Game Chatter: Sowers/Fasano Combo A Good One

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 11:38:42 -0500

Jeremy Sowers and Sal Fasano make a good pair while Cleveland Indians DH Travis Hafner will begin a rehab assignment with Victor Martinez in Buffalo on Tuesday. Plus expecting more out of Andy Marte, Cliff Lee's buzz, and the HOF induction ceremony for Mike Hargrove.

Super Update: Byrd happy to be on a Contender

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:39:44 -0500

Minor and Major league update on the Cleveland Indians. Paul Byrd and his trade to the Boston Red Sox, Tim Fedroff's signing bonus, Asdrubal Cabrera and Jeremy Sowers.

Oh Man... Tribe Get Bamboozled by Rays

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:27:32 -0500

The Cleveland Indians lost.. Again.. Painfully.

This Perfect Game Stuff ain't Workin Out for Sowers

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:05:01 -0500

Cleveland Indians pitcher Jeremy Sowers takes a perfect game into the 6th against the Minnesota Twins for the second time in a week, yet ends up the loser. Plus Eric Wedge and his everlasting quest to crush Andy Marte's spirit.

Rest of Weekend, Not So Fruitful

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:52:20 -0500

Well, at least I feel like I picked a good game to attend, as Saturday and Sunday didn't turn out as well. All I know is that if it wasn't for Cliff Lee, this season would be even more miserable than it has to this point. The one guy that was considered to be the "ace of the future" was Fausto Carmona. Missing the last two months with a hip injury, Carmona's return was nothing short of rough. Like, nine runs in two and a third innings rough. Every member of the Twins recorded a hit, and the six-run first was simply too much to overcome. Ironically, Sunday was nearly the complete opposite for a guy that had struggled most of the season in Jeremy Sowers. Sowers was masterful through eight innings; five of which were of the "perfect" variety until Craig Monroe dropped a bloop single into shallow right field. Three hits and one walk in eight innings is nothing to be ashamed of - but would have been a lot nicer had the Tribe actually won the game. Friday night's hero in Rafael Perez wound up being the goat on Sunday. Handed the ball with the game in a tie, Perez walked one and allowed three hits with two of them being doubles. And that was all she wrote, as the Twins stifled the Indian bats for the entire afternoon. We now stand a game and a half behind Kansas City - something that would just be a moral victory at this point. The schedule gives us a four-game stint against the Tigers, and then it's off to Minnesota where we'll lock up with the Twins on their own turf. With Aaron Laffey being sent back to Buffalo, Matt Ginter will get the nod tomorrow after Paul Byrd takes the hill tonight. Quick Injury Update: Travis Hafner will be reevaluated today with hopes that he returns this season. Victor Martinez is slated to play some catch today, with hopes that he returns in about two or three weeks. David Dellucci will continue to play despite his injured "talent." What a trooper.

That's what you get for pitching to Morneau.. You lose!

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:16:40 -0500

The Cleveland Indians lose to the Minnesota Twins despite a good pitching performance from Jeremy Sowers. Nick Blackburn shut down the Tribe offense and Justin Morneau knocked in the go-ahead run of Rafael Perez in the top of the ninth inning.

Tribe gets nice haul for Casey Blake

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:32:04 -0500

The Tribe got quite a nice return in their trade of Casey Blake to the Dodger. A strikeout arm for the pen - something they have sorely lacked for a long time and a young catcher. who - based on numbers and his abiloity to switch hit - sounds like a young Victor Martinez. And the deal is not too popular in the Dodger blogosphere, where they are more familiar with the guys headed to the Cleveland organization.

Photoshop Off-Day: The Sour Pitch Kid

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:25:21 -0500

Another off-day, another Photoshop fun day. Today, The Tribe Time Report makes fun of Cleveland Indians pitcher Jeremy Sours... I mean, Jeremy Sowers.. AKA The Sour Pitch Kid.

What's up with Aaron Laffey?

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:41:25 -0500

Tribe fans talk about next year's starting rotation and how thin it is. "We got Lee, Carmona and Laffey" they say. "After that who knows." Better put Aaron Laffey in the "who knows" category. On June 24, after holding the Giants to a run on four hits in 6 1/3 innings at the Jake, Laffey's ERA was 2.83. Five starts later, his ERA is 4.23, and he is 1-3 in those five starts. It's pretty difficult to add a run and a half to your ERA in five starts, but Laffey managed. Here's how: In the past five starts, Laffey has pitched 23 2/3 innings and allowed 22 earned runs. I don't even need my calculator to know that is darned near a 9.00 ERA. He has given up 38 hits and 12 walks during that stretch. Again, I don't need to my calculator to know that comes out to a WHIP of just over 2.00 and nearly 5 walks per 9 innings. Is his confidence rattled? Are his mechanics off? Has the league figured him out? That's hard to say sitting in my living room in suburban NY, but something is clearly out of kilter. So much so, that Tribe manager Eric Wedge wouldn't make any promises when asked whether Laffey might not be the guy to go down to Buffalo to get straightened out when Fausto Carmona comes back at the end of the week. After Laffey gave up 8 runs on 12 hits in just four innings plus in today's game in Anaheim, Wedge was non-committal when asked about the roster move coming up Friday - telling MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince: "We're not going to decide anything right now," manager Eric Wedge said. "We don't need to do anything until Friday night after the game, at the earliest. We haven't made any decisions just yet." Matt Ginter is the presumed odd-man-out, but he's put up two quality starts in two tries since joining the Tribe's rotation in what was supposed to be a cameo role. Jeremy Sowers, who has been a major disappointment this season could also go, but it is likely (at least I think so) that the Tribe - which has already farmed out Sowers this year for retooling - will want to keep him up in the hopes he can work things out on the big-league level between now and the end of September. Which brings us to the bullpen. I had planned to do a piece tonight about how the pen seems to be coming around and how it has been central to the Tribe's recent run of victories. An then today - and Tom Mastny and Jensen Lewis - happened. The duo combined to give up 6 runs over three innings in relief of Mastny, rendering moot any effort the Tribe's offense made to make a game of it. And that doesn't even count the 3 runs of Laffey's that Mastny gave up on a grand slam by Angel's catcher Jeff Mathis. In Mastny's defense, he last pitched 10 days ago. I've said it time and again this year and in the past, I don't know how Wedge expects his 4-7 relievers to be of any value whatsoever when he pitches them once every leap year or so. But still, Mastny was awful and Lewis wasn't much better. But the bullpen has been strong in the past 9 games before today - a stretch which saw the Tribe go 7-2. During that run, the pen has tossed 28 innings allowed 6 earned runs, 17 hits and 7 walks. That's an ERA of 1.92 and a WHIP of 0.86 (I'm not going to let the stats I dug up go top waste). Exclude one 4-run blowup by Juan Rincon, and the Tribe's bullpen ERA during the 9-game run is 0.64. Masa Kobayashi has 2 saves and Mastny, of all people, has the pen's lone win during the Tribe's recent hot streak. More importantly, a few key pitchers seem to be settling into roles. Raffy Perez, back firmly in the set-up role where he excelled last year, threw 7 innings in four appearances over the 9 games and did not allow a run. Kobayashi had the 2 saves and has pitched well in general since taking over the closer's role. Edward Mujica threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings during the stretch as he has begun to make a move toward the latter innings of games. The roles being established now though appear to be nothing more than an attempt to wrestle this season under control. While impressions will be made the rest of the way, it's doesn't appear as though anyone will be locking up their role for next season. In another piece for MLB.com, Castrovince reports that Wedge sees the bullpen situation as - shall we say - fluid. "The roles are wide open," Wedge said. "But I do see signs. We've got plenty of time to continue to look at these guys. They're going to have an opportunity to step up and figure out if they can play a prominent role in this thing." Still, in the same piece, Castrovince reports the Tribe doesn't think it will find its 2009 closer on its 2008 club, again quoting Wedge: "A lot would have to happen with the people we have down there now for us to not go out and get somebody," Wedge said. "Somebody would have to grab the role, really lock into it and prove that we can count on them. That's a lot to happen in two and a half months."

Tribe Survive Late Surge to Give Sowers First Win

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:14:14 -0500

Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Jeremy Sowers picked up his first major league win since May of 2007 and the Indians beat the Seattle Mariners 9-6. Shin-Soo Choo went deep against his former organization and Jhonny Peralta collected his 50th RBI of the year.

LET'S GO MUSTACHE!

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:56:01 -0500

The Sal Fasano cheering section is in full-effect as the Cleveland Indians sweep the Tampa Bay Rays with the help of Jhonny Peralta and Andy Marte.

AL All Crap Team

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:09:29 -0500

Screw the All Star Game let's put together a roster from those that have been utter disappointments this season.

C: Victor Martinez - He's supposed to be the best hitting catcher in the league. Instead he doesn't have a single home run this season and has been on the DL for about a month now.
1B: - Paul Konerko - Despite Paul Konerko's miserable .213 average the White Sox still find themselves in first place.
2B: - Asdrubal Cabrera - Last season Cabrera came up and solidified the Indians middle infield, this year he couldn't even hit close to .200 before being demoted.
3B: Jack Hannahan - Not much has been made in the media about the absence of Eric Chavez for most of the year, but his replacement for the A's has been piss poor hitting .222 with only 3 homers.
SS: Edgar Renteria - Renteria was supposed to be another key acquisition for the Tigers, yet it hasn't quite worked out yet as Edgar barely has an on base % above .300 to go along with his .326 Slugging %.
OF: Franklin Gutierrez - It's no wonder the Indians are in sell mode when you look at how many players they have on the All Crap roster. Gutierrez 200+ at bats and has an on base % of .265. Ugh.
OF: David Dellucci - Dellucci also has 200+ at bats this season for the Indians and he too has an on base % below .300 and an average below .225.
OF: Johnny Gomes - He's nothing more than a platoon outfielder for the Rays but he should really be nothing more than a platoon player for their AAA affiliation. He's hitting .186 with only 6 homers.
DH: Travis Hafner - Pronk used to be a consistent beast at the plate. This year he's hitting .217 with only 4 home runs and now finds himself on the DL.

Bench: Kenji Johjima - I was gonna go with V-tek, but Johjima has actually been worse, he has well over 200 at bats and has yet to score 20 runs.
Bench: Daric Barton - The rookie has not been the answer for the A's. In 267 at bats Barton is hitting .225 with only 3 homers.
Bench: Juan Uribe - No longer starting but still getting marginal playing time for the White Sox, Uribe has managed only a .206 average this season.
Bench: Craig Monroe - He has 140+ at bats for the Twins and is hitting a massive .211. Woo go Craig.
Bench: Shannon Stewart - Stewart has never been a masher and he certainly isn't this year with a .303 slugging %, but he used to at least have speed. This year he only has 3 stolen bases.

SP: Jeremy Sowers - The Youngster for the Indians has started 8 games this season and is 0-5 with a 7+ ERA.
SP: Steve Trashbag - He was brought back to the Orioles for a little veteran leadership, but he was designated for assignment in early June after posting a 8+ ERA.
SP: Carlos Silva - Um, why did he get a solid contract? He's never been really good and he's been atrocious with a 5.59 ERA thus far this season.
SP: Phil Hughes - Supposedly the best prospect in baseball Hughes had an ERA of 9 before landing himself on the DL for which he might remain the entirety of the season.
SP: Ian Kennedy - The 2nd Yankees youngster recorded an ERA well above 7 in 9 outings and has yet to manage a victory.
SP: Boof Bonser - The man with the funny name has been relegated from the rotation after posting an ERA well over 6.
RP: Jimmy Gobble - Gobble has come into 29 games from the pen and has an ERA above 7 for the Royals.
RP: Mike Timlin - I guess when you're about 90 you should be losing a little zip on the fastball and Timlin is with his 6+ ERA.
RP: Ross Ohlendorf - One more Yankee 'prospect' that has been a disappointment thus far this season.
RP: JJ Putz - JJ was supposed to be amongst the elite closers. Instead he's been on and off the DL and only has 7 saves.
CL: Joe Borowski - He wasn't very good last year when he recorded a ton of saves but he's been absolutely brutal this season with a 7.56 ERA and only 6 saves.