Aubrey Called up, Sowers sent back to Buffalo

First Baseman Michael Aubrey has been called up by the Tribe, as Jeremy Sowers has been sent back down. Aubrey is in the last year of options so they will get to see him pinch hit and play some first base over the next week until Joe Borowski (gulp!) is ready. He has been raking at Akron and Buffalo, so hopefully he will be a helpful left handed bat off of the bench. Sowers pitched OK yesterday, going 5 innings while giving up 3 runs. He is the teams 7th starter, and probably won't see much more action unless injuries or rainouts happen.

Tales from the Teepee Volume 7: Kevin Seitzer

The year was 1996, and the Indians were desperate for a veteran bat after they traded Eddie Murray back to Baltimore. August 31st was the last day to add a player to the post season roster, and John Hart felt he needed a spark to the lineup. Kevin Seitzer was added from the Milwaukee Brewers for a young outfield prospect named Jeremy Burnitz. Burnitz did have 7 homeruns and 26 RBI while batting .281 in 71 games. This was the first deal of a few more to come when Hart dealt up and coming players for veterans and specialty players (Casey, Giles, Graves). Kevin Seitzer did have a great month with the Tribe batting .386 with 1 homerun and 16 RBI in 83 at bats in September. He also batted .294 and drove in 4 runs during the ALDS, but the Indians fell to the Orioles in 4 games.

Terry Pluto wrote in his book, "Our Tribe," wrote this interesting story about Seitzer.

"In 1996, teammate Kevin Seitzer missed a couple of weeks with appendix surgery. When he returned to the team, (Manny) Ramirez was excited to see him back. He came up behind Seitzer and lifted him off the ground, putting his hands around Seitzer's waist.

Seitzer screamed in pain.

Ramirez quickly put him down.

"Manny," said Seitzer. "I just had an operation there."

"oh," he said. "I thought you had heart surgery."
Our Tribe, Terry Pluto page 66.
Yet another example of Manny being Manny.

Seitzer played as a role player in 1997 participating in 64 games and batting .268 while making the post season roster. He retired after the season, compiling a career batting average of .295. All Jeremy Burnitz did was have 6 seasons of 30 plus homeruns and 4 seasons of 100 plus RBI. These type of deals eventually spelled doom for the Tribe (see 2002-2004). Seitzer currently runs a baseball training facility in Kansas City with former Royals teammate Mike Macfarlane. I will always remember him as the professional hitter with the weird batting helmet whose last name ryhmed with mine.

What a Stretch!

To say that the Indians have been getting good starting pitching is an understatement, as they took 3 straight from Oakland. For a starting staff to yield 1 earned run over the past 7 games is down right mind-boggling. The bats won't need to come out of their coma if this keeps up. The Tribe, with winning 8 of their last 10, has vaulted into sole possession of first place in the AL Central. The offense has had a lack of forming any type of consistency and Rafael Betancourt has looked shaky at best, but who really cares when your pitchers are throwing shutouts. With the Tigers struggling mightily and the White Sox and Twins hovering around mediocrity, the Indians may be able to put some games between them and the rest of the division. Over the next 19 games, they face the Rangers 7 times, the White Sox 6, and the Royals and Reds 3 times each. Look for this team to continue it's roll as the weather warms up. Sweeping the Athletics was a huge step in this team putting their bad start behind them.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Starting Pitchers (Byrd, Sabathia, and Laffey): 23 1/3 IP, 15 hits, 0 Earned Runs, 3 walks, 24 K's. What can you say? They starting staff has been unbelievable and the best in baseball. If they continue to pitch anywhere close to this good, 2008 will be another season to remember.

Masa Kobayashi: 2 IP, 1 hit, 3 K's, 0 earned runs, 2 saves. Shows emotion and excitement everytime out. I have a feeling he will be our future closer sooner than later.

Ben Francisco: 4-7, 4 runs, 1 RBI. Ben has been playing great defense and mashing the ball consistently as well. Frankie G will be loosing time if B-Franc keeps it up.

Ryan Garko: 3-11, 2 HR, 5 RBI. Drove in 5 of the 10 runs scored in the series. Hope he has ended his batting funk finally.

Areas of Concern:

Rafael Betancourt: Another rough outing for Raffy, loaded the bases in the 9th of Thursday's game. May have pitched himself out of the 9th inning entirely.

Franklin Gutierrez: 0-8 4 K's. Does not like the curve ball much. Needs to get it going or will be a defensive replacement rather than a regular starter.

Casey Blake: 0-4. Casey likes to only hit when runners are in scoring position.

Andy Marte: 1-4. Picked off of first, I know the front office does not want to cut him due to depth reasons, but he really has no future on this team.

The Indians invade Cincinnati this weekend for a 3 game series. Jeremy Sowers takes on Johnny Cueto. Look for Pronk to play probably one game in the field, and for a lot of pinch hitting.

Also, for anyone thinking that the Indians are going to trade Peralta and Laffey to the Colorado Rockies for Garrett Atkins, you are a moron. TTO contributor Frisky told me he heard this rumor on the Munch show on WKNR Wednesday. Besides Greg Brinda, the whole station could care less about Indians baseball until September so that tells you a bit about their quality of sportscasting. I can't imagine the Tribe dealing Laffey with the impending free agency of CC and Byrd. Starting Pitching is too valuable to deal a guy you can control for the next 5 years. If anyone will be traded, I would assume it would be Sowers, but that may be a stretch as well. The Tribe does need a bat, but I believe they would trade lower level starters (Lofgren, Huff) before dealing Triple A depth. It is a long season and you never know when a starter may get hurt. I am now off the soap box.

Defense Wins Championships (or games)

Most pundits believed going into the 2008 season that the Tribe's defense would be average at best. Those pundits should be slapped in the face, because the Indians are flashing the leather. Asdrubal Cabrera made an eye popping diving catch, Dellucci made a great grab against the wall, and Sizemore gunned down the fleet footed Frank Thomas while also making a great diving snag. All of these factors, including another gem of a start from Paul Byrd, and Ryan Garko finally delivering on a 3 run homerun led the Tribe to defeat the Oakland A's Tuesday, 4-0. The team has now won 6 of their last 8, and the starting pitching has hurled 34 consecutive shutout innings. If the bats ever decide to wake up, this team could become scary good.

Also while attending the game tonight, my wife and I sat in front of two dudes who's Tribe knowledge was deplorable. These were some of the 9 inning conversation highlights:

• The drummer bangs his percussion instrument every inning with two outs.


• The Indians last won the World Series in 1964


• The Indians have been to the ALCS 6 or 7 times in the past 44 years.


• The Indians made it to the World Series in 1995 and 1998.


• Jose Mesa retired in 1999.


• They missed the days of Mesa, Lofton, Baerga, and Thome. Wish they were still here.

Why do I mention this? Because it seems like every other game I tend to sit in front of these type of morons. They laugh loudly at their own jokes and have no idea what they are talking about. I am not saying that everyone should be a dork like me and have their own blog, but at least try and attempt to get your facts straight. I never hear anyone saying they wish we had Chad Ogea and Charles Nagy on the mound. The late 90's are over, let's move on.

Starting Staff Silences Jays

The Indians were able to win their second series in a row by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in three of their four games played. Toronto was only able to string together 4 runs over the four game stretch, and three of them were in the last game of the series in the 10th inning. To say that batting is down in baseball would be an understatement, but this will be discussed at in a later entry. With these wins, the Tribe has finally reached the .500 mark, a minor miracle by the way they have played inconsistently all year. The starting staff has been amazing, but the bats have been wildly inconsistent. As the weather warms, (which it has not yet), we should see increased offensive numbers, but you can never be sure. This next series versus Oakland should be an interesting one since the Tribe's best two starting pitchers so far this year will not be on the mound (Lee, Carmona). Being only 1 1/2 game out of first place is also an encouraging sign that they should be in this for the long haul.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Grady Sizemore: 6-18, 2 HR, 5RBI. Grady continues to rake. Too bad the team does not have a better leadoff alternative because he would look great in the 3 hole.

Casey Blake: 4-10, 3 RBI. Mr. Clutch 2008 continues to rake with runners on, and not hit with the bases empty. He is truly an enigma.

Asdrubal Cabrera: Unassisted Triple Play: He is not been so great with the bat, but his defense at short and second has been tremendous. Shows much more range and arm strength at shortstop than Peralta. Also, though it was cool to see an unassisted triple play, my friend Szoke made the correct point that it really wasn't that exciting. He kind of dove, caught the ball, stepped on second, and tagged out the runner. Interesting yes, but exciting, not so much.

Starting Staff: (CC, Laffey, Carmona, Lee) combined to pitch 32 innings, 24 hits, 9 walks, 19 K's, 1 Earned Run, for a 0.28 ERA. That stat is just ridiculous. If the staff continues to put lines up like this, you can add another division championship flag to Progressive field. They have collectively saved this team from a total meltdown.

Areas of Concern:

Ryan Garko: 2-10. Looks lost and awkward at the plate. I have no idea what his problem is.

Jhonny Peralta: 0-7, 3 K's. Looks lost and awkward at the plate. I have no idea what his problem is.

Rafael Betancourt: 1 IP, 3 earned runs. I cannot understand why Eric Wedge trots him out when the score is tied or they are losing. He has pitched well in CLOSING situations, so why not leave him to that. I know he hadn't pitched in awhile, but Wedge could have went lefty/lefty matchup baseball since his bullpen had not pitched since Saturday.

Matt Underwood: As the season goes on, the more I am annoyed by the Indians TV play by play guy. He laughs at all of his own jokes and I think Rick Manning really does hate him.

The Oakland A's roll into town to square off for a 3 game series. Paul Byrd faces Justin Duchscherer. Let's hope they forget about the offense meltdown from yesterday and keep up the momentum of winning each series.

Mastny sent down, Tyner called up

Due to his relative inactivity, Reliever Tom Mastny was sent down to triple A Buffalo. He only pitched in two games, so he will be better off getting innings in the minors. The Indians have not needed many relief innings because the starters have been going so deep into games. Jason Tyner is journeyman outfielder who will be used primarily as a pinch runner. I would assume he will be sent back down after Joe Borowski comes off of the disabled list. It will be nice to see a guy with speed on the club for late inning opportunities since the middle 4 in the lineup are incredibly slow.