Author: JEC (Page 23 of 46)

Okay, so it was only the 17-32 A’s, but the Tribe’s first sweep of the year is an encouraging sign. Jake Westbrook allowed one run on four hits in seven innings and, for once, he actually got some help from the offense in a 6-3 win Sunday. Ben Broussard had two hits and Alex Cora drove in three runs, but perhaps the most significant line in the box score belonged to Victor Martinez, who doubled and homered in four at-bats. Now back over the Mendoza Line (.201), Martinez got just his 18th hit in 113 left-handed at bats (.159) on the season. Aaron Boone, meanwhile, found himself back on the bench after going 0-4 and commiting his seventh error of the season yesterday.

Now at 24-25 on the year, the Indians find themselves nine games behind the White Sox (pending Chicago’s game today) and 3.5 behind the Twins, who fell to Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays 4-0 Sunday. With three games in Minnesota (Tuesday through Thursday) and three more in Chicago (Friday through Sunday) this week, the Indians have a golden opportunity to get right back into the AL Central hunt. Winning four or five of these next six games would be fantastic, but a 2-4 swing would be equally as devastating at this point.

It wasn’t pretty but the Indians took game one of their four-game series with the Twins Monday night, 2-1. The struggling Scott Elarton shut the Twins out on four hits in his 5.1 innings of work but the offense very nearly gave this one away too. Tied 1-1 with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth, Victor Martinez hit a shot to straight-away center that resulted in the game-winning sacrifice fly. Bob Wickman did his best to blow the game in the ninth, putting runners on second and third before getting a groundout to end the game.

They’ve still got a ton of work to do, but tonight’s win was the Tribe’s third in a row and sent their record to 20-23. The White Sox have a hefty lead over the rest of the division but there’s still plenty of baseball to be played.

One day after flipping off Reds fan in the ninth inning against the Indians, former Cleveland pitcher Danny Graves has been designated for assignment by Cincinnati. Graves, the Reds’ full-time closer for six of the past seven years, allowed five runs in one-third of an inning Sunday and, after getting pulled by manager Dave Miley and walking off the field Sunday, he yelled at and flipped off a Reds fan sitting next to the dugout who’d started heckling him.

Graves has been awful this year (10 saves with a 7.36 ERA and a .357 BAA), but the Indians should be the first team looking to sign him. I wouldn’t let him close — we’ve already got a shaky closer — but I think he’d be a great middle/late inning guy to add, someone who could go from the fifth to the eigth if you needed him to, or someone who could give you one good inning. Let’s not forget that he used to be a starter for the Reds, albeit not a terribly good one, so it wouldn’t be a big deal if Wedge needed to stretch him out to three or four innings every once in a while.

Graves is an experienced arm who can help in several different roles and, with his Cleveland connection, you’ve got to think he’d at least be mildly interested in joining the Indians’ bullpen.