Author: JEC (Page 26 of 46)

The Indians activated Jody Gerut from the 15-day DL Friday and optioned him to AAA Buffalo. Don’t expect to see him there long, though — the lineup could use a shot in the arm and while Gerut’s no superstar, some new blood may revive the entire lineup.

The question, though, is who gets demoted once Gerut is called up. There have been some whispers that the Tribe is considering sending Aaron Boone down but unless he’s still hitting .120 in June or July, that’s not likely going to happen. Ryan Ludwick doesn’t have any options left so he’s probably not going anywhere. I guess that leaves Grady Sizemore as the odd man out, unless Shapiro wants to send Jhonny Peralta to AAA and hand the starting job at short to Alex Cora, but Peralta’s bat has finally shown some signs of life so he’s probably staying put as well. Of course, it’ll get real interesting once Juan Gonzalez returns.

Coco Crisp had three hits, scored two runs and stole a base, leading the Indians to a 9-3 win Wednesday afternoon over the Angels. Cliff Lee gave up two earned in six innings with four Ks, but he retired the last 13 hitters he faced and didn’t walk anybody.

As encouraging as Lee’s performance was, seeing the offense fire on all its cylinders, even if only for one afternoon, was kinda nice. Ben Broussard, Jhonny Peralta and Casey Blake each went deep, Broussard’s homer being his first of three hits on the day. Grady Sizemore added two hits from the leadoff slot. The only negative was Travis Hafner’s 0-5. If you have him on your fantasy team and you see nine runs on the board for the Tribe, you’re thinking Pronk did something for you. Whoops.

The biggest news of the day, though, may be Coco’s line. He collected three hits Tuesday with a homer and a steal and three more hits today with a homer and a steal, but he only had one hit Monday. A solo home run. And he stole a base.

Expected by some to go 20/20 atop the Tribe’s lineup, Coco is now easily in line with those numbers, sitting at four homers and six steals following this week’s binge. All of the damage, though, has been down lower in the order — after batting second in Monday’s win, Coco has hit sixth the past two games. While I still think he’ll be this team’s leadoff hitter, I doubt he’s going anywhere anytime soon. Batting sixth has suited him nicely.

By the way, we’re sending out a search party for Aaron Boone. If you’ve seen him, please, send word (0-4, 1 K, 4 LOB).

Jhonny Peralta doubled and homered and Coco Crisp had three hits, including a ninth inning home run off closer Francisco Rodriguez, but the Indians fell to the Angels 5-4. C.C. Sabathia wasn’t terrible but he certainly wasn’t all that great either, surrendering four runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings of work, with all the runs coming on a pair of two-run homers by Garrett Anderson and Josh Paul. While Coco and Peralta delivered last night, the rest of the offense continued to struggle, with Casey Blake, Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner and Aaron Boone going a combined 0-16 with six of the team’s eight strikeouts.