Category: Cleveland Indians (Page 80 of 96)

Well at least we know the Indians can still beat up on the Royals. Fresh off an embarrassing four-game sweep at the hands of the White Sox, the Indians beat the Royals 6-2 Monday night in five innings. The game was called early due to rain, but not before the Tribe pounded KC starter DJ Carassco for five runs on eight hits in just over two innings of work. Cliff Lee notched his 10th win of the season and Ben Broussard hit his 10th homer of the year in the victory.

The Indians can forget about competing for the Central Dibvision title after suffering a four-game sweep at the hands of the White Sox. Today was a fitting end to the series, as the Indians endured a 4-0 shutout. The Tribe can still pray for the Wild Card, but even that seems remote with the way they are playing. They need to wake up and take care of business with the weak schedule because right now they can’t hang with the White Sox.

The Indians started the 2005 season with a 1-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox and then began the second half of the season with another 1-0 loss to the Sox. Unable to figure out Chicago starter Jose Contreras, who struck out seven in as many innings while allowing just three hits, the Indians wasted another brilliant outing from Kevin Millwood, who allowed one run in eight innings while striking out nine. The Tribe is now 3-7 versus the Sox this year and a dozen games behind the South Siders in the Central standings. The good news is, they’ve got three games left against Chicago this weekend and another five games with the Sox over the course of the season (Sept. 19-21, Oct. 1 and 2), so there’s still time to tighten up the season series. Of course, to do that the Indians will have to figure out how to win one-run games.

The Tribe called up Brandon Phillips from AAA Buffalo, sending Brian Tallet back down. The move might be temporary heading into the All-Star break. After trading Alex Cora, the Indians need to decide who will fill the role of utility infielder. This gives Phillips a chance to show what he can do, though he might be the trade bait used by Shapiro to bring in a right-handed bat.

According to Paul Hoynes, the Indians are looking at several Reds hitters for a possible deal, including third basman Joe Randa and outfielders Wily Mo Pena and Austin Kearns. Either guy would help in right field, though it’s questionable whether either of them would make enough of an impact to an already improving offense. Casey Blake is hitting again, and Aaron Boone had four hits yesterday in the 5-4 loss to the Yankees.

Shapiro has a tough decision to make, but frankly I’m confident he’ll make the right call. He’s done a great job rebuilding this team, and I wouldn’t be disappointed or surprised if he decides against making a move.

Major League Baseball announced Friday that Indians reliever Rafael Betancourt, currently on the DL with shoulder inflammation, has been suspended for 10 days for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. A 10-day suspension means Betancourt tested positive for steroids, which, by my count, makes Betancourt the third big leaguer to be suspended for steroids this year, after outfielder Alex Sanchez and reliever Juan Rincon. The suspension, as stated in the MLB press release, is effective immediately, which makes no sense considering Betancourt is not even eligible to come off the DL for another week. With the way rookie Fernando Cabrera has pitched since being called up, the Indians are in no rush to get Betancourt back.