Tony is back with another Sunday morning edition of the Tribe Happenings, and this week he discusses the problems with the Indians' bench. A lot of focus has been placed on the two black holes in the starting lineup in left field and first base, but he notes that the bench is another big area of concern. Tony also touches on the lack of pinch hitter usage by Acta, the Forbes valuation report, injury updates on several Indians, and more.
Jeanmar Gomez, Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez put the Marlins to sleep on Saturday with a sublime performance on the hill at progressive field. While Chris Perez would provide a few fireworks on the field and off, the Indians maintained their 3 1/2 game lead, now on Chicago, with their win. Jim Pete gives a few "Second Thoughts" of his own after Saturday's game...
The Akron Aeros (25-14) used a season-high eight-run fourth inning and five and one-third innings of one-run ball by starter Giovanni Soto to beat the Richmond Flying Squirrels (20-22) 15-5. The Aeros opened the game hot after posting a season-high 16 runs on Friday.
The Lake County Captains fell by a count of 2-1 to the first-place Lansing Lugnuts in front of an over-capacity crowd of 8,245 on fireworks night Saturday at Classic Park. Lake County could not break through with the clutch hit against Lansing pitching. Although the team pieced together ten hits, they left 12 runners on base, including two in the first, second, third, and fifth innings. With runners in scoring position, the Captains managed just one hit in nine at-bats.
Carolina was in line to win their fifth straight game on Saturday night, when they brought in closer Jose Flores. Flores had been lights out on the season in the closer role, but it wasn't to be. Flores would give up two runs, giving Potomac a 5-4 victory. Find out the details of Carolina's rough night, after the jump...
Joseph Colon continues to build a name for himself at Lake County by taking a no-no into the sixth inning. Akron's offense just exploded tonight, with five hitters tallying three hits. One of those players is a guy that is slowly but surely starting to become a possible name for one of those corner infield positions in the near future. Find out who he is in today's ATF, after the jump...
The magical 40-day period is nearly over. Will the Cleveland Indians make some moves to shuffle up this roster, or will their moves prior to the 40-day deadline satisfy Antonetti and Shapiro enough to keep guys like Matt LaPorta and Jared Goedert at bay? Take a walk to the Corner of Carnegie and Ontario to find out just what has been done already, and what might still be done in the days ahead.
The Indians did more shuffling this week than a poker dealer, as the infamous 40-day mark approaches. The Tribe saw several arms go down to injury, watched a veteran get designated for assignment, and had a starter rise back to the big leagues thanks to Josh Tomlin's injury. Arthur Kinney returns with this week's Transaction Rundown...
The Indians welcomed Ozzie Guillen and the Miami Marlins to Progressive Field. Much maligned Carlos Zambrano made the start for the Marlins, against a struggling Justin Masterson. Both pitched well, but walks and bad decisions would give the Marlins a 3-2 win. Jim Berdysz gives his "Second Thoughts" on Friday Night's loss.
The Lake County Captains (21-20) won their three game series with the South Bend Silver Hawks (22-20) with a 4-2 win on Friday night. Elvis Araujo (1-4, 2.40 ERA) pitched six strong innings to earn his first win of the season, only giving up five hits and one earned run. He surrendered one walk and he struck out six batters.
T.J. House and the Akron Aeros’ offense annihilated the Richmond Squirrels on Friday in a 16-3 victory at Canal Park. House was coming off of a shaky start against the Harrisburg Senators, during which he allowed six runs on seven hits through five innings. This time around, House was dialed in as he tossed five innings of scoreless baseball.
With an impressive 12-5 victory, the Carolina Mudcats visited Northern Virginia Friday evening and dismantled the Potomac Nationals in front of their home crowd at Pfitzner Stadium. Mudcats’ designated hitter Jeremie Tice turned in an MVP performance by going 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and four runs batted in. Tice’s eighth home run of the year was a towering three run shot to left field in the third inning.
After scoring a combined two runs between three affiliates on Thursday night, the Indians affiliates exploded for 44 combined runs between their four games on Friday night. The story offensively this season continues to be Matt LaPorta, Jared Goedert, and Jeremie Tice, but other players are entering into that mix. Tony touches on all the notable performances from the Friday night action in the Indians system.
The Columbus Clippers were able to even up the series on Friday night as they beat the Syracuse Chiefs 12-2. “It was a complete team effort tonight,” Manager Mike Sarbaugh stressed on a win led by an explosive offensive effort. “Top to bottom, everyone contributed.” Kevin Slowey picked up his third win of the season after pitching seven strong innings, striking out seven, and giving up one earned run.
"IPI on Site" is a new on-line video show for the site developed by myself and edited/produced by Michael Taylor that features an on-air interview with a player in the Cleveland Indians organization with some highlights of them in action. This week Low-A Lake County catcher Alex Lavisky joins us to talk about how his season is going and what he is doing to get better.
The 2013 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!
