Matt LaPorta activated from 15-day DL...in tonight's lineup batting 8th...Josh Judy back to AAA

RR - I do think it is understandable that the World Series winning catcher (Posey) and NL Rookie of the Year drew a lot of attention for the hit at home plate.

There's more to it than that. In the Posey play, the baserunner made a choice. Posey was in front of the plate. The baserunner (whose name escapes me) could have moved right to catch the plate in an evasive slide, but instead he veered to the left for the express purpose of running down the catcher. He could easily have scored with little or no contact had he chosen to try. The result was that he missed the plate altogether.

Hard to believe we are 85 games into the season. 77 to go.

Tigers and White Sox only have 74 to go.


We come back after the AS Break on Bastille Day and have 8 on the road at Baltimore and Minnie before a 9 game homestand with the White Sox, Angels and Royals.

I only got to catch bits and pieces of the game last night, but I saw LaPorta make a couple nice defensive plays, and get a base knock his first at bat.

Welcome back.

Here's hoping Zach pitches well tonight and forces a tough decision on who to keep.

85 games in the books and Tribe in first place by 3 games in the loss column!

Wahoo!

One area of concern for the Tribe going forward has to be the starting rotation.

I don't have time to dig out the numbers right now, but I wonder if the Big Three can handle the innings they will be asked to pitch.

I know there are rotation candidates on the farm, but do you really want to count on them in a pennant race?

I do think there will be nothing decent available on the trade front that fits the Tribe budget and willingly yielded trade assets.

We may need Gomez, McAllister, perhaps even Huff, to replace the Little Two of the rotation. Good question about the ability of the Three to avoid burnout. Carrasco is known for his durability. Tomlin has few DL stays that I recall, but he's often been a back of the rotation pitcher who bounced in and of rotations so not likely to have big inning totals. I'll do a quick check and post some numbers.

Carrasco per year:

159 140 151 179 195 102 so far this year

Masterson:

136 138 190 122 this year

Tomlin:

145 180 110 this year

Civ- Thanks for the digging.

At least those 3 have been close to 200 IPs in a season.

I feel better.

I agree with you about the Little 2.

Who do you expect the Indians to drop to make room for McAllister? It will be a position player, since LaPorta came on board yesterday for Judy. Duncan again? Or Buck? Did Kearns save his job with his Monday homer? Phelps is the most worthy of return to Columbus but we'd be too short in the infield.

It certainly won't be Kearns, Actas' pet.

I'd say Duncan.

It's Phelps.