Cleveland Sports Forum

Yankees Claim Jess Todd
By Ben Nicholson-Smith [May 6, 2011 at 1:19pm CST]

The Yankees claimed right-hander Jess Todd off of waivers from Cleveland, the Indians announced. The Indians had designated Todd for assignment on April 30th.

Todd, 25, arrived in Cleveland two years ago when the Indians acquired him and current closer Chris Perez for Mark DeRosa. In eight appearances at Triple-A in 2011, Todd has allowed 18 hits and 6 walks in 9 innings, striking out 6. However, he has averaged more than one strikeout per inning in his five-year minor league career. Todd has 28 1/3 innings of big league experience and his 7.62 ERA is unimpressive despite a strong 29K/12BB ratio.

Who is everyone's minor league surprise so far? For me it's Ezequiel Carrera. He's hitting for average and doing a great job getting on base but he's power is still anemic with only four extra base hits in 93 at bats but it is nice to see him playing well. Particularly given that we gave up nothing for him...

Columbus up 10-7 in the 8th. Carrera and Phelps with three hits a piece. Old friends Josh Barfield and Ronnie Belliard are playing for Lehigh Valley.

Clippers win 10-7. Judge Judy with the save:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... 10506&gc=1

Aeros lose 7-4 in Carrasco's rehab start:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... 10506&gc=1

Captains go down 6-3:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... 10506&gc=1

Phelps and Carrera are #2 and #11 in the IL in OBP. Phelps leads the league in walks.

K-Tribe sweeps the twinbill. Pomeranz with a top notch outing. Greenwell the Younger continues to hit and our Australian import likes his first outing in High-A:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... 10507&gc=1

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... 10507&gc=2

Columbus (I still want to say Buffalo) rained out.

Akron goes down 4-3 with Hagadone suffering his first bad outing of the year. We really don't have much in the way of hitting prospects at Akron other than Jordan Henry:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... 10507&gc=1

Captains lose 7-6:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... 10507&gc=1

Indians sweep twinbill from Potomac
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Pomeranz wins first game as a pro
May 08, 2011 12:00 AM
David Hall
Staff Writer
Drew Pomeranz finally got a win, and the Kinston Indians are starting to make a habit of it.

Bo Greenwell hit for a two-game cycle and Pomeranz pitched five shutout innings to earn his first career victory as the Indians opened a doubleheader sweep with a 3-0 win over Potomac on Saturday.

Clayton Cook held the Nationals to four hits over five innings and Kinston scored four sixth-inning runs in a 5-0 win in the nightcap.

The sweep ran the Indians’ winning streak to a season-long four and further convinced manager Aaron Holbert that his club, which improved to 13-15, is better than its record indicates.

“We see it as a staff,” Holbert said. “I think the players see it.

“Guys are starting to feel that excitement coming to the field and knowing that they’re going to put themselves in a good position to finish ballgames.”

Greenwell, who finished the night 4-for-5, homered and singled in the opener and tripled and doubled in Game 2, raising his batting average to a team-leading .323.

Pomeranz (1-0), the parent Cleveland Indians’ top draft pick in 2010, allowed three hits, struck out eight and walked three to get his first professional decision in his sixth start.

The hard-throwing left-hander did it without his best stuff, getting by mostly with fastballs as he struggled with command of his secondary pitches.

“I was able to locate and throw strikes when I needed to, and that helped me out,” Pomeranz said. “Usually when I’m not having my best day, something’s usually there to help me out.

“When my off-speed’s not there, my fastball’s good enough. It allows me to pitch well when I’m not having my best stuff.”

The rest of Kinston’s pitchers were certainly on. Including Pomeranz, six of them combined to hold the P-Nats (10-18) to 10 hits in the twinbill while striking out 20 and walking just three.

Despite the dominance, neither of the seven-inning games was decided until late.

In the opener, Greenwell blasted his second homer of the season in the third, a solo no-doubter to right off Nationals starter Cameron Selik (0-1) to make it 2-0.

Chase Burnette hit a solo homer, his first, to make it 3-0 in the sixth.

The homers spoiled an otherwise solid outing by Selik, who was making his Carolina League debut. The Indians led 2-0 but had just one hit — Greenwell’s homer — until the sixth.

Pomeranz, a 6-foot-5-inch Tennessee native, was drafted fifth overall out of Ole Miss and assigned to Kinston for his pro debut after a stint in major league camp.

The 22-year-old, who signed for $2.65 million, threw 85 pitches Saturday, and half of his strikeouts were called. Pomeranz dropped his ERA to 1.25, good for third in the league.

Toru Murata and Preston Guilmet both pitched a perfect inning of relief behind Pomeranz. Guilmet picked up his fifth save in five chances.

For Pomeranz, the win was a nice bonus.

“It feels good to finally get a decision,” he said with a laugh. “It’s better than getting a loss. In some of those games, I could have. It’s good to get a win — something on my record. It took me six starts, but I’ll take it.”

The opportunistic Indians then took one more.

After Justin Toole drove in the go-ahead run with a line-drive single in the fifth inning in Game 2, Kinston erupted for four runs in the sixth to remove most doubt.

P-Nats relievers Dean Weaver and Joe Testa combined to throw 43 pitches in the inning, allowing just two hits but hitting a batter and walking three straight.

Jason Smit and Doug Pickens drew bases-loaded walks, and Dan DeGeorge all but finished the visitors off with a two-run, two-out single to make it 5-0.

Kinston had just 11 hits all night.

“It just came with timely hitting,” Holbert said. “We don’t need to knock the cover off the ball at all times and have 15 hits a game.”

Potomac loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but reliever Travis Turek pitched out of it to preserve the shutout and continue a streak the Indians saw coming.

“It was just frustrating because we had all it took to be a winning club, and we just weren’t putting it all together,” Greenwell said. “Now we’re right where we’re supposed to be.

“This is the Kinston Indians right here. This is a solid team.”



BUNTS: The Indians wore special light blue jerseys with navy trim as part of a promotion to raise prostate cancer awareness. The jerseys were auctioned off to fans. ... The announced attendance was 2,119. ... Kinston’s bullpen extended its streak of no earned runs allowed to 33 2/3 innings. ... The opener marked just the second time this season the Indians have hit multiple homers.

Adam Miller with a scoreless inning:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... 10508&gc=1

Huff gets hit but at least he keeps the ball in the strike zone:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... 10508&gc=1

Columbus takes the second game of the twinbill. Phelps and Kipnis lead the hit parade. Carrerra continues to do a nice job at the top of the order:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... 10508&gc=2

Akron wins 5-4. Cory Burns with a Wickman like save:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... 10508&gc=1