Cleveland Sports Forum

Terry Francona setting the right tone for Cleveland Indians, on the field and in the clubhouse: Bud Shaw (video)

http://www.cleveland.com/budshaw/index. ... e_rig.html

Could the Indians Mark Shapiro become the next commissioner of MLB if Bud Selig retires? His name is on the list.
May 3, 2013 · 1 Comment

By LG
The President of the Cleveland Indians Mark Shapiro, has been added to the list of possible candidates to become the next commissioner of Major League Baseball when Bud Selig retires. IS Shapiro the right choice to take the helm of MLB?

Shapiro himself said, he was flattered to be mentioned. He also said there is as much fact to the rumor as Money Ball. Shapiro has been in major league baseball for years. He came up through the ranks and he knows the game. Being commissioner carries a great deal of responsibility.

Some think Selig is long over due to retire. If Shapiro would take over the job of commissioner, would the game be better off? Shapiro has been in the Cleveland Indians organization since 1991, he was named Executive of the Year by the Sporting News in 2005 and 2007.

He would certainly know how to deal with the players in MLB. Being the son of Baltimore attorney and sports agent, Ronald M. Shapiro he should know how to get things done with up and coming players. Mark Shapiro seems to be able to get along with other teams. If the owners like him and they don’t stand in his way, Shapiro could become the next commissioner of major league baseball. At 46-years-old, he could hold the office for a very long time.

Yikes!!!!!

Terry Pluto

I received this email from Alex Goodlive on Justin Masterson:

Terry:

I was at the game at Citizens Bank Park tonight, and my girlfriend and I were in full Indians gear.

Along the third base side, Justin Masterson came around and probably spent a good 20 minutes signing autographs and taking pictures... Philly fans and Cleveland fans alike.

I was surprised to see how many Indians fans turned out. They didn't get to see much tonight, but it was a thrill getting to meet Masty.

He's incredibly nice, patient, and isn't just going through the motions. He talked to everyone, some extensively. I hope they keep him around, both for his arm and attitude

Advice for Cleveland Indians fans on dollar dog night: Bring a friend, bring a purse and bring an appetite


updated May 17, 2013 at 10:56 PM



CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Joel West was loaded with dogs Friday night and he was barking.

"I got the dogs. Go find some mustard!" he bellowed.

He carried a shiny, foil pyramid of Sugardale Hotdogs across the Home Run Porch at Progressive Field as if they were bars of silver. People in line for their own booty looked at him jealously.

"Long line left, long line right, no one knew they were selling them in the middle," said the Medina man, celebrating his birthday. For him and his crew of five, dollar dog night at the ballpark would not be a three dog night. Or even four.

"I am telling you I will eat 25 to 30 of these," he said as he ate his second dog, dry, waiting for the mustard to arrive. Dogs were rolling off of his lap -- "I'm dropping dogs everywhere!" -- and he couldn't ask his wife, Cathy, to put them in her purse. It was already full of wieners.

Dollar dog night -- and nice weather, a winning team and fireworks -- drew 34,282 fans to the corner of Ontario and Carnegie. None of them left hungry as they set an all-time hotdog sales record even before extra innings: More than 66,000.

They carried hotdogs in their hands, tucked under their arms, in their pockets and their purses.

It was a like hot dog eating contest and a baseball game broke out, which the Indians won 6-3 in the 10th inning with a dramatic, walk-off homer by Jason Kipnis.

"I will tear them up!" declared Matthew "Bama" McFall of Hubbard after buying half a dozen from vendor Joshua DeJesus in left field.

"I don't even have to move. They just come to me!" DeJesus said.

Dollar dog nights, where the price of the ballpark staple is a third of the usual $3, are the Indians' most popular promotions, so much so that the number of them was increased from 9 to 15 this season. Friday night's was the team's third. Extra stands were opened. Extra staff employed.

"We're ready," said Indians Vice President Bob DiBiasio.

They'd better have been. Nearly 16,000 dogs were sold before the first pitch, according to Chris Angne, general manager of Delaware North Companies. By the middle of the fifth inning an hour and a half later, the number was north of 51,000. The Subway sandwich stand was the loneliest place in the ballpark.

Between innings, fans headed for the concourses in a rush. But the smart dog-trackers were already in the 60-deep lines. Some shopped for the shortest lines. Others resigned to wait, but brought reinforcements.

"The limit is six per person, so we had to divide and conquer," said Carole Rodak of Kirtland Hills as her son Doug and husband Paul worked the mustard pumps on their 18 dogs.

Ann Zacour of Wooster had deep pockets filled with dogs and an overflowing purse in the right field upper deck. Her daughter Ashley Steiner and her son-in-law Chris Steiner had their hands full, too.

"We just go and get them all at once," she said. "You have to be strategic. You have to come with friends."

Hundreds responded to a cleveland.com pre-game poll about Dollar Dog Night. More than 90 percent said it was an "American tradition" and nearly half said they'd wolf down three-to-five dogs.

By the time the fireworks exploded in the crisp night sky, West had eaten his share. But 25-30 was a dream.

"I did eight," he said as fans around him verified the claim. And then he went back to finishing his giant ice cream cone. It was his birthday, after all.

Jordan Bastian ‏ @ MLBastian 50m


In the Indians clubhouse this morning, Nick Swisher was sporting a shirt that read "BRO-HIO" across the chest.

Slideshow of the sweep over the Mariners:

http://tribevibe.mlblogs.com/2013/05/20 ... vs-the-ms/

JOEZ TAKE NOTE!

Carlos Santana's dash to first inspired by Jason Giambi: Cleveland Indians Chatter
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
updated May 20, 2013 at 9:03 PM




Clubhouse confidential: On a team full of hot wheels, Carlos Santana is a snow plow. He's a catcher who doesn't run real fast, but recently Jason Giambi talked to him about always running as hard as he can to first base because you never know what can happen.

In the ninth inning Monday, the Indians trailed Seattle, 7-6, with two outs. Santana sent a grounder to first that Justin Smoak stopped with a dive. Santana, chugging hard, wasn't close to beating it out, but perhaps closer Tom Wilhelmsen heard him coming because he took his eye off the ball, dropped it, and Jason Kipnis scored the tying run from third.

"Giambi told me to just run hard and put pressure on the defense," said Santana following the Tribe's 10-8 victory in 10 innings. "I think that's what happened."

Rehab central: The Indians want Brett Myers to make at least two more rehab starts. He was originally scheduled to pitch Tuesday, but now he'll throw Wednesday for Class AA Akron.

"I was going to throw Tuesday, but since they want me to throw at least one more, I figured I'd take the extra day and throw Wednesday," said Myers.

Stat of the day: The Indians have swept four-game series from the A's and Mariners in May. It's the first time they've had two four-game sweeps in the same month since 1977, when they swept the Tigers and Blue Jays.

Carlos Santana's dash to first inspired by Jason Giambi

I hope it doesn't take Jason Giambi for Carlos Santana or any other players to do the obvious. Running out ground balls is a basic part of baseball inspired by Fundamentals of Baseball 101.

Apparently it does, though:
"Giambi told me to just run hard and put pressure on the defense," said Santana following the Tribe's 10-8 victory in 10 innings. "I think that's what happened."

Indians 10 Mariners 8: Yan Freaking Gomes and the Mariners Defense – a Lethal Combination

May 20, 2013 by TD

I have been to hundreds and hundreds of baseball games in my 37 years on this earth. I don’t think I have ever witnessed a game like this one. The beauty of baseball is that every time out, you may see something you have never seen before. Today was one of those days.
Like the great Mr. Skin says, “Let us fast forward right to the good parts.”
The Indians carried a 6-5 lead into the eighth inning and turned it over to resident set up man Vinnie Pestano, who was activated off the DL Friday. Vinnie is still trying to work himself back into a groove and showed some immediate signs of rust. Kyle Seager hit a rocket shot, no-doubter to the seats in right field to tie the game before Pestano could record an out. The 19,390 fans in attendance sat in stunned silence. However, the Indians still had two more shots to finish off the sweep.
“With this lineup, you can go back in the dugout look guys in the eyes and say, ‘Come on, boys pick me up,’ ” said Pestano. “And they’re all in. It’s not deflating by any means. It’s like, ‘OK, let’s go back to work.’ “
After Oliver Perez and Carter Capps disposed of the Indians in order in the bottom half of the frame, manager Terry Francona called on his closer Chris Perez to pitch the ninth.
The last time we saw CP, he had given up back to back homers in a blown save Saturday, which the Indians eventually came back and won. It seemed like just a blip on the radar. Mariners skipper Eric Wedge called for pinch hitter Endy Chavez, a slap hitter with 26 homers in 999 career at-bats coming in. Naturally, Chavez took a 0-1 93 MPH fastball over the wall in right-center to put the Mariners on top 7-6. Perez’s long weekend turned longer. The boos didn’t cascade down on him the way he did Saturday, but later we would learn how vicious some so called “fans” can be towards the embattled closer. Perez would walk two before retiring the side.
“It’s a slump — a little slump, mini-slump,” said Perez. ”It happens once or twice a year and you just have to keep grinding, keep trying to make good pitches and get through it.”
The Tribe needed to get to Tom Wilhelmsen if they were going to continue their winning streak. The Seattle closer carried a sparkling 0.50 ERA into the game and hadn’t blown a save in 11 chances. With one out, Jason Kipnis beat out an infield single. After Asdrubal Cabrera struck out, Nick Swisher hit a flair into right field which got down for a hit, moving Kipnis to third. It would be up to Carlos Santana, who has quietly dropped in production over the past three weeks. The Tribe’s catcher/DH/1B has hit just .190 in May with three RBIs. His roller to first base looked like the end, but Justin Smoak’s flip to Wilhelmsen covering the bag was dropped. When I tell you it was an easy play, I mean it was a play that is made 999 out of 1,000 times. The Indians are just that hot. Everything seems to go their way these days.
With new life, they moved onto extra innings. The Tribe bullpen, which had already seen two scoreless innings from Matt Albers in relief of Scott Kazmir, two more from Bryan Shaw, and an inning apiece from Pestano and Perez, turned to their last top tier bullet, Joe Smith. Smitty easily retired the first two men he face but then out of nowhere, Smoak, who had just two homers on the season, tattooed a pitch into the mezzanine seats in right, again putting Seattle on top by a run.
So let me get this straight, the Indians three-headed monster, which has been dominant for close to two and a half years now, was touched up for solo homers in the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings? This was the first time that this has ever happened to them in the same game. And the offense was supposed to come back from this again? I mean, how unlikely would this comeback win be?
“You don’t look up very often and see your opponent score in three straight innings and you win,” Francona said. “That was interesting.”
That is why baseball is the best.
Wedge had already used his closer Wilhelmsen, so he turned to lefty Charlie Furbush for the third time in the series to face the bottom of the Indians order. He started by falling behind in the count against Michael Brantley and watched as Dr. Smooth delivered his second hit of the game. Drew Stubbs, brought into the game as a defensive replacement for Ryan Raburn (who hit a three-run homer in the second), was sent up to the plate to bunt. He did so, dropping one in front of home plate where Furbush fielded it, bobbled, and fired to first in an attempt to get the speedy Stubbs. Stubbs may have beaten the throw, but it didn’t matter, because Smoak dropped the ball.
It was the umpteenth time the Mariners defense let them down over the four games in Cleveland.
So up to the plate stepped Yan Gomes, the Tribe’s backup catcher and newly minted cult hero. The Yanimal already was 2-4 with a homer in the game while gunning out two Mariner baserunners on steal attempts. With men on first and second and nobody out, Gomes was up there to bunt. He tried not once, but twice. Both times, he failed. He eventually worked the count full. And then, this happened.

The Yanimal’s three-run walk-off homer finished off a game that nobody who was there will ever forget. Just when the Mariners thought they finally had the Indians beaten, the Progressive Field magic took over.
“Moments like that, you just want to get back to your teammates,” said Gomes, “just run around and make sure you don’t miss a base. It was exciting. You just don’t know what to do with your hands. I was like, `Wow, this game’s done.”
Gomes finished the day with three hits and four RBIs. Someone is going to have to explain to me how the organization is going to keep him off this roster in favor of Lou Marson. The Yanimal is here to stay folks, and is a huge part of the deepest Tribe bench in years.
The Indians swept the Mariners in a four-game series which featured three walk-off winners. Three. That is pretty amazing when you think about it and extremely deflating for the Mariners. The Grinder must have been thinking to himself ”this had to happen here of all places? ”
“Best game I’ve ever been a part of,” said Perez. “It was the craziest, most fun … obviously, it stunk to give up a home run, but it was still fun.”
It was the Tribe’s fifth straight win and their 18th in 22 games, extending their first place lead over Detroit to two and a half games as they welcome the Tigers to town for a quick two-game set beginning Tuesday night. They have won 13 of their last 15 home games and have outscored their opponents 85-45. Tribe fans would love to see more of that against the Tigers, who have their two best pitchers lined up, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. The Indians will counter with Corey Kluber and Ubaldo Jimenez.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Right-hander Justin Masterson was named American League Player of the Week on Monday after throwing 16 straight scoreless innings in consecutive victories against the Yankees and Mariners.

Masterson struck out 20, walked five and allowed seven hits in beating the Yankees in the first game of a doubleheader on May 13 with a three-hit shutout and throwing seven scoreless innings in a 6-0 victory over Seattle on Sunday.

Last season Masterson lost 15 games. After Sunday's victory, he was tied with Texas right-hander Yu Darvish for second place in the AL with seven victories. Tampa Bay's Matt Moore leads with eight.

Masterson ranked first in the AL in innings pitched (70), complete games (two) and shutouts (two). He ranked third in strikeouts (71), sixth in day-time ERA (2.15) and ninth in opponents batting average against (.210).

This year Masterson (7-2, 2.83) has two streaks of 19 consecutive scoreless innings. Along with his 71 strikeouts, he's walked 26 and allowed 22 earned runs on 53 hits, including three homers.

Lefties are hitting .226 (36-for-159) and righties .183 (17-for-93) against Masterson this season.

Masterson is the second Indian to win AL Player of the Week honors this year. Ryan Raburn won it for his performance from April 29 through May 5 when he hit .591 (13-for-42) with four homers and nine RBI.

"Someone is going to have to explain to me how the organization is going to keep him off this roster in favor of Lou Marson."

I'm sold.

Ok there was that funny rainbow that Kipnis snagged backing up the play, but I still think the best throw down to second I have EVER seen was one that Gomes uncorked a week ago or so. I heard Gomes is here for his bat, but I think the catching could work out too.

VT'er wrote:"Someone is going to have to explain to me how the organization is going to keep him off this roster in favor of Lou Marson."

I'm sold.

Ok there was that funny rainbow that Kipnis snagged backing up the play, but I still think the best throw down to second I have EVER seen was one that Gomes uncorked a week ago or so. I heard Gomes is here for his bat, but I think the catching could work out too.

I think the said on the radio last night that he was 8 of 10 on throwing out base stealers. And then he cranks two homers in one game, one a tape measure job and the other the walkoff game winner.

Lou Marson who?

And to think, Gomes can also play 1B,3B, and a little OF.

Good backup in case we cant resign Reynolds if we want to.