Cleveland Sports Forum

TFIR wrote:

Shapiro fears anyone who actually played baseball in his organization. Anyone have an inspired and informed response to THAT?

Speaking of informed...

Other than your imagination, what actual source do you have as proof that this is a true statement? If not, it would seem like a pretty frivolous statement.

Bashing for bashing's sake.

Quoted for truth. Good riddance (hopefully).

MtFan wrote:

TFIR wrote:

Shapiro fears anyone who actually played baseball in his organization. Anyone have an inspired and informed response to THAT?

Speaking of informed...

Other than your imagination, what actual source do you have as proof that this is a true statement? If not, it would seem like a pretty frivolous statement.

Bashing for bashing's sake.

Quoted for truth. Good riddance (hopefully).

Has he gone full retard?

Last I heard I believe Sandy Alomar worked for the Tribe. John Farrell was a Shapiro hire.

Cleveland Indians' Michael Bourn stealing less, but Terry Francona says that's no crime: Indians Insider

By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer

on July 04, 2013 at 9:47 PM, updated July 05, 2013 at 2:23 AM


KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Michael Bourn, who led the National League in steals for three straight years, has become a marked man in the American League.

"I've got to figure these pitchers out," Bourn said. "They're treating me a little different this year. They're real quick to the plate when I get on base, and I'm a base stealer that doesn't like to force the issue unless I really need to."

Bourn has 12 steals in 17 attempts in 58 games for the Indians.

"I'm not exaggerating," Bourn said. "They're 1.1 [seconds] to the plate. They keep throwing over to first base. That means I got your attention and that's OK. I don't have to go anywhere if I got your attention."

The Indians are second in the AL with 64 steals. They've been successful in 80 percent (64-for-80) of their attempts.

They also lead the big leagues in going from first to third base and first to home.

"What I've been most pleased about is that we haven't run into a lot of outs and we've gone first to third a lot," manager Terry Francona said. "Going first to third is so important.

"Bournie could run wild and get some more bags, but that's not what we need to do. Outs are important."

Bourn kiddingly said, "I'm getting picked on, but that's what happens when you get that reputation."

Francona is not worried about Bourn's stolen base totals.

"I'll take the tradeoff," he said. "If a pitcher wants to slide step every pitch when Michael gets on, Jason Kipnis or Asdrubal Cabrera could get one of those flat fastballs or hanging breaking balls and do some damage."

Stretching it: After surprising the Indians by pitching out of the stretch in the first game of a doubleheader against the White Sox on June 28, right-hander Trevor Bauer continued to pitch out of the stretch Wednesday for Class AAA Columbus.

In a 4-2 victory over Toledo, Bauer allowed two runs on seven hits in six innings. He struck out one and walked one.

In his spot start against the White Sox, he allowed five runs on six hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Carlos Carrasco relieved Bauer on Wednesday and pitched 1-1/3 scoreless innings to keep him sharp for Saturday's start against the Tigers.

Production: What Francona and the Indians want out of Jason Giambi, 42, is production. They're getting it.

Giambi is hitting only .208, but 12 of his 22 hits have gone for extra bases, including six doubles and six homers. He's driven in 22 runs in 106 at-bats.

"I've always said, it's when you get the hits, not how many hits you get," Giambi said. "That's the most important thing, to try and be productive. I'm excited about the production I'm getting."

Francona believes Giambi is a better hitter with runners on base.

"He bears down so well in those at-bats," Francona said. "Very seldom do you see him leave the strike zone until he gets a pitch to hit. He gets into deep counts. The more pitches he sees, the more dangerous he becomes."

Giambi is hitting .360 (9-for-25) with runners in scoring position and .308 (4-for-13) with runners in scoring position and two out. Since ending a 0-for-25 slump, he's hitting .283 (13-for-46) with three doubles, four doubles and 10 RBI in 20 games since May 27.

Finally: Michael Brantley went 4-for-5 Thursday and hit .324 (12-for-37) this 11-game trip . . . The length of Wednesday night's game, 3 hours and 19 minutes, on top of a 2 hour and 37 minute rain delay, convinced Francona to rest Nick Swisher on Thursday and play Cabrera at DH. Swisher is coming off a left shoulder injury, while Cabrera was on the disabled list with a strained right quadriceps muscle . . . Kipnis extended his hitting streak to 15 games Thursday with a single in the third inning. He's reached base in 35 straight games.

Pitching staff collapses as Cleveland Indians fall to Royals, 10-7

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A long trip came to a quiet end Thursday at Kauffman Stadium for the Indians.

Ubaldo Jimenez disappeared in the sixth inning with a 5-0 lead. The bullpen followed him down the same rabbit hole after wasting leads of 5-4 and 7-5 in a 10-7 loss to the Royals that once again showed the vulnerability of the Indians' bullpen.

The Indians ended their longest trip of the season at 7-4. It was a good showing, but sometimes good isn't good enough. Not when good could have been great if only the pitching staff had been able to protect a 5-4 lead Wednesday night and three leads Thursday.

• Box score | MLB scoreboard | Standings

"It's one of those trips where we should have been 8-3 and we were 7-4," said reliever Joe Smith. "Hey, 7-4 is good, but it leaves a bad taste. It was a good road trip, but it should have been a real good one . . . especially going home to play Detroit."

Ah, the Tigers.

The Indians, after spending 11 days on the road and momentarily climbing past Detroit into first place in the AL Central, return home Friday to open a four-game series against a Detroit team that is 6-2 against them this year.

"The bullpen didn't do its job the last two games," Smith said. "We stunk and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but maybe that will be good. You have a little chip on your shoulder going in against Detroit."

The Indians had twice as many hits as the Royals, 12-6, but they were the wrong kind of hits. The Royals hit three homers, including a grand slam by Lorenzo Cain and a two-run homer Eric Hosmer, to trump a homer and four RBI by Drew Stubbs and four singles by Michael Brantley.

The Royals' six hits were augmented by eight walks and a hit batsman. They turned five of the walks and the hit batsman into runs.

"We walked the leadoff hitter in the sixth, seventh and eighth inning and they all scored," said manager Terry Francona. "We just walked way too many people."

Jimenez cruised into the sixth with a 5-0 lead. Then he lost his slider and the strike zone.

He walked Hosmer and Billy Butler to start the inning. Mike Moustakas sent a bouncer to first on a 3-1 pitch. Mark Reynolds flipped to Jimenez at the bag, but the throw was a little behind Jimenez and he couldn't handle it for an error that loaded the bases.

Cain soon unloaded them with a slam over the center-field fence to cut the Tribe's lead to 5-4. It was Kansas City's second slam in the past three games against the Indians.

Jimenez was done, but the Royals weren't. Cody Allen relieved and George Kottaras greeted him with a game-tying homer to right. It was the second homer Allen has allowed in the past two games. He gave up the game-winner to Hosmer on Wednesday in the seventh inning.

Allen has allowed five homers this season, four by left-handed hitters. Yes, Hosmer and Kottaras hit from the left side.

Francona had lefty Rich Hill available to face Kottaras, but he went with Allen.

"I like Allen against everybody," said Francona.

Carlos Santana gave the Indians a 7-5 lead with a two-run double off Aaron Crow in the seventh, but Smith couldn't hold it.

He started the seventh by walking Alcides Escobar. Hosmer worked the count full and drove Smith's next pitch over the center-field fence to make it 7-7. It was the second blown save opportunity by the Tribe's pen in the same game, the first going to Allen.

"That's not the way you want to start an inning," Smith said. "Especially the way we battled back to take a two-run lead."

Pinch-hitter Salvador Perez won it for the Royals in the eighth with a three-run double past third base off Matt Albers. Bryan Shaw (0-2) opened the inning by walking Kottaras. When he hit Johnny Giavotella, Hill relieved. After a passed pass by Santana advanced the runners, Hill intentionally walked Jarrod Dyson to load the bases for Perez.

Luke Hochevar (2-1) earned the victory and Greg Holland earned his 19th save.

Porcello Shuts Down Indians As Tigers Cruise



CLEVELAND -- Rick Porcello pitched seven sharp innings, Jhonny Peralta drove in two runs and the Detroit Tigers beat Cleveland for the sixth consecutive time, winning 7-0 on Friday night to extend their lead in the AL Central over the second-place Indians.

Porcello (5-6) allowed five hits and was never really threatened until Carlos Santana flied out to the warning track in center field to end the sixth. The right-hander set the tone for the Tigers, who dominated the opener of the four-game wraparound series.

With their fourth straight win, Detroit moved 2 1/2 games ahead of Cleveland, which returned from an 11-game road trip to just its second sellout crowd at Progressive Field this season.

Ramon Santiago had a two-run single in the second inning off Justin Masterson (10-7), and Victor Martinez went 3 for 3 with two RBIs.

The Tigers improved to 7-2 against the Indians this season.

About the only bright spot for Cleveland was Jason Kipnis pushing his hitting streak to 16 games.

The matchup between Masterson, a probable All-Star, and Porcello seemed to favor the Indians.

However, Detroit's No. 5 starter, who had lost his three previous starts and is an afterthought on a staff with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, silenced the Indians and a sedated a crowd of 40,167 that came hoping to see if this Cleveland team was ready to challenge the defending division champs.

At least on this night, the Tigers were too much for the Indians, who are just 18-29 against teams with winning records.

Before the game, Detroit manager Jim Leyland and Cleveland's Terry Francona both dismissed the idea that this four-game set was critical.

''I don't really pay that much attention to the standings until September,'' Leyland said. ''If this was a four-game series in September, I'd say it's probably a big series but I would not say that on July 5.''

Porcello took a three-hitter into the sixth when Kipnis and Nick Swisher singled with one out. Porcello could have ended the inning with a double play, but his throw to second was high, allowing Michael Brantley to reach on a fielder's choice.

Santana followed with a drive to deep center that Austin Jackson ran down a few feet short of the wall, ending Cleveland's best threat.

Peralta's two-run double in the fifth put Detroit ahead 6-0 and chased Masterson, who had pitched his major league-leading third shutout in his previous start against the White Sox.

Andy Dirks walked with one out and moved up on a wild pitch before Masterson retired Miguel Cabrera on a grounder for the second out. However, Prince Fielder drew a four-pitch walk and Martinez followed with an RBI single to make it 4-0.

Up came Peralta, who had gone just 1 of 17 (.059) with zero RBIs in his career against Masterson. But he lined a 1-0 pitch into the gap in right-center to easily score Fielder and Martinez, the Tigers' two slowest runners.

Cabrera's RBI single put the Tigers up 3-0 and continued Detroit's trend of quickly jumping ahead of the Indians this season.

Dirks doubled leading off and Cabrera followed by grounding a hard single under diving shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera's glove and into left-center for his 86th RBI. Through nine games so far in 2013, the Tigers have outscored the Indians 32-10 in the first four innings.

Santiago, who entered the series batting just .169, helped Detroit get off to a fast start.

The Tigers loaded the bases in the second on a fielder's choice, single and two-out walk before Santiago, with just one hit in 14 career at-bats against Masterson, lined the first pitch to center, scoring Peralta and Don Kelly.



Read more: http://www.wtam.com/pages/Indians.html? ... z2YFAgfQhL

Detroit Tigers batter Justin Masterson in 7-0 series opening win over Cleveland Indians


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By Dennis Manoloff, The Plain Dealer
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on July 05, 2013 at 10:05 PM, updated July 05, 2013 at 11:53 PM
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- On Friday afternoon, Indians President Mark Shapiro Tweeted: "You can feel the buzz down here. Expecting close to a sellout crowd + Masty dealing on the bump. Could be a great night for Tribe baseball."

Really, Shaps really tweeted "bump" for mound?

Set Weather

Even if they are all big games, this Cleveland Indians' loss to Detroit was a little bigger than most: Bill Livingston

Terry Francona and Jim Leyland met as managers of the AL Central's two best teams before Friday's game. But the evening ended with the Tigers making a case for their superiority with a 7-0 victory. (Mark Duncan, Associated Press)
By Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer
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on July 05, 2013 at 10:19 PM, updated July 06, 2013 at 1:40 AM
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- On the video board, pages of this newspaper whirled by from the rip-roaring days of the past.

"Pressure on Kid," read a headline about one-time child prodigy Bob Feller. And there was Larry Doby's turn as the American League's Jackie Robinson, and, mentioning no names, some vivid, yet tastefully restrained prose from a distinguished, gray-haired gentleman then in his middle years about Sandy Alomar's All-Star Game-winning home run.

These, however, aren't the good old days. Progressive Field was sold out Friday night with the majority of the 40,167 fans getting deflated early and often. Detroit beat the Indians like drums along the Mohawk, 7-0. It was the first sellout since the home opener.

Sellouts in Alomar's era occurred without dollar hotdogs, post-game fireworks, condiment races or invasion by Detroit fans, all of which were on the program Friday. The sellouts also, tellingly, occurred without the Browns in town and with the Indians comporting themselves, because of the newness of the ballpark and the gate receipts it created, as a big-market team.

The Tigers were a good draw after a 7-4 Tribe road trip that actually left a bad taste because of two ugly come-from-ahead losses at the end in Kansas City. The Tigers and the Indians have been juggling the division lead back and forth, like either a hot potato or Ubaldo Jimenez fielding a toss from the first baseman.

There should be no discount deals required for the Tigers. They now rule the weak Central Division and lead the Indians by 2 1/2 games. The Indians would be fifth in the American League East.

Asked earlier when the Indians, now 2-7 on the season against the Tigers, will start playing "crucial" games -- August, September, the 12th of Never, or what -- Tribe manager Terry Francona said, "April First." If it was an April fool joke, it was only because the season began on April 2.

"Every single game is crucial. That's what makes our game so much fun," Francona said.

Tito, Tito. It's supposed to be the Browns whose every game is important, due to the short season and games with That Team Down the Turnpike that are deemed almost college-like in the intensity of the alleged rivalry, despite the one-sided results.

For their part, the Cavaliers swear they'll start playing games for more than added ping-pong balls in the draft lottery next year in the "third year of the rebuild," although it's, y'know, really the fourth.

"We've got to beat everybody. You can't just beat one team," insisted Francona. "That's why every series is so big. They all count the same. If you play a team head-up, if you beat them, you're guaranteed they're losing. I'm not smart, but that helps."

Francona, in the only major sport in this country without a salary cap, is an egalitarian in an unfair world. Still, this probably is as big as a pre-All-Star Game four-game series gets, particularly in Cleveland, which has proven to be, at the moment, far from the baseball town and Tribe town Francona says it is in the commercials.

So this loss was a little bigger than most, too.

Cleveland fans have a reason to be standoffish, though. They were burned during Cy Young Sell-A-Thon days in back-to-back years, and enthusiasm also waned after the synchronized diving exhibitions in the second half of the last two seasons.

It might be best to accept Francona's view of the big leagues as the natural one of a former utility player. After he blew out his knee, he was never -- both with the Indians and other teams -- the player he had been in college, or the player that his father, former Indian Tito, had been. Terry brings to a lifer's love of the game a fringe player's deep respect for how hard and how beautiful it is.

It is a game of slivers of the plate, chalky slices of the baseline, half-steps and bang-bang plays. This was not the case Friday, however. The bangs all came from Detroit, which chased Indians ace Justin Masterson after only 4 2/3 innings.

In the long run it is that respect that informs Francona's teams. (Obligatory pause for Boston fans to scream, "Beer and fried chicken in the clubhouse during games!") Francona chased the Indians' managerial job as avidly as Bernie Kosar chased that of Browns quarterback a generation ago.

In the land of Art Modell, LeBron James and salary dumps, getting a hug isn't the same as a victory parade. But to bring the good times back, you have to start somewhere.

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Saturday, July 6 TV and radio sports listings for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio Detroit Tigers batter Justin Masterson in 7-0 series opening win over Cleveland Indians

Now you know how "sick" this guy really is.......

Chris Davis wound up as the leading vote-getter in the American League for the 2013 All-Star Game.


Davis will be joined in the starting lineup by Joe Mauer, Robinson Cano, J.J. Hardy, Miguel Cabrera, Adam Jones, Mike Trout, Joey Bautista and David Ortiz. The pitchers will be, in no order, Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, Clay Buchholz, Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuma, Justin Verlander, Bartolo Colon, Brett Cecil, Mariano Rivera, Jesse Crain, Justin Masterson, Joe Nathan, Glen Perkins and Chris Sale. Reserves are Jason Castro, Nelson Cruz, Edwin Encarnacion, Prince Fielder, Alex Gordon, Torii Hunter, Jason Kipnis, Manny Machado, Dustin Pedroia, Jhonny Peralta, Salvador Perez and Ben Zobrist.

Jul 6 - 6:37 PM

Francona was a very good player before the knee injury. Utility status came later.

Inaccuracy.

MLB is amazing.

Just a few years ago, Bart Colon was a washed up stiff that ate his way out of baseball. Now he's on the All Star team. Jhonny Peralta was run out of Cleveland because they thought it was a good move to replace him at SS. He's back playing SS on the All Star team.
Chris Davis was a flop in Texas and was traded to Baltimore for next to nothing. Now he could be a Triple Crown winner.

I'm sure there are other stories of guys down to their last strike that are now on this year's AS team.

Obviously 2 of the 3 are known PED users that will be suspended shortly. The other guy (Davis) fits the profile of users in the past.

Tribe Fan in SC/Cali wrote:Detroit Tigers batter Justin Masterson in 7-0 series opening win over Cleveland Indians



By Dennis Manoloff, The Plain Dealer
on July 05, 2013 at 10:05 PM, updated July 05, 2013 at 11:53 PM



CLEVELAND, Ohio -- On Friday afternoon, Indians President Mark Shapiro Tweeted: "You can feel the buzz down here. Expecting close to a sellout crowd + Masty dealing on the bump. Could be a great night for Tribe baseball."

Really? Shaps really tweeted using "bump" for "mound?"

With a nod to comedian Ron White, "that's a "manly" sentence there, Mark.

Personally I never heard anyone refer to a pitcher's mound as a "bump" before today.

I did note several years ago when the People Magazine copycats and the fem acting male reporters on TV "Entertainment Tonight" type shows started referring to a starlet's pregnancy as "she has a 'bump."


Shaps likely ran his tweet proposal through his also non baseball playing stat guys who told him that social media trends showed "bump" was a trendy word to use whenever possible.


This weekend Shaps and his team have hit what most all of would refer to as a "bump" in the road of the season.

As Shaps has done in his years of running the Indians except for 2007 when his personally hired 3rd Base Coach Joel Skinner was the "bump" in the road in the playoffs at Fenway.

Here's the link to the original article I tried to copy and paste from my iPhone. Since my posts are being reviewed and edited prior to viewing here, and also allowing for me to fix my keyboard misclicke posting errors, I can't say if someone changed what I posted, or maybe I just screwed up on the copy and paste.

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ss ... cart_river


For all you who still believe in Mark Shapiro and his losing trades, signings, drafts, and "marketing" prowess that has sunk attendance, you better hope The Tribe takes one of the next two to keep it no worse than 3 1/2 out, and still ahead of Kansas City and no worse than 8th in American League 2013 won-loss records.

If The Tribe loses the next two, just harken back to the scene in "Gone With The Wind" when Rhett advises Scarlett to look around because she is witnessing the death of a civilization on that particular evening.

If Detroit takes the next two, yet another Mark Shapiro season is a lame one in his decade plus tenure, and likely to go down to make us....I mean I guess, "Loser Cleveland," the team with the most consecutive current losing seasons in all of Major League Basball.

Frankly, I don't give a damn. At this point.

MtFan, as much as it apparently pissed you off on an apparently bad day for you, I still have my bandwagon in the garage in case there is a Cleveland miracle in 2013.

I guess Mark Shapiro might think "toeing the rubber" is protected safe sex foreplay?

If I understand this article correctly it's not actually a DFA for Carrasco. Guilmet has always pitched well in the minors but has never been considered a prospect of any quality. But we need to keep auditioning relievers; Pestano wasn't much of a prospect either before he arrived.


CLEVELAND -- The Indians announced a trio of roster moves before Sunday's game against Detroit.

Carlos Carrasco, who started and lost on Saturday, was designated for assignment for the purposes of optioning him to Triple-A Columbus. In his place, the Tribe selected the contract of right-handed reliever Preston Guilmet. Also, the club transferred injured catcher Lou Marson to the 60-day disabled list.

Guilmet, 25, made 34 appearances for Columbus this season, compiling a 2.32 ERA and recording 16 saves. Over 42 2/3 innings, Guilmet struck out 50 and walked 12. This is the first Major League stint for Guilmet, who was drafted by the Tribe in the ninth round in 2009.

"Just excited to be here," Guilmet said. "Can't wait to help the club out [the] best I can. Really just happy to be here, been working a long time for this. It's cool to finally get to this level and see how things go down the road.

"There's no real word that describes the feeling. It's just a thrill to finally get the opportunity."

Guilmet learned about his callup during the Clippers' doubleheader on Saturday. He most recently pitched on Friday, when he allowed three hits and two runs in 1 1/3 innings.

"I'm not going to overpower guys with the fastball," he said. "But, I think I get in there, I compete. I throw a lot of strikes and work pretty quick."

A Triple-A All-Star, Guilmet takes the place of Carrasco on Cleveland's active roster. Across six starts spread over several stretches with the Indians, Carrasco went 0-4 with a 9.10 ERA.

In order to option Carrasco to Triple-A, the Indians need to first secure optional waivers, which is a two-day process for a player three years removed from his Major League debut. Since the right-hander was recalled Saturday to pitch against Detroit, Cleveland needed to designate him for assignment while awaiting the right to option him to the Minor Leagues.

In Saturday's game against the Tigers, Carrasco gave up seven runs (six earned) over just 3 1/3 innings.

"When things started happening, he started going to his breaking ball a lot," Cleveland manager Terry Francona said, "instead of continuing to pound his fastball in."

Right shoulder inflammation has limited Marson's playing time to just three Major League games this season. He also has appeared in eight games for Columbus, but had to withdraw from a rehab assignment last month because of shoulder soreness.