Cleveland Sports Forum

We've played 70 games and are 39-31 winning five of the last seven as we get to June 20th in the schedule.

Fourth best record in all of MLB

JoeZ wanted David Hudgens. Think he's with the Mets thesedays.

They had to blame someone for the players not being able to hit. If you think the hitting coach was the problem then you might be new to the game.

"We already joined the 500 strikeout club,'' Acta said Sunday morning. "We've run seven left-handed hitters out there just about every day against right-handed pitching and, right now, Asdrubal Cabrera leads our team in home runs (with 12). I think Bruce can probably help with that.''

As expected, news of Nunnally's firing did not go over well in the Tribe clubhouse. Some players made themselves unavailable for comment. Others declined comment. One who spoke on the record was right fielder Shin-Soo Choo.

"I don't know what's going on,'' Choo said. "It's not like we're in last place; we're in first place. There's a lot of season left. I'm just sad that he's not around us anymore. This is very disappointing. I feel very bad about it. He helped me. He helped everybody.''

Choo did not help Nunnally's cause this season. He entered Sunday hitting .237 with five homers and 25 RBI. In each of his previous two seasons, Choo hit .300 with 20-plus homers and 85-plus RBI.

Choo is not the only one core player who has struggled. Grady Sizemore entered Sunday hitting .243 and Carlos Santana was at .222.

Not every player has been in a slump, however. Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera credited Nunnally for helping him get off to a terrific start. He entered Sunday hitting .301 with 12 homers and 43 RBIs in 69 games. In 387 career games entering 2011, he had 18 homers.

"He showed me a couple things, gave me some tips," Cabrera said. "He was very helpful."

Acta said he anticipated blowback from players in the aftermath of Nunnally's firing. "I understand that some of (the players) are a little upset, but we have to do what's best for our team,'' Acta said. "Jon is a very likeable guy. I love him, too. But it's part of the business.''

After last Thursday's 6-2 loss to Detroit, Acta criticized his hitters, but he also was unhappy with Nunnally. Acta said that the hitters were showing no signs of improvement and that some of them were too talented to be in two- and three-month slumps.

Acta named Nunnally to his coaching staff in December 2009. He was the Indians' hitting coach at Class A Kinston in 2007 and 2008 before moving to Class AAA Columbus in 2009. He replaced Derek Shelton, who was the hitting coach on Eric Wedge's staff. Wedge and his coaching staff were fired late in the 2009 season.

Last year, Nunnally's offense hit .248 with 128 homers and 1,184 strikeouts for a 69-93 club. The Tribe hit .242 in April, .249 in May, .250 in June, .247 in July, .249 in August and .250 in September/October.

"This decision is also a reflection that we underachieved a little bit last year offensively with our young guys,'' Acta said.

Fields is in his sixth season with the Cleveland organization. He was the Tigers' hitting coach 2003-05.

"There is no magic answer," Antonetti said. "It's still the same group of hitters (that produced early), and a season is full of peaks and valleys. We hope Bruce can give us a better chance collectively. We think we have hitters who can do better."

Fields will be evaluated at the end of the season, Antonetti said.

Antonetti said he was open to talking with Nunnally after the season about a position in the organization.

"We still believe Jon has a lot to offer," Antonetti said. "He did a lot of good things for us."

Nunnally could not be reached for comment.

The Tigers drafted Fields in the seventh round in 1978. He played 14 years professionally, appearing in the big leagues with the Tigers in 1986 and Seattle in 1988-89.

Fields hit .274 in the big leagues with a homer and 11 RBI in 58 games. In the minors, he owns a .295 lifetime batting average with 41 homers and 516 RBI in 1,381 games. He won three minor-league batting titles.

The 50-year-old Fields managed for the Tigers at Class A Jamestown 1995-96 and Class A West Michigan 1997-2000 before managing the Class AAA Toledo Mudhens 2003-05. He was the Buffalo Bisons' hitting coach in 2006 when they were still affiliated with the Indians.

Before managing in the minors, Fields was a minor-league coach for three years with Detroit.

Fields, as the Indians minor league hitting coordinator, was responsible for implementing the hitting philosophy used throughout the minor league system by staff members and players.

Fields and his wife, Julie, have two baseball-playing sons. Daniel Fields was a sixth-round pick by the Tigers in 2009. Aaron Fields was drafted by the Indians in the 42nd round in 2010.

The Nunnally move and bringing up White are 2 things that would have never happened so early in the season under the past administration.

Or the Phelps for Cabrera move?

That too.

Ingraham notes that the Tribe is the only MLB club that has not started a lefty pitcher this season.

If we really want to start a lefty, Ross Atlkins has been saying recently that David Huff is pitching much better in Columbus. Another LH Scott Barnes, still only 22, is having an increasingly impressive debut season at Columbus. Kelvin de la Cruz has been inconsistant at Akron. Drew Pomeranz is about to make his move to Akron after very successul start to his career in Kinston. Giovanni Soto is looking good at Kinston, too, but he's is only 19 so years away from the Cleveland rotation.

Can Carmona win two in a row, Hillbilly? I seriously doubt it.

Wonder what happened to CHARLIE T and KENM.

Sure, Husker. If the other team forfeits.

Ouch!

Posting this link from another forum for a laugh. A Yankees fan sent hate mail to Mitch Talbot for having the audacity to actually hit A-Rod. Joe Smith posted the letter on his twitter account. Someone took the time the translate it further down:

http://theclevelandfan.com/boards/index ... =viewtopic

husker wrote:Can Carmona win two in a row, Hillbilly? I seriously doubt it.

Unfortunately, you were right