Chad Huffman, whose season average had fallen to .214 on July 30th, continued his hot hitting with a 4-for-4 effort, including a pair of doubles and the lone Columbus RBI. Since bottoming out, Huffman (.244) is 17-for-29 (.586) with 7 doubles, 2 homers and 8 rib-eyes.
New Clipper Thomas Neal (Orlando Cabrera trade) doubled for his first extra base hit in the Indians' organization, but is just 2-for-10 in his first 3 games.
On the mound Corey Kluber continued a season that has pushed him to irrelevance. Honestly, I do not know why I continue to write about him. After back-to-back strong starts that resulted in a pair of wins, Kluber regressed back to mean in allowing 6 earned over 7 innings. Corey (6-8, 5.91) surrendered a pair of long balls (16 on the year) and 9 hits.
The Clips play another with Indy tomorrow at 12:05p. Jeanmar Gomez gets the start and Shin-Soo Choo is expected to be in uniform.
Other Minor Points of Interest --
Let's catch up with the Akron Aeros...
Adam Miller - One of baseball's biggest feel good trains took a massive derailing during a four week stretch from early July until early August. Over the course of 7 games in that span, Miller surrendered 17 earned runs in 11.2 innings (13.11 ERA) along with 23 hits for a .434 OBA. Ouch. A month ago, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Adam would see action at AAA in 2011 with an outside shot getting a cup of coffee with the big club. Now, he is simply trying to finish strong. Miller (1-4, 6.13 overall) threw two clean innings on the 6th and has fanned 37 in 39.2 innings this season.
Austin Adams - Despite some pedestrian overall numbers (9-8, 3.81, 1.57 WHIP) Adams has turned it on in the second half of the season. In addition to topping the 100 MPH mark on a number of occasions, Austin has posted a 4-0 record and a 2.90 ERA since the All-Star break. During a season that featured an appearance in the AA mid-season classic, he has averaged 8.51 K/9 and allowed just 4 home runs.
Bryce Stowell - After a brutal March camp and some time in extended spring training, Stowell has settled back in nicely. His issues have always been those of command and while a 5.4 BB/9 line is not good, a 13.5 K/9 average and a 1.05 WHIP make it much easier to swallow. Bryce has worked himself back into position to see Columbus before season's end.
Nick Weglarz - It has been a lost season for the big (6'3", 240) Canuck. What began as an injury rehab stint with the Aeros mushroomed into an ineffective an inexplicable regression. Wegz made his name with 23 dingers at Lake County in 2007 and progressed well through last season, as he OPSed .893 between Akron and Columbus. 2011 has produced awful numbers (.180, 3 HR, 12 RBI). Although his .683 OPS is impressive given his low batting average, the .402 that he has posted over his last 10 is most certainly not.
Chun Chen - Chen has fought injuries for most of the season and, as such, has appeared in just 88 games. Still, he has produced a team-high 56 RBI. Although he has launched 12 bombs, Chun (.271) has had some discipline issues (94 K, 87 H, 26 BB) and is batting just .171 over his last 10. I would not expect him to advance to AAA this season.
We will continue to catch up with the farm teams in the coming days en route to my first Indians' top 10 prospect list. You will see that after the 15th, when we know which 2011 draft picks have been signed.
Cheers.
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