Clip Joint Works Knights

Jason Donald

It's a little known fact that when Christopher Walken pleaded "I need more cowbell!," he actually meant Russ Canzler.  Well, Chris, I've got your Russ Canzler right here.  Russ (.272) is on an absolute tear over an 8 game hit streak, batting .417 (10-for-24) with 4 home runs and 15 RBI.  10 days ago he had 16 ribbies on the season, since, he's driven in 17.  He's already on the 40-man, so why don't we call him and push Aaron Cunningham down a well?  We could put a lid on top like in that movie, The Ring, and just allow him to embrace his hell-spawned tendencies.  Anyway, Canzler was 2-for-4 with 3 more ribs tonight and he was not alone. 

Jason Donald (.302) hit for the cycle, including a first inning long ball, and drove home four runs.  Here's another guy who could contribute in the bigs.  Donald lost his stroke early in the season, but seems to have found himself recently (7-for-his-last-17, .412) and sports a .264 career MLB average.  Y'know how many of the 12 guys on the Indians' roster have a batting average of at least .264?  Five.  So, yeah, get him up here too.  I'd demote Jose Lopez and his .648 OPS, but woManny likes to keep him around and bat him clean-up.  Ugh.

Jared Goedert (.252) added 3 hits (I'd call him up too), as did Tim Fedroff (.303).  Matt LaPorta (.306), Trevor Crowe (.281) and Gregorio Petit (.214) stroked 2 hits apiece in a 13-2 romp over Charlotte.

Corey Kluber (6-6, 3.54) won his second straight start with 6 and third brilliant innings.  Kluber allowed a run on 3 hits, walked 3 and punched out 9.  Over his last 5 outings, Corey has posted a 1.97 ERA and  a .223 OBA.  Josh Tomlin stepped up tonight, so a promotion is not likely in the immediate future for Kluber, but starting pitching depth is an excellent problem to have, especially if the organization has an inkling to make a trade.

Frank Herrmann (4.02), who would be in the Majors if he had been putting up better numbers (.290 OBA), surrendered two hits in the 9th, but struck out a pair to seal the win.  Despite middling statistics in many areas, Big Frank has fanned 36 in 31.1 frames against just 8 walks.

The Clips go matinee style tomorrow with a 12:15p first pitch.  The magic 8-ball suggests that Chris Seddon (7-4, 3.78) will get the start.

Other Minor Points of Interest --

Akron

Don't look now, but Nick Weglarz (.251) may be showing signs of life.  The Aeros took two from Binghamton today and Wegz cracked three hits: 2 homers and a double.  Nick now has an .854 OPS and just might get a promotion back to Columbus sometime soon.

One guy that I thought would be there already is Chun Chen.  A year ago, Chen was a catcher with some pop (16 homers in 2011).  This season, Chun has shown only gap power (21 2B, 1 HR) and played all but 6 of his games in the field at first base.  These transition have significantly muddied the future of a once highly touted prospect.

Two of Akron's excellent right handed relievers earned saves in the double headed sweep.  Bryce Stowell (0.75) earned his first with a perfect 9th in game 1, while Bryan Price (2.19) chalked up his 4th with 1 and 2/3 perfect frames in the night cap.  Stowell averages 14.33 K/9 and Price holds opponents to a .211 average.

Cheers.