Clip Joint's Got Southern Swagger

Zach McAllister

If you'd care to write the recipe for a win on a sunny Sunday afternoon in northern Georgia you might begin with an excellent outing by your starting pitcher.  Zach McAllister (5-2, 2.98) gave the Clippers six strong innings this afternoon, surrendering 2 runs on 7 hits, a walk and 2 K's.  Outside of a dicey third frame, in which Gwinnett scored both of their runs on a trio of hits, Z-Mac never allowed a runner past second base and retired the last 7 that he faced.  He has held the opposition to a .238 average in 2012.  We need you, Zach.  C'mon, up!

Next you mix in a hot hitting middle of the order guy, in this case, Russ Canzler.  A few days ago, I was putting Russ (.268) down for not living up to his MVP season of 2011.  Since then, he has hit in 5 straight (7-for-16, .438) with 3 homers and 12 RBI.  Prior to the outburst, he had 18 ribbies all year!  Canzler singled in a run and walked twice this afternoon, raising his OPS to .744, after it had been just .686 on the 14th.  Hey, Antonetti, call him up too!

Sprinkle in a couple additional players with nice offensive games.  Cord Phelps (.275) singled, homered, walked, scored twice and drove home 3.  He's hitting .329 in June.  Jason Donald (.292) added 2 hits and 2 runs scored. 

Finish with dominant relief.  Matt Langwell (1.93, 2/3 of an inning), Scott Barnes (3.64, 1 and third) and Chris Ray (1.93, 1 IP) followed McAllister with scoreless relief and never gave the Braves an opportunity to get back into the game.

The Clips move on to Charlotte tomorrow at 7:15p.  I'd wager that TJ McFarland will get the nod.

Other Minor Points of Interest --

Akron

Steven Wright (5-4, 1.79) and his dancing knuckleball took the hill and took the loss despite allowing just 3 hits and fanning 7 over 6 innings.  An error, a walk and two wild pitches contributed to Reading pushing 4 runs (3 earned) over against Wright, while the Aeros mustered just two.  How has Steven managed just a game over .500 with such a dazzling ERA?  The Aeros have scored just 40 runs in his 12 starts (3.3 per) and 10 of those came in one game.  Loek Van Mil (1.29), the 7'1" dude, finished with two scoreless frames.

Lake County

Luigi Rodriguez (.276) is mired in a 3-for-20 slump over his past four games after an 0-for-4 performance today.  Additionally, L-Rod, who is 12-for-17 in stolen base attempts this season, has yet to attempt a steal in June.  Felix Sterling (5.70) threw a perfect inning out of the 'pen after making his first 14 appearances as a starter.  Sterling had been knocked around pretty well since late May, posting a 13.50 ERA and a 2.17 WHIP since the 23rd.

Cheers.

The Rumble Of the Pennsylvania Railroad

Sometimes you run into a guy that's just locked in.  Sometimes there's nothing you can do about it.  Pedro Alvarez hit as many home runs in two weekend games against the Indians as he did in 74 MLB games in 2011.  Alavarez, the #2 overall pick in the 2008 draft, has struggled through inconsistency and admonishment in parts of 3 big league campaigns, including this one.  He came into the series against the Indians hitting .192 with 8 homers and 25 RBI in 55 games.  In three contests against the Tribe, he hit .455 (5-for-11) with four dongs and 9 ribs.  The talking heads praised Pedro for attacking fastballs early in the count.  I caution them not speak too loudly as that seems like an profoundly sound strategy against the Indians pitching staff in general.  In fact, coming into today's game, the opposition was batting .332 against the Tribe on the first pitch of an at-bat.  So, yeah, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

And, yes, I understand that his defense (C'mon Asdrubal!) didn't do him any favors and he ran into the Pennsylvania Railroad (Get it? Pedro Avalrez, PA Express, etc), but, for me, Jeanmar Gomez has run out of opportunities.  Zach McAllister pitched another dandy (6 IP, 2 ER) for Columbus this afternoon and had better Major League numbers (1-1, 3.96) than Gomez as well.  There is no compelling argument to be made in favor of keeping Jeanmar.  Over his past 5 starts, Gomez is 1-4 with an 7.92 ERA and a 1.92 WHIP.  Yuck.  I won't contend that his days of contributing to this club are over, but it is certainly time to take a step back.

Even in a 9-5 loss, even in dropping a home series to the (ugh) Pirates, there were some bright spots today.    

• Johnny Damon (what?) was 2-for-4 and actually played like the guy the Indians thought that they were signing back in April.  Even if Jack Hannahan (who broke an 0-for-17 slump with a 5th inning single) wanted to punch him in the mouth after a 1st inning collision, the 2nd inning sequence was exactly what we all expected of JD.  He began with a punch single to left, followed it up with a stolen base and scored with some aggressive base running on a (debatable) single by Casey Kotchman.  Damon is still a smart, if not any longer talented, ballplayer.  
• Jason Kipnis provided 3 hits, included his 11th home run, and also stole his league leading 17th base.  I still doubt he can overtake Robby Cano to earn the starting nod at second in the Midsummer Classic, but, barring a colossal collapse over the next month, he will be in the dugout in Kansas City.   
• Lou Marson single and walked twice.  Three weeks ago, Lou-Lou had compiled an .074 average over his first 12 games of the season.  Since, he has batted .406 (13-for-32) in his next 12 and supplied some actual productivity to a bottom of the lineup that rarely contributes in any way.

I did not have high hopes for Esmil Rogers when the Tribe bought him from the Rockies.  Still, Rogers has given me no reason to doubt his ability to retire Major League hitters.  Yeah, Alvarez tagged him for a three run homer, but Pedro is so hot that he probably jerks that ball off of Sandy Koufax in his prime.  Esmil gave the Tribe a strong 2 and 2 thirds this afternoon after Gomez failed to make it through the 5th inning.  Over 5.1 frames thus far, Rogers has posted a 1.69 ERA, a 0.56 WHIP and 6 punch outs.  With a live fastball and a deceptive delivery, at the very least he supplies a change of pace from the other members of the middle relief corps.  I don't know if he can keep it up, but it would be a significant boost if he could.

See, glass half full.

Roll Tribe.

Cheers.

Take A Walk Hitless

We are all aware of how offensively challenged the Indians line-up is.  Following today's 6 hits against the Pirates, the Tribe is batting .248 as a team.  Even worse, those not named Kipnis, Cabrera, Brantley, Hannahan or Choo pool to a .217 clip.  Wow.  If you needed some solid statistical proof to back up the eye-test that we need a couple of real hitters, there it is. 

Before the game, Ubaldo Jimenez stated that he had finally settled in with his mechanics and, once on the mound, only needed to concern himself with retiring hitters.  I believe it.  There is no knocking Big U's last two starts coming in (1.32 ERA, 0.80 WHIP), but today's outing is indicative of what we he will produce on a consistent basis.  He'll give you about 6 innings with an ERA around 4.00, a WHIP in the range of 1.5 (hopefully closer to 1.3) and about a strikeout an inning.  Is he, like all pitchers, going to have good days and bad days?  Of course.  Still, today is the baseline.  Today is what we should expect from the guy for whom we traded our farm.

I'm getting awfully tired of saying it, but something must be done about Tony Sipp and his 6.95 ERA.  Unfortunately, with Scott Barnes shipped back to Columbus and Rafael Perez likely not ready to return for at least a month, there are no options.  woManny will not go with just one lefty in the pen.  Regardless of whether it's a good idea or not, it's simply not up for discussion.  Given the dearth of upper level left handers, I, as of right now, am advocating the purchase of Chris Seddon's contract.  Neither Seddon's MLB career (1-2, 7.03) nor 2012 AAA numbers (7-4, 3.78 as a starter) will wow you, but, again, the Sipp situation is untenable.  Seddon was in big league camp during Spring Training and held his own (10 K, 1 BB in 8.1 IP).  Although Seddon is a fringe guy, he is in the organization for a reason: depth.  Now is when we need that depth.  While it's not an optimal situation or even a preferable one, it is what we have to deal with and, if the Indians are going to stick in the Central race all summer, the sort of tough decision that must be made properly.

Gotta go.  Let's win that series tomorrow.

Roll Tribe.

Cheers.

God Help Him

Blah, blah, blah, blah.  I have heard some of you whining about the demotion of Matt LaPorta, saying things like "He had no reason to be sent down. It wasn't his fault! #CallUpLaPorta" and "The demotion of LaPorta makes no sense. Let the guy play everyday and see what you have."  Well kiddies, the inference is quite simple: the Indians already know what they're going to get from LaPorta and they see no value in a .697 career OPS.  The handling of Matty is commonplace among washed out former Major Leaguers who are back up just to fill a roster spot.

Brad Eldred, a former top prospect in the Pirates system, hit .388 with 13 homers and 35 RBI in his first 20 games of the season with Toledo.  The Tigers tried to catch lightning in a bottle, but after 5 games and a 3-for-16 (.188) showing, Eldred was back at AAA, where he belongs.  Bill Hall, a ten year big leaguer (mostly with the Brewers), is now in the Orioles system as his career winds down.  The O's have seen fit to purchase his minor league contract, then DFA and outright him back to AAA, not once, but twice in the past month and a half.  In the interim, Billy managed to compile 9 MLB at-bats and 2 hits.  These are just a couple of examples, but you get the point.  LaPorta is no longer part of the Indians future, he's just a dude who can wallop AAA pitching and might get to ride pine in the show a few more times.  Don't take my word for it, just look at the way they're treating him. 

And before you conjure any predictions that Matty will be the next Brandon Phillips, recall that B-Phip was still 24 after languishing in AAA for most of '04 and '05, whereas LaPorta would be 28 after just one year of exile.  I'm not saying that it will be impossible for Matt to have a productive Major League career at this point, but the cards are now definitely stacked against him.

The best case scenario for Matty is a change of scenery.  Former Indian Ryan Ludwick overcame injury and parlayed a strong year or so into a Major League career.  Although I'll certainly never take anything away from Ludwick's 2008 (.299, 37 HR, 113 RBI, .966 OPS), it was truly his only great season.  I'll take his 2007 (.818 OPS) and 2009 (.775 OPS, 97 RBI), but you have to remember who was protecting him in the line-up (Um, Albert Pujols).   Since leaving St Louis, Ryan has batted .227 with a .675 OPS.  Get your mind wrapped around the fact that this is now the ceiling for LaPorta.  If he hopes to slide himself onto a card with an established masher and hang around for a few more seasons, he should best get to genuflecting.

While it's a shame that Matty turned out to be a bust, you have to give up on him sometime.  Unbeknownst to us at the time, for Matt LaPorta and the Indians, that day has come and gone.

Roll Tribe.

Cheers.

Double Down @ the Clip Joint

Russ Canzler

So them Clippers played a ding-dang double dip against that thar Gwinnett Braves bunch and, y'all guessed it, they done got beat up twice.  Pitching was not the word of the day.  Chris Seddon (7-4, 3.78) took the hill in game 1 and didn't really pitch so badly (9 H, 4 ER, 6 K), heck, he even got credit for a 6 inning complete game, but the offense was non-existent in a 4-zip defeat.  David Huff (3-3, 4.99), however, was an abomination in game two.  Knocked around for 8 earned on 12 hits, David only got through three innings.  Recently, I mentioned that some in the media consider Huff to have trade value and, just yesterday, I noted that he was in a dead heat with Corey Kluber for the second of two rotation spot that are under heavy scrutiny at the big league level.  Yeah, not so much anymore.  After a solid beginning to the season (3-1, 2.88 through the end of May), he has been just awful in June.  Over his last three starts, David is 0-2 with a 10.05 ERA and a .439 OBA.  That's a good way to keep yourself in the minors.

When a team scores 3 runs in 14 innings of baseball, there aren't going to be a lot of offensive stars.  Ezequiel Carrera (.260) had three hits, as did Russ Canzler (.263).  Canzler homered for the second consecutive day, after blasting just 3 prior on the season.  Jared Goedert (.242) was 0-for-7 with 4 K's in the two games and has 2 hits in his last 20 at-bats.  Although I continue to contend that his right hand power would be useful on the North Coast, we won't see it unless he can find some consistency at the dish.

Unless the Clips know something that I don't (doubtful), it'll be Zach McAllister (4-2, 2.98) taking the pill at 7:05p tomorrow when the series continues.

Other Minor Points of Interest --

Akron

Welcome back to Jordan Henry, who made his 2012 debut Friday night.  Henry singled in four trips after spending the first two months of the season in extended Spring Training rehabbing his right knee following off-season surgery.  Rob Bryson (2.40) continued his excellent work out of the bullpen with 2.2 scoreless frames of work.  Bryson has punched out 35 in 30 innings this year, while holding opponents to a .183 average.

Carolina

I'm going to have to disparage Jesus Aguilar more often.  A day after I pointed out his lack of power production, Aguilar (.287) launched a 2-run bomb, his 6th of the season.  After a strong May (.291), Tony Wolters (.227) has regressed again in June, hitting just .172 over his past 8 games and failing to reach in 8 trips in his last 2.

Cheers.

Bottle That Win

Sure, we would like the pitching staff to throw a shutout every time out, but that's not what I mean.  Tonight, the Indians got 7 strong innings from Justin Masterson and two easy innings from the back end of the bullpen to seal the victory.  I don't care if the score is 2-0 or 4-3, but this team is built for low scoring games.  In 20 of the Indians' 63 games, the victorious team has scored 4 runs or fewer.  The Tribe is 13-7 in those contests.  When the winning team score 5 or more, the Wahoos are just 20-23. 

Tonight was all about Masterson.  It is not as if Bat has suddenly found utter and complete command of his pitches, just look at the sequence in the 7th when he hit Josh Harrison and then wild pitched two runners into scoring position.  Still, he seems so have settled into a groove similar to his performance of 2011.  Over his last 6 starts, Justin's 3.2 BB/9 bear a much closer resemblance to his 2.7 of last year than the 4.8 in his first 8.  Likewise his ERA has dropped with his bases on balls, 2.92 vs 5.40.  Masterson has so many moving parts that he constantly has to make adjustments as his mechanics fluctuate.  You can see that in the game against Kansas City where he overcompensated and threw 78 of 111 pitches for strikes without walking a soul.  Instead, he surrendered 7 earned on 9 hits in 6 innings.  Bat has to be a bit wild in order to be effective.  Tonight, 70 of his 109 deliveries were strikes and he walked 3 in his 7 frames.  He also fanned 9 and allowed just 4 hits.  Justin is never going to be a low WHIP kind of guy.  Even last season with his 3.21 ERA, his WHIP was a middling 1.28.  There is no doubt that Masterson's lanky 6'6" frame and his long delivery don't engender repeatability but, in order to help this team, he is going to have to keep adapting and stay one step ahead of the opposition.

One player who has done just that is Michael Brantley.  Michael took it down to the wire, but extended his hitting streak to 22 games tonight with an 8th inning RBI single.  To every sack of garbage who was on his case in early May when he was hitting in the .230s, the Indians deserve more intelligent fans than the lot of you.  Seriously, if you were one of those guys, put down the X-Box controller, the Bud Light and the Doritos and try to educate yourself a little bit about the game.  You are the reason that I cannot stand to listen to sports call in shows.  Sorry.  Back to Brantley, the 22 game streak in the longest since Casey Blake's 26 in 2007 and within sight of Sandy Alomar's franchise record 30 gamer of 1997.  In fact, Brantley has now had two 19+ hit streaks in his short tenure with the Tribe, making him just the second Indian (Julio Franco) since 1921 (when records of such things began to be kept) to have a pair in his Indians career.  Maybe pocket the Red Man and chew on that, you hicks.  Since May 9th, Michael is batting .331 with 21 RBI and 7 steals in 32 games.  Oh right, some of you are still jonesing for Grady Sizemore's winning smile in centerfield.  Forget.  About.  It.  Sizemore is never coming back.  Sure, he might get a few more token AB's with the team, but it will be like watching Johnny Damon, a broken down shell of  man in a baseball uniform.  Brantley, if he ever actually had any work to do, has transformed himself into a more than adequate Major Leaguer in center, making all of the banal plays and a few of the fantastic.  If you know what's good for you, you'll start thinking with your heads instead of your McDeath addled hearts.

I'll let Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez close things out here.  Since May 5th, the opposition is batting .114 (5-for-44) against Vinnie and Pestano has punched out 16 in 13 innings.  CP nailed down his league leading 21st save to close out the Bucos, his 21st in a row.  I was pretty rough on Perez after he blew the save on Opening Day, but Chris seems to have channeled his rage and even shed a few LB's.  While he's still not what I would call a lock down closer, you have to give him credit for the work that he has done in 2012.

Roll Tribe.

Cheers.

P.s.  Jack Hannahan is back (0-3, 0-for-his-last-15 overall, maybe a couple of additional rehab games would have been useful?) and Scott Barnes is on his way to Georgia to join the Clippers.  Called it.

Clip Joint's Slammin'

Corey Kluber

The Clipper ship docked in Gwinnett, Georgia to take on the Braves tonight and it was one heck of a pitcher's duel... except for one pitch.  Jair Jurrjens (a 2011 NL all-star) had shut out Columbus for the first five innings and, despite loading the bases in the sixth, had Russ Canzler down 1-2 with two outs in the frame.  Everything changed when Canzler launched a 2-2 fastball over the centerfield wall for the only runs in a 4-0 victory.

You might have recently read that there is no Major League talent on the Clips squad.  First off, I had better clarify that I was referring to the line-up.  Obviously Zach McAllister has an MLB future and fringe Major Leaguers like David Huff, Chris Ray and Frank Herrmann speckle the pitching staff.  But what about Cord Phelps and Ezequiel Carrera, who both made contributions on the North Coast in 2011?  What about Mr. Salami?  It's very simple.  All three players have fallen off significantly in 2012 and none looks as if he is prepared to make a significant AAA impact, let alone an impact with the Indians, anytime soon.  In his first two seasons in Columbus, Carrera batted .287 with a .720 OPS (not bad for a top of the order hitter) while swiping 46 of 53 bases (87%).  This year?  .254, .650 and 9 of 14 (64%).  How's about Cord Phelps?  In his first two AAA campaigns (153 games, basically one full season), he hit .303 with 45 doubles, 8 triples, 20 homers and 94 RBI, good for an .875 OPS.  2012: .272 & .785.  Oh, and the grand slammer?  Canzler was coming off of back-to-back seasons of a .930+ OPS and an IL MVP award in 2011.  The homer tonight was just his 4th of 2012 and, even rolling that into the numbers, his OPS is still a lowly .693.  Baseball is a tricky game, the most cerebral of all sports.  Phelps and Carrera were never really given a shot to make the big club in the spring and Canzler lost out to Aaron Cunningham despite strong numbers and fan favorite status.  While none of these players have regressed skill-wise, neither have any shown themselves to be mentally strong.  With sports psychiatrists difficult to afford on a AAA salary, yeah, don't expect help anytime soon.

Again, we weren't talking about the pitchers and Corey Kluber (5-6, 3.73) tossed another strong outing this evening.  Yep, that's 7 innings of shutout, 4-hit ball with a walk and 5 K's.  Since a disastrous start against Scranton on May 21 (1.1 IP, 7 ER), Corey is 2-2 with a 2.10 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP.  One has to believe that Kluber has positioned himself in front of Kevin Slowey (3-3, 5.14) and on par with Huff (3-2, 3.74) on the depth chart.  Given the downward spiral of Jeanmar Gomez and Josh Tomlin, the Tribe might need Kluber sooner rather than later.

The Clips play two in Gwinnett tomorrow, resuming a suspended game @ 5:05p with a full game to follow.  Let's go with Chris Seddon (7-3, 3.59) on the bump.

Other Minor Points of Interest --

Akron

The Aeros won 3-2 in 12 innings with two big right-handers helping the cause with strong relief outings.  7'1" Loek van Mil (1.42 ERA), who would become the tallest player in Major League history if he ever makes it, threw 2.1 perfect innings, fanning a pair.  Van Mil, acquired from Minnesota in early May, is a bit old (28 in September) to be pitching at AA, but the numbers are impressive.  As are those of Bryce Stowell (1.93).  Bryce put two men on the 9th, but escaped unscathed.  Stowell has punched out 25 in 14 innings this season.

Carolina

Jesus Aguilar (.288) singled, doubled and scored a run for the Mudcats.  Despite coming into the season as the organization's top power prospect and an .822 OPS, Aguilar has just 5 home runs on the season.

Lake County

The Captains game went 13 innings and didn't finish until almost midnight.  They lost 9-7.  Francisco Lindor (.280), honored as a Midwest League All-Star, went 1-for-2 with a double, RBI, and run scored.  He also walked 6 TIMES!  Elvis Araujo (2-5, 4.45) got the start and was roundly beaten over 4 and a third.  Araujo allowed 6 earned on 7 hits and 2 walks, without recording a single strikeout.  Elvis has a 10.93 ERA over his past 4 starts.  Jack Hannahan played third base through the first 9 innings, going 1-for-5 with an RBI and 3 K's.  Cap'n Jack is 1-for-12 (.083) with 6 punch outs over his first 3 rehab games.  Maybe give him a few more.

Cheers.