DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cleveland Indians Continued ........

Agreed. I just thought he'd get one more chance. Especially with as fast as Alex White has been moving up the system, I thought they'd want to slow him down a bit to make sure they don't push him too much.

yeah, I get ya. I guess my thought process is that he's made 38 starts, we know what he is, and we have some young kids just tearing through the minors. Lets get these borderline prospect/projects out of the way and see what some of the "studs" have.

Let's go Tribe!

5-5 in the bottom of the 9th ... nobody out ...... and the Indians have the bases loaded with Shoo coming up!

Let's add to the home game winning streak right here!

Can Santana shake off his malaise and put this game away with the bases loaded and 1 out?

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carlos Santana breaks out of his slump with a 1 out bases loaded grand slam to win the game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only thing that could've been more impressive is if he hit a grand slam and the bases weren't loaded

Hell of a way to end the game!

Sorry ..... I got a little carried away there.

Ah screw it ... I'm not apologizing at all!

Wow!

No apology needed, Great WIN!

Indians win 17 games in April for the 1st time in their history .... and open up a 5 game lead in the Central.

I'm lovin' it.

This team might just be for real.

What an awesome finish!!!

If that big hit gets Santana going ..... look out.

It's been a fun April!

Here's hoping for a fun May, June, July, August, September .... and especially October!

I really think I should take all the credit for this. After all, I've worn my Indians hat faithfully every day since Opening Day!

J/C

Just saw the grand slam blast online. I think this team is a start to something special. We fought back tonight. This team is exciting.

Super fortunate to be back in NE Ohio for this one

My fandom was reaffirmed while a bar full of tribe fans raised their arms in jubilation

Grover was in the booth again tonight. He said it in about the 4th inning. Sometimes, when a pitcher is on, as Scherzer was for the first 6 innings, you have to play the waiting game and treat your first few ABs as a learning exoerience.

The Indians hitters did an excellent job of adjusting later in the game. Scherzer was throwing first pitch strikes that guys were taking early in the game. Cabrera knew this and jumped all over him for the game tying home run.

This team is doing a lot of things right right now. And this with their 3 and 4 hitters just starting to come out of 3 week slumps. It has been very fun so far.

Alex White will start for Tribe Saturday against Tigers: Indians Insider
Published: Friday, April 29, 2011, 3:20 AM Updated: Friday, April 29, 2011, 3:43 AM
Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer The Plain Dealer

White will make his first start in the big leagues Saturday after four starts at Class AAA Columbus.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When the Indians optioned Alex White to Class AAA Columbus late in spring training, they did so with the standard message given to all upper-echelon prospects.

"At the end the day, we tell every single guy when they go to the minors, 'Make sure when we need a guy, make it be you,'" said manager Manny Acta. "He worked himself into that spot."

White will make his major-league debut Saturday night when he starts against Detroit at Progressive Field. White will take Carlos Carrasco's spot in the starting rotation. Carrasco was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday. The move is retroactive to Monday.

"He's thrown the ball very well," said Acta. "We've gotten some good reports on him."

White was the Indians' No.1 pick in 2009 out of North Carolina. He's currently 1-0 with a 1.90 ERA (five earned runs in 23 2/3 innings) in four starts at Class AAA Columbus. He is not on the 40-man roster so a move will have to be made to add him before Saturday.

He was the 15th player taken overall in the first round in 2009. The Indians paid him a signing bonus of $2.25 million.

White has 28 strikeouts and five walks in 23 2/3 innings. He's allowed 19 hits and the opposition is hitting .211 against him. White's WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings) is 1.01.

This spring White went 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA in three games.

"In spring training it's hard to judge people," said Acta. "You could see the poise and maturity level he had. His slider has improved in Triple A. His secondary pitches are still a work in progress. But he's pitching well."

Carrasco injured his right elbow in Sunday's start against the Twins. He lasted three innings before being removed.

The Indians added reliever Frank Herrmann from Columbus on Thursday to take Carrasco's place. White probably won't join the team until last Friday or early Saturday. Herrmann would likely be optioned to Columbus to make room.

White was the Indians' Minor League Pitcher of the Year last season. He pitched at Class A Kinston and Class AA Akron.

One problem White had last year was that he was so competitive he wanted to use his best pitch, his sinking fastball, all the time to the detriment to his other pitches. White throws a fastball, slider and split.

"He's used all his pitches," said Acta, referring to this season. "We told the same thing to Drew Pomeranz [No.1 pick in 2010]. You can't go through a big-league lineup three or four times by just throwing a fastball.

"The competitive nature of these guys is that when they get their back against the wall, or need to get out of jam, they're going to throw their best pitch."

First things first: Shelley Duncan made his first start of the season at first base in Wednesday's 7-2 victory. Duncan, however, is no stranger to the position.

He has only made three starts at first for the Indians over the last two years, but added, "I've logged between 500 and 600 games at first over my whole career. I spent three years or four in the minors doing nothing but playing first base.

"I had arm problems [labrum surgery] when I was young and could only play first. Then when I got healthy, the Yankees had a prospect who had to play first, so I moved back to the outfield."

Duncan helped stop Alex Gordon's 19-game hitting streak, the longest so far in the AL this year, with a leaping catch behind the bag in the third inning.

"That's about as high as I can go," said the 6-5 Duncan with a laugh.

Thou shall steal: Indians catchers Carlos Santana and Lou Marson have yet to throw out a baserunner this season. The opposition is 14-for-14 in steal attempts.

"It's like you have to give up something to get something," said Marson. "You'd rather have the pitcher make a good pitch than worry about the runner."

Marson threw out almost 34 percent (26 for 77) and Santana 29 percent (9 for 31) of the baserunners they faced last year.

"It's something Carlos and I take a lot of pride in," said Marson. "We want to throw guys out. But like I said, you have give up something to get something."
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White has been decent thus far for his first start. Has 4 walks which has inflated his pitch count and has given up 2 ER's thus far.

Based on his pitch count, it doesn't like he is going to be in much longer, however based on stats, if he can get some control, the kid looks like the real deal.

Another good one going, I've been outside all day and havent been watching, but 2er for your first start is an a- for my grade

Especially to an offensive team like Detroit. Great job in my book!

Got another close game going on. LET'S GO TRIBE!!

Just another win for the Tribe.

New team record, 18 wins in April!

One more boring walkoff come-from-behind win.

Alex White did a nice job against a pretty decent offensive team.

18-8 at the end of April... not too shabby

Considering that the Indians, in their 111 year history, had never started a season with 17 or 18 wins in the month of April ....... I guess they've done OK so far.

We're tied for the best record in baseball ..... and have the biggest lead in our division out of all of the division leaders. (Thanks in no small part to the fact that we've played the 2nd place team in our division and went 5-2 against them.

It appears that 90 wins will probably take the Central. We've played 26 so far. If we go 72-64 the rest of the way out, that's 90 wins. I think that 8 games over .500 is definitely doable for this team.

The nice thing is that almost every area of the team has hit a bump or 2 so far. We've had a couple of games where the defense took a day off. We've had a couple of days where the starting pitching wasn't up to par. (very rarely though) We've had a game or 2 where the bullpen forgot that they are a team strength. Through it all though, the team has played like a team, and they pick each other up when another player or unit is struggling.

We've also had 2 of our best hitters struggle at the plate. (although Shoo appears to be coming out of his slump) Then we had 2 starting pitchers go down with injury.

If this team ever gets everyone going at the same time .... look out!


I also have to add ..... I wasn't a big fan of the Acta hire ..... but I will eat crow all day long on that one. He has been exactly what this team needed. He has preached fundamentals and accountability .... and it has sunk in to the point where it's not words anymore, it's habit. Excellent job by Acta. Right now he'd have to be my choice for manager of the year. If they gave an award for "Coach of the year", mine would be Tim Belcher. He has these guys living "1st pitch strike".

Great job all around.

Oh ... and there's also lots of help at the minor league level if needed.

Is it just me or does Alex White look a little like Cousin Eddie?

It's just you.

13 straight at home, baby!

Bullpen has been awesome and whenever this team is challenged somebody come sup with a hit to get something going.

I love this team.

J/C and more of a general question...

You're infield/shallow outfield grass looks horrendous... I know it's because of the tarp but is it just that? Did the snow days thing over the winter also do that much damage?

Other than that, lol, you guys have really got something going... congrats

At least until Philly plays later tonight, we're atop all of MLB with 19 wins, and we're the only team in the league that has a 10 game lead on teams within its Division already


This is amazing!

Someone check the Mayan calendar and make sure that it doesn't really end in September 2011, please!!

I might say he's closer to Lieutenant Dan.

It's May ,,, and we have the best record in baseball!