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our bullpen is still the best in baseball. No one could match pestano, sipp, r.perez, and chris perez. Losing Alex White was huge. We need to fill that void through a trade.

we'll see tonight if we can fill that void internally. Talbot's only bad start (and it was horrible) was the first game back from the DL against the surging Red Sox. hopefully, he continues his path since then which is not bad for a 5th starter.

alex white should be back mid-to-late August, which is enough time to get his rhythm back and help in the stretch run and the playoffs. i would argue that it may end up helping us as it limits his innings pitched this season before the playoffs (as long as we can get there).

my worst fear is that the FO overreacts and makes a splashy deal with some of our building blocks for the future (chis, kipnis, pomeranz, etc.). If we deal Valbuena (his stock should be high right now), Phelps (Kipnis is by all accounts better), Huff, or Gomez I won't be mad at all. And combining a few of those should get us a good piece. But, we better not touch our elite prospects.

Carmona is the weak link right now. Tomlin has a hit a rough spot, but nowhere near the dropoff Carmona has fallen. I would seriously consider moving him to the bullpen. Gomez has been light out in columbus. Maybe give him another shot.

There's no way we give up Pomeranz. He's definitely our ace of the future, right along with White. The way he's going, he may be up sometime next year.

I could see them trading phelps. By all accounts, the indians do value kipinis higher as a 2nd baseman. I remember listening to the indians beat writer a while back, and they said phelps couldn't hit a lick in spring training.

wasn't it 3 years ago where carmona had a similiar meltdown?

Carmona is seriously hard to watch. I'm no expert on mechanics, but his delivery is all over the place ... it looks different on just about every pitch. What really bugs me is the good swings hitters are putting on him when they are down in the count 0-2 or 1-2. You should own a hitter with those counts.

the reason Carmona has lasted this long is that when he is 'on' he can be unhittable. i'll never forget the Twins game and the aftermath (where they were interviewing the Twins and they just were saying he was unhittable).

but man, when that sinker doesn't sink he is painful to watch.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gametracker/recap/MLB_20070517_MIN@CLE

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CLEVELAND -- Fausto Carmona's sinker dropped, it dipped, it dived, and it devastated the Minnesota Twins.

"It's not normal," Torii Hunter said of Carmona's go-to pitch. "He's not even human. It was so scary, I thought I was hung over."

Throwing sinkers and almost nothing but sinkers, Carmona pitched a four-hitter for his first career shutout and beat Johan Santana for the second time in less than a month as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Twins 2-0 to finish off a three-game sweep.

Carmona (5-1) dominated from start to finish with a 121-pitch performance that was still being discussed across the clubhouse dining tables as the Twins dug into their postgame buffet.

"That dude is filthy," Hunter said. "We've been struggling, but even if we had been playing good, we wouldn't have beaten him. If you've never played the game, listen to me, I'm a hitter. Right-handers have no chance unless they get lucky and get a hit on a broken bat."

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Yes they sent him to the fall league a couple of weeks. He's out of options this time. It's either put him in the bullpen or designate him for assignment, in which a trade could be worked out.

I still think the guy can be a great pitcher. I fear if we put him out there, he'd pick up somewhere, some coach would fix him, and he'd turn into the guy that we all know he CAN be.

But he's costing this team right now. They gotta do something, he's Lebron in the 4th quartering out there.

So how fast do you consider pulling your starter?

Maybe the do the Jose Mesa treatment to him ... convert him to a closer. If he can go all out and whip those turbo sinkers in there at full velocity without having to worry about saving his arm for a few more innings, then maybe he'd be more effective? Then again, would he have the mental make-up?

i'd be afraid of him walking guys.

Who needs him when you have Chris Perez???

Sorry, I should of said set-up guy ... The guy's concentration and focus seems lacking, but he seems to be able to turn it on when needed. Maybe reducing him to an inning a game might be better for him.

Anybody hear an update on LaPorta? Was watching at a bar w/ no sound. Looked really bad.

"Lower leg" is all I have read and heard.

Indians open up the Pirates series with a nice 5-1 win.

Tigers are getting clobbered in Colorado, 9-1. Hopefully that holds up.

Carlos Santana had a nice game tonight, as did Josh Tomlin.

Out of everybody's performance against the pirates I was most surprised by Pestano. Maybe I haven't had a chance to see him in action all that much, but he was great tonight. He almost reminded me of raffy betancourt in late 2007,lol. Also, is it just me or does Hafter all of a sudden tie the whole lineup together?

I think that Hafner definitely helps this lineup immensely.

I was against a trade earlier, but I now think that if we have the chance to pick up another right handed power bat, we should.

Pestano has the stuff to be a closer right now. 32k in 25 innings. Only 4 runs given up all year. Hitters can't figure him out yet.

We get a bat, and another starting pitcher, there's no reason why we shouldn't win the division. I, personally wouldn't mind us getting Pavano back. He's been solid for the twins once again.

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He has a right ankle sprain, but X-rays were negative,” Acta said. “That means no fracture. He’ll have an MRI exam tomorrow and we’ll see then (about possible ligament damage).

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That looked nasty when it happened...I'd be shocked if he's not out at least 6 weeks...

Speaking of trades...Send Carmona anywhere...

wahoo! Go Tribe!

I never root for injuries, but LaPorta screwing up his ankle could be one of the better things to happen to this team right now. Dude can't hit and makes bad decisions in the field. Not to mention he got hurt getting caught in a rundown between second and third.

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One win at a time
Indians 5, Pirates 1: Cleveland's offense tries to return to early-season form
Saturday, June 18, 2011 03:07 AM
By Jim Massie

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

CLEVELAND - The seasoned baseball traveler, one with experience navigating an April-to-October pennant chase, understands how quickly a scenic drive can turn into what feels like an endless trip through a construction zone.

How a team handles the sputters and stalls speaks to its maturity as much as its talent. The Cleveland Indians are learning the lesson on the fly.

The youthful Indians raced through April and May with the flash and dash of a new sports car. While building a five-game lead in the American League Central, the Tribe became the biggest surprise story in baseball.

Trouble, however, has sprouted over the past few weeks. Cleveland has lost 16 of its past 25 games and went into last night trailing the Detroit Tigers by a game in the division race.

The offense disappeared for much of June. It is no coincidence that veteran designated hitter Travis Hafner spent that time on the disabled list because of a ribcage injury. He returned to the lineup last night in Progressive Field and collected an RBI double in a 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Hafner returned two days early from his rehabilitation with the blessing of manager Manny Acta.

"He felt that he was ready to go," Acta said. "He felt he saw enough pitches, and we can use him over here, too. So what's one more game? We can't afford to lose guys like him or (Grady) Sizemore or (Shin-Soo) Choo or Asdrubal Cabrera. We know in order to stay relaxed and win, we're going to have to keep those guys healthy."

In his four plate appearances, Hafner grounded out twice and walked before hitting a towering drive in the eighth inning that missed being a three-run home run by inches.

"Physically, I feel good," Hafner said. "My swing has felt good. So I was ready to go and be back out there."

He understands what his return means to the lineup.

"I think it helped," Hafner said. "I just try to be a presence in the middle of the order. It was a fun night. The crowd was great. We swung the bats. We had a great pitching performance. And we got the win, most importantly."

Carlos Santana joined the fun with a home run in the fourth. He singled home a run in the eighth. Getting him untracked offensively, along with Choo, is as important as Hafner's return.

"When we were having success early in the year, everybody was contributing a little bit and we were getting offense out of some unexpected sources," Acta said. "We didn't bring Jack (Hannahan) over here to hit, and he had a very good first month and half of the season.

"We expected a few guys to hit consistently, and that's what hasn't happened. I'm a little concerned that it's taken so long for some of those guys to come alive."

Josh Tomlin (8-4) returned to life on the mound after a brutal few starts. He allowed one run and six hits over 62/3 innings to earn the victory.

"I think we've all been handling this (slump) pretty good," Tomlin said. "It's tough to go through adversity. But that's what makes great teams. You show character by coming out of it and playing well. That builds more camaraderie among us."

The offense has been under the most scrutiny, but Tomlin knows that the rotation has to get moving again.

"Starting pitching sets the tone," he said. "Every start I've had in my past four outings, I've given up four to six runs. That's not good for a ballclub. That puts the hitters in a hole, and it's hard to get out of it. For me to get into the seventh tonight was big. Hopefully this gets us going again."

jmassie@dispatch.com

Indians fire hitting coach Jon Nunnally, promote Bruce Fields

Drew Silva

Jun 19, 2011, 11:41 AM EDT
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As first reported on the Cleveland Indians’ official Twitter feed, major league hitting coach Jon Nunnally was fired before Sunday’s game and Bruce Fields was named as his replacement.

Nunnally had been with the Tribe in a coaching capacity since 2006 and was named hitting coach in December of 2009. The Indians entered Sunday’s action ranked 12th in the majors in runs scored and 13th in team OPS but have struggled to maintain a firm grasp on first place in the American League Central. Nunnally, a former major league outfielder, will likely try to continue his coaching career with another organization. He is only 39 years old.

Fields served as the Tigers’ hitting coach from 2003-2005 and was operating this season as the Indians’ minor league hitting coordinator. He played three seasons in the major leagues.
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Nice to get the sweep over the Pirates with Cord Phelps' walkoff HR. Also, the bare handed play by Asdrubal was sick!

I suppose the pirate faithful will have to put away their disco platform shoes and "We are Family" 45's now. They're not that good.

And you are?

You're pitching was fantastic for these last three games but don't go crazy... a dude named Cord that's now hitting .143 hit a walk off in the 11th off a guy who's rightfully about the 10th-11th man out of the bullpen.

It did appear that Santana woke up in this series, and that's a good thing for you... but where else is the offense coming from? I guess Brantley and Asdrubal - but Grady is done, Hafner isn't fully back yet and Choo has been a garbage fire for the entire season.

The Pirates are on their 6th catcher, playing a waiver claim at 3rd, getting nothing from first, left and SS and our best player did nothing for a weekend... yet they're one game under .500. Call me crazy but I'm alright with that at this point.

You had a fine series - but if we're "not that good" how good does that really make you?

Pirates vs. Indians... 15-15 all time I believe.

And how good are you? 18 straight losing seasons, I believe.

you guys are on the right track. Starting pitching is good. Your offense is real weak at the moment. At any rate you guys should win 75-80 games. Which is a huge improvement, when comparing other seasons.

Yes... and that has what to do with this team? I don't think this was the rotation we had in 1996. I don't think Hanrahan was our closer in 2000. Pretty sure McCutchen and Walker weren't taking the field in 2006.

These last 18 years have been a garbage fire, I'm not ever gonna deny that - but it's a different owner than the 90's and early 2000's, a different GM than the 3 wastes of space before him, the best manager since Leyland and the whole way of doing business has been changed to what it always should have been; draft well, stock the minors through trades and make a dent in Latin America.

I say you had a good series and defend my team - instead of taking a shot at your illustrious history - and you come back with that? Stay classy.

Thank you. I'm not saying we're the 27 Yankees and I don't think we're gonna win the Series this year... but we lost 105 games last year. Anyone that can't see this team is improved - mostly due to very good pitching - is ridiculous.

I would like to thank the Pirates and Reds .... because with our massive slide we went on, we'd be in 2nd place without the 2 sweeps. lol

Seriously though, it does appear as though there is some good (maybe not great, but good) baseball being played in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh these days. Maybe better days are ahead for all 3 franchises.

Thinking about baseball though ... I still don't understand why they moved the Brewers to the NL just to completely fubar the divisions. In the AL you have 2 5 team divisions, and 1 4 team. In the NL you have 2 5 team divisions and 1 6 team. That just makes no sense to me at all.

That's alright we've got round 2 coming up in a couple weeks.

I hate the 6 team division. I get sick of seeing the same division foes all the time. Although the Reds take care of the Brewers regularly so they are a welcome addition.

But with the overload of divisional games the Reds hardly see any of the rivals from the old NL West like LA, SF and Atlanta. 1 road series and 1 home series, boo.