May 23, 2013

Hey, Remember This Guy?

September 10, 2008 by 8 Comments

Indians 6, Orioles 1 (box)

Activated from the 60-day disabled list, Travis Hafner started last night; his first game in the lineup since the end of May.  Apparently suffering from a barrage of injuries that were then undisclosed, Hafner finished up a series against the Rangers, going 2-for-9, ultimately hitting the DL with splits of .217/.326/.350.  When your multi-multi-million dollar designated hitter has an OPS under .700, you have yourself quite a problem.

Now, it is time for redemption.  With the season lost, Hafner has exactly 19 games in which he can start to prove that he is worth the money and even a roster spot after a complete fall-off from his MVP-like numbers of 2006.  And while he didn’t leave the yard last night, he did put up a respectable appearance by notching two hits and a walk in a solid win over the Orioles.

If you want to jump into the wayback machine, Hafner had not recorded a multi-hit game since May 13th.  In fact, he only has eight multi-hit games on the season.  For a bit of comparison, Jhonny Peralta (who did hold his clean-up spot) had nine multi-hit games in the month of August alone.

Travis was in good company last night, as he led the way for three other Indians on the two-hit parade: Kelly Shoppach (two doubles, two runs scored), Michael Aubrey, and Andy Marte. 

And since the start of September, Asdrubal Cabrera has managed to get at least one hit in every game but one.  He’s hitting .520/.533/.640 in a very small sample of games, but what is most intriguing is the fact that he has only managed to strike out twice (while walking three times) in 25 at-bats.  I am not as allured by his obviously inflated OPS as I am by the fact that he appears to finally be settling in at the plate.  He has a chance to get his average to .250 by the end of the season thanks to a great second half, and while he still hits lefties way better than righties, at least he is finally hitting – racking up another 1-for-3 night last night, with a run scored.

And of course, we have to mention Jeremy Sowers notching his third win of the year.  Eight innings of one-run ball, striking out seven and walking only one.  Sowers tossed 72 of 96 pitches for strikes – and yes, he threw eight innings of baseball in less than 100 pitches.  With the help of 12 groundouts as well, Sowers was electric as he and Hafner partied like it was 2006 all over again. 

Now we just need them to keep it going…

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  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com DP

    As the eternal WFNY pessimist, I just hope that the team isn’t tricking Shapiro and Wedge into thinking that there are not still some glaring holes on the team (*cough*Marte*cough*). It was great in the car on the way home listening to Hamilton and Hegan talk about how horrible Marte has been all year at the plate… in the midst of his 11-pitch at bat that ended with an RBI double to right-center.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Scott

    Somewhat like how Joe Buck was all over Kevin Youkilis’s contact rate in one of the playoff games last year right before he struck out swinging…

    But I hear you. I really hope that they know what they truly have.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com DP

    The other area they need to do some seriously reflection on is the bullpen. Other than Perez and Lewis since they moved him to the closer’s spot, they haven’t been able to count on anyone out there with any regularity. As good as the starting pitching has been recently–and with the resurgence in offense in the second half–a strong bullpen has been the major glaring weakness.

  • Bridgecrosser

    Pronk really doesn’t need to prove crap. The Indians trashed his shoulder by insisting he (the D.H.) take tons of fielding practice, despite knowing the Rangers traded him b/c his shoulder wouldn’t allow him to be a fielder. With his contract, he is playing as long as he’s healthy, it’s just a matter of where in the order. If the Indians don’t jack his health up (make him throw baseballs) he will be fine. I know there’s some who think he’s a suffering ‘roid user but I am not worried about Hafner. Our rotation depth without Jake Westbrook, that’s another story….

  • CJG

    Bridgecrosser, I disagree with you. Hafner probably has more to prove to me as an Indians fan than any other player I have been following in my short time following the Indians (since the move to “Gateway”…man, when was the last time you heard that name?). Hafner is getting paid some serious dough. While I will agree with you that the Indians shouldn’t aggrevate that which should not be aggrevated (ie through fielding), he is getting paid to hit. So hit he must. That is what he has to prove to me, and so far, to me, its not so good. I’m not saying he needs to go out there and hit a homerun every time. What I want is that feeling I get when he used to come to bat–the feeling of “oh great, here’s another out for the inning”–to go away. And that is going to take quite a bit of work over a long period of time.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com DP

    The thing that concerned me about Pronk was that, while battling a shoulder injury, his plate discipline and general pitch selection, got way, way worse. He was always good at laying off the sliders in the dirt, and from the last half of 2007 on he swung at those pitches an awful lot more. Whether it was because he was pressing because of the injury, I don’t know. I do know that when Victor was battling his injury it affected his power numbers more than anything else. Hafner seemed to have lost a lot more than that.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Craig

    When Hafner was struggling, I started to get ticked off at him for complaining about balls and strikes all the time. It seemed like every time he didn’t get a hit, he was on the ump for a bad strike call. Granted he has been a player with a good eye in the past. Here’s the deal though Travis. When you aren’t murdering fastballs that are good pitches to hit, you end up spending more time at the plate. This equates to more judgement calls where the ump can annoy you.

    I don’t want to see Hafner be that uptight guy who is always on the ump about strike calls. Murder the hittable pitches and get out of the batter’s box.

  • Bridgecrosser

    @ CJG – I agree with your take he has a lot to prove, my take is that I am not too worried (unlike many) about him. I feel he’ll return to form. People make good points about discipline, but if your bat speed is not there (as was the case due to injury) – mechanics spiral out of control. Unlike many, he lives in CLE year-round and wears the crap out of the batting cage in the bowels of the Jake.

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