May 18, 2013

Tribe Drops Sixth Straight, “Free Falling”

Delmon Young, Justin MorneauTwins 12, Indians 3 (box)

While C.C. Sabathia’s trade value continues its assent with every strikeout, we’re seeing a nearly perfect negative correlation with Paul Byrd.  At one point, Byrd and then closer Joe Borowski were also considered tradable assets.  Well, we’ve seen JoBo’s designation; and while doing the same with Byrd would not happen, his performance is not exactly what is keeping him rostered at this point.

Another start for Byrd, another first inning home run.  Cincy’s Adam Dunn, I can understand as he is a 40+ home run guy year in and year out.   Nick Punto, on the other hand?  Inexcusable.  It was his first home run in over 350 at-bats, dating back to last season.  The Twins are the least powerful team in the league, and coupling a three-run shot by Delmon Young, we managed to make them look like the second coming of Mantle and Maris.

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So, Who’s Pitching Tonight?

This one may sting a bit. Not too long after Rick discussed some of the injuries that have plagued the Indians, it appears that Jake Westbrook will be heading back to the disabled list due to some elbow inflamation (read: not good). Jake is fresh off of a five-week stay on the DL, and had only one start since his activation.

Obviously, Fausto Carmona is already on the DL with his hip injury. Jeremy Sowers would typically pitch in Westbrook’s absence, but just tossed seven innings on Sunday for Triple-A Buffalo. Of course, we’re now all aware that Adam Miller’s injury is a bit worse than we had thought. So who does that leave us with for tonight’s game?

MLB.com has Brian Slocum listed as the “probable” pitcher. Yahoo! is following suit. Slocum has an ERA of 5.60 in eight Major League appearances. He’s currently 3-4 with a 5.66 ERA in 49 innings with Buffalo. Jeff Harris could be the other option, but it would be off of four days rest.

(Update: Apparently, both were wrong. Per the Tribe front office, “RHP Tom Mastny will start for the Indians against the Texas Rangers at 8:05PM ET in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington… Will be his 1st Major League start.”)