May 18, 2013

Indians Roster Notes: Lopez Released, Tomlin to Have Arm Evaluated

August 12, 2012 by 7 Comments

For the fourth time this month, the Indians announced today they have released a veteran player DFA’d 10 days earlier. This time, it was utility infielder Jose Lopez, following in the footsteps of, chronologically, Johnny Damon, Jeremy Accardo and Derek Lowe.

Indians beat writers, who had a nice Twitter fling with Lopez throughout the season, were saddened by the announcement:

In other notable Indians roster notes, recently-converted reliever Josh Tomlin will have his right arm examined in Cleveland this week. He was originally rumored to see well-known specialist Dr. Lewis Yocum while the team is in Southern California this week, but supposedly the doctor is unavailable.

According to various Twitter reports, Tomlin has fought elbow soreness dating back to last season, possibly resulting in his poor performance to date this year: 5-8 with a 5.82 ERA in 20 games (16 starts).

It’s very possible that Tomlin will be moved to the DL this week to make room for Roberto Hernandez, who is scheduled to start Wednesday. It is also possible that lefty Chris Seddon or righty Corey Kluber also could go back to Columbus, while outfielders Matt LaPorta or Russ Canzler could be activated from the Clippers roster (h/t @MLBastian).

[Related: Contention Windows and Depth Charts: Analyzing the Cleveland Indians’ Future]

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Roster Move: Indians Release Derek Lowe

August 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

After designating him for assignment last week, the Cleveland Indians announced Friday that they have released veteran Derek Lowe.

The 39-year-old was just 2-8 with an 8.80 ERA in 12 starts since May 26 after a hot start to the season for the regressing Tribe. The team had 10 days to trade or release him, with no real likelihood existing for him to accept an assignment to AAA Columbus.

The Baltimore Sun’s Dan Connolly reported Thursday that there is a sense Lowe could head to the National League. CBS’ Jon Heyman tweeted that he is willing to start or relieve for a team, which could potentially improve his fairly low value.

Notably, in 2011, the groundball-inducing Lowe also faltered down the stretch for the Atlanta Braves. After starting off the season decently as well, he went 0-5 with an 8.75 ERA in an awful September as the Braves collapsed in the final few weeks.

 [Related: MLB Report: Indians Designate Lowe for Assignment]

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Rotation Situation Is A Disaster

August 6, 2012 by 22 Comments

And I thought being swept back to back by the Twins and the Royals was rock bottom. I obviously thought wrong.

I seriously couldn’t decide where to go with this piece. The weekend in Detroit was an abject disaster. However, it was a mere add-on to a week that was a complete house of horrors from our Wahoos. Whatever could go wrong for this team, has gone wrong. The Tigers outplayed the Tribe in every single aspect of the game. They out-hit, out-pitched, out-ran, and out-defended the Indians. It was more of the same.

The Wahoos have lost nine in a row, going 0-fer during this nine game make or break road trip through three AL Central cities. It was the first time in the history of the franchise they have gone 0-9 on a road trip.

GM Chris Antonetti, who to me is dangerously close to losing his job with the way his moves last season (the Ubaldo trade) and this past winter (re-signing Grady Sizemore and then not properly backing that mistake up, not giving a third year to Josh Willingham, etc) have backfired, built this team with pitching and defense as its defining characteristic. Instead of flourishing and watching this staff grow, we are witnessing one of the worst rotations in the American League. How does a 36-49 record with an ERA of 5.15 sound to you? [Read more...]

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Shake-up Coming to the Tribe Rotation After Another Dismal Start

August 1, 2012 by 8 Comments

The bottom of the seventh inning included a conversation between Underwood and Manning which eventually made its way around to “sometimes the best trade you can make is not to make one.” Um, not in this case boys.

You had to wonder how the team would react last night. Not just because of the trade deadline that came and went with nary a change in the clubhouse, but also because of the embarrassment of the Minnesota series. I was hoping we might see a little fire. Then I saw Lowe was the starting pitcher, and I realized that the fire may just be coming off the bats of the Royals.

Derek Lowe is either in a severe slump, or it is the end of the line. Let us let some of the Tribe’s scribes describe the scene from twitter- [Read more...]

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Tigers 5 Indians 3: Offense Doesn’t Show, Neither Does Lowe

July 26, 2012 by 27 Comments

With the looming return of Roberto Hernandez, it would behoove the Indians two back end starters – Josh Tomlin and Derek Lowe – to start pitching better. One of them is going to lose their job, if not both of them. When asked after the game about his starting pitching issues, Manager Manny Acta told the media “Of course we need pitching help. Everyone knows that. It’s a priority.” Then asked if more help would be on the way, he responded by saying “We’re working on it.”

That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for Lowe or Tomlin. Then again, neither was Lowe’s start last night, another in a long line of poor outings which could lead to his undoing. At least Tomlin has shown some sort of life of late. The 39-year old veteran looks like he is on his last legs after taking another loss last night. [Read more...]

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Indians Weekend Wrapup: Unimpressive Start To The Second Half

July 16, 2012 by 14 Comments

The long All-Star break brought about some hard truths for our Wahoos. While they were just two and half games out of first, their margin of error was (and is) a lot slimmer than their rivals, the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. The bats need to become more consistent one through nine. The starting rotation needs to get stronger. The bullpen needs to get some depth beyond the back end three.

It all started Friday night in Toronto. The Blue Jays are a tough team, but the Tribe’s rotation was set the way they wanted it. Toronto is missing four of their five top starters and the Tribe would have their crack at a couple of fill ins in lefty Aaron Laffey and righty Carlos Villenueva.

Instead of taking advantage, the Tribe bats fell asleep in two out of the three games, particularly with runners on base. To make matter worse, in the one game the offense actually showed up, the pitching failed them. The Tribe would end up losing two of three and lost ground to both the Tigers and the first place White Sox, who each won Sunday and gained a game. The Tribe fell into third place. Its a three-team race in the AL Central, but with the Tigers so hot and the Sox not slowing down, the Indians cannot afford a slump.

As we do every Monday, lets take a look back at the weekend that was in Wahooland. [Read more...]

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Box Score: Blue Jays 3, Indians 0

July 15, 2012 by 3 Comments

The Indians faltered again today in a rubber match against the Blue Jays. Toronto scored three times against Derek Lowe in the third, and that was all the offense for the day.

The bats were miserable again today, with the team mustering just five hits and five walks total. Yet again, there were several wasted opportunities and some truly awful at-bats by the bottom of the lineup.

Cleveland now goes off to Tampa Bay for four games this week before returning home Friday to take on Baltimore. Hooray for lots of doses of the AL East right after the All-Star Break.

Scoring Summary
Bot 3rd: Toronto
- J.P. Arencibia singled to center, K. Johnson scored
- C. Rasmus singled to shallow center, J.P. Arencibia scored
- A. Lind walked, C. Rasmus scored, J. Bautista to third, E. Encarnacion to second
 Cleveland
AB R H RBI HR BB K SB LOB Season Avg
S. Choo rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 .294
A. Cabrera ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 .278
J. Kipnis 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .272
T. Hafner dh 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 .231
C. Santana c 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 .222
M. Brantley cf 3 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 .302
C. Kotchman 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 .238
J. Damon lf 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 .219
    S. Duncan ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .233
J. Hannahan 3b 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 .236
    J. Lopez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .265
 Totals 31 0 5 0 0 5 9 0 17
 Batting
2B – M Brantley 2 (27, C Villanueva, D Oliver).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out – C Santana 1, C Kotchman 1, J Damon 1, J Hannahan 1, J Lopez 1.
GIDP – A Cabrera.
Team LOB – 9.
 Fielding
E – C Santana (6, throw).
DP – 1 (J Kipnis-A Cabrera-C Kotchman).
 Toronto
AB R H RBI HR BB K SB LOB Season Avg
B. Lawrie 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .286
C. Rasmus cf 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .253
J. Bautista rf 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 .245
E. Encarnacion 1b 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 .293
A. Lind dh 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 .229
Y. Escobar ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 .251
K. Johnson 2b 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 .245
B. Francisco lf 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 .250
    R. Davis pr-lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .243
J.P. Arencibia c 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 .232
 Totals 27 3 5 3 0 4 7 2 6
 Batting
2B – J Bautista (14, J Smith); B Francisco (5, J Smith).
RBI – C Rasmus (54), A Lind (25), J Arencibia (43).
2-out RBI – C Rasmus, A Lind.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out – E Encarnacion 1, Y Escobar 2.
GIDP – A Lind.
Team LOB – 4.
 Base Running
SB – J Bautista (5, 2nd base off D Lowe/C Santana), K Johnson (10, 3rd base off D Lowe/C Santana).
CS – R Davis (7, 3rd base by J Smith/C Santana).
 Fielding
DP – 1 (E Encarnacion-Y Escobar).
 Cleveland
IP H R ER BB K HR WHIP Season ERA
D. Lowe (L, 8-7) 6.0 3 3 3 4 5 0 1.56 4.43
J. Smith 2.0 2 0 0 0 2 0 1.14 2.97
 Toronto
IP H R ER BB K HR WHIP Season ERA
C. Villanueva (W, 4-0) 6.0 3 0 0 5 8 0 1.33 2.68
J. Frasor 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.37 3.53
D. Oliver (S, 1) 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.92 1.30

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Indians 12 Angels 3: Smokin’ Hot On The 4th Of July

July 5, 2012 by 3 Comments

Remember when the Indians played the Astros and the Yankees less then two weeks ago and looked like they would have to win every game 2-1 because the offense couldn’t string anything together? I know I do. So what do you make of them after yesterday’s 12-3 shellacking of the Los Angeles Angels?

Since that five-game losing skid, their worst of the season, the Indians have won five of seven and they have done it with the bats. Save for the 3-0 shutout Monday by one of the game’s best pitchers (Jered Weaver), the much maligned Tribe attack has averaged 8.8 runs per game during the span. Don’t even try to ask me to explain it.

“Good teams can forget bad games,” said yesterday’s starter Derek Lowe. “We were able to go out the last couple nights and score a lot of runs.”

Indeed they did. Yesterday’s series clinching win was a scorcher, and I say that as someone who sat in the shade the entire game with my wife and kids. Lowe was wearing long sleeves! The heat fron the Tribe bats was the thing that made the 92-degree game time temperature bearable. Right from the start, the Wahoos were all over Ervin Santana, a man who no-hit them last summer.  [Read more...]

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Indians 10, Reds 9: Its Bizarro World as Tribe Outslugs The ‘Nati

June 19, 2012 by 8 Comments

I said yesterday that the Indians are going to have to win this division with their pitching and defense. Naturally a night later they come out and tear the cover off the ball. I believe yesterday I also wrote the following sentence “the bottom of the order continues to be a black hole.” The 7-8-9 of the Tribe order then proceeded to drive in seven RBIs while the guys who have been carrying the offense, Jason Kipnis and Asdrubal Cabrera, didn’t get a hit. This was just another in a long line of reasons of you never know what you are going to get on any given night in baseball.

This one was supposed to be the big rematch between the Indians Derek Lowe and the Reds Mat Latos, less than a week after the Lowe/Baker flap in which Latos got himself involved. Instead, it became a battle of the bats. All-World first baseman Joey Votto got Lowe with a two-out solo shot in the first to put the Reds on top. Shin-Soo Choo led off for the Tribe and answered with a deep solo blast of his own. It was on from there.

The Reds pounded Lowe with a double and three singles to take a 3-1 lead in the second. However, the Tribe countered with some offense of their own. Michael Brantley opened the second with a ground-rule double. Carlos Santana, moved to the six hole to help his slumping bat, singled sharply up the middle moving Brantley to third. He would score on Johnny Damon’s groundout. With two out, Lonnie Chisenhall blasted a two-run shot into the Reds bullpen to put the Tribe on top 4-3. [Read more...]

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Reds’ Latos Accuses Indians of Stealing Signs

June 19, 2012 by 17 Comments

While Cleveland Indians starter Derek Lowe answers every Reds-based question with a roll of the eyes, Mat Latos, the formerly feather-haired hurler for Cincinnati, has taken last week’s drama a bit further by accusing the Indians of stealing signs.

“I was a little up in the zone,” said Latos after giving up a seven runs in four innings and seeing his ERA baloon to 5.20. “I thought I made some good pitches that they spit on with a runner on second. I suppose it was kind of ironic. We changed up the signs, for the last hitter unfortunately. The outcomes changed when we changed up the signs today.”

When asked about the path that he was taking, Latos continued.

“When you go back and look at video, a couple runners on second base, they put better swings on the ball than they did most of the time without a runner on second base.”

Two of the Indians’ three home runs off of Latos on Monday night came with a man on second base. Five of the Indians’ hits against Latos came without a runner on second base, and all of those went for extra bases.

It was Latos who was on the mound during the Indians-Reds series last week when the Reds and manager Dusty Baker were accused of head-hunting Indians starter Derek Lowe.

[Related: The Little Offense That Couldn’t and Its Struggling Pitching Staff]

(h/t WFNY reader Josh N)

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Reds 5 Indians 3: Where Exactly is Ramon Vazquez These Days?

June 14, 2012 by 12 Comments

Brandon Phillips kills the Indians. Its a bit that comes up every single year and sticks in the craw of Tribe fans to an endless degree. It was April 7th of 2006, more than six years ago, but it is a day that will live in Indians infamy. It was the day they gave up on a talented and uber confident kid second baseman because he was out of options and the manager didn’t like his attitude. Swagger is a better word for it.

Then GM Mark Shapiro and his manager Eric Wedge were in the midst of their “partnership,” which we all know now was horrible mistake on Shapiro’s part. The GM always picks the players, and the manager’s job is to play the hand he is dealt and make it successful. Instead back in 2006, Wedge’s affinity for utility man Ramon Vazquez and his dislike of Brandon Phillips rough exterior won out. Shapiro made the final call and dealt Phillips to the Reds for reliever Jeff Stevens. They gave up on him at age 25.

Vazquez played 34 games for the Indians that season as a backup and 310 games total over the next three years. He is now out of baseball. Phillips has gone on to become a two-time all-star, a three-time Gold Glove winner, and one of the best second baseman in the game. On top of that, the Indians watch him torture them year in and year out in interleague play.

Last night was no different. [Read more...]

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Derek Lowe has no love for Dusty Baker

June 13, 2012 by 2 Comments

Jordan Bastian has the story following the Indians’ loss in Cincinnati. Apparently Derek Lowe had some choice words about Reds manager Dusty Baker-

“Dusty will deny it. It has everything to do with him. You can go ask him. He’ll deny it like he has no idea. They’ve been trying to do this [stuff] for years. I’d always come up with men on base. To say it didn’t come from Dusty, Mat Latos was with the San Diego Padres the last four years. He has no idea what’s going on. Again, you can ask him and he’ll say he doesn’t know [anything] about it like he always does. This goes back to my last year with the Dodgers. He made up some [bogus] story. A lot of people got involved. People almost got fired over it. You can go ask him right now and he’ll say he has no idea what you’re talking about. But just watch the game. Mat Latos has nothing to do with anything that has gone on. How would he know? Why in the [world] would you throw a 96 mph fastball, first pitch, inside to a pitcher? Ask him.”

Wow. There’s a little more. Go read about it on Bastian’s blog.

[Related: Box Score: Indians 3, Reds 5]

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Tigers 7 Indians 5: Comeback Comes Up Just Short

June 8, 2012 by 10 Comments

The good news was that the Tribe was that they already had won the series. The bad news was that they were going to be facing yet another lefty they hadn’t seen before. But didn’t we get past that two days ago against Drew Smyly?

It was getaway day at Comerica Park, and the Indians played early as if they couldn’t wait to get on the plane for St. Louis. When sinker-baller Derek Lowe pitches, you know a lot of balls are going to be in play. In this one, the Tigers hit them where the Indians weren’t in the first inning and put our Wahoos in a serious hole.

Four of the first five Detroit hitters knocked singles through the holes in the infield, putting the Tigers ahead two nothing. They would add two more with two out on a wild pitch and a two-out RBI single by the light-hitting Don Kelly. Lowe was clearly frustrated, but things would shortly get worse for him.

In a 4-1 game in the fourth, Lowe was one out away from ending the inning. Instead, Brennan Boesch, who entered the game in a 2-30 slump, ripped an RBI ground rule double to deep center. One batter later, the great Miguel Cabrera popped a two-run blast off the railing in right field, just over the out-stretched arm of Shin-Soo Choo.

“We’ve been throwing a lot of sinkers early in the count. I’ve left a few up and they’ve taken advantage of it. You have to constantly learn from it,” said Lowe. “”I fell behind Boesch. That was, for me, the biggest at-bat.” [Read more...]

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Box Score: Indians 7, Twins 1

June 1, 2012 by 2 Comments

The Tribe’s young infield duo was at it again tonight. First, it was Lonnie Chisenhall with a two-run homer in the second, followed up by a Jason Kipnis grand slam in the fourth. That power surge with former stars of the 90s in attendance was more than enough for Derek Lowe, who gave the Indians their first quality start in over a week as he pitched 6 2/3 innings allowing just 1 run on 5 hits while coaxing 11 ground ball outs. The Tribe took the series opener 7-1 as they didn’t let Carl Pavano escape the fourth inning. This win was desperately needed to keep pace with the white hot White Sox and after dropping five of their last six. Tomorrow night, it’s Josh Tomlin for the Tribe against P.J. Walters for Minnesota.

 

Scoring Summary
Bot 2nd: Cleveland
- L. Chisenhall homered to deep right, J. Damon scored
Bot 3rd: Cleveland
- M. Brantley doubled to deep left center, S. Choo scored, J. Lopez to third
Bot 4th: Cleveland
- J. Kipnis homered to deep right center, L. Chisenhall, L. Marson and S. Choo scored
Top 7th: Minnesota
- B. Dozier singled to shallow left, J. Willingham scored, R. Doumit to second, R. Doumit to third on left fielder J. Damon’s fielding error
 Minnesota
AB R H RBI HR BB K SB LOB Season Avg
D. Span cf 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .301
B. Revere rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .284
J. Mauer dh 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .290
J. Willingham lf 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 .277
J. Morneau 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .237
R. Doumit c 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .271
B. Dozier ss 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 .232
A. Casilla 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 .240
J. Carroll 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .230
 Totals 32 1 6 1 0 1 4 0 11
 Batting
RBI - B Dozier (14).
2-out RBI - B Dozier.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - B Revere 1, A Casilla 1.
GIDP - B Dozier 2.
Team LOB - 5.
 Fielding
E - J Carroll (3, throw).
 Cleveland
AB R H RBI HR BB K SB LOB Season Avg
S. Choo rf 5 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 3 .266
J. Kipnis 2b 5 1 2 4 1 0 0 1 2 .283
A. Cabrera ss 5 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 2 .295
J. Lopez dh 5 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 .264
M. Brantley cf 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 .277
C. Kotchman 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .215
J. Damon lf 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .186
    A. Cunningham lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .211
L. Chisenhall 3b 4 2 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 .385
L. Marson c 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 .162
 Totals 39 7 14 7 2 1 5 2 16
 Batting
2B - M Brantley (16, C Pavano).
HR - J Kipnis (9, 4th inning off C Pavano 3 on, 1 Out), L Chisenhall (2, 2nd inning off C Pavano 1 on, 2 Out).
RBI - J Kipnis 4 (34), M Brantley (22), L Chisenhall 2 (3).
2-out RBI - M Brantley, L Chisenhall 2.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - S Choo 1, J Lopez 2, C Kotchman 2.
Team LOB - 9.
 Base Running
SB - J Kipnis (12, 2nd base off C Pavano/R Doumit), L Chisenhall (1, 2nd base off C Pavano/R Doumit).
 Fielding
E - J Damon (1, field); L Chisenhall (1, throw).
DP - 2 (L Chisenhall-J Kipnis-C Kotchman, J Kipnis-A Cabrera-C Kotchman).
 Minnesota
IP H R ER BB K HR WHIP Season ERA
C. Pavano (L, 2-5) 3.2 9 7 6 1 2 2 1.40 6.00
A. Swarzak 3.1 3 0 0 0 2 0 1.30 5.26
B. Duensing 1.0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1.10 3.08
 Cleveland
IP H R ER BB K HR WHIP Season ERA
D. Lowe (W, 7-3) 6.2 5 1 1 1 2 0 1.46 3.06
N. Hagadone 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.91 2.04
J. Accardo 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.86 1.93
Pitches-strikes - C Pavano 71-48; A Swarzak 51-35; B Duensing 21-16; D Lowe 108-66; N Hagadone 19-13; J Accardo 10-7.
Ground balls-fly balls - C Pavano 5-8; A Swarzak 5-3; B Duensing 3-1; D Lowe 11-4; N Hagadone 1-2; J Accardo 1-1.
Batters faced - C Pavano 22; A Swarzak 13; B Duensing 5; D Lowe 25; N Hagadone 5; J Accardo 3.
Game Details
Umpires: HP–Jeff Kellogg. 1B–Eric Cooper. 2B–Marty Foster. 3B–Lance Barrett.
Weather: 60 degrees, overcast.
Wind: 21 mph, out to right.

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ESPN creating controversy over Tribe attendance woes?

May 23, 2012 by 40 Comments

Something pointed out by one of the most frequent commenters to this site on ESPN.com today… On the front page of the MLB section the worldwide leader is kind to the Tribe with the headline and caption giving credit to the team for beating the star-laden Tigers in the series opener. Then in the related posts section, they seem to have a quote from Derek Lowe that asks, “Where are our fans?” To be fair, it isn’t indicating a quote, but it is seemingly paraphrasing the substance of something Derek Lowe might have said, right? (See ESPN screen shot.)



 [Read more...]

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Quote: Derek Lowe on Ubaldo Jimenez’ Work Ethic

May 17, 2012 by 32 Comments

People don’t understand how hard this guy works. He understands the things he’s trying to fix; it’s not like he puts his head in the sand and says ‘Hey, I’m not going to work.’ He works extremely hard every day on trying to get rid of or clean up some of the things he wants to clean up. I think everyone just because he got here has had some expectations that he could win 20 games every year — not to say that he won’t. He’ll get it figured out and when he does we will all be better for it.

– Indians starting pitcher Derek Lowe, via 92.3 The Fan on teammate Ubaldo Jimenez who has been given, in his eyes, a bit of unfair treatment from Cleveland fans since last summer’s trade.

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What’s Going on with Derek Lowe?

May 16, 2012 by 35 Comments

When the Indians traded for Derek Lowe immediately after the 2011 season, I thought it was a pretty shrewd move.  They were buying low—PUNS!!—on a pitcher who had run into some incredibly tough luck during the 2011 campaign.  Atlanta seemed a bit eager to cut bait with him due to his terrible close to the 2011 season: from August 2nd until the end of the season, opposing batters hit .316/.370.485 off Lowe over 57.2 innings resulting in a 6.24 ERA.

But anyone with even a cursory grasp of pitching peripherals could see that Lowe’s 2011 season had all the traditional markings of an outlier. His batting average on balls in play was unusually high at .327. He stranded fewer than 66% of his base runners.  His walks were up a bit from his career rate, sure, but he actually increased his strikeout rate too.  Have a look: [Read more...]

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Indians 5, Twins 0: Derek Keeps Sad Sack Twins On the Down Lowe

May 16, 2012 by 33 Comments

Who had this one pegged?

The Indians were looking to add to the back end of the rotation after the season ended. They made their first move rather quickly. On October 31st, just a week after the World Series, GM Chris Antonetti acquired a 38-year old veteran who was coming off the worst year of the career where he lost 17 games and collapsed in September. The guy was due $15 million in 2012, the last year of his deal. Nobody talked about the move, despite the fact that the Atlanta Braves picked up $10 million of the salary due.

Well how has Derek Lowe looked out thus far, Tribe fans?

During yesterday afternoon’s tilt with the last place Minnesota Twins, Lowe pitched another absolute gem. The veteran sinker-baller delivered a six-hit complete game shutout for his sixth win on the season. Using his sinker almost exclusively, Lowe delivered a whopping 22 groundball outs, including four double-play balls that killed any chances of a Twins rally. [Read more...]

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Thank You, Atlanta: Derek Lowe Serves as Veteran Anchor on a Young Staff

May 11, 2012 by 6 Comments

Derek Lowe returned to familiar grounds with familiar fan fare. As Bostonians welcomed Lowe back with open arms and signs thanking him for his time spent with their team, the veteran right-hander approached the historic Fenway Park as a former inhabitant whose keys still made the locks turn.

The headlines will belong to Washington’s Steven Strasburg who fanned 13 Pittsburgh Pirate batters in just six innings of work. The tabloids and Twitterverse will focus on Boston’s Josh Beckett who the Red Sox traded for after Lowe moved on to more western pastures; after all, it’s Becket who is making $17 million this season and continues to grow larger by the day, the antagonist in the 2011 fried-chicken-and-beer scandal which tipped Red Sox Nation off its axis like a wayward flip-cup. But it was Lowe, on this night, who seemingly flew under the radar to mow through the perennially vaunted Red Sox lineup to record his fifth win of the season, each of which has followed an Indians loss.

The first-place Indians, recent losers of two straight contests to the White Sox, will head into their second game of their series against the Redder version, having lost no more than two-straight games thus far in the 2012 season. Last season, the role of the stopper belonged to Justin Masterson. With Bat taking the role of the ace, the 38-year-old Lowe has stepped right in without skipping a beat. [Read more...]

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Indians 8, Red Sox 3: Hannahan, Brantley Batter Beckett as Tribe Fans Grin

May 11, 2012 by 13 Comments

Let me just get this right out of the way off the top; I do not like Josh Beckett. Never have. Never will.

Not only did he used to own the Indians, particularly during the 2007 ALCS where he wont both of his starts, but he also won a World Series title with the Florida Marlins in 2003 where he was the MVP. The Marlins having two rings in a seven-year span makes me ill on so many levels.The attitude he exudes, the slow pace in which he works, the way he disdains the media – all of it makes the guy extremely unlikeable in my opinion.

But I digress.

Beckett took the hill last night for the last place Boston Red Sox with a fresh new controversy on his hands (the off-day Golf incident). The Fenway Faithful have already seemed to be a little standoffish towards him since last season’s “Chicken and Beer” collapse in September. He entered this one with a 2-4 record and in dire need of a good performance to build back up some good will in his own city and clubhouse. [Read more...]

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