Last Place

Last night, the Indians

• Lost to Barry Zito, who was charged with 1 run (but really, he left a guy on base who was let in by a reliever, so, really, despite what the box score says, we didn't score on Barry Zito)
• Were passed by the KC Royals in the standings, and are now in last place in the AL Central
• Started Jorge Velandia
• Pinch-hit for Jorge Velandia with Andy Marte
• Afterwards, moved Casey Blake to shortstop for an inning.

Really. I'm not making any of this up.

Free Andy Marte! Redux!

When last we left the Indians, on June 7, they'd just returned from Texas, they had beaten Detroit in the first game of their series, and well, it looked like any moment they could turn it around, with a weak NL West interleague schedule coming up.

The Indians have proceeded to go 7-9 over the intervening two and half weeks, dropping to 7.5 games below the Whine Sox. They have been passed in the standings by the Motor City Kitties, and now stand a half game out of the AL Central basement.

Since we last spoke, Victor Martinez and Josh Barfield have been added to the DL. The Beaded One is now the Beaded One of Buffalo. Yamid Haad has come and gone and been replaced by Sal Fasano at backup catcher. Jorge Velandia is now officially the emergency middle infielder.

It's time to trade CC. It appears that there will be no appreciable change in the performance either by the offense or the bullpen, the two major reasons that this team is losing games. Our two best historical offensive performers are out, with no definitive timetable for return. Blow it up. Get help. The two compensatory draft picks we would get for keeping CC are likely 4 or 5 years out from helping the team, at best. Start the bidding war now.



Meanwhile, Casey Blake continues to look like a reasonable approximation of a major leaguer, at least with the bat, as he has improved his line to .269/.342/.437 with 7 home runs and 45 RBI. He has increased his OPS+ to 107, proving that he is at least swinging the bat slightly better than the average third-baseman.

Fun facts about Casey Blake:

• At home, he has an OPS+ of 49 and away his OPS+ is 172. All 7 of his home runs have been hit on the road
• In June, his OPS+ is 159.
• With RISP, his line is an incredible .422/.500/.781
• With nobody on, his line is .216/.286/.336
• Career line: .263/.333/.444 (In other words, he had to get unbelievably hot in June to reach his career line, which indicates just how much he sucked in April and May)
• Casey's career line with RISP (including this year): .235/.319/.383 . There's a reason that up until this year, the folks at Let's Go Tribe have called him LOBlake.
• Casey Blake has made 9 chargeable errors at 3B and 1 at 1B in 596 total innings, or 1 error every 66 innings

So, what to make of Casey Blake's magical year with runners on base? My conclusion is that it's highly likely that it's completely unsustainable and that the odds are that he will regress to somewhere closer to his career line. His BABIP with RISP this year is .451. That's extremely lucky. His career BABIP is .300.

What to make of Casey Blake's home/road split? It's more extreme than years past, but over the course of his career, he has hit significantly better on the road than at home:

• Home: .246 / .320 / .392, 42 home runs
• Away: .279 / .345 / .493, 72 home runs

Given how many doubles he's had high up on the left field wall this year, I suspect that the dimensions of Progressive Field actually deflate Blake's homer totals. The 19-foot wall turns balls that would be home runs elsewhere into doubles at his home park.

While Casey Blake is on his hot streak, Andy Marte continues to play dominoes on the bench. Between June 6 and last night, this is what Andy Marte has done:

• June 7 - started at 3B. Went 0-3. Was lifted in the 9th for a pinch-hitter.
• June 11 - Came into the game in the 9th as a defensive substitute. Did not bat
• June 12- Came into the game in the 8th as a defensive substitute. Batted once. Was hit by a pitch
• June 18 - Pinch-hit in the 9th inning. Hit into a double play
• June 21 - Pinch-hit in the 10th inning. Struck out
• June 24 - Started at 3B. Went 0-2 with two strikeouts. Was lifted in the 8th for a pinch-hitter

Since June 7, Andy Marte has had 8 plate appearances and is 0 for 7 with a hit by pitch, with a 17-day stretch between starts.

Andy Marte's season line: .140 / .189 / .160, with 0 home runs and 0 RBI. He has made 1 error in 137 innings at third base.

I'm not going to lie to you - Marte's line this year is not very good. But, this represents 50 official plate appearances. He's started 15 of the Indians 77 games, and he finished only 7 of those - in 8 games he was lifted for a pinch-hitter.

Andy Marte's history has been that at every level he has played, he has started slowly and once he has adjusted he has been effective. When he got hurt last year, Casey Blake fell into one of his hot streaks and Andy Marte got stuck in Buffalo, repeating AAA for the third year in a row. Andy Marte has had no chance to adjust to the major leagues for any extended period of time. A late season callup in 06 and 57 at bats in 20 games last year certainly don't count as an adjustment period.

We need to find out whether Andy Marte can help this team in the future. We don't want to get rid of him cheap only to have him blossom elsewhere (a la Brandon Phillips). Right now, because of Eric Wedge's pigheaded usage of Marte, his trade value is probably at an all time low, but the kid's only 24!

Free Andy Marte! This team's not going anywhere, not with this bullpen and all of these injuries. Lots of teams could use a super utility guy like Casey Blake. He hits better on the road anyway, and his extreme luck with RISP is due to start fizzling any day.

Let the fire sale begin. Casey - see ya! CC - hasta la vista, and enjoy counting your money! Looch - time to enjoy someone else's bench.

The Wind

"The wind, the wind brings me cards from Argentina
It brings scarves from finer ladies
And the scent of the gardenias
Won't sleep or rest or sit itself beside me
If I run out, there's no one that could hide me
And I know that I'll regret it
But I think I'm gonna let it in"

"The Wind" by Nathan, from Key Principles

The Indians have been looking for something to "take fear from bats", and it seems like they may have found it in Arlington this week. The weather was hot, the wind was blowing out, and the Indians got to feast on weak Rangers' pitching. Alas, the wind was also blowing out for the Rangers as well, as the ulitmate result was a split, with the Tribe scoring 39 runs and the Rangers scoring 39 runs. The highlights:

• Monday: Tribe 13 - Rangers 9: Casey Blake, 2 HR, 7 RBI. Laffey got pummeled. Westbrook put on DL. Nobody ready to start next game, since Sowers started earlier in the week.
• Tuesday: Tribe 7 - Rangers 12: Tribe starts Tom Mastny due to Westbrook's sudden appearance on DL. Mastny gets plowed under like last year's corn stalks. Bullpen really didn't recover for the rest of the series.
• Wednesday: Tribe 15 - Rangers 9: Everybody hits! Ben Francisco gets 5 all by himself! Garko gets 4, with 6 RBI. Cliff Lee leaves after getting hosed by the home plate umpire in the 5th inning and allowing the go ahead runs and then paces the dugout hurling curses towards home plate as the Indians break the game open with 5 in the top of the 6th to give him the victory.
• Thursday: Tribe 4 - Ranger 9: With the chance to capture the series and staked to a 4-0 lead, CC Sabathia falls prey to his "inning of crap" (thanks, Steve Buffum), surrenders the lead and then the Senor Slow implodes, putting the game out of reach. Kevin Millwood, after a bad start, pitches lights out into the 7th to get the win for the Rangers.

Other notes:

• Milton Bradley continues to be a showboating douchebag. At least CC hit him with a pitch on Thursday, though he came around to score in the "inning of crap."
• Jake Westbrook is on the DL with "right elbow soreness." He went to see Dr. Yocum and the results will be released this weekend. Uh-oh. Still think the Indians should trade some of their pitching depth?
• The Westbrook injury forced the Tribe to shuffle their bullpen. Tom Mastny and Jensen Lewis were up. Then they were down and Rick Bauer and Brian Slocum came up. Bauer closed out the 15-9 game, giving up 3 runs in the 9th.
• The draft was this week. The Indians took Lonnie Chisenhall, a middle infield type, allegedly with a plus bat, who fell from grace at U South Carolina after being involved in an incident regarding the theft of some electronic equipment.

Last night, the Indians beat the Tigers 4-2, with Paul Byrd getting his 100th career win. The Tribe is now 6.5 games behind the Whine Sox, who have won their last 4.

Andy Marte played Tuesday. So did Blake. Andy went 1 for 3 with a run scored. He was pinch-hit for late in the game by Dellucci, who flied out weakly to left. This is particularly noteworthy because Wedge got outmanaged. Texas pitcher Jamey Wright was struggling. The bases were loaded and the Rangers needed more time to get a pitcher ready. Instead of sending up Marte against a struggling pitcher, Wedge wastes time getting a pinch-hitter up (lefty Dellucci vs righty Wright) allowing the Rangers time to get lefty Eddie Guardado into the game, who proceeded to drink David Dellucci's milkshake.

When we last left Casey Blake's stats, he had an OPS+ of 52. Now that he's been on the road to feast on weak KC and Texas pitching, he has increased his OPS+ to 94, which now actually approximates the OPS+ of an actual major league player, albeit still a below average one. His batting line is now .236/.315/.407. So, don't expect the Casey Blake Experience to end any time soon.

When Andy Marte plays, the Indians are 11-6, with a two game losing streak. Blake also played in both games. When both Marte and Blake play, the Indians are 6-5.

At Least There Was Probably Some Really Good Barbecue

When we last left our intrepid Tribesmen, they were heading to Kansas City for some baseball and some barbecue.

At least, we can only hope they all got some good barbecue, because the baseball was pretty sad. The quick recap:

• Friday - Andy Marte and Casey Blake both play. Andy Marte extends his hitting streak to 4 games. Cliff Lee gets knocked around a little bit but get saved by 2 homers by Sizemore and 1 by Blake and the Indians win, 5-4.
• Saturday - Andy Marte does not play. Casey Blake does. CC Sabathia has, as Steve Buffum calls it, The Inning of Crap. The Indians fail to get their offense going against Kyle Davies, who has just been called up from AAA. Indians lose 4-2. Kansas City losing streak ends at 12 games,
• Sunday - Age and Treachery starts for the Tribe against Brian Bannister. Youth and Inexperience hit Age and Treachery pretty hard, while Bannister shuts the Tribe down. Final score - 6-1 Kansas City. KC win streak now at 2, and the Indians have lost another series, their 5th in a row. Andy Marte plays, goes hitless ending his hit streak at 4 games. Casey Blake does not play.

More fun facts:

• When Andy Marte plays: Indians are 11-5. When Blake and Marte both play - 6-4.
• Pronk is now on the DL with a shoulder injury which he's apparently been battling since very early in the season. Maybe he'll get sent out on rehab and get to devour some Eastern League pitching for a few days and get back in a groove.
• The Indians' silence about injuries to both Pronk and He Who Shall Not Be Named is extremely troubling - it's as if they are trying to become the New England Patriots or the Denver Broncos of the Major Leagues (that's not a good thing - both of these teams are notorious for being tight-lipped about player injuries). This really makes me wonder what we're not hearing about Victor Martinez - his lack of power continues to be puzzling, and I cannot help but think that there is some physical reason why his power has vanished.
• Welcome back, Shin Soo Choo. When Hafner got shut down, Choo got brought up.

Onwards to Texas, having lost 2 in a row and 12 of our last 15 (to the Reds, Whine Sox, Rangers and Royals). This is not the way a contending team performs. Aaron Laffey tries to right the ship against Vicente Padilla tomorrow night.

Andy Marte Sightings and Fun Facts

Andy Marte played Tuesday. The Indians won, increasing the Indians' record when Andy Marte plays to 10-3. Marte got a hit, a double high off the left centerfield wall. Casey Blake did not play.

Andy Marte and Casey Blake both played on Wednesday. The Indians lost. Andy Marte got a hit, increasing his average to .156 and his hit streak to three games.

Fun facts, for your edification:

• The Indians' record (through May 28): 24-29
• The Indians' record when Andy Marte plays: 10-4.
• The Indians' record when Andy Marte does not play: 14-25
• The Indians' record when Andy Marte and Casey Blake both play: 5-4.
• The Indians' record when Andy Marte plays and Casey Blake does not: 5-0.
• The Indians' record when Casey Blake plays: 18-29
• The Indians' record when Casey Blake does not play: 6-0
• Andy Marte: 1 error in 14 games at 3b for a fielding percent of .971
• Casey Blake: 5 errors in 44 games at 3b for a fielding percent of .955
• Casey Blake: 72 OPS+ in 153 at bats on the season (through 5/28)
• Andy Marte: 9 OPS+ in 32 at bats (through 5/28)
• Casey Blake's May batting line (70 at bats): .214./.295/.314
• Andy Marte's May batting line (19 at bats): .211/.250/.263

In Case You Were Expecting Better, I Remind You That We Root For a Team From Cleveland

The slide continues, this time with the Indians losing a very winnable extra-inning game to the Chicago Whine Sox, who are acting like the only team interested in winning the AL Central.

The final score was 6-3, with the final act of utter humiliation being Scott Elarton giving up a two-run double to light-hitting, seldom used outfielder Brian Anderson in the 12th to give the Whine Sox an insurmountable three-run lead. Welcome back to Cleveland, Scott. You'll fit right in with the 2008 Cleveland Indians bullpen.

Age and Treachery pitched well enough to win for a team with a major league offense, giving up 3 runs in 6.2 innings.

The Indians pretty much lost the game in the third inning when they managed to run themselves out of a big inning, with Ben Francisco breaking for home from third and getting caught in a rundown with nobody out on a weak infield grounder in front of him, followed by a strikeout and and a ground out.

The Looch looked like a major league hitter for this game, going 2/3 with a first-inning homer. So, with that anomaly out of the way, we can expect him to swing at hallucinations for the next 5 or 6 games.

So, now we're 5.5 games behind the Whine Sox, having lost 4 straight to them and 9 of our last 10 games overall. That's right - the Tribe has lost 9 of their last 10 games.

In other news, it appears someone has registered firederekshelton.com, though there's nothing but a placeholder site at that location.

Were you hoping that uber-prospect Adam Miller would come up soon to rescue us from He Who Shall Not Be Named (who tightroped through a non-save opportunity last night)? Sorry, pal, your dreams are deferred - he has been placed on the DL.

Rafael Betancourt, on the other hand, has looked pretty good since the weight of the 9th inning has been lifted from his shoulders. Senor Slow may very well be best suited to putting out brush fires and not closing out the game.



Even Indiana Jones couldn't find Andy Marte, who still has not played since May 15. My brother and sister-in-law came into town this weekend for a wedding and we saw the film yesterday morning. There was more action in 5 minutes of this movie than the Tribe bats have provided since the beginning of the season. Like the Tribe bats, however, most of the action was pretty gratuitous and with little plan and purpose.

Back to .500

I know it's been a few days, but I have been extremely busy at work, and then at home in the evening preparing to go to Milwaukee for a few days to visit family and friends.

It's early Sunday morning, and my "niece" Foxy, a 12-week old calico kitten belonging to my brother- and sister-in-law is romping around their living room.

I saw most of the Kansas City series, except the end of the third game, which was too darn late. Playing Kansas City seemed to be good for what was ailing the Tribe. CC looked like CC again. The balls were bouncing in play instead of being hit right at someone or being just foul.

Cliff Lee's Beta Unit continues to perform unbelieveably well while Cliff is on Rylos 4 defending the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada, shutting out the Royals on Saturday night.

And now they've taken the first two in the FEDBU series to guarantee no worse than a split. Jeremy Sowers pitched well and the Indians gritted out a comeback yesterday. Age and Treachery held the FEDBU down far enough that the Tribe could ride Jhonny's clutch hitting on Friday night.

So today it's a battle of aces - Wang v. Sabathia. Whuch CC shows up - Good CC or Bad CC? I think good CC is back, folks.

Mojo Watch:

Everyone: 5 wins in a row including two over the FEDBU? Plenty of Elvis to go around.

Andy Marte Watch:
Andy got into the last game of the KC series, were he went 0 for 2 with another sacrifice bunt. He saw mop up duty in the first game of the KC series , the 15-1 laugher. Other than that, he's seen a lot of this:

Lost Weekend

The Indians lost yet another series to a bad team, this time the Minnesota Twins in the Abomination Dome.

The weekend started out promising, as Cliff Lee pitched 8 scoreless and Rafael Perez mopped up a 4-0 shutout on Friday night. Then the Abomination Dome black magic kicked in, as the Indians couldn't buy a break Saturday or Sunday. Saturday, they hammered Nick Blackburn, but you would never know by the box score, as they got their hits with two outs, or smoked the ball right at somebody, or get jobbed by the turf at the Abomination Dome. Westbrook made one bad pitch to Justin Morneau after having a double play grounder glance off the heel of his glove to stake the Twins to a 2-0 lead, and David Dellucci gave the Twinkies a run because of his failure to play two balls correctly in the Abomination Dome lights/roof of horrors. The end result was a 3-0 shutout.

Sunday was perhaps worse. The Indians made Scott Baker look like an ace, wasting the second straight fine performance from Age and Treachery in a 2-1 10-inning loss. Besides the general inability of the Tribe to get a clutch hit off pretty weak pitching, the worst part was that we let the Twins best hitter beat us both games. Why would the Indians pitch to Justin Morneau with a base open with the game on the line and two outs? Walk him, load the bases, pitch to Delmon Young. No brainer.

Quick Facts:

• The Indians gave up 5 runs and lost the series.
• The Indians have played 7 series and are 1-5-1, having not won a series since the very first of the season.
• The Indians are last in the American League in batting average, slugging percentage and total bases.
• The Indians have allowed 90 runs and scored 79.
• Only the Baltimore Orioles have allowed more home runs than Indians' pitching.
• The Indians are last in the major leagues in batting average from the 7th inning on, batting a miserable .200, which indicates that teams are making adjustments on the Tribe and they are not making adjustments at the plate.
• The Indians pitching from the 7th inning on has an ERA of 5.09. Only the Tigers have a higher ERA after the 7th. More importantly, their WHIP from the 7th inning on is 1.74, which means that nearly two runners are getting on base every inning at the end of games. This is the worst WHIP after 6 in the American League. For the first 6 innings of a game, the Indians pitching ERA is 4.18, 8th in the AL.

Right now, this team is failing at every aspect of the game. They are not hitting early. They are not hitting late. Late inning pitching has been abominable. How long does this team get to be this bad before something is done? Is it time to start the Fire Derek Shelton campaign? These bad early season starts are becoming routine under Eric Wedge - is a Fire Eric Wedge campaign an overreaction at this point?

Mojo Watch:

Cliff Lee:

Age and Treachery: I'd give him more mojo if the team would stop blowing his great pitching efforts.

Everyone else: Joan Rivers has more Elvis than this team right now. They can't hit their way out of a wet paper bag. They've scored 1 run in 21 innings off guys who aren't exactly aces.

Andy Marte Watch:

Friday


Saturday


Sunday

Cliff Lee Saves a Nearly Lost Weekend

After the Tribe's ace and ace-in-waiting both turned in forgettable performances, last year's scapegoat Cliff Lee stopped the bleeding with a shut-down performance in the snow. On to the quick hits:

Game 10: Cleveland 7, Oakland 9

I didn't see the game. I was visiting friends in the Cincinnati area. CC got pummeled, giving up 9 runs on 12 hits in 3.1 innings. The Indians added 6 pretty meaningless runs in the 8th to make it respectable. The good news is that the bullpen shut Oakland down for the last 5.2 innings. Jhonny Peralta homered.

Andy Marte Watch:



Game 11: Cleveland 3, Oakland 7

I didn't see this game, either. My wife and I were at the symphony. At any rate, I'm glad I didn't see it. Fausto Carmona didn't have it. He gave up 3 runs in 3.1 innings, walking 8. The bullpen stopped the bleeding and kept the Tribe in the game until the 7th inning, when Rafael Perez gave up a 3-run shot to Bobby Crosby which broke the game open. The A's ran Lenny DiNardo out to the mound and the Tribe only managed 2 runs in 5 innings. If you can't beat a AAAA pitcher like Lenny DiNardo, you deserve to lose.

Andy Marte Watch:



Game 12: Cleveland 7, Oakland 1

Cliff Lee posted his second solid effort in a row, pitching 8 innings of 2-hit baseball in a game which featured windy, cold conditions, including swirling snow. The Tribe manufactured three runs early in the game, and then broke it open with 4 runs in the 8th.

Andy Marte Watch:

.

Indians manager Eric Wedge seems to be trying his darnedest to screw up Andy Marte. Marte started at third, and came up in the third inning for his first at bat after Jamey Carroll got hit by a pitch. Here's a potential power hitter that you're supposedly trying to get untracked, and hasn't played in a week and in his first at bat, Wedge asks him to bunt. Marte fouled off two bunt attempts, and then swung meekly at a breaking ball, striking out.

In his next at-bat, in the fifth inning, Jamey Carroll led off the inning with a single and then it's deja vu all over again! Eric Wedge asked his young power hitter to bunt. Again. This time, Marte got the a good bunt down and pitcher Chad Gaudin threw the ball wildly down the first-base line, allowing Carroll to advance to third.

Marte came up in the sixth inning with the bases loaded in two outs, and was finally allowed to swing the bat for the first time in the game. He struck out.

The next time Marte came up, in the 8th inning, the bases were loaded with one out in the 8th. Here's a great chance for your young power hitter to swing the bat and gain some confidence. The bases are loaded with a chance to break the game open, it's the 8th inning, and your pitcher is rolling. Nothing to lose, right? Let the kid swing the bat. Instead, Wedge pinch-hit The Beaded One for Marte. The Beaded One struck out. Grady Sizemore and David Dellucci followed Cabrera with back to back doubles to break the game open.

How are we going to know if Marte can hit in the clutch if Wedge pinch hits for him in nearly every clutch situation. How is Marte going to get in any kind of groove or make any kind of adjustments to the major leagues if he plays once a week, and when he plays, he's not really allowed to swing the bat in meaningful situations? Wedge is mishandling Andy Marte. Badly.

Mojo Watch:

CC Sabathia: Right now, CC has no Elvis. If he wants somebody to show him the money, he needs to start being money on the mound.

Fausto Carmona:
The Indians showed Fausto the money, and he rewarded them in his first game as a rich man by spreading the love, giving everybody a free ride on the Walk To First Base Express. He'll come around.

David Dellucci: Dellucci seems to be coming around. His average is up to .273, and he's put up some clutch hits in the last couple days.

Jason Michaels: Still ain't got any Elvis. He has lots of hair, though. Michaels had a hit Saturday to increase his batting average on the year at .111.

Pronk: Pronk went 2 for 5 with 2 RBI.

Ryan Garko: Garko is batting .325 on the year so far, with OBP of .460., including 10 walks. So far, he's been the Tribe's best offensive weapon, slugging .500 with an OPS of .960 with 1 homer and 6 walks. If we could get guys on ahead of him, we might score some runs.

SUMM: Since his Opening Day heroics, Super Utility Mountain Man Casey Blake has let his average drop to .143 and he's already made 3 errors.

The Indians continue their homestand with the only visit of the year from Boston, who comes in for a two-game set. Yes, the Red Sox only play two games here, while we play 4 in Boston in September. This is just one example of how the people who make the schedule for MLB have gone to great lengths to hose the Tribe, loading them up with home games in the coldest months of the year, in addition to giving them fewer home games against a rival with whom they may be competing for a playoff spot.

All told, considering how poorly the Indians have played at times, they are fortunate to be sitting at 5-7, and only 2.5 games out of first place. In the schadenfreude department, Sunday's win puts them three games ahead of the Motor City Kitties, who are now 2-10. It's no more Mr. Nice Guy from Detroit manager Smokey McChimney (aka Jim Leyland), who apparently went nuclear following their latest loss, an 11-0 spanking by the Whine Sox. The Motor City Kitties have scored 33 runs through 12 games and given up 78.

Travel Day

Sorry, crimestoppers, but real life has kept me from posting regarding the last two games until now. If only I could find some way to get myself paid for doing this. Anyway, today is a travel day for the Tribe, as they come back from a dramatic 2-4 West Coast swing, having split the last two with the Angels.

• Tuesday night the Indians took some measure of revenge for Toriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Hunter's walk-off slam of the night before when Pronk smashed a two-run shot in the top of the 9th off the Angels of Orange County Which is Kinda Close to Los Angeles closer Justin Speier to win 4-3 behind a complete game from Jake Westbrook. This game was notable for an Andy Marte sighting. Marte came in to play the field after Ryan Garko was lifted for a pinch runner, which slid Casey Blake to first base.


• Wednesday afternoon, Paul Byrd thought the early start time meant that he was throwing batting practice instead of pitching in a game that really counted. Age and Treachery could not fool the Angels who teed off on him for 3 homers, including a Denny's signature breakfast from Mike Napoli. The Indians were down 6-nil before they suddenly came to the realization that instead of a good pitcher, they were facing Dusin Moseley, and beat him up for 4 runs in the 6th to at least make the game interesting. That didn't last very long as Jensen Lewis gave up a three-run shut to Vlad the Impaler in the 7th. After that, it was all over but the plunking, as Justin Speier, in a blatant display of poor sportsmanship, hit Pronk on his bad elbow in the 9th inning. We shall see if the Indians have the cojones to return the favor when the Angels of Orange County Which is Kinda Close to Los Angeles come to town later this year.

In other news, even as I write this the Indians are holding a press conference to announce that they have locked up Fausto Carmona to a contract extension guaranteed through 2011 with three club option years that will likely keep Carmona in Cleveland until 2014. Huge. Totally Huge.

Oh, and no more lolcats for the near future. The Motor City Kitties have finally won, to up their record to 1-7.

Mojo Watch:

Mark Shapiro: Fausto Carmona through 2014! Enough said.

Travis Hafner: The game-winning shot off Justin Speier was a huge display of Pronkitude, and perhaps getting hit by Speier in that last at-bat will reawaken the Incredible Pronk.

Age and Treachery: Right now, Paul Byrd, like Michael J. Fox, has got No Elvis.

Jake Westbrook: If the Tribe could have managed more than 1 run off John Danks last week, Westbrook would be sitting at 2-0.

David Dellucci: The left field position is now off the schneid, with Dellucci registering 2 hits to raise his average over the Mendoza line to a smokin' .231.

Jason Michaels: Michaels right now has No Elvis. In order to see his .048 batting average, you need one of these:

Franklin Gutierrez: Since his incredible opening day, Frank the Tank is 1 for 22. He was benched in Anaheim for Jason Michaels - against a right handed pitcher.

Andy Marte Watch:

Game 8:

Mop up duty. Field only, 9th inning no at bat. Started nifty double play.

Game 9: