Oakland broke out of a power drought on Tuesday night, unlike the Indians. Also, about the bullpen, Shin-Soo Choo, etc...and, Manny Ramirez.
Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona gets a pat on the back from manager Manny Acta after pitching 6 2/3 innings in the Tribe's 5-0 loss to Oakland.Cleveland, Ohio -- The Cleveland Indians have had trouble scoring runs, as Plain Dealer Indians beat writer Paul Hoynes details in his story on the Tribe's 5-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.
Observers following the Athletics were certainly pleased with the pitching of Oakland left-hander Gio Gonzalez, but were giddy about another development.
Joe Stiglich writes for the Oakland Tribune:
The A's began a 10-game road trip by pounding three home runs in a 5-0 victory before a smallish crowd of 11,751 at Progressive Field.
Three homers is a decent night's work for some teams. When the A's do it, confetti should fall.
They entered the game with a major league-low 73 homers, and it had been exactly one month since they last enjoyed a multi-homer game. They also went deep three times in a July 24 win over the Chicago White Sox.
That 26-game streak of one homer or fewer was five games short of the Oakland record.
The "Cleveland record" is not good: 50-75, with losses in 20 of the last 29 games. Tonight, the Indians and Athletics play again at Progressive Field, in a game previewed on MLB.com. Indians rookie right-hander Mitch Talbot (8-10, 4.23) and Oakland's darkhorse Cy Young Award candidate, righty Trevor Cahill (13-5, 2.54), will make the pitching starts.
Also in The Plain Dealer and on cleveland.com/tribe is Hoynes' Tribe Insider.
Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com writes that at least something is going well for the Indians:
And if Talbot can somehow hand a lead over to the bullpen, then Cleveland might be in good shape to even this series. The run Tony Sipp allowed on Tuesday night was the only one Indians relievers have yielded over the past 9 1/3 innings. Over the past 12 games, the 'pen has a 1.86 ERA and over its past 158 1/3 innings, its ERA is 3.01. It's an area the Indians can certainly be proud of.
Shin-Soo Who?
Larry Dobrow is "rating the underrated" players in the major leagues for CBSSports.com. At No.2, behind Washington Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, is Indians right fielder Shin-Soo Choo. Dobrow's comment:
So underrated, he's overrated. Or is it the other way around? Either way, Choo has replaced Garret Anderson as the league's overrated-for-being-underrated-or-maybe-vice-versa mainstay.
Manny's Manny
The Plain Dealer's Paul Hoynes recently wrote about ex-Indians star Manny Ramirez's abilities to hit and to frustrate. Ramrez, now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, could be acquired by a contender before the Aug. 31 postseason roster deadline.
Ken Rosenthal, writing for FoxSports.com, makes his opinion on Ramirez clear:
Claiming Manny Ramirez off waivers would be nuts. Trading for him — even if the Dodgers covered most of Manny’s remaining salary — would be only slightly less insane.
This isn’t 2008, when Manny went off in the final two months after the Dodgers acquired him from the Red Sox. He received a 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy the following season. Whether he simply avoided getting caught in ‘08, no one knows.
What we know now is this: Manny is 38. He has been on the disabled list three times this season due to leg injuries. And while he still can hit, he is not the same threat he once was, and all but useless in left field.
There also is this: Manny still is owed about $4.25 million for the rest of the season, much of which is deferred.
What does Manny have to say about his status? From the Associated Press:
Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez says he’s heard nothing amid speculation that he’ll be put on the waiver wire at the end of the week.
“No, man, nothing,” Ramirez said while snacking on a banana before returning to a conversation in Spanish with teammates Vicente Padilla and Ronnie Belliard. The clubhouse closed moments later for a standard team meeting before Los Angeles began a three-game series with Milwaukee on Tuesday night.
That's all?
Sheldon Ocker of the Akron Beacon Journal writes about Tuesday night's game:
With two more games to play in the season series, the Indians have lost five of seven to the A's, but only four of the defeats have been shutouts.
Bottom of the 9th
A story on Tuesday night's game by Anthony Castrovince for MLB.com.
No bulletin here, but the Indians do not fare well on the CBSSports.com power rankings and the FoxSports.com power rankings.
Indians notes by Jim Ingraham for the News-Herald and Lorain Morning Journal.
Chris Antonetti writes about Tuesday night's game for the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram and Medina County Gazette.
Pitcher Carlos Carrasco will be a pitcher to watch for the Indians next month, writes Anthony Castrovince for MLB.com.