A quarter of the way through the season seems to be a good time to look at what's wrong with the Tribe ... and how to fix it.
Jhonny Peralta adopts a pose more often utilized by Tribe fans. But in this case, it was no worries. The Indians on Sunday beat the Reds, 4-3, behind Peralta's clutch hit and a sweet fielding play.
Despite an impressive one-game winning streak, the Tribe remains mired in the AL Central basement, 10 games under .500 and nine games behind division-leading Minnesota.
The season is slightly less than one-quarter done, but the Indians are completely done.
Well, maybe not completely done. Justin Lada, who writes for bleacherreport.com, has come up with eight ways to fix the Tribe. Surprisingly, one is not utilizing Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine to transport the 1997 squad into the dugout.
1) Bring back Jensen Lewis.
2) Trade or cut bait with Kerry Wood.
3) As long as Sizemore is on the DL (might even require surgery), keep Trevor Crowe in center (10 for 33) since being recalled.
4) Call up (catcher) Carlos Santana.
5) Trade (Jhonny) Peralta.
6) Move (Justin) Masterson to the bullpen and move (Aaron) Laffey to the rotation.
7) Lock up (Shin-Soo) Choo at all costs.
8) Send (Luis) Valbuena back to Columbus.
Lada gives good reasons for all his suggestions. But, as you might expect, Starting Blocks has a few of our own:
1) Clone Shin-Soo Choo.
2) Find out where the aliens who abducted him are keeping the real Travis Hafner.
3) Coax Orel Hersheiser out of retirement, or at least bring him in to explain "Bulldog" tenacity to the current rotation.
4) Replace all visiting team bats with wiffle ball bats.
5) Replace all home team bats with corked 1-by-6's.
6) Petition league to make all Tribe games "coach-pitch" games.
7) Substitute itching powder for rosin in bags on mound when visiting teams are in the field.
8) Sign Lady Gaga to pitch; they'll still lose, but at least it'll be fun to watch.
Jhonny be good
Jhonny Peralta had a good day against the Reds on Sunday. He singled to collect the go-ahead run in the 4-3 win, made a nice play on a bunt attempt in the seventh and didn't break anybody's forearm.
Here's the account of Dale Meggas of examiner.com:
Jhonny Peralta's run-scoring single in the sixth broke a 3-3 tie to end a 6-game losing streak for the Tribe. Cleveland had lost the first four games in an 8-game home stand that continues Monday with a visit from the Chicago White Sox.
. . . The Reds tied against 3-3 in the top of the sixth when Rolen hit his second home run of the day and 10th of the season. But Peralta's hit in the bottom of the inning provide the winning margin for David Huff (2-6), who went 6.0 innings after giving up six hits and a walk to go with four strike outs.
"He has the stuff to be effective up here," said Cleveland manager Manny Acta of Huff. "We saw that last year. He did win 11 games last year."
The Indians followed Huff with bullpen help with scoreless pitching from Chris Perez, Tony Sipp and Kerry Wood. Wood gave up a hit but got his first save with a scoreless ninth.
That "scoreless ninth, BTW, dropped Wood's ERA from 18.90 to 13.50. Cooperstown, here we come!
Nice job, Meat
Alex White was the Tribe's first-round pick in the 2009 draft, and may be that little ray of sunshine on the horizon. He made his debut Sunday at Canal Park for the Akron Aeros and pitched them to a 5-2 win over the Harrisburg Senators.
Michael Beaven of the Akron Beacon-Journal was at the game.
White comes to the Aeros after being the Indians' first-round pick (15th overall) in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft out of the University of North Carolina. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out two."I thought he did a great job," Aeros manager Joel Skinner said. "He threw a lot of strikes, and he was ahead in the count consistently.
"He pitched with a good rhythm and good tempo. I think the most important thing is he kept the ball down."White tossed six shutout innings Sunday before encountering some problems in the seventh inning, when Senators infielders Chris Marrero and Marvin Lowrance each hit a solo home run.
"Both home runs were decent pitches down in the zone that they just did a better job of hitting," Aeros pitching coach Greg Hibbard said. "He did a really good job of being on the attack mode and peppering the strike zone. He does a reallygood job of commanding his fastball down in the zone.
"For his age, he is very mature. He is very aware of what he wants to accomplish when he goes out and takes the mound."
White, who received a $2.25 million signing bonus, said he was pleased with his fastballs and off-speed pitches Sunday, and that the transition from college to professional baseball has been smooth.
"It is a great feeling [to be a pro]," said White, who plans to earn a degree with two semesters of school left to complete.
"It is something I kind of had to get used to, especially last fall when all of your friends are going back to school and you aren't. It has been a lot of fun. I have enjoyed every minute of it. It has been a good ride so far. Getting used to playing baseball every day for a living is something that is great and I am very honored to do."
Plus, you gotta admit, the locker-room buffet -- even at Akron's Class AA level -- beats the bejeebers out of Ramen noodles.
Great Scott
Scott Rolen's two-homer game was the 21st in his Major League career. The Associated Press account of the game, carried by espn.com, had this conversation with the Reds' slugging third baseman:
Scott Rolen drove in all three Reds runs with two homers. His 10th of the season made it 3-3 in the top of the sixth, and he put the Reds ahead with a two-run homer in the first.
"It kind of fired me up and made me make some pitches," (Indians starter David) Huff said of the first homer.
It was the 21st career multihomer game and second this year for Rolen, who has hit safely in nine of his last 12 games, going 15 for 40 (.375) with four homers and 14 RBIs.
"The first was a slider, the second a changeup," the third baseman said. "I saw the ball well today for whatever reason."
Apparently, so did the fans in the bleachers at Progressive Field.
Here come the SoxThe Chicago White Sox, who begin a three-game series at Progressive Field at 7:05 tonight, have two more wins and one less loss than the basement-dwelling Tribe.
Last time the Indians and the Pale Hose squared of, the Indians swept them. The Tribe may not be so fortunate this time, at least according to Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen, in a cbssports.com preview of the series:
"We can't beat anyone when we played (the Indians)," Guillen told his team's official website. "In the beginning, our team was very down. Now we're swinging the bats better, pitching better."
The White Sox (18-25) have improved on the road in splitting their last 10 following a 2-7 start and won two of three over Florida this weekend to conclude a five-game homestand with strong starting pitching contributing to those victories.
However, they were also routed 13-0 in Sunday's series finale.
"We won a series against a team that is over .500 and they were playing well," catcher A.J. Pierzynski told the team's website. "Now it's time to move on."
The Indians in your sights apparently make that a lot easier.
From The Plain DealerJhonny Peralta's good day at the plate was a happy surprise . . . to him, according to what he told Plain Dealer writer Dennis Manoloff for D-Man's game story in today's paper.
"I saw how (Daniel Ray Herrera) pitched (Travis) Hafner, who struck out swinging at fluttery screwballs) and thought he'd do the same with me," said Peralta, who swung and missed at a 67 mph pitch, took an 86 mph fastball for a ball and swung over another screwball. He would have looked more comfortable bobbing for apples.
Doubling up with an off-speed pitch, especially to the opposite side, can be dangerous. But it absolutely made sense in this spot given this screwball's cartoon, wiffle-ball action.
"He's really slow," Peralta said. "That's a tough pitch. I figured he'd come with another one."
Instead, Herrera brought the "heat." Catcher Ryan Hanigan set up inside, but the pitch leaked over the middle and Peralta ripped it to left.
"I think if he throws the slow one, he's got me," Peralta said. "He threw me the fastball, and I put a good swing on it."
In his Indians Insider column, D-Man talked Shelley Duncan, who was called up to fill injured Grady Sizemore's sport on the roster, and is having great success.