Archive for March, 2009

Trevor Crowe  and Josh Barfield were secretly battling for the Cleveland Indians final roster spot.  Eric Wedge never gave any indication that this is what it was about.  Fans could only assume the battle was between Josh Barfield and David Delucci.  The presumed argument was a ten-year age difference and Barfield busting his butt in Arizona learning new positions. Manager Eric Wedge claimed that Delucci was safe all along and will better serve to mentor Barfield.  It was said here over a week ago on Deep Left Field that Barfield would earn that spot.  I pointed out in that article [...]

                                                                                                                                                       With the 2009 season approaching fast, I have compiled a few predictions for the Tribe.  These predictions are of my opinion only, if you disagree please comment at the bottom of the article.  Here are team and individual predictions of note: Team Predictions: Cleveland will win the AL Central with a record of 98-64.  They will clinch by the second week of September and will control the division after the All-Star break. Cleveland will beat Anaheim in the first playoff round and advance to the ALCS to face, yep, the beloved Yankees. Cleveland will defeat the Yankees [...]

There are 44 players left in Indians camp.  22 of the 44 have secure roster spots.  The rotation will be Cliff Lee, Fausto Carmona, Carl Pavano, and Anthony Reyes.  Kerry Wood is the closer with the setup and middle relief roles going to Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez, and Rafael Betancourt.  Joe Smith and Masa Kobayashi haven’t been put on the roster yet, but both will probably be in the pen. The infield roster spots are held by Ryan Garko, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, Mark DeRosa, Victor Martinez, and Kelly Shoppach, plus Jamey Carroll to be the versatile utility guy.  The [...]

The Cleveland Indians are not having their best spring training by any means.  Plenty of stuff has happened over the past week though as the Tribe continues to tune up for performance soon.  The Indians are 8-14 so far in Arizona, and with only about a week left, Eric Wedge should be concentrating on solidifying a lineup for chemistry reasons. The Tribe lost to the Colorado Rockies, 4-3, on Sunday.  A couple of bright spots in the loss were the hitting of the unheralded George Lombard (2R HR, 2B), and Cliff Lee having his best outting of the spring.  Lee [...]

For years now, I have attended games at both Municipal Stadium and Progressive Field (The Jake) when the New York Yankees come to town. One of my biggest headaches in life is looking around at the crowd and wondering who the home team is. No matter which way I turn, there is an overabundance of Yankee merchandise in the stands. Hats, shirts, pennants, babies dressed in one piece pajamas, posters, gold chains, and keychains ~ the stuff is blinding. The applause for the Yankees is even close to the crowd noise on behalf of The Tribe. The Average Joe would [...]

Being pretty well fed up with snow and cold weather, I so look forward to the beginning of baseball season.  One of the true artists in the game is not a player, but rather an announcer.  Tom Hamilton could make roller derby exciting.  The true mark of summer is catching the Indians on a West Coast road trip.  It is 65 degrees outside, the windows are open, and the television broadcast begins at about 10:30 EST.  I get into full comfort mode with a large drink and some seeds to get me through at least the first five innings.  The [...]

Expectations were really high when the Indians acquired Josh Barfield from the Padres.  In his rookie season (2006), Barfield hit .280 and had 13 HR with 58 RBI, great power numbers for a middle infielder.  In 2007, Barfield the Indian struggled in 130 games, batting only .243 with 90 strikeouts and only 14 walks.  The obvious solution to Barfield’s woes was the chasing of bad or unhittable pitches.  Barfield will be a much more selective hitter for the Tribe in 2009.  He has also branched out defensively.  It seems like Eric Wedge has a bunch of guys he could play [...]

Scott Lewis will not be affected by the climate changes in Cleveland.  He developed a tolerance for that sort of thing while at Ohio State University.  The 6′, 195 lb. lefty still lives in Columbus.  Lewis is competing for a starting job with the 2009 Indians. Last year Lewis earned praises for the numbers he put up.  Lewis led the Carolina League with a 1.48 ERA, and whiffed 123 batters in 115.2 innings of work.  Scott Lewis was drafted by the Anaheim Angels in the 33rd round of the 2001 draft.  Lewis was promoted to the big show in early [...]

I once went to one of those Indian pow-wow deals when I was in high school.  I was wearing a Cleveland Indians ballcap and never realized it meant anything until we left when I mentioned to the friends I was with that the people seemed rude and cold toward me.  It was then brought to my attention that I had Chief Wahoo on my head.  Obviously, I may have offended some of the people participating.  I did not do it intentionally and nobody asked me to remove the hat or to leave.    I do not feel that the artwork on [...]

Ten short years ago before the start of a fire sale two guys powered Cleveland’s return to prominence.  Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez shared good times and bad and each had good qualities as well as not so good. Manny has recently been quoted saying his time in Cleveland was a joke.  He remembers his last home run in his final at-bat with the Tribe.  Funny how he probably doesn’t remember much else.  Manny had some really big years and could hit in the clutch.  On the other side of the coin, he is still trying to figure out how [...]