Wahoo's on First » Ben Francisco

February Cleveland Indians Power Rankings

Brian Heise — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:20:15 +0000

January has come and gone meaning that it’s time for another installment of the Cleveland Indians Power Rankings. Last month saw new additions Nick Swisher, Trevor Bauer, Drew Stubbs, and Mark Reynolds make their debut appearances on the list with Swisher claiming the top spot due to the importance and over the top fashion in which his wooing and signing took place. Now, after a somewhat quiet month of January, just how do they stack up as they find their place within the organization? Is there anyone else who might have caught this committee of one’s eye? Let’s find out. (more…)

Playoff Update: How Are Former Indians Players Doing?

Lewie Pollis — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 22:14:52 +0000

The Indians might not have made the playoffs this year, but some former Tribe players have had the honor of playing this October. A total of seven onetime Cleveland players were on postseason rosters during the ALDS and NLDS (not to mention guys like Bartolo Colon and Aaron Laffey who helped their new teams reach the playoffs but didn’t get to participate in them). Here’s a look at how they did in the first round:

Ben Francisco (Phillies). The hero of Game 3, Francisco took Jaime Garcia deep with a pinch-hit three run homer in the seventh inning as Philadelphia won, 3-2. The only other plate appearance he got was a flyout in Game 2. (more…)

Nelson Cruz Powers Rangers Past Indians

paneech1472 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:55:27 +0000

Nelson Cruz hit two solo HR’s and ended up with three RBI to power Texas past Cleveland, 8-5, in the second game for both teams. Elvis Andrus, plucked from the Braves organization also homered for Texas. Cruz hit his first off of starter Fausto Carmona and launched a bomb served up by Rafael Perez in the seventh.

Carmona gave up seven hits and six runs in just five innings. Vicente Padilla looked pretty sharp for Texas. Padilla pitched five plus innings and had some pretty timely strikeouts. Asdrubal Cabrera, Mark DeRosa, and Grady Sizemore all struck out twice against Ranger pitching.

Ben Francisco homered for The Tribe in the loss.

If I were Eric Wedge, I would start trying to fire my pitchers up a bit. The two supposed best pitchers on the staff and a couple of relievers gave up 17 runs in two games and the rest of the rotation (Pavano, Lewis, and Reyes) is basically untested. The Indians must get better pitching because the offense is going to produce at some point with consistency.

It’s still a bit early to hit the panic button and Indians fans are probably wondering if The Tribe is that bad or The Rangers are just that good. I’m not sure which is correct, but I do know that Cleveland fans will have brighter days to look forward to.