Good Riddance

http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20060512&content_id=1451080&vkey=pr_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle The Indians have finally parted ways with the uber-useless Danny Graves. To replace him is Fausto Carmona. Carmona's fastball/slider combo should be great out of the pen but whether he is ready to work like that remains to be seen. Tonight it was not the bullpen but the starting pitching that let the Tribe down. Another loss.

some series

Well that was a waste. Another horrible series for the Tribe. Getting swept by the Royals to go a game under .500 was not something anyone could have seen at the start of this year. After going 6-1 to start the year the Indians are 11-17 and have been beaten by the Royals 6 times. The Tigers, loses of 3 straight, come to town now. Will that heal us?

Suggestions:

Release Graves, he is horrific in situations that matter. We need guys who can get outs when it matters
Activate Karsay, pitching well at AAA and should have the arm elasticity required to pitch out of our bullpen.
Do something (release, trade, bench) both Aaron Boone and Ramon Vazquez. I said early and often that releasing Phillips was a mistake and it was. Correct it now by unloading Vazquez and doing something, anything with Boone.

Updates

The Indians start a series with the Royals today. The White Sox (22-9) are currently 5.5 games ahead of the Tribe and stand at 14-6 in the division. The Indians (17-15) are a respectable 9-6 in the division but need to make their proverbial hay when they have the chance. At this point the Tribe stood at 12-17 and was already 12 games back. Since the "Fly ball in the sun" game the Royals have been a challenge for the Tribe. This is not a good thing. This series against the 7-22 Royals should tell us alot about this team.

Nice

Anyone else wish that Kobe would have been a man and done something to Raja Bell instead of just hiding behind his coach? What a wuss. The Indians are doing their usual thing here, a couple of good games to get our hopes up and now a 9-1 blowout in the 6th. Great job guys. Danny Graves haters the world over (myself included) may be forced to admit he has more worth than just filling a roster spot. He has actually been good lately. The best performance from the bullpen so far this year is, without a doubt, Jeremy Guthrie. At this point last year he was getting slapped around in his first 3 starts in AAA. He came back after a terrible year, put in some serious work, and now is a decent contributor out of the pen. I actually enjoy seeing him arrive on the field.

A win.

Step back from the ledge, put the knife down and stop kicking the dog, the Indians have won. Cliff Lee was able to bow up and put Ortiz away on strikes twice in big situations and contain the rest of the Sox lineup very well. Jason Davis was solid again, he has really developed into good reliever. I would rather see him than Danny Graves any day. At least Davis looks like a man. A win against Beckett would actually convince us that the Indians are a decent team. The offense is very close to being unstoppable and, with pitching, this is a phenomenal team... To the few who may read this... I am heading to Lexington for the Mid South Conference tournament so I will be off of here for a few days.

Bullpen

So the Indians bullpen is in the process of blowing another game. Meanwhile Bob Howry is being lights out for the Cubs. Is $3 million too much to pay a reliable bullpen arm? Keep in mind that, as things stand, we have exactly no reliable arms. Only the best offense in the league is keeping us even in most games. Meanwhile we are facing Foulke, Timlin and then Papelbon.

Even as I say this our offense is making yet another run. These guys can just flat out hit. 120 runs, .306 team BA. Excellent numbers. Grady needs one clutch hit here to erase the bullpens woes. (The crowd from the Cavalier game has assembled near the porch and has about doubled the noise factor recently). And Grady goes down with ferocious cut. Papelbon will be on next and that will about do it. We are a pitching staff away from being good.

Last Year

At this point last year the Indians were 8-10, not a single starter was hitting over .300 and Bob Wickman had a 7.76 ERA. Bob Howry set Wick up and pitched well against the Mariners to lower his ERA to 2.79. The next day Scott Elarton was roughed up to go 0-1 with an ERA over 7. The bullpen was horrific, allowing 4 runs in 2.2 innings. We were down 6 games to the White Sox already. All things considered that makes this year look somewhat better. The bullpen has sucked, granted, but maybe the advantage gained by a 10-8 start will tell down the road. Had the Tribe started 10-8 last year they would have been playing in October... just something to think about.

Some stats from April 23, 2005

Hitting:
Belliard- .298 5hr
Crisp- .282
Blake- .235
Boone- .119
Sizemore- .233
Martinez- .219

Pitching:
Jason Davis- 7.00 ERA
Wickman- 7.76 ERA
Sauerbeck- 5.06 ERA
Elarton- 7.58 ERA
Riske- 0.00 ERA
Westbrook- 6.35 ERA