As the Indians welcome the Detroit Tigers to town, many Indians fans are waiting for their favorite team to come back down to earth. However, the best team in the American League is looking more and more like the real thing.
Here's today's team notes for the Indians and Tigers;
CLEVELAND INDIANS
The Indians extended their home winning streak to 10 games Thursday with an 8-2 victory over Kansas City. No. 1 starter Fausto Carmona got the win, but before the game, manager Manny Acta made an announcement regarding the No. 2 spot in the rotation.
That spot had been held by Carlos Carrasco, but the right-hander was placed on the disabled list due to inflammation in his right elbow. Acta said the Indians would replace Carrasco by recalling former first-round pick Alex White from Class AAA Columbus.
White, who will make his major league debut Saturday against Detroit, was the Indians' top pick in the 2009 draft. This season, he was 1-0 with a 1.90 ERA in four starts at Columbus. How long White will stay in the rotation remains to be seen.
Acta on Thursday refused to commit to more than Saturday's start for White, although it seems likely if White pitches well in that game he could get a further look in the rotation. The wild card in the situation is the condition of Carrasco.
Although the Indians said an MRI on Carrasco's elbow showed nothing, Carrasco continues to feel some soreness. The Indians originally didn't think the injury would require a trip onto the disabled list, but that's where Carrasco is now, eligible to return May 10.
In the meantime, White apparently will get a start-by-start trial. Indians officials expected that White would make his major league debut at some point in the 2011 season, but nobody thought it would happen in April.
NOTES, QUOTES
--RHP Frank Herrmann was recalled from Class AAA Columbus to take the roster spot of RHP Carlos Carrasco, who was placed on the disabled list with an inflamed right elbow. Herrmann will likely be optioned back to Columbus on Saturday, when RHP Alex White will be recalled to take the place of Carrasco in the rotation.
--RHP Alex White will be recalled from Class AAA Columbus on Saturday, and he will make his major league debut that day against Detroit. In four starts at Columbus, he was 1-0 with a 1.90 ERA. White, the Indians' first-round pick in the 2009 draft, takes the rotation spot of RHP Carlos Carrasco, who was placed on the disabled list Thursday with inflammation in his right elbow.
--DH Travis Hafner was a late scratch from the starting lineup Thursday due to inflammation in his right ankle. Hafner, who will have an MRI on the ankle Friday, was replaced in the DH spot by OF/1B Shelley Duncan, whose leadoff homer led to a five-run fourth inning.
--OF Grady Sizemore's sensational hitting since coming off the disabled list continued Thursday, as he homered and doubled in four at-bats. Twelve of Sizemore's 16 hits are extra-base hits. He has at least one extra-base hit in all nine games he has played.
--RHP Fausto Carmona's ERA is still bloated as a result allowing 10 runs in three innings on Opening Day, but since then Carmona has pitched well, although his record doesn't show it. Carmona pitched seven innings to get the win Thursday. He is 2-3 with a 5.15 ERA overall, but in his last five starts, he is 2-2 with a 2.98 ERA.
BY THE NUMBERS: 16 -- Wins by the Indians this month. That ties the franchise record for most wins in the month of April. Cleveland also won 16 April games in 1999, 1996 and 1988.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "The ball makes a different sound when it comes off his bat." -- Manager Manny Acta, on OF Grady Sizemore's hot start. In nine games since coming off the disabled list, Sizemore is hitting .390, and 12 of his 16 hits have been for extra bases.
ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
--DH Travis Hafner (right ankle inflammation) did not play April 28. He will have an MRI on April 29.
--RHP Carlos Carrasco (right elbow tightness) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 25. An MRI showed no structural damage.
--RHP Mitch Talbot (strained right elbow) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 12.
--3B Jason Donald (broken left hand) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 22. He began a rehab assignment with Class AA Akron on April 10, and he moved his rehab to Class AAA Columbus on April 14.
--INF Jared Goedert (strained abdominal muscle) went on the 60-day disabled list March 30.
--OF Trevor Crowe (right shoulder surgery in March 2011) went on the 60-day disabled list March 30. He will be out until at least late July.
DETROIT TIGERS
Adjustments are a part of baseball, even when you win.
But when a team is losing, adjustments become even more critical as a three-game sweep at the hands of the Seattle Mariners has pointed out to the Detroit Tigers.
"We just didn't do enough good things in this series," manager Jim Leyland said after a 7-2 loss left Detroit with a 3-3 record for the homestand, also sweeping three games from the Chicago White Sox.
"We thought we were coming out of it but then we went right back in to a little funk," Leyland said. "But we'll hit. We've got quite a few guys not hitting right now."
Included in that array is Austin Jackson, who had five hits in three games against Chicago and has five hits in his last six games. His batting average continues to sag under .200 level and that isn't going to cut it for a leadoff man.
Leyland's options there are limited. He can try Casper Wells for a game or two, or Don Kelly, but neither is a long-term center field solution.
Then there's Magglio Ordonez. While pronounced healthy when Detroit signed him in the offseason, Ordonez also has been near the .200 level right from spring training.
Ordonez had a four-game hitting streak, but with only one hit in each game. One RBI and a .200 average from your No. 3 hitter isn't going to cut it, either.
Leyland has options there, though. When Victor Martinez comes off the disabled list on May 4, he can keep Brennan Boesch in right field and Ryan Raburn in left or at second.
Kelly, Casper Wells and Ordonez can square off to see who gets the playing time. Who would hit third in place of Ordonez would be another problem Leyland must solve.
Jhonny Peralta hits by fits and starts, but Detroit expected that when it signed him to a two-year deal. Brandon Inge was a .200 hitter when hurt the last couple of seasons and now he's a healthy .200 hitter, although like Peralta he chips in with the occasional big blow.
The only adjustments Leyland doesn't have to make are leaving Miguel Cabrera, Boesch, Raburn and Alex Avila in the lineup every day.
NOTES, QUOTES
--RF Brennan Boesch added two hits on Thursday and is one of the few Tigers who has hit well consistently from the beginning of the season. Boesch doubled and singled while working on an on-base streak now approaching three weeks. His first-inning double, a liner to right, came on a low 1-and-2 slider that probably would have struck him out in the second half of last season.
--RHP Brad Penny wasted a 2-0 lead the again-slumping Detroit offense could not add to. Penny had an excellent curve and used it extensively, but one of them was too high and went for a solo home run by C Miguel Olivo that gave Seattle a 4-2 lead. "Everything they hit fell," said Penny, who gave up nine hits in seven innings with only one walk. "The one huge mistake was the curveball I hung to Olivo. That one I could have hit, as a pitcher." Said manager Jim Leyland: "Penny did a workmanlike job. It wasn't a great performance, but it certainly wasn't a bad performance. He kept us in there."
--CF Austin Jackson went hitless in three games against Seattle and looks to be right back in another slump. With five hits in three games against the Chicago White Sox during the weekend it appeared Jackson was about to break out, but Seattle pitchers threw fastballs right by him and sneaked in good breaking balls to keep him off balance. Manager Jim Leyland's options for a replacement are limited and he continues to insist Jackson will keep playing and be fine.
--RHP Jose Valverde got some needed work in with an inning of relief. It wasn't perfect but it was scoreless. It was simply a tune-up inning to keep him sharp for this weekend at Cleveland. There were no save opportunities as Seattle swept three games from Detroit, piling up sizeable leads in each.
--RHP Ryan Perry's tune-up inning turned into something he needs to tune out. Perry's job in the eighth was to keep Seattle within striking distance at 4-2 but he served up a two-out, three-run home run that barely got over the right field fence near the line. It was the first home run hit by INF Luis Rodriguez since 2009. Perry walked DH Adam Kennedy intentionally before the 2-and-2 slider went out.
--2B Will Rhymes ended an 0-for-11 slide with a fifth-inning single and also walked twice as he took advantage of playing time that is dwindling away. "He's in one of those streaks where it looks like there's seven outfielders out there," manager Jim Leyland said. "I actually think he's hit the ball pretty decent. Earlier, he couldn't buy a hit." Said Rhymes: "Yeah, it's been frustrating so far. ... I'm in a run where I just haven't caught any breaks. It seems like there are more than nine people on the field for sure." His playing time has been reduced with LF/2B Ryan Raburn being shifted back to the infield on a semi-regular basis, even against some right-handed pitchers, so Leyland can get an extra outfield bat in his lineup. "I know I'm a good hitter," Rhymes said. "The vast majority of the time I've been a good hitter. I've had 10,000 at-bats, and I'm not going to let 50 convince me I'm not."
--C Alex Avila, drafted out of the University of Alabama by the Tigers, heard from a friend that the neighborhood he lived in while a student was part of the tornado devastation. "My friend who works with the baseball team there rode out the storm in the baseball stadium, which didn't get hit," said Avila, drafted after his junior season. "He said everyone with the team is fine. We know many of the same people, but a lot of guys lost their homes and their cars. When he was at the baseball stadium, he could see the tornado coming down near the basketball arena and the football complex. He said it was headed straight to the baseball stadium and would have gone through the right-field wall, but then it kind of turned right and missed the stadium. One of the players rode it out in a house a teammate of mine used to rent. He was in a bathtub with a mattress over his head. All that was left after the storm was the foundation of the house and the bathtub. If he had gone to other bathroom in the house, who knows what would happened. The three-bedroom house we rented, and the neighborhood where we lived is completely gone. Just leveled, there's nothing left. I'm told I would not recognize the area. One of the players was in his truck when I called. He said he was on his way to picking up a shovel and an ax to help clear the debris."
--2B Carlos Guillen resumed hitting this week and has returned to running in his efforts to come back from microfracture left knee surgery and get back with the Tigers. Trainer Kevin Rand reported Guillen is making slow but steady improvement as he works with a physical therapist and could get more baseball-related activities in the coming week. He had surgery last September but soreness in the knee stopped his progress early in spring training.
--The Tigers will make a rare bus trip to and from Cleveland for their weekend series against the Indians. Detroit's team plane is in use by the NHL Red Wings, both franchises owned by Mike Ilitch, but the Tigers had planned to bus anyway. They haven't bussed in years but this series, and another later in the season, is sandwiched by games in Detroit. "I'm really looking forward to it," manager Jim Leyland said. "It makes a lot of sense. I think it's a great idea. By the time you get packed up here and get out to the airport, get in and get bussed over to the hotel, (it takes about the same amount of time). Last year, one time I drove home from Cleveland and I was back at the ballpark before the bus (from the airport) was. It brings you back to your roots a little bit, the Minor Leagues, being on the bus with the guys. It's kind of neat, like the old days. I think it's smart, myself."
BY THE NUMBERS: 13 -- At-bats without a hit for CF Austin Jackson while Detroit was losing three games to Seattle. Jackson had five hits while Detroit was sweeping Chicago during the weekend.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "One of the players rode it out in a house a teammate of mine used to rent. He was in a bathtub with a mattress over his head. All that was left after the storm was the foundation of the house and the bathtub. If he had gone to other bathroom in the house, who knows what would have happened. The three-bedroom house we rented, and the neighborhood where we lived is completely gone. Just leveled, there's nothing left. I'm told I would not recognize the area." -- C Alex Avila, drafted by Detroit out of the University of Alabama, after talking with a friend at the site of the tornado devastation in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
--DH/C Victor Martinez (right groin strain) went on the 15-day disabled list April 19. He hopes to return as soon as he is eligible.
--RHP Joel Zumaya (right elbow surgery in July 2010) experienced pain in the elbow during his Feb. 27 spring debut, and he went on the 15-day disabled list March 30. He was transferred to the 60-day DL on April 18. In mid-April Zumaya decided on six more weeks of rehab in an effort to avoid season-ending surgery.
--2B Carlos Guillen (left knee microfracture surgery in September 2010) went on the 15-day disabled list March 30. He remained at the team's Florida camp in early April to rehab. By late April, he had begun running, and he could get more baseball-related activities in early May.
