The Indians have also placed 2B Jason Kipnis (right hamstring strain) on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to August 14, and optioned outfielder Ezequiel Carrera to Columbus.

On LaPorta and roster expansion

By Jim Massie

The Columbus Dispatch - August 31, 2011 15:08 PM


The Clippers will finish a short two-game series with the Louisville Bats tonight in Slugger Field.

First baseman Matt LaPorta will not join them there. The Cleveland Indians optioned him to Columbus yesterday to create 25-man roster room for pitcher Jeanmar Gomez.

LaPorta has 72 hours to report so this is not a huge deal. The Clippers are off Friday. LaPorta should be with them for Friday night's game against the Toledo Mud Hens in Huntington Park.

An optioned player must spend 10 days in the minor leagues before he can return to the majors. There is an "unless" in the rule. Should the Indians place Shin-Soo Choo on the disabled list with an oblique injury, they could recall LaPorta.

If something like that doesn't happen, expect LaPorta to be with the Clippers at least through the first round of the International League playoffs.

Rosters for all the big league teams can expand on Friday. Four Columbus pitchers are on Cleveland's 40-man roster - Zach McAllister, Josh Judy, Nick Hagadone and Corey Kluber. McAllister, Judy and Hagadone are the most likely picks.

Luis Valbuena also could go to add middle infield depth. A 40-man roster move would have to happen to take anyone else. The Clippers might see Akron shortstop Juan Diaz if Valbuena leaves for Cleveland.

Indians report

Indians report: Baseball’s bullpen eternal fraternity house

Relievers band together in isolation during game, work hard to keep each other in a positive frame

By Sheldon Ocker

Beacon Journal sports writer

Published: September 1, 2011 - 12:14 AM

CLEVELAND:

The guys in the bullpen tend to stick together. The team within a team. They sit by themselves somewhere in the outer reaches of the ballpark, isolated from their teammates.

They have their own bench, their own snacks, their own fans, who often hover above them or taunt them if they’re on the road.

The junior member of the Indians’ relief corps fills a pink backpack with (supposedly) healthy things to nibble on and carries it to the bullpen every game. Of course, Lord knows what’s really in the bag.

“We joke around out there,” said Tony Sipp, a reliever who often pitches in the seventh or eighth inning. “We make fun of people in the crowd. Throw [sunflower] seeds at each other. But we also stay in the game yet keep it as light as possible. If you can’t rag on a guy, then he’s not really a friend.”

That is one of the basic tenets of baseball that you won’t find in the rule book or Money Ball.

Like most of the Tribe relievers, Sipp has had an excellent season, posting a 6-2 record and 2.67 ERA in 60 appearances. He has allowed only 36 hits and 18 walks in 54 innings, striking out 46.

As an entity, the bullpen is 23-17 with 32 saves and a 3.21 ERA, which ranks second in the American League.

Talent and experience are the primary factors in the relievers’ success, but camaraderie doesn’t hurt, either.

“There’s no secrets about being close,” Sipp said. “Either you’re close-knit or you’re not. There’s no formula for coming together like a family. You can’t teach it. If you had a different group of guys meet up here, you might not be real close.”

Players do learn togetherness in the minors out of necessity.

“You’re not making much money down there, so you have to be creative,” Sipp said. “You have to do group things. Everybody struggles in the minors. But there’s something about struggling that brings people together.”

Once players get to the big leagues, they have other problems.

“You can take the financial part out of it,” Sipp said. “Guys have different kinds of struggling. Mental things and family situations. With a lot of that, you need people to bounce ideas off of.”

After awhile, relievers learn the same important lessons from one another.

For example: “When I’m struggling, I don’t want to feel sorry for myself,” Sipp said. “There are times when I think I’ve thrown my best pitch and it gets hit, or I make a bad pitch but I get away with it. So you have to have a short memory.”

Manny Acta praises front office for working to waiver deadline: Indians Chatter

Published: Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 7:30 PM Updated: Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 7:31 PM

By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio --

Clubhouse confidential:

The deadline for making a waiver trade is midnight Wednesday. If a player wasn't on a team's 25-man roster by then, he would not be eligible for the postseason.

The Indians added Ubaldo Jimenez and Kosuke Fukudome before the July 31st non-waiver deadline. They added Jim Thome before Wednesday's waiver deadline, but it was doubtful they would do anything else.

"[GM] Chris Antonetti is still being aggressive," manager Manny Acta told reporters before Wednesday's game. "He's continued to try and improve our club the best way possible.

"But it's a very complicated process. The waiver wire thing is very tricky. You can desire any player out there, but you only control so much."

Sign him up:

Hiro Aoyama, Fukudome's interpreter, was tossing a tennis ball to Asdrubal Cabrera Jr., son of the Indians' shortstop, who was taking big swings with a small bat near the dugout Wednesday afternoon. The knee-high Cabrera lined the ball back to Aoyama and hit him in the chest.

The laughing Aoyama said, "I even had a glove on and couldn't catch it."

Stat of the day:

Cabrera, the father, not the son, entered Wednesday's game ranked 10th in the AL in batting average with runners in scoring position at .328 (40-for-122) with six homers and 44 RBI.

Jack Hannahan's RBI single ends 16-inning marathon as Cleveland Indians top Oakland, 4-3

Published: Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 11:59 PM Updated: Thursday, September 01, 2011, 7:40 AM

By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer The Plain Dealer
Umpire Bruce Dreckman has a close eye on the play as Cord Phelps slides toward the plate and Oakland catcher Kurt Suzuki tries to make the tag in the 16th inning early Thursday morning at Progressive Field. Dreckman ruled Phelps safe, as the Indians pulled out a 4-3 victory.


CLEVELAND, Ohio --

The midges returned to Progressive Field. Not in their Joba Chamberlain-like fury, but they were back nonetheless Wednesday night.

Were they a harbinger of the postseason? Or did they just come to hang out?

Turns out they were fast asleep by the time the Indians beat Oakland, 4-3, in 16 innings to reclaim second place in the AL Central. It was the longest game of the season for both teams. Jack Hannahan won it with a game-winning single after hitting two homers earlier in the game.

Jim Thome started the winning rally with a long single to left with one out off Josh Outman. Cord Phelps pinch-ran and went to second on Carlos Santana's single. Hannahan ended it with a single to right as Phelps scored the game-winner with a head-first slide.

"I was just trying to stay up the middle," Hannahan said. "To be honest with you I didn't think about swinging away (for another homer). Those hits had happened so long ago in that game that I forgot what happened."

David DeJesus got to the ball quickly and his strong throw was in time to catcher Kurt Suzuki, but a little up the third-base line and a bit high.

"It was close, but I think I got my hand in there," said Phelps, even if other Indians privately thought otherwise.

Third-base coach Steve Smith came over to Phelps' locker while he was talking to reporters and said, "Cord, thanks for the great slide or all these guys would be in front of my locker talking to me."

It was the Indians' 17th last-at-bat victory at home. They are 22-16 in games decided in the last at-bat this season.

The two teams combined for 34 strikeouts -- 15 by Indians pitchers and 19 by the Athletics -- for the most ever recorded in a single game at Progressive Field. Indians center fielder Ezequiel Carrera was the only starter on either team not to strike out.

The win went to Frank Herrmann (4-0), who retired 12 straight in four perfect innings of relief. Outman (3-4) was the loser.

"This convinces me that this might be our year," Herrmann said. "You see those 'What If' commercials. We keep pulling out games in this kind of fashion. Who knows, maybe this is our year. Things are falling into place for us or we're making them fall into place."

"Our bullpen was unbelievable -- again," said Manny Acta, who will need a long effort from Fausto Carmona in a noon start today. "Chad Durbin made some fantastic pitches. Frank Herrmann was the hero. He was perfect out there. He was the last guy out there. I didn't want to bring Rafael Perez in that game."

Acta said the Indians will call up one or two relievers from Class AAA Columbus for Thursday's game. Big league rosters can be expanded on Thursday.

"Our bullpen did great, but got hurt (10 scoreless innings) so we're probably going to have some reinforcements here for Thursday," said Acta. "But no names."

Jason Donald hit a leadoff double in the 15th to end a streak of 24 straight outs by the A's bullpen. Donald went to third on Jerad Head's fly ball to the track in left, but Outman struck out Lou Marson, walked Carrera and struck out Kosuke Fukudome.

The A's loaded the bases in the 12th with one out, but Chad Durbin struck out Ryan Sweeney and retired DeJesus on a pop up. Sweeney came into the game hitting .667 (6-for-9) against the Indians this year.

The Indians are 6-6 in extra inning games this season. This was their third extra inning game in August that lasted 14 or more innings.

Hannahan's second homer pulled the Indians in a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning. Hannahan sent Rich Harden's 0-1 pitch off the foul pole with one out. It was the 3,000th homer hit in the 1,400th game at Progressive Field. It gave Hannahan three in the last two games after he went homerless for over two months.

Hannahan hit .420 (21-for-50) in August. "I've never had a month like this," he said.

The Indians finished August at 15-13. It's the first time they didn't have a losing record in a month since going 14-12 in May.

With the victory the Indians stayed 5 1/2 games behind first-place Detroit, while moving past Chicago and into second place in the AL Central. The White Sox lost to the Twins.

The Indians are 6-4 on the longest homestand of the season which ends today. They have won five of their last six games and improved to 5-1 against Oakland this year.

After Hannahan's second homer, the Indians offense didn't do much. Lou Marson hit a leadoff single in the seventh and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and ground out, but Asdrubal Cabrera flied out to the track against Grant Balfour.

Hideki Matsui opened the 10th with a single off Joe Smith. Coco Crisp pinch ran and stole second for his 38th steal of the season and Oakland's fourth of the game. Smith struck out Brandon Allen and ended the inning when Ryan Sweeney grounded into a double play.

Suzuki gave the A's a 3-2 lead in with a homer off Ubaldo Jimenez to break a 2-2 tie. After a strong start against Kansas City, Jimenez needed 82 pitches to get through the first four innings before finding the strike zone. Jimenez left after six innings. He allowed three runs on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Ubaldo's pitch count made for an early exit. Jimenez threw 114 pitches, 70 for strikes. He struck out six of the last seven A's he faced.

Harden left after six as well with a similar line: six innings, three runs, six hits, two walks and six strikeouts. He threw only 93 pitches, 57 for strikes.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the first when Carrera opened with a triple to the wall in center and scored on Fukudome's sacrifice fly. It was Fukudome's 13th RBI in 31 games for the Indians. He had 13 in 87 games for the Cubs before the Indians acquired him on July 27.

The A's made it 1-1 in the second when Jimenez walked Scott Sizemore with the bases loaded.

Hannahan started the second with a homer to center to make it 2-2. Harden found himself after that. He held the Indians to one run on three hits through the sixth.

Gotta say from that angle, the umpire got it right. Suzuki didn't argue the call.

Baseball history is full of long-shot comebacks: Bud Shaw's Sports Spin

Published: Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 11:45 PM Updated: Thursday, September 01, 2011, 12:17 AM

By Bud Shaw, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It's not as if the Tigers have ever collapsed before ... wait, yes they have and so have others.

With approximately a month remaining in the Indians' season, we look today not at headstones to mark a valiant dying effort or for a recording of an appropriate funeral dirge when the time comes. Instead, we look at the signs of life after falling 6 1/2 games behind in late August.

I'm here today to tell you the Indians have a chance, but it probably helps to ignore the statistics that say Larry Dolan has an equally good chance of posing for a bronze statue to stand next to Bob Feller's. For the sake of today's relentless exercise in the power of positive thinking, it's necessary to dismiss the official AccuScore projected standings of a week ago that offered the following likelihood of contending teams in the AL Central making the playoffs:

Detroit Tigers: 92.6.

Chicago White Sox: 4.8

Indians: 2.6

The AccuScore computer-generated projections on the Tribe are believed to be the lowest on record since I subscribed to a similar service in 1972 to check my odds of getting a high school senior prom date. The answer: .0001. But I would not be denied. That's what sisters are for.
So anything is possible. In place of statistics recommending the Indians as AL Central champs, we have only case studies. In this case, five collapses.

1964 Phillies

The most famous nose-dive in baseball history. Lost a 6 1/2 game lead with 12 to play.
In part it happened because whenever starters Jim Bunning and Chris Short raised what was left of their arms to scratch an itch or wave to a beautiful woman in the stands, manager Gene Mauch put them in to pitch.

With a shortened rotation, the Phils lost 10 in a row and missed the postseason.

2007 Mets

Led by seven games on Sept. 12. Lost 11 of 16. Rotation included an aging Tom Glavine and an aging and rehabbing Pedro Martinez. The relief corps wasn't aging, just shell shocked. But this was a team with David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran in the lineup.

I know, it's tough re-living such a collapse. You hate to see anything bad happen to a New York team, especially when it's not the Yankees, so I won't go into any more detail.

1978 Red Sox

Led by 7.5 games with 32 to go. Lost 14 of 17. Ended up in the one-game playoff with the New York Yankees, a game that made Bucky Dent famous.

For the rest of the country, choosing between the Yankees and Red Sox was a choice between getting root canal or a catheter.

1987 Blue Jays

The Jays had a 3.5 game lead with seven to go. They lost all seven. Even using the prevailing Canadian-to-American conversion rate in 1987, that goes down as a huge flop.

2009 Tigers


The Tigers went into first place on May 10 and stayed there until the final day of the season when the Minnesota Twins forced a one-game playoff and won it. For those keeping score at home -- especially those looking ahead at the final series of 2011 between the Indians and Tigers in Detroit -- the '09 Tigers lost a three-game lead with four to play.

I'm not sure that's ever happened. So think of it this way. An Indians' division title wouldn't be as stunning as something that never happened before.

Feel better?

As for AccuScore.com. here's how the computer saw the Indians' chances before Opening Day:

Record: 66-96

Chance of winning the division: 0.4 percent

Chance of making the playoffs: 0.6

Dead on, if by that you mean "way off."

The AccuScore computer-generated projections on the Tribe are believed to be the lowest on record since I subscribed to a similar service in 1972 to check my odds of getting a high school senior prom date. The answer: .0001. But I would not be denied. That's what sisters are for.

Now that's funny. LOL!

For some reason the Tribe today called up Corey Kluber who has had a pretty consistently dreadful season in Columbus along with Nick Hagadone. Acta says Josh Judy comes up tomorrow. I'm guessing Corey is here today merely in case of another 16 inning game and will head back to AAA tomorrow. he sure hasn't earned a major league role, but since he's on the 40-man roster it's no skin off anyone's teeth, or no wasting of a major league option, to bring him up and then return him.

joez, look on MLB.com for the video highlights provided by the A's broadcast crews. Suzuki did tag him, and well before Phelps touched the plate.

I can't find it VT'er. The concensus of opinion is out. I'll roll with the flow.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.js ... &mode=wrap

Go to the "Oak Recap" and click on the embedded video.

OK! I watched it several times. He surely appeared to be out.

I tried viewing the attached photo above and comparing it to the video. I was trying to time the swipe tag shown in the photo against the video. Pretty hard to do.

I think the umpire saw the air between the glove and Phelps' butt and called him safe. That umpire had a very good angle on the play as the photo shows. From the top angle in the video, I call Phelps out. From the photo he looked safe. It didn't look like Suzuki got the glove down in time.

Oh well, we did get several other close ball/strike calls from that umpire also that could have gone either way. We got the calls. In any event, it made for a nice win and a nice end to the evening.Too bad we couldn't take advantage of the situation this afternoon.

I'm actually one of those who is positively impressed with the jobs the umps do. Sure now that we have this technology we can find their mistakes but it's a damn difficult job and I think that for the most part they do it well.

No argument from this corner VT'er.