Cleveland Sports Forum

I have the same sense that MtFan does, but I admit that there might be bias on my part.

However, I am quite certain that the people who run MLB are a bunch of jerkwads.

Great to agree with you about something again, Mt.Fan!



Agree with everything you said.

I remember that crap with Jaret Wright.

Bullpen Mafia cements friendship in Tribe

By Sheldon Ocker

Beacon Journal sports writer

Published: April 21, 2012 - 10:42 PM

OAKLAND, Calif.: They sit together 400 feet from home plate like fans in the cheap seats. But not only are they part of the Indians, they are a team within a team.

They are the Bullpen Mafia, seven relievers, most of whom have been together long enough to form their own close-knit crew. Right out of Goodfellas.

“If anything, we’re closer this year,” Tony Sipp said. “You go from trying to feel people out to where you know everything. When someone has a bad day, even if he isn’t talking as much, you know why.”

Relievers are forced by the geography of the ballpark to form their own special type of bonding.

“It’s nice,” Joe Smith said. “It makes for a good time out there.”

Part of the fun is ritualized. The newest member of the relief corps is in charge of stocking and carrying to the bullpen a children’s backpack (usually pink or lavender) of goodies for every game.

“It’s almost like rookie hazing,” Sipp said. “What do I like? I like fruit snacks, Laffy Taffy, soft fruit candy and Skittles.”

Being isolated from their teammates and far from any authority figure, save the bullpen coach, relievers sometimes look for ways to have a little extracurricular fun.

“The first through the fourth innings, you pay attention to the hitters you might face,” Sipp said. “But there has to be some entertainment. You have to keep it light. You’re paying attention to the game, but you have to be able to pass the time.”

In other words, there is room in every bullpen for comic relief.

“Frank [Herrmann] and Vinnie [Pestano] are able to take the pressure off the other guys who don’t say much,” Sipp said. “Most of the time, they’re pretty funny. Even when they’re not, you need background noise.”

According to Smith, “Frank likes to throw stuff out there to aggravate people.”

Herrmann was a fixture in the bullpen last year and in spring training, but he currently is pitching for Columbus.

Pestano disdains any credit for being the bullpen’s reigning stand-up comic.

“I don’t think anyone is louder than anyone else,” he said. “And mostly, it’s self-deprecating humor.”

Relievers often are singled out for abuse on the road, because in some ballparks, the fans are only a few feet away.

“In Chicago, the fans are right there in your ear,” Sipp said. “Coincidentally, those fans are trashed [maybe because there’s a bar behind the center field fence at U.S. Cellular Field]. But when the fans have good material, it’s fun for everyone.”

Smith used to pitch for the Mets and regularly played the Phillies, whose fans have turned player harassment into an art form.

“The fans haven’t gotten on us that much,” he said. “Philadelphia was always bad when I was with the Mets. But the Indians are not universally hated, like the Mets.”

But a fan bent on being a nuisance isn’t necessarily appreciated by the bullpen crew.

“Frank got a fan kicked out of a game in Philadelphia,” Sipp said.

“The same guy came back when we were in Tampa and let Frank know he got him again. So the guy gets kicked out a second time. It was funny because the fan showed up at two different fields just to get kicked out.”

When told of Sipp’s version of events, Herrmann wanted to set the record straight.

“I didn’t really get the guy kicked out,” he said. “He cursed or something and they threw him out in Philadelphia. But he did come back to heckle us in Tampa. He was really on me.”

Not that Herrmann is complaining. It’s all part of being a member of the Bullpen Mafia.

Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at http://www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SheldonOckerABJ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.

Jason Kipnis' four hits keep Cleveland Indians rolling on road trip with win over Oakland

Updated: Sunday, April 22, 2012, 2:48 AM

Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer


OAKLAND, Calif. — Jeanmar Gomez walked into the gray area of a five-game suspension Saturday night a winner as the Indians kept rolling on a trip they never want to end.

Jason Kipnis, with his fourth and final hit of the night, shattered a tight game with a two-run triple in the eighth inning as the Indians beat Oakland, 5-1, at the Coliseum. The victory made the Indians 7-1 on this nine-game trip that ends Sunday afternoon.

It's the Indians first seven-win trip since 2007 and the first time they've opened a season 7-1 on the road since 1998.

"You can't plan on having anything much better than this," said manager Manny Acta. "I was envisioning playing over .500 since we didn't have a good homestand (1-4), but the way we've played these three series has been fantastic."

Kipnis, with two out and the Tribe leading, 2-1, tripled against the right-field fence off lefty Brian Fuentes. Jason Donald and Michael Brantley scored before Kipnis finished the scoring by racing home on a wild pitch.

The two-out magic that Orlando Cabrera brought to the Indians last year is apparently still alive and well even though Cabrera is long gone. The Indians scored four of their five runs with two out Saturday. For the season, they've scored 51 percent of their runs (37-for-73) with two out.

"Good teams score with two out," Kipnis said. "This team is rolling right now. We feel we have a good order one-through-nine and our pitching staff usually puts us in a great spot to win every day."

This is the first time the Indians have won their first three road series of a season since 1988 when the beat Texas, Baltimore and Minnesota.

Gomez (1-0, 1.93 ERA) will drop his appeal and start his five-game suspension Sunday for his part in the Indians' spat with Kansas City on April 14. Gomez's next start will be Saturday against the Angels at Progressive Field.
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"Nice job by Gomez," Acta said. "We were worried about his stamina and pitch count. He hasn't thrown more than two innings since the third week of March. He got better the longer he pitched. They had a left-handed hitting lineup they went 2-for-15 against him."

Brandon McCarthy (0-3, 3.38) took the loss. He pitched seven innings and held the Indians to two runs. It was only after he left that the Tribe's two-out magic took hold of the game.

After Gomez left, the Tribe bullpen made the scene.

"The pen was nails," Acta said.

Dan Wheeler, Tony Sipp, Vinnie Pestano, Jairo Asencio and Chris Perez combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings. Perez needed one pitch to earn his sixth save. Five of them have come on this trip.

In the last five games, Indians relievers have allowed one earned run 16 2/3 innings.

"I trust those guys," Acta said.

The A's ended Gomez's night in the sixth. Cliff Pennington doubled just inside the right-field foul line to start the inning. Josh Reddick flied out to deep center as Pennington moved to third. Wheeler relieved to face center fielder Yoenis Cespedes.

Cespedes hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it 2-1. Seth Smith singled, but Wheeler retired Jonny Gomes for the third out.

Gomez allowed one run on four hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three, walked one and threw 88 pitches.

"I felt good," Gomez said. "I know I haven't pitched a lot of innings, but the work I did in the bullpen helped me."

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the first on Travis Hafner's bases-loaded dribbler to first.

The Tribe made it 2-0 in the sixth when Kipnis singled home Donald with two out. Donald made the run possible with a steal of second.

Kipnis is still hitting only .226 after his second biggest night in the big leagues.

"Tonight he showed how important he can be to our offense and why we feel we have a better offense than last year," said Acta. "Kipnis has never been intimidated up here. He's never pressed. We've told him, "You're not here on a tryout basis. You're our second baseman.

Gomez had thrown only 4 1/3 innings before Saturday. He threw two scoreless innings in relief on April 11. His first start was April 14 against Kansas City and it's well documented how that went.

He had a no-hitter through 2 1/3 innings before being ejected in the third for hitting Mike Moustakas in response to Shin-Soo Choo getting hit by Jonathan Sanchez in the top of the inning. A couple days later MLB suspended him for five games.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: phoynes@plaind.com, 216-999-5158

Boy the steroid era was a lot more fun then the garbage we have to watch on a daily basis. Cant wait for the nba draft lottery:


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Posted: Saturday April 21, 2012 9:18PM ; Updated: Saturday April 21, 2012 11:15PM

Tom Verducci>INSIDE BASEBALL
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Humber perfect game testifies to pitcher's era that's not ending soon
Story Highlights
Philip Humber threw his perfect game against a sorry Seattle team hitting .235
We haven't seen league-wide hitting this bad (.248) over a full season in 40 years
Recently, baseball immortality has been handed out like giveaway bobbleheads



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Philip Humber finished off the Mariners with 96 pitches and nine strikeouts.
Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images
Get ready for more. The perfect game Saturday for White Sox right-hander Philip Humber is just another sign of the times.
We are watching an era in which pitchers win MVP awards, a 49-year-old man throwing no harder than 79 miles per hour has a 2.55 ERA and a 29-year-old pitcher who was waived by the Royals two years ago and who never before threw a complete game in the major leagues can throw a perfect game.
Humber threw his perfect game against a sorry Seattle team that was hitting .235 -- and the Mariners aren't even the worst hitting team in the league. (Take a bow, Oakland.) The major league batting average is .248. We haven't seen hitting this bad over a full season in 40 years (.244 in 1972).
Take nothing away from Humber. He was a college stud at Rice who was taken fourth overall in the 2004 draft by the Mets and has since bounced from the Twins to the Royals to the White Sox, where he has become a solid major league pitcher. Perfect games, as the name implies, never come with warts. Humber earned himself a piece of baseball immortality.
CORCORAN: Humber's perfect game in perspective
But here's the deal: baseball immortality is being handed out like giveaway bobbleheads. Since 2009 -- we're talking three seasons and one month -- there have been four perfect games: Mark Buehrle, Dallas Braden, Roy Halladay and Humber.
That would be one more than occurred in the 75 seasons between 1881 and 1955. That's one more than occurred in the first 20 seasons of the Expansion Era (1961-80).
GALLERY: Perfect games in the modern era
Since 2009, we have seen 12 no-hitters. With five months still to play this season, that's almost as many as occurred in the last four seasons before Major League Baseball lowered the mound in 1969 -- the rule change being the equivalent of MLB crying "uncle," an admission that pitching had become too good.
Are we headed toward 1968? No. Hitting isn't quite that pathetic. Batters hit .237 back in '68. But there is no question we are a third season into an era in which pitching continues to take back the ground that was lost in The Steroid Era -- and then some.
Humber, a craftsman on the mound, chewed up the Mariners chiefly with sliders and curveballs to complement his laser-sharp four-seamer (24 of his 31 four-seamers were strikes). He turned a corner last year with the White Sox in 26 starts and looks to be a fixture in the Chicago rotation, not just a streaking comet.
Still, Humber is one of the least accomplished pitchers ever to throw a perfect game. In 120 minor league starts, he had thrown just one shutout.
It may seem that Humber's gem came out of the blue, but not so if you've been paying attention to how the game has changed. We have seen this retrenching of pitching coming over the past three seasons. An influx of young pitchers, steroid testing, the acceptance of strikeouts in the culture of hitting, more layers of scouting report information to attack hitters, a trend toward pitcher-friendly ballparks in new construction ... all of it and then some has helped pitching rule. But this month? This officially has become crazy. Just this month:
• The 49-year-old Jamie Moyer became the oldest man to win a major league game.
• Cliff Lee became only the third Phillies pitcher, and the first in 55 years, to throw at least 10 innings without giving up a run or a walk (Harvey Haddix, 1957; Ken Raffensberger, 1947). And he still could not get a win because Matt Cain shut out his team. Lee was placed on the DL three days after that start.
• Bartolo Colon, a 38-year-old journeyman built like a beer keg and pitching for his fifth team in six years, threw 38 consecutive strikes in a game against the Angels.
• Humber, who had never completed the eighth inning of a major league game, nevermind the ninth, threw a perfect game.
This is only three weeks, folks. What's next? The answer is unknown, but there will be more -- of that you can be sure. We will see more no-hitters. Maybe another perfect game. (We saw two in 2010, the only year in the modern era when that happened.) You will see more pitchers' duels. You will see more strikeouts.
All I know is this: if Moyer throws a no-hitter we might have to start talking about lowering the mound again.

I thought 1968 was a great baseball season, although no one hit a lick.

Indians optioned LHP Nick Hagadone to Triple-A Columbus.

An expected move, with Asdrubal Cabrera coming back from the bereavement list. Hagadone allowed one run over 3 1/3 innings during his brief stay with the big club and figures to make his way back to the Indians' bullpen at some point soon.

Apr 23 - 5:07 PM

Naples Daily News


Stolen: Ex-Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe says thief swiped his '04 World Series ring, trophy

By Naples Daily News staff report

Monday, April 23, 2012

The 2004 World Series ring and trophy given to former Boston Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe have been stolen from his south Fort Myers home, Lee County sheriff's deputies said.

A housekeeper for Lowe's Terrabela Way home reported the items stolen Friday, a Sheriff's Office report said. The ring and trophy were valued at $90,000 each.

The housekeeper told deputies the items were taken sometime between the afternoons of April 16 and April 18. There was no sign of forced entry. The ring is 18-karat white gold with rubies and diamonds, and it is inscribed with Lowe's name and jersey number, 32, an incident report said.

Women's shoes, purses and two gold necklaces also were taken.

Lowe, now a 38-year-old pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, started 33 games in 2004 as the Red Sox won their first title in 86 years. It was Lowe's only World Series championship season.

civ ollilavad wrote:I thought 1968 was a great baseball season, although no one hit a lick.

I think I recall a Plain Dealer headline from 1968 after The Browns took a bad loss from Roman Gabriel and The Los Angeles Rams. In those days the PD sports section would have creative banner headlines. Creative as in as if the Browns lost big the banner might be Browns Get Crushed, with the actual letters in the word "crushed" printed as flattened from the rest.

After The Browns loss to The Rams in late September, there was a "sub-headline."

"Bright spot, Indians finish 3rd."


The Dark Ages.

(maybe that headline was featured in the beginning of "Major League?")

Methinks Hagadone should have been kept, Wheeler sent down or released. Ascencio could be the long man, Hagadone come in when lefties up ,Smith when righties up, then Pestano and Perez. R perez appears situational and Sipp so far this year is questionable.

Alternate idea: can the Red Sox use Wheeler or Sipp? Can they give us anything we need?

Hagadone will be brought back when he has no chance of early arbitration.

That arbitration business has a little problem:

If the guy is so-so it does not hurt us.

If he is great, he will ask for more money but in the meanwhile he was great for us.

What is wrong with this picture?

Pretty much standard operating procedure in major league baseball now.

My opinion is to screw arbitration. At least from an Indian perspective.

If the player is that talented and can perform at the major league level and would be instrumental at a playoff run, let him play. Five years down the road, "IF" he turns out to be that good, trade him! Until we get new ownership, we won't be able to afford him.

I agree Lou.