Carrasco's shoulder flared up after last start. He's been scratched Wednesday and the DL might be possible, but the team doesn't feel it's serious.

Cody Anderson will get the start.

Not that it effects our playoff chances but I don't like the sound of that. Carlos had surgery which cost him a year. He's too good to lose now.

No more big arms in the organization among the 20 somethings.

I think, and the announcers thought, that this was precautionary.

With the September 1 deadline coming up, they will be flooded with options to pitch. Not necessarily good options, LOL, but so what? They are out of it.

And Carrasco is not used to pitching a full season with all those full time starts.

If you look at his last start, seemed fine to me. So I think this is (partially) a trumped up way to keep his innings down.

So did anyone notice that Kipnis and Brantley are current 1-2 in the AL in batting average?! And Lindor is not far off their pace although not enough AB to qualify.

I think, at this point, this question is fair to ask about Brantley.

Did his injuries hamper his power stroke this year? Or was 2014 a power aberration? A "career year" so to speak for power.

Not hitting as many homers, but he leads the league in doubles. His "isolated power" [TB-Hits/AB] is down only a bit: from 179-163.

2014: homered every 34 plate appearances; 2015: every 45.
2014: doubled every 15 plate appearances; 2015: every 13
2014: extra base hit every 10 appearances; 2015: every 10

If the back has limited his power it has not limited it a lot. I'm more surprised he hasn't fallen back farther from last season. I think most of the projections had him hitting around 285 this year.

I see your point but a double is not a home run.

So the question remains whether it is injury related or just regression, albeit not a large regression.

Kyle Schwarber of the Cubs was recently asked in an online Q & A who the toughest pitcher he's faced was.

.

Kyle Schwarber: I would say Corey Kluber, and not just because I went 0-for-4 with four punchouts. He doesn't leave many pitches out over the plate to hit. He was really fine with all his stuff. If every day was like that it would be a grind. But it was good for me to see that to know what to expect.

High praise.

OK, you have to wonder why the team is playing so much better AFTER they unloaded Bourn and Swisher. And, in fairness, called up other guys who are contributing. From Kluber:

"I think the biggest thing is that we're playing with more energy. I'm not sure what the reason for it is, but I think that it's kind of eye-opening when you go out there. It shows us that that's the way we need to play every day. It's not just, 'show up and be ready to go,' it's 'come out there with energy from the first pitch.' Obviously, we're playing better baseball now so we got something to definitely keep in mind going forward."

Lonnie Chisenhall Extends His Hitting Streak To 10 Games

Ever since being recalled from the minor leagues and moving to the outfield Lonnie Chisenhall has been on fire. This includes extending his hitting streak to 10 games last night when he went 2 – 3, also scoring a run and driving in two of them.

In these last 10 games Chisenhall is 14 – 29 with 5 R, 1 HR and 9 RBI. Since coming back from Triple-A he is hitting .408 and is now playing on a more regular basis, typically starting two out of every three games.

Someone may feel a lot less pressure out in right field??

Someone may feel a lot less pressure out in right field??

kind of looks like it.
but there should be plenty of pressure still since this could be his last real chance to make the majors.
well, at least with Cleveland.

I don't think the big improvement is due to the big chance given to Jerry Sands. I've seen enough of him. Come Sept callups might as well let Michael Choice have a go at the RH RF platoon role.

TFIR wrote:OK, you have to wonder why the team is playing so much better AFTER they unloaded Bourn and Swisher. And, in fairness, called up other guys who are contributing. From Kluber:

"I think the biggest thing is that we're playing with more energy. I'm not sure what the reason for it is, but I think that it's kind of eye-opening when you go out there. It shows us that that's the way we need to play every day. It's not just, 'show up and be ready to go,' it's 'come out there with energy from the first pitch.' Obviously, we're playing better baseball now so we got something to definitely keep in mind going forward."

Well, Swish was hardly around this season, so I don't think he was much of a factor.

AS for Almonte, we've either solved whatever issues he's had, or got lucky that he just happens to be hotter than he's ever been in the majors. He's not hitting every day like in his first week, but the overall numbers are impressive. Compare:

2013 72-10-19-9 OPS 715 21K 6 BB 1 SB
2014 204-19-47-15 OPS 609 60K 12 BB 4 SB
2015
in SD 54- 6-11-4 OPS 530 19K 5 BB 1 SB
in CLE 74-15-20-14 OPS 862 14K 6 BB 3 SB