Cleveland Sports Forum

Jimenez allowed 5 in the first but a pair of errors were key and Hamilton says a bunch of funky IF singles.

Gomez and Tomlin each retired 6 in a row.

Duncan with a 3run HR.

Canzler looked good at plate, and made one of the errors.

C. Guzman didn't look he was trying on a popup, says Hamilton, and made an error.

Watched Adam Miller pitch for the yankees. he did lousy, no control.

Indians on MLB channel tomorrow live.

Too bad about Miller. Unlike some of our No. 1 flops (Mills, Peoples, Sowers, probably Huff, etc. etc.) he was actually as good as advertised.

I goofed, Indians vs Diamondbacks on cable MLB on Wednesday.

Tribe jumps out to a 0-3-1 ST record.

Anybody want the OVER on this team at 86.5 season wins?

First week in spring training as we all know is not too predictive of the regular season. I'll give them a litte while yet. On the other 86.5 seems pretty high, but Las Vegas knows more than most of us. It all depends on Jiminez and Choo.

Actually it appears we won a game today.

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Shelley Duncan hit a three-run homer to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 3-2 win over a Kansas City Royals split squad on Tuesday.


Duncan connected in the third inning off Royals reliever Zach Miner, working his way back from Tommy John surgery in 2010.

Starting pitchers Will Smith for Kansas City and Kevin Slowey of Cleveland each worked two scoreless innings.

Irving Falu hit a two-run homer for Kansas City off reliever Chris Ray in the fourth. Falu, seeking a job as a utility man, has 17 homers in eight minor league seasons.

Falu, Billy Butler and Brayan Pena each had two of the Royals' 10 hits

I dont' see the results of the other split squad game, or a box score on the first one.

Duncan states case with another blast

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The Indians used another spring home run off the bat of outfielder Shelley Duncan to claim a 3-2 victory over a Royals split-squad team on Tuesday afternoon at Goodyear Ballpark.

Duncan, who served as Cleveland's designated hitter in the Cactus League contest Tuesday, likely figures into the Tribe's Opening Day plans, but he is trying to use this spring to win the starting role in left field. Against Kansas City (2-1), Duncan belted his second home run of the spring for the Indians (1-2).

"He's picking up right where he left off last year, so it was nice to see him again contribute," manager Manny Acta said. "We know that he's a bat that at any moment can pop one out. He's been valuable -- very valuable -- for us."


Shelley Duncan smashed his second homer of the spring on Tuesday. (Jae C. Hong/AP)In the third inning, Duncan launched a pitch from Royals pitcher Zach Miner to deep left field for a three-run homer that pushed the Tribe to a 3-0 lead. The blast scored both Ezequiel Carrera and Jose Lopez, who reached on an infield single and a hit-by-pitch, respectively.



Indians starter Kevin Slowey, who made his spring debut for his new team, turned in a pair of scoreless innings against the Royals. Slowey scattered four hits, but limited the damage with five flyouts and one groundout. Slowey -- in the running for Cleveland's lone rotation vacancy -- finished with 37 pitches, including 23 for strikes.

Kansas City's Will Smith started against Cleveland and allowed no runs on two hits.

The Royals broke through for two runs in the fourth inning against Indians reliever Chris Ray, who is competing for a bullpen job. KC catcher Brayan Pena led off with a double and later crossed the plate when shortstop Irving Falu delivered a two-run home run off Ray to cut Cleveland's lead down to 3-2.

Royals up next: Left-hander Jonathan Sanchez, heralded as joining Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen as the top three in the rotation, will be unveiled in a 2:05 p.m. CT game on Wednesday against the Cubs at Surprise Stadium. Sanchez was acquired from the Giants in exchange for outfielder Melky Cabrera. The Royals worked Sanchez in slowly during camp because he missed much of last season with biceps and ankle ailments. Another lefty, Everett Teaford, is scheduled to follow him.

Indians up next: Left-hander David Huff is slated to make his second start of the spring when the Indians take on the D-backs at 3:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Ariz. Sidearmer Joe Smith is also scheduled to pitch for the Tribe, along with bullpen candidates Frank Herrmann and Hector Ambriz.

I see Choo is 0-5 with 3 K. Which is the equivalent of one bad game. So I shouldn't even has posted it.

My bad.

I thought the Tribe lost today but they won 3-2 on Duncan's 3 run homer.

Wish they could score other than HRs.

KC split their squad not the Indians.

Las Vegas sets the odds trying to balance the bets on both sides. If too much is bet on one side, they change the number. My guess is the number ,86.5, will come down as the season approaches.

With all the players in camp, maybe we should be tripling up.

Duncan ended 2011 smoking hot with power, and he shows again in early March.

Here's to bottles, and lightning.

MLB Network to wire Tribe, D-backs for sound

By Mark Newman / MLB.com | 03/07/12 10:00 AM EST

The great Harry Caray once said of baseball: "My whole philosophy is to broadcast the way a fan would broadcast."

For the countless fans who always wondered what players, managers and umpires are saying throughout a Major League Baseball game, the time finally has come to find out.

MLB Network will break ground Wednesday at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Ariz., by presenting live in-game audio of a Cactus League telecast between the Indians and D-backs, starting at 3:10 p.m. ET and airing on brief delay. The game also will be streamed live without blackouts on MLB.TV, and play-by-play man Matt Vasgersian of MLB Network will be solo in the booth to ensure that game sound is priority.

D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said the idea is to "let the sounds of the game -- the real sounds of the game -- tell the story." (AP)Managers Manny Acta of the Indians and Kirk Gibson of the D-backs will be wired throughout for live sound, and so will home-plate umpire Stephen Barga. Also wearing microphones will be the players positioned at catcher, first, second, third, shortstop and center field. Live microphones are planted on each base, the first- and third-base lines, and along the outfield wall.

"We're going to try to prioritize on sounds around home plate, because that is the first eye-opening thing for the viewer, based on our test," MLB Network CEO Tony Petitti said after Tuesday's Texas-Arizona test game at Salt River Fields. "If we can make the crack of the bat sound the way the tests sounded, then deliver the conversations, just the natural sounds of the game -- players yelling what base to throw to, who's cutting the ball off -- it will be great.

"You're not always sure who's saying what, but you can gradually find out. It's a lot of fun learning it. As our director said during the test, audio normally chases the picture, and here it's the opposite. We're making audio the priority and we're making pictures to go with it. It is definitely unique."

Oh, by the way, it is Trevor Cahill's first game outing since being acquired from Oakland by the D-backs. It could be interesting if his catcher comes to the mound for a brief chat that fans otherwise would never hear. David Huff will start for Cleveland.

This broadcast is in cooperation with MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association, producing in-game audio on a scale never tried before. It began with a pair of enhanced-audio game telecasts during last Spring Training, producing sound but not airing. Both of those games involved the Indians.

"It's a great thing -- it took a lot of work to get to this point with the cooperation of the Players Association and the Commissioner's Office," Petitti said. "We were able to test it last year, and everybody has the same goal to make the presentation of the game of baseball as exciting and as new as possible. You're always trying to advance the coverage."

Tuesday's test featured a 16-3 Rangers blowout on 19 Texas hits, and Petitti said that kind of offensive eruption actually is conducive to this effort -- maybe more than a close, strategy-filled game -- because the crack of the bat is such a basic element fans like.

"The test went really well," he said. "It definitely progressed from the beginning of the game to the end, so that we learned a lot of techniques. You never practice this, right? It takes a little while to get people squared away. We learned what we liked and we are excited about [for Wednesday]. We'll learn even more."

Now that "The Artist" has won the Oscar for Best Picture, it is time for another production about the transition from golden silence to the sensation of sound. Gibson, for one, said he would "prefer not to be mic'd, but I'll do my part." Oh, to have sound as he once ran around the bases for the Dodgers in October of 1988, pumping his fist. Is he really OK with this?

"Well, if I wasn't, we wouldn't be doing it," Gibson said. "I think I'm open-minded to it, I think I understand what they're trying to do. They're trying to, I think, let the sounds of the game -- the real sounds of the game -- tell the story, instead of just having play-by-play and an analyst."

As for the one-person booth, Petitti explained: "I think we didn't want to fall into a natural pattern of analyst and play-by-play talking back and forth. We are giving people a chance to really hear it, and two people are going to talk more than one. It would be in the way. It doesn't mean if we do this again you always go with one, but until we learn as much as possible, it makes sense to do it a little differently."

Naturally, players will be coming and going rapidly in any first-week exhibition game. MLB Network will have staff in the dugouts assisting with the switch-overs, so that substitutions include the ceremonial passing of the microphone to the guy entering the game.

"I like it," said Indians outfielder Shelley Duncan, who already has two homers this spring. "I think they should do it more. They're trying to find ways to make games on TV more interesting. Test it out in Spring Training."

Unless those bees that infested Salt River Fields at the start of the week make an unexpected return -- imagine the droning sound heard by all -- the real buzz should be people around the game talking about people talking within the game.

If you want to broadcast the game how many fans would want it broadcast, then it is worth trying to present the sound that happens down on the field. What does the runner on first say to the first baseman between pitches? What is that meeting on the mound all about? What happens if someone gets knocked down with a pitch?

"The managers were great in the test," Petitti said. "Kirk was terrific, had some interesting things from time to time to say, charging his players, reacting to plays. Everybody has embraced the same idea. If it's great, give it a try."

Yeah I wanna hear the nuggets like "Oh I don't think that one's got the distance" and "C'mon Ricky you gotta come up with something studly here" and "I got a hundred of these gloves, one for each base I'm going to steal" and "I got just one thing to say to you: Strike this mofo OUT!"