Friday, July 13, 2007

Red flag No. 1 in second half -Fulz not ready.

The press release from the Tribe is straight, and simple.

"
Indians promote RHP Jensen Lewis from AAA Buffalo"

Lewis will be with the Indians when they start the second-half of the year tonight against Kay-Cee.

Dave Delucci was moved to the 60-day DL to make room for Lewis.

The troubling part is what the press release does not say.

When the Tribe sent Edward Mujica back to the minors over the All-Star break, it was assumed all was in order for the return of lefty Aaron Fultz. Not like that would be akin to the second coming of JC, but I think the Tribe was anxious to get Fultz back. So, that begs the question- What is wrong with Fultz? And - this being an Indian fan blog I need to ask - is this just the first of many setbacks we can expect in the second half? ( I left Cleveland 23 years ago but that Cleveland optimism still rings true.)

Actually, it may present the Tribe with an unexpected opportunity.

Lewis was the Tribe's third draft pick out of Vanderbilt in 2005. He's moved along quickly, spending time at both Akron (AA) and Buffalo (AAA) this year. He had a combined of 1.73 ERA in 52 innings as a reliever so far this year, with 59 Ks.

Lewis is right handed, as opposed to the lefty Fultz, but at this point we'll take anyone who can get outs in the pen. Let's hope he shows he can do so on the big league level.

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The Tribe opens the second half against the Royals. Which always sounds like a good thing until we play them.

The pitching matchups favor the Tribe in at least two - and maybe all three - games. Odalis Perez against Jake Westbrook may be a tossup, depending on which Westbrook shows up. Cleveland's Sabathia and Carmona look like better bets than KC's Gil Meche and Jorge De La Rossa on Saturday and Sunday.

The better news is Mike Sweeney (DL) won't be around to have his usual three-homer eight-RBI series.

3 comments:

moose said...

another joe borowski performance tonight - I think he blew the save to get the win for his fantasy managers. I just dont think fultz was ready - would be nice to have another lefty besides perez.

typical tribe win - westbrook struggled but gutted it out - good 7 /8 inning by perez and raffy

pretty good offense although left a lot of guys on base - but a win is a win is a win - nice crowd

Ron Vallo said...

Bowling night tonight so I had to watch the game on the first TIVO fast forward setting. Still got a pretty good taste of what went on.

Garko, obviously, had a nice game. Pretty good in the field too.

We saw both Westbrooks. The nibbler from five years ago started but the other Westbrook came in and cleaned things up a bit.

I have Borowski on one of my fantasy teams. I'll take the W. Would rather see someone come in and blow people away though.

Perez is looking pretty good. Let's hope he keeps it up.

Watching the Tigers on the dish right now. The way that one's going Tribe will still be 1/2 game out when we wake up in the morning.

Anonymous said...

Second coming of JC? Jose Canseco? Sorry, the "Juiced" book tour has ended, but you can get an autographed copy for $58 at josecanseco.com. Not that I ever touch the stuff.