Tagged: Mark DeRosa

What??

I don’t know how many of you saw the Indians/Red Sox game last night but it was absolutely insane.

The first innings featured terrible starting pitching by both teams, 14 runs, 2 errors by the Red Sox defense that cost them inning ending double plays, and lasted 2 hours. Then the 4-6 innings featured awesome performances by both bullpens and no runs. The seventh inning featured an RBI single by Julio Lugo to give the Red Sox the 8-7 lead. But Mark DeRosa, last night’s hero, crushed a home run to left in the bottom of the inning to tie it. Then the eighth inning was boring and uneventful. Then the ninth. Here’s where it gets interesting. Mark DeRosa leads off the inning with a bloop single to right. Francisco sacrifices him over. Grady strikes out. Not a great night for Grady. He did get a single and made some good plays in the outfield though. And he looked good, which, as you all know, is the most important thing. 😉 (obligatory Grady mention? Check.) Then Asdrubal Cabrera hit a ground ball that was stopped on a very nice play by Youkilis and should have been out #3 and we were going into extras. However, Javier Lopez apparently had other ideas. Lopez couldn’t hold onto the ball so DeRosa scored on the error and the Indians win 9-8. That was night. How I am still alive is beyond me, but here I am. 
So why did Lopez drop that ball? Here are my theories:
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These girls were waiting for him. And since they are British and do not really understand baseball they would not understand why his job took so long. Jeff would understand this one.
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He felt sorry for Lou the Bear and did not think he deserved to have Wally sit on top of him anymore.
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A-Cab got a new tattoo and he was showing it off before the game. Javier was extremely intimidated by A-Cab’s tough guy image and dropped the ball out of fear.
Good job Tribe. You listened to me and took advantage of the chances you were given.
BTW I have given Grady a new nickname: the Gradester. If you are femiliar with The Hills this name should sound familiar. This is what they call Brody from the Hills, except he’s the Brodester.
And if my friend on Facebook who I sent here is reading. I am really sorry if I hurt your feelings. I think there is a live blog on here earlier about the Yankees game. You know the one we won 22-4 (haha) that describes how I watch Indians games. That may help. Be sure to read the comments on the “Here’s to You Jacoby” entry too. You would be happy to know that phase didn’t last too long. Also check out here. Dedication to Grady.
Keep it up Indians!

Trevor

The Indians finally won a game! Yay for 1-5! Maybe it was divine intervention, it is Easter after all. The point is the Erie Warriors have finally put pitching and offense together to beat the Blue Jays!

Highlights
1st inning: Grady walks (he amazingly did not swing the bat once… I bet that was hard for him). Then he steals second. Then he goes to third on what the scorer apparently thought was a wild pitch (I beg to differ, clearly a steal) and then goes home on a throwing error! Grady just ran his way home!
3rd inning: Grady walks again! Mark DeRosa crushes a home run to left. 
5th inning: Here’s where it gets good. After Martinez and Hafner strike out (purcey had ten total strikeouts today) Jhonny Peralta singles to right. Shin Soo Choo walks. Ryan Garko walks. Bases loaded for Trevor Crowe, my project. Earlier in the game Trevor had been up in the same situation. He was probably nervous and anxious to get his first hit in the majors and it showed. He struck out swinging at a pitch he probably should not have swung at. He broke his bat on his knee he was so frustrated. He said after the game he was embarrassed about that but I forgive him (I actually thought it was funny). So what does Trevor do this time? He hits two-run double and finally gets not only his first Major League hit but his first two RBI’s as well. 
8th inning: After DeRosa strikes out, Martinez walks. Travis Hafner, who was 0-3 with three strikouts, hits a home run to right-center giving the Indians the 7-4 lead. Jhonny Peralta doubles. Shin Soo Choo singles and scores Jhonny. 
9th inning: After going 3-0 to Scott Rolen Kerry Wood throws him three strikes to strike him out. He then proceeds to strike out the next two Blue Jay hitters. Awesome. Best game of the season. That is not really saying a lot but it is something.
Tomorrow the Indians travel to Kansas City to play the Royals. The Royals are pitching Zack Grienke and the Indians are pitching Fausto Carmona. I am not really sure how I feel about this match-up. Grienke is really good but I personally think Carmona has Cy Young talent if he can just control his emotions. I guess we will have to wait and see. Maybe Grady will choose this series to finally start to really hit. He has shown sign of life but he is still not quite right.
I am dedicating this entry to Trevor Crowe.
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My Favorite Indians

I have nothing of any importance to say today. I am feeling like the Indians are apparently feeling now at the end of Spring Training; a little lethargic and apathetic. That does not mean I do not care about YOU, I just have no motivation. So here is a list of my favorite Indians of all time. The of all time is used loosely because I actually do not know that many Indians not playing now so it is mostly favorite Indians playing right now.

Cliff Lee
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Aren’t they a cute family? I love the little girl, Maci, with the bow!
Rick Vaughn 
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Yes he so counts!
Rick Manning
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haha Look at his hair! Awesome.
Jake Taylor
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We already discussed this: he counts! There apparently are no good pictures of him. Which is sad.
Asdrubal Cabrera
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Oh Cabby.
Trevor Crowe (my project)
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I hope he blows the Indians away and permanently replaces David Dellucci. Dellucci is a nice guy but Trevor is just a better fit for playing on this team. And maybe I have not all the way forgiven him for the alligator stunt earlier.
Mark DeRosa
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Apparently all you have to do to become one of my favorite players is be amazing in the WBC, be hilarious, and say that Grady is the best leadoff man in the game.
And of course…
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just one more… humor me.
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Um… Probably my favorite Grday picture ever. If you can rock the backwards baseball hat, you’ve got me.
Pictures:
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6) Cleveland Plain Dealer

The Fighting Braves of the Cuyahoga

Congratulations to Greg over at Red Sox Ramblings for correctly guessing my movie quote!
UPDATE:
Zach Jackson was chosen as the final bullpen pitcher. The Indians have finalized their 25-man roster. 
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Today it was announced that David Dellucci will start the season on the Disabled List and Trevor Crowe will be replacing him. I am very excited. Elizabeth recently asked me if I have any minor league projects like she has every year and I was thinking about who mine would be. Strangely enough I chose Michael Brantley and Trevor Crowe. And now Crowe will start the year in the Majors. I hope he does well. And I hope if he is doing really well the Indians try to figure out some way to keep him up there when Dellucci returns. Dellucci is a nice guy but the Indians have yet to see real consistent hitting from him. I do wish Dellucci a speedy recovery I just do not see him as a good player for this team. Maybe he will come back and prove everyone wrong; he has had a better spring than expected.

Guess what I found today? Mark DeRosa’s blog! It is called The Pulse. There was not anything on it the last time I checked but I cannot wait for it to start. Mark is so funny and personable in interviews and I am sure he will have a great blog.
I gave my speech and turned in my paper today! I will be posting my paper sometime in the next week. I have to make sure turnitin.com does not scan here and say that I plagiarized myself. That would be a huge mess. I can see it now. My teacher asks me to come to his office and then informs me that my paper is 100% copied and I will be kicked out of the University. I then ask if he knows who I allegedly copied the paper from. I have no idea if he knows this from the turnitin report but if he did: Why yes I do Melissa. From this blog on mlblogs.com. Then I would have to explain that it is my blog and turnitin has informed you that I plagiarized myself. And then who knows what would happen. I do not know how good my paper is. I am worried it kind of became a rant towards the end so hopefully I still do alright.
The Indians are playing the Padres tonight at 7 at Peoria. Carl Pavano is the scheduled pitcher. I hope he has a similar outing to his last outing. He looked a lot better in his previous start and I hope that is the Pavano the Indians will get this season. I will hopefully get to hear Rick Manning and Matt Underwood again but I am not sure. If I do I will try to remember or write down some priceless Manning quotes so you can all understand my infatuation with him. He is so funny. I have also decided that in honor of Major League I may start calling the Indians the strange names the announcer calls them in Major League. For example: the Wigwamers or my personal favorite the Fighting Braves of the Cuyahoga. 
For now I will leave you with:
“This is the Sammy Sosa who forgot the English Language!”- Indians broadcaster yesterday referring to the Orioles trading away Mike Fontenot for Sammy Sosa when Sosa was clearly past his prime. Sorry Ken and Jordan. He said it not me.

What do Dontrelle Willis and I have in common?

The Indians won today. Mark DeRosa hit two home runs and a double that was nearly a home run. Grady Sizemore went 2-4 with a single and a triple. I love triples and stolen bases and bunt singles; anything that involves speed is incredibly attractive to me. Probably also why I like soccer players. Fausto Carmona had another strong outing and Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless seventh. Good day for the Indians.

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Not such a good day for the Detroit Tigers and Dontrelle Willis however, which is why I am really writing this post right now. Dontrelle Willis was placed on the disabled list with an anxiety disorder. Here is where you learn something special about me. I, too, have and still do struggle with an anxiety disorder. It is not really that serious but there are times when it becomes very overwhelming and sometimes almost paralyzing. I do not know what kind of anxiety Willis may be experiencing but I would assume it is probably very similar to mine as mine comes from a desire to be perfect all the time. This sometimes causes me to feel an overwhelming fear of doing assignments. Since Willis is a professional athlete and most athletes are perfectionists I would assume he probably feels similarly. His recent struggles would probably cause him to become very nervous before pitching and would probably interrupt his performance. I was very sad to read this story on mlb.com and I feel for him. I hope he recovers as quickly and as easily as the Detroit doctor’s seem to think. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers; I know what he must be feeling. Having to start the year on the DL probably did nothing to help him feel better about himself; he probably just views this as another failure. I hope he is able to overcome this struggle. It may not be the most serious injury/illness he could have but it is sad to hear.
I am going to start leaving y’all with a favorite quote. These quotes may be from anywhere. Today I chose a happy quote since this post is a bit of a downer.
“Too high, too high.” “What do you mean too high?” “At first it was really high!” “Who gives a **** it’s gone!”
Name that movie.
Pictures:

Why the Indians Win It All in 2009

Toady is a off day in Spring Training for the Indians so there is no real news to report so far. 

Ryan at Prose and Ivy recently asked me to comment on his blog about why I think the Indians will win the World Series in 2009. This got me thinking that it would be a great blog post on my blog.
So here it is: Why the Indians Win It All in 2009
1) The offseason was a great one for a mid-market team with limited resources this year that will definitely be hit hard by the economic crisis. They began the offseason with a list of priorities. The first was a closer. They got a top rate closer in Kerry Wood. They could have waited until he was cheaper or a cheaper option was available. However being passive in the offseason clearly did not work last year so they had a target and they hit it. Next they wanted an infielder that was not a first baseman. A third baseman would be ideal but a second baseman or shortstop would work as well. What did they do? They got Mark DeRosa who can play really anywhere and made him their third baseman. DeRosa actually says he feels most comfortable at third. Their third priority was a middle of the rotation starter. They got Carl Pavano. So far this is their most risky and questionable move. I think it will work out for them. He may not be like he was a few years ago but he says he feels more comfortable in Cleveland and feels healthy. So far his spring has not been too impressive but he claims he is fine. The one thing the Indians are giving him that no one else would is a chance. They are showing him that they believe in him and they are willing to let him try to come back. I think this will do a lot for him.
2) The Indians’ offense is shaping up to be one of the most potent offenses in the Majors. Just look at the projected lineup:

Grady Sizemore CF

Mark DeRosa 3B

Victor Martinez C/1B

Jhonny Peralta SS

Travis Hafner DH

Shin Soo Choo RF

Ben Francisco LF

Ryan Garko 1B

Asdrubal Cabrera 2B

Insert Kelly Shoppach for Ryan Garko on days Cliff Lee pitches and whenever else Eric Wedge feels like playing him.

The first six batters are all legit home run threats. Even without home runs there are some scary things happening in that lineup for opposing pitchers. If Grady gets on DeRosa has already said that he would love to figure something out with Grady to make it easier for Grady steal some more bases this year. So there is the stolen base threat. Then there is the RBI threat without a home run. This entire lineup is capable of hitting to drive runs in. 

3) The Indians injury problems seem to be fixed this year. With the exception of Jake Westbrook all of the players that the Indians lost to injury in 2008 are back. Hafner may not be back to his Pronk state just yet but he says he feels great and it is just a matter of time until he gets his rhythm back and finally starts to really drive the ball. Martinez has already shown that his power stroke is back. He has a great spring so far including a few home runs. Anthony Reyes’ elbow problems seem to be fixed. He has had a very dominant spring and has shown his ability to be a very effective fourth starter for the Indians this year. In my opinion Reyes could easily be the third starter for the Indians. He may be if Pavano gets hurt or does not work out as expected. 
4) The Indians bullpen was awful in 2008. In 2009 however it looks to be solid. The bullpen is much more organized; everyone has a role and everyone knows their role. Kerry Wood is already becoming the leader of the pen. His leadership will go a long way in solidifying the bullpen and making the younger pitchers more successful pitchers.
5) Fausto Carmona appears to be back. So far this spring he has shown better command of his pitches and seems to have his rhythm back. His return could be reminiscent of a certain Cliff Lee last year. In 2006 Cliff Lee was very good for the Indians but in 2007 he suffered an injury and was never able to fully recover and return to his previous form. In 2008 he started the season in the Majors and was able to return  to 2006 form and improve on it. I hope the same happens with Carmona and so far it looks that way. It is true that Spring Training numbers do not mean a whole lot in the long run but he is pitching with more confidence and command than he showed last year and that will matter in the long run.
6) Two words: Grady Sizemore. Grady had a small setback early in the spring but he appears to be 100% recovered from his minor groin injury that kept him out of the World Baseball Classic. In my opinion Grady is set to have another monster year for the Indians. I think there is a real chance he will have a 40/40 year. One thing I think Grady can do more of this year is bunt for base hits. I think this will help his average a lot and get him more stolen bases. I also think this is what the team needs more of this year. They have the people back who can hit home runs; they do not need him to be their power bat anymore. I love home runs as much as the next girl but Grady’s first priority this season should be to get on base I think.
The only problem is the starting rotation. If Carl Pavano pitches a solid season the rotation is great. If not, it is shot. I know everyone is saying that the key to the season is Pronk’s return or Martinez’ return. I disagree. Pavano is the key. Everything else is pretty much set. There are very few other questions or unsolved issues. I think his season will set the tone for the rest of the rotation. If the Indians have solid third starter it takes the pressure off of the first two as well as the last two. If Pavano can do that the Indians are good to go. If he is not able to put together at least a solid season I see the Indians finishing still finishing first or second in the division. If they finish first and make the playoffs I do not see them being able to make the World Series let alone win it. 
What do you think about your team’s chances this year? I know everyone is supposed to think that this is the year for their team but I know a lot of you do not think that. I would love to know why and who you think does win it all this year.

Indians this Week

Sorry if this is boring but I thought I would post the article I wrote for MLB Center this week. I have already mentioned some things in the article but it is a good general overview of Tribe happenings in the past week.

The WBC was bittersweet for me tonight. I want Mark DeRosa in camp but I want the US to do well too. They were playing with Japan for awhile but they just let it get away from them. It was a good run for the US though. They faced a lot of difficulties and still managed to have strong showing on an international stage. Good job guys!

The Indians made their second cut this week. They cut
fifteen players trimming their roster from 59 to 44. They sent down one
prospect for the fifth rotation spot and three prospects for the last bullpen
spot. Some notable cuts include Tony Sipp, LHP, David Huff, LHP, Carlos
Santana, C, and Wes Hodges, 3B. Tony Sipp is still recovering from Tommy John
Surgery so the Indians are being careful with him. He has made a good
impression so far in camp. David Huff was somewhat of a surprise to be cut but
recently suffered some soreness in his arm, which slowed his progress. He was
competing for the fifth rotation spot but is no longer being considered to get
the spot out of Spring Training. Carlos Santana has lived up to expectations
offensively and has highly impressed the Indians. However Eric Wedge thinks he
needs a little more practice handling a pitching staff. Santana has been called
the Indians’ top minor league prospect. Wes Hodges was very successful
offensively but needs a little more work defensively at third.

            In
Sunday’s Cactus League game Cliff Lee started against the Rockies at Hi Corbett
Field in Tucson, Arizona. Lee looked commanding giving up two runs and striking
out three. He said after the game that he feels ready for the season. He added
that from now on in Spring Training starts he will be pitching as if he is
pitching a regular season game. So Lee should start to look like he should look
in the regular season in the last couple of weeks of the spring.

            Fausto
Carmona is reportedly fine after taking a line drive to his arm in an
intrasquad game at Goodyear Park in Arizona. He threw a bullpen session
Saturday and felt fine. He is scheduled to start Tuesday’s game against the
White Sox at Goodyear.

            Anthony
Reyes has had a very strong spring so far. He threw five scoreless innings on
Saturday. As long as he stays healthy he should be a lock for the fourth
rotation spot.

            Carl
Pavano has allowed twelve runs so far on fifteen hits. He has not had a very
impressive spring so far according to the numbers but he says he feels better
than he has in years and feels he is making progress. As long as he continues
to feel good he will be in the rotation.

            The
fifth rotation spot will probably come down to Scott Lewis and Aaron Laffey
although Jeremy Sowers is another possibility. Zach Jackson was formerly
competing for the spot but now he seems to be more likely to get the last spot
in the bullpen if anything. Scott Lewis has made a strong showing this spring
and has thoroughly impressed Eric Wedge. Wedge says that Lewis is definitely
high on the list for the fifth spot. Aaron Laffey came into to Spring Training
as the favorite for the job. However he has a rough spring so far with an ERA
of 6.92. But Wedge does not place too much stock in Spring Training statistics;
he is more concerned with seeing progress from his players. Wedge also stresses
that there is a lot of time still left in this year’s extended Spring Training.

            With
Team USA’s nine to four loss to Japan Sunday night, Mark DeRosa will be heading
back to Goodyear. Wedge cannot wait until he returns so he can get him some
more typical Spring Training work to ensure that he is prepared for the regular
season. DeRosa’s return should also help him become more acclimated to the
team. Shin Soo Choo, the Indians only player left in the Classic, will be
playing in the final game tomorrow night for South Korea against Japan. The
winner will be the new World Baseball Classic Champion. Choo has been out of
camp since February 24. He has had two hits in the Classic in only twelve at
bats. There is some concern that he has not been getting the work he needs to
prepare him for the season.