Victor Martinez

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Indians Ruin Yankees Home Opener

April 16th, 2009 | Author: Paneech

The New York Yankees opened the doors to their new home for the first time. The Cleveland Indians were supposed to be the sacrificial lamb to help aid the baptism of a new park. Cleveland turned out to be the rudest of guests, scoring nine times in the 7th inning and riding their best pitching start of the year to slap the Yankees, 10-2.

Cliff Lee looked sharp for six innings giving up just a homer to Jorge Posada. Lee gave up seven hits and struck out four lowering his season ERA to 6.75. Other than Posada’s bomb, Lee seemed to have good stuff and bent but didn’t break. This has to be, by far, the best effort by a starting pitcher for The Tribe in all ten games.

Grady Sizemore had a grand slam and Victor Martinez homered for Cleveland as well. Martinez is batting .381 and has been consistently productive. Kelly Shoppach tacked on a couple of hits.

First Bank of Steinbrenner investment known as CC Sabathia, an overweight and overpaid baseball pitcher who happens to be worth half as much as the entire Florida Marlins roster, went 5 2/3 giving up five hits and walking five. Sabathia didn’t figure into the decision.

Few things should make Cleveland sports fans happier than what happened in New York today. The Indians, playing with their backs against the wall, played a complete game against the financially secure bullies. This may well be the wake-up call Eric Wedge was hoping for.

I’m sure Yankee fans everywhere will be making excuses, they have gotten really good at that in the last few years. “What do you expect, we didn’t have A-Roid“, will be a popular one. Here is one for the Yankee faithful from me. One of your worst investments in recent times, and there have been plenty, failed to pitch his team to victory today.

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The 2009 Cleveland Indians: 10 Fearless Predictions

March 11th, 2009 | Author: Paneech

I believe that the 2009 Cleveland Indians will win the AL Central by at least 6 games. I also believe that the lead will be bigger before Eric Wedge takes his foot off of the gas.

Travis Hafner and Kerry Wood will be carpooling back-and-forth to the Cleveland Clinic. Bad hunch here, but Pronk and the new guy are both going to have injury-plagued seasons. Look for Wood to be on the DL at least three times. Expect Hafner to miss a couple of months.

Matt LaPorta will be the starting 1B or DH by the end of the season.

The Indians will lose in the ALCS to the Anaheim Angels.

Grady Sizemore will be a candidate for AL MVP with an outstanding year. Look for sizemore to go 30/30 with over 110 RBI.

Mark DeRosa will make the 2010 AL All-Star team based on what he does this season for the Tribe. Look for DeRosa to be the versatile piece that completes the puzzle.

Cliff Lee will not win the 2009 Cy Young Award. Look for Lee to still rack up 16 wins and be among the league leaders in ERA all season.

Fausto Carmona will be demoted to the bullpen. This move might take place for several reasons. The most obvious being Kerry Wood being physically unable to perform and the Indians needing the quick fix. He may also be used as a setup man after struggling as a starter.

Victor Martinez will have a great year and miss very little playing time. Look for Martinez to be healthy all year with maybe one short trip to the DL, barring some freaky injury.

Asdrubal Cabrera will be replaced by Josh Barfield by the end of the season. Don’t be shocked if this happens. Cabrera just doesn’t impress me enough with the bat. Once Barfield gets a good look at Spring Training, don’t hold it against Eric Wedge to make this move.

Bonus: Mark Shapiro will bring in someone for the playoff push. That someone is going to be Roy Halladay. Another long reach here, but the Blue Jays are going to be unloading salary when they are eliminated by the break this year. Cleveland will look to add one more big arm for the push!

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