News
Tribe to get rest before facing Royals
Cleveland (25-34) vs. Kansas City (24-32), 7:05 p.m. ET
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com
06/07/09 7:50 PM ET
CHICAGO -- Before the start of the 2009 season, manager Eric Wedge noticed that huge chunk of occupied days on his calendar. Wedge's Indians were scheduled to play 37 games in 38 days from May 1-June 7, but Wedge figured Mother Nature would intervene at some point. "I guess what you anticipate is that there's going to be a rainout here or there," Wedge said. "But what made [the schedule] tougher for us is when we did have rain, we waited around and then played, which makes it an even longer day. So it's been a tough stretch for us." On the 39th day, the Indians rested. The long stretch mercifully came to a close with Sunday's 8-4 win over the White Sox in Chicago. And after Monday's long-awaited off-day, the Indians will enter a nine-game homestand and three-game series with the Royals on Tuesday on the opposite end of the spectrum. In a 15-day stretch, beginning Monday, they will have three days off. Beyond the obvious implications such breaks have with regard to ensuring players stay healthy and effective, the down time also will allow Wedge and pitching coach Carl Willis to rearrange the rotation, as necessary. That begins Tuesday, with Cliff Lee taking the ball on his fifth day and the rotation getting shuffled from there. Carl Pavano has been bumped to the No. 2 spot deserted by Fausto Carmona, who was optioned to the rookie level Arizona League last week. The Indians will keep similarly styled left-handers Jeremy Sowers and David Huff separated by the insertion of righty Tomo Ohka. With additional off-days on the June 18 and 22, the Indians can go with a four-man rotation for two turns before the end of the month. Conceivably, this should assist a Cleveland team eagerly awaiting the returns of Jake Westbrook and Aaron Laffey from the disabled list. "We'll take it off-day by off-day," Wedge said of the rotation shuffling. "However we want to manipulate it, we can do that. We don't need to predetermine anything. We'll work off this [first] off-day, then go from there." By now the Indians are used to this type of outlook. "We've had more of a 'day-by-day' approach this year than at any time since I've been here," Wedge said. "It's just a product of the injuries and the schedule and, somewhat, the performance." The schedule finally is easing on the Indians after a brutal stretch. Consider that in the time since the 38-day spurt of action began, the Tribe had 16 days in which they made some type of transaction. All told, 29 players were affected by all those moves. Outfielders David Dellucci and Matt LaPorta and left-handers Rich Rundles and Zach Jackson all have come and gone in that span, and infielder Josh Barfield came, went and came back again. "You've got to adapt," Wedge said. "You've got to adjust and persevere, and that's what we're trying to do. All in all, guys have handled it well. Obviously we'd like to be in a better place, won-loss wise, but how these guys have approached the game is going to pay off for us in the long run." Pitching matchupCLE: LHP Cliff Lee (3-6, 2.96 ERA)
The Indians hadn't given much run support to Lee this season ((3.04 runs per game) prior to Wednesday's game. Lee's latest start was a whole different story. Cleveland scored 10 against Minnesota as Lee cruised to his third win of the year. Lee went eight innings for the fifth time this season, but he recorded just his first win when doing so. Lee's five-strikeout performance was a nice way to rebound from a tough 3-1 loss. KC: RHP Brian Bannister (4-3, 4.97 ERA)
Bannister has been knocked around in his last two starts after doing quite well following his callup from Triple-A Omaha. On Wednesday night at Tampa Bay, he didn't make it out of the fourth inning, as Ben Zobrist's grand slam put the Rays ahead, 8-0. Bannister gave up nine hits, walked three and had two wild pitches while running up 91 pitches (55 strikes) in his 3 2/3 innings. In his last two games, his ERA has leaped from 2.79 to 4.80. This is his third start against the Indians this season. On April 22, his first game back in the Major Leagues, Bannister blanked them for six innings. On May 19, however, the Tribe nicked him for five runs on nine hits and he got a no-decision. Tidbits
Right-hander Anthony Reyes had his visit with Dr. Lewis Yocum in California last week, but no final determination was made on whether he'll have the season-ending ulnar nerve transposition surgery the Indians are recommending. Yocum ordered more tests on the elbow. The Indians should know more by the middle of the week. ... Pavano has pitched a shutout for four teams in his career: the Expos, Marlins, Yankees and Indians. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Mike Hampton is the only other active pitcher to toss a shutout in four different uniforms. Hampton did it for the Astros, Mets, Rockies and Braves. ... Class A Kinston will have three representatives at the Carolina League All-Star Game on June 23, and all three were members of the Tribe's 2008 First-Year Player Draft class. Infielders Lonnie Chisenhall and Cord Phelps and left-hander Eric Berger will play for the Carolina League against the California League in Lake Elsinore, Calif. Tickets
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• Wednesday: Indians (Carl Pavano, 6-4, 4.63) vs. Royals (Gil Meche, 2-5, 4.08), 7:05 p.m. ET
• Thursday: Indians (Jeremy Sowers, 1-3, 5.40) vs. Royals (TBD), 7:05 p.m. ET
• Friday: Indians (Tomo Ohka, 0-0, 5.40) vs. Cardinals (TBD), 7:05 p.m. ET
Anthony Castrovince is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
