Saturday, March 13 -Sedona Take 2

With sunshine in the forecast we headed back to Sedona to experience the Pink Jeep tour through the red rocks. We were not disappointed. It was a nice way to end a great week of baseball and enjoying the beauty of God's creation.

Friday...undefeated still (still sort of.....)

Tribe and Angels tie 7-7 in 9 innings. Clubs usually have used up players they want to use in 9 or 10 innings and they call it a game.  Like yesterday, the Tribe had a lead in the 8th and one pitcher had a meltdown. Today the meltdown was by Joe Smith and his fluttering sidearm slider. Today the only flutter in his slider was as the Angels crushed it! In only about 12 pitches the score went from 7-4 lead to a 7-7 tie. Spring training games are not only to win but to place players in game situations, and this game situation was lost by Smith. There was a concern as Asdrubal left early in the game following a triple to the left field corner he appeared to tweek a hip or upper leg muscle and took himself out of the game. Other injury rumor is that Russell Branyon, who has yet to play in a game, may have a more serious back injury which involves a disc. Hopefully his signing has an injury release because he appears to be damaged goods. ( I honestly was not thrilled about him signing because if we needed a first baseman why did we dump Ryan Garko?
Tim's Friday thoughts.......
-The ball autographs today included famous Reds infielder Barry Larkin, Reds manager Dusty Baker, Reds first baseman Joey Votto, Indians pitcher Justin Masterson and a few others.
-Ohio celebrity sighting today was Tom and Anita Bogart and their daughter Missy, now living Seattle.
-Now with Branyon possibly injured, why not name Matt Laporte as the first baseman and Michael Brantley as the left fielder?
-I am not impressed with the utility infielder battle as Mark Grudzielanek, Luis Rodriguez, Carlos Rivera, and Brian Bixler have not been impressive at all!
-Would some team please take Andy Marte from us...he is a nice guy, can hit every so often, but has no home on this team as we have given him over three years with no results.
-Grady made another "Grady catch" today....we really assume he will catch everything, and he does!
-The arm concern does not appear to be a problem yet for Grady.
-In game shape and ready to start today would be Grady Sizemore, Johhny Peralta, and Luis Valbuena.
-Today Rafael Perez looked great. Fausto Carmona had control and also looked super! Jake Westbrook struggled with the first three hitters but then found the sinker and looked good for his two plus innings.
-Catchers have a nice battle as two will stay. In my opinion I like Mike Redmond and Wyatt Toregas but the runblings I get are that Toregas will be in Columbus and Lou Marson will be in Cleveland with Redmond. All three appear to have a nice handle on handling the pitchers and will bat around .250. With this pitching staff it is critical to have a catcher with leadership more than with a .300 average. We need a leader with the ability to keep runners in control.
Saturday morning we will check in at the field for a few hours then off to Sedona to ride the pink jeeps (missed them on Wednesday due to the snow/rain/sleet and other gifts from God!)

Thursday and Indians still undeated (sort of).....

Well a 5-5 10 inning tie is not a loss! We went to Camelback Ranch in Glendale which is the Spring Training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox. This is the most impressive baseball facility I have seen as it is landscaped in tiers with each team having their seven fields and some wonderful fan access. No matter what field we were at we stood with players. Brenda got ball autographs from Don Mattingly, the obvious replacement to Joe Torre in a year, Chad Billingsley from Defiance, and Harold Baines of the White Sox coaching staff. We had numerous photo opps with about any player you wanted. Ran into Mr. Siegler and his grandson Josh Siegler from Pandora and took some photos of him with his favorite player Chad Billingsley.

The White Sox and Dodgers command a different level of respect and their facility reflects this respect as the owners and planners have gone above and beyond to make this a classy place.

Tim's tips from Thursday....
-As much as I dislike Ozzie Guillen, he is the largest attraction in camp as he draws a crowd no matter who is around. I still dislike him though......
-Freddy Garcia is attempting a comeback and appears to have nothing left in his arm.

-Omar is with the White Sox but he was nowhere insight today as he is singing at a club in Scottsdale this evening. He has some artwork on display in the area as well as performing.

-Too many teams have former Indians being successful...Casey Blake,the fruitcake Manny Ramirez and  Jamey Carroll with the Dodgers, Omar Vizquel with the White Sox, Brandon Phillips with the Reds, and on and on and on.
-The Indian catchers still stand out as they threw two more runners out today.

-Reliever Jess Todd could not have gotten my grandsons out today as he gave up a 4-2 lead in about 18 pitches.

-The Indians line up today resembled the Columbus Clippers, so being an optimist I consider this one a victory.

-It was painful to take photos of my beloved wife posing with the likes of Alexei Ramiriez, Harold Baines, Carlos Quentin and the rest. I will see those Sox in my sleep!

-Chris Perez is one large pitcher with an even larger fastball....he looks like a nice 8th inning flame thrower.

-Jensen Lewis looks very sharp and finally appears to realize that he can actually be a big league pitcher and not just up for a one week trial period. He looks confident instead of awestruck by the other players.

-Austin Kearns was even slower today than he was yesterday....change the diet Austin.

-If attending a half mile race between Austin Kearns and Shelly Duncan, bring a sleeping bag and money for breakfast because it will be a while.

-Hector Rondon is quietly moving up on the depth chart and in a month I think could be a surprise.

Game in Goodyear Friday with the Angels.....

Indians won another one, 10-5 against the Padres

Enough said......more baseball reporting on Thursday.

Tuesday-Tribe defeats Seattle 6-4 @ Peoria

Being 4 and 0 is a tiny tiny step so don't block off the month of October for baseball in Cleveland yet! An observation on the Indians under Manny Acta and his new staff is that they appear to have made an attitude adjustment. Yes, they still need pitching, yes, they need power, and yes, they need fans in the seats, but they appear to want to improve and not just enjoy wearing the uniform. It is my observation that they respect this coaching staff much more than they have the past two or three years.

Today we traveled about 25 minutes to the Peoria Sports Complex which is shared by the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres. It is similar to Goodyear with each team having a practice facility with six full fields and an infield in addition to very up-to-date training rooms, locker rooms, lounges, and indoor batting facilities. Peoria is much more fan friendly as I could easily talk and visit with each and every player. Fewer fences and security so it actually felt friendly. I think it reminds the players where a great deal of their salaries come from.

Answers to questions that you would never asked..........

-Cliff Lee signed a ball for Brenda here but was always hard to catch in the Indians camp.

-Former pitching coach Carl Willis has showed up in a Mariners uniform.

-Former Indian Franklin Gutierrez is a real fan favorite in Seattle.

-We saw Ryan Garko with the Mariners today and yes, Jessica, his pant legs are pulled up again!
-Seattle looks like they are going to be one of the best in the league.

-Ichiro hits in his sleep...I watched him bat 12 pitches in 12 directions and called each spot.

-Austin Kearns is showing me why he hit .160 last year.

-Justin Masterson could not throw a straight pitch to save his life.

-Luis Valbuena is going to hit .275 or above with 30 doubles and 15 home runs.

-Wes Hodges can hit but not sure where to hide him in the field.

-Sandy Alomar Jr. signs one of the worst autograph signatures ever...Jake Westbrook the best.

-Our DH position is a concern as Travis looks.....well... we may need a DH.

-Wyatt Toregas can catch and throw like a big leaguer and I think he could hit at least .250.

-Batting coach John Nunnally makes me feel like I could even hit a slider down and in.

-Asdrubal Cabrera looks like a natural as lead-off.

-Aaron Laffey looks young enough to be the president of a 7th grade class but when he is on the mound he becomes our most aggressive pitcher using the inside half of the plate.

Off to Sedona Wednesday for a little red rock time.....look for the some pictures.