Trading DeRosa.....f my life. You need some pitching. Ted Lilly for Shoppach and a bag of balls would probably work.

Man DeRosa was a beast at the game yesterday. 2 bombs and a double that hit about 10 feet up the batter's eye wall right above the 410 sign. Grady added 2 hits, Vic 3, Peralta 2 and George Lombard, once a top prospect for Atlanta, hit an HR in garbage time after pinch running for Grady late. He will be 33 yo AAA player this season.

Carmona looked good except for one pitch up to Milton Bradley who put in in the right field seats. Got he kills the Tribe even in Spring. Glad he is in the NL. Fausto left a few fastballs up throughout the day but was still 10-6 on GB-FB. The infield still looked a bit iffy, such as when Peralta couldn't execute a routine flip to start a DP. Wood looked great, his fastball still gets a lot of swings and misses. He only threw one inning. His Spring ERA is 0.00.

Kobayashi on the other hand, continues to struggle. His fastball is just not good enough to get people out right now. He was not commanding his other pitches and going deep in every count and finally trying to get someone out with a meaty fastball which all got hit very hard. I think he gave up a double, HR, single before he got an out. I was 3 rows behind the plate by then (thank you Cub fans who left early) and saw Antonetti actually scratch his head while talking with Wedge during Kobayashi's give up the HR.

Off to Goodyear today for a 4:05 game with San Diego. Pavano starting.

KJS

Dellucci on the 15 day DL. Trevor Crowe to take place on roster. No loss with Dellucci, but I wonder why Crowe. He is supposed to be part of the future and you can't really be part of the future if you are sitting on the bench. Granted it's only two weeks, but I never understood the logic of bringing up a top prospect at the beginning or middle of a year and have him sit.

What are you guys expecting out of Scott Lewis this year?

Another Spring win for the Tribe yesterday and my first look at their home park.

Thoughts on the park: it is in the middle of nowhere which does not add to its atmosphere. Scottsdale in particular is near a lot to do and makes the pre and post game much better. Once inside it is a beatiful ballpark with great site lines throughout, a nice shaded bar in CF and very fan friendly. Notably, there was not a single Chief Wahoo that I saw from inside or outside. The prices did not seem too bad but I did not eat, only drank beers.

Pavano looked excellent in his start. Only gave up 4 hits, all singled, and 2R, one earned. Peralta misplayed his first chance at 3B, a one hopper from Eckstein who came around to score later in the inning. Pavano had good fastball command and decent breaking stuff to get people out once ahead in the count, which he was often, particularly after the first. I think he is ready for the season and can put up league average numbers, maybe better, if healthy. He has shown no signs of health issues this spring.

Mujica did fineand Betancourt pitched for the second day in a row, getting 2Ks and only giving up a single. Joe Smith also threw a scoreless frame and had hitters looking way off balance, striking out 2. I am very high on Smith, I think he can give us something different late in the game and give the 2 Rafeal's a break. His delivery really looked like it was giving guys some problems yesterday.

Offensively, Pronk hit his first HR of the spring in the first: a laser shot in right center on a hanging curve ball. I am sure he was relieved. That said, he looked very mediocre in his other ABs and left 4 on base. I am not expecting much from Hafner this season tbh, he does not look ready to put up big numbers.

I was glad to see Choo in the lineup but he did not get a hit. Showed off his great arm in RF a few times. Most everyone else was forgettable, aside from a late game HR from Cabrera.

Sought out some autographs for my nephews before and after but only managed to get Westbrook and Wedge to sign.

Back to Goodyear today for Tribe v Mariners. Scott Lewis starting.

KJS

Lewis has had a bad spring since winning the job. just gave up 10 ER in 3.2 today including a slam and 2 other HRs. Anyones guess on him IMO.

KJS

I saw the game Haffner hit his home run on TV. It was a sweet letter high pitch. Like KJS said it looked like a curve ball that didn't.
He did hit what I thought to be a hard grounder to right, which the second baseman grabbed on the shift. Sometimes on tv it's difficult to judge how hard things are hit.
I do hope the guy comes around (I have him on my two fantasy teams on the bench), I really have my doubts.

Lewis was whining that the ball was slippery. For whatever that is worth. It didn't seem to affect Seattle's starter 5IP 4H 1R 0BB 4K.

Great trip reports KJS, thanks.

Bump for Opening Day (less than three hours away from the first pitch) and the first step towards a division crown!

OMGYES!!!

woke up a little bit ago, checked the guide to see what's on this weekend, 'what's this? the indians, huh?'...

woo-hoo!!

Did Hafner finish spring strong? He looked turrible in early spring when I saw him and his stats were awful. Batting cleanup today!

Is Choo for real? I just grabbed him from the FA pool in a deep league I'm in and I'm wondering if last year was an anomaly or if I can expect some good production from him.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008 AL Cy Young award winner!!

Yeah Lee sucked today just like he did in Spring. Everything he left up got hit hard. Didn't help that the Indians bats could not keep them in the game either. They made Millwood look like a Cy candidate.

161 games left to turn it around.

KJS

for real how? he'll be solid, and *i* think he'll be a bit above that....as long as it's a deeep league, good pick.

that said, fun opening afternoon.

i was actually drinking 40's of...get ready....Old English at 4pm.

yeah.

then i went back to the store and bought 4 more just to toss in my downstairs fridge, and 3 of them are already gone....

5 40oz of old english today.

i refuse to do this every loss, but on opening day, i feel it's acceptable.

on a side note: i have raymar morgan O/10.5 points tonight, he hit an early 2, and has been playing like a ghost since....i guess i deserve it. even the arab corner store guy gave me the eyeball when i came back to get more OE...

anyone have an opinion on the long term potential of asdrubal cabrera? is he going to be anything more than a random .750 ops 2nd baseman?

through gritted teeth last night, i mumbled to my fiancee about how this is starting to remind me of not hitting for a month at a time last year..

yuck.

i know we scored some runs last night, but the first 5 innings of these games are getting a bit eerie for me..

Meh, maybe next year.

carl pavanolololol

Indians only team looking worse then the Tigers so far. Midwest baseball IMO.

Yikes
IP H R ER BB K HR Season ERA
C. Pavano 1.0 6 9 9 3 1 2 81.00

Stupid Sizemore- YOU CAN'T STEAL BASES FOR MY FANTASY TEAM IF ALL YOU DO IS HIT HOMERUNS

I think it's funny how the team threads are devolving into unbridled team optimism for the homers, and other people asking about how certain guys look for fantasy.

So how bout this Jhonny Peralta. I realize the bats aren't really going in Cleveland yet so I'm being patient with him for now ... can I pencil him in for the 23 HR he hit last year, with upside to do more? Anything else I would know about him if I were a fan?

Jhonny P may be the streakiest hitter in the league. Stick with him. His numbers should look similar to the last few years.

5 home runs today for the tribe. WE CAN BUILD ON THIS

Agreed Peralta is very streaky. When he starts hitting to right center is when he will be on one of his hot streaks. When he is pulling everything... .220

You know that everyone says he is a pull hitter but he is not. He spread the ball around very well last year. You would know he has LASIK in the 08 offseason and attested his improvement last year to it in part. Hitting between a good Haftner (TBD) and Choo, who can also be good might mean some good looks for Peralta. He has power and is streaky like the other poster said.

You would also know he should not be playing SS on a major league team. Only Jeter might have worse range.

KJS

PS. Last time the Indians started the season 0-3 they won 99 games.