Can You Spell LOOGY in Scrabble?

After a surprising 2013 Cleveland Indians season the organization has higher expectations for 2014 than any season dating back to 2008. The Indians and their fans will expect a playoff team and World Series contender. For the month of October, we’ll look at the how the Indians became a contender, but most importantly, How Do the Indians Reach the Next Level?

Marc Rzepczynski performed exceptionally for the Cleveland Indians down the stretch. The Tribe needed a left-handed pitcher in the bullpen with Rich Hill and sometimes Nick Hagadone as their only options. He came up big for the Indians in September, when they needed him the most, and he helped make the final push that lead the Tribe into the post season. In his three months with the Indians, he pitched 20.1 innings, striking out 20 and walking six while allowing only 11 hits. For all the Indians got from Rzepczynski, all they gave up in was light hitting Single-A shortstop Juan Herrera. Rzepczynski is a true LOOGY, and a valuable asset to the Indians bullpen.

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Hot Hitters Drive the Indians to the Post Season

The Cleveland Indians ended a great season on an incredible run. They went 21-6 in the month of September, the best record in the Major Leagues. They ended the season in a fantastic 10 game winning streak. A few players stepped up big time to push the offense and help drive the team to victory after victory, and those players played above and beyond their season numbers to lead the Tribe to their first post season since 2007.

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A Magical Season Ends for the Tribe; Rays 4, Indians 0

The Cleveland Indians stormed into the post season with a flurry, but the one game playoff proved to be their undoing as they were defeated by the Tampa Bay Rays 4-0.

The Indians have fought so hard, battled through tough times, and survived 162 games to reach the 2013 Major League Playoffs. With 92 wins on the season, the Tribe scratched and clawed their way into the post season for the first time since 2007. Monday evening, the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Texas Rangers to win the right to play the Cleveland Indians in this one game wild card playoff. It is elimination time, win and move on, lose and go home, no second chances. Read More

A Touch of Destiny for Giambi

On Tuesday night Jason Giambi solidified his status as one of the fan favorites on the Cleveland Indians team. With the Tribe trailing the Chicago White Sox 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Giambi came to the plate with two outs and Michael Brantley on base. The mighty Giambi crushed a fly ball deep into the bullpen in right field for a walk-off home run, giving the Indians a 5-4 victory. The win kept them one game ahead of the Texas Rangers for the final wild card spot with just five games left to play.  Giambi has had a long and storied career, but he was not always as beloved as he is here in Cleveland.

Giambi was a product of the Oakland Athletics. Back in the mid 1990’s to early 2000’s, General Manager Sandy Alderson, and later protégé Billy Beane, was stacking his team and his minor league system with power hitters that showed patience at the plate. The crown jewel of his collection was the hard hitting Giambi. In his first full season with the Athletics in 1996, the 25-year old Giambi hit 40 doubles, 20 home runs, and batted .291. He developed into one of the most feared hitters in the game. He was selected for five All-Star teams and finished in the top five in MVP voting for three consecutive seasons. His defining season came in 2000 when he won the AL MVP hitting 43 home runs, 137 RBI and batting .333. The next season he led the league with 47 doubles, hit 38 home runs, and batted a career high .342. Read More

Can the Indians Rotation Stay Strong Down the Stretch?

With the Indians sitting in striking distance of a wild card spot and a trip to the 2013 Major League playoffs, many questions have arisen in regards to the success of the team over the last few weeks of the season. One such issue is the ability of the rotation to remain strong as the grueling MLB season takes its toll on arm and body. If the rotation can hold up and stay strong, the Tribe has a chance at success, if they falter, the Indians are in a great deal of trouble.

Justin Masterson was the Indians ace to start the year, and he pitched like it through the first five months of the season. He leads the Indians with 14 wins and a 3.52 ERA. He is also fifth in the American League in strikeouts with 188. He faltered early on in August, but he has given up two runs or less in each of his last three starts and has emerged as one of the top pitchers in the AL. In his last start, he strained his oblique and will be out for an indeterminate amount of time. He was pitching strong and looked like he was going to be a leader in that rotation down the stretch. His return this season is in question, but his ability on the mound is not. Masterson is the Indians ace and has some of the best numbers of any starting pitcher in the AL. Read More

A Look into Jason Kubel

With the Indians sitting six and a half games out of the Central Division with 24 games left in the season, they are now chasing after one of the two wild card spots available in the American League. They are three and a half games behind in the race and were looking to improve the team in some way. With not a lot of money available to them, their options were limited. A few moves were made, mostly for depth, but the biggest of them was the addition of Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Jason Kubel.

The idea behind the move is to platoon Kubel in right field with Drew Stubbs, and use him as a left handed designated hitter. The downside to that is Kubel has struggled through a bad season. Last season, Kubel had one of the best years of his career, he hit a career high 30 home runs, scored a career high 75 runs, and drove in 90 runs. He has had some good seasons for the Twins in the past, and the Indians are banking on a comeback. Even if he continues to struggle, the Indians gave up next to nothing to get him, so it is a low coast move. Read More

Young Guns Lead the Akron Aeros in 2013

Coming off a 2012 season that saw the Akron Aeros win the Eastern League Championship, many changes were made to the staff and the roster. A new owner, Ken Babby, came in and made an immediate impact on the franchise. He purchased a $3M scoreboard and made a more family friendly, fan friendly atmosphere at Canal Park. New Manager Edwin Rodriguez, former manager of the Miami Marlins, moved up from Carolina to coach much of the roster he captained last season for the Mudcats. The team struggled to a 68-73 record and a fifth place finish in the EL Western Division. The poor record does not reflect the improvements made by owner and management, and the young, exuberant roster.

Arguably, the most prominent Aero coming into this season was returning first baseman Jesus Aguilar. Last year Aguilar spent the majority of the season playing for the High-A Carolina Mudcats, but got the call up to the Aeros in mid-August. He was a big power threat and a young, middle of the order hitter and he was ready to show what he could do in Akron. This year he started the season for the Aeros, and spent the entire 2013 campaign playing first base and designated hitter. On the year he hit .275 with 16 home runs. He finished sixth in the Eastern League with 137 hits, tenth in the league with 28 doubles, and seventh in the league in total bases with 213. Hit most notable accomplishment on the season was his league leading and new Aeros franchise record 105 RBI. For his achievements, Aguilar was honored this season as an Eastern League All-Star. He has made big strides defensively, and at only 23 years old, is one of the most promising hitters in the Indians minor league system. He is certainly a player to watch and is well on his way to becoming a future Cleveland Indians. Read More

Another Solid Start Lost in Atlanta; Braves 3, Indians 1

Offensive woes continue to haunt the Cleveland Indians as they were defeated by the Atlanta Braves 3-1 Thursday night. Atlanta completes the sweep and another solid pitching performance from the Tribe goes to waist.

The Atlanta Braves continued their winning ways against the Cleveland Indians in the third and final game of the series. Atlanta sent Kris Medlen (10-12, 3.74) out to the mound to try and cap off the series sweep. The Indians countered with Ubaldo Jimenez (9-8, 3.95), who is enjoying his best season since his breakout year of 2010. The first two games of the series were low-scoring, well-pitched affairs. The Tribe hoped to get its offense going and take the getaway game in Atlanta. Read More

Indians Starting Staff: Their Very Own Fab Five

Two nights ago the Indians dropped a heart breaking game to the Braves. Danny Salazar pitched well and the bullpen picked him up, but the team still lost 2-0. The weak point of the Indians this season was supposed to be the starting rotation, but now, entering the final month of the season, they have emerged as the strong point. The Tribe has five starters that have at least 18 starts on the season, and every time one of them takes the mound the Indians have the chance to win.

These five men are on pace to accomplish something that no Indians rotation has done in over 40 years. Four of the five starters have an ERA under 4.00. The last time an Indians rotation was able to accomplish this feat was 1972 when Hall Of Famer Gaylord Perry lead the team. Looking at these starters, you can see a rotation that has been one of best, top to bottom, Cleveland has seen in decades. Read More

Naquin Progressing One Hit at a Time

Last season, the Cleveland Indians made Tyler Naquin their first pick in the 2012 First Year Player Draft.  He was not the intensely hyped super pick that left teams drooling, but he was a solid player with great skills and a big upside. This season for the Carolina Mudcats, Naquin showed the Indians and their fans what he can do.

The Mudcats play their season in the Carolina League. That league had a crop of talented pitchers this season, making it a tough go for the hitters. Only the top tier hitters were able to step up and produce. Naquin was one of those hitters. He had the sixth highest batting average in the league among players with at least 400 plate appearances. He was in the top ten in runs, hits, doubles, triples, and slugging percentage. That is the type of performance teams hope to get out of their first round picks, and this is Naquin’s first full professional season. For all his offensive efforts, he was named to the Carolina League All-Star Team, and on Aug. 14, he was promoted to the Indians Double-A team, the Akron Aeros. Read More

The Outstanding Defense of Michael Brantley

On Monday night, the Indians defeated the Angles 5-2. The win not only represented the first win of an opening series game since July 29, but it represented a milestone reached by a well-respected Tribe outfielder. Michael Brantley completed his 213^th consecutive game without making an error. This is a Cleveland Indians record that has stood since another beloved Cleveland outfielder, Rocky Colavito, set the record in 1966.

The record is amazing for a couple of reasons, the first is obvious, and it is remarkable for a player to go that long without making an error. That is a complete 162 game season, plus another 51 games, that is truly fantastic! The second reason it is so amazing is a little more subtle. Brantley has not only avoided an error since June 3, 2012 (a throwing error), but Brantley has not made a fielding error since August 20, 2011. That is two years ago almost to the day. Two full years have passed since Brantley made an error with his glove. Read More

The Hard Nosed Tyler Holt

The Akron Aeros have struggled through a tough season in 2013; their opening day roster was almost completely new, from players to coaches to ownership. There have been a couple bright spots for Aeros fans, however. One of those has been the young, talented core of prospects that dots the Akron roster, the other is the exciting play of center fielder Tyler Holt.

Holt is the epitome of hard-nosed, all-out baseball. He is like a free safety on a baseball field. He has speed and the guts to take chances. He is everything exciting about the game of baseball, and everything that has been exciting since the beginning of the sport. Read More