Another Tribe Tie & An Interesting Acquistion

The Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers tied this afternoon in 10 innings. Both teams now have 3 ties this spring. I guess since no one really cares about spring records ties are OK.

One key fact about today's game was my ability to listen to the final 3 innings on WTAM. Thanks to my long commute, which will be discussed someday in my regular blog, I know the suspense is killing you. Anyway here are the things I learned today:

-The scouts are worried about a possible decrease in Jensen Lewis's velocity
-Our radio announcing team is not
-Betancourt didn't give up a run to Detroit last season
-Carmona pitched well and really only earned 1 of the 3 runs he was credited
-Hafner hit a bomb over the scoreboard into the wind
-It was a record crowd of 9,781 at the place the Tigers call home for spring training
-The Tribe claimed left-handed reliever Craig Breslow off outright waivers from the Red Sox and added him to the 40-man roster

Obviously that last one requires some discussion. The indians.com article is here, for those with a taste of credible sports journalism. The interesting thing is situation this puts the Tribe in. Breslow is out of options so that means the Tribe either break camp with him or send him through waivers. On the surface this looks like a harbinger of the end of Fultz's tenure as the left-handed Indians reliever who can't get left handers out. From the above linked article "The Indians exercised Fultz's $1.5 million option for 2008 after he went 4-3 with a 2.92 ERA in 49 games last year", meaning the Tribe thought they had this position locked down, but Fultz's performance this spring maybe opened some eyes. Supposedly the front office is committed to doing whatever it takes to improve the bullpen and this could be their attempt at that. Anyway Breslow has a week to prove himself, so that should be interesting. At least Breslow didn't travel with the Red Sox to Japan so he shouldn't be jet-lagged when he reports tomorrow.

Tomorrow at 1:05 PM the Tribe host the Atlanta Braves, who I think they face three times between now and opening day, so get used to them. Jake Westbrook is scheduled to pitch as are Fultz, Elarton, Kobayashi, and Betancourt. Of course this was all reported before today's game in which Betancourt pitched and Breslow was acquired.

Go Tribe!