Written by Paul Cousineau

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Well, starting a crucial 9-game set against divisional foes with a 1-2 record is not ideal and watching the player that many identified as the key to the season in Fausto Carmona likely headed to the minors to see if he can find our beloved Focused Fausto somewhere between his ears. Nevertheless, it's time to watch those tomahawks fly. Paulie C checks in to talk a little Tribe with us on a beautiful Friday June morning on the north coast.

Well, starting a crucial 9-game set against divisional foes with a 1-2 record is not ideal and watching the player that many identified as the key to the season in Fausto Carmona likely headed to the minors to see if he can find our beloved Focused Fausto somewhere between his ears.  
 
Nevertheless, it's time to watch those tomahawks fly...  

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Watching Jeremy Sowers and Dave Huff log their most successful starts of the year to date with some guy with a fantastic beard behind the dish, I thought it might be interesting to see how all of the Indians' starters are faring with different catchers calling the games for them.  
 
Obviously, Lee always uses Shoppach and generally Carmona always uses Vic as their personal catchers; but did anyone realize that Shoppach has caught every one of Pavano's innings this year as well?  
 
I sure didn't...and digging deeper, there may be something that these numbers tell us that foretell what the arrangement at C and 1B may look like for the foreseeable future. Here are the opposing hitters' batting lines for each pitcher currently residing in the Indians' rotation with the respective catchers calling their games through Wednesday's game:  

Lee  

To Shoppach - .292 BA / .329 OBP / .375 SLG / .704 OPS in 349 plate appearances  
 
Pavano  

To Shoppach - .292 BA / .332 OBP / .452 SLG / .784 OPS in 268 plate appearances  
 
Carmona  

To Shoppach - .400 BA / .500 OBP / .867 SLG / 1.367 OPS in 18 plate appearances  
To Martinez - .266 BA / .374 OBP / .399 SLG / .773 OPS in 259 plate appearances  
 
Huff  

To Shoppach - .333 BA / .350 OBP / .487 SLG / .837 OPS in 40 plate appearances  
To Martinez - .412 BA / .487 OBP / .853 SLG / 1.340 OPS in 39 plate appearances  
 
Sowers  

To Shoppach - .188 BA / .381 OBP / .188 SLG / .568 OPS in 21 plate appearances  
To Martinez - .298 BA / .375 OBP / .579 SLG / .954 OPS in 64 plate appearances  
 
Noticing anything about those last two?  

Now, how about the player that might re-enter the starting rotation once he's healthy?  

Laffey  

To Shoppach - .258 BA / .303 OBP / .290 SLG / .593 OPS in 33 plate appearances  
To Martinez - .255 BA / .375 OBP / .340 SLG / .715 OPS in 112 plate appearances  
 
Yes, these are based on wildly small samples and how much of this is the pitcher or how much of it can be attributed to the match-ups in each game is up for debate, but there is an interesting trend that is obvious in these limited samples.  
 
That is that Lee and Pavano always use Shoppach and, while the sample sizes may be small, here are the differences in OPS Against for the young LHP, whose numbers are better when throwing to ShopVac:  

Laffey - .122 OPS Against lower with Shoppach as C  
Sowers - .386 OPS Against lower with Shoppach as C  
Huff - .503 OPS Against lower with Shoppach as C  
 
Think now about Laffey coming back with the very real possibility that Carmona does go down to AAA to work on his mechanics - isn't there a greater possibility of Show Pack catching more frequently with Victor at 1B more often if Shoppach has better results with Lee, Pavano, Sowers, Huff, and Laffey?  
 
Remember how Sowers said that he felt comfortable throwing to Sal Fasano last year?  

Maybe there's something to this whole "personal catcher" thing as Show Pack's season behind the dish for CP Lee's Cy campaign could have taught him something about calling a game for a LHP who throws in the low-90's. It stands to reason that Shoppach could find himself getting everyday starts as Catcher, depending upon what the Indians do with Carmona, which would then move Martinez into a full-time role at 1B and decrease any...and I mean ANY chance that El Capitan would join the other players on the DL by having him shed the tools of ignorance for an extended period of time.  

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But wait, you say, if Vic's going to be relegated to 1B, where does that leave our RBI hero, Ryan Garko...Polo?  
 
Since we're working on batting lines, how does this strike you?  

Garko vs. LHP  

.344 BA / .432 OBP / .594 SLG / 1.026 OPS in 37 plate appearances  

Garko vs. RHP  

.217 BA / .321 OBP / .337 SLG / .658 OPS in 110 plate appearances  
 
Now if this discrepancy was unusual for Garko, you give him more AB against RHP given that the lineup is awfully thin these days. But the fact of the matter is that Garko's career OPS against RHP is .756, while his career OPS against LHP is .906, meaning that this isn't a new development.  
 
With the lineup pretty decimated, Garko still probably merits a start or two until Hafner is ready to come back, regardless of pitcher; but once Hafner makes his way back from the DL, wouldn't the perfect arrangement be to give Hafner a day off to rest his shoulder from time to time against LHP, let Garko DH for him when they face a LH pitcher?  
 
Please notice that the intimation was that Garko should DH...not play 1B, not play LF, not play RF...no, DH.  

Garko hammers LHP and struggles against RHP...Hafner needs days off from time to time to rest his shoulder.  

Two birds, one stone.  

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Seeing Josh Barfield make his way back to Cleveland after posting a line of .220 BA / .239 OBP / .266 SLG / .505 OPS at age 26 in AAA, cementing his status as a non-option for a start, I thought I'd take a look down at that Columbus roster...and I think I have some exciting news.  
 
What if I told you that there's a player in Columbus who has posted a line of .328 BA / .359 OBP / .519 SLG / .878 OPS for the Clippers, all this at the still-relatively young age of 25 who seems to have overcome a slow April (.742 OPS) with a strong May (.904 OPS) and has seen his success continue into June (.923 OPS)?  
 
Now, what if I told you that he plays 3B, which would look to be a position of need with Peralta back at SS and DeRosa moving around the field prior to (hopefully) netting a young arm for the team?  
 
Excited yet?  

What if I told you that we're talking about Andy Marte?  

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Keeping the gaze fixed on the capital city, watching Rafael Perez and Tony Sipp return from Columbus with some of the kinks (hopefully) worked out, does anyone else wonder why these guys are able to go to AAA and "figure everything out"?  
 
If that's the case, what's being done in AAA that isn't being done in Cleveland...is it just pitching in lower-pressure situations or is it getting more work?  
 
We saw Stomp Lewis come back from Columbus like a house afire last year and, thus far, the results have been positive for Perez and Sipp since their return. Seeing as how a good portion of our bullpen has now spent some time in Columbus before coming up and finding some semblance of effectiveness, what's going on here?  
 
Could it have something to do with this little nugget, buried in a Ken Rosenthal piece about the new Tigers' pitching coach and the difference between him and their old pitching coach, Chuck Hernandez?  

The Tigers lead the American League in ERA after finishing 12th in pitching last season. Their improved defense is one significant difference. Knapp, it stands to reason, is another. Chuck Hernandez, the team's previous pitching coach, was stronger than Knapp at developing game plans, one Tigers official says. Knapp is stronger at fixing pitchers' mechanics.  
 
Is this an indication that Hernandez struggles at fixing pitchers' mechanics?  

Isn't this the same Hernandez that sits out in the Indians' bullpen and watches these guys before they come out?  
 
Obviously, a bullpen coach can only truly do so much since he is...you know, the bullpen coach; but the performance of young relievers after going to AAA to "right themselves" and the rebound of the Detroit pitching staff without Hernandez definitely raises some eyebrows.  

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The AL Central race continues to see some teams limp along, where the Twins are suddenly 2 ½ games out despite being 1 game under .500 and where news that Miggy Cabrera has tweaked a hamstring comes on the heels of a Boston sweep of the Motor City Kitties.  
 
Up next, the White Sox then the Royals...not so coincidentally the two teams ahead of the Tribe in the Central standings.