Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Scott Freaking Lewis

That was a man-sized Major League Debut if I have ever seen one. Dude absolutely cruised to victory, making it look easy. Zero walks, three hits, and no runs in eight innings? I mean, are you kidding? Is there any end to the depth of starting pitching in the Tribe's system? Lewis is behind guys like David Huff, Adam Miller, and Aaron Laffey in the pecking order, yet he made a serious case for himself tonight with a dominating performance against the Orioles in the 7-1 win.

Speaking of this Orioles, they looked like they had licked the stamp and mailed it in the last two nights. One weak at bat after another, swinging early in the counts, not drawing walks, etc etc. I mean, its not as if they faced Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona, it was Jeremy Sowers and his 5.97 ERA and Scott Lewis who was making his first career appearance.

Enough about the O's. Tonight is a celebration of the kid from Ohio State. The Tribe's third round pick in the 2004 draft, was mixing speeds all night long and never let Baltimore hitters get comfortable. Shame on Eric Wedge for not letting him make the attempt for the complete game shutout. Lewis threw 96 pitches and was masterful. The Orioles never had two men on in any inning while the kid was dealing. He deserved a chance to finish what he started.

Naturally, Masa The Gas Can Kobayashi came in and immediately gave up three hits and a run. Masa has had no bullets left in his gun for two months. Luckily for The Grinder, the offense did. How about the Shop Vack? Two more pizza's for the best backup catcher in baseball, bringing his season total to 19.

Asdrubal Cabrera continues to prove the demotion to AAA was the smartest move the Tribe brass made all season. He had two more hits and three more RBI's. He was hitting .186 when he returned from his demotion July 18th. Right now, AC is up to .245 and has started the month of September on a 15-28 tear.

Back to Lewis, he was only supposed to be up here making one start in place of the sore-elbowed Anthony Reyes. I for one have got to see more of the young lefty.

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