April 1, 2009 Morning Roundup

Maybe the Indians should have kept a secret from Scott Lewis?

Maybe they should have never told him he will start the season in the big league rotation?

He hasn't taken the news so well.

In his last two outings since being named a starter, Lewis has been roughed up, including yesterday's 10 runs on 13 hits in 3 2/3 innings against the Mariners.

Sheldon Ocker picked a bad day to feature him.

The Southpaw used his media time after the game to blame the bad effort on slippery baseballs and bad grips in the dry Arizona air.

But as Anthony Castrovince points out in his blog, Lewis didn't have that problem when he started the spring with a 3.52 ERA in five appearances.

In the last two outings Lewis has given up six home runs, two yesterday to Russell Branyan alone. You didn't forget about ole' Russ did you?

It's not a matter of leaving the ball up and getting hammered. Lewis is getting hit hard when he keeps it low as well, according to Terry Pluto.

David Huff, Jeremy Sowers, Aaron Laffey or Kirk Saarloos better keep their bags packed in Columbus. They'll be traveling to Cleveland soon enough.

The rest...

Mark Shapiro gave his state of the team address yesterday. Here it is in a nutshell:

The pitching is sketchy.
The White Sox are still the reigning champs in the central division.
The Twins have the best pitching by far in the division.
He believes in Hafner!
The depth in the minors has been the best it has been in years.

Here are some stories on it:
Anthony Castrovince
Paul Hoynes
Terry Pluto

Bud Shaw added to the growing collection of stories on Travis Hafner
Today. He wants Hafner to earn his spot in the middle of the order.

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