Rouse no longer in the house

Fans have been calling for his head and today he is gone. Or at least off the official roster. Utility infielder Mike Rouse has been DFA'd.

No word yet on who will replace him, but Rotoworld is reporting that former Blue Jays shortstop Royce Clayton, who was DFA'd a few days ago, has been given his release by the Jays. No idea if there is a connection and we shouldn't jump to conclusions. But it is a possibility that Clayton may be heading to the Tribe. Again, all I'm doing is adding 2+2 and sometimes when I do that I get 5, so take it for what it is worth.

Asdrubal Cabrera was recently promoted to Buffalo and has gotten some work in at 2B there, although his regular position is SS. So that may provide some clue about the Indians' plans as well.

He's baaaack.....

Russell Branyan is back with the Tribe. Or at least in the organization. He was signed today and sent to Buffalo.

Some thoughts to wind down by

Is anyone getting tired of the pitchers' duels? My stomach has been taking a beating. There was a little relief from the stress in the eighth tonight but I'm sitting here writing this while I should be in bed because there are still too many knots in the stomach to fall asleep.


Is anyone getting tired of watching games on the pool table the Twins accept as a baseball field?


Positive signs:

Byrd's masterpiece: But he's been coming close to that all year. You knew this one was coming sometime.



More important: Jhonny Peralta hitting the ball the opposite way three times tonight, twice for singles and once for a fairly loud out. Then he turned on one for a single in his last at bat. Maybe it's a sign he's put his "homerun swing" to bed and will start getting after it again.



Also good: Hafner hit a heat-seeking missile for his 18th homer. I'd trade that for two solid singles and a double in the gap though. School is still out on Pronk.



If you saw the play Twins 2B Alexi Casilla made - throwing out fleet-footed Grady at the plate from the seat of his pants at second base - you understand a little bit more about why the Twins felt they could deal Luis Castillo to the Mets.



Glad this series is over for another reason. I got the Twins announcing crew for all four games on the dish. Bert Blylevin is a little bit funny at first, but after four games he just comes off as a sarcastic smartass.



Now it's on to Chicago, which likely means the White Sox crew for at least two of the three games. Dumb (Hawk Harrelson) and Dumber (Darrin Jackson). The worst homers of any announcer team in the league and extremely stupid to boot.



Speaking of stupid. I spent a lot of time in between innings of the Tribe game tonight switching over to check on the Tigers. They don't come any more stupid than Tigers' color man Rod Allen. Except maybe for Rex Hudler with the Angels. Guys work all their lives to make a living as baseball broadcasters and dumbass jocks who can't string two words together get the jobs. (Rick Manning is excluded, since he often successfully fulfills his role as expert who has played the game and knows what it's about and often covers for the inept Matt Underwood).



Anybody have any thoughts why the Yankees cut loose Mike Myers? The fans here in NYC don't and there's been some grumbling. It might have made some sense had they brought up the highly touted Joba Chamberlain, but they brought up Jim Brower for God's sake. Reasonably effective left-handed specialists don't come out of the woodwork. I'd say Myers got shagged.

In defense of Trot Nixon

Webster's dictionary:

scapegoat (noun) - see: Trot Nixon

----

Trot Nixon may just be the worst outfielder ever to wear a Tribe uniform. He is, at least, the worst one currently dressed with Chief Wahoo on his cap. That is the consensus around town.

But the numbers say otherwise. At least the numbers since the All-Star break, when the Tribe has been mostly in a funk-especially at the plate.

Grady Sizemore is the every day centerfielder. That's a given, so we won't bother clogging things up with his numbers. But four players continue to share two spots in the outfield: Trot Nixon, Franklin Gutierrez, Kenny Lofton and Jason Michaels.

Of the four, Trot Nixon has the highest on-base percentage (.440) and batting average (.364) since the All-Star break. He's second in slugging percentage (.432). Rookie Franklin Gutierrez has been the second-most-productive corner outfielder since the break, leading in slugging percentage (.574) and slotting behind Nixon in BA (.315) and on-base percentage (.345).

I'm as shocked as you, but numbers don't lie.

(note:Lofton's numbers on the linked chart are with Cleveland only. With Texas and Cleveland since the break, Kenny is hitting .286 with a .318 on-base percentage and a .418 slugging percentage.

Not sure how Nixon got the donkey on his back, but I have to admit without looking at the numbers I was pointing fingers at him too. Of course it's not all about the numbers. Defense and speed count too. But maybe we've all been a bit too quick to push too much blame onto Nixon.

Check out our new Tribe Poll and let us know who you think should be starting in the outfield. Share your comments by clicking on "comment" prompt below