Posts tagged DavidDellucci at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

For a pitcher with 37 innings under his belt, Joba Chamberlain's generated a lot of controversy. There were the "Joba Rules," the way he dealt with the bugs in Cleveland and the feud between his team's owner and general manager. Those all seem temporal, though there's one talking point that won't seem to leave him alone.

Chamberlain struck out David Dellucci to end the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium yesterday and then unlelashed his now-familiar fist pump and yell. That Dellucci beat Chamberlain and the Yankees on Tuesday night with a three-run homer in the same spot couldn't have been far from his mind, not that he needs much goading. Chamberlain caught flak for doing the same thing against Frank Thomas in April though the Big Hurt wasn't the one giving it to him. This time around Dellucci wasn't so kind.

"If he wants to yell and scream after a strikeout and dance around the mound, that's what gets him going. My home run was in a much bigger situation, a much more key part of the game, but I didn't dance around and scream."

I'm all for emotion in sports. A pump of the fist, a yell, a little excitement about what you've done is cool by me. It's nothing that gets noticed in any sport but baseball, hell even golfers get away with it, and that doesn't make much sense.

Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote that want ad for the Cleveland Indians, who were looking to fill a position out in left field? Well, stop sending in your applications because apparently the Indians found someone to take the job. As a result, Jason Michaels is about to be designated for assignment.

Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro held a conference call on the team's day off Monday to announce officially what had been rumored for a few days: The team will designate veteran outfielder Jason Michaels for assignment and recall rookie Ben Francisco from Triple-A Buffalo today.

''(Francisco) is an outfielder that we felt potentially could give our club a spark. (He's) obviously got more power and has the ability to not necessarily be a platoon guy,'' Shapiro said. ''He has been a guy who has hit left- and right-handed pitching, so he gives [Indians manager] Eric [Wedge] the ability to both keep [left fielder] David Dellucci strong and healthy and also protect [right fielder] Franklin Gutierrez some as well.''

This move is one that had to be made, because while Dellucci has been giving the Tribe some production, Michaels has been terrible. In 21 games he's hit .207/.258/.276, which just doesn't cut it unless you're some kind of defensive superhero, which Michaels isn't.

Ben Francisco hasn't really done much better down in Buffalo, hitting .228/.308/.315, but he did go 2-for-6 in a brief four-game stint with the Indians a few weeks ago.

Things just keep going splendidly for the Indians this season. They can't hit, they can't get anybody out, and now they're having trouble keeping the guys that have performed well so far healthy. The latest blow hits the starting rotation, as the Indians announced today that they've placed Jake Westbrook on the disabled list with a strained left intercostal muscle.

If you're not a doctor on the side like I am(and by doctor, I mean blogger with access to Wikipedia), and don't know what the left intercostal muscle is, it's one of the muscles around your rib cage that help you do the little things like breathe.

So even though the muscle strain is on Westbrook's non-throwing side, it can't be the most pleasant injury to have, and wouldn't get any better if he tried to pitch through it. Westbrook has pitched well so far this season, though his 1-2 mark after four starts is more an indication of the lackluster Cleveland offense rather than his 2.73 ERA.

This cloud does have a silver lining for the Tribe though, as moving Westbrook to the disabled list opens up a roster spot for Ben Francisco. Francisco could be just the guy the Indians are looking for to fill that job opening they posted here on FanHouse yesterday. Francisco hit .362 for the Indians in spring training this year before being assigned to Buffalo, and though he's been struggling there so far (.208/.288/.551), he can't be much worse of an option than Jason Michaels and David Dellucci at this point.