Posts tagged JhonnyPeralta at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Scott Proctor hasn't had a very good season out in LALA land. In 33 appearances Proctor has a 6.82 ERA and a WHIP of 1.89, which isn't exactly dealing to say the least. Well, after giving up the go ahead run against Jhonny Peralta on Saturday in a six run 11th inning, Proctor didn't hold his feelings back in the post game chat with reporters.

He wants all the Dodger fans out there to know that contrary to the rumors, he's not injured. No, he just sucks (his words, Todd, not mine).

"I'm not talking about that. There is nothing (wrong), and I'm tired of people making excuses and saying I'm hurt. My job is to get outs, and I'm (expletive) pathetic. It's embarrassing to know this team battled like that all day and I pitched like that. It's (expletive) stupid.

"I'm embarrassed for myself in front of my teammates."

Now, now, Scott, don't be so hard on yourself. Sure, you're having a craptastic season and you've been easier to score on than Lindsay Lohan on ecstasy, but that's no reason to rip yourself in public. That's the media's job, and trust me, they'll do it for you.

Everybody goes through rough stretches in this game, and you're just going through one of them right now. Take a few days off, go to the beach, spend time with the family. Whatever you have to do. I promise*, things will get better.

*By promise I mean I'm just saying anything to help make you feel better because you really do suck right now.

No one inspires more absolutely horrible, extemporaneous-letter, fantasy writing jokes than Jhonny Peralta. This makes zero sense, because the "H" is the only bizarre letter in his name, and there are only one of them. Yet, somehow I am able to fight through that fact and persevere with my putrid humor. Point being that Peralta tops the list of players you should consider adding this week.

Jhonny Peralta
7 day stats -- .333/.385/.708, 2HR, 3RBI, 2BB, 0SB
Peralta is the eternal fantasy tease after his monster season a few years back. He is streak, just like most free agent options, but he's white hot now and the Indians get four games at Texas followed by three games at Detroit, so you should expect to see him continue raking.

Mark Reynolds
7 day stats -- .359/.450/.941, 3HR, 3RBI, 3BB, 0SB
You may remember Reynolds from such hits as "Early April Fraud" and "Chris Shelton, Part Deux". Reynolds appears to have gotten sloppy with all the attention he got and fell off the radar. Then Chad Tracy came back and the dood started raking again. Snatch him up this week and start him while he's hot.

Jerry Hairston
7 day stats -- .458/.464/.652, 0HR, 4RBI, 4BB, 3SB
Guy just won't go away will he? Hairston continues to start, steal bases and have MI eligibility. That makes him start worthy in a large number of fantasy leagues. He's not a great player but you can't kill speed.

Cliff Floyd
7 day starts -- .357/.500/1.00, 3HR, 5RBI, 4BB, 0SB
You know what you're getting with ole' Cliff -- some taterjacks, some strikeouts and possibly limited AB's, in this case. Still, he's certainly a nice deeper end pickup and he's streaking now so that makes him a pretty nice option.

You saw a glimpse of it earlier, thanks to Will's posting of Asdrubal Cabrera's unassisted triple-play on Monday, but that's not the only play Cabrera has made for the Indians in the field this season. His defense, be it at second base or at shortstop, has been hard not to notice. Particularly the last few days when Asdrubal filled in for the struggling Jhonny Peralta at short.

The difference between Cabrera and Peralta in the field is hard to miss. Asdrubal has more range to his left and right, and this was evident on quite a few plays over the weekend, and he's also garnered comparisons to former Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel. As a result, some people are wondering how much longer Jhonny has as the Indians shortstop.

"Asdrubal has a knack for getting big hits late in games, and his defense at short was outstanding," manager Eric Wedge said.

Wedge said the decision to play Cabrera a second consecutive game at short was due more to the Indians playing a doubleheader than to anything else.

Of course, when Wedge was flat out asked if Cabrera would be getting more time at shortstop, he only said that he'll continue to "mix him in."

Peralta's defense isn't the only thing hurting him, because it wasn't exactly his defense that the Indians originally fell in love with, it was his bat. A bat that has been hitting .208/.267/.383 this season, and just .130 in May. Peralta is also failing to drive in runs, as he's only hitting .143 with runners in scoring posiiton.

I don't expect Peralta to lose his job yet, as I'm not sure the Indians are ready to make Jamey Carroll their everyday second baseman. Still, after this season, who knows?

If you look one post down you'll see comments about today's game and the proper use of relief pitching from our resident Yankees chick, Yankees Chick. Well, I live in Cleveland and was at today's game, and let me tell you, the problem isn't whether or not they should've brought in Rivera to pitch the ninth. You see, it was Rally Towel Giveaway Day at The Reservation, and I don't think ANY relief pitcher could've kept his composure with 35,000 screenprinted dishrags spinning around.

Tonight's Dugout is done in the spirit of Fanhouse fellowship, partially because I love the writers here and want to be their friends and partially because Kyle Farnsworth was standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and if I was a big enough wig at this cracker factory I could've press-passed his ass and gotten a picture. Oh well. When I finish my "Kyle Farnsworth: World Warrior" screenplay he'll want to be my friend.

Hey Yankees Chick, stop blaming Farnsworthy for your team's problems. Kyle is El Rey del Derechazo. And his curly hair is hilarious. Dugoutage, after the jump.

Boston made its way into the record books late Saturday night, though it was for an incident for which they're certainly not proud. The Red Sox bullpen gave up seven runs in the top of the 11th, allowing the Indians to take a 13-6 lead. The seven runs were the most ever in LCS history for an extra-inning, no surprise. Eric Gagne crapped out once again for Boston, putting two men on after getting the first out in the inning. Javier Lopez followed only to surrender an RBI single to Trot Nixon of all people, wild pitch another run home, intentionally walk Victor Martinez, and give up an RBI single to Ryan Garko. Jon Lester allowed an RBI double to Jhonny Peralta, and a three-run home run to Franklin Gutierrez, for good measure.

Joe Borowski on the other hand, closed out the seven run lead without allowing a run in the 11th. Now exactly what twilight world are we living in? Wasn't the Boston bullpen supposed to be a strong suit, while the Cleveland pen was full of question marks? Whatever the reason, the Indians grabbed the coveted road split and now head home to the Jake tied up with the Red Sox in the best of 7 at 1-1. Jake Westbrook will go for Cleveland on Monday, while Dice-K counters for Boston. Given how poorly Sabathia pitched in Game 1, the Indians have to be pleased with where they stand.

Making history, or falling prey to it? Fall Down or Fall Classic looks at the reasons each playoff team could win it all -- or could become a mere footnote in 2007's MLB yearbook.

As the 2007 season began back in April, there weren't many people who would argue with you had you told them the AL Central was the best division in baseball. Everybody was saying it. Of course, most of the talk had to do with the Tigers, White Sox, and Twins.

There were some who made noise about the Indians, and while most "experts" said the Indians would compete, not many had them taking the division. No, 2006 was supposed to be their season.

After all, they had their chance in 2005 when the Indians seemingly won every game for a month and caused many White Sox fans, including myself, to sweat out a tense finish to the regular season. They came up just a bit short, but had sent the message that in 2006 they'd be a team to reckon with.

Then 2006 came and the Indians laid an egg. After getting off to a slow start, the Indians stumbled to a 78-84 finish and had to settle for fourth place. So coming into this season, we couldn't really know what to expect from the Tribe.

A season that started with an entire series snowed out ended six months later with the Indians atop the AL Central standings, and now they wait for the playoffs to begin. But how will they do? Will they finally achieve that potential and bring the city of Cleveland it's first championship of any kind since 1964 when Jim Brown was running over people as the Browns won an NFL championship? Or will they only break the hearts of their city like the Cavaliers did this summer?

I know it's only the end of May, but I feel confident saying that the Tigers and White Sox will be fighting for the wild card this season rather than the Central Division. Yes, the Tigers are playing just as well as the Indians are, and the White Sox are bound to improve now that their offense is starting to come around, but this is the Indians division.

It may be a surprise to some that the Tribe just finished off a sweep of the Tigers in Detroit, but not to me. They're one of the best hitting teams in baseball, and have one of the better starting rotations in the American League as well.

To know why I feel the Indians will win the division, you need not look past their record against the rest of their division. It's not exactly a secret that the AL Central is the strongest division in baseball, with some of the best pitchers and hitters in baseball, but it hasn't done much to slow down Cleveland.

After Sunday's victory over the Tigers, the Indians improved their record against the AL Central to 13-4. Look at their record against each of their division rivals so far this season.

• Detroit 3-0
• Chicago 4-2
• Minnesota 5-0
• Kansas City 1-2