Musings from a Tuesday night

Looking at 5 of his 6 starts since his disastrous opening day, Fausto has given up 6 earned runs total.  Each has been a quality start.  In his worst start since opening day he gave up 6 ER in 5 innings against Minnesota.  His ERA since that first start is under 3.00, even with the mediocre start in Minnesota.  If he continues at this pace he should be the ace that we have been looking for. 

The magic continues and, at least tonight, wasn't even affected by Liriano's no-hitter.   Every team in the division but Chicago won and the Tigers were playing the Yankees.  Wow, who would have bet after the first two games of the opening series that Chicago would 10.5 games behind the Indians on the 3rd of May?

I think a lot of fans have noticed but the parallels between the Indians' start this season and the Clippers' start, especially game-to-game in the past week or so buth they are amazingly similar.   Indians pick it up at the end from a 1-1 tie tonight and so do the Clippers. Zach McAllister is throwing strikes and remains a good option.  I would love to see us swap McAllister for Jeanmar Gomez who I still contend needs more seasoning in the way Carlos Carrasco needed it.

Guys to watch in may: Abner Abreu, Giovanny Urshela,

Cole Cook has shown some good signs recently at LC and Michael Goodnight is living up to his name.   Kyle Blair is looking solid but 4 HR balls in 24 innings against inexperienced competition is not a good sign.  Time will tell if he will settle in and lower the HRs and up the Ks. 

Cory Burns came back to earth the last night but his K numbers and those of Nick Hagadone are outstanding.

Speaking of good K numbers, Carlton Smith is putting himself on the prospect map and helped his cause by striking out the side in the 9th tonight.  It would be great if he made it to the majors as his highly drafted brother Cory just hasn't been able to do that. 

Zach Putnam is making some noise, as well. 

Although Josh Judy has struggled look for him to be lights out as the weather warms up.  I think his slow start is nothing to worry about and he should be looking real good come August 1st.

Looking over the most recent minor league stats here is what stands out for me:

• Luke Carlin is tearing it up, and in the clutch, too.  Ther might be something there with him as a lefty backup catcher yet.
• It will be interesting to see who gets up to the majors first: Donald or Cord Phelps.  Phelps brings nothing special to the table but he could get the first shot. 
• Chen is starting to heat it up in AA
• Is Juan Diaz for real? Time will tell but 3 HR in 90 AB in Akron for a SS is exciting.
• Overall we have a lack of power and an abundance of potential ML relievers and a number of starting pitching.  We need some of the hitters to step up.  It looks like we have a bunch of banjo-hitting left fielders who can, in a pinch, play center.  Oh where, oh where are you Nick Weglarz and Beau Mills.
• I like what I see of Alex Monsalve and Giovanny Urshela so far at LC but, as Jason Smit can probably tell you, low A numbers are probably the most deceiving of any minor league level including rookie ball.
• Keep an eye on Carlos Moncrief.   His stats and background remind me on Jonathon Van Every who continues to get cups of coffee in the majors.  I always have loved JVE's skill set and Moncrief looks like he may be a statistical clone of JVE. 
• Fans should be really excited to go see Lake County play.  On any given night there is a good chance you will see a future Indians' ML pitcher starting or relieving in the game.  That team is so loaded with potential it is unbelievable.  Maybe those guys won't make it to the majors but this is about as exciting a team as I have seen in LC, pitching-wise.  If Dischler ever gets it together and Jordan Cooper shakes off the rust, this could be a dominant pitching staff.