So … how do we think he got that groin injury?

Sowers will never have a future as a starting pitcher on this team, unless he undergoes a Cliff Lee-like metamorphosis.

Shoppach looked absolutely horrific tonight. I believe Pavano’s first 8 pitches to him were all balls out of the strike zone that he swung at. And 7 of them were pretty much in the exact same spot – about a half foot off the outside edge. When Mauer came out to talk to him after Kelly actually foul tipped one, I said to my friends “He probably went out there to tell him that one was a little too close to the strike zone.”

Despite being swept by Detroit this week, the Indians still have the best AL Central record since the All-Star break (by.001)

I think Sowers is positioning himself to have a rotation spot going into 2010 spring training. That Huff, Carrasco, Rondon et al. can all be cultivated in Columbus only seems to make this more likely.

As stated before by me, I’m in agreement with a few of the above posts. As long as Sowers pitches decently the remainder of the year and in the spring, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t open 2010 as the fifth starter (assuming Westbrook is healthy), with Huff, Carrasco, and Rondon as 6-8 (not necessarily in that order).

His BA against is .268 in 107 innings. This is his second sustained stretch of showing some ability to be not nearly as hittable as everyone thinks he is. I’m getting more and more convinced that it’s not all luck and there’s at least some ability there.

That said, his margin for error is slim. If he has a drop in velocity (2007), he can’t survive. If he struggles with command (2008), he’s not effective. But if he pounds the zone, he has a chance. He does need to lower the walk total (almost zero, right Stuart?). And I thought he got tentative in the middle innings last night, and that almost cost him.

Last night was striking in comparison to Carrasco’s start. Sowers retired the first nine hitters with mostly fastballs. He struck out Morneau on a breaking ball, but I think most of the other balls put in play were on the fastball. And none of them were hit hard. Sowers has that extra life at the end of his fastball, and when he commands it well, hitters have a tougher time squaring it up. Conversely, Carrasco got to his 13th hitter before someone finally didn’t square him up.

Coming into the year, I thought any chance Sowers had in succeeding would probably be in the NL. And even after what we’ve seen this year, I’d still probably guess that he’s more likely to fail than succeed as an AL starter. But as I discussed with Jay last week, the Tribe should exhaust all possibilities of seeing if he can do it before they cut him loose.