News and Notes: April 8, 2012

Ubaldo Jimenez's suspension to begin Sunday: Indians Insider | cleveland.com

The timing of the dropping appeal was not an accident; because of an off-day this Thursday, the Indians would not need to call up a pitcher to replace Jimenez during his suspension. Actually, the suspension would allow Jeanmar Gomez to get into a game much earlier than originally scheduled.

Yesterday Jimenez wasn't throwing as fast as in past outings (though perhaps the cool weather had something to with that), but the movement on those pitches was fantastic. Because of that movement, he was much more economical with his pitch count, only going over 15 pitches in an inning twice (17 in the fourth inning, 20 in the seventh). That's the type of pitcher the Indians need this season, and hopefully that trend continues next Saturday in Kansas City.

Now if only the bullpen could get its act together....

Old injury has Choo on guard at plate | indians.com: News

One event that was lost a bit in Thursday's marathon loss was Shin-Soo Choo's reaction to a Luis Perez pitch. The Toronto southpaw threw a fastball that was close to Choo's head, and the Cleveland outfielder immediately started walking towards the mound. Nothing came of the incident, and the game went on.

Afterwards, Choo cited last season's thumb injury (caused by an inside pitch) as the reason for his reaction:

"I had a hit by pitch last year -- a broken thumb," Choo explained. "Maybe that's the reason why I'm very sensitive right now, but it's part of the game. Pitchers need to throw inside. I understand that."

Pitching inside to a power hitter is usually the plan of attack for pitchers, especially if they have some initial success, and that's going to continue for Choo. Now the location of Perez's pitch was not your normal inside pitch, but I'd expect Shin-Soo to be getting a steady diet of pitches designed to jam him.