Cleveland Indians News and Notes: A frustrating weekend in Philadelphia

Baseball has a special ability to break down a fan.  This weekend was rough on us Tribe fans.  The close losses, the blown calls, the loud outs; they all add up to a major case of the disappointments.  I'm actually thankful the Indians don't play on Monday, as I need a little recharge to get the positive vibes going again.  Here's hoping for a better week!

Phillies 2, Indians 1

LGT Recap | Cleveland.com Recap Box Score

Danny Salazar pitched well, besides a rough third inning.  The Tribe struggled to get much going offensively and really had some awful at-bats.  With the loss, the Indians are now 10-12 on the season.

Tribe News

Salazar hurt by umpire's bad call | Cleveland.com

I can live with human error.  It's just not a very good life.  From Dennis Manoloff:

Salazar got ahead of Velasquez, 0-2, before throwing three straight balls. He threw a 95-mph fastball that zipped to the outer third of the plate at the knees for strike three -- except it wasn't. Umpire Larry Vanover, for reasons known only to Vanover, called it a ball.

Fox Sports Time Ohio play-by-play voice Matt Underwood said: "Oh, my. How can you give the opposing pitcher the benefit of the doubt on that call? (Velasquez) was 1-for-8 with six strikeouts coming in to this at-bat. That's a pretty good pitch to be calling ball four.''

The pitch, as FoxTrax showed, clearly was a strike. Velasquez having received "benefit of the doubt'' should not apply because there was no doubt.

Perez's hand injury forces a disabled list visit | Indians.com

The backup catcher injured his right thumb while making a diving tag in Saturday night's game against the Phillies.  Adam Moore was called up from Triple-A Columbus to serve as Yan Gomes backup while Perez recovers.

Around the League

• Joey Votto is not pleased with his poor start to the season.
• Taking a look at the mega-deal that Stephen Strasburg is setting himself up for this offseason.
• MLB broadcasts are getting fancier, with more advanced analytics and Statcast gems.