Morning Update: Tony Sipp Called Up, Zach Jackson to AAA

Wow so the Indians felt their bullpen needed yet another arm. Zach Jackson hasn't been used much. Aside from the Texas game, he hasn't really been given a chance to do that "long relief" role. He pitched two outs in the April 17th game against New York.

So I guess when you figure that the Indians aren't having long relief problems, they are just having sixth and seventh inning problems, calling up Tony Sipp makes sense.

Tony Sipp has finally made it. He pitched well this spring and had he actually been more of a contender for that bullpen spot, he might have had a shot. But the strong lefty will give the Indians another left-hander with Rafael Perez struggling. Jackson was a lefty, but his track record against them sucked compared to right handers.

Sipp pitched seven innings in four games for the Clippers with eight hits, ten strikouts and an ERA of 3.86. One has to wonder why this move came when it did though, considering just yesterday, Mark Shapiro said, and I quote.... "No one at Columbus has made themselves a clear, better alternative to the guys up here." So after one day Sipp did that? Not that I'm not excited to see him up here. I pegged Sipp as the most impactful rookie for this team.

But I'm just kind of confused as to why Shapiro said what he said and now this move happened. Eric Wedge had this to say.

"We're working to try to get everybody back on track," Wedge said. "Tony is the guy for us right now. We're not quite sure how we're going to work him into the mix. A lot of it depends on how these other guys progress. We're taking it day by day right now with the struggles we've had here."

Either way, hopefully Sipp can make an impact. Sipp was ranked 16th on IPI's top Indians prospects. You can read his scouting report here. Baseball America ranks Sipp 17th. He's armed with a low to mid-90s fastball, a slider, and a changeup.

Sipp could have been Rafael Perez in 2007, but Tommy John surgery de-railed that and last year he spent time working back and getting stronger in the second half of the year.

I don't think this is the end of Zach Jackson this year though. We may see him again.

With all of that though. The Indians are going to be using Rafael Perez less in meaningful situations because of his struggles.

"It's always tough, with the bullpen guys, to do extra work because you need them available," Wedge said. "But he's an important part of what we need to do here."

"[The problem] could just be the geography of Arizona is a lot different, in terms of feel for the baseball," Wedge said. "I think [the command] is in there. We just have to work to get it out."

Don't expect Kerry Wood to be used in multiple innings, they want to keep him healthy. Don't also expect Jensen Lewis to be used less either. Especially after last night. Wedge feels Lewis is throwing the ball well, but just missing his spots in certain cases.

I'm not worried about Perez and Lewis, but the early struggles combined with the fact that the starters haven't been going deep really does hurt.

Last night Aaron Laffey put on a show with his double play magic and he also gave the Indians some relief that they have some starters who can work deep into the game.

"[Getting double plays] is definitely a confidence-builder," Laffey said. "I threw quality pitches to get a double play. Five double plays is definitely a career high for me. It helped that my defense was unbelievable behind me."

"He pitched an outstanding ballgame," Wedge said of Laffey. "He was putting the ball on the ground all night. For him to get us through seven innings, especially when you saw what happened after that, was a separator for us."

And here is a moment that makes you happy Victor Martinez is behind the plate and also is a leader on this team.

"Victor called a great game," said Laffey. "We were in a good pattern. The one time I shook him off, Coco Crisp hit a double in the first inning. He asked me about the fifth inning, 'So do you trust me now?' I told him, 'I know not to shake now.'"

Wedge said Martinez's homer was huge and that Jensen Lewis really picked the team up in the 8th inning. Joe Smith shouldered the blame and said a five run lead shouldn't be blown like that.

Wedge also said Wood was just being aggressive on the pitch to DeJesus, and he was. DeJesus was sitting fastball and you could tell the way he pulled it he had an idea of what he wanted to do in that situation. No big deal. Wood probably doesn't throw that pitch with a one run lead.

The offense has really come around, not just hitting well, but also hitting better with runners in scoring position. That was the problem earlier in the year, striking out in crucial situations. As Derek Shelton notes, we've always struck out, but you don't want to strike out in those situations.

"At times, it sounds like a cop out, but we've always struck out," he said. "Even the games we score runs, we strike out. Do we work on [not doing] it? Yes. Do we talk about it? Yes. But we don't worry about it. Our focus is more on limiting those strikeouts in crucial situations -- runner-on-third-with-less-than-two-out situations."

"We've gotten in a situation where we're seeing more pitches," Shelton said. "Once guys got a couple of big hits, it relieved pressure in our lineup. Once somebody contributes one way or another, it relieves the pressure with that guy and steamrolls with the whole lineup."

The .289 average the Indians now carry with RISP, is one of the best in the AL. So quite the turn around that hasn't been talked about much.

David Dellucci went 2-4 in his second straight game for Columbus. He was in again at DH, and this was expected to be a longer rehab process, so I'm going to guess they are going to try and string out his starts and at least get him out in the field before they activate him.

Choo lost a few balls in the sun at New York and Wedge kind of blammed it on the WBC?

"He's a good outfielder," said Wedge. "I think what he's suffering from is a lack of repetition in the outfield because of the [World Baseball Classic]. There's not a whole lot of practicing going on. He'll get better."

Righto.. I hope you are right. Choo's made some really stupid mistakes these past few weeks. Missing cut off men, not seeing balls, stopping for no reason, taking shoddy routes.

Choo said something about special sunglasses and how he was wearing sunglasses both times when it happened. I have really no clue. Give him the Peralta surgery or something.

Kelly Shoppach said the new Yankee Stadium doesn't have the same power the old one did.

Board updates all around.