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Darren Ford with two hits, triples, drives in four runs, has six-game hit streak

Indians recall LHP Jackson to fill in for Byrd
PA SportsTicker

While the Cleveland Indians continue to trudge through a rebuilding process, they are giving their prospects a chance to compete at the major league level.

The Indians recalled lefthander Zach Jackson from Class AAA Buffalo on Wednesday to take the spot in the rotation vacated by Paul Byrd, who was traded to the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday upon clearing waivers.

Jackson, who was one of four players acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers on July 7 in exchange for CC Sabathia, will start Thursday in the finale of a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles.

General manager Mark Shapiro said Tuesday that whoever was called up to replace Byrd in the rotation would likely be with the club for the remainder of the season.

Considered a throw-in part of the deal that sent Sabathia packing, Jackson has been solid over the past five weeks with the Bisons and was added to their starting rotation July 21. In eight appearances (four starts), the 25-year-old is 3-1 with a 4.05 ERA. He has struck out 20 while walking just five batters over 26 2/3 innings.

Those numbers have dwarfed what he put up earlier in the season at Class AAA Nashville, where he was 1-5 with a 7.85 ERA in 22 appearances (eight starts). He was briefly recalled in May and made two appearances with the Brewers.

Jackson owns a major league lifetime record of 2-2 with a 5.36 ERA in 10 appearances, seven of which were starts.

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Indians to get look at pitcher Zach Jackson
Joe Maxse, Cleveland Plain Dealer Reporter

A change of scenery never hurts.

That's how Zach Jackson approached the news of being traded from the Milwaukee Brewers to the Indians on July 7 as part of the CC Sabathia deal. That will be his mind-set tonight when the left-hander starts against the Baltimore Orioles after being called up from Class AAA Buffalo to replace traded Paul Byrd in the Tribe's starting rotation.

"I'm very excited just to start over halfway through the season," said Jackson, who had spent most of the last three seasons at Class AAA Nashville. "I look at it as a blessing in disguise with new scenery.

"I was shocked by the trade, what with all the names being thrown around and I wasn't one of them. But I guess you can't be too surprised in this game. You just have to embrace it and go with it."

The 6-5 Jackson was drafted by Toronto as the 32nd player overall in 2004. He was traded to Milwaukee in 2005 and went 2-2 with the Brewers in seven starts in 2006. But other than two brief relief appearances with the Brewers this May, he looked to have fallen off the big-league club's radar.

He said this move was probably the best thing for him.

"I wouldn't say it was getting stale," said Jackson, who was 3-1 (4.05 ERA) in eight appearances (four starts) at Buffalo. "But when things aren't going your way, it couldn't come at a more perfect time.

"At Buffalo, the coaches told me to just see what you're about and bring it to the table. The game's easier when you simplify things."

Not much has been that simple during this trying Tribe season. Manager Eric Wedge was asked why Jackson got the call instead of Aaron Laffey, another left-hander.

"We wanted to take a look at him," said Wedge, who is considering Jackson for some bullpen use down the line. "He threw the ball decent down there and, obviously, we liked him because we traded for him. We wanted to give Laffey a few more starts [at Buffalo]."

Jackson, 25, said he had been a starter throughout his career before going to the pen this season with the Brewers.

"I got a couple weeks in the bullpen [at Milwaukee] and I wouldn't take back what I've learned," he said. "I bounced back well and learned some things about myself. I'm a young guy and excited about the future and ready to go. What better place to get started than Cleveland."

A native of Latrobe, Pa., Jackson said he remembers coming to Jacobs Field to watch a game with his father.

"I think I was a freshman in high school," he said. "You think about this. This is a dream come true."

Box score link from Thursday night

Jackson certainly didn't dazzle or remind anyone of CC Sabathia, but his five innings of work looked pretty good compared to the bullpen's night.

The 25-year-old right-hander, one of the four players acquired in the Sabathia trade, did run into some early trouble, however, when he allowed two quick runs in the first inning.

"I had a little trouble getting the first, second guy out in the inning," Jackson said. "I had to work a little bit harder and got my pitch count up. I just wish I could have gone a little deeper into the game."

The Indians had Jackson's back, though, as they evened up the score in the bottom half of the first inning. Grady Sizemore and Ben Francisco picked up singles off Cabrera before Shin-Soo Choo brought them around with a two-out, opposite-field double.

But Jackson would leave the game behind as the O's picked up a run off Jackson that will go down in the books as earned, but certainly could have been prevented. Ramon Hernandez was on second with a two-out double when he came around to score on Kevin Millar's double to right-center field, which could have easily been caught had Sizemore or Choo seen it. Both players lost it in the lights before letting it fall between them.

"That's the way the game goes," said Jackson, who got Wedge's backing afterward to make Wednesday's start against the Royals. "My team behind me made some great plays ... [then the] ball gets lost in the lights. It happens. It's baseball."

The Tribe ensured Jackson wouldn't be the pitcher of record in the sixth inning, when Asdrubal Cabrera drove in Kelly Shoppach with an RBI double to even the score at 3. The rally had the potential to be much more, but Franklin Gutierrez went down swinging with the bases loaded to end the inning and make for the last meaningful Tribe threat of the night.

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LaPorta sees stars
Ex-Huntsville player takes pitch to head vs. ChinaHuntsville Times
Contact Mark McCarter at mark.mccarter@htimes.com or visit his al.com blog at http://blog.al.com/mccarter

BEIJING - Table tennis was a catalyst in bringing the United States and China together in the 1970s.

Baseball just set back diplomatic relationships between the two nations three decades.

Quick. Somebody get Henry Kissinger out of retirement.

It may not be too late to save it.

I went to a baseball game Monday night and an international incident broke out. Blame the full moon, I guess.

Peace and harmony? Wiped out on a collision at the plate. One World One Dream? One 87 mph fastball to the head flushed that away.

The Red Sox and Yankees are a company picnic sack-race compared to this.

The United States beat China 9-1 to improve its Olympic record to 3-2. Aside from simply wanting to check out a baseball game, part of the reason to attend was to catch up with Matt LaPorta, the outfielder who began the season with the Huntsville Stars. (He was traded to Cleveland in July for pitcher CC Sabathia to help the Brewers' pennant run.)

You'll notice a significant lack of LaPorta quotes.

He was led off the field with little planets and stars circling his head, the way it does in the comics. He was the victim of the aforementioned 87-mph fastball to the noggin. LaPorta was taken to a hospital for a CAT scan, and it was determined he has a slight concussion.

Here is LaPorta's Olympics:

One-for-15 at the plate (the hit was a home run)

A nasty tumble in the outfield when he tripped over center fielder Nick Schierholtz.

A collision at home with catcher Wang Wei that started the ugliness.

A pitch to the head.

A Michael Phelps Olympics he is not having.

The Americans broke open a 1-0 game in the fifth on Taylor Teagarden's two-run double, with LaPorta scoring the second run by plowing shoulder-first into Wang Wei's chest, who had to be helped off the field.

Chinese manager Jim Lefebvre, the former Dodger second baseman and major league manager, complained immediately and was ejected. He complained later, before bolting abruptly from a press conference that never really got started, that "it was an illegal slide. The umpire should have ejected (LaPorta)."

Jason Donald was hit by a pitch moments immediately after the play, then Schierholtz, a Giants' Triple-A outfielder, was hit in the sixth. He exacted his revenge by creaming Yang Yang at home. Schierholtz claimed Yang was blocking the plate, which would have made a slide dangerous. Yang, understandably, got up and said something challenging to Schierholtz, who turned to confront him.

"It's baseball, said Schierholtz, who carried himself with something of defiant air. "They've got to accept that. It's not my problem."

We were close to a bench's clearing brawl. On another stage, it'd have been automatic. "It's a little different here, I guess," Schierholtz said.

LaPorta, leading off the seventh, was hit by Kun Chen. Hitting LaPorta would be forgivable. It's baseball. But not in the head. And not at 87 mph.

As with most Olympic venues, there has been much Americanization of the event, up to and including a heavy reliance on the theme from "Green Acres" for between-pitches bumper music.

The game got Americanized, too, with aggressive baseball took over. Both sides had their cheap-shot moments. Both are equally guilty of the international incident.

Both could calmly ease the tension if they cared to.

It'd just take a couple of games of Ping-Pong.

LaPorta homers as U.S. takes bronze

Zach Jackson's latest start with Cleveland (Wednesday)

Nice start for Steve Hammond (Thursday)

Darren Ford's recent game log (only one strong game this week)