BASEBALL
Hafner finds his stroke in 5-1 Herd triumph
As first impressions go, the Cleveland Indians have to be happy about the kind of pop at the plate Travis Hafner showed Monday night in Dunn Tire Park.
In his first game since May 25, the Tribe designated hitter went 2 for 3 and nearly collected a third hit as the Buffalo Bisons poked the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 5-1, before a crowd of 7,201.
The teams meet again here tonight (7:05 p. m., TWC 13, Radio 1520 AM). Indians catcher Victor Martinez, a two-time All-Star, will join the Herd lineup on the road back from elbow surgery.
Buffalo manager Torey Lovullo said Hafner will take tonight off because the slugger’s sore right shoulder isn’t ready to endure back-to-back games. Hafner concurred, noting the shoulder was feeling normal fatigue.
Hafner has been battling chronic weakness in the shoulder for more than a year, and it’s rendered his vaunted power moot. Hafner averaged 32 homers and 108 RBIs from 2004-2007 but his shoulder has been a major topic of concern for the last 15 months. When he went on the disabled list this season, he had a paltry .217 batting average and just four home runs.
Hafner took some swings over the weekend in Progressive Field and even drove a pitch from Tribe first-base coach Luis Rivera over 400 feet into “Pronkville,” the second-level mezzanine section in right field the team named after him in 2006. But facing left-handed pitchers at real speed was quite a bit more of an achievement.
“It was great,” said Hafner, who played 29 games for the Bisons in 2003. “After a while you start to not feel like a baseball player again so it was a lot of fun. It’s a good group of guys here and it’s great to get back out there and play again.”
Leading off the second inning against Lehigh Valley starter Fabio Castro, Hafner worked the count to 2-2 without taking the bat off his shoulder. He fouled off the next two pitches, then drove a Castro slider high off the wall in deep right-center for a double. The ball would have easily cleared the fence most nights but was knocked down by a 16-mph wind.
“I was just happy to hit the ball hard there,” he said. “I didn’t care about the result but it was nice to get a double.”
In the fourth, a leaping catch by Iron- Pigs second baseman Casey Smith robbed Hafner of his second straight hit. In his final at-bat, against reliever Travis Blackley in the fifth, Hafner pulled a sharp first-pitch single to right.
“My only expectation was to try to put the ball in play and kind of not embarrass myself,” Hafner said. “It was great to hit a couple balls hard and hopefully build from there.”
“It was more about him getting reps and getting in front of live pitching,” said Lovullo. “I know he’s a competitor and he wants to have a ton of success right away but I think it caught us all by surprise.”
Indians Assistant General Manager John Mirabelli was in the stands watching Hafner begin the road back to what the team hopes is a chance to produce in September in the big leagues. Cleveland still owes Hafner $49 million over the next four years.
Only in the last couple of weeks has he started to see real improvement in his shoulder that could prompt some optimism for 2009.
“It’s been a weird process,” he said. “I’ll start off taking dry swings [without a ball] and after 30 dry swings, [the shoulder] will feel pretty smoked. Two days later, I’ll do dry swings and it will feel good.
“I’ll move on to the batting tee and the first day it’s smoked but the second day it’s a lot better. Every step it continues to get stronger. I’m hoping three at-bats [Monday], three or four the next time, it will get stronger and then I’ll be able to play back-to-back days.”
The Bisons won the game with a four-run fourth, highlighted by Andy Cannizaro’s two-run homer to left. Starter David Huff (5-4) went 5c innings and struck out eight. Outfielder Jason Cooper had two hits while playing in his 400th game as a Bison, tying Tom Prince’s franchise record set in 1992.
