Baseball

Damon has a clause in his contract which would guarantee he be released if he isn't getting enough playing time for his liking. Manager Manny Acta was asked how much leeway Damon had over the weekend. "We don't have a timetable or anything," Acta said. "Damon is here to play for us up until he doesn't want to be here. We signed Damon to be part of the Cleveland Indians. Johnny was signed to be part of this ballclub until the end." The 38-year-old veteran is batting just .172 thus far.

Lopez has now made seven starts since being recalled from Triple-A Columbus on May 12, and hit in every one of them, driving in five runs along the way. If he can somehow manage to keep himself in the lineup, he'll be worth a look in AL-only leagues. We don't like his chances, however. He was designated for assignment on May 1, and went unclaimed on waivers.

Lowe fanned two in falling to 6-2. The quality start was his seventh straight, and leaves him with an elite 2.15 ERA through 58 2/3 innings. Lowe's 1.41 WHIP and abysmal 15/18 K/BB ratio suggest his ERA has nowhere to go but up, however. He'll get the White Sox in Chicago next weekend.

It's the third straight day he's played catch. Tomlin could be ready for a rehab assignment soon and seems likely to rejoin the Indians rotation in early June.

What did he do to celebrate another great performance? Mr. Perez ripped Cleveland's fans, of course. He told reporters, amongst other things, that he wasn't happy that home fans booed him two outings ago against the Mariners and that free agents -- he cited Carlos Beltran -- don't sign with the Indians because of a lack of fan support. Even ardent supporters of Perez in-town may now echo the sentiments of his detractors and call for a trade of the husky stopper to open the ninth-inning job for Vinnie Pestano. Unfortunately for Perez, his mouth has detracted from what has been a fabulous season thus far. Since imploding on Opening Day, he is 13-for-13 in save conversions to go with a 1.72 ERA, 15/4 K/BB rate and .153 BAA.

He struck out four. Gomez got shelled by the White Sox last Wednesday, allowing eight runs over 6 2/3 innings. In two starts since then, he hasn't allowed an earned run over 13 innings. He's worthy of a flier in almost all formats at this point.

He had been out since March 30 with a strained calf. Chisenhall returns to a .326/.351/.562 batting line with four homers, 12 RBI and a .913 OPS in 94 plate appearances this season. He likely isn't far off from a promotion if he can prove he's healthy.