The Indians featured a new-look infield in an 11-7 win over Tampa Bay on Thursday. It's an alignment that could be more common as the season progresses.
Jhonny Peralta moved from shortstop to third base, Mark DeRosa went from third base to first base, Asdrubal Cabrera switched from second base to shortstop, and Luis Valbuena got the start at second base. Manager Eric Wedge made the moves partly because the Indians were playing on the artificial turf of Tropicana Field, and with sinkerballer Fausto Carmona on the mound for Cleveland, there figured to be many groundballs. Wedge wanted a middle infield with more range.
Peralta's lack of range defensively has been an issue since he became the club's starting shortstop. Cabrera, on the other hand, has tremendous range. It's for that reason that speculation has grown over the last few months that Peralta eventually would be moved to third base permanently.
Wedge wouldn't go that far, but he did say Peralta would be playing more third base, with Cabrera at short, the rest of the season. That could be a prelude to the moving of Peralta to third base on a permanent basis in 2010.
INDIANS 11, RAYS 7: The Indians collected 18 hits in the victory at Tampa Bay. The second through fourth hitters -- SS Asdrubal Cabrera, C Victor Martinez and DH Shin-Soo Choo -- combined to go 12-for-15 with nine RBIs and seven runs. The three hitters had four hits each in support of RHP Fausto Carmona, who pitched into the sixth inning to get the win and improve to 2-4.
