The Indians settled on LHP Scott Lewis, who won a spring training competition, to fill the lone opening in the rotation. LHP Cliff Lee, the reigning Cy Young Award winner, will be the No. 1 starter, although Lee had a horrible spring statistically and wasn't any better on opening day. DH Travis Hafner, who had offseason shoulder surgery, has been healthy but hasn't shown much power. The rest of the projected starting lineup has had a solid spring offensively.
PLAYER NEWS: --DH Travis Hafner hit his first home run of the season in the ninth inning Thursday off Texas' Eddie Guardado. It was Hafner's first home run in a regular-season game since Sept. 17 of last year, when he hit one off Minnesota's Scott Baker. Hafner, who hit just five home runs last season, underwent offseason surgery to clean out his right shoulder joint.
--OF Trevor Crowe, the only rookie position player on the Indians' opening-day roster, made his major league debut Thursday, going 0-for-5.
--OF Grady Sizemore belted his first two home runs of the season, his seventh career multi-homer game. However, he also struck out three times.
MEDICAL WATCH:
INF Jamey Carroll (broken left hand) went on the 15-day disabled list April 6. He will be out four to six weeks, but he won't need surgery.
OF David Dellucci (left calf strain) went on the 15-day disabled list March 30.
RHP Jake Westbrook (Tommy John surgery in June 2008) went on the 60-day disabled list March 26. He hopes to be pitching in the big leagues again by midseason.
ROTATION:
1. LHP Cliff Lee
2. RHP Fausto Carmona
3. RHP Carl Pavano
4. LHP Scott Lewis
5. RHP Anthony Reyes
BULLPEN:
RHP Kerry Wood (closer)
RHP Rafael Betancourt
LHP Rafael Perez
RHP Jensen Lewis
RHP Joe Smith
RHP Masa Kobayashi
LHP Zach Jackson
LINEUP:
1. CF Grady Sizemore
2. 3B Mark DeRosa
3. C Victor Martinez
4. DH Travis Hafner
5. SS Jhonny Peralta
6. RF Shin-Soo Choo
7. 1B Ryan Garko
8. LF Ben Francisco
9. 2B Asdrubal Cabrera
RESERVES:
C Kelly Shoppach
OF Trevor Crowe
INF/OF Josh Barfield
INF Tony Graffanino
