The 2009 Cleveland Indians are using young rookies because the team has been plagued by serious injuries

Looking ahead to the future as Cleveland flounders with a 24-33 w/l record on June 7th of 2009

Rookies help Indians defeat White Sox 8-4 on Sunday before 25,609 in Chicago

Chris Gimenez and Luis Valbuena wacked consecutive home runs off Bartolo Colon (3-6, 4.23 ERA)  to highlight a rare Tribe 2009 road victory. Rookie pitcher David Huff yielded 3 runs in 5 innings for his first career victory. David Huff, now 1-2 for the season, gave up all 3-runs on a homer by Sox Alexei Ramirez. Long-time Indians All-Star catcher Victor Martinez was the DH in yesterday's game. He also wacked a long ball home run off Colon, who yielded 5 earned runs in 5 innings. The homer was the 10th of the year by Victor Martinez. who has 41 RBIs and is batting a torrid .344. Cleveland has 8th players on the disabled list and have a 13-20 record on the road.

Chris Gimenez, a first baseman, hit his 2nd homer in just his 3rd game this season and is batting .375 with 3-hits in 8 at bats.

Shortstop Luis Valbuena has 7 doubles and one homer in 65 at bats. Luis Valbuena was all smiles as he entered the dugout after his homer - the first of his major league career. A left-handed batter, he batted .245 in 49 at bats during his first major league year with Seattle in '08 and then was dealt to Cleveland prior to 2009. He's a noted defensive shortstop and second baseman and if he can hit big league pitching, he'll be an All-Star.

David Huff joined the Indians early this season, 2009, when the team was searching for a good left-handed starting pitcher after sore arms blew away the starting pitching staff. His pitch selection consists mainly of a rocket-fastball. David Huff flashed impressive stats as he worked his way up the minor league ladder. In 2008 he was 5-1 with a 1.92 ERA in AA ball and then later in the season was 6-4 with a 3.01 ERA in Triple-A minors.

Second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera was hitting a very fine ..316 in 53 games before going on the disabled list. His replacement Jamey Carroll has posted a torrid .345 batting average in his first 55 at bats for 2009. Carroll batted .277 with 96 hits in 347 at bats in 2008. Jamey is a proven baserunner, 7 stolen bases in '08. A leader in the clubhouse, Jamey Carroll said this after he doubled twice plus lined a single and had 2 RBIs in the above game, "Those guys did great. To see those guys (Luis Valbuena and Chris Gimenez) come up and have success like that, it kind of energizes you. You can have fun too."

Shin-Soo Choo, a fleet-footed left-fielder with a power-bat, hit his 8th homer of the year off former Cleveland pitcher Bartolo Colon in yesterday's game. Shin-Soo Choo, a native of Pusian South Korea, has 33 RBIS. He compiled a .309 batting average, including 28 doubles, 3 triples, 14 homers for the Tribe in 2008, even though he missed the first two months of last season.