TORONTO — The Indians asked Carlos Santana to stop tapping his front foot at the plate. Why?

“Because it wasn’t working,” said manager Manny Acta.

The first time Santana stopped tapping his toe was Tuesday night. He went 3-for-3 with a sacrifice fly and two RBI in the Indians’ 6-3 victory over Toronto. It was his first three-hit game since the season opener April 1.

Acta said they asked Santana to stop the toe tap to “eliminate some of the body movement he has at the plate. He’s hit like that before and he had a good day. That’s why Tuesday was very important to him.”

Acta and hitting coach Jon Nunnally have been trying to get Santana untracked through the first two months of the season. He hit .198 (17-for-86) with five homers and 17 RBI in April. His average improved in May to .253 (20-for-76), but the production (one homer, seven RBI) were lacking.

In the first five games of this six-game trip, Santana is hitting .500 (7-for-14). Since May 3, he’s hitting .274 (20-for-73) with seven RBI and an OPS of .809.

“We just felt that a lot of his problems were coming from extra body movement at the plate,” said Acta.

Hitters use the toe tap as a timing device, but when they don’t get their front foot down in time to hit, it can prove troublesome. Santana is a switch hitter and that can compound the problem.

“Hitting is tough enough as it is,” said Acta. “We’re trying to keep it as simple as possible. There comes a time when you have to make adjustments at this level.”

The topic had been under discussion, said Acta, but Tuesday discussion turned to action.

“We just flat-out decided to do it,” said Acta. “He was ready to make a change. He’s thought about it because we’ve been talking to him about it since spring training.”

Star vote: The first batch of All-Star votes was released Tuesday and Asdrubal Cabrera was second among AL shortstops behind Derek Jeter. Cabrera had 672,105 votes. Jeter had over 900,000.

The voters recognized other Indians as well: DH Travis Hafner was fourth with 407,334 votes, second baseman Orlando Cabrera was fourth at 384,004, Santana was fourth at 395,892, Grady Sizemore was eighth at 457,185 and Shin-Soo Choo was 12th at 366,575 among outfielders.

The All-Star Game is July 12 in Phoenix.

Tonight’s lineups:

Indians (32-20): CF Michael Brantley (L), SS Asdrubal Cabrera (S), RF Shin-Soo Choo (L), LF Travis Buck (L), C Carlos Santana (S), DH Grady Sizemore (L), 1B Matt LaPorta (R), 3B Jack Hannahan (L), 2B Adam Everett, RHP Josh Tomlin (6-2, 2.74).

Blue Jays (28-27): SS Yunel Escobar (R), LF Corey Patterson (L), RF Jose Bautista (R), 1B Juan Rivera (R), C J.P. Arencibia (R), 2B Aaron Hill (R), DH Eric Thames (R), CF Rafai Davis (R), 3B Jayson Nix (R), RHP Kyle Drabek (3-3, 4.16).

Him vs. me: Jose Molina is 2-for-2 with a homer against Tomlin. The Indians have never faced Drabek.

Left vs. right: Lefties are hitting .223 (31-for-139) with seven homers and righties .176 (18-for-102) with three homers against Tomlin. The Jays have one lefty in their lineup.

Lefties are hitting .278 (37-for-133) with four homers and righties .229 (22-for-96) with two homers against Drabek. The Indians have five lefties and two switch-hitters in the lineup.

Quote of the day: “I’m not an athlete. I’m a professional baseball player,” John Kruk, former big league ballplayer and current ESPN analyst on Baseball Tonight.

Umpires: H Tim McClelland, 1B D.J. Reyburn, 2B Marvin Hudson, 3B Ted Barrett.  McClelland, crew chief.

Next: Texas opens four-game homestand at Progressive Field Thursday night. LHP Matt Harrison will face RHP Carlos Carrasco (4-2, 4.91) Thursday at 7:05 p.m. STO and WTAM/1100 will carry the game.

Published: Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 5:05 PM     Updated: Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 5:21 PM

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Asdrubal Cabrera’s third homer of the spring pulled the Indians into a 1-1 tie with Arizona on Tuesday after four innings at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.

Cabrera started the fourth inning with a drive to right center off Aaron Heilman. It was only the second hit of the game for the Indians.

Grady Sizemore made his first start of the Cactus League season in center field. Sizemore, batting leadoff, flied out to the track in left field in the first and took a called third strike in the third. He was testedf just once in the field, catching a lazy fly ball in center field for the second out in the third.

Russell Branyan gave the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead with an RBI single off Fausto Carmona in the first. Branyan’s two-out single scored Chris Young from second.  

 

Published: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 4:57 PM     Updated: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 4:57 PM

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Carlos Santana hit a two-run homer, his first of the Cactus League season, Tuesday to give the Indians a 2-1 lead over Milwaukee after three innings at Goodyear Ballpark.

Santana, with two out in the first, drove a Chris Narveson pitch over the center field fence to give Mitch Talbot the lead. Asdrubal Cabrera, who singled with one out, scored in front of Santana.

The Brewers took a 2-0 lead in the first when Rickie Weeks hit a leadoff triple and scored on Craig Counsell’s sacrifice fly.

Talbot, hit hard all spring, gave up six hits in three innings. Some good defense saved him in the third.

Counsell hit a leadoff single, but Santana threw him out attempting to steal second. After Mark Kotsay flied out to center, Prince Fielder sent a sharply hit ball toward right center. Michael Brantley, former Milwaukee farmhand, made a sliding stop before the ball could get into the gap and threw out the thundering Fielder at second to end the inning.

Published: Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 4:41 PM     Updated: Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 4:41 PM

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The Indians, who had all but eliminated the special assistant position from the front office over the last few years, have brought it back.

They announced Tuesday that Eduardo Perez and Jason Bere have been hired as special assistants to the baseball operations department. Perez, 41, played 13 seasons in the big leagues, including the first half of the 2006 season in Cleveland. He was traded him to Seattle for Asdrubal Cabrera.

Bere, 39, pitched parts of 11 seasons in the big leagues. He pitched for the Indians in 2000 and 2003. Bere held the same job with the Indians from 2006 through 2009. He was a guest instructor last year.

Perez and Bere will be in spring training working with big league and minor league players. Perez will work with the player development system during the regular season. Bere will work with Indians minor league pitchers during the regular season.

The Indians also hired Tony Mansolino to be a coach at Class A Mahoning Valley. His father, Doug, is the infield coordinator in the Phillies minor league system. Dave Wallace is the manager and Greg Hibbard the pitching coach.

The Associated Press

Published: Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 11:10 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 11:10 a.m.

The Cleveland Indians shook off their recent string of slow starts, outscoring Shepherd 50-24 in the first half as the Indians soundly defeated the Pirates 95-62 on Tuesday, Jan. 25, in Shepherd.

Senior Cedric Reed led the Indians with five players in double figures with 19 points. Jaraud Ross finished with 18 points, Trey Richardson finished with 17 points, Marques Montgomery finished with 14 points and Drew Walker finished with 10 points.

Jaraud Ross and Jared McPherson played well defensively, sacrificing their bodies by taking charges. Ross took four charges and McPherson took five.

Shepherd was able to outscore Cleveland 29-19 in the third quarter, but Cleveland responded in the fourth by holding Shepherd to nine points, while the offense poured on 26.

Cleveland will have a bye this Tuesday before taking on Coldspring on Feb. 4 at home.