Jhonny

Peralta

McDonald will be the usual second baseman, sliding to short on occasion. Peralta will handle most of the shortstop duties, but can slide over to third to give Casey Blake a day off. Ricky Gutierrez and Zach Sorensen are left as reserves. Brandon Phillips will return from Triple-A Buffalo when rosters expand, perhaps sooner if nobody is hitting. McDonald and Peralta are both strong defensively, but neither offers much in terms of offense. Peralta hit .257 with one homer, one stolen base and 45/15 K/BB in 237 ABs for Buffalo.

The Indians acknowledge Peralta should not be in the majors right now. If it weren’t for Omar Vizquel’s injury or Brandon Phillips’ ineffectiveness, he wouldn’t be. They still have high hopes for him as a shortstop, though. His defense is strong, and he did hit 15 homers at Double-A Akron in 2002.

Every Indians starter except Aaron Boone had a hit, and all but Boone, Ramon Vazquez, and Coco Crisp had two hits apiece. If it weren’t for 242 at-bats as an injury replacement for Omar Vizquel in 2003, Peralta would be right there with Huston Street and Gustavo Chacin as the favorites for AL Rookie of the Year.

The Indians collected 17 hits and totaled 22 men on base in the victory. Every starter except Ben Broussard had at least one hit. Coco Crisp and Victor Martinez each had three hits, with Crisp scoring four times.

Peralta, still batting third even with Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez in the lineup, hasn’t stopped producing. He’s 30-for-92 with six homers, 14 runs scored, and 20 RBI in 22 games from the No. 3 spot. He’ll likely remain there until he cools off, giving his value a substantial boost from batting sixth or lower as he has most of the year.

Peralta has more homers than any Indians shortstop since Woodie Held in 1961. He also belted his 25th double today.

Manager Eric Wedge displayed an extreme amount of patience with Peralta in the third spot, but it was time for this. If Peralta heats up, he can return to batting third. Until then, his value declines.

Peralta is hitless in 14 at-bats. “He’s going through some normal things that you go through in your second full season,” manager Eric Wedge said. Peralta is still the Indians’ shortstop, but Wedge didn’t guarantee that he’d be back in the starting lineup on Tuesday.

Peralta’s RBI double in the second was his first extra-base hit in 12 games. He went on to single in a run in the fourth. This isn’t going to get Peralta moved back in the lineup right away, but if he can put up numbers for a week or two, he should get out of the seventh spot.

Peralta has really busted out of his slump with back-to-back three-hit games. He was hitting sixth in the Cleveland lineup tonight, and he could continue to move up if he keeps hitting.