Almost Miller Time

For those Tribe fans who were wondering if Ryan Miller got hurt last night during his start for Lake County, stop worrying. Though Adam Miller underwent surgery on his hand, his namesake is fine, leaving after four innings against Lakewood because he had reached his pitch count.

Still, Ryan Miller remains one of the better stories in the Minors this year. Despite recording no decisions in his last two starts, Miller remains 7-0 in 10 outings [nine starts] with a 1.20 ERA. Wednesday's effort against Lakewood was his "worst" of the season. He allowed two runs, both earned, walked four while fanning a season-low three.

"I'm on an 80-85 pitch count and they didn't want to see me go any further," Miller told MiLB.com earlier this afternoon. "I was struggling with my command but I got out of the [fourth] inning [allowing only two runs] and kept us in the game. They just wanted to make sure it didn't get out of hand. I was just struggling with fastball command last night.

"That's pretty much the first time that happened. I've had a couple of problems here and there, but nothing major. Last night kind of got out of hand and I started walking guys. Then I had to put myself back in fastball counts so they were sitting on it ready to swing."

Miller has walked 26 batters in 52 1/3 innings this year but nine of those have come in his last two starts. So he talked to Lake County pitching coach Ruben Niebla Thursday morning and, along with fellow pitcher Chris Archer, began working to correct the problem.

"We're not getting fully extended when we release the ball," Miller said. "We're almost launching it rather than staying on top of it and just releasing the pitch. If I can concentrate on that just playing catch and long toss in addition to my work in the bullpen session, it should help a lot.

"I started focusing on that today so we can nip it in the bud and carry it over to my next start and that will end that problem. We just have to wait and see what happens." <p>

Regardless, Miller is second in the Minor Leagues in ERA and tied for third in victories. But he's not getting too far ahead of himself thinking about going to Kinston of the Carolina League or Double-A Akron of the Eastern League. He seems pretty level-headed about what's going on this season.

That's a bonus for the Indians, because with Adam Miller down, there could be a trickle-down effect and some pitchers might start to feel pressure to perform and fill the void.

"Obviously the numbers show I'm having some success but I still think there's a lot of improvement needed as getting ahead of batters and getting myself into trouble," Ryan Miller said. "If I can fix these little kinks, I should be all right. I didn't expect to get off to this kind of start but I had some success in the spring and had gotten some work done in the off-season.

"I certainly didn't expect to be 7-0 through eight starts. Naturally, you think about it [moving up]. There are always thoughts in your head but I'll know when it's time for me to go. The numbers say I'm ready to go but Ruben and I still have work to do down here. Once we get that all figured out, it should be all right."

All things being equal, Miller should be in Kinston before long. He'll get the chance to test his new release point early next week at Delmarva. So don't worry Cleveland fans, it may not be Miller time just yet but it's coming.