A few of you have mentioned Scott Lewis in recent posts, so I wanted to clear some things up.

According to the Indians, Lewis is not hurt per say. After his last start in the regular season he mentioned some tingling and numbness in his left pitching arm, so the Indians brass just decided to play it safe and shut him down.

It’s a good big-picture move for Lewis, who’s had Tommy John surgery and pitched on a limited pitch count (70) all last season. This year, the Aeros slowly built up his innings by cautiously expanding his pitch limit from 70 to 100 by season’s end. Still, that’s a lot of extra work for an arm that was so limited the previous year.

Rather than risk anything, Lewis was shut down for the playoffs. That’s one of the reason’s right-hander Jake Dittler ended up throwing Game Two Thursday in Erie. The other reason is that because the Aeros went on such a hot run at the end of the regular season and almost caught Erie, the team wasn’t able to rest some key starters and set up the rotation for the playoffs.

Thus, the team comes home today with the best-of-five series tied 1-1. Left-hander Jeremy Sowers goes tonight (Friday) for the Aeros, followed by right-hander Bobby Brownlie scheduled for Game Four Saturday. If a Game Five back in Erie is needed, Aeros manager Tim Bogar said Thursday night that he expects to start Adam Miller.

The Aeros ace last seson, Miller came in on relief for Chuck Lofgren in the first game of the series Wednesday, allowing four runs on five hits in just two innings.

Let’s hope he’s a little sharper come Sunday - if the Aeros get that far.

News out of Canal Park despite the team being on the road has brought yet another handful of changes to the team’s roster.

This time, they are moves that could strengthen the team’s chance to make a post season run, with the exception of the latest Michael Aubrey injury - but more on that in a minute.

First, and perhaps most important, the Aeros received outfielder Brian Barton from Triple-A Buffalo after a two-week stint with the Bisons. Not only will Barton once again bolster the team’s offense, but it will keep the Areos from having to use second baseman Argenis Reyes in left field - where he played Sunday.

The Aeros also received pitchers Rich Rundles and Eric Dubose from Buffalo, while sending reliever T.J. Burton to Class-A Kinston. Rundles, a reliever, has shuttled back and forth between Akron and Buffalo all season. Dubose (4-3, 4.24 ERA in 11 games including eight starts) will join the starting rotation in place of right-hander Jake Dittler, who was placed on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation retroactive to Aug. 6th.

That leaves us with Aubrey. Yes, once again, the Tribe’s often-injured No. 1 pick in the 2003 draft is sidelined - this time with an abdomin strain. At some point, you just figure he’s going to have to run out of body parts to hurt. It just figures, too. After struggling since joining the team from Kinston, Aubrey was just starting to hit last week.

A lot of baseball folks might not consider losing their No. 2 and No. 3 hitters a way to “jump start” a struggling team.

Yet that’s exactly what Aeros manager Tim Bogar believes happened to the Aeros when they lost shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and right fielder Brian Barton recently in a week’s span.

Say what?

“This change is exactly what this team needs,” Bogar said confidently. “We were kind of mumbling and bumbling along, just kind of getting through it. Then all of a sudden Cabrera leaves, a week later Barton leaves, and these guys still here are like ‘Hey, what’s going on? Maybe I have a chance to move. Maybe I could do some things and get out of here. Now I’m the guy, so I better put some numbers up.”

First baseman/designated hitter Jordan Brown has been putting up numbers all season long, entering Wednesday game batting a team-best .331 (second in the league) and leading the Eastern League in hits with 128. This, despite battling a nagging knee injury that will require off-season surgery.

Center fielder Trevor Crowe has begun to pull his weight, turning his dismal season around the last month to enter Wednesday batting a much more respectable .248.

Now it’s time for veteran left fielder Ryan Goleski (.253) to do the same, as well as shortstop Brandon Pinckney (.220) - now that he has the advantage of playing every day with Cabrera gone.

“Right now we got what we got,” Bogar said. “We’ll figure it out. There’s plenty of hitters on this team.”

The Aeros’ pitching staff needs to share a portion of the burden during this final month as well, as the hitters have carried the team most of the season.

As decent as Wednesday’s starter Chuck Lofgren has been at 10-6 with a 4.28 ERA, the left-hander has yet to live up to his pre-season “ace” billing. And as a three-year Double-A veteran, right-hander Jake Dittler needs to do better than the 4.37 ERA he’s posted in 19 appearances.