Anyone here in Durham, NC who saw Indians righthander Adam Miller’s July 14 start against the Bulls knew all was not right with the 22-year-old phenom.

After allowing five runs in 2 2/3 innings at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Miller made one more start–allowing eight runs on 11 hits over just four innings against Charlotte–before the Tribe shut him down.

“I really felt OK in that start at Durham, but didn’t really have a feel for my two-seamer or my changeup,” Miller said. “I was fine out of the windup, but I just couldn’t get a feel for those two pitches out of the stretch. As far as Charlotte goes, I felt fine, but they were just hitting everything. I mean they were just putting everything in play.”

Miller said he experienced some soreness after his start against Durham that was a little unusual, but it increased after his start in Charlotte. That’s when the club decided to shut him down and sent him to Cleveland to be examined by team doctors.

An MRI revealed inflammation in Miller’s elbow joint–the same elbow that caused Miller to miss the first half of the 2005 season. He also missed a large chunk of this season with a finger injury, and came back slowly working out of the bullpen at Triple-A Buffalo before getting back to a starting role July 8. Though the organization expects him to miss at least two weeks, the Tribe is likely to treat the situation with extreme caution and Miller might not pitch again until instructional league.

“They’re saying 10-to-14 days right now, so it’s 10-to-14 days of working it out some, icing it and getting stim on it,” Miller said. “And after the first few days of getting treatment on it, I can tell it’s already better. I don’t really feel it anymore.

“The finger thing was just a weird injury. There’s nothing you can really do about any injury, but that just stunk. The elbow now, it’s not the same (injury) as before. It’s not in the same area. I’m going to pitch again this season. I know there was a lot of talk about that being in the big leagues this year early on, but you can’t control that. I’m just looking forward to gettting back on the mound soon.”

On another note, lefthander Tony Sipp is recovering well from Tommy John surgery. The 24-year-old reliever had elbow problems all spring and finally had the surgery in July.

“The surgery went very well and he’s doing fine,” Indians farm director Ross Atkins said.