CLEVELAND — Travis Hafner is back in familiar territory — the disabled list.

Cleveland’s designated hitter was placed on the injured list Monday prior to the series opener against Seattle with a right foot strain.

Hafner sustained the injury while running to second base Sunday in a loss at Detroit.

“I think it’s going to be a minimum of two weeks,” said general manager Chris Antonetti. “We’re still in the process of determining the specific length of time and the best way to treat the injury.”

Antonetti said head trainer Lonnie Soloff would provide more details on Hafner’s injury today, but it sounds as though it has season-ending potential. It is related to the injury that caused Hafner to miss a handful of games earlier this season.

Hafner has slumped as of late but has been one of Cleveland’s few productive hitters, batting .281 with 11 home runs and 49 RBIs in 82 games.

It is the second trip to the DL this season for Hafner, who has been on the injured list in each of the last four years.

With Hafner out of commission, reports began to circulate that the Indians might be interested in acquiring Jim Thome, the club’s all-time home run leader, who has been placed on waivers by the Twins.

Any American League team with a worse record than the Indians could claim Thome before Cleveland gets the chance. Even if the Indians are able to claim Thome, they would still have to work out a trade acceptable for Minnesota, which could opt to take him off waivers.

“We’ve been very aggressive in a number of claims we’ve made, but unfortunately haven’t been able to find a fit,” Antonetti said.

Sizemore’s status

Grady Sizemore (right knee) hit in the cages, shagged fly balls and did some light running prior to the series opener with Seattle. He has yet to take batting practice on the field or run the bases, but he said he could begin playing in minor-league rehab games next week.

“That’s assuming everything goes well,” he said. “That could change the next day. But I definitely feel like I’m going to be back before the end of the year, if it feels good.”

Comings and goings

The Indians played without right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, who left the team to be with his wife after the birth of the couple’s first daughter. Choo has been hot since leaving the disabled list, batting .343 (12-for-35) with a homer and three RBIs in eight games.

**With the Indians wanting to keep their bullpen fresh for a doubleheader today, reliever Josh Judy was promoted from Triple-A Columbus on Monday to assume Hafner’s roster spot. He is expected to be sent back down today to clear room for Zach McAllister, who will be promoted from Columbus to make a spot start in the second game of the doubleheader. McAllister was in Cleveland on Monday, but won’t be officially added to the roster until today.

**Shelley Duncan is expected to return to the team today from a family emergency — his mother’s surgery. Outfielder Ezequiel Carrera, who took Duncan’s spot, is expected to return to Columbus.

Ugly Ubaldo

Ubaldo Jimenez’s problems come down to mechanics, according to Antonetti.

“We’ve spent a lot of time discussing with Ubaldo adjustments he can make,” Antonetti said of the right-hander, who has pitched poorly in three of his four starts since arriving in a trade from the Rockies. “We think there are some things that he can do to get him back on track.

“I’m confident he’s healthy and still has the attributes to be a successful major league pitcher.”

Antonetti admitted that Jimenez’s velocity is down from last year (97-99 mph), but claimed the pitcher’s average fastball speed is within the 10 fastest among American League starters.

He said Jimenez will work on mechanical adjustments with pitching coach Tim Belcher this week.

Minor details

It’s been an injury-plagued season for Columbus third baseman Jared Goedert, but he is starting to get hot, entering Monday batting .378 (31-for-82) with six homers and 10 RBIs over his last 25 games. Goedert (.258, 23 RBIs in 65 games), hit his 10th homer Sunday in the Clippers’ 10-2 loss to Buffalo. … Double-A Akron LHP T.J. McFarland is 7-3 with a 2.63 ERA over his last 11 starts. A fourth-round draft pick in 2007, McFarland is 9-7 with a 3.87 ERA in 22 starts for the Aeros.

Roundin’ third

Starting with the series opener with Seattle on Monday, the Indians play 11 straight games at Progressive Field and 14 of their next 17. … The Indians are offering free tickets to the first game of the doubleheader today for kids 12 and under when a regularly-priced seat is purchased. Up to three children can receive the free tickets per regularly-priced seat. … Today, 1:05/7:05, Game 1 — Masterson (10-7, 2.71) vs. Beaven (3-4, 4.10), STO/WTAM 1100-AM. Game 2 — McAllister (0-0, 4.50) vs. Vasquez (first start), STO/WTAM 1100-AM.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Fan him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

WELLINGTON — Danielle Heffernan and Andrew Gest were crowned king and queen of the 2011 Lorain County Fair during opening ceremonies today.

Heffernan, 18, of Amherst, is a Marion L. Steel graduate. Gest, 18, of Grafton, is a Midview grad.

“I was definitedly very excited,” Heffernan said. “When I was little in 4-H, we’d always look at the king and queen in fair and see them in their pretty dresses. It’s exciting to finally be in that position.”

“I’d just like to say congratulations to the other contestants — they all did a great job,” Gest said.

Heffernan, a member of the Amherst Critters and Such 4-H group as well as a Junior Fair Board member, will leave for Ohio University two days after the fair wraps up. She plans to major in business management.

Gest, Junior Fair Board president, will attend Ohio State University and major in construction management.

“It’s natural for me to be here,” Heffernan said of the fair, explaining that she was “born into it.”

Gest agreed.

“My family’s always been involved in the fair. We’ve always brought 4-H projects out here,” he said. “It was just part of my life when I was growing up.”

New Lorain Water Plant superintendent Dan McGannon stands Thursday with the Lorain Water Treatment plant in the background. (CT photo by Chuck Humel)

LORAIN – Many Americans take clean water for granted, but after 31 years of helping to provide it, Dan McGannon knows better.

Four months after he was hired in the wake of a water contamination screw-up, McGannon, Lorain’s water purification plant superintendent, is implementing an ambitious agenda to keep clean water flowing to residents.

Since he began work April 18, McGannon has had sediment, known as sludge, trucked to a landfill rather than letting it flow to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, where it clogged up filters. He plans to switch to liquid chlorine to treat water, which is safer than hydrogen chloride, and eventually switch to plastic pipes, which last longer than iron ones.

“It’s not an art. It’s a science,” McGannon said Thursday about the purification process. “Back in the old days it was an art, but today it’s a science. Everything we do from now on will be based on science.”

McGannon’s hiring was prompted by workers erroneously reading dosage rates on a pump leading to a chemical underfeed in the purification process, causing high turbidity, or cloudiness, in water on April 9 and 10, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. City officials said the water was flushed into sewers as a precautionary measure and never reached the public.

However, workers at the plant failed to promptly notify the EPA. James Miller, the acting assistant water plant superintendent, and Mark Petrie, lead operator for purification, both quit under pressure. McGannon, who is a Class 4 plant operator, a certification from the Ohio EPA that is hard to come by, was then hired.

Utilities Director Corey Timko, who hired McGannon, praised his communication and management skills in a July 9 interview.

“The employees are going to like that a whole bunch and you’re going to get buy-in,” Timko said. “We’re trying to make a cultural shift in the way things are managed down there.”

McGannon said the screw-up has led to more EPA scrutiny including a surprise inspection, which he is fine with.

“Our water is so clean now that it’s unbelievable and I think everybody that works here is afraid for it to be anything other than that,” he said. “Surprise inspections tell them (EPA inspectors) two things: whether you’re doing you’re job or not.”

The hiring was a homecoming for McGannon, 50, a Lorain resident who began his career in 1980 working at the plant, which can process up to 17.2 million gallons of water daily and averages about 13.7 million gallons processed daily. McGannon worked at the plant at 1106 W. First St. until 1991, when he was hired at the water plant in Berea.

The Lorain plant, which dates back to 1906 and has operated continuously since 1954, serves about 30,000 customers. It had some $12.4 million in renovations completed in 1999.

McGannon is hoping to pour more money into new equipment when city taxpayers can afford it – like an approximately $250,000 centrifuge to filter water out of the sludge.

The sludge hauling costs about $60,000 annually. Sludge bags, about 20 feet wide and 100 to 150 feet long, lie outside the plant.

“There’s a lot to do here,” McGannon said. “I’ve got a good crew and everybody seems positive about making some changes.”

Contact Evan Goodenow at 329-7129 or egoodenow@chroniclet.com.

New Lorain Water Plant superintendent Dan McGannon stands Thursday with the Lorain Water Treatment plant in the background. (CT photo by Chuck Humel)

LORAIN – Many Americans take clean water for granted, but after 31 years of helping to provide it, Dan McGannon knows better.

Four months after he was hired in the wake of a water contamination screw-up, McGannon, Lorain’s water purification plant superintendent, is implementing an ambitious agenda to keep clean water flowing to residents.

Since he began work April 18, McGannon has had sediment, known as sludge, trucked to a landfill rather than letting it flow to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, where it clogged up filters. He plans to switch to liquid chlorine to treat water, which is safer than hydrogen chloride, and eventually switch to plastic pipes, which last longer than iron ones.

“It’s not an art. It’s a science,” McGannon said Thursday about the purification process. “Back in the old days it was an art, but today it’s a science. Everything we do from now on will be based on science.”

McGannon’s hiring was prompted by workers erroneously reading dosage rates on a pump leading to a chemical underfeed in the purification process, causing high turbidity, or cloudiness, in water on April 9 and 10, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. City officials said the water was flushed into sewers as a precautionary measure and never reached the public.

However, workers at the plant failed to promptly notify the EPA. James Miller, the acting assistant water plant superintendent, and Mark Petrie, lead operator for purification, both quit under pressure. McGannon, who is a Class 4 plant operator, a certification from the Ohio EPA that is hard to come by, was then hired.

Utilities Director Corey Timko, who hired McGannon, praised his communication and management skills in a July 9 interview.

“The employees are going to like that a whole bunch and you’re going to get buy-in,” Timko said. “We’re trying to make a cultural shift in the way things are managed down there.”

McGannon said the screw-up has led to more EPA scrutiny including a surprise inspection, which he is fine with.

“Our water is so clean now that it’s unbelievable and I think everybody that works here is afraid for it to be anything other than that,” he said. “Surprise inspections tell them (EPA inspectors) two things: whether you’re doing you’re job or not.”

The hiring was a homecoming for McGannon, 50, a Lorain resident who began his career in 1980 working at the plant, which can process up to 17.2 million gallons of water daily and averages about 13.7 million gallons processed daily. McGannon worked at the plant at 1106 W. First St. until 1991, when he was hired at the water plant in Berea.

The Lorain plant, which dates back to 1906 and has operated continuously since 1954, serves about 30,000 customers. It had some $12.4 million in renovations completed in 1999.

McGannon is hoping to pour more money into new equipment when city taxpayers can afford it – like an approximately $250,000 centrifuge to filter water out of the sludge.

The sludge hauling costs about $60,000 annually. Sludge bags, about 20 feet wide and 100 to 150 feet long, lie outside the plant.

“There’s a lot to do here,” McGannon said. “I’ve got a good crew and everybody seems positive about making some changes.”

Contact Evan Goodenow at 329-7129 or egoodenow@chroniclet.com.