joe blow did it again. yet we prevailed. we beat texas 8-7 in 11 innings on jhonny peralta's 'walk off' single. and in 11 innings, cleveland pitchers struck out 19 texas hitters. c.c, denied his fourth win because of joe blow, led the way with 8 in 6.0 innings pitched. the winner, fernando cabrera, was second with 5 K's in his two innings of work. tom mastny struck out the side in the seventh in his only inning of work. fernando also did it in the tenth. the biggest strike out of the game belongs to roberto hernandez. he struck out the only batter he faced (brad wilkerson) with the bases loaded and two out in the eighth. he saved the game. there is not a stat for this, but we all know it. texas pitchers struck out 13 indian hitters. the 19 punchouts by cleveland was one away from their all time record. it was a 'record' for texas batters.

it is curious how i write a blog last night about all of randy johnson's strike outs, then the next day alot of strike outs are to be had all around the ballparks. the list includes:

jake peavy. he had 16 strike outs in 7.0 innings! and he made history. at one point in the game, he struck out 9 consecutive d'back batters. he was one away from tying the major league record held by tom seaver. he now has second place all to himself. five others struck out 8 in a row. none were named randy johnson. jake was denied the victory despite not giving up a run. the best relief pitcher ever gave up a two run bomb to lose the game. a big win for the d'backs, no doubt.

brandon webb: not really a strike out pitcher, he was matched against jake. he struck out 6 in 8.0 innings of work. not nearly as good as peavy, but good enough compared to the combined effort of the three san diego pitchers.

tim hudson: the renewed hudson had 12 in 8.0 innings. he lost the game, but bob wickman allowed all of hudson's runners to score.

scott olsen: hudson's counterpart struck out 10 in 8.0 innings.

chad durbin: the gambler's replacement got a big W for both him and the tigers today by not giving up a run in 8.o innings, striking out 9.

no one else really did much. one would think with curt schilling also pitching today, that he would be on the list above. he was not because he only struck out three in 7.0 innings.

back to the tribe. personally, i am not concerned about the that josh barfield is batting less than nicole kidman's body weight at .117. nicky, no disrespect. there are alot of good batters that are hitting as bad, if not worse. alot are young (their first or second year). the dude he was traded for, kevin 'the crushin russian' kouzamafoff, had one double in four at bats today to raise his average to.132. michael young had three hits, included the game tying double with two outs in the ninth, to raise his average to .188. adam laroche had his first hit today in the 16th inning. his bases loaded single won the game. his average jumped to .106. phenom alex gordon's 0'fer today dropped his average to .134. chris young makes the list at .197. veterans include all star lance berkman at .214. he is worsened by paul konerko at .203. richie sexson is at .148. rafael furcal is at .192. the best hitter in all of baseball, albert pujols, is only at .234. all WILL improve. and from what i have seen and heard, josh has been playing nice D, for the most part.

sweet! what a game tonight. we beat johan, fausto pitched great, hafner had another bomb, and mike rouse finally got his first base hit, and it was with a runner in scoring position. oh yeah, we are in first place in the division.

last night when watching the tribe game, my budy sean and i were discussing the greatness of randy johnson. we were discussing how many times he had 20 strikouts. i will copy and paste the e-mail i sent sean last night after he left.

dude,

that was a trick question. randy has never had a 20 strikeout game. he had 19 twice, both times with seatle, in the same year (1997). he shares the record for lefties with steve carlton.

clemens and kerry wood share the record for righties, with 20. roger did it twice.

randy holds the record for a reliever, with 16. he did it when he was with u guys.

randy shares the record with nolan ryan for the most 10+ strikeout games in a season. he had 23 such games in 1999, 2000, and 2001.

if you want to verify the data:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_strik.shtml

i was satisfied with my search, and went no further the the all knowing baseball almanac. late this afternoon, sean calls me up to tell me he just watched the d'backs pregame show where they mentioned his 20 strikeout game with the d'backs. i am in disbelief, but searched the web again to prove him wrong. well, surprise surprise, sean was correct. here is my e-mail letting him know so.

dude,

the first place i looked (wikipedia, the first time i ever checked it out), i found this:


Struck out 20 batters in a game on May 8, 2001 against Cincinnati Reds; Johnson recorded all 20 strikeouts in the first nine innings, but because the game went into extra innings, it was not categorized by MLB as an "official" 20-strikeout game (Tom Cheney's 16-inning, 21-strikeout game is also listed separately). Baseball has since reversed itself on the game, and now lists Johnson with Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood as 20-K pitchers.


20 k's is 20k's, the way i see it, complete game or not. i can understand for a non no, but strikeouts are an individual accomplishment that should not be tied to a complete game.

it also said this about his 'relief appearance':

Johnson's Game 7 relief appearance was his second of the 2001 season; on July 19, a game against the Padres was delayed by two electrical explosions in Qualcomm Stadium. When the game resumed the following day, Johnson stepped in as the new pitcher and racked up 16 strikeouts in 7 innings, technically setting the record for the most strikeouts in a relief stint.

randy holds many other pitching records, both strikeout related and not. too bad he got crushed tonight in his '07 debut against the padres.

wow, what a game tonight! it was all positive, for sure. nerve racking, definitely. but we beat the twins in minnesota playing their style of ball. pitching well, playing good D, and getting timely hits.

pitching: jeremy sowers, who had just gotten beaten up by the yankees in his last start, entered the seventh with a 3-0 lead. after he walked off the mound at the end of the inning, the game was tied at 3 apiece. after giving up a solo shot on a 3-2 count to tori hunter and giving out his first free pass of the game, i wanted eric wedge to replace him with rafael bentacourt. after giving up a single, i was sure wedgie was going to give the ball to raffy. he did not, and rookie alexi cassila got a turf double that tied it up, after the ball jumped over third baseman casey blake's outstretched glove. jeremy's counterpart, carlos silva, went five innings, giving up three runs on a victor martinez tater. both gave up three runs, but jeremy gave us two more innings. in a pitching and defense battle, cleveland took the first advantage. then the bullpen (fultz, betancourt, and roberto) dominated. five hitless innings, one walk, three strikeouts. minnesota's relief core bended (i am talking about the ninth inning when garko almost had a grand slam with two outs), then broke in the twelfth. even joe nathan pitched tonight. he was brought in to quell the fire; but gave up a walk, a two run single to tanaka (aka shin-soo choo, thanks sean), and threw alot of pitches, 24. so if johan cannot go at least seven innings tomorrow night, once again the edge would default to cleveland. this of course assumes fausto carmona has his second straight strong game.

defense: aside from a grady error (his first) in the three run seventh, we played really tight D. barfield made a really nice play in extra innings. the defense turned three double plays. minnesota did not attempt a stolen base.

clutch hitting: for the second straight night, ryan garko delivered the winning base hit. he helped the tribe take the series from tampa yesterday with a go ahead, ninth inning three run home run. tonight, his second single of the game plated the first run in the the four run twelfth. as much as i liked andy marte and his D at third, the silver lining in his injury is that now garko will be the starting first baseman. even though i am not a fan of casey blake's erratic throws from third, he claimed the stability of having a consistent position will help his offensive game. he somewhat backed that up tonight. he had a single and double in seven AB's. he scored a run, only struck out once, and was robbed of a third hit by nick punto. of course, victor's three run shot got the indians on the board. hafner stayed hot. four hits, two walks (one intentional). and did i mention garko narrowly missed a grand slam in the ninth???

regardless of what happens tomorrow, tonight's win was big. it was the best all around played game by the indians that i have personally viewed this year. against our division rival and league leader, at their home. we got the W, a young jeremy (tonight was just his 18th career start) got a valuable lesson on pitching late in a close game, and we have put ourselves in a good position to win tomorrow nights game and sweep the series. when a team will be facing the best pitcher in baseball, anything you can do to help yourself win in the game prior is a bonus.

ok, enough time has passed. i am referring to thursday's game against new york of course. i will get this out of the way. this is all i will say about it, now that i am sane enough to do so. the score was 6-2, ninth inning, two outs, no one is on base. yet we loose the game. and get swept in the process. as inexcusable as it was for joe blow to do, it was almost as upsetting that eric wedge just sat back and watched. it was blatantly obvious that joe 'had it' for the first two batters, then 'lost it'. so, why did he pitch to a-rod? why not bring in fernando cabrera? roberto? anyone else? why not walk a-rod? runners were on second and third. it was tragic we lost the game. it was tragic we got swept. it was tragic that fausto got a no decision for probably his best pitched game in the majors, which happened in yankees stadium, with the tribe having lost two in a row (not to beleaguer the point). at least we beat tampa last night. we didn't play well, as eric wedge commented, but they won. and at least the yanks lost in a similar manner to their rivals, the red sox.

it is hard to get into a rhythm tonight. i am watching today's game against tampa. bases loaded. two outs. michaels up. camp just came in. 1-1. 2-1. this could be the ballgame. damnit!

we lost the game. another sub par game. the infield D looked tight. except when barfield collided with trot collided to allow the 'double' that led to 2 runs with two outs. lack of clutch hitting once again prevailed. trot with two on and two outs in the seventh, michaels in the eighth, victor with two on in the first and one out. once again, plenty of wasted opportunities.
plus, our seven game win streak in tampa is now over.
plus, travis hafner's streak of reaching base in 10 straight plate appearances is over.
plus, jae seo got his first win since last july.

overall, the tribe has showed signs of both good and bad.

positive: we are getting men on base. negative: we are stranding them, in droves.

positive: joe blow got his sixth save friday night. negative: his ERA is 11.57.

positive: victor is back, and is hitting well. negative: his D as a catcher has hurt us.

positive: westbrook signed an extension, and left money on the table for sure. negative: how did he respond? by getting pounded on by the yankees.

positive: it is early. negative: these are not new problems.

positive: chicago and detroit are struggling also. negative: minnesota is not.

positive: we are heading north after we leave tampa to go to the metrodome. negative: hopefully, there will not be one. we need to split the short two game series. if we win both games, which means beating johan, it will be all positive.

also, alyssa milano has a baseball blog located on mlb's website. not that she needs any more attention, but after three posts, i can say it is alright. she does genuinely seem to love baseball. she seems to know about her team, the dodgers. the dodgers, btw, do have the best record in baseball right now. but i still wonder if her blog is just a means of advertising her new MLB clothing line. time will tell.

oh yeah, mark buehrle pitched the majors first no hitter this year. yeah, yeah. i love the no no. i hate when it is by a white sox pitcher. hence, i have nothing else to say about it.

wow! one hit. one stinking hit was all we got.

but we won! c.c. is now 3-0. he struck out 10 in 8 innings. the final, 2-1. joe borowski picked up his fourth save in as many opportunities. the offense struggled, again. especially with runners in scoring position, again. but we won, despite just one hit. hey, give chicago pitchers some credit for that. we all know the offense will be ok. but more importantly, we took two out of three from the white sox, again. chicago made three errors, cleveland none. a tight one run ballgame on a cold cleveland day.

it was a good series. i did not like seeing fausto get knocked around on friday. at least paul byrd proved his 4-2/3 inning no hitter that wasn't was not a fluke. he pitched 6 shut out innings on saturday. and garko did what he seems to do best, hit. now we are off to new york, where more cold, ugly weather is forecasted.

well, we should be 3-1. we should have played five games. but because snow, we have only played three games. and because of mike hargrove, we are only 2-1. the manager who used to be referred to as the human rain delay in his playing days with cleveland can now add 'and snow' to his moniker. mike hargrove, the human rain and snow delay.

on a cold and snowy day in cleveland, mike hargrove was successful in stalling the game enabling it to be wiped from the books. it was the top of the fifth inning. cleveland led seattle 4-0. there were numerous delays throughout the game. leaf blowers were used as snow blowers. but paul byrd, the crafty veteran making his first start of the year, had managed to get through 4-2/3 innings. without giving up a hit. he did get wild in the fifth. the bases were juiced. but there were 2 outs. he gets ahead of felipe lopez with a 1-2 count. one more strike, and the game is official. that is when hargrove did his thing. one more pitch potentially ended the game. it was never allowed. aside from a cleveland abbreviated no hitter W and a seattle L, also wiped out were some ugly stats from both sides. horacio ramirez had a terrible game in his seattle debut. adrian beltre had 3 errors in 4 innings played at third. even grady had two caught stealings. one result that could not be wiped out, victor martinez. he pulled or strained a muscle running to first, obviously a cold related injury. i have not yet heard how long, if at all, he will be out. so, the game was to be made up today as part of a doubleheader. both of those games got cancelled. same reason, snow and cold. now, they will try the doubleheader again tomorrow, on easter sunday.

as mentioned above, we are 2-1. an exciting 8-7 win in game two. grady sizemore hit a decisive 2 run home run off a lefty in an otherwise cold, snowy, and ugly game. jason michaels made an amazing catch to end the game. chicago had two runners on. the catch earned joe borowski his first save of the season. hopefully, many more are to come, and not as dicey as that one. the game should not have been close. cleveland left 15 runners on base! casey blake seemed to be the biggest culprit, leaving 9 men on. that has been a concern of mine. whoever bats in the 5th spot will have plenty of RBI opportunities. i like casey, but i much rather see ryan garko in that spot. i remember '05 too well. that year casey only hit a buck and change all year with runners in scoring position. he only had a handful of base hits all year with runners and scoring position and two outs. when u fail so miserably for an entire season, it cannot be called a fluke.

game three brought about our first loss. grady homers, yet again! three games, as many homers. the always exciting 'walk off' hit by pitch with the bases loaded was the culprit. roberto hernandez barely grazed a.j. p in the 9th inning. there were no outs. the thing i do not understand. the game was tied. roberto worked the first two games. he is over 40 years old. jason davis and fernando cabrera had not yet been used at all. tomorrow it will be one week into the season. neither has yet to be used. of course, if the doubleheader actually happens, they will definitely be ready to go. i just hope they are not rusty. lost in the L was the fact that jeremy sower's first start was a success. he had some control issues. but he only gave up one hit. a lead off hit in the first inning. he then preceded to record 18 outs without giving up another hit. the white sox managed two runs despite this fact.

notes an observations from around the league:

-omar vizquel is still doing his thing. i love watching giants games just to see him play shortstop. he had an amazing play friday night against the dodgers. he is an all star!

-i noticed houston finally got their first win. roy oswalt pitched a 94 pitch one run complete game gem.

-adam wainright had an impressive first start to get the world series champs their first win.

-tony pena jr of the royals leads the american league with 3 triples. he also made a play today against the tigers that should be a web gem of the year candidate. i don't think omar could make a play like that in his prime.

-two of the three japanese imports have started off great. akinori iwamura is tearing it up. dice k had a great first start. and kei igawa had a terrible first start. a-rod's grand slam with two outs in the ninth negated a well deserved L for kei.

-k-rod is cheating???

-jason hirsh had a great first start for the rockies. he beat greg maddux.

-a much less heralded rook, micah owings, also had a great first start for the d-backs. he beat the nationals.

-kevin k, the 'crushin russian', is not doing so. neither is alex gordon. i bet both turn it around.

-i am sure i am forgetting other stuff, but for now that is all.

day two:

the indians, of course, did not play today. what intrigued me was a stat shown on baseball tonight showing that day #2 starters collectively pitched much better than opening day starters. so while perusing through today's box scores, i graded all of today's starting pitchers. remember zito's disappointing B- and peavy's A+ count towards the opening day crowd grade, which i did not do yesterday. i do remember felix hernandez and ben sheets getting A++'s, c.c. & aaron harang getting A's, and jose contreras getting an F. i can also recall many C-D's.

so, today's A+'s:
ian snell. despite getting a no decision, he helped the pirates collect win number 2 by going 6 innings, striking out a career high 11 , while giving up 2 runs on hits. two runs would usually result in an A, but for the pirates starting the season 2-0, i make an exception.

jason jennings: his counterpart. in his first start in an astros uni, he allows 1 run on 5 hits in 6 innings, striking out 7. once again, an iffy A+, but doing so in his first game in houston tops him on top. it makes him 'feel' like an astro.

orlando hernandez. he gave up as many runs as he had strikeouts. 0. he got the W against the world series champs for his seven innings pitched.

the A's (not the team):
the boof'ster:
he recieved a no decision also, but only gave up 2 runs in 6 innings pitched. leaving with the game tied after 6, you know minnesota and their strong 'pen is probably going to win. and they did.

jared washburn got the only B+. seattle gets their second W.

daniel cabrera (on my fantasy team), scott olsen, and kip wells received B's.
cabrera got the L, as he gave up 3 runs in 7 innings while striking out 9, but walking 4.
olsen only gave up 2 hits in 5-1/3 innings pitched, but gave up 2 runs because he walked 5. the more i think about it, his grade should drop.
kip also got the L, but pitched bearably decent as the number 2 pitcher who wouldn't be on many teams.

there were no C+'s.

randy wolf and chris cap received C's. chris's grade drops when you think about how he could be a number 1 pitcher on many clubs.

joe blanton gets a C- for giving up 4 runs in 6 innings.

rich hill gets a D+. his numbers weren't much different than blanton's.

openning day is here. and the good guys won! cleveland beat the white sox 12-5. not just beat, dominated. 5-2 after the first. 9-2 after two. contreras is gone by this point. he did not retire a batter in the second before he was yanked from the game. 11-3 after the third inning. it stayed that way till the 8th. not to get too excited after the first game, but here are other great aspects of this game.

grady sizemore:
to say he struggled this spring is an understatement. he hit less than his bodyweight. a buck and a few bits of change. nary a word was said about it, which really worried me. so how does he do in the first game? hits a home run, on the second pitch of the game. espn's recap called this the turning point of the game. on the second pitch! he also singled, walked, and scored 3 runs. welcome to the regular season. i am glad all is well. i just wish you didn't have to scare me.

next up in the order, trot nixon:
many consider the signing of trot to be an unwise choice. his numbers have benn steadily declining over the years, as has been his health. it was reported that he was not ready health-wise to start the season. he seemed to struggle in the spring, i read. he responds with 3 hits, one being a double, and also scores 3 runs. of course he could break down later. hopefully not. but even if he does, we have depth. depth that has been challenged. if one of our many talented AAA or even AA outfielders get called up, they know they must put up some big numbers if they want to sick around. yes, it is pressure. but if a rook can't handle pressure, than he probably will not succeed.

travis hafner, aka pronk:
he is another one who struggled this spring. a low batting average, no home runs. he ends up also scoring 3 runs, collects two hits (both singles), and drives in one.

jhonny peralta:
we all know of his sophomore slump struggles. but everything you read on him this spring praised him. he came into camp in great shape, lost weight, gained quickness, had his eyes LASIC-ally corrected, his attitude is great, he is more open and receptive to his teammates, great stuff, more great stuff. his spring stats and defense were on par with the hype. so was today's game. he scored a run, had 2 singles which drove in 3 runs, and walked once. didn't hear anything about the D, but he had no errors and turned one DP with his new partner, josh barfield. by the way, they melded smoothly according to all reports.

speaking of, josh barfield:
in his first at bat, he hits a two run triple. as his first hit in an indians uniform.

the defnse:
no errors, one DP turned.

and most importantly, c.c.:
he got the W by pitching 6 innings. he gave up three runs. all came via 2 home runs allowed. he gave up 8 hits and walked one, striking out only 2 in 91 pitches. he did what he had to. chicago does have a great offense, i admit. he may not be 100%, but regardless, he found a way to win. he was handed an early lead, and he took care of it. i love it!

the bullpen looked good. borowski did give up 2 runs. i am sure he was just getting them out of the way. he allowed the first two batters to get on base, then he retired the next 3.

i know, i know, there are 161 games left. but for now, bask in all the positivity.

other highlights.

felix herandez:
just like jhonny, he is one another player who had a bad year last year. and just like jhonny, he is another player who everyone praised thisspring. he becomes the first pitcher since bob gibson over 40 years ago to not give up a run AND strike out 12 on openning day. all at the age of 20. wow!

ben sheets:
he pitches a complete game two hitter. after allowing a home run to jeff kent, he got tough. he retired the next 22 batters. it has been 15 years since a complete game 2 hitter or less was recorded on openning day (tom glavine also did the same back in 1995).

gary mattehews jr.:
i don't know if he took HGH or not. considering his come from nowhere year last year, one has to wonder. he got way too much from the angels, irregardless. i did not look up his game stats. what i did see was dirt on his jersey in the 8th. he has always been known for his D. defense and hustle are not affected by HGH.

boston red sox:
aided by gil meche, they were embarrassed by KC. curt schilling got roughed up. gil looked like an ace.

detroit lost, the d'backs won, and there was an extra inning game to boot.

what a great openning day!