WOW! what else can one say, but WOW! the cleveland indians scored more runs than the detroit tigers tonight. they won 12-11, thanks to a 5 run ninth inning. what a wild game. what a comeback. all said, i keep coming back to WOW.

tonight's starting pitchers were mike maroth and fausto carmona. a rematch of the sunday night game a mere five days ago. one might expect somewhat of a pitchers duel between these two. maroth always pitches tough against us, and fausto has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year. but carmona got hit tonight. in six innings pitched, he allowed 10 hits and five earned runs. but maroth was living up to his cleveland standards through the first five innings. we were down 5-1 going into the bottom of sixth inning after detroit scored 2 runs in the top of the inning. our only run came on a victor martinez solo shot. prior to that, josh barfield smacked a single with runners on first and second and two down in the second. garko (the runner on second) was gunned down at the plate on a laser beam throw from curtis granderson. after this, i figured it was not going to be the tribe's night. but with pronk on first and two down, jhonny peralta came through with a two run shot to cut the deficit to 5-3. there was hope. ryan garko followed with a single. then jason michaels had a green light on a 3-0 pitch. he parked a two run shot that tied the game at 5, and got fausto off the hook. it was a brand new ballgame with 4 innings to go.

in comes tom mastny for the seventh. the strike throwing machine was not with it tonight. by the time the top of the seventh was over with, detroit scored 4 runs. all 4 runs were charged to mastny. the momentum seemed gone, the ballgame seemed lost. we went 1-2-3 in the seventh. fernando cabrera had a quick 1-2-3 8th. that in itself seemed very encouraging, because he has been struggling badly.

the first two outs occurred quickly in the 8th. then jhonny lashes a double. he just barely got in to second base. another perfect bullet throw by granderson almost resulted in the final out of the 8th. but it did not. garko follows with his third hit of the night, sending jhonny to third. jim leyland decides to bring in his closer, the struggling todd jones, to pitch to jason michaels. wedgie counters by pinch hitting with trot nixon. good move wedge, trot singles to score jhonny. up comes josh barfield. he singles. the tribe is content to have the bases loaded, but granderson decides to throw home anyway. he airmails the throw all the way back to the backstop, scoring garko and leaving the tying runs both in scoring position. david dellucci pinch hits for franklyn gutierrez. dellucci for the most part has struggled all season, especially with runners in scoring position. he hits a sinking shot that i am sure is going to fall and tie up the ballgame. magglio ordonez makes a sliding catch to keep this from happening. regardless, the deficit has been halved, the score is now 9-7.

all fernando has to do is repeat his seemingly effortless 8th inning to keep the deficit at a respectable 2 runs. he cannot do so. the bases are loaded via a single and two walks, one being intentional. he strikes out craig munroe on a full count. now all he has to do is get out rookie catcher mike rabelo and the tribe can commence the comeback attempt. rabelo walks on 4 pitches, none of which were that close. wedge brings in another struggling reliever, roberto hernandez. after getting ahead in the count 0-2, an infield single to casey at third scores another run to put detroit back ahead by four, 11-7. once again, all momentum seems lost, if not crushed. also, casey blake was inadvertently nailed in the head by former indian sean casey in a foot race to third on that run scoring infield single.

but we have seen two improbable ninth inning comebacks against us (new york and oakland). they both started with two out. plus, todd jones sucks at the jake. plus, we have our lead off hitter leading off the inning. grady quickly makes an out though. casey blake singles to get something started. pronk follows with a walk. then v mart does his thing. he hits his second home run of the game, a three run shot. the first tribe batsmen to hit two home runs in the same game. he hit one from each side of the plate. of course, if not for the two runs scored by detroit in their half of the 9th, that home run would have been the game winner. still only one out, only down by one. jhonny is on fire tonight. he lashes a second consecutive double. mike rouse pinch runs. garko is up, but strikes out for out number two. in a surprise move by leyland, he puts the winning run on base by intentionally walking trot! now we can truly appreciate the move some questioned when we signed trot late in the off season. leyland did not want to take his chances with the crafty veteran. instead, he rather face the .230 something hitting josh barfield. josh spoils that plan by driving in the game tying run with an RBI single. 11-11! bobby seay is warming up in the pen. todd jones was very distraught over josh's single. he has thrown 42 pitches. he has faced 11 batters, getting 3 outs while allowing 6 hits (4 singles, a double, and a home run) and walking two. yet he is allowed to face david dellucci. the count is 2-1 when delluucci sends a rocket back up the middle for the game winning hit.

what a way to start the month of june. best start in home games, ever. ever equals 107 year. because the mets lost, we now are tied with them for the second best record in baseball. now we have taken the first five from last years world series representatives. now we have a 4-1/2 game lead. now we are 19-4 at the jake. now detroit has lost 7 of their last 8. now their closer is out for the last two games of the series (most likely). now, i am still smiling. WOW!