it has been awhile. chicago took 2 of 3 from us. we go to texas and win 3 of 4. we come home and lose 3 of 4 to the red sox. the series did include the first set of back to back 1-0 (in which we split) since 1942. i was bummed about the series. we have only been playing .500 ball since the all star break. my cousin from vermont had been giving me a hard time. we have lost 2 straight series at the jake, where we typically dominate. and minnesota is rolling into town. actually, i should say limping. but they are the twins. the pesky twins that ozzie refer to as piranha. they have the best pitcher and one of the best closers in the game. their bullpen always seems to be one of the best in the AL. they play tight D. the get clutch hits. they play the game the right way. somehow, someway, we are 5-0 against them. even with johan going twice. his 3rd turn is sunday. but for today, things seemed bleak, somewhat. until we will already down 9-1 in game four, our offense had become pathetic. lee has sucked his last 3 outings. westbrook has not been much better

then comes along a trade. we have kenny back! 40-year-old kenny lofton. he came from the rangers for single A catcher max ramirez. max came from atlanta last year in the bob wickman trade. wickman for kenny sounds alot better than wickman for max. the center fielder and lead off batter will play left field and bat second for us. he will not retake center field from grady. wedge vaguely indicated he could take over the lead off spot though. i am torn on that. with grady's power, he could easily be a two or even a three hole hitter. grady strikes out too much. he is quickly approaching 100 K's. kenny had 28 entering tonight's game. kenny has mucho experience. after getting three singles in his first game back tonight, his average is up to .307. one of those hits was a 2 out RBI. i was surprised to find out grady has a better average with runners in scoring position. kenny is only hitting .228 in such situations. but actually, that works better because grady statistically will do better knocking in runners from the bottom of the batting order. kenny gets on base more, and victor and travis can knock him in. any way, having barfield, grady, and kenny up in succession, regardless of their order, is nice. also, grady looks at more pitches per plate appearance (4.2 vs 3.6). i think wedge is doing right.

for the most part, i like the trade. it wasn't until i started investigating kenny's numbers that i got a little worried. the aforementioned .228 with RISP was definitely one reason. his .221 average against lefties was another reason. by the time the playoffs roll around, will his age be a factor? of course, only time will tell. i do think this will be a good pick up, but it is not our most pressing need. once we get our bullpen guy, then i will feel much better.

"Even though the Indians lost, I guarantee you they felt like they won." -- White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen

reading this quote cemented the fact that i would be posting tonight even if it is just the above quote. based upon seeing ozzie in the 8th, i bet he also feels like cleveland won tonight. the final was 11-10, bad guys. but we were down 11-2 halfway thru the sixth, thanks to a 9 run top half of the inning.

"He feels like he lost and so did I," Guillen said. "He told me to keep my head up and keep managing."

guillen was talking to GM kenny williams, who has publicly stated this road trip will determine whether or not the break up the vastly underachieving roster.

lee was left in a little too long. then cabrera threw a nuclear bomb on the fire. much talk is made of the horrors that are chicago's bullpen. but a horrible appearance by one of our guys lost the game for us. this game was an aberration. it was the doppelganger of a game played in chicago played as the sunday night game. we had a huge lead going into the 9th. chicago then scored 6 or 7 runs before we finally closed the game out. it went from a laugher to a hold your breath type of game, very unexpectedly. i believe it was in 2005, but might have been last year. this will count as a 1 run loss, despite the 21 total runs scored. but it was thrust into this category thanks to an amazing sizemore 'catch' and an unrelenting offense.

the thing about chicago, slumping or not, tomorrow's game could also be a 1 run game, this time 2-1, either way. paul byrd has had success against the white sox. garland has had a few good games against us. but both could be rusty. our other four starters seem to have been so far.

but they are under heavy pressure. will they fold? garland has also had some real bad games against us. regardless of their record, they are recent world series champs. they are the white sox. they won game one, but they took some major shots themselves.

cleveland must prevail.

wedge was also given an extension. i think i am glad. the players seem to be, so how can i not be glad.

part II of the season has now commenced for the tribe. and barfield has been warned. when it is his turn to deliver a walk off, game wending hit; garko declared 'he better have his head on a swivel."

that is because ryan produced tonight's game ending, walk off single that scored pinch runner mike rouse. he then was bumped to the ground by a charging josh barfield. the drama was possible at the expense of a jake westbrook victory. it would have been his first since coming back from the DL.

actually, he deserves three wins since he has been back. he could have easily won his first game if our offense had not gone in a funk in DC. there was the game against tampa that was knotted up at 1-1 when ben fransisco did his thing by making his first major league HR a walk off. the drama (and lack of a W) was made possible by an inept offense once again. then there was tonight, where joe attempted his first save in the first game after the break. instead he gave up the tying run. instead of getting the save, he stole the W from jake. i had seen where joe had a low 2 ERA in his last umpteen appearances. not a good start joe. but we picked you up. jake was not pretty tonight. but he is still in comeback mode. he had not pitched in a week. he gave up 5 walks to a team who is not adept at taking them. but he battled thru it and rebounded strong in finishing 6 innings of work.



of course, props must go out to recently locked up travis hafner. in his first AB as a much, much richer man, what should have been a walk was called a strikeout. he drew what should have been his second walk, but was hitless in 3 other AB's when he stepped to the plate in the 9th. he lashed a double. rouse was running for pronk.

as seems just slightly over average, we left 12 men on base. we need to get that number down. raising our .26something average with runners in scoring position will do it. considering pronk is at .191, a resurgence by him and everyone else staying consistent would do the trick. i think a resurgence is very possible. so did an ESPN blogger. .191. i was amazed when i just now checked it out.

so, our road woes continued after winning game 1 in detroit. we lost our next 3, won a game, then lost the rubber game to toronto 0-1. we must start doing better on the road. that means we must start hitting better on the road. this time, pronk can't single handedly pick us up. actually, his average is much better on the road (.283) vs at the jake (.239). this must be a team effort. towards the end of the season, a majority of our games will be on the road. it is very possible we will still be in a tight race with detroit at that point. if that is the case, we can't be going 1-2 in road series then. it will be a battle of wills between the 2 teams. minnesota, if recent history is a precursor, could possibly be in the 'rear view mirror'. chicago could very likely get hot and start playing like they are capable. if the the rookies in KC get comfortable and the pitching continues to improve, they will be tough to beat. we have only one series with them, but we must exact vengeance on NY. but the pin stripers have showed signs of regaining form.

i like how things have gone so far, but i hope they can improve. i think they can. u gotta believe. apparently, hafner thinks the situation (and future) in cleveland is good.

game 2 has commenced. grady drew a lead-off, 4 pitch walk against kenny rogers, the gambler. seemingly a good start. then he was picked off. personally, i think we got hosed on that call.

so, game 1 went well. the defense was not the tightest. there was two errors, one lead to an unearned run. but the perpetrators redeemed themselves. jhonny had an RBI double and a SF. casey blake hit the game winning HR in the 11th. ok, strike that. we only made one error. the detroit announcer just stated the error charged to casey was changed to a third hit for gary sheffield.

but once again, it was ben fransisco's world. he pinch hit for fellow RH veteran jason michaels. not too often do you see a RH bat pinch hit for another RH bat, but that is just what eric wedge did. the hunch paid off. ben hit a HR that tied the game up in the 8th.

what about that ben fransisco.?! forcing me to post tonight. a RBI double, a HR, a walk, and a RBI single. all in game 3. nice to see fausto rebound from his worst start of the season, which i also believe to be the worst start by any indian pitcher this year. a four game sweep of the rays. wineers of 7 of our last 8.

now we are off to detroit. the last time we were there, we swept them. this should be a good series. another sweep would be ideal, by us again, of course. i am not too worried about our pitchers. the starters should be fine. one never knows about the pen, though. but we are facing THE highest scoring team in the league. my concern is the bats. for some reason, despite all the wins, it is still not hitting on all cylinders yet. and our bats often seem to dissipate (to put it nicely) on the road. regardless of the performance of our pitchers, i want to see the bats come through. this is a big series. the tigers do have awesome pitching. verlander pitching a no no and being on the all star team is not a fluke. he, johan, and c.c. are the best three starters in the AL. sorry lackey and beckett, those are the three. kenny is back and doing very well, bonderman can be dominant any given start. robertson is in the so so to good range. their pen is much more vulnerable. our D must be tight. do not give them extra baserunners, additional fodder for runs. tempers may be flaring. there could be fights. the three games could be play off calibar games. i can't wait!

mike hargrove unexpectedly retired. his last day of work, his team won its ninth consecutive game. as debatable a decision as it is, he goes out with class. as expected.

after losing two of three to the nationals in DC, the tribe has rebounded to win 6 of 7 at the jake. two of those games ended with a game winning, walk off home run. in the second game, it was the first major league HR for a young slugger. it was preceded in the fourth inning by the first hit, a single, of his career. in the first game started of his career. that young slugger is ben fransisco. the same ben who was tearing up AAA pitching all year before his recent call up.

notable players in ben's second game, a 3-2 victory by the tribe:

ben:
he hit a decisive double in the 7th inning. in his first AB, he struck out rather quickly. the bases were loaded. no one was out. kelly shoppach was up. he struck out. then came ben. he lasted slightly longer, before K'ing. same fate for barfield. inning over. still down 0-1. in his second AB, he grounded out. at least he made contact this time. kelly shoppach could not, in his second AB. it was like a rerun of his first AB. then on to the 7th inning. the score is 2-1. shoppach has just relived his first 2 AB's. then ben is up. he launches a deep shot, good for a double. james shields promptly exits the game. grady sizemore hits a 2 out single to plate ben. the score is now 3-1. that run ended up being the winning run.

kelly:
in that first AB, he came to the plate breeming with confidence. you could see it in his eyes. he WAS going to hit a grand slam. he is hitting over .380 on the season. .500 in his last so many games. his last hit was the 3 run blast that capped the 5 run comeback win vs the A's. that confidence was quickly shattered. then again. then for a third time. finally, he burst. he broke his bat bo jackson style, over his knee in disgust. but the tribe one this game because of defense behind cliff lee. kelly was not deterred by his offensive woes. he played good defense all game. he threw out gomes on a strike em out, throw em out DP. and in the ninth, he made the second out of the inning when he gunned down pinch runner dustan mohr. i say gunned down because the throw was not accurate. but he got it off so fast, and threw it even faster; that combined with an awesome play by jhonny peralta, mohr WAS out.

jhonny:
he did make an error in the ninth to start the inning. he made up for it by making that nice play on mohr. also by hitting a solo shot off of shields for the tribe's first run. that was his second homer in as many games against shields. that was a crucial blast as well. i wish he would not make an error in the ninth on the batter leading off the inning when a pitcher who gives up alot of base runners is on the mound. all series, the tribe pitchers have done an excellent job of keeping the lead off man off base. non coincidentally, the rays have struggled to score all season.

grady:
that key hit was a single, off a lefty, late in the game.

cliff lee:
he struck out the first 4 batters of the game, and 5 of his first 6 outs were K's. but in between, he gave up a solo shot to struggling carlos pena. overall, he went 8 innings, giving up only that run. he tied a career high with 9 K's. he pitched like an ace, going against tampa's ace. glad to have you back, cliff. i hope this time, the momentum carries over. he hit a brick wall after his shut out against the angels in his second start back from the DL. btw, he gave up four hits all day. against convention, righties were hitless against him. lefties had all the hits. strange days are these.

carlos pena:
he had struggled mightily all season against lefties. only one of his 18 jacks was against a lefty. now it is 2 of his 19 thanks to his second inning shot. the announcers were making it sound like a million to one shot that he would even get a hit. he proved them wrong. thankfully, nothing after that.

james shields:
kazmir has been bumped. shields is now the man for tampa. but he can give up a HR. he did today, after dominating. he started off somewhat ordinary. as mentioned above, he loaded the bases with no one out in the second. then out came the pitching coach. that coach is doing all right. at least for one game. shields proceeded to strike out the side. except for the jhonny shot, he was lights out afterward. right up to the AB where he gave up the fransisco double. then the pen let him down, thanks to grady's hit. just like they did the first time shields faced us in tampa. that was the day garko was king.

borowski:
lastly, but not leastly. he finished last in the 'who is the tribe's first half MVP on-line voting, he got the save again. he gave up an unearned run, but got the job done. in his fourth consecutive appearance. in those four games, he has three saves and one win. ERA, shmeeRA.