There is a drinking game entitled “Fuzzy Duck” that starts by, well, drinking.  The object of the game is to go around the table, each participant saying “fuzzy duck”.  At some point, someone can say “Does he?” instead of “fuzzy duck” and reverse the order of the  participants that were saying “fuzzy duck” in chronological order.  In addition to shifting the game from clock-wise to counter-clock-wise, the opposing saying is “Ducky Fuzz”.  And so the game continues.  So one way, “Fuzzy Duck”  Does he? Reverses course and makes the saying “Ducky Fuzz”, and along the way, the tongue twister ends up making someone or another say a bad word or a combination of bad words and drink.  Eventually everyone gets toasted enough that the game falls by the wayside and you just watch sports.

With Chien-Ming Wang partially tearing a tendon and spraining his foot while running the bases during an inter-league match up with Houston, and C.C. Sabathia in the last year of his contract with a below .500 Cleveland Indians team that may or may not crawl back into contention in a poor AL Central, the New York Yankees, a bottomless free-spending pit already, might be desperate to pick up some more starting pitching.

Enter the latest drinking game that would actually be sports related instead of a just a reference to a duck with hair.  There is no way you couldn’t come up with something close to fuzzy duck with the words Wang, Yank (short for Yankees; short and Wang are even a somewhat funny combination as long as its not appropriate to apply it to yourself or your significant other), injured and Sabathia.  Maybe it starts out : Sabathia to Yanks replacing an injured Wang.  Then someone else says “possibility?” reversing the course and its “injured Wang sends Sabathia to Yanks” for the opposite direction.  You keep that up while drinking and watching what few Indians runners reach base, I guarantee there will be some worse sayings coming out of that combination than the “Fuzzy Duck” game. 

Since the actual word Sabathia does not really contribute to the offending nature of the saying of the game or the spirit of the contest, maybe he’ll be overlooked by the Yankees for trading for a pitcher like Aaron Harang, or worse, a trade for John Danks.  After all, Baseball is just a game, while drinking games are a lot harder to come by.

People would talk about the history of that one like “Remember the Wang Danks trade?”.  Oof.

Let’s just hope the Indians aren’t left with no Sabathia and holding a injured Wang.

Grady Sizemore is the only Cleveland Indians player listed among the vote-getters for the All-Star game.  All positions list the top 5, with the exception of outfielders, that display the top 15 (three positions x top five). 

The Red Sox lead the way with nine on the list, including five number ones.  That also translates into the fact  they have someone in the top five for every fielded position.

The Yankees are second with nine and two number ones, again someone for every position ranks in the top five.  They are currently third in the AL East behind Boston and Tampa Bay.

The Tigers and Rangers come in third with Six apiece.  Detroit and Texas are both below .500 and one team away from being in the basement of their respective divisions.

The White Sox, AL Central division leaders, have five.

The Rays have three players making the list, six less than the Yankees, who trail them in the standings by three and a half games.

The Twins and Angels each have two representatives to date, even though Los Angeles sports the second best record in the American League and is first in the AL West.

The Mariners, Indians, and Orioles each have one representative.

The Oakland A’s are the only team not represented on the list that are better than .500.  They have a 38-31 mark thus far.

Six of the teams on the list are below .500. 

The voting is about individual players and does not necessarily reflect how well their respective teams are performing.

Voting ends 11:59 PM on July 2^nd.

To cast your vote online click here

C.C. Sabathia notched his second win in as many starts, out-pitching the likes of probable future Hall-of-Fame star Greg Maddux and the Indians win two-of-three against the San Diego Padres, moving to 33-37 on the year with the 7-3 victory, 5.5 games back of the suddenly cold Chicago White Sox.

Sabathia pitched eight innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs while striking out ten and walking one.  He is now 5-8 on the season after a very poor start. 

The Indians jumped out to an early 3-0 lead.  Ben Francisco homered after Franklin Gutierrez was safe on a Greg Maddux error and Jamey Carroll was hit by a pitch. 

The Padres squared the game a half inning later.  Kevin Kouzmanoff singled to right to open the top of the fourth.  Tony Clark singled, and Huber doubled, scoring Kouzmanoff from second.  Kalil Greene hit an infield singe that Clark scored on and Barrett hit a sac-fly to score Huber and knot the contest at 3-3.

Shin-Soo Choo, an offensive catalyst since his return to the lineup, led off Cleveland’s half of the inning with a double to center.  Jhonny Peralta moved him to third on a groundout, and Casey Blake got the RBI on a groundout.  Gutierrez doubled, but Shoppach flied out to right to end the inning.

The Tribe would add another run in the bottom of the sixth.  With two out, a Peralta single, a Blake single, and a Gutierrez single, score Peralta. 

The bottom of the seventh opened with Grady Sizemore blasting his 17^th home run of the season and raised his batting average to .263.  Carroll singled to right, then stole second after a pair of outs to Francisco and Garko.  Choo was intentionally walked and Peralta delivered a two out double, scoring Caroll.  Blake flied out, leaving the Tribe with a two-spot for the inning and a 7-3 lead.

Masa Kobayashi came on for the Indians in the ninth, getting two fly-outs and a strikeout while giving up a walk to close out the game.

Cleveland takes a day off Monday, then resumes play in Colorado against the Rockies on Tuesday evening, a 9:05 affair. A 3-6 Paul Byrd goes fot the Indians against 1-4 Greg Reynolds for Colorado. 

Even with Colorado sitting in the basement of the NL West at 28-41, they’ve been hot as of late, going 7-3 of their last ten.  The Indians are 6-4. 

Cleveland is 2-4 in inter-league play so far this year. 

A grand slam by former Indian Kevin Kouzmanoff propelled the San Diego Padres over the Cleveland Indians in the bottom of the tenth; this after another former Tribe player, Jody Gerut, tied it in the eighth, snatching away Cliff Lee’s eleventh victory of the season, and the Cleveland Indians lost 8-3 Saturday Evening at Progressive Field in Cleveland.  Apparently the ugly throwback uniforms of San Diego were too much to overcome for the Indians.

Lee got three runs in the top of the first, and based on his season to date, that should have clinched the win, but San Diego clawed their way back to a tie and an eventual win against the usual shaky bullpen of Cleveland.

In the bottom of the first, Cha Seung Baek looked like he was headed to the showers early.  Grady Sizemore opened the game with a walk.  After A Jamey Carroll pop-out, Sizemore swiped second.  Ben Francisco worked a full count into a walk, putting some serious speed on first and second.  Ryan Garko, who’s been a hot bat as of late, singled Sizemore home and moved Francisco over to second.  Shin-Soo Choo double Francisco home and moved Garko to third.  Jhonny Peralta grounded out, but scored Garko.  Casey Blake, the RBI machine on the road, flied out to center to end the inning.

The good new was, Lee was on the hill for the Indians.  The bad news was Baek settle in after that.  After allowing three runs on two hits in the first, Baek did not allow another hit.  He held tough through the seventh, and the Padres offense chipped away at Lee.

In the bottom of the third Justin Huber homered, closing the gap to 3-1 Indians. 

The Padres tacked on another run in the fifth.  Kalil Greene started the mini-rally with an infield single.  He bounced one to first baseman Garko, and was called safe after Lee fielded an underhanded lob, touching the bag with his foot the same time as Greene.  It looked like a tie to the bag on the replay.  Typically a close play like that goes to the defense, but Greene got the safe call.  Huber singled Greene over to second and Lee was in a bit of a jam.  He struck out Luke Carlin, helping himself out.  That’s when ex-Indians players started haunting current Indians players.  Jody Gerut singled, scoring Greene.  Lee induced Gonzalez to groundout to shortstop Peralta, escaping with the lead. 

Lee held nursed his lead until the seventh when another former Tribe member Kevin Kouzmanoff doubled to left.  Lee got Greene to strike out on a beautiful pitching sequence that culminated in a high inside whiff, giving the Indians one out.  Rafael Betancourt came on and struck out McAnulty, and Carlin grounded out, so the worst thing that could happen to Lee at this point was a no-decision.

Rafael Perez came on in the top of the eighth and erased Lee’s win, dishing up a home-run to Gerut on his second pitch of the game.  That tied the score at three.  Not only had the Indians given up the tying run, they gave up what should have been certain victory with Lee ahead 3-0 in the first.

The top of the tenth broke the game wide open.  Edward Mujica came in to pitch.  He got one out on a Gerut fly-out, but gave up consecutive hits to Gonzalez and Giles.  Giles, ANOTHER ex-Tribe member, doubled, putting runners on second and third.  Gonzalez was intentionally walked, loading the bases and showing Gonzalez’s on both corners.  Clark walked on a full count, leaving the bases full and scoring Gonzalez.  Ex-Indian Kouzmanoff hit a grand slam, and the Padres won 8-5.

The rubber match of the series is Sunday at 1:05 EST, Maddux versus Sabathia. 

Friday the 13^th seemed to have some weird things going on for the Indians, but they cruised to a 9-5 victory despite the susperstitious date.  Playing the San Diego Padres, unusual in and of itself, the Indians win over the Padres did not end until 1:20 EST.  The really strange part of that is the Indians weren’t on the West Coast, they were in the friendly confines of a rainy Progressive Stadium in Cleveland.

Rain Delay and just the typical long game Tribe fans have become accustomed to lately contributed to the late end time.  Thunderstorms blew through Cleveland, shutting down incoming flights and baseball.

Grady Sizemore didn’t seem to mind.  He provided an offensive thunderstorm of his own, collecting two home runs and three RBI’s.  Clevelnd had 12 hits for the game.

The Indians opened up a 3-0 lead early, squandered it, but took it right back.  Winning their first inter-league game of the season after being swept earlier in the year by the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland opened the second three game series against an NL team with a win and hope to get NL payback on a sweep of their own.  They are off to a good start. 

Sizemore started the game with a bang, going deep on a 1-1 count and staking the Tribe to an early lead.

In the third Casey Blake started the inning off with a single and Kelly Shoppach homered making the score 3-0.

The Padres got back to within one in the top of the fourth.  A pair of singles put Gonzalez and Clark on first and second for Kouzmanoff.  He doubled in Gonzolez and parked Clark on third.  Greene grounded out to Peralta, but scored Clark.  3-2 Tribe.

The top of the fifth ended Sowers’ night.  The Padres struck for a pair again and took their first lead of the evening on a two run home-run by Gonzalez after Brian Giles had singled.  That brought on Betancourt.  He got the Indians out of the inning on a strikeout and a grounder.

Jeremy Sowers started for the Tribe, giving up all four Padres runs on nine hits in four and a third innings.  Rafael Betancourt went an inning and two-thirds after that, earning the win.  Rafael Perez got a hold for his inning and two-thirds.  Kobayashi picked up the save in an inning and a third.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Indians regained a one run lead on a pair of singles by Ben Francisco and Ryan Garko.  After a past ball moved both runners into scoring position, and Jhonny Peralta walked to load the bases, Shin-Soo Choo delivered a two-out RBI single, scoring both Francisco and Garko.

In the bottom of the seventh, they’d tack on another pair.  Shoppach walked and Sizemore hit his second home-run of the night, this time a two run tally.

In the eighth Kouzmanoff homered for San Diego, cutting the gap to 7-5.  The Indians scored another two runs in the bottom of the eighth.  Choo walked as did Shoppach with a Casey Blake strike-out sandwiched in between.  Sizemore walked to load the bases.  Jamey Carrol singled, advancing everyone one base and scoring Choo.  Francisco hit a sac-fly for the second out of the inning, but scored Shoppach and moved Sizemore over to third.  Ryan Garko got the free pass to load up the bases, but David Dellucci, who could not buy a hit all night in five plate appearances, flied out to end the inning.

Kobayashi pitched a one-two-three ninth, giving the Tribe their second win in as many nights and giving them four wins in the last five games.  Grady Sizemore has eight home-runs in the last fourteen games, a great stretch for him and a push for the All Star game.

Saturday’s 7:05 start features Cliff Lee and Cha Seung Baek.  AL win’s leader Lee goes for his eleventh win of the season.

So much for the winning streak.  One day after winning two games in a row and sending the Minnesota Twins to their sixth straight loss, the Cleveland Indians lost 8-5 and failed to move up a game on the division leading White Sox, who also lost.

Paul Byrd was knocked around for six runs on six hits in just three innings of work.  Even so, the Indians climbed to within 6-5 before Joe Borowski gave up two runs in the top of the ninth knocking out any hope of a comeback.

Borowski had been looking pretty good up until now after returning from his stint to the disabled list with a tired arm.

Each team scored a run in the second, but Minnesota broke the game open with a five run third that sent Byrd to the showers with the loss.

Gomez bunted himself on to lead off the five run third.  Alexi Casilla sac-bunted Gomez to second.  After a Mauer walk, Justin Morneau doubled in Casilla giving Minnesota t 3-1 lead.  Michael Cuddyer double Morneau home, then came home himself when Jason Kubel slammed a 2-1 pitch to dead center for a home run, completing the five run outburst.

The Indians got a couple home runs of their own as they attempted a comeback.  In the sixth, Kelly Shoppach, who replaced an injured Victor Martinez homered to center, cutting the lead to 6-2.  Martinez left in the first after he visibly displayed a wince of pain during his only plate appearance.  He will have an MRI done on his right elbow, an injury that has hampered his offense for some time.

Grady Sizemore hit a three run home run in the bottom of the seventh after a David Dellucci walk and a Casey Blake single.  That made it 6-5 and it looked like MAYBE the Indians might pull off a comeback.

Enter Joe Borowski.  With one out ,Gomez hit an infield single to short.  He stole second and came hme on a Casilla single.  Casilla also stole second.  Mauer flied out, but Morneau picked up his third RBI of the night with a double to left.  Cuddyer lined out to end the inning, but by then the Twins were up 8-5.

Joe Nathan came in for Minnesota and gave up a two out single to Jamey Carrol prior to inducing a game-ending groundout to Grady Sizemore.

The Twins are two games up on Cleveland in the standing with the win.  They get eight runs on ten hits.  Morneau and Kubel accounted for half of Minnesota’s ten hits. 

The Indians had ten hits of their own, but only mustered five runs out of their total.  Blake, Carrol and Sizemore paced the way for Cleveland’s offense, delivering eight of the Tribe’s ten hits.

The rubber match of the three game set is Thursday.  Hernandez versus Laffey.  Aaron Laffey was named AL rookie of the month for his performance in May. 

Even with all the Indians woes, Aaron Laffey has been great since being called up.  His performance may keep him in an Indians uniform for good.  See his stats and Rookie of the Month story here.  

The last time the Indians started a winning streak was May 10^th.  That streak ended up being six games in a row and was the product of stellar starting pitching.  Tuesday, Cleveland won its second game in a row 1-0 with the same formula.  They hadn’t won back-to-back games since the 15^th of May, almost an entire month.

C.C. Sabathia went the distance.  Nine innings, five strikeouts, nary a walk, five hits, and something he’s only been credited with three other times this season, a win.  In Sabathia’s four wins this season, two of them have been complete game shutouts, the other also a five hitter against the Oakland Athletics.  Coincidentally, the last time the Indians had a winning streak, Sabathia was the guy winning the first game in that streak.

He needed the shutout.  Minnesota’s Scott Baker was almost as good, going seven innings, allowing eight hits and one run.  Baker drops to 2-1 on the season.

In the first inning, the Twins had their best scoring opportunity of the evening against C.C., but squandered it on a base-running blunder.  Gomez singled to left and Casilla bunt singled, putting runners on first and second with nobody out.  Joe Mauer lined out to Ben Francisco in left, and the runners stayed put.  Morneau hit a fly-out to left and Gomez was running all the way.  He rounded third just in time to see Francisco catch the ball and double him off of second, ending the inning.

The lone run of the game came in the bottom half of the first inning.  Grady Sizemore led off the game with an out.  Francisco, the man responsible for all three outs just moments prior, doubled to left.  Victor Martinez flied out.  With two outs, Ryan Garko spanked a single into center, and speedy Francisco cruised home.  Peralta flied out, ending the inning, but the one run would be all the Tribe needed on this evening.

The Twins put the lead-off man on in the top of the third on a Macri bunt single.  It was the second bunt for a hit of the night.  Sabathia countered by picking off Macri from first base for out number one, ending that threat. 

The Twins had all five of their hits over by the top of the fourth, Sabathia yielding two in the first, and one hit in each of the next three innings.  The fifth through the ninth did not yield a single base-runner for the Twins, via the hit or the walk.

Meanwhile the Indians had nine hits overall, but could only push the one run across for Sabathia.

Garko and Dellucci had a pair of hits apiece for the Indians.  Sizemore, Francisco, Martinez, Blake and Carrol each had one hit. 

The Minnesota Twins are riding a six game losing streak.

Wednesday’s game pits Byrd against Blackburn.  Game time is 7:05.

In a year chuck full of things to be disappointed about, Cliff Lee is one of the few bright spots of the 2008 Indians campaign.  Even a fifty seven minute rain delay could not keep him from being the first pitcher in the AL to 10 wins; the Tribe beating Detroit 8-2 and ending the four game series in a draw.

The Indians head home to Cleveland Tuesday evening for a three game series against the Minnesota Twins after closing out their ten game road trip 5-5.

Lee went five innings, giving up two runs on six hits, surrendering a pair of walks and striking out five.

The Cleveland offense staked him to an eight run lead early, scoring three runs in the first and five in the second. 

Dontrelle Willis took the loss for Detroit.  He went one and a third innings and was responsible for all eight of Cleveland’s runs before departing to a chorus of boos.

Walks cost him dearly.  In the first inning, he walked Ben Francisco and Victor Martinez, then gave up a three-run home run to Ryan Garko.

In the second, he walked Casey Blake and Shoppach took him deep on a two run homer.  After Barfield flied out, Franklin Gutierrez singled, and Francisco and Martinez each walked, loading the bases and finishing off Willis.

Bautista relieved, immediately plunked Garko, and Gutierrez walked home on the hit batsman.  Jhonny Peralta singled in Francisco, and Shin-Soo Choo hit a sac fly to score Martinez.  That ended the Indians scoring for the night.

Detroit got two runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth.  Guillen opened the frame with a free pass.  After a Brandon Inge line-out, Clevlen singled to left, putting runners on first and second.  Granderson flied out, but Renteria singled scoring Guillen, and Polonco double scoring Clevlen. 

Little else went on the rest of the game.  Perez, Betancourt and Kobayashi finished up the game for the Indians.  Betancourt issued a free pass and got a strike out in his one inning of work.  Kobayashi pitched the ninth without giving up a hit.

Detroit also used four pitchers total   After Willis, Bautista pitched 2.2 innings.  Rapada went 3, and Seay pitched two.  Each gave up one hit during their work on the mound.

Cleveland is 29-35 on the season.  C.C. Sabathia goes head-to-head against Minnesota’s Scott Baker.  Game time is 7:05.  Minnesota comes to Clevelandafter getting drubbed four games by the Chicago White Sox.  The Twins are 31-33 on the season.

This is the second meeting of the AL central foes this year.  The Twins won the hold a 2-1 season lead against the Indians.  They play each other eighteen times this season.

A three run fourth doomed Jeremy Sowers and the Tribe.  They lose for the second time in three meetings to the Detroit Tigers 5-2.

Coming out of the ten game road trip .500 or better is not looking good.  The Indians have two games left against Detroit, and need both to exit their current road streak even-steven.

Sowers gave up five Detroit runs, all of them earned, in four innings of work.  He allowed seven hits and five runs with two strikeouts and two walks, not horrible numbers, but not good enough to win.  He takes the loss.  Detroit starter Armando Gallaraga gets the win, going five and two thirds, giving up four hits and two runs.

Detroit struck in the first and second innings and staked themselves to a two run lead.  Polanco opened up the Detroit half of the first with a double.  After a Thames walk, Maglio Ordonez popped out for out number one, but Cabrera singled in Polanco.

The second saw a Curtis Granderson homer giving Detroit a 2-0 lead.

The question for Indians fans was, which team would show up; the anemic offense, or the one so prevalent during the Ranger Series.  Unfortunately for Sowers, it was the former.

Managing five hits and two runs, the Indians strung together a pair of doubles in the third by Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore, cutting the lead to 2-1.

In the top of the sixth, Cleveland added a second run on a pair of walks to Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez, finally culminating in a run after a Ryan Garko single scored Sizemore.  By then though, they were down by four and the run didn’t matter.

Detroit sealed the deal in the bottom of the fourth off Sowers.  Guillen opened the inning with a double to left.  Ivan Rodriguez single Guillen home.  Clevlen walked, Granderson flied out, and Edgar Renteria grounded out giving Detroit two outs and runners on second an third.  It was “GO” time for Sowers, but Polanco came through with a single to left, scoring both runners and earning Sowers the loss.

Scott Elarton relieved Sowers in the top of the fifth and pitched three innings of shutout ball, giving the Tribe offense a chance to show themselves.

They did get a chance in the top of the eighth via a walk and a hit bats-man, but nary a hit after the two runners saw the base paths translated into no runs and the last two outs coming via a pair of strikeouts, both by Detroit reliever Dolsi.

Todd Jones came on in the ninth and earned his tenth save of the season, mustering two strikeouts and allowing one hit in the close.

Jones makes saving a game look easy to Indians fans that aren’t used to watching someone that actually saves games without the threat of defeat.  Who would think he’d be the envy of closers, yet he continues to impress. 

Detroit moves to 26-36 on the season.  Cleveland is 28-35.  The four game series draws to a close Monday evening at 7:05 on ESPN.  The Indians best hope is a draw on the series.  Cliff Lee takes on Dontrelle Willis in a lefty duel.  Lee can take the AL lead in wins.  He currently resides tied with Yankees’ Mike Mussina, and Angels Joe Saunders at nine victories.  His ERA of 2.45 is lowest in the AL.