The metric system was in full force for the Indians and their meeting with the Detroit Tigers on Friday.  For starters, Paul Byrd was on the hill pitching for his 100^th win.  The Indians were going for their 1000^th win in lifetime meetings with Detroit.  Both milestones were achieved in a 4-2 victory. 

Byrd went seven innings, allowing four hits and two runs.  Two strikeouts and no walks contributed to the cause.

Casey Blake RBI machine extraordinaire, especially when Cleveland is on the road, came through in the clutch yet again, hitting in two in a three run fourth.  During this road stretch, both Blake and the big early inning are signatures of the Tribe.

The Indian breakout was the first scoring of the contest.  After Victor Martinez popped out to lead off the inning, Ryan Garko walked.  Jhonny Peralta singled Garko over to second, and David Dellucci walked, loading the bases.  That brought up Casey Blake.  Blake delivered a double to left, scoring Garko and Peralta, and leaving an RBI opportunity for Franklin Gutierrez with runners at second and third.  He also delivered an RBI single, scoring Dellucci.  Asdrubal Cabrera struck out, Sizemore flew out, but the Indians were on the board 3-0.

Both Tigers runs came via the solo shot home run.  Brandon Inge homered in the sixth, Jeff Larish homered in the seventh, putting Byrd’s 100^th victory in jeopardy.

In the Eighth the Indians delivered a long ball of their own; Garko’s full count home-run added a bit of insurance for Byrd.

Indians pitcher Masa Kobayashi came on in the bottom of the eighth, throwing one inning of no hit ball and earning a hold. 

Joe Borowski gave up a one out single to Jose Guillen, but struck out Cabrera earning his fifth save of the year.

Franklin Gutierrez led the way for the Tribe with two hits and an RBI.  Blake, Garko, Sizemore, Peralta and Martinez each registered a hit.

With the win, Cleveland improves to 28-33 on the season.  They are 4-4 on the current road stand. 

The Tigers drop their fourth in a row.  They are a half-game out of the basement of the AL Central at 24-36. 

Justin Verlander earns the loss for Detroit, going seven innings and giving up three runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and a four walks.  The walks proved his demise, two of his three runs were the result of the free pass.

These two go again in a lefty match up.  Aaron Laffey pits his stuff against crafty veteran Kenny Rogers.  Game time is 3:55. 

With Barry Bonds riding the pine in his own backyard and still unsigned, if you were the GM of the Tribe, or any team for that matter, and could pick up Bonds as a DH, assuming the price is right, would you do it?   If the Tribe climbs into contention (or should I say when) around Mid-July and Pronk is still MIA via the DL or just not hitting, would Bonds be a viable option?

So far this season, no one has pulled the string.  Either Barry is pricing himself out of most teams’ budgets or they are afraid to touch him for fear of the public repercussions, team chemistry, or a combination of all of the above.

The Indians certainly could use a bat like Bonds in the lineup.  Who on the Tribe is a legitimate walk candidate with runners in scoring position and first base open?  Casey Blake on the road?  Ben Francisco?  Travis Hafner?  Grady Sizemore? Quite frankly right now there isn’t a whole lot of scary to induce a free pass.

As the season progresses, do you think anyone will take a flyer on Bonds?  Would he still be a threat after all this time away from hitting?  If you could trade Travis Hafner for Bonds straight up, would you do it?

Bonds might be just what the Indians lineup needs to strike fear into opposing pitchers hearts.  What do Cleveland fans and potential GM’s have to say?

The wild four game slug-fest between the Indians, the Rangers, and Mother Nature ended Thursday night with a Ranger win, Mother Nature showing numerous hot dog wrappers who’s the boss, and a series split; the Rangers taking the last game 9-4.

In a game plagued by garbage, literally, blowing all over the field, C.C. Sabathia and Kevin Millwood did what no other starting pitcher could do, they both held the game to fairly low numbers, although right out of the gate it didn’t appear it would be that way for Millwood.

The Tribe ripped off four runs in the first.  Grady Sizemore doubled, starting the game with a bang.  Ben Francisco struck out, but Victor Martinez singled to score Sizemore.  Garko singled, putting runners on first and second, then Jhonny Peralta doubled to score Martinez.  David Dellucci doubled scoring Martinez and Peralta; a great start to what looked like another crazy hitting contest of a game.

The bottom of the second dealt Sabathia a bit of bad luck.  He hit Milton Bradley with a pitch, leading off the inning.  Murphy singled, and Byrd grounded into a double play.  With Bradley on third, it looked like Sabathia might squeak out of the inning unscathed, but no. He walked Laird, Shelton hit a dribbler to third, Casey Blake fielded and threw to first, just missing Shelton, and Bradley scored.  Vasquez singled scoring Laird from second and right fielder Shin-Soo Choo let the ball travel right under his glove.  Having a long run to chase it down, Shelton scored all the way from first, and Cleveland’s lead was down to one at 4-3.

The Rangers scored again in the third on a Young double and a Bradley single, knotting the score at 4’s.  After the horrible first inning, a clean shaven Kevin Millwood just kept mowing down the Indians.

In the sixth, the Rangers took the lead for good.  They played a bit of small ball, getting this one on a double, a sacrifice bunt, and an infield single.

The home run was remarkably absent from both teams, at least to this point, but that was rectified by Texas in the seventh and again in the bottom of the eighth.  They added another run in the seventh after a triple and a single.  The triple was another common occurrence over this series.

The Indians ended up with four runs on nine hits.  The Rangers had nine runs on twelve hits.  C.C. Sabathia took the loss, going six innings and giving up five runs.  Rafael Betancourt was tagged for three runs on two hits in two-thirds of an inning; another poor outing for him.  Mutica closed out the pitching for the Indians going one and a third and giving up one run.

Kevin Millwood earned the victory, also going six.  Four other pitchers took to the hill for Texas, with Guardado and Francisco earning holds. 

David Dellucci and Ryan Garko had two hits apiece, accounting for almost half of the offense.  Francisco leads all Indians hitters with a .330 average. 

The Indians close out their road trip with a four game series against the Detroit Tigers.  This is an important series for both clubs.  The Indians are third in the AL Central, three games up on the Tigers.  Detroit is riding a three game losing streak.

Friday’s 7:05 start time pits Paul Byrd against Jason Verlander.

Check out the 2008 Cleveland Indians selections

In recent feedback on the blog, a couple readers have questioned some of the moves the Indians made or did not make over the off season.  For instance here are a few excepts from obviously well-informed and passionate sports fans.

Common Sense writes I wish someone in the media would "call out" Shapiro for failing to upgrade the outfield (in the off-season), when triple-crown probable Josh Hamilton was available from the Reds for TWO FREAKIN' MINOR-LEAGUE PITCHING PROSPECTS FROM TX.

Eric replies :  But Hamilton is the one that Shapiro will have to kick himself in the rear about blowing for the next decade. Even the Cincy radio voice said that when Josh played his season there, he was THE BEST ATHLETE he'd ever seen in any sport in his entire lifetime. How does a talent like that go overlooked (especially at that bargain trading price!) by the supposed "professional talent evaluators" in Cleveland—who KNEW that a power-hitting corner outfielder was a MUST.

Well Common Sense, here is a story just up your alley.  Dr. Jeff Poove' offers this article as representation of what ails the Indians.  See Shapiro at the top of the list. 

P.S. whether I think Shapiro is or is not a bonehead, I have to agree with reader feedback from pinky9.  He/She states : Hamilton was a hidden gem, but there were others. Texiera could still be gotten from Atlanta, and Colorado has a plethora of players that would help this team. CC is our most tradeable commodity, so let's do it.

Tack on another thirty hits to the Indians / Rangers total.  That makes ninety-two hits in three games.  Even more amazing is the Indians have forty-eight of them.  Apparently the key to offense is the water in Texas.  Cleveland won their second in three games 15-9, earning at least a split in the four game series. 

Even Cliff Lee couldn’t stop the Texas offense, but he did slow it down.  His ERA jumped to 2.45 after he gave up six earned runs on nine hits over the course of five innings.  On his departure, the scoreboard read 6-6, but the Indians offense went off for a five run top of the sixth, earning Lee is league tying ninth win of the season.

Ryan Garko led the way with four hits and six RBI’s in a four-of-five night.  Ben Franciso had five hits in six at bats. Dellucci also was three-of-four with three RBI’s.  The only starter not getting into the act was Jhonny Peralta, who went 0-6. 

After Texas opened up a one-run lead on an Ian Kinsler leadoff triple and a Michael Young single, Cleveland struck for four in the top of the second.  With one out, Casey Blake was safe at first on an error.  Shin-Soo Choo doubled, and moved to third on a Milton Bradley error, with Blake scoring.  Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore both walked, loading the bases for Ben Francisco’s RBI single.  Victor Martinez hit a sacrifice-fly scoring Cabrera.  Garko singled, plating Sizemore.  Peralta flied out to end the inning.

Cliff Lee struck out two in the bottom of the second, and looked like he might be the man to shut down the Texas offense.

The bottom of the third, however, demonstrated Texas wasn’t going to go easy.  They scored four on a Kinsler single, a Young double, a Hamilton single and a Bradley home-run.  That put Texas up 5-4.

The Tribe offense went right back to work, regaining the lead.  Sizemore homered, Francisco singled, and the third error of the night by Texas allowed Martinez to reach first base.  Garko singled in Francisco, and Peralta hit into a double play, but the Indians were back on top 6-5. 

After a Marlon Byrd single led off the bottom of the fifth,  Brandon Boggs hit a triple, the second of the night for Texas off Lee, and Byrd scored.  Lee closed out the inning with a strikeout, and was done after delivering 112 pitches.

With the game tied 6-6, the Indians salvaged the win for Lee.  They scored five in the top of the sixth, and another four in the top of the seventh, rounding out their night at fifteen total runs.  The sixth was highlighted by a David Dellucci three-run home run.  The seventh, a single by Garko scoring two and raising his RBI total to six.

Rafael Betancourt and Masa Kobayashi did a great job of getting the game to the ninth with no further damage from the Texas offense.

In the ninth, Bauer came on for the Indians, allowing three runs on three hits before ending the game.

These two meet for the last game in the four game series.  C.C. Sabathia versus ex Indians pitcher Kevin Millwood.  Game time is 8:05.

On the Cleveland Indians official website, they have Travis Hafner's photo as the main image for All-Star balloting.  It's not because he has the largest head, since Jhonny Peralta's head-shot rivals Hafner's.  It's based on the fact that Travis shows up suggestively right under the VOTE NOW sign and the headline reads, "Help Sizemore, Martinez, Pronk reach the All-Star game".   All I can say to that is WHAT????  Victor Martinez is about the only position Tribe player other than pitchers that should even be considered for an Indians vote.  Ben Francisco would be the second option.  Grady Sizemore would probably be the most likely to garnish votes to the casual fan not following MLB this year, but EVEN that person couldn't vote for Pronk, could he/she?  With voting closed, the likelihood of Hafner making it is slim and none, but it's just the point our intelligence would even be tested toward casting that vote that makes the whole thing somewhat disheartening. 

By Dave Wiley

Tom Mastny made his first major league start on Tuesday.  Wednesday, he’ll be sent to the minors.  Not the storybook start he was looking for, Mastny lasted only an inning and a third.  His stat line?  Three walks, two strikeouts, six hits allowed, five earned runs, and two home runs.  Ouch.  Oh and he gets the loss as the Indians went down 12-7 to the Texas Rangers.  You have to feel bad for him, but only for a minute.  After all, he does play baseball for a living.

If , while watching the game, you thought to yourself, how tall is Mastny anyhow?  He’s 6’6” and that only gets him third tallest on the pitching staff.  Scott Elarton is 6’8.  C.C. Sabathia is 6’7”.

The bottom of the first set the tone of the evening.  Ian Kinsler led off with a single.  After a Michael Young fly-out, Josh Hamilton hit a home run, staking the Rangers to a 2-0 lead.  Milton Bradley followed with a homer of his own, but it didn’t stop there.  David Murphy doubled to center.  Brandon Boggs singled to left, scoring Murphy.  Strikeout, walk strikeout ended the four run first. 

The second inning would not prove out any better for Mastny.  Kinsler singled and stole second.  Young struck out.  Hamilton, who can do no wrong when he has a bat in his hand, was intentionally walked to set up a double play.  Why?  Anyone’s guess since I couldn’t recall a grounder from Texas yet.  Bradley walked loading the bases.  That was it for Mastny.  Fifty-six pitches, and his debut was over.

Jensen Lewis, just called back to the Indians, immediately gave up a single to Murphy, the fifth run charged to Mastny, but got out of the inning on a strikeout and a fly-out.

The Indians got on the board in the top of the third.  Andy Marte singled to left to open the frame. Grady Sizemore walked, Jamey Carroll walked, and just like that, the bases were loaded.  Ben Francisco singled home Marte.  Ryan Garko popped out, and righty Frank Francisco relieved for Texas and got them out of the inning with a double strikeout of Jhonny Peralta and Casey Blake respectively.

The Rangers took the run right back, making it 6-1 on a home-run from Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  It just took me four minutes to spell that and its probably still wrong.

The Indians scored one in the fourth after Franklin Gutierrez led off the inning with a double, reached third on a Marte flyout, and came home on Sizemore’s safe at first after a Texas error.

Jensen Lewis left after three inning of work, giving up two runs.  Those numbers don’t sound good, but after watching Mastny, it seemed like Lewis was masterful.

Edward Mujica pitched the next two and two thirds for the tribe, giving up two runs on his watch. 

The Indians scored three in the seventh, and one in the eighth, making the score 9-6 and giving the average fan a ray of hope. 

The Rangers scored three of their own in the bottom of the eighth, squelching any hope of a comeback.  Milton Bradley had his second home-run of the night.  All told the Rangers spanked five balls over the fence.

The Indians added a home-run of their own in the ninth, as Shin-Soo Choo hit his first of the season.

The positives for the Indians – fifteen hits.  Choo is batting .429 since being reactivated.  Grady Sizemore has been hitting well as of late, as is Peralta and Garko.  Maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel? 

Cliff Lee will see what he can do to shut down the Texas lineup on Wednesday against Sidney Ponson.  With a combined 62 hits in two days between the two teams, both have their work cut out for them.

Tom Mastny looks to get his first start in the Bigs Tuesday night, taking Jake Westbrook's spot in the rotation.  Jensen Lewis returns to the Tribe bullpen after a brief stint down in Bisonland.  Talk about shuffle off to Buffalo and back!  Good luck to Mastny going against a red hot smoking Texas lineup.  He hasn't taken the hill yet, so speculation still runs rampant.

Jake Westbrook suffered an injury in his return to the rotation last week, and now he's returning to the 15-day disabled list.