The Cleveland Indians won their third in a row by an 8-4 margin.  Grady Sizemore hit his league leading 23 home-run of the season.  Matt Ginter won his first game in over four years, and the Tampa bay Rays lost six in a row on Saturday night at Progressive Field in Cleveland Ohio. 

Everyone on the Indians starting lineup card registered at least one hit in this one with the exception of Kelly Shoppach.  Ryan Garko led the way with two hits and five RBI’s batting out of the eight-hole and playing first base.

The Tribe took a quick 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second.  After a David Dellucci single was sandwiched in between a pair of outs, Garko got his first two RBI the dramatic way, homering to right field. 

Franklin Gutierrez followed with a single, and Grady Sizemore hit a long home-run to center field, making it 4-0 Indians.  Even with the scoring done for the inning, Jamey Carroll and Ben Francisco each had two out hits as well, with Carroll getting thrown out at the plate.

In the bottom half of the third, Garko got the rest of this five RBI on a bases-clearing double.  His seeing-eye-right-center gap hit landed between a pair of diving Rays, bringing in Jhonny Peralta, Casey Blake and Dellucci.  Those three loaded the bases earlier in the inning with three singles in a row.

That made it 7-0 Tribe.  Ginter came out after five innings.  His stat line read like an Arby’s roast beef sandwich special: Five for five.  He gave up five hits through five with no runs.

Rafael Betancourt came on in the sixth, pitching two innings of two-hit ball. 

Juan Rincon gave the Rays some hope in the top half of the eighth, surrendering four runs on two hits.  YIKES!!  The first two outs came off without a hitch before Rincon lost it.  Eric Hinske singled, Carlos Pena walked, as did Evan Longoria.  Cliff Floyd singled, scoring both Hinske and Pena.  Masa Kobayashi took over for Rincon, also surrendering a single to Dioner Navarro and letting two in before getting the last out on a Gabe Gross ground-out.

The Indians would get one back in the bottom half of the eighth.  Casey Blake hit an RBI single that scored Ben Francisco.  Peralta was out advancing to third on the play, ending the inning.

Kobayashi pitched a perfect ninth, squelching any ideas of a second rally.  35,706 came out to see the victory. 

The last game of the four-game set and the final outing prior to the All Star break will be at 1:05 Sunday.  The Tribe is passing out free baseball mitts to kids and they can run the bases after the game.

Lefty Scott Kazmir (7-4, 2.69 ERA) matches up against Cleveland lefty Jeremy Sowers(7.81, 0-5).   

One night after the offense pounded out of a ten game losing streak, the Indians won again 5-0.  Cliff Lee pitched six innings, scattering five hits and not allowing a run in his last outing prior to the All Star break. 

Rafael Perez and Edwardo Mujica combined closing out the last three innings with two hit, no run ball against the slumping Tampa Bay Rays. 

After starting July 5-0, the Rays are 0-5 since.  They have two more games against Cleveland.

Cliff Lee handed Akinon Iwamura a leadoff walk, then struck out the side, and the Indians offense responded with a run in the bottom of the first, giving Cleveland the lead for good.

A white-hot Jhonny Peralta went two for four, driving in the first Indians run with a double, and pounding his 15^th home run of the year in the bottom of the third, making him the lone RBI man for the Tribe as they opened up a 3-0 lead.

The Indians would add a run in the fifth and seventh innings, allowing them to cruise to a 5-0 victory and insuring a split with the Rays no matter the outcome of the last two contests. 

The Indians had ten hits.  Ben Francisco accounted for three of the hits, with Jamey Carroll adding a pair.  The first four batters in the Indians lineup had eight of the hits, all five of the runs, and all five of the RBI’s in the win.  David Dellucci and Shin-Soo Choo accounted for the other two hits. 

The Rays had eight hits, but Lee and the Indians bullpen did not allow the Rays to string anything together in the shutout.

Lee, surely the starter for the AL in the All Star game, heads into the break with a 12-2 mark and a 2.31 ERA.  He’s been a bright light in the horrible first half for the Tribe.

Andy Marte, being giving a long lead as of late, went 0-4 and is batting .160 on the season.  Casey Blake played first, is batting .279, and is still earmarked as trade bait and the next ex-Indian on the roster.

The Indians hope to get back Fausto Carmona pretty soon.  Attendance at the game was 33,663, a pretty nice crowd in support of Lee.

Whoever forgot to pay homage to the Baseball Gods, PLEASE head to the altar now!  The Indians, leading 6-1 after six, lost in the bottom of the ninth 8-6 on a walk-off home run by Miguel Cabrera.  This isn’t even funny anymore.

They didn’t even lose the way you’d expect.  Paul Byrd, who’s just been limburger cheese awful over the last month, actually deserved to win.  He went into the seventh and could not get an out after a shaky sixth.  When he walked back out for the seventh, I thought to myself, WHAT IS ERIC WEDGE THINKING? 

Recall, this is a guy who’s been terrible over a month, the Indians are riding a nine game losing streak – and Byrd just gave up two hits and a run in the sixth.  Yet out he walked.  I choked on my Doritos.

After a pair of singles, Byrd was gone.  Now I’m hoping for Masa Kobayashi.   Sure he’s the newly anointed closer, but we’ve lost nine in a row and the bullpen is bad news.   Out walks Rafael Betancourt.  I swear I could smell defeat – not my feet, defeat.  Betancourt walked the first batter.  Maybe it’s a good time to send HIM to the showers?  Nah, not yet.  

How about after a Carlos Guillen double that made it 6-3 with guys on second and third.  Should the Wedge-meister take Betancourt out now?  Nah…. Not yet….

Miguel Cabrera grounded to third, and another run scored…  NOW???? 

How about after a two run, game tying home run by Matt Joyce.  Apparently THAT is the time to change pitchers.  Eric Wedge, congratulations on single-handedly extending the losing streak to ten games.

Edwardo Mujica entered the game and got a double play ending the inning, but you just KNEW this one was over.

Oh sure, the Tribe made it interesting.  Still six-up in the ninth, Casey Blake doubled to open the inning.  He moved to third on a Shin-Soo Choo ground-out.  That’s when the non-praying payment to the Baseball Gods kicked in.  Ryan Garko rocketed a grounder toward third that was stopped by Carlos Guillen.  Blake, heading home on contact, was a dead duck in the rundown.  Marte grounded out on another nice stop by third baseman Guillen, and the Indians half of the inning was over.

Jensen Lewis relieved Rafael Perez.  Hey great idea to change out pitchers when they AREN”T in trouble!!  Lewis gave up a single, registered one out, getting Guillen on a foul pop-out behind home plate, then surrendered the game winning home-run. Cabrera was the vessel for the hit.   Frankly I was surprised the Baseball Gods didn’t award the walk-off to Guillen, since he’d just stole the winning Indians run a few minutes earlier with his defense.

The longest losing streak ever for the Cleveland Indians is twelve games.  Twelve.  Aaron Laffey and Cliff Lee will have to get back-to-back no decisions or losses for the tie of the streak.  Start praying now - the first place Tampa Bay Rays are coming to town.

The four game series with the Rays will be the last for Cleveland prior to the All-Star break.  Grady Sizemore is named as a participant in the home-run derby.

The Indians had fourteen hits in the loss, as did Detroit.  In the top of the sixth, the Tribe had a shot to break the game open but only pushed across one run.  They had runners on the corners, nobody out, and a run across and got nothing.  A ground-out and a pair of strike-outs really signaled the beginning of the end.

Ten losses in a row.  Ten. 

Too bad there is no such thing as a one inning rainout.  The Indians staked themselves to a 2-0 lead in the first and lost 9-2.  Jhonny Peralta hit a home run after a Casey Blake double, and Cleveland had two hits in the first inning.  When the game ended, they still had two hits.

In what could be considered a trifecta of anti-Cleveland sporting news, CC Sabathia won in his debut in Milwaukee, Matt Laporta sat around in Akron during a rainout, and the Indians lost their ninth in a row.  Bing, bing, bing – thank you sir may I have another.

Justin Verlander recovered from a crappy first inning going seven strong. Jeremy Sowers recorded his fifth loss, now 0-5 on the year with a 7.81 ERA.

Remember when Indians starting pitching was the strong suit?  Seems like only yesterday the Tribe had the luxury of leaving Aaron Laffey in the minors.

Sabathia is traded.  Westbrook is on the DL.  Carmona? – DL.  Byrd is still looking for that 101^st win since June 6^th.  The double L’s – Lee and Laffey, are about all the Indians have left. 

The good news?  At some point Fausto Carmona will return.  The bad news?  Right now the only real chance of winning the Indians have is basically a 2 out of 5 shot; not good betting odds, and there doesn’t appear to be anyone else to bring up except oft-injured Miller.

Sowers did last five and two thirds, but gave up ten hits and six runs.  It all started in the third. With one out Ryan Raburn doubled, then scored on a Curtis Granderson single.  With two out, Marcus Thames doubled in Granderson, bringing up Miguel Cabrera.  He hit his first of two homeruns on the night, staking the Tigers to a 4-2 lead. 

That was the first of four Tiger homeruns. 

Thames homered in the fifth, scoring Placido Polanco and giving the giving Detroit a 6-2 lead. 

In the sixth, the Tigers scored another run via a single by Granderson, plating Renteria from second.  That was it for Sowers.

Slocum relieved, bailing Sowers from the jam, but gave up a pair of home runs in the seventh to Cabrera and Ivan Rodriguez and made it 9-2 Tigers.

Detroit ended the night with 13 hits, four of those tallied by Cabrera.

During the closing last night, Rick Manning was pointed out as being in the midst of the last Indians ten game losing streak way back in the late 70’s, a mark the Indians will try an avoid on Wednesday evening when they close their two game set with the Tigers.

Paul Byrd, 3-10 with a 5.53 ERA will go against Tigers’ righty Eddie Bonine.  Bonine is 2-1 with a 4.30 ERA.  Game time is 7:05.

With the loss, the Indians are 37-52, fifteen games back in the division.  They sit in last place – two games below the Kansas City Royals.  Only San Diego, Washington and Seattle have worse records than the Indians.

C.C. Sabathia was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers on a day the Indians did not play.  The Indians got four players in return :

The "gem" of the trade was AA left fielder / first baseman Matt Laporta, a big stick that could keep Ryan Garko up at night, wondering about his job at first base.  They also got AAA lefty pitcher Zach Jackson, Single A pitcher Rob Bryson, and the dreaded player to be named later. 

Mr. No-name is supposed to be the second best of the four players. 

Zach Jackson has some nasty looking numbers.  Rob Bryson is a hopeful pick. 

Did the Indians come out of this one good or bad?  Post your thoughts

My opinion? if you were hitchhiking and your sign said "Playoffs or Bust", you're going to "Bust".  Cue the music to "Had a Bad Day".

Paul Dolan issues an explaination of the C.C. Sabathia trade.  Check it out here.

Cliff Lee is now the unquestionable Indians Ace.  C.C. Sabathia was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers pending paperwork for AA left-fielder Matt Laporta and a pair of others not yet named, and Lee earned his second loss of the season.  Typically steady Lee let the wheels fall off after being staked to a 3-0 lead, and Cleveland lost 4-3.

A bad day for Cleveland fans.  Then again, the Indians have lost eight straight so its more like a bad week and a day.

It appeared the Indians would break their string of losses.  They scored one in the second on a double by Kelly Shoppach and a single by Ryan Garko. 

In the sixth they added a pair.  Ben Francisco singled to right and Jhonny Peralta homered to left, making it 3-0 Tribe; more than enough with Lee on the mound right?

The bottom of the sixth saw Minnesota fight back.  An opening frame triple by Span and A Casilla groundout made it 3-1 Tribe.

In the seventh, the Indians lost, courtesy of none other than Cliff Lee.

He gave up three runs on three hits and two walks; one of the free passes with the bases loaded allowing the tying run to score

Both teams put up seven hits.  The Twins ended up with one more run. 

Grady Sizemore, the starting center fielder for the AL in the All Star Game, paced the Tribe with a pair of hits.  Cliff Lee was also named to the All Star game.

Andy Marte is batting .143 on the year, probably the assumed third baseman as soon as Blake gets traded.

The lineup included five batters hitting .250 or less – that included pinch hitter Shin-Soo Choo.  The highest batting average playing for the Indians was the .280 of Casey Blake.

In another sub-par performance, the Indians went down meekly to the Minnesota Twins 12-3 behind another bad outing by Paul Byrd.

Independence day had a lot of meaning for Tribe fans.  They were finally rid of closer Joe

Borowski.  Can Masa Kobayashi take the role?   I say yes.  Bring him on.  Please,  please be the man.  Not since Jose Mesa lost the World Series can the Tribe claim dominant closer leadership.  Kobayashi may be that guy.  He’ll probably have the rest of the season to prove it.

In another bad outing, the Indians were stomped by an AL Central rival.  The Minnesota Twins, now winners of 9 of their last 11, got out a can of whoop-ass, taking the Indians to the house 12-3.

Paul Byrd has been done for a while, but there isn’t anyone in the farm system to replace him.  He’s the best option the Indians have, as they are missing Westbrook to injury and could use Carmona back in a bad bad way.

With strong starting pitching being all they had, the Indians are down to three options: Cliff Lee, Aaron Laffey, and soon-to-be-traded C.C. Sabathia. 

Westbrook and Carmona being hurt have sent the Indians into a tailspin. 

July 4^th loss is hardly worth a recap.  With Byrd on the mound, you could have just chalked up the loss and moved on.

His numbers?  Five and a third, eight hits and six runs - numbers that deserve a loss; especially when your run support is lucky to get more than two runs.

 The closest the Indians got was tying up the game at two apiece after falling in a 2-0 hole.  Quite frankly, that’s as good as it usually gets in the 2008 season.

With Byrd gone, just recalled Brian Slocum entered the game and exited with a 54.00 ERA, giving up five hits and four runs in two thirds of an inning.  He made Byrd look like an All Star.

This was after Jensen Lewis, the other relief call up, went one and a third and gave up two runs.  Ouch.

Kelly Shoppach had a good night out, going three for three with two RBI.  He and Ben Francisco homered of the Indians, offsetting the two homers the Twins registered.  

The Twins had five of nine starters with a multi-hit game.

These two go again on Saturday.  Aaron Laffey versus Kevin Slowey.  Game time is 7:10 EST.  

Joe Borowski is finally gone.  This signals the end of the Indian's seaon.  The fire sale is on.  Expect C.C. Sabathia to be next.  My guess is Casey Blake is not far behind. 

Twenty innings of baseball in two days, and two losses to show for it.  For the second time in as many nights, the Indians lost by one run in the tenth.  One word sums up this series, as well as the season : Frustrating.  Really other words sum it up, but that was the only one I felt comfortable typing.  6-5 was the score, and 12 ½ is the division lead the Sox now possess over the Indians.

In two days, the White Sox handled the best pitching Cleveland had to offer: Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia.  If you’re a White Sox fan, life is looking great on the coat-tails of a seven game win streak.  If you’re a Tribe fan, you wonder if Cliff Lee will be starting the All Star game.  Why?  Because basically that is all you have to hope for at the moment.

The Indians started off with an opportunity to tag Jose Contreras heavy.  Up 1-0 and having the bases loaded with two out, up walked David Dellucci.  All I could think of was “Is it too early to bring on a pinch hitter?”  Apparently not, as Dellucci whiffed and let the White Sox off the hook for a big inning.

A.J.Pierzynski and Jermaine Dye tagged teamed homeruns off Sabathia in the bottom of the first, and you knew it would be a long game.

Both teams traded runs in the second.  The Indians go theirs on a single by Ryan Garko, Kelly Shoppach on first after an error, both moving up on a fly ball by Grady Sizemore, and a groundout by Jamey Carroll scoring Shoppach.

The White Sox run came on a double by Ozuna and a single by Nick Swisher that scored Ozuna. 

The Indians chipped away in the fifth and the sixth, scoring a run each inning and garnishing their first lead of the game.

The White Sox took back the lead on a pair of runs in the seventh, and things looked grim for the Tribe.

Grady Sizemore saved the day by homering in the ninth, sending the game into extra frames.

A.J. Pierzynski decided in the bottom of the tenth he would join the list of White Sox who’d multi-homered the Tribe this season by knocking the first pitch he saw out of the park, sending the White Sox fans home happy.

The White Sox take on Oakland Thursday, while the Indians have a day off to think about it.  The Tribe will head to Minnesota to take on the Minnesota Twins, Byrd vs. Hernandez.  Gametime is 7:10.