Travis Hafner returned to the Indians lineup on Tuesday evening and immediately made an impact.  Batting fifth, he went 2-4 with a walk, as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Baltimore Orioles 6-1.

Jeremy Sowers put together a string of ten straight batters twice and picked up the win, going eight strong innings, giving up four hits, a walk, one earned run, and recording seven strikeouts in victory.

While the Indians scored six, it wasn’t in their normal breakout style.  They pecked away, putting up one in every inning but the second, sixth, and ninth.  None of the runs came via the long ball. 

In the first, Grady Sizemore got the Indians rolling by taking a walk and swiping second, his 37^th stolen base on the season.  With two out, Jhonny Peralta singled, scoring Sizemore.  Travis Hafner registered his first hit during his first at bat, singling Peralta to second, but the Indians could do no more damage, even though they loaded the bases on a Kelly Shoppach walk.  Michael Aubrey flied out to end the inning.

In the fifth, Aubrey came through.  With two out and Peralta and Hafner on first and second, Aubrey singled to center, scoring Peralta.

The Indians would manufacture a run in the fourth as well.  Asdrubal Cabrera walked, then ended up scoring on a David Dellucci triple.

The Orioles scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the fourth.  Nick Markakis walked.  Aubrey Huff doubled, and Ramon Hernandez grounded out, scoring Markakis.

The Indians continued their one-run wonder innings in the fifth, seventh, and eighth.  In the fifth, doubles by Shoppach and Marte resulted in a run.  The seventh it was Shoppach again crossing the plate, this time via a walk, an Aubrey single, a Marte single, and a Cabrera sacrifice fly.   

In the eighth, Shoppach was on the other end of the run, driving in Franklin Gutierrez with a double, after he singled to right and Hafner was intentionally walked, putting runners on first and second. 

All in all, a very good night by Shoppach.  He ended the day two for three, scored a pair, and drove in one. 

Baltimore used six pitchers in this one.  Starter Radhames Liz took the loss, going 4.2 while surrendering eight hits and four runs. 

All told, the Indians tallied 12 hits.  Marte got two of the hits, raising his batting average to .207 on the year. 

The Orioles and Indians go at it two more times in this four game set.  Wednesday night marks Scott Lewis MLB debut.  He’ll go against Chris Waters.  Game time is 7:05. 

Assuming the addition of Lewis to the starting rotation of the Tribe means they’ll go six for the rest of the season, Cliff Lee would not get enough starts to reach 25 wins.

Aubrey Huff took two games off to hang out with his wife and welcome his son into the world, then returned and hit a grand slam, the biggest of the four home runs the Orioles pounded, and Baltimore beat the Cleveland Indians 14-3 Monday night in Baltimore.

The stat line read 11 hits apiece for both teams, but the game wasn’t anywhere as close as the hit totals might suggest.

The Indians have been the recipients of some great starting pitching all year, so they were due to get slammed from by somebody.  Fausto Carmona gave up seven runs on six hits, lasting 5.1 innings and surrendering one of the four Baltimore home runs.  As bad as his stat line looked, he really didn’t pitch that badly until the sixth.

The Indians held the lead early, scoring one run in the second on a Shin-Soo Choo double, a Ryan Garko walk, and an Asdrubal Cabrera double that scored Choo.

Baltimore answered the run in the bottom half of the inning, stringing together a pair of singles by Huff and Ramon Hernandez that put Huff on third.  Luke Scott hit into a fielder’s choice, but it plated Huff making it a 1-1 affair.

The Indians went back on top in the fourth.  Choo once again started things off, singling.  Garko singled as well.  With runners on first and second, Cabrera singled Choo home and Garko to third.  Franklin Gutierrez hit a sacrifice fly that scored Garko, and the Indians were up 3-1. 

Then the home runs started.  Scott hit his 22^nd of the year, narrowing the Indians lead to 3-2.

In the bottom of the sixth, Baltimore broke the game wide open, putting up a seven spot, the highlight being Aubrey’s grand slam. 

Carmona got himself into trouble with the walk, issuing a free pass to Hernandez and Kevin Millar with a Scott single sandwiched in between.  Salazar came on as a pinch hitter and singled home Hernandez and Scott.  Carmona issued his third free ride of the inning to Roberts, and he was gone.

Rincon relieved, and gave up a single to Adam Jones, scoring Millar.  With the bases still loaded, Huff hit his grand slam, capping the seven run inning and making it a 9-3 Orioles lead.

The home-run derby reconvened in the bottom of the eighth.  With Brendon Donelly on the hill, he gave up a pair of walks to Juan Castro and Brian Roberts, then dished up a home run ball to Adam Jones on his first offering.  After a Huff single, Hernandez went yard, making it 14-3 Baltimore, and that would be the way it ended.

Huff led the way for Baltimore, going 3-5 with 4 RBI.  That put him over the 100 mark for the year at 102.  Jones also went 3-5 with 4 RBI for Baltimore. Cabrera paced the Tribe with a 3-3 night and two RBI’s, his 31^st and 32^nd of the season.

The two teams meet again Tuesday at 7:05.  Jeremy Sowers (2-8, 5.97 ERA) versus Radhames Liz(5-4, 7.92 ERA).

Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’….. Along…..

Cliff Lee won his 21^st of the season Sunday against the Kansas City Royals, but they did make him work for it.  He also had to rely on Victor Martinez to knock in all three of the Indians runs, but hey, that’s what teammates are for, right?

Since returning from the disabled list, Martinez is 7-21, not to shabby when you’ve had most of the summer off due to injury.

Lee went seven and a third, giving up seven hits, one earned run, a walk and registered five strikeouts in the victory.  He even lowered his ERA a bit to 2.28.  All in a days work.

The Royals did their best to hand Lee his third loss of the season, but every time he got into a jam, he also bailed himself out. 

In the bottom of the fourth, the Royals put runners on first and second with one out.  Lee picked up one of his five strikeouts for the second out, and induced a ground ball to squeak out of that inning.

In the sixth, he ended up costing himself a run, hitting the first batter Jose Guillen with a pitch.   Guillen later scored on a pair of singles strung together by John Buck and Alberto Callaspo.  Once again, Lee staved off the big inning by getting a fly-out and limiting the damage to one run.

In the eighth the Indians used a trifecta of pitchers to hold off the Royals.  Lee gave up a lead-off single to Guillen, then got a fly ball out.  Rafael Perez came on, but gave up a single to Mark Teahen, putting runners on first and second.  He struck out Buck for the second out, and Rafael Betancourt came on, getting Callaspo to fly out, preserving Lee’s 3-1 lead.

Jensen Lewis earned his eighth save of the season not giving up a hit, issuing a free pass with two out, but striking out the last batter to end the game.

On the Indians offensive side, they put up a pair of runs in the first inning.  After two quick outs, Shin-Soo Choo started things for the Indians with a single.  Jhonny Peralta also singled, moving Choo over to second.  Victor Martinez picked up his first two RBI’s of the game by singling both Choo and Peralta home.  Ryan Garko flied out, and the top of the first ended with the Indians on top 2-0.

Their only other run came off the bat of Choo and Martinez again, with both hitting doubles, Choo scoring, and Martinez picking up the third of his three RBI’s.

Royals starter Zack Greinke went six innings, giving up five hits and all three earned runs, taking the loss for the Royals.  He moves to 10-10 on the year. 

Cleveland heads to the east coast for a four game set against Baltimore still chasing that elusive .500 mark for the season.  Fausto Carmona (8-5, 4,51 ERA) battles Lefty Garret Olson (8-7, 6.53 ERA) on a 7:05 Monday evening start time.

The Indians are 69-72 on the year, 8 games back of the Minnesota Twins, and 10.5 games behind division leader the Chicago White Sox.

Jeremy Sowers and Javier Vasquez went toe-to-toe for awhile, with Sowers surrendering the lone hit through four.  In the fifth, the White Sox got to him.  In the end Sowers ended up with the loss, and Vasquez the win, the White Sox leaving Cleveland 4-2 victors.

Sowers, the victim of no run support pretty much every time he takes the hill, gave up a home run to Nick Swisher (23) to lead off the fifth, then allowed a single to Josh Fields. 

Fields ended up scoring later in the inning after being moved over to second on catcher Toby Hall’s ground out, and a two out double by Orlando Cabrera.  The White Sox, trying to avoid a sweep of the series at the hands of the Indians, were up 2-0.

They’d add two more in the top of the sixth, again via the long ball.  Alexei Ramirez added to Sowers’ woes with a two run home run (16) knocking in Jermaine Dye who’d reached base on a single two batters earlier.

The Indians would answer with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, narrowing the score to 4-2.  Asdrubal Cabrera opened the inning with a single, and Grady Sizemore immediately doubled him over to third.

They remained stuck on their respective bases while David Dellucci grounded out, and Ben Francisco whiffed for outs number one and two.  Jhonny Peralta delivered a two out double to right field, scoring both Cabrera and Sizemore.  That upped his RBI total to 77 on the year. 

Juan Rincon, who’d relieved Sowers in with one out in the sixth, went 2.2 innings - holding Cleveland close through 7.2 innings.  After giving up his first hit of the night, a two-out single off the bat of Paul Konerko, Rafael Betancourt came on in relief.  The White Sox sent in Jerry Owens as a pinch runner for Konerko, but he didn’t get in much running as Betancourt struck out Ramirez to end the inning.

Chicago’s Octavio Dotel relieved in the seventh, walking Sal Fasano after registering an out to Ryan Garko.  Jamey Carroll came on as a pinch runner for Fasano, a guy that would never be mistaken for a base stealer, and moved to second when Cabrera bunt-singled himself to first.  This happened after a pinch hitting Victory Martinez foul out.

With two gone, Franklin Gutierrez pinch hit for Dellucci and hit a fly-out to center, wiping out a golden opportunity with men on. 

The Indians put runners on the base paths again in the eighth.  Francisco started things off with a single.  Peralta flied out to right, but Shin-Soo Choo singled Francisco to third.  That prompted White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen a trip to the mound and he didn’t waste any time bringing out closer Bobby Jenks.  Jenks trying for his 28^th save of the season, would need five outs to put this one to rest.  His first two pitches producing two outs via the double play, as Garko grounded to third baseman Juan Uribe, starting the 5-4-3 inning killer.

The Indians stuck with Betancourt in the ninth, and he mowed the first two Sox down in order.  Jim Thome came in as a pinch hitter for Fields, and the Indians countered with Rich Rundles.

You are probably thinking the same thing I am.  WHO?  Rundles is a September call up and gave the Indians the Lefty- Lefty pairing against Thome.  Rundles walked Thome on four pitches.  Welcome to the Majors kid!  Imagine your first outing you go up against a 500 home-run club hitter.  I’d a walked him too. 

That ended Rundles MLB pitching debut, as the Tribe went to Jensen Lewis, while Chicago countered with Getz as a pinch runner.  He took a stab at swiping second, and Shoppach threw him out to end the Chicago’s chance at tacking on an additional run.

Down to their last three outs, Carroll singled, but Shoppach hit a ground ball double play for the first two outs.  Cabrera struck out, and the Chicago White Sox salvaged game three, avoiding a sweep in the process. 

The Indians managed just two runs on nine hits.  The White Sox picked up four runs on seven hits. 

Chicago opened up a half game lead on the Minnesota Twins.  The Twins are in Toronto later Wednesday night. 

Cleveland resumes play Friday night in Kansas City at 8:10 PM.  Anthony Reyes(2.93 ERA) pitches against Brandon Duckworth (4.91 ERA).

The Indians offensive scoring train is back on track after a brief hiatus while Seattle was in town.  Cleveland hitters knocked John Danks out of the game after just four innings, tagging him for eight hits and four runs in a 9-3 win.  With the victory, and a Minnesota loss, Cleveland is 9.5 games back of the White Sox and the Twins in the AL Central.

The Indians still have seven games against the front runners, four more playing the White Sox, and a set of three against the Twins.  A three game set in Chicago closes out the Indians season.

While only a white-hot September by the Indians and a meltdown by both Chicago and Minnesota is about the only chance Cleveland has, it’s better than nothing.

Fausto Carmona registered all zeros on the scoreboard until the top of the sixth, giving up all three Chicago runs before yielding to Rafael Betancourt.  Betancourt slammed the door on the rally by striking out Jerry Owens for the third out.

Victor Martinez hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, in the bottom of the second, opening up a 2-0 Indians lead.  No, that is not a typo.  If anyone would have predicted Martinez first home run of the season would come on September 2^nd prior to the season starting, they should definitely start playing their hunches in the Ohio Lotto.

The Indians would stretch the lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth.  Andy Marte singled with one out, and Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a single as well.  After a Grady Sizemore foul-out, Franklin Gutierrez delivered a double to right field, scoring both Marte and Cabrera. 

In the top of the sixth, Chicago closed the gap to 4-3.  Carmona started the inning with a strikeout of A.J. Pierzynski.  After issuing a walk to Jermaine Dye, ex-Indian and pain-in-the-Indians-rear Jim Thome singled Dye over to third.  Carmona threw a wild pitch to Paul Konerko, and the Sox were on the board.  Konerko then connected with a single, moving Thome to third.  Nick Swisher hit a sac-fly that scored Thome.  The next batter, Alexei Ramirez, was hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second.  The White Sox sent Juan Uribe in as a pinch hitter for Joe Crede, and he delivered with a double to left, scoring Konerko and putting the tying run on third base.  That ended Carmona’s evening and his win was definitely in jeopardy.  That’s when Betancourt pulled a strike-out from his bag of tricks and bestowed it neatly on Owens, preserving a 4-3 lead and Carmona’s eventual victory.  Somebody owes somebody a steak.

The Indians weren’t content to sit on the 4-3 lead, breaking out the hitting sticks and the walking shoes for five runs in the bottom of the seventh.  Gutierrez opened the inning with a walk and Francisco was beaned, putting runners on first and second with nary a hit.  Jhonny Peralta added to his RBI total(75) on the year by singling home Gutierrez.  That prompted a pitching change by the Sox.  Octavio Dotel came on and got the first two outs of the inning, getting Martinez on a pop-out, and a ground-out fielder’s choice by Ryan Garko that erased Peralta at second.  Kelly Shoppach walked, loading the bases.  Shin-Soo Choo pinch hit for Marte and drew a free pass, walking home Francisco.  Cabrera singled, scoring both Garko and Shoppach.  Sizemore singled, scoring Choo and moving Cabrera over to second.  The White Sox brought in Mike McDougal, and he got the final out of the inning on a Gutierrez fielder’s choice ground-out.  9-3 Indians.

Betancourt pitched an inning and registered a hold.  Rafael Perez pitched an inning and a third, also getting a hold while surrendering no runs and one hit.  Brendan Donnelly pitched a one hit ninth finishing out the game.

The Indians ended up with nine runs on thirteen hits.  Everyone but Choo registered a hit, and he drew a walk in his only at  bat.  Asdrubal Cabrera led the way with three hits and two RBI, and also scored a run.

The White Sox managed three runs on seven hits, dropping their record to 77-61.  They stayed dead-locked with Minnesota for first place, since the Twins lost to Toronto 7-5.

The Indians and White Sox close out the three-game set this afternoon with a 12:05 start time.  This is the last meeting of these two in Progressive Field this year.  They still have a three game series in Chicago to close out the season.  Jeremy Sowers (2-7,5.92 ERA) will face off against Javier Vasquez (10-12, 4.38 ERA).

After winning ten in a row, crawling to within two games of .500, then lose three in a row, the Indians needed some sort of spark.  Enter Cliff Lee.  Baseball’s first 20 game winner of the season, Lee was  masterful in a 5-0 victory over AL Central leader the Chicago White Sox.

Lee pitched a complete game five hit shutout, not allowing a walk, and striking out four in the victory.  His shutout comes on the heels of ex-teammate CC Sabathia’s one-hit complete game just days before. 

Could the Cy-Young winners from both leagues be opening-day teammates?  Probably not.  While Lee is the probable winner in the AL, Sabathia is a long shot in the NL given the likes of Arizona’s Brandon Webb.  Then again, Webb missed his 20^th win in a meltdown during his last start.

Lee started the game by giving up a two of the five hits he surrendered all game, but with runners on first and second and nobody out, Lee got a strikeout and a Jermaine Dye line drive double play, getting out of the inning with no damage.

The Indians would get the only run they’d need in the bottom of the second.  Jhonny Peralta opened the inning by drawing a walk.  Ryan Garko singled Peralta over to second, and Peralta scored on a Shin-Soo Choo single, making it 1-0 Tribe.

The Indians added a runs in each of the next two innings, roughing up White Sox starter Clayton Richard for six hits and four runs, three of them earned, in four innings of work. 

In the third, the Indians went up 2-0 after Grady Sizemore landed on second base after a routine ground-out to Richard turned into an error and Sizemore standing on second base after the overthrow to first.  Ben Francisco delivered a clutch single, scoring Sizemore.

The Indians had back-to-back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the fourth, resulting in a 4-0 lead.  With two out, Franklin Gutierrez doubled.  Kelly Shoppach doubled him home, and Asdrubal Cabrera doubled Shoppach in before Sizemore struck out to end the inning.

The Indians tacked on one more run in the bottom of the eighth.  Garko singled.  Choo doubled Garko over to third, and after Gutierrez was hit by a pitch, loading the bases Cabrera got his second RBI of the night on a sac fly that scored Garko.  The Indians couldn’t get anyone else across the plate, but with a five run lead and Lee heading out for the finishing touch on his shutout, it didn’t matter.

Lee did allow his fourth and fifth hits in the bottom of the ninth, but closed out the game the same way he opened it, with a double play ball, this time a ground-out, that sealed the deal and made Lee the first Indians pitcher to win 20 since Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry did it in 1974.

The only other Indians pitchers to ever make twenty wins were Bob Feller and Bob Lemon, both Hall of Fame inductees - not bad company. 

The Indians move to 10.5 of the White Sox with the win.  The loss puts the Sox in a virtual dead-lock for first place with the Minnesota Twins at 77-66.  The Indians are sitting at 66-70.

These two go again with a 7:05 start time.  Fausto Carmona(7-5,4.50 ERA) takes the hill against John Danks(10-7, 3.3 ERA)

The Indians completed their third sweep in three series, beating Detroit 9-7 and upping their win streak to ten games in a row.  The longest win streak in Indians history is thirteen. 

This one was a wild contest.  The good news was, the Indians are still cranking out the offense.  The bad news, Jensen Lewis gave up a pair in the bottom of the ninth as he looked human at closer.  Then again, the good news - he ended up with the save.

Checking out the standings, there is a column that shows how the team has performed in their last ten.  The Indians’ reads 10-0.  It will be interesting to see how many more days it can stay there.  With the victory, and sweep of the Tigers, the Indians open up a 1.5 game lead on Detroit for third place.  Now they set their sights on a much higher goal, tracking down second place.

With only roughly 30 games left for MLB teams, the Indians are 10.5 games behind Division leader Chicago, and 9.5 behind Minnesota.  Though highly unlikely, you’d have to admit it would be exciting to see them chase down one of these teams.  If so, reaching the playoffs would not even be a stretch – if they tracked down one of the teams.  Yes, even the thought of post-season is a huge-huge stretch, but one that still exists.  Ever put your money on eleven in the middle of the table at craps?  A post-season berth would be similar to that.  Every once in a while it happens, but it ain’t bloody likely.  Oh, and just for yucks, in case you were wondering, the Indians are 12 games out in the wild card race.  Johnny Carson would probably say the odds are a BILLION to ONE.  He’d probably be about right.

A more realistic goal for the Indians is to finish above .500 for the year.  They are currently two games below that figure at 65-67.  Win two thirds of the remaining games, and they end the year with around 85 wins, not a bad number.

Fausto Carmona pitched himself to a win, allowing four runs on seven hits over six innings.  Justin Verlander took the loss for Detroit going six innings , giving up five runs on seven hits.

The lead was up for grabs through four, as these two traded back-and-forth in the run column.

Cleveland opened the game by going up 1-0 on a David Dellucci double and a Jhonny Peralta single that scored Dellucci sandwiched around ground-out that moved Dellucci to third.

Detroit answered the bell by scoring one of their own when Curtis Granderson led off the game with a home-run, making it 1-1 after one.

Cleveland jumped back out on top in the top of the second on a walk to Ryan Garko, a single by Kelly Shoppach, a successful Andy Marte sac-bunt, a second out Asdrubal Cabrera strike-out, and a Grady Sizemore single that scored both Garko and Shoppach.

Detroit would take their first lead of the game in the bottom of the frame, scoring three runs and giving themselves a 4-3 lead.  They produced on a Jeff Larish single, a Carmona balk that move Larish to second, a Gary Sheffield walk, the second successful sacrifice of the night with Edgar Renteria bunting the runners over, and a Brandon Inge single that score Larish (deep breath).  Ramon Santiago singled, scoring Sheffield, then Granderson singled scoring Inge.  With runners on the corners and still only one out, Carmona was desperate for a double play, and he got it when Joyce grounded to second.

It would take the Indians until the top of the fourth to retake the lead.  Garko was hit by a pitch to open the inning and Kelly Shoppach went yard, giving the Indians a 5-4 lead.

The Tribe added a couple insurance runs in the top of the seventh.  Shin-Soo Choo hit his seventh home-run of the season, a BULLET SHOT deep into the bleachers, with Peralta, the recipient of a walk one batter earlier, standing on first.  Even Grady Sizemore was impressed by the length of this one, and was shown conversing with Choo in the dugout about it.  Choo demonstrated the liner with a hand-gesture showing the ball’s flight path straight to whomever it beaned in the outfield.

Seven runs would not be enough to take down the Tigers on this night.

Granderson was issued a free pass by Rafael Perez, then Rafael #2 Betancourt came on and gave up a double to Maglio Ordonez, that scored Granderson.  The Indians lead dwindled to 7-5.

The Indians offense stoked up the fire again in the eighth, hitting four singles and getting a pair of runs making it a 9-5 lead.  Peralta, Choo, Garko, and Shoppach had back-to-back-to-back-to-back singles off a pair of Tigers relievers, Shea and Farnsworth.  Kyle Farnsworth has come up in talking-heads discussions as a possible candidate for the closer role in Cleveland.  Let’s hope the Indians higher ups remember how the Tribe shelled him in this last Detroit series and they end up sticking with Lewis.

Speaking of Lewis, he came on in the ninth in a non-save situation surrendering a pair of runs, doling out a single to Granderson and a homerun to Ordonez.  On the plus side of the picture, all three outs he registered were strike-outs.

The Indians are off on Thursday (too bad!!!) and resume play Friday at home against Seattle.  Seattle comes into Cleveland losers of six of their last ten, but taking two of three from Minnesota prior to the visit.

Felix Hernandez (8-8, 3.28 ERA) will pitch against Cleveland’s Jeremy Sowers (2-6, 5.95 ERA).  Game time is 7:05. 

It was a busy day for the Indians.  They won their ninth straight.  Cliff Lee picked up his nineteenth win.  Ben Francisco hit two home runs.  The Indians passed up the Tigers for third place in the AL Central, beating Detroit 10-4, and I found out Edwardo Mujica is really Edward in a press box high atop Classic Park in Eastlake Ohio while watching the Lake County Captains whip up on the Hagerstown Suns.

The big Indians and the little Indians each scored six runs in the third inning, enough to win both games, and they were doing it live(Captains) and on TV(Indians) at roughly the same time.  Well, yes the Indians were doing it live to, just not in my little world.  My neck is killing me.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Captains won 8-1,are sporting a five game winning streak, won their division in the first half, and will be heading to the playoffs.  If you live within traveling distance, the Lake Erie Captains are a fun night out.

So much for the commercial. 

Jamey Carroll opened up the scoring for the Indians during their six run third, hitting his first homer-run of the year, a solo shot to left on a full count.  1-0 Indians.  Kelly Shoppach made it back-to-back Jacks with his sixteenth of the year.  Asdrubal Cabrera was hit by a pitch, Grady Sizemore fouled out, and Cabrera swiped second.  Franklin Gutierrez was safe on an error, and that scored Cabrera.  Ben Francisco flied out, then Peralta singled Gutierrez over to third.  Detroit registered their second error of the inning, allowing Gutierrez to race home, while Peralta moved over to second.  David Dellucci joined in the hit parade with a double that scored Peralta.  Next batter Ryan Garko walked, and you had to wonder how long the Tigers would leave in just-called-up Chris Lambert.  Apparently it would be one more batter-worth.  Carroll, the first batter of the inning, hit a single, scoring Dellucci and moving Garko to third, giving Carroll two RBI’s of the six scored in this inning.  Aquilino Lopez came on in relief, stopping the madness by getting Shoppach to fly-out. 

Welcome to the big leagues kid.  Lambert would eventually earn the loss, going 2.2, giving up five hits, and getting absolutely no defensive support, as only two of the six runs that crossed the plate were of the EARNED variety.

In the top of the fourth, the Indians extended the lead to 8-0 on a Gutierrez single and a Francisco home-run. 

Meanwhile Cliff Lee was on cruise control and had only allowed three hits in the first four innings. 

The fifth would get a little shaky. Detroit finally got on the board thanks to a three-hit inning.  Marcus Thames led off the inning with a single and scored on a Ryan Rayburn double.  Thames came around to score as well when Brandon Inge singled.  Curtis Granderson was hit by a pitch, and Lee was really in a jam.  He got Polanco on a fly-out, and Ordonez on a ground-out and the inning was over. 

That would be all that Lee would surrender.  He picked up his nineteenth win going 7.2, allowing six hits and two earned runs while striking out four, just another ho-hum day for the potential AL Cy Young winner.

The Indians made it 10-2 in the seventh, as Gutierrez was hit by a pitch and Francisco again drove him home with the long-ball.  The two-homer night was Francisco’s 13^th and 14^th of the season.

The Tigers ended up tagging Edward Mujica(I wonder if he’s related to Edwardo?) for a pair in the ninth.  Thames singled and Renteria homered. Mujica closed out the game.  Final score 10-4 Indians.

The finale of the three game series will decide who holds third place.  The Indians will be gunning for their third series sweep in a row, while Detroit hopes to get back to third by a half-game with a win. 

Righty Fausto Carmona (6-5, 4.4 ERA) goes up against righty Justin Verlander (10-13,4.42 ERA).  Game time is 7:05.

The Indians take Thursday off, and return home on Friday to face the Seattle Mariners, opening up a six game homestand that includes a three game set against the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox. 

The Indians are just three games under .500, a mark they haven’t whiffed since May 18^th when they were 22-22.

Grady Sizemore needed one more home-run to become the second Indians player ever and fourteenth in MLB history to join the 30-30 club.  He hit two.  The Indians needed both pulling out a ten-inning win 4-3.  The only other Indians player to reach the mark was Joe Carter in 1987. 

The Tribe move to within ½ game of passing up the Detroit Tigers for third place in the AL Central.  Additionally, the winning streak they are on is still alive at eight. 

Zach Jackson once again registered a no-decision, as Masa Kobayashi relieved him with one on in the middle of the seventh and could not get an out, allowing the base runner Jackson was responsible for to score and tie the game.

Jackson went 6.1, throwing 96 pitches, allowing three runs on seven hits, striking out six and not walking anyone in the no-decision.

The long ball was the key to this game.  Five of the seven runs in this one were solo homers, two of those off the bat of Sizemore.

Sizemore wasted no time raising his career high home run total, taking the first strike he saw in the game over the center field wall, his eighteenth leadoff homerun. 

The Tigers Marcus Thames would answer that spank in the second with a home-run of his own, making it 1-1.

In the top of the third, Sizemore belted his 31^st over the right-field wall.  Replays and a side-by-side comparison showed the pitch in almost the exact same location as his first jack.  The Indians were back on top 2-1.

In the top of the fourth, the Indians would score their only run that took more than one swing of the bat, as Shin-Soo Choo doubled to open the inning and Ryan Garko singled Choo home for a 3-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers narrowed the deficit to 3-2 on an Edgar Renteria home-run, and the home-run fireworks guy was probably clocking in overtime at this point.

Everything would remain as is until the bottom of the seventh.  Jackson, on a short leash at this point with roughly 90 pitches in the books, got Ryan Raburn on a ground-out.  Thames singled to center and that was it for Jackson. 

He’d watch from the bench as Kobayashi delivered a wild pitch that moved Raburn to second.  Next, he watched Andy Marte bobble an Edgar Renteria grounder, putting runners on the corners with still only one out.  After Joyce came on to pinch run for Raburn, Jackson would see his win evaporate into thin air on an infield single by Brandon Inge, scoring Joyce.  That was it for Kobayashi.  Three batters, a wild pitch, and nary an out.

Rafael Perez came on inducing a ground ball comebacker, but the Indians were a hair late turning the double play, leaving the Tigers with runners on the corners with two out.  Perez induced an inning ending ground-out to Curtis Granderson, but by then the game was a 3-all affair.

Perez shut the Tigers down in the eighth, yielding to Donnelly in the bottom of the ninth after the Indians failed to push a run across.

Donnelly threw one of his patented belt high fastballs that Renteria hit just two feet shy of ending the game.  After the scare Donnelly closed down Detroit and the game headed to extra innings.

There was really only way for this homer-fest to end, and Franklin Gutierrez gave the game a chance to do so by powering one to left and giving the Indians a 4-3 lead.

On came newly-found closer extraordinaire Jensen Lewis.  He also gave up a long out warning-track shot off the bat of Polanco as a tying scare, but ended the game with that fly-out and a pair of groundouts, the last being a shattered bat that flew over the head of Andy Marte while he fielded the ball for the last out.

These two battle again on Tuesday at 7:05.  Cliff Lee(18-2, 2.43 ERA) looks for his 19^th win of the season against Chistopher Lambert, a guy with a stat line that reads –, –, –.  This is Lambert’s first time in the bigs.  Let’s hope the Indians make it an amazing experience and a very bad memory as they go for nine in a row.

The Indians completed the sweep of the Texas Rangers with a ninth-inning tie-breaking single by Franklin Gutierrez and now hold the cards on a seven game win streak. 

Next up is a trip to Detroit and a chance to catch the Tigers for third place in the division.  The Indians are currently 1.5 games back of the Tigers and have three cracks at them in the next three days.

In his fourth start for the Indians, Anthony Reyes went seven innings, allowing one run on four hits, while striking out four and walking four.  His 107 pitches, 61 for strikes, was his highest pitch count to date in a Tribe uniform.  Just like his last three outings, Reyes got ahead in the count early on most hitters.  He left the game up 3-1 and in line for a win.  Unfortunately he didn’t get it.

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the third.  Joaquin Arias opened the frame with a single to center field.  After a Frank Catalanotto pop-out for the first out of the inning, Arias swiped second.  Michael Young walked, Josh Hamilton struck out, but ex-Indian Milton Bradley singled to left, scoring Arias.  Hank Blalock flied out to end the inning, but Texas was up 1-0.

Meanwhile Texas starter Vincente Padilla was on cruise control through the first three innings.  He struck out the side in both the first and the third, and had another strikeout in the second.  Seven strike-outs recorded for the first nine outs.  That is impressive, and he looked all of that going into the fourth. 

While Padilla would get another K in the fourth, he also allowed three hits.  Jhonny Peralta registered the first Indians hit of the evening, singling to left with one out.  Shin-Soo Choo, the extra-base hitting machine, tripled to center field, scoring Peralta.  Ryan Garko sac-flied, scoring Choo and giving the Indians a 2-1 lead.

They’d add another in the fifth.  Franklin Gutierrez started the Indians off with a single.  After a Marte ground-out, Grady Sizemore walked, and Jamey Carroll was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.  David Dellucci also got plunked, walking in Gutierrez, and making it 3-1 Indians.  Padilla, the same guy who struck out seven batters in three innings, walked three guys in a row, demonstrating just how easy it is to go from great to mediocre.  Peralta bailed him out by grounding into an inning ending double play.

Joaquin Benoit relieved Padilla in the sixth, and picked right up on the strikeout total, getting two of his three outs on whiffs.  Additionally, Benoit is the second guy on the Rangers lineup with the first name Joaquin.  It’s not just me typing Joaquin over and over.

In the bottom of the eighth, Juan Rincon came on for the Indians.  After getting Hamilton to ground-out, Bradley hit an infield single.  The Rangers substituted Jason Ellison as a pinch runner.  Blalock singled him over to second.  Marlon Byrd struck out for the second out of the inning.  Rincon then got charged with a wild pitch, moving Ellison to third.  Gerald Laird doubled, plating Ellison and moving Blalock to third.  Rincon then walked Chris Davis on four pitches, and Rafael Betancourt took over.  Ramon Vasquez pinch hit for Arias, and drew a free pass, making this the second walked in run of the game, one for each side, and the score was tied up 3-3.  Betancourt then got Catalanotto to ground out, keeping the game tied at three, but earning a blown-save in the process.

Eddie Guardado came on in the ninth for Texas, and by doing so earned the loss.  He gave up a single to Garko.  Gonzalez was sent in to pinch run.  Shoppach sacrificed Gonzalez to second for the first out of the inning.  The Sacrifice paid off when Gutierrez hit a single to centerfield, scoring Gonzalez.  Marte and Sizemore registered successive strike-outs, but the Indians led 4-3.

Betancourt came back out in the ninth, pitching a 1-2-3 inning and the Indians win 4-3.

The Indians scored four runs on eight hits, while the Rangers managed three runs on seven hits.  Gutierrez and Peralta each had a pair for the Indians.  Milton Bradley had two for the Rangers.  Texas pitching teamed up for thirteen strikeouts, eight of them going to Padilla.

And if you’ve been wondering about Andy Marte: yes, his batting average is still in the ones.

The Indians are right back in action on Monday night, taking on the Detroit Tigers.  Cleveland is 13-3 in their last sixteen games, including three sweeps out of the last five series.

Zach Jackson(0-0, 5.17 ERA) will try to keep the Indians seven game win streak alive against Detroit’s Armando Gallaraga(12-4, 3.17 ERA).  Gallaraga beat the Indians once already this year on July 29^th with an 8-5 win.  Game time is 7:05.