The Indians sent the entire lineup to the plate in the top of the fifth, reeling off six runs in route to a 9-3 victory on Friday night to open the series in Kansas City against the Royals. 

Anthony Reyes, the Indians starting pitcher, only went three innings.  He had tightness in hit throwing arm during warm-ups that never seemed to loosen up, so he was pulled even though he’d pitched one-hit ball through three.

When he left, the Indians were up 2-0.  Royals starting pitcher Brandon Duckworth was his own worst enemy in this inning.  He started the top of the second with a walk to Jhonny Peralta.  Victor Martinez singled Peralta over to second.  Duckworth then walked Shin-Soo Choo on a full count. 

He almost bailed himself out of the inning after getting Ryan Garko to ground into a double play that allowed Peralta to score, but another free pass on four pitches to Franklin Gutierrez gave Asdrubal Cabrera the chance to single in Martinez, making it 2-0 Indians.

Edward Mujica ended up with the win.  He relieved Reyes in the fourth, went two innings, and was the recipient of the six run Indians inning.  He pitched two innings, allowing four hits and no runs.

Cabrera started the six run fifth with a single.  Grady Sizemore singling him over to third.  Carroll also singled, scoring Cabrera.  Those three hits sent Duckworth to the showers, and both runners would eventually score, handing Duckworth the loss. 

Joel Peralta relieved Duckworth, and gave up an infield single to David Dellucci, scoring Sizemore.  Next up was the Indians Jhonny Peralta.  In the battle of the Peraltas, Jhonny won, singling in Carroll.  Martinez singled next, scoring Dellucci. 

That was it for Kansas City Peralta, as he could not even register an out.  That brought on Yashuhiko Yabuta.  Choo greeted him with an infield single, scoring Peralta.  Ryan Garko, or affectionately known as Abner Double Play, dished up the first two outs of the inning by hitting into, you guessed it, a double play, but he did score Martinez from third.  Gutierrez grounded out and the single-fest six-run inning was over.

All told, the Indians had seven singles in a row during this six run outburst.

The Royals registered a hit parade of their own in the bottom of the seventh.  They went double-single-single-double in their three run inning. 

Ross Gload doubled off the third Indians pitcher of the night Tom Mastny.  After a Roberto Callaspo fly-out, Kila Ka’aihue singled moving Gload over to third.  David DeJesus hit a sacrifice fly that scored Gload.  Mike Aviles singled, and with runners on first and third, Jose Guillen doubled in both runners, making it 8-3 Indians.

Billy Butler grounded out to close out the inning.

Mujica was on the hook for all three Royals runs; another shaky outing for him.  Mujica is the poster child for the Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde season the Indians bullpen help has exhibited all season.

The Indians tacked on one more in the top of the ninth on a Peralta walk, a Choo single, and a Garko single that scored Peralta.  Probably felt good not to hit into a double play!!

Masa Kobayashi pitched the ninth for Cleveland going 1-2-3 on a pair of ground-outs and a line-out.

The Indians scored nine runs on twelve hits, while Kansas City could only muster three runs on a nine hit night.

Franklin Gutierrez was the only Indian not getting a hit in this one.  Carroll, Martinez, Choo, and Cabrera all had a two-hit night.

The Royals got two hits and two RBI from Jose Guillen.

These two meet for the second of three Saturday evening at 7:10.  Zach Jackson(0-1, 6.00 ERA) takes on Gil Meche(10-10, 4.07 ERA).

Sunday’s game features twenty game winner Cliff Lee against Zack Greinke. 

The Indians sellout record is close to being broken by the Boston Red Sox this coming Monday.  Check out the full story.

The Royals had two errors in the first three innings, and the Indians capitalized on both, putting Cliff Lee up 5-0 through three innings of play.  For his part, Lee didn’t give up a hit until the fifth, and he earned his AL leading 18^th win of the season while completing the three game sweep of the Kansas City Royals.  He ties Arizona’s Brandon Webb for most wins so far this season.

In the Battle for the Basement, the Indians came out on top, literally, opening up a 5.5 game lead on dungeon dweller KC.

The Indians put up three in the bottom of the second.  The first man aboard, Ryan Garko, was the result of a fielding error by shortstop Tony Pena Jr.  Jamey Carroll singled and after a Shoppach strike-out for the second out of the inning, Asdrubal Cabrera singled, loading the bases.  Grady Sizemore came through with a two-out triple, allowing all three runners to score. 

The Indians picked up two more in the bottom of the third on Ben Francisco reaching first after a Billy Butler throwing error, Peralta safe on first on a fielders choice that bagged Francisco, and Shin-Soo Choo’s 6^th home-run on the first pitch he saw, making it 5-0 Indians.

Cliff Lee didn’t allow a hit until the sixth, then gave up three runs on four hits, two of the runs earned, narrowing the lead to 5-3 Indians.

Jason Smith reached first on a hit off the end of the bat and an error on third baseman Jamey Carroll. John Buck singled. Mark Teahen doubled both runners in, and Pena Jr. singled Teahen home. 

Lee got a bit of insurance from a sixth inning run on a Carroll walk, a Cabrera groundout that moved up Carroll, and a Sizemore single to left that scored Carroll.

The Indians would add another in the seventh when Peralta homered to one over the left field fence, his 21^st of the year. 

Cliff Lee left in the after seven with a stat line that read 6 hits, 2 earned runs, 7 K’s and 2 walks, not to mention a comfortable 7-3 lead.

Rafael Betancourt took over, giving up a pair of singles, but getting a double play on a liner to Garko that caught German off guard at first.  Garko pulled off the unassisted double play.  Guillen popped out, ending the inning and leaving a runner stranded on third.

The Indians piled on three more in the eighth on a pair of walks to Carroll and Cabrera, and Sizemore’s 29^th home-run of the year.  10-3 Indians.

Brendan Donnelly took over in the ninth, getting the first two batters on fly-outs and striking out John Buck to end the contest. 

Sizemore’s 29^th home-run set his career high for a single season, eclipsing his previous mark of 28 in 2006.  For his career Sizemore has 107 homers in five seasons.  The only season he hit less than 20 in a year was his first year (2004) in the majors.  He was up for 43 games that season.

Brendan Donnelly took over in the ninth, getting the first two batters on fly-outs and striking out John Buck to end the contest. 

The Indians had ten runs on ten hits, while the Royals managed three runs on eight hits.  Both teams had two errors each, and three of the four errors accounted for runs on both sides.

The Indians leave the confines of Progressive Field and head to Arlington Texas, taking on the 63-65 Texas Rangers Friday evening at 8:05 EST.  The Indians are 7-3 in their last 10, while Texas is 3-7.   Cleveland lefty Fausto Carmona (5-5, 4.71 ERA) squares off against lefty Matt Harrison(5-2, 5.77 ERA). 

RowdyZ, a blog comment contributor, proudly sends us a link to this video claiming he is the dude pulling down this home run ball.  All I can say is "SWEET"!!  I do not have a game ball to my credit.  About the only cool thing I can really recall from a Tribe game was the time I finished the last sip of my beer and the "BEER GUY" magically appeared with another one.  Cool, but no game ball catch.

The Indians pulled off a sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend, but there was an  important sub-text going on.

Saturday Cleveland beat AL Cy Young candidate Roy Halladay, and Sunday, Cy Young frontrunner Cliff Lee notched his 16^th win of the season over the Blue Jays.

Halladay threw an incredible 130 pitches in the Saturday loss, surrendering four runs on ten hits; his record 13-9 on the season with a 2.72 ERA.  He lasted six and two thirds.

Sunday, Cliff Lee threw 104 pitches, allowing nary a run on eight hits; his record?  16-2 on the season with a 2.45 ERA.

So, is the AL Cy Young decided? 

Of course not, but in the grand scheme of things, you’d have to say Lee was the one gaining a step on Halladay.

Lee has roughly nine more starts left on the season and needs four wins to hit the 20 win mark.  It appears like he and Brandon Webb are the two pitchers that might eclipse twenty.

Jeremy Sowers is definitely making a case for remaining in the big leagues, you’d just never know it by his record.  Sowers pitched five innings of perfection on Friday against the Minnesota Twins and still ended up with a 4-1 loss.

Five innings of no hits and no walks was broken up in the bottom of the sixth.  The first batter Sowers faced was Brendan Harris, and he leveled a double into left.  Adam Everett laid down a nice bunt, moving Harris to third.  The second hit of the night by the Twins came at the hands of Carlos Gomez, a single, scored Harris and made it a 1-0 Twins lead.

Nick Blackburn, the starting pitcher for Minnesota was almost as good in the hit department, and came out better in the offensive run support category.  After five, he’d only giving up three hits coupled with no walks, and nary a run.

In the top of the seventh, the Indians had an opportunity to rough him up for a few.  Unfortunately, they could not deliver in the same fashion as the Twins had earlier, but did tie up the game at 1-1. 

Kelly Shoppach opened the seventh with a double on a very close play at second.  Good hustle and keeping his foot on the bag, Shoppach just barely beat out the tag, hanging on to second with about one toe while falling over.  He was safe.  Ryan Garko singled to right, moving Shoppach over to third.  Jhonny Peralta came on as a pinch hitter for Andy Marte, and delivered an RBI single just out of the reach of shortstop Everett. 

With runners on first and second, and nobody out, Franklin Gutierrez laid down the bunt, but it was not far enough toward the third baseline.  Because of the placement, Minnesota third baseman Harris didn’t have to charge the plate, since the ball was fielded easily by Blackburn, and the Twins picked off lead runner Garko for the first out. 

Really a turning point in the game, Minnesota executed when they needed a sac-bunt, and the Indians did not.

Asdrubal Cabrera grounded out to first, advancing both runners in the process, but Jamey Carroll struck out for the last out of the inning, and the game was tied at 1-1.

Nick Punto opened up the bottom of the seventh with a single off Sowers.  Joe Mauer pounded his seventh home run of the year, spoiling Sowers outing.

Sowers got the next couple of batters, but the Twins weren’t done.  In his third plate appearance ever in the big leagues, designated hitter Randy Ruiz singled to right, ringing up his first hit in the majors.  He’d also register his first run scored.  Harris knocked a double into the left field corner that took a weird bounce off some sort of gate in the home-run wall that gave a lumbering Ruiz just enough time to rumble home from first.

That sent Sowers to the showers a loser after a strong outing.  On a positive note for Sowers; he continues to look better and more comfortable with each game.  His night ended giving up six hits and four runs, all of them in his last two innings of work.

Jensen Lewis relieved, going 1.1 innings, hitting a batter, and retiring four.

Blackburn’s night was over as well.   The Twins sent out Guerrier in the eighth.  He shut down the Indians for closer Joe Nathan’s entrance in the ninth.

After Garko roughed up Nathan for a double, Peralta fouled out.  David Dellucci pinch hit and grounded out, and Cabrera grounded out as well, finishing out the game.

The Indians out-hit the Twins 7-6 in the losing effort.  Shoppach and Garko each had two hits apiece in the loss.

The Twins remained a half-game out of the Central lead as the White Sox also won. 

The Indians hold tight in the cellar.

Play resumes Saturday in Minnesota at 7:10.  Cleveland’s Paul Byrd (5-10, 4.93 ERA) versus Minnesota’s Keven Slowey (7-7, 4.00

Wednesday night was a long one.

At the end of three innings, the Indians were up 8-1.  Cliff Lee was on the hill, going for his 15^th win of the season leading the league with wins and ERA.  No way the Indians lose this one is there?  Final score Detroit 14 – Cleveland 12 after 13 hard fought innings. 

That’s going to leave a mark.

It took five hours and thirteen minutes for this game to be settled.  On a night when Detroit catcher Pudge Rodrigez got traded to the Yankees for reliever Kyle Farnsworth, the Indians could not close the deal and lost for the second straight night to the Detoit Tigers.

Grady Sizemore hit is 26^th home run of the season.  Ben Francisco notched his 9^th and 10^th home runs of the season.  Miguel Cabrera and Brandon Inge homered for Detroit in a game that offense was not a problem for either squad. 

All told, the evening ended with 42 hits : 22 for Detroit and 19 for the Indians.  Kelly Shoppach went 5-for-6 with three RBI’s, leading the way for Cleveland.  Curtis Granderson was 5-for-7 with two RBI’s for Detroit.

Both teams used seven pitchers apiece.  Casey Fossum got the win for Detroit.  Juan Rincon took the loss. 

The Indians loaded the bases in three of the last five innings, and could not win it.

Bummer.

No New York or Boston in the MLB Playoffs?  

If MLB were to become the equivalent of the movie “The Perfect Storm”, 2008 may be the year that neither the New York Yankees nor the Boston Red Sox make the playoffs.  How could something like this happen?

Not since the likes of 1993, when there was no wild card in baseball, has there been a season when either the Yankees, the Red Sox or both have not been in the playoffs.  Since 1995, both have been in the AL final four seven times.  SEVEN TIMES!  That doesn't count the times they were in separately.  They've taken up two of the four AL playoff spots SEVEN TIMES.

Even more amazing, since 1995 there have been 52 AL post season first round slots available.  Between the two teams, they've held 20 of those spots. 

Guess what?  In 1993, had the wild card existed, the Yankees would have been it for the AL.  1993 also left both teams at another disadvantage for making the post season.  Only two teams from each league made it in, since there weren’t three divisions per league.  Toronto and the Chicago White Sox represented the American League.  The Phillies and Braves were the National League division winners.  Toronto won the World Series.

One could make the argument it’s been since 1994, because that was the year of the strike and no World Series, but in all honesty that shouldn’t count.  No one made the playoffs.

It’s now almost August, and the Tampa Bay Rays lead the AL Eastern Division.  In order for the “Perfect Storm” to happen, Tampa will have to hold onto the division. 

Additionally, someone, from the AL Central or the AL West will have to take over the wild card lead currently held by, you guessed it, the Boston Red Sox.  As a matter of fact, two of the top three teams in wild card contention are Boston and the Yankees.  Currently, the “Perfect Storm” scenario rests squarely on the shoulders of the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Minnesota Twins.

Will 2008 be the year the string of thirteen consecutive trips to the post-season by the Yankees comes to an end?  Will it also be the year both the Yankees and the Red Sox sit on their couches in September during the first round of the playoffs?  Even more maddening, will it be the year Boston, New York, AND Atlanta are out? 

You can pretty much stick a fork in the Braves, but everything else is up for grabs.  Personally, I’m praying for “The Perfect Storm”.

And if it does happen, it makes perfect sense the Indians won’t be in the post-season reaping the benefits.

So, you go on vacation for ten days and apparently this is what happens with the Indians.

Since the all star break (ten days), it appears the Indians went 4-9; their only series win against lowly Seattle.  This on the heels of a four game sweep of the first place Tampa Bay Devil Rays and a reason to make me sweat it out with no sports all through the ten day vacation.

Casey Blake shows up on the Sports Center highlights, but is wearing Dodger Blue.

Jeremy Sowers gets his first win and has another strong outing, a positive sign!

Aaron Laffey goes to the minors?  The wheels must have come off there!

Cliff Lee notches his 13^th qnd 14^th wins.

Cleveland is still in last place.

Andy Marte’s batting average still starts with a one.

Fausto Carmona returns only to look like the old Jeremy Sowers.

It’s good to be home.

Cliff Lee has had his share of up's and downs.  I was going to write a story about it, but couldn't have done a better job than Nino Colla already had in conveying Lee's rise to the the All Star game, so here's the link.