Eight hitters take the field tonight in New York for the 23^rd Major League Baseball Home Run Derby.  For the American League, Tampa Bay Rays Evan Longoria, Minnesota Twins Justin Morneau, Texas Rangers Josh Hamilton, and Cleveland Indians Grady Sizemore will go.  On the National League Side, Houston Astros Lance Berkman, Florida Marlins Dan Uggla, Philadelphia Phillies Chase Utley, and Milwaukee Brewers Ryan Braun will hit. 

Hitting in Yankee Stadium favors Lefties because of the infamous “Short Porch” in the right field corner.  Four of the Eight hitters are Left-handers. 

Since its 1985 inception, the Cleveland Indians have sent six participants to five home run derby competitions.  In 1995 two of the four AL sluggers were Indians with Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez both going. 

Three Indians total have gone for the Indians.  Jim Thome went twice.  Albert Belle participated three times.  Manny Ramirez went as an Indian once.  Jim Thome came the closest to winning it for Indians fans, finishing second in 1998.

When Grady Sizemore heads to the plate, he will be the fourth Indian going for the Home Run Derby win.  He is one of the four lefties in the Derby. 

A dark horse in the field, Sizemore definitely has a chance to bring the title back to Cleveland.  He’s one of the hottest home-run hitters in the league coming into the All Star break.  Of his 23 AL leading home-runs, 11 have come in the last 28 games, almost a home run every other game. 

The home run derby though, is all about finding your stroke.  The Home Run Derby has made the likes of all past Indians sluggers look bad.  Jim Thome’s first appearance yielded him exactly zero home runs and a first round exit.  Manny Ramirez had three and a first round exit in his only appearance.  Albert Belle?  Same numbers in his first try… three home runs and a first round exit.

While Sizemore is overshadowed by the likes of Josh Hamilton, four-time participant Lance Berkman, and the only repeat person from last year in Justin Morneau, this writer thinks he’s the odd’s on favorite to win the Derby because of his youth – or maybe its just because I’m from Cleveland.  Either way, Grady has a 1-in-8 shot.

Finally, Cliff Lee is named the Starter for the American league.  Check it out here.

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. 

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.

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. 

Grady Sizemore is the only Indians player with a likely shot at the All Star game.  Online voting is free and you can voe up to 25 times prior to 11:59 PM on Wednesday, July 2nd, so don't delay, vote today!  Yes, that did sound like a commercial and somewhat Dr. Suess-ish. 

With Andy Marte out of options and sitting the bench, does it appear the Tribe is on the verge of a trade or release?  They pick up Morgan Ensberg, an MLB veteran, on a minor league contract with the Buffalo Bisons.  Check out the full story here