Another Series Win

Two series wins in a row now. I'm trying to remain optimistic despite all the injuries and offensive problems that have plagued this team all season long. So winning two series in a row is a good start and even through all the adversity, the Tribe only sits 5.5 games behind Chicago midway through June. Sunday's win over the Padres featured another solid pitching performance from CC Sabathia, who went 8 innings, striking out 10 and allowing 3 runs. Coupled with Friday's 8-5 win (featuring a near 3-hour rain delay and and me getting soaked in the process) it was a pretty good weekend. Saturday was really a winnable one too when the game went to extra innings, but another bullpen meltdown killed any hopes of a weekend sweep.

Grady has been on a home run tear lately with 5 in the last 5 games

The Indians will enjoy a day of rest today as they travel to Colorado for a three-game series starting tomorrow night. Call me bitter, but I'm looking at this as the World Series that should have been last year. And we would have taken care of this team just like the Cavs would be taking care of the Lakers right now. F'n Boston.

Paul Hoynes thinks Grady Sizemore should remain in the leadoff role, even with his recent power surge (9 HR in his last 16 games). Also, there will be a lot of scouts in attendance every time CC takes the hill before the trade deadline. And finally, some updates from Sheldon Ocker on Travis Hafner, Jake Westbrook, and Asdrubal Cabrera.

Maybe?

Maybe the Tribe needed a 13-9 softball-type slugfest like last night vs. the Rangers to right the ship? Or maybe it's just an anomaly against a bad pitching staff in a hitter's ballpark. Either way it was fun to finally see the offense make some noise last night and pick up Aaron Laffey when he had a rare bad outing. It was one of those nights for the Indians at the plate - 4 HR's, 4 doubles, 16 hits in all, and 7 RBI by Casey Blake (all before the end of the 4th inning!). They actually raised the team batting average three points with last night's performance - still a paltry .236, but I'll take any type of progress at this point. Blake had two home runs and Ben Francisco and David Dellucci added the others.

Hopefully things can start rolling now but it will be even more difficult to keep the momentum going tonight, as Jake Westbrook has been put on the 15-day DL. To make matters worse, Tom Mastny gets the start tonight for the Tribe, since Jeremy Sowers just pitched for AAA Buffalo on Sunday. Jensen Lewis was also called back up today to help in the bullpen. Let's hope the bats can stay warm because I have a feeling they will really be needed in this one...

Casey was all over the bases on Monday night on his way to 7 RBI

Cavs Update: LeBron James was just named the #3 earner in pro sports over the past year, behind only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. All this in the dinky little godforsaken market known as Cleveland. Here's to hoping that he sees that market size does not matter and he will stay home in June of 2010. We need you LeBron... just look how much you mean to this city: www.lebron2010.com (brought to you by the great Glen Infante of RCF fame).

A Rare Offensive Explosion

...well, not really an explosion, but 8 runs in a game for this year's version of the Tribe is definitely a sight for sore eyes all over northeast Ohio. The offense actually made an appearance early last night, with Franklin Gutierrez's first inning grand slam off of Mark Buehrle. The Indians also pulled off the incredibly rare triple steal in the 6th inning last night. I didn't even realize it at the time because it was such a bizarre play, but trust me, it involved bad baserunning by the Tribe and even worse defense by the White Sox. At any rate, it was the first triple steal in the major leagues since 1987. So this month has featured and unassisted triple play and now a triple steal. Call me crazy, but I'd rather just see wins and good hitting. Aaron Laffey also pitched another solid game, giving up 2 runs over 6 innings. He is now 3-3 with a very nice 1.59 ERA. He will obviously be very important over the next month with Fausto's hip injury.

Gutierrez provided a much-needed offensive spark on Tuesday night

Today Jake Westbrook makes his return from the DL for the noon start against the White Sox. I hate these day "getaway" games but we do have a one-game win streak in them, so maybe our luck is changing. Also, it looks like Travis Hafner's bat might be missing from the lineup for a while. Wait, hasn't it been missing the entire season??? (insert Big Chuck and Lil' John laugh track here)

It's Always Fun

I always get a little extra enjoyment out of beating the New York Yankees. Tonight was a great game down at the Prog. I got to experience that old Jacobs Field magic for the first time in the new seats. On this evening Jhonny Peralta was the hero, hitting a two-out, three-run homer off Andy Pettitte to put the Tribe on top for good.

Positive things to take away from this one:

• This was the Tribe's fourth consecutive win and they are now 11-12, only 2 games out of first place.
  
• Paul Byrd did a decent job tonight (other than when facing the greasy steroid monger Jason Giambi). He had great command of the strike zone (59 strikes and only 18 balls).
• The bats banged out another 9 hits and 6 runs. The offense seems to be coming around.
• Franklin Gutierrez added an important insurance home run and the offense manufactured another important 2-out run in the 6th inning as well.
• Finally, and most importantly, the bullpen was solid. Rafael Perez came on in relief and pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings. And how great was it to see Rafael Betancourt come in and get a 1-2-3 ninth? I can't remember the last time JoeBo accomplished that.

Tomorrow we look to finally get back to .500 as Jeremy Sowers gets the call in place of Jake Westbrook. Let's keep it rolling.

Jhonny did the Yanks in with a huge 2-out, 3-run HR

Tribe & Royals Washed Out

Wednesday night's game in Kansas City was rained out after a two-hour delay. Even Mother Nature doesn't want the Tribe to capitalize on the momentum that started in Tuesday's 15-1 drubbing. A doubleheader has been scheduled for 6:10pm on Thursday, with Fausto Carmona starting Game 1 and Cliff Lee starting Game 2. This means a long and likely late night of sports for me and Mrs. Chief:

6:10-8:00 - Tribe vs. Royals, Game 1
8:00-10:30 - Cavs smacking around the Wizards in Game 3
10:30-12:30? - Tribe vs. Royals, Game 2

The doubleheader on Thursday also means that there will have to be another shake-up in the Indians' pitching rotation. We already know that Jeremy Sowers will take Jake Westbrook's spot on Saturday vs. the Yankees. But now Fausto Carmona won't be able to go on Monday since he is pitching on Thursday. So look for Aaron Laffey to be called up for Monday's start. I'll be back later today for a Cavaliers/Wizards Game 3 update...

No Suspension for Brenda (and Ben called up!)

It's been a busy sports information afternoon here on the shores of Lake Erie. First, apparently Brenda Haywood will not be suspended for his flagrant foul on LeBron in Game 2. I've made my thoughts on this known below so I won't delve into it anymore.

Also, the Tribe made a roster move today. Jake Westbrook was placed on the 15-day DL with a ribcage muscle injury (specifically a "left intercostal strain"). So Ben Francisco was called up from AAA Buffalo to take his place on the roster. This will likely only be for a couple days until Westbrook's turn in the rotation, when I expect Aaron Laffey or Jeremy Sowers to get the call. But maybe if we all work together in unison in positive thinking, we can persuade Eric Wedge to give Ben a couple starts in left field to show what he can do. The Jason Michaels/David Dellucci experiment has already taken at least a month off my life.

Welcome back Ben - hope you can stay for a while

A lesson learned

Games like last night's Tribe game in LA (or is it Anaheim, since the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim play there?) are the reason why I usually opt out of going to bed early in order to watch my teams play late games. You just never know what's going to happen and if you go to bed early, you might miss something good. Of course, after the frustrating loss on Monday night I opted for sleep and missed the ending completely. Travis Hafner hit a huge 2-run HR with two outs in the top of the ninth to give our Tribe a big come-from-behind win. Jake Westbrook also pitched a complete game. Lesson learned: I will stay up for all West coast games the rest of the season. Thankfully the Tribe comes back home after this afternoon's game. I hate these getaway games - we never seem to play well when I'm forced to listen at work on the radio. Let's hope Byrd performs a little better this time around.

Hafner flipped the script on the Angels late Tuesday night

Central update: The Tigers are now 0-7, giving us a 3.5 game lead on them already, even with our mediocre start. I am enjoying this immensely.