Fuck Yeah, Cleveland!

Before the Series, May 6th, 2011

Current Record: 21-9, 1st in AL Central

Previous series vs Oakland A’s (16-16)

Next series vs Los Angeles Angels (18-14)

Tied for the best start in franchise history through 30 games? I’ll take it!

The Indians, facing the best pitching in baseball, showed what they could do when runs are at a premium by taking two-of-three from the Oakland Athletics, with a score differential of only +2 over the three game series.

The starting pitching, on both sides, was phenomenal. Carmona, Tomlin and even Jeanmar Gomez threw solid games this week, which was essential when facing Oakland’s pitching staff.

Both wins came at the last at bat, continuing the late-game hitting trend started in the series versus Detroit last week.

This is the first series win in Oakland for Cleveland since 2002.

Next up: The LA Angels. Another tough pitching match-up. Masterson, White and Carmona will face Chatwood, Weaver and Haren.

The games are on 10:00 tonight, 9:00 Saturday and 3:35 on Sunday.

Before the Series, May 2nd, 2011

Current Record: 19-8, 1st in AL Central

Previous series vs Detroit Tigers (12-16)

Next series vs  Oakland A’s (15-14)

Two walk off wins and an 8th inning come-from-behind victory? Yes, please.

Another series, another sweep, so it seems. The Indians have already swept five series, one more than their total in the 2010 season. And after the best April in Tribe history, the media is starting to take notice and admit that this maybe isn’t a fluke.

The Indians are on fire right now, and according to closer Chris Perez, this is “better than Major League.” Alex White had a good debut on Saturday, while Gomez and Masterson both gave up runs early, but were able to get out of tough situations.

The hitting has come from everywhere in the lineup, no single hitter carries the weight of the whole team on his shoulders. This is a team that truly works together, and nobody lags behind.

Carlos Santana, who was slumping for weeks earlier, had three straight HRs from Thursday to Saturday, including a walk off grand slam on Friday.

Choo, who was in a similar situation, also seems to have turned it around.

Travis Hafner, who is amid a resurgence, has been out with a tendon strain in his foot. And, according to skipper Manny Acta, the DL is not out of the question. Blerg.

Well, we’re on the west coast this week, meaning plenty of 10:00pm starts. The Wahoos play the A’s for three days starting Tuesday before taking on the Angels and heading home.

I know it’s too early to talk playoffs, but our division sucks this season. GO TRIBE!

Edit: By the way, I don’t plan on live tumbl-ing games in the future. I was drunk and bored at the time.

Before the Series, April 29th 2011

Current Record: 16-8, 1st in AL Central

Previous series vs Kansas City Royals (12-13)

Next series vs  Detroit Tigers (12-13)

B-E-A-UTIFUL. The Indians swept the Royals at home, by a combined score of 24-8. A total of nine home runs were scored during this series, including two back-to-back homers and a two HR game by Jack Hannahan. The offense was ridiculous these past three days.

There truly isn’t much to say about this series. Grady has been explosive since he returned almost two weeks ago, Choo seems to be back after a slow start, and Carlos Santana is hopefully out of his slump after going yard tonight.

The Tribe takes on their bitter rivals from Detroit at home all weekend, Friday at 7:05, Saturday at 6:05 and Sunday at 1:05 before heading out west.

If you’re in town, head over to the Jake (I hate calling it Progressive) and check out some hot-as-goddamned-fire Wahoo baseball! I’m driving from Columbus tomorrow to see the game, why the hell aren’t you?!

Before the Series, April 25rd 2011

Current Record: 13-8, 1st in AL Central

Previous series vs Minnesota Twins (9-12)

Next series vs  Kansas City Royals (12-10)

That didn’t go well, now did it?

After blowing the lead in the fourth game in the Kansas City series, the Indians looked to get back on track with a few games against the AL Central’s worst, the Minnesota Twins.

The rain-out on Friday may have been an omen.

Saturday’s contest was a 10-3 drudging. Fausto Carmona picked up his third loss on the year, in a performance in which manager Manny Acta claimed that, “[Carmona] wasn’t being agressive enough.”

Well, it was only two straight losses, they could pick it up on Sunday, right? Wrong.

Carlos Carrasco gave up 2 runs early, however behind good hitting, the Tribe answered to put themselves up 3-2. Shin-Soo Choo twice threw from right field to Lou Marson behind the plate to tag out runners headed home.

The Brantley ground-rule double that put Cleveland up 3-2, however, was curious. Originally ruled a 3-run home run, it was reversed, because it didn’t hit the top of a planter in right, just the corner. This will come up later.

Carrasco only pitched three, leaving the game with right elbow tightness. Remember what I said about the omen?

Jeanmar Gomez then came out of the bullpen to relieve, followed by Rafael Perez, who gave up 2 in the seventh to give you the final score of 4-3. Keep in mind, the Brantley run-that-wasn’t would’ve put the Indians up 4-2 in the third, sending the game into extra innings.

Well, what’s done is done, although I’ll hesitate to call this a sweep because of the Friday night rain-out.

The Indians face Kansas City again, in another battle for the number one spot atop the standings, followed by a weekend series with the Detroit Tigers before heading out west again.

Before the Series, April 23rd 2011

Current Record: 13-6, 1st in AL Central

Previous series vs Kansas City Royals (12-8)

Next series vs  Minnesota Twins (7-12)

Well, you can’t win ‘em all. After the first three games in KC, the Indians looked to win the series on Thursday, having won two of three, and holding on to a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth in the fourth game of the series.

And our savior, the impeccable Chris Perez came onto the mound. We were going to leave KC winning the series three games to one, right?

Well, he couldn’t stay perfect forever. A Melky Cabrera double sent two runs home, ending the game with a final score of 3-2.

On the bright side, the Tribe still hold the AL Central lead by one and a half games over Kansas City, and are going to have a couple of games against the Minnesota Twins (Friday’s contest was postponed due to rain), the worst team in the division.

It will be interesting to see how this team, especially Chris Perez and the bullpen, come back from a loss like that.

The games are at 1:10 today and 2:10 on Sunday.

Before the Series, April 17th 2011

Current Record: 11-4, 1st in AL Central

Previous series vs Baltimore Orioles (6-8)

Next series vs  Kansas City Royals (10-5)

Great weekend, huh?

On Friday night, good ol’ “Bat” Masterson did the same thing he’s been doing since the season began, earning his third win of the season in an 8-2 Tribe victory.

On Saturday, Josh Tomlin kept the train a-rollin’ after a two-hour rain delay, getting his third win as well, behind Orlando Cabrera’s four RBIs in an 8-3 win.

And the icing on the cake was today. The triumphant return of GRADY SIZEMORE! Sizemore cranked out a homer on his second AB. How’s that for a homecoming?

Carlos Santana went for a solo home run to end his 0-22 streak, and for good measure, Travis Hafner had a solo home run too.

Fausto Carmona finally got his first win of the season, giving up only 2 ER in seven innings, and Chris “Pure Rage” Perez got his fifth save of the season in the 4-2 win, completing the sweep.

Monday marks the beginning of a fierce four-game series for the lead in the AL Central… against the KANSAS CITY ROYALS! Yes, you read that right.

The Sons of George Brett and the Wahoo Warriors will be duking it out for sole possession of the top spot in the division. The Royals are currently one game behind the Indians at 10-5. As it stands, the White Sox are 4 back, Detroit is 4.5 and the Twins are 6 behind.

All the games are scheduled for an 8:10 start, this Monday through Thursday.

IT HAS BEGUN!

MORTAL KOMBAT!

Before the Series, April 14th 2011

Current Record: 8-4, 1st in AL Central

Previous series vs Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (7-5)

Next series vs  Baltimore Orioles (6-4)

Well, the streak ended at eight straight, but it’s nothing to worry about. The Tribe is coming back with a 4-2 record from the west coast trip, but both losses came off of strong performances from the Angels. Tuesday’s loss was due to a one-hitter pitched by Dan Haren, in which Fausto Carmona pitched 8 1/3 with 2 ER. A strong performance by both pitchers, but the Indians were left with the short end of the stick.

The second loss came after 12 innings of baseball, behind another impressive outing by the bullpen, although Chris Durbin gave up the late game sac fly to end the game.

This weekend, the AL Central leading Indians host the Baltimore Orioles for a three game series before a gauntlet of division matchups to end the month.

Before the Series, April 5th 2011

Current Record: 1-2, 3rd in AL Central, 1.5 GB Kansas City

Previous series vs Chicago White Sox (2-1)

Next series vs Boston Red Sox (0-3)

The 1-2 Indians enter the three game series with the Red Sox fresh off of win number one this season. After getting pummeled by the White Sox on Friday and Saturday, the Tribe was able to turn the tables in the series finale, winning 7-1, in no small part due to the excellent pitching by Justin Masterson and a Carlos Santana triple play.

Despite the pitching so far, I am impressed by the bats, which were practically nonexistant last season. Cleveland drove in a total of 20 runs this weekend, with HRs from newcomers Orlando Cabrera, Jack Hannahan as well as (who would’ve guessed) TRAVIS HAFNER!

If the Indians can get pitching performances like Masterson’s from the entire rotation, I see no reason we can’t finish third (or better *fingers crossed*) in the AL Central. Interesting note: Masterson pitched seven innings without a strikeout. The starters seem to be the only major concern, with the bullpen putting on a strong show, as well as closer Chris Perez on Sunday.

The Indians will be facing the Red Sox this week, a team that was just swept by the Texas Rangers. They will no doubt be looking for win number one tonight, let’s hope the ol’ Wahoo Warriors follow Texas’s lead and keep a goose egg in Boston’s W column.