The Streak Is Over
I really thought for a second there we'd sweep Minnesota but it wasn't to be. Nevertheless, Saturday's 7-3 win took the Tribe's winning streak to 6 games, but they couldn't make it to 7, falling to the Twins 4-2 last night. It was a lot of fun to watch this team the past week. They've been hitting the absolute crap out of the ball and have got some very good performances from the starters. Despite not sweeping the Twins, it's still a series win over a division rival and that's all you can really ask for from this Tribe team. The loss last night leaves us at 14-14, but hey, at least we're still at .500.
Rotation Settling
Like I previously said, the starting rotation looked very impressive as a unit during the 6 game winning streak and that carried into this Twins series. Nothing amazing, no dominant performances, but still some solid efforts and quality outings from a group of guys we still don't quite know if they're for real or not. Masterson pitched Friday night, going 6 2/3 innings giving up 8 hits for 5 runs with 5 strikeouts, and ultimately wasn't eligible for the win. It wasn't vintage Masterson by any means but it was alright, and he kept the team in a position to win, which they eventually did in the 10th inning, Drew Stubbs walking off with a double in a 7-6 victory.
Scott Kazmir put in a very impressive outing on Saturday, lasting 6 innings whilst surrendering 5 hits and 2 runs with 7 strikeouts. He really had his pitches moving well and managed to avoid trouble in a couple of tight spots. Kazmir picked up his first win of the season and it's actually his first victory since September 19th 2010. "It feels good to get that monkey off my back," said Scott after the game. I bet it does, that's a long time to wait between wins! I'm really pleased Kazmir's comeback with us is progressing nicely, he's looking better every time he goes out there. If he can pitch like this every 5 days then the Indians got themselves some serious value for money from his acquisition.
Finally, Corey Kluber went to the mound yesterday trying to make it 7 wins in a row for the Tribe but it couldn't be done unfortunately. Kluber actually pitched pretty well, going 5 2/3 innings with 5 hits and 3 runs and 5 strikeouts. Not incredible numbers I know but considering he's not even supposed to be at this level and would normally be down in Columbus, that's not a bad effort from Kluber. He kept the Tribe in the game, battled out of some problematic jams, but just didn't get the run support, as our bats finally slowed down a bit after such a blistering week at the plate.
Overall I like how our rotation is settling down now. The last week has seen our starters pitch most of their games and not rinse and abuse the bullpen, which is all I can ask for from what is still a rather suspect group at the moment. We need to keep up this level of consistency if we're to have any chance at contending for a playoff spot this season.
Player Of The Series
I'm gonna go for the resurgent Jason Kipnis this time. He finally looks to be breaking out of his early season slump and he ignited the offense in this Twins series. Despite going hitless yesterday Kipnis still had 6 RBI over this series with 2 triples and a home run. He looks so much happier out there now he's swinging the bat well again and hopefully he's shaken off the rust for good and can go back to being the dynamic hitter and excellent base runner we all know him to be. Congrats Kip.
Up next we have the 18-14 Oakland A's coming into town for a four game series at Progressive Field. They're a pretty good team again this year and I'll be happy if we can split the series to be honest, though I'd take a series win obviously! Ubaldo (1-2, 7.13 ERA) takes the mound tonight for game 1 and he's up against the struggling Jarrod Parker (1-4, 7.36 ERA). I'm praying for another miracle start from Ubaldo, anything similar to his previous start against the Royals will do.
Thanks for reading.
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