Tribe Enter Break In Royal Fashion

What a fantastic way to cap off the first half of the season, sweeping the Royals in three games as the All Star Game draws near this Tuesday. The Indians have been in fine form of late and had everything working for them in this series, shutting out KC 3-0 on Friday, beating them 5-3 on Saturday, before sweeping them with a fine 6-4 victory today, Sunday. This afternoon's win leaves the Indians with a 51-44 record, remarkable given how streaky the team have been at times, and the club are just 1.5 games behind the Tigers in the race for AL Central. As Wayne Campbell so nicely put it: Game on!

Kluber Continues To Impress

Corey Kluber is having a hell of a season for the Indians in 2013. His first half numbers don't initially dazzle the eye, and that's partly due to him feeling his way into the season, but for a guy who wasn't even supposed to be part of this club's rotation this year,he ain't doing too badly if I say so myself. At the break he has a 3.88 ERA, with 94 strikeouts in 95 innings and just 22 walks. Kluber appears to be getting better every time he takes the mound and his latest outing ranks amongst his best so far.

Kluber kicked off the series against Kansas City on Friday with a dominating pitching performance. He lasted 7 2/3 innings, surrendering only 3 hits and 3 walks, to go along with 8 strikeouts, whilst all the while keeping the Royals off the scoreboard. He was damn near untouchable, like he has been so often since the start of June. With Zach McAllister missing from the rotation due to injury, Kluber has picked up the torch and has cemented himself as the number 2 starter in McAllister's absence. If he can continue to pitch like this in the second half of the season, and McAllister can return to full health and be effective like he was before he got hurt, our rotation will immediately look a lot better. In fact, it would be so much better that I'm almost willing to admit that the Indians wouldn't need to trade for a new starter before July's deadline ends. A rotation led by Masterson, McAllister and Kluber inspires a lot of confidence in me, and if all three guys can continue to pitch into September like they have done so far, well I reckon the team can only prosper.

Player Of The Series

There are a number of worthy candidates for the award this series, Kluber amongst them for the reasons I have just mentioned. But my pick for this series goes to our young third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall, for his efforts at the plate and in the field over the last couple of days. Lonnie smashed the first grand slam of his MLB career on Saturday, his 4 RBI bomb fuelling the Tribe to the 5-3 win. His grand slam ultimately proved to be the difference, supporting Scott Kazmir's sterling effort on the mound (6 1/3 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts for his 5th win of the season). Not only was Lonnie impressive at the plate against KC, he was also confident and impressive with the glove, making all the routine plays at third, showing none of the nerves he displayed earlier on in the year. Chiz made a superb catch during today's game, catching a towering pop-up over the camera-man's railing by the third base dugout, pulling it off with ease. It's just so refreshing to see him playing with this level of confidence, looking like he finally belongs on a major league field. He's really starting to progress nicely now and just needs to maintain this level throughout the second half of the season. Keep it up Lonnie and congrats.

So now we can all look forward to seeing Masterson and Kipnis in New York on Tuesday at the All Star Game. I hope both guys manage to get into the game for a bit, and I'll be making the effort to stay up late here in the UK to watch the game. Keep your eyes peeled here to the blog over the next couple of days, I'll have a first half season review coming up shortly. Until then...

Thanks for reading.