Indians Regain Some Dignity But Lose Series

For a while there the series in Detroit looked like a total disaster. The Tribe were dominated in the first two games of the series, losing 7-2 on Friday and 10-5 on Saturday, before they managed to save face a bit by shutting out the Tigers on Sunday with an impressive 4-0 win.

Let's make one thing clear. Detroit have had Cleveland's number all season long. The Tribe have lost 15 of the 19 games they've played again the Tigers this year, an abysmal record. This weekend's series was particularly painful to watch because it quickly became clear that the Indians just didn't have anything that posed a threat to Detroit. You could read it in the players' body language as they stepped to the plate, or how Zach McAllister's shoulders slumped again as he walked yet another batter (I'm not singling Zach out here, he had a bad day is all and it was noticeable). Cleveland were lucky to avoid being swept for the second straight series in a row and have our Player of the Series (to be revealed below) to thank for getting them out of a real mess.

There was no clearer example of the Indians' total ineptitude against the Tigers in 2013 than the third inning of Friday's game. The Tigers were leading 2-1 and had the bases loaded when Victor Martinez (it still makes me sad to see him playing for bloody Detroit) hit a long fly ball to centre field. It should have been a routine out but Michael Bourn never saw the ball and lost it completely in the lights, allowing two runners to score with ease and that was essentially game over. The Indians looked totally sapped of confidence after that and never really threatened to get back in it. It was a frustrating moment in a frustrating season of futility against our AL Central foes. I'm not going to sit here and rain curses down on Bourn. He's been somewhat of a disappointment in his first season in Cleveland, I think most Tribe fans would agree. I don't think we've got the level of production many expected from him; he hasn't stolen many bases considering his past achievements and he's only really been average at best as a lead-off man this year. But players make mistakes and he knows more than anybody he messed up but it doesn't change the fact his blunder was essentially the turning point in the series.

Player Of The Series

I was going to skip this award entirely if the Indians couldn't muster a reply in the final game of the series on Sunday and thankfully they managed to reply in style. There's a couple of candidates for the award this week, including rookie pitcher Danny Salazar who continues to impress at the major league level. Salazar was efficient through 6 strong innings, allowing 6 hits and walking nobody, keeping the Tigers scoreless whilst striking out 6. All this on a strict pitch-count so it was a relief to see him last 6 innings. But the hero of the series for me was Mike Aviles, who saved the best until last. In the top of the 9th inning on Sunday, Aviles stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and proceeded to smash the first grand slam of his major league career to put the Indians up 4-0 late in the game, thus sealing the victory. "I hit a lot of grand slams in my sleep," said Aviles after the game. "It's just good to have a real one." Yes it is Mike, and congratulations on your first Player of the Series award this season.

So the Indians return home now and don't go back on the road until the 12th of September. Up next are the Baltimore Orioles and we need to perform to our best since the O's are our direct competitors in the race for the wild card spots. Monday afternoon's game will see Justin Masterson (14-9, 3.49 ERA) take the mound in search of his 15th win of the season and he'll face off against Bud Norris (3-1, 4.91 ERA with Baltimore), the pitcher I wouldn't have minded seeing the Tribe acquire before the trade deadline.

The Tribe didn't have the best of Augusts and need to play better in September. Winning the first game of the month yesterday was a good start. With a schedule that looks easier than most (on paper at least) the Indians still stand a very good chance of making the post-season. They just need to get hot and play their asses off. One more push guys.

Thanks for reading.

Indians Just Heavenly Against Angels

The Tribe come home from their West coast road-trip with a well earned series sweep against the Angels, and a sense of renewed optimism as well. The highlight of the series was undoubtedly Drew Stubbs' 14th inning 2-run homer on Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning (just after 8am here in the UK!) to cement the series win. It was another memorable moment for the Tribe and a just reward for all the fans who had stuck with the team Tuesday night. The Indians have now surpassed their win total from last year and we still have over a month of baseball left to play.

Let's take a look at some talking points from the last few days:

Guys Stepping Up When It Matters

This series certainly helped restore some faith and optimism in this Tribe team. And that was largely thanks to a few key guys who we expected to perform this year but haven't really delivered yet, stepping up in the big moments.

Lonnie Chisenhall, our young third baseman, played an exceptional series. He's had his fair share of troubles this season, at the plate and with the glove, but he was brilliant in Anaheim. Chiz's 2 run homer on Monday fuelled the Indians offense in their 5-2 victory, getting the series off to a hot start. He made some impressive plays at third base as well, snagging a sharp Josh Hamilton grounder in Wednesday's game to get Rich Hill out of the inning unscathed. I'm a big fan of Lonnie, he comes across as such a likeable guy, so I'm extra eager for him to have success with the Tribe.

Nick Swisher has also been on form of late, and it looks as if he's starting to turn the corner a bit. It's safe to say many fans and critics have labelled Swisher's debut season in Cleveland as disappointing. He hasn't produced at the level most of us expected. However he had a fine series in Anaheim, hitting 2 home runs in the series to take his season tally to a respectable 15. They're not amazing numbers by any means but it does now at least appear that Swisher has gotten some heat into his bat finally. Long may it continue.

But the most important man for the Indians during the series was probably Drew Stubbs. The right fielder was the hero of the series thanks to his extra-innings heroics on Tuesday night. His 14th inning 2-run homer nudged the Indians ahead and ended up earning the series win, an invaluable victory in our late season push for the post-season. It was past 3 am for the Indians fans watching in Cleveland and the East, and just after midnight for those very vocal supporters left in the stadium in Anaheim. I actually woke up just before 8 am here in England to start getting ready for work. I did my usual routine of turning on MLB TV and I saw to my disbelief the Indians were still playing. Luckily for me I had awoken just in time to see Chisenhall reach base with a line drive single into centre field, and then Stubbs smashed that 2-run shot off LA's poor Joe Blanton. It was a euphoric moment and I was jumping around the room like a lunatic, possibly the most active and energetic I've ever been at 8 am. A great moment and I'm happy for Drew that he could contribute with his bat. We all know he's a quality defensive player but too often he fails to impress at the plate, so it was great to see him come through in a clutch situation, and in style too.

Dice-K Released

So last week I entertained the idea of Daisuke Matsuzaka being promoted from AAA to fill out a spot in the rotation, should the opportunity arise. He's been very solid in Columbus over the last couple of months and I thought he could possibly contribute something to the Indians pitching staff, bring a veteran presence if you will.

Well that concept was put to bed pretty quickly, with the news on Tuesday that Matsuzaka has been released by the Indians. Apparently he spoke to the front office, who made it quite clear to him that his chances of making the big league club were limited between now and the end of the season, and so he requested his immediate release and the club granted his wish. Daisuke's goal now will be to sign on with a different team and hope his efforts in Columbus since the All Star break were enough to sway a team to take him on. I wish him luck in his search to find work elsewhere and just hope he doesn't sign on with a team that could directly harm us in our push for the post-season. Mike Axisa at CBS has written an interesting article pondering where Dice-K could end up.

I was really excited when I first heard the news he had signed with us in the winter, since I was an admirer of his during his hey-day in Boston in 2007 and 2008. So I was looking forward to his first start in an Indians uniform. But it just wasn't to be obviously, and thankfully the Indians should have sufficient cover for starting pitching even with Matsuzaka leaving. Josh Tomlin has been progressing nicely in his rehab outings and is set to make his first start for Columbus on Thursday, almost a year to the day since his Tommy John surgery. With that in mind, I'm sure Chris Antonetti felt pretty comfortable allowing Dice-K to go.

Player Of The Series

It's got to be Drew Stubbs for the reasons I've previously stated. Honourable mentions must go to Nick Swisher, Lonnie Chisenhall, Zach McAllister and my boy Justin Masterson, for picking up his 14th win of the year.

The Indians return home now for a quick three game series against the Twins before jetting off on another road trip (a difficult one too, facing Atlanta and Detroit). The Indians have today to rest before Ubaldo Jimenez (9-7, 4.00 ERA) faces off against Minnesota's Samuel Deduno (7-7, 3.82 ERA) on Friday. Let's hope we can keep the momentum going and build on this hot streak.

Thanks for reading.

Indians Win In Minnesota The Hard Way

I was beginning to get really worried there for a second. Heck, I still am worried about this team and their chances at making the playoffs. With the way they're playing right now, despite grinding out a much needed series win against the Twins, I don't think we'll be watching October baseball in Cleveland in 2013.

But let's try to lose the pessimism and focus on the fact that the Indians battled throughout this series and emerged victorious. It didn't look like they would most of the time but they did and that's all that really matters.The Indians haven't had the best August (6-8 so far) but we're still just 3 games behind in the wild card with everything still to play for. Let's take a little look at some of the key points from this series in Minnesota.

Old Man Giambi Still Got It

Jason Giambi, our 42 year-old designated hitter, has had his fair share of detractors and critics this season. Many fans see him as a glorified cheerleader on this Indians team, at best an assistant coach to Francona in the locker room. But Giambi to his credit steps up to the plate every time he is called upon. He's not even close to the juggernaut he was at his peak and we knew that when the Indians signed him in the off-season. Hell, he's 42 years old, the guy should be coaching or sat in a commentary booth. 

However, since Mark Reynolds' release the DH position has lost a viable option, thus increasing Giambi's chances of being in the lineup and starting games more often. And if he can keep producing big hits like he did on Wednesday afternoon then his spot on the team will be more than validated. Down by 3 runs in the 8th inning, Giambi stepped up with two runners on base and proceeded to smash his 8th home run of the season off Twins reliever Casey Fien to tie the game. It was a huge moment for the Indians, and without Giambi's homer the odds of the Tribe coming through victorious were slim that late in the contest. 

He's not going to bat .300 and he won't produce for us every time, but I'm glad Giambi can still provide a meaningful contribution to this Indians team on the field and not just through his leadership in the clubhouse.

A Japanese Alternative To Carrasco?

Carlos Carrasco has had a bad year in the big leagues. That much is obvious, and it's been well documented. I was hopeful he had begun to turn things around after his impressive 5 inning relief appearance against the Angels last week. But with Carrasco it always seems to be one step forward, two steps back. Francona was swayed enough by that Angels performance to hand Carlos the start for Wednesday's rubber game but the 26 year old right-hander couldn't capitalise on the opportunity and had a disappointing game yet again. Carrasco was pulled after 4 and a 1/3 innings, giving up 10 hits for 4 runs with 4 strikeouts (he didn't walk anybody, a positive sign, but his pitches weren't missing many bats, the Twins hitting practically everything). His season statistics make for ugly reading: a 7.82 ERA, an 0-4 record, 58 hits surrendered in 38 innings, and opponents hitting .356 off him. 

Now if I was the manager, I think I'd safely say that Carrasco's future as a starting pitcher for the 2013 Indians should be over. I'm not saying his days as a starter are over for good; nothing is stopping him from coming back in 2014 and proving he has what it takes. But I think now that every game from here until the end of September is considered "must win", putting Carrasco out there as part of the rotation is a bad idea and doesn't give the Indians a great chance of winning ball games. I still think he could provide some effectiveness out of the bullpen this year, and maybe his major league future belongs as a reliever, but his time as an Indians starter needs to come to an end this season.

So who would replace him then? Who takes Carrasco's spot? 

The answer is more obvious than you might have thought. Remember a Japanese veteran pitcher named Daisuke Matsuzaka? Oh yeah, that guy. Only one of the most famous and successful Japanese pitchers in modern times, who caused a media storm when he signed for Boston in 2007. Well he's not at the level he once was and poor Dice-K didn't make the big club out of Spring Training, but after overcoming some injury troubles, Matsuzaka has quietly been having an impressive year in Columbus. Especially when you look at his numbers recently. In his last 8 starts, he pitched at least 7 innings in 7 of those 8 games. Since the All Star Break he has a 4-2 record with a 2.36 ERA and has been throwing some real gems these past few weeks. 

Matsuzaka's dominating run of late at the AAA level earns him a shot in my opinion. With Kluber out of action until mid-late September, I'm sure an opportunity will arise where the Tribe will need an emergency starter at some point over the next few weeks. Especially if another injury were to occur. What do the Indians have to lose by putting Matsuzaka out there? He's obviously in form and he's surely a better alternative than Carrasco right now. I would very much like to see what the 32 year old right-hander has to offer and judging by what he's exhibited in Columbus, it's pretty good.

Player Of The Series

A tough choice this week. Nobody on the team really stood out head and shoulders above everybody else during this series. Jason Kipnis was at his usual best, an offensive spark-plug. Giambi's important contribution I've already discussed, but he didn't do much else during the rest of the series. Michael Brantley had another fantastic day with the bat on Wednesday and right now looks like the best guy to put in the 4th spot, ahead of the struggling Asdrubal Cabrera. But the guy who wins the award this series for me is Zach McAllister, who pitched a solid game on Tuesday and was largely responsible for getting the Tribe back into this series. McAllister has been a bit rusty since returning from the DL but appeared to have his stuff working better this time around. Zach pitched 6 solid innings, giving up 4 hits for 2 runs, only 1 of them earned though. He walked just 1 batter and struck out an impressive 7 Twins. A very good day at the office for McAllister and we'll need more performances like this from him between now and the end of the season. Keep it up Zach and congrats.

The Indians remain on the road but travel a little farther away from home, way out west to Oakland for a three game series with the A's. It's going to be a tough trip as Oakland are having another fantastic season but we've fared well against them so far this year and the Tribe will be hoping that success continues, starting tomorrow when Justin Masterson (13-8, 3.59 ERA) faces off against Oakland's A.J. Griffin (10-8, 3.88 ERA). 

Thanks for reading.

First Half Season Review: Pitchers

Yesterday I rounded off my review of the Indians' position players for the first half, you can find that here (or just scroll down you bums). Today the focus is on our pitchers, who've had a mixed season but overall I'd say they've been alright. Especially when you consider that many predicted the rotation to be a complete train-wreck this year. Without further ado:

Rotation

Justin Masterson A-

First time All Star Justin has rediscovered some of the magic he had in 2011 and has been the undisputed leader on the Tribe rotation. The biggest surprise has been his ability to get strikeouts, with 137 K's in 135.1 innings, good enough for 6th overall in the entire league, 4th in the AL. Not bad for a groundball pitcher huh? He's run into a bit of trouble lately, especially with his control (54 walks, 4th highest in the league), but he continues to pitch well every 5 days and has become the most reliable pitcher on the staff. Hopefully he can remain this good in the second half, maybe even get close to 20 wins. That would be fantastic.

Room for Improvement: Limit the walks.

Corey Kluber B+

A revelation this year and continuing to get better as the season progresses. Kluber has cemented himself as a solid number 2 behind Masterson since Zach McAllister got hurt in June. He has flourished with the added responsibility. Brilliant so far.

Room for Improvement: Keep doing what you're doing,

Zach McAllister B+

Zach started the year wonderfully before a finger injury at the beginning of June halted his progress. Showed enough of his supreme talent in his 11 starts though and can hopefully return to that level of effectiveness when he comes off the DL later this month. His introduction back into the rotation could be like a new signing and could just be what the rotation needs for the playoff-push in the second half.

Room for Improvement: Get healthy and pitch exactly the same as you did before.

Ubaldo Jimenez C-

Just when everyone had given up on him, Ubaldo somehow managed to sort himself out. We have finally begun to see flashes of the player we thought we were acquiring in the 2011 trade. It's not been all roses though. Jimenez's pitch counts are astronomical, hitters are nearly always pushing him to 3-2, and as a result he barely makes it past the 5th inning anymore. Some of that is luck and some of it is down to the defense, but Ubaldo has to find a way to pitch deeper into games if he is to have a future in Cleveland after 2013. At the moment, most people don't imagine him as part of the 2014 rotation. He has to prove them wrong in the second half.

Room for Improvement: Get at least 6 innings in the majority of your starts. Must pitch longer.

Scott Kazmir B-

We should all be celebrating the fact Kazmir even made it out of Spring Training, let alone to the half way point of the season. He's not the star he was in Tampa Bay anymore but we realise that, so expectations were low to begin with. Still, Scott has been a solid back-of-the-rotation starter, eating innings and has become one of the feel-good stories of 2013. A pleasant surprise all in all.

Room for Improvement: Keep contributing like you have. Limit the hits.

Trevor Bauer D

In the handful of spot-starts Bauer made in the first half, he's shown he's still not quite MLB-ready. Not yet anyway. Trevor is still struggling with his control, walking 16 batters in just 17 major league innings. The problem is, he's hardly setting AAA alight either. His numbers in Columbus aren't exactly mouth-watering, a 4.06 ERA in 14 starts, 76 hits and 9 HRs in 77.2 innings. I think Bauer could benefit from spending the majority of the second half in Columbus, and only join the big club in September. The elite talent is still obvious, he has possibly the best stuff on the roster, but a bit more seasoning at the AAA level is necessary to harness that potential.

Room for Improvement: Work on that control, have to limit those walks. Be patient, your chance will come.

Carlos Carrasco F

Carrasco's 6 starts with the big club can be considered a train-wreck by all accounts. He only pitched 1 quality start, against the Royals on June 17th, when he pitched 7.1 innings of 1 run ball and deserved a victory his team-mates couldn't provide. Aside from that single game he's been hideous. 47 hits and 29 earned runs in just 28.2 innings leaves him with a sky-high 9.10 ERA at the All Star break. The centre-piece of the 2009 Cliff Lee trade has failed to rebound successfully from the Tommy John surgery that kept him sidelined in 2012. It's not all doom and gloom for Carrasco though; he's been lighting up Columbus, with 60 strikeouts in 54.2 innings, with an impressive 3.29 ERA. He just hasn't put it all together at the major league level yet. There's still time, but he has to prove it to the big club, and the fans, sooner rather than later.

Room for Improvement: Transfer dominance from AAA level to major leagues. Avoid controversy.

Bullpen

Chris Perez D+

What a roller-coaster of a season so far for Perez, but he's actually been very good since his return from the disabled list. With expectations at an all time low, Perez seems to be pitching better than ever before, with 4 relatively incident-free saves within a period of 5 days in the run-in to the All Star break. He now needs to carry this consistency into the second half and become the closer he was in 2011 and 2012.

Room for Improvement: Keep your mouth shut and pitch. Stay healthy.

Vinnie Pestano D

Oh Vinnie, what happened man? Pestano has not been the same pitcher we've been accustomed to seeing so far in 2013. He's been struggling, the life in his fastball just doesn't seem right, and it's led to questions about his health and/or mental approach. Whatever the problem is, Vinnie needs to take these few days of rest to re-focus and fix himself. If its a physical problem, hopefully the club can give him the time he needs to recuperate. Pestano at 100% takes our bullpen to another level.

Room for Improvement: Fix what's ailing you and return to the Pestano we all know and love.

Joe Smith C

Normally one of our best bullpen guys but even Smith has struggled at times this year, especially lately (could be to due to being over-worked). Like Pestano, Joe needs to re-energise himself during the break and prepare himself for the second half. We're gonna need him at full health for the run-in.

Room for Improvement: Embrace the responsibility of carrying the load when the rest of the bullpen is failing.

Cody Allen B+

Arguably the lone bright spot in this year's bullpen, Cody Allen has established himself as a very good relief pitcher, maybe even a future closer (his strikeout rate of 11.80 K/9 is astounding). I've been extremely impressed with his composure and ability to handle the high-pressure situations that Francona throws him into. Excellent so far.

Room for Improvement: Keep it up.

Matt Albers C

Albers has been better than I thought he would be during the first half but like so many others he needs to cut down his walks if he wants to be an effective reliever in this bullpen. To his credit he has given up the least amount of home runs (2) amongst the bullpen staff with 10+ appearances.

Room for Improvement: Work on your control.

Bryan Shaw C

Shaw gets a bad rap from some fans but he's largely been effective in his 39 appearances thus far. Nothing spectacular but he's got the job done. I'd prefer if Francona left him out of some of the more volatile situations though. Shaw should strictly be used in emergencies during tight games, as I'd prefer to see Allen or Smith.

Room for Improvement: Limit the walks and hits.

Rich Hill D-

After starting the season so well, Hill has been a disaster ever since, with a lot of fans expecting the news of his release weeks ago. Rich is still capable of getting outs and there's been signs of him turning things around lately, but the fan's confidence in him is still pretty low. I'm a big fan of that sweeping curve ball though, the way it leaves hitters completely frozen at the plate. Hill needs to pitch better in the second half, like he did to end the first, or he won't last the year in Cleveland.

Room for Improvement: Cannot afford to keep walking the first batter you face or your days are numbered.

Nick Hagadone D

The once-promising left hander has had his fair share of troubles like the rest of the bullpen and needs to make the most of his next opportunity with the big club when his name is called again. Like Hill he needs to work on his control and limit the walks, or the Tribe will look elsewhere for left handed relief.

Room for Improvement: Cut down those walks and be prepared next time you make it to the bigs.

Not applicable for grading: Brett Myers, Scott Barnes, Matt Langwell, Joe Martinez, Danny Salazar, David Huff, Preston Guilmet, CC Lee

Myers was one of the off-season signings acquired to help shore up the rotation but injury has ruled him out of having any effect on the Indians in the first half. Danny Salazar is the highlight of this bunch, his impressive debut last week causing a quite a stir.

So there you have it, my review of each player as the first half has come to an end. The second half will reveal whether the Indians pitching staff are pretenders, like the previous 2 years, or contenders; can the Tribe actually make a real push for a playoff spot? Our hopes will lie largely with the rotation and the bullpen, and their collective performances will determine just how far these 2013 Indians will go.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the All Star Game tonight.

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.

Seattle Swept, Tribe Continue To Roll

Four games against Seattle and three of them end in walk-off wins for the red-hot Cleveland Indians. What are the odds? I'm serious, this team just won't quit. Call it resilience, call it luck, call it whatever you damn like, but this team is winning one way or the other. When you think they've blown it and all hope is lost, they somehow turn it around and get that W. It's crazy, and at times infuriating, but it's also been a lot of fun when things break our way.

So the Tribe managed to sweep the Mariners in this four-game series and now sit at 26-17 atop the AL Central, a full 2.5 games ahead of Detroit. Here's a quick summary of how it all played out:

Quick Re-Cap

It began Friday afternoon with the Indians coming out on top after a 10 inning nail-biter, Jason Kipnis finally ending it with a clutch 3-run homer to snatch the Tribe a 6-3 victory.

The Indians walked off again the next day, winning 5-4 on Saturday, thanks to Mark Reynolds getting good contact on an infield single and Kipnis being fast enough to make it to home-plate and beating the throw home, Seattle catcher Jesus Montero's foot being dragged away from the plate in the process. That came after Chris Perez blew the save opportunity by giving up back-to-back home runs in the top of the 9th, causing the home fans to boo the controversial closer mercilessly. More on that later.

Justin Masterson pitched an absolute gem in game 3, earning the series win and his 7th victory in 2013, helping the Tribe cruise to an easy 6-0 win, as the Indians had a great day against Mariners ace Felix Hernandez.

And then came the series finale, as wild a game as you're likely to see, the Tribe prevailing 10-8 in the bottom of the 10th inning, Yan Gomes smashing his second home run on the day, a 3-run bomb to cement the sweep. The Mariners tied it in the 8th inning, Kyle Seager hitting a homer off Vinnie Pestano, then took the lead in the 9th when Endy Chavez hit a home run off Chris Perez. Seattle took the lead once again in the 10th inning, Justin Smoak going deep off of Joe Smith and each time the Indians responded and showed incredible resolve to tie the game, Gomes finally ending Seattle's hopes with his walk-off homer. Just another day at the office for Yan Gomes, who is quickly attaining serious hero status in Cleveland after another fine performance. That Esmil Rogers trade to Toronto looks better and better every day.

I'm Loving Our Starting Pitching

We all knew the success of this 2013 Indians team depended on the quality of our starting pitching. The offense can only carry you so far. So it's been a cause for celebration that our starters have pitched so well and are not the unsightly blemish we thought they'd be (not yet anyway...). The jewel in our rotation-crown has been Justin Masterson, who Marty McFly'ed it back to 2011 and carried that form and confidence back with him to the present day. He's been filthy on the mound giving opposing batters absolutely nothing (batters are hitting .210 off him). So far he's got a 7-2 record (only Tampa Bay's Matt Moore has more wins, with 8) with a 2.83 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. He's struck out 71 batters in 70 innings, not bad for a groundball specialist like Justin, and he's only walked 26, plus he's only given up 3 home runs. He had another amazing start on Sunday, pitching 7 shutout innings whilst giving up just 3 hits and striking out 11 Mariners. He'd have probably gone on to pitch all 9 innings for the complete-game but his pitch count was already over 100 at the end of the 7th. He hasn't given up a run in his last 2 starts and earned the AL Player of the Week award for his recent efforts as well. It's fair to say Masterson has been superb and his resurrection from the player he was last year has been a revelation for this team.

We got two more good performances this series as well. Ubaldo Jimenez kicked things off on Friday: he only managed to last 5 innings, which isn't bad, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits, walking 2 but striking out an amazing 9. It was another solid start on Ubaldo's road back to recovery and he looked pretty good out there, despite the 7 hits. Zach McAllister pitched really well Saturday afternoon, looking more and more like our legitimate number two guy in the rotation. Zach went 7 1/3 innings, giving up 6 hits whilst walking only 1 and striking out 1 as well. He kept Seattle scoreless until Mariners shortstop Brendan Ryan hit a two-run homer off him in the 8th inning, and would have been good for his 4th win of the year if Perez hadn't blown the save later on. Until that point McAllister looked untouchable, pitching to contact and getting the Mariners to fly out regularly with ease. He currently leads the team with an amazing 2.65 ERA. Unfortunately Scott Kazmir could not add the cherry on top of what's been a great effort from our rotation during this series. Kazmir just didn't have it yesterday, getting hit 7 times for 5 runs in just 3 innings, with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Hopefully it's just a blip and he can come back next time and pitch well. It doesn't diminish the fact that this Cleveland Indians rotation is surpassing expectations so far in 2013, and the success of the ball-club will depend on them maintaining this level of performance.

I Hate To Bring Negativity To This Party, But...

Closers blow saves. It's a baseball fact. Not everybody can be Mariano Rivera. Still, the questions surrounding Chris Perez and his role as closer are being asked. A blown save is painful, it hurts and you want to be angry and the closer will be responsible and thus always be the target of that anger. We all know that, and Perez knows that too. It comes with the job. He gets to fist pump and slap high-fives when he gets the job done, but I'm afraid he'll have to put up with some booing when he doesn't.

Now I need to make this clear. I'm not really Chris Perez's biggest fan and never have been. I'll always remember his 2009 Indians debut, coming out of the bullpen with so much hope and then getting absolutely destroyed. I was deflated to say the least. Maybe I've never recovered from that, despite the 2 All Star appearances and the fact he's grown into one of the premier closers in the league.

My trust issues with Perez run deep but I'm not going to join the parade and say he needs to be pulled from being the closer. Not yet anyway. I think over the last few years he's earned himself some breathing room in regards to his position as closer. Last year he earned an astounding 39 saves on a bad team, an impressive feat and one of the few bright spots in a dismal 2012.

But I can't say the home runs he gave up this series didn't hurt. The back-to-back solo homers he surrendered to Raul Ibanez and Justin Smoak on Saturday, with 2 outs in the 9th and the victory practically in the bag, were unbelievable. I had to rub my eyes when Smoak hit that ball deep over the centre field fence. Frickin' Justin Smoak, who hit only his 2nd HR of the year and is well known as being absolute dog-shit most days?! The game looked safe, McAllister was cruising all day and Perez had a 2-run cushion. The fact he got the first 2 outs with ease made the painful events that followed even worse. The team picked him up and won anyway in the bottom half of the 9th but the Tribe faithful still let Perez hear it, raining boos down on our closer. And then he did it again yesterday, albeit not in a save situation, the Mariners taking the lead in the 9th inning when Endy Chavez went yard on only Perez's second pitch thrown. Yes, Pestano had blown the save in the 8th but Perez allowed Seattle the lead. Yet again the offense carried the rest of the team on their back and won regardless, thankfully.

If I'm Francona, Perez is obviously still the number one guy out of the pen with the game on the line. He's the closer and will remain so until he becomes the next Carlos Marmol and can't do it anymore. In which case we have Pestano ready and waiting. Most fans would agree that Pestano is already the better pitcher in terms of talent but Perez earned his role as closer and won't give it up without a fight (as you'd expect from the fiery right-hander). However, if the opportunity to trade Perez for another arm to add to the rotation comes up around deadline time, I won't be shedding any tears. I feel our bullpen is well stocked that we'd cope without Perez and his trade value is unlikely to grow, so selling high this year might be the best option. It may not to come to that if Perez can put this series behind him and get back to closing games without incident. I hope for his sake as a member of this Indians team he can.

Player Of The Series

This is really tough. There were quite a few standout performers during this series. Honourable mentions must go to Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley, Mark Reynolds, Mike Aviles (for that sterling job he did in left field on Saturday), Zach McAllister, and finally Yan Gomes. All of these guys could stake a claim for the award this week. But I can't look any further than Justin Masterson, whose dominating performance in his matchup against Mariners ace Felix Hernandez was sublime. It was the most anticipated pitching duel of the series and Masterson came out and completely shut down the Seattle offense, whereas his opponent King Felix, usually so amazing, wasn't up to his immeasurably high standards. Justin came out on top, dethroning the King for the day and earning my Player of the Series award. Congrats to Justin.

Cleveland welcome our division rivals Detroit into town today for a short two game series. With us ahead in the standings, I'd really appreciate it if the Tribe could get another sweep and put even more distance between them and the Tigers. That'd be pretty much perfect I reckon.

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Tribe Tame Tigers, Steal Series Win

Wow. I just finished watching what was arguably the biggest win of this young season so far. The Indians just stole a win in Detroit, beating the Tigers 4-3 in extra innings to win the series overall. The victory takes our record to 20-15, the same as Detroit. You know what that means:

Ladies and gentlemen, your first place Cleveland Indians.

Ok so it's joint first place at the moment, but the race in the AL Central is most definitely on. We went into their house, the reigning American League champions, and we beat them two out of three in dramatic fashion, laying down a marker in the process. These Indians mean business, and now Detroit and the rest of the league can take notice. Even when we're not at our best, like today, we still ground out the win and that's a very encouraging sign.

I thought it wasn't going to be our day for a while. McAllister was decent in his 6 innings of work, but he left the ball in the zone a bit too much, Detroit connecting for 8 hits and 2 earned runs. I was impressed with his location though, he nearly always started out with a first-pitch strike, but maybe that came back to bite him since Detroit had few problems making contact off the right-hander. The Tribe offense were trying their best to turn the game around but we couldn't get the big hit, stranding 9 baserunners and always at that crucial moment when we were just a run away from tying things up. A strikeout here and a double play there, the Indians couldn't make anything count and it looked as if Detroit would hold on to their slender 3-2 lead in the 9th inning. The Tribe had other ideas thankfully, as Michael Bourn came off the bench to earn a walk, then immediately stole second base (with ease, Tigers closer Valverde never even looked his way). Michael Brantley came up and lined a single into left field and Bourn didn't hesitate for a second, rounding third base and making it home without even sliding. Tie game at 3-3 and a blown save for Valverde. The Tribe rode that momentum into the 10th inning and stole the win, with Mark Reynolds smashing a single into left field, scoring Carlos Santana to make it 4-3 Indians. Rich Hill and Cody Allen (first MLB save for Mr Allen) combined in the bottom of the 10th to shut down the Tigers and thus ensuring the series victory. It was a real roller-coaster of a game but the Tribe pulled through, grabbing the series win and taking our share of first place in the AL Central, delighting every Indians fan in the meantime. Fantastic win all in all. Let's have a look at some talking points during this series:

The Yan Gomes Experiment Is A Success

With backup catcher Lou Marson spending most of this season on the DL, 25 year-old Yan Gomes has taken his place and has been a revelation. In 14 games this season he's hitting .268, with a .279 OBP, with 2 doubles, 2 triples and 2 home runs for 5 RBI total. Decent enough numbers in only 41 at-bats but Gomes is one of those players where the stats don't truly tell you the whole story. Gomes has tremendous presence defensively, his rocket of an arm gunning down would-be base thieves at will. He's not exactly a black hole at the plate either, having a very successful day in Detroit, going 3 for 4 and being the only Indian in the bottom half of the lineup who actually produced today.

Watching Gomes play this season really makes it difficult to see Lou Marson make it back onto the ballclub at Gomes' expense. I like Lou, he seems to be a great guy, but at this stage, with the way Gomes has been playing in 2013, I think Marson has to stay in AAA once he's healthy. Gomes has earned his spot on the roster and it would be ridiculously unfair to demote him again once Marson is back to full fitness. Yan has been a lot of fun to watch and I hope he can stay on the team for the rest of the year, producing the likes of what we've seen so far. He can be an important contributor down the stretch.

Is It Time We Talked About Lonnie?

Mr Chisenhall is having a rough time of it lately. He's in a deep slump and isn't showing many signs of recovery. So far in May, Lonnie is batting .211 and his April numbers aren't much better, hitting .222 with 16 hits but striking out 18 times. Even more worrying, he only has 2 walks all season, and one of them came today in Detroit. And yet again, he's struggling to hit lefties, a problem he's yet to solve during his time in Cleveland.

He had a costly error today as well, which eventually became the Tigers' third run of the game, putting them 3-2 up at that stage. Luckily the Indians came back and erased the deficit. At the plate Lonnie was even worse, striking out twice with one of them being at a key moment late in the game where runners were stranded again. He's having no luck at all right now.

The question is, how long do we wait until something is done about Lonnie? The short term solution is to bench him for now and play Mike Aviles at third, which at the moment looks like a certain upgrade. Mark Reynolds could also be given the third base job, with somebody like Gomes or Giambi taking the DH spot more regularly. Do we send Lonnie back to Columbus for a while until he can turn things around at the plate? I'm personally hesitant to do that, I think it could be crushing for his already fragile confidence, but maybe it's what he needs to work out his batting problems. Right now, Chisenhall needs to break out of his slump, and he needs to do it quickly before a decision is made about his place on the team. I'm hoping he's just having a hard time getting into a rhythm and this poor start is not indicative of his future potential with the Tribe.

Either way, Chisenhall needs to step it up before Francona takes action. The young third baseman seems to have the manager's support for now but I expect the patience with Chiz will only last so long. And for God's sake Lonnie, shave that horrid thing off your top lip. That is the nastiest 'stache I've seen in some time and is doing you no favours son.

Player Of The Series

There's been some superb solo performances during this series but how about Ubaldo Jimenez out-duelling Justin Verlander? In a nail-biting 7-6 win Saturday night, Jimenez was brilliant, lasting 6 innings, giving up 3 hits and only 1 earned run (a solo HR by Jhonny Peralta). Most impressively, Ubaldo only surrendered 1 walk and he struck out 8 Tigers. He looked so incredibly comfortable on the mound and his mechanics are working in sync for the first time in a long while. He picked up the win, his third of the year, and has had three quality starts in his last three games. The signs are good at the moment. Speak in hush tones and keep it secret, but maybe Ubaldo is finally turning things around and is becoming the player we though we were getting in 2011. He's gets my Player of the Series award for such a well pitched game yesterday. I don't think many of us expected the Indians to not only beat Verlander, but see Ubaldo put in such a fine shift as well.

That's it for this re-cap. Next up is a double header against the Yankees at home on Monday, and we get to see another Trevor Bauer spot-start. Keep those walks down Trev, and you'll be fine. Until next time...

Thanks for reading.

Oakland Swept, Tribe Roll On

The Indians completed their four-game sweep over the visiting Oakland A's last night, beating the Athletics 9-2 to secure their fourth win in a row. When Oakland came into town on Tuesday I did not expect the series to pan out like it did. I said I'd have been happy with a series split but the Tribe went a step above and decided to take all four games. Here's what I thought:

THAT Home Run Call

Yes, it should have been called a home run, anybody who disagrees is being ignorant or needs to book a trip to the opticians. For those who don't know, Oakland's Adam Rosales hit a towering shot off closer Chris Perez in the 9th inning Wednesday night that looked to have either hit the top of the wall for a double or just cleared it for a home run. Initially Rosales was awarded a double by the officials but Oakland skipper Bob Melvin asked for a replay to ensure the correct call was made. With 2 outs and the score at 4-3 to the Indians, if the home run was given it tied the game and awarded a blown save to Perez.

Luckily for the Tribe, the umpire Angel Hernandez blew the call and apparently never saw that Rosales' shot hit the railing above the outfield wall. It stayed 4-3 to the Tribe, Bob Melvin went ballistic and got ejected and Perez got the final out and his 5th save of the season.

Now obviously if I was an A's fan I'd be very upset about this. It came at a crucial point in the game, at a major turning point in the series. The MLB have since come out and said that it was a mistake but the ruling on the field was a "judgement call" and would not be overturned. There you have it; mistake made, mistake acknowledged, but no action will be taken. A's fans are no doubt still furious but as an Indians fan, with a controversial call going our way for once, well I can't honestly say I'm not still happy we won that game. It's really tough deal for the A's but nothing is going to happen now so everybody has to move on. That's all I'm going to say about the matter, it's been discussed to death already.

Keep It Up Kazmir

Last week's winning streak and this Oakland series have really seen the team performing at their best. We're getting great performances from every part of the team and look to be settling into a successful pattern.

But the rotation in particular have been fantastic these past four days. Ubaldo was up first on Monday night and he pitched a good game, lasting 5 2/3 innings with 4 hits, 2 runs and 8 strikeouts. He owes some credit to Nick Hagadone, who got Ubaldo out of a bases loaded jam in the 6th inning, but overall Jimenez looked solid out there, picking up the 1,000 strikeout of his career and his second win of the year as the Tribe ran out 7-3 winners.

Zach McAllister took the mound Tuesday night and put in a superb shift, shutting out the A's for 7 2/3 innings, allowing 5 hits with 4 strikeouts on his way to his third win in 2013. In a tight game where the only Tribe run came from a Yan Gomes sac-fly, McAllister never looked rattled and pitched extremely well in the 1-0 win. The 25 year-old put in arguably the best performance out of all the starters this week.

Justin Masterson pitched 7 strong innings on Wednesday night, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits, striking out 7. He had his fastball and slider working beautifully, and only ran into trouble in the 4th inning when his pitches were just a bit too high and in the zone for the A's batters. His offense bailed him out of the 3-0 hole and Masterson picked up his fifth win of the season.

Finally, Scott Kazmir continued his comeback tour of 2013 Thursday afternoon, pitching his best game of the season. Kazmir lasted 6 innings, scattering 5 hits and only surrendering 1 run, a solo-homer by Josh Donaldson, in the 9-2 victory. Amazingly he struck out 10 Oakland batters in those 6 innings, a season high by a Cleveland pitcher, and didn't give up a single walk. The veteran left-hander looked untouchable out there, pitching like a number 2 guy, not the number 5 man we all hoped be could be when he was bought in the winter. I said in my last post that if Kazmir can keep up this level of performance then we really got ourselves a bargain. At the moment he just keeps getting better and better every time he goes out there, surpassing every expectation. Good work Kaz, keep this up and you'll take home the Comeback Player of the Year award.

Ah what the hell, I know the offense have been fantastic over this series as well (we lead the league in HRs now... yeah, thought I should mention that) but I'm gonna go ahead and give Kazmir the Player Of The Series award. Yesterday's outing was just so brilliant, I think he deserves it.

Detroit Will Be The Real Test

So the Indians now sit pretty with a 18-14 record, just a single game back from the AL Central leading Tigers, who dropped one last night in Washington and have a 19-13 record. We arrive in Detroit today for a three game series and it will be a true test of where this Tribe team stand at the moment. A series win would surely put us above them in the division standings, which should be a nice incentive for the team. Not that they need any more motivation: Jason Kipnis said after the game yesterday, "We're excited to finally see them this year. We definitely want to go up against them. We know they're the team to beat. We're playing well right now, so we have a bunch of confidence and momentum going in our favor. We're ready to see them." I agree with our second baseman, we couldn't be in better shape going into this Detroit series and momentum is definitely on our side.

It gets even better with the news that speedy centre-fielder Michael Bourn has finally been activated off the disabled list and should be ready for action over the weekend. Hopefully his finger has healed completely by now and he can contribute against the Tigers. We'll need everybody at their best and it starts with Corey Kluber (2-1. 3.06 ERA)  up against Max Scherzer (4-0, 3.43 ERA) tonight at 7.08 pm. Go Tribe!

Thanks for reading.

Phillies Fall To Terrific Tribe

The Indians have begun their nine game home-stand with a bang, beating Philadelphia twice in a row to take the mini two-game series. Cleveland's winning streak is up to four games now and the club are a single game from getting back to a .500 record. What a lovely way to begin the month of May. Let's have a look at how it went down:

Offense Clicking Into Gear

April saw the Indians offense take on a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde persona. For a couple of games they wouldn't string any hits together, then 24 hours later they'd explode for double-digit runs and leave opposing fans cowering behind their sofa cushions. The inconsistency on a nightly basis was baffling. How could a team with this much power, this raw ability to crush the ball, be so limp at the plate all of a sudden? Well thankfully the last few games have seen the Tribe offense begin to find their rhythm and no game highlighted that more than Tuesday night. 

The Phillies brought Roy Halladay to the mound, not so long ago one of the best pitchers in the game, a two-time Cy Young winner and proud owner of a perfect game to his résumé. But this is not the same Halladay of yesteryear. Doc is having a rough time of it lately and the Indians only added to his misery. Poor Roy got shelled for 9 brutal hits for 8 earned runs in only 3 2/3 innings.

And that was only the beginning. The Indians hit 7 home runs in total Tuesday night in the 14-2 thrashing, taking it to the Phillies' bullpen after Halladay had left the game. The Tribe got homers from Santana, Reynolds, Chisenhall, Brantley, Stubbs and 2 from Ryan Raburn (more on him later). The offensive outburst somewhat overshadowed Zach McAllister's fine outing: Number 34 went 7 strong innings, scattering 5 hits with 4 strikeouts. Zach did give up 2 home runs to the Phillies but they were solo-shots and really the only mistakes the 6'6 righty made all night. 

The offense carried over their fine performance from Tuesday night into yesterday's game. The Indians' bats stayed alive in the 6-0 victory, ensuring the series win and sweep over the Phillies. Cliff Lee made his first start against his former team since his trade out of Cleveland in 2009 but even he couldn't quiet the Tribe lineup. I have fond memories of Lee's 2008 Cy Young season but I can't say I wasn't pleased to see him get smacked around for 9 hits in 6 innings of work. His opponent for the Tribe was our young pitching stud Trevor Bauer, making a spot-start before going back to Columbus today. Bauer lasted 5 innings, only surrendering 1 solitary hit but he walked 6 Phillies batters. He had a lot of trouble in last start in Tampa Bay when he had too many walks (7!), and again last night his control was just as wild. Nearly every fastball he threw was far too high, and he struggled to keep anything down. One positive though was his breaking ball; he had a mean curveball working, a thing of beauty when he got the Phillies' Ryan Howard to strike out looking in the 1st inning, then catcher Carlos Ruiz to whiff badly in the 2nd. Bauer still needs to work on his control before he can be considered MLB ready, that many walks is unacceptable and infuriating, but the potential talent is obvious. I don't expect it will very long before he becomes a permanent addition to the starting rotation.

The key hit in last night's game was Asdrubal Cabrera's 2 RBI double down the left field line in the bottom of the 3rd inning, scoring Brantley and Kipnis to stake the Indians to a 3-0 lead. They never looked back from there, tacking on 3 more runs over the remaining innings, coasting to the win. Cabrera has really been hitting well over the past week and looks to have put his early slump behind him now. Still, he's not as hot at the plate as this guy...

Player Of The Series

Take a bow Ryan Raburn. The versatile 32 year old has been making the most of his playing time lately, doing his best Joe DiMaggio impression. The guy can't miss, he's hitting everything. Since Bourn went on the disabled list, the speedy Drew Stubbs has shifted over to centre field with Raburn taking his place in right field. He got off to a bit of a rough start and I can remember a few times when Raburn swung at the first pitch to end a crucial rally with a double-play ball. But he's done a great job of late to change his critic's opinions.

It started in the final game of the series in Kansas City this past Monday, when Raburn unloaded for 2 home runs, and it didn't stop when Philadelphia came to town. Tuesday night saw him go 3-for-4 at the plate, with 2 more monster home runs in the 14-2 rout. Then last night he went 4-for-5 with a double and 2 RBI in the 6-0 win. He's been unstoppable at the plate, whether its a bloop single, a double in the gap, or another fence-clearing homer, Raburn has been on fire. So the award goes to Ryan for this Phillies series. What a beast.

So the Indians can enjoy their time off today before the Twins arrive in Cleveland tomorrow to begin a three game series, where we'll see Minnesota's Pedro Hernandez (1-0, 2.35 ERA) face off against our Justin Masterson (4-2, 3.12 ERA). Until next time...

Thanks for reading.

Tribe Take Two, Split Series In KC

After dropping the first two games of the four-game series in Kansas City, the Indians rebounded to win the final two match-ups, the highlight being Ubaldo Jimenez rolling back the years and pitching an absolute beauty last night in a 9-0 Indians victory. That win ensured Cleveland returned home from this long road-trip on a positive note, with a 5-4 record on their travels, which actually isn't too bad given the way they've played sometimes. Let's look at what went down in KC:

Inconsistent Indians

The offense is already becoming a bit of a frustration for some of the Tribe faithful. How can the lineup produce nothing at all for our ace Masterson on Sunday but then explode for 10 runs later in the day to back Kluber to a win? How do they wait until the 9th inning to score any runs for the by-then-left-the-game Scott Kazmir on Saturday night but they'll happily gift Ubaldo 8 out of  a total 9 runs last night? The inconsistency in hitting is starting to become a bit of a grind for some. This is a team that can get shutout one night then destroy a team for double digit runs the next. Kazmir put in a good effort on Saturday night, going 5 innings and only surrendering 2 runs but he didn't get any run support to help him out, the Indians scoring their only runs in the 9th inning of a 3-2 loss. Masterson didn't get any runs at all on Sunday, and even though he didn't pitch great, he still gave the offense a chance to keep the score close early on in the game. Nothing. Nada. Zero.

Now I'm not one of the guys on Twitter calling for heads already. I don't think we need to worry too much about the lineup, they will start hitting with some regularity once we get into the meat of the season (the past two days should show a little glimpse of that). It's still only April after all so there's no need to throw TVs out the window or anything like that.

There are some positive signs that the offense are beginning to turn things around though. Santana is hot right now, batting .386 with 27 total hits, with a whopping 1.141 OPS, leading the team by a wide margin in all three of those categories. I love what our catcher has shown us so far in 2013. There's also signs of Asdrubal Cabrera coming out of his recent slump too. He had a really good week, batting .412 in 17 at-bats with 3 RBI. Hopefully our shortstop is beginning to get into his groove a bit and can carry this bit of form with him into May and beyond.

We're Missing Bourn Badly

Since Michael Bourn went on the DL after cutting his right hand against the White Sox a couple of weeks ago, the Tribe offense hasn't been the same. The dynamic centre fielder had gotten off to a good start in Cleveland and appeared to be hitting some form before his unfortunate injury in a close play sliding into first base. With our leadoff hitter out of the lineup, Francona has been forced to shake things up a bit and I don't think the team has responded as well as the skipper might have hoped. The natural choice to fill in at the leadoff spot was Michael Brantley but our left fielder just does not look comfortable up there when he's forced to leadoff. Francona originally had Brantley batting in the 5 or 6 spot to start the season and he looked great there, shoring up the bottom half of the lineup, but the adjustment has thrown Brantley slightly out of sorts. Since taking Bourn's spot in the lineup Brantley has hit for a .265 batting average with a .342 OBP, whereas he was batting .282 with a .378 OBP before being asked to fill in at leadoff. Now I know its not that big of a difference and yes it's a small sample in April but the change in the lineup is obviously having some effect on Brantley, particularly to his mental approach at the plate. The stats won't show it but you can see he isn't as comfortable up there.

The knock-on effect from Brantley hitting leadoff is we've also lost that spark he provided in the bottom half of the lineup. The sooner we get Bourn back the better but nobody knows yet when he'll be ready to play everyday. He can come off the DL on Tuesday but Francona doesn't think he'll be ready to go just yet. "I don't think he's as comfortable as he wanted to be," said the Tribe manager. The stitches in his finger are now out but it's a pretty sensitive area as everybody knows, so you don't want Bourn to be rushed and re-injure the wound. However, the sooner he gets back the better and maybe the lineup can finally get back to normal: Bourn at leadoff and Brantley back in charge of the bottom half of the lineup.

Player Of The Series (New!)

Now I'm writing this only 30 minutes since I woke up at 7am. Am I still dreaming? Did the Pitcher Formerly Known As Ubaldo Jimenez really shutout the Royals, the previously AL Central leading Royals, over 7 fantastic innings? I've rubbed the dust from my eyes about a million times but it appears that yes, he actually did. It's a brilliant outing for Ubaldo who should really take some heart and confidence from this. The struggling righty partied like it was 2010 and stranded 3 hits over 7 scoreless innings with 4 strikeouts on his way to his first win of the season. Amazing, I woke up and thought the MLB site on my phone had broken at first.

He was backed by Ryan Raburn of all people, doing his best "I belong in the major leagues" impression, who had an unreal 4-for-4 night at the plate with 2 home runs, his first big flies for the Tribe. More of that please Ryan. Jason Kipnis, also no stranger to struggle in 2013, got his first homer of the season too. Overall, the stars aligned for Ubaldo last night and he made it count, and in style too.

I think I like the idea of a Player Of The Series section here at England Tribe and for it's maiden choice, I'm gonna go with Ubaldo, simply because it was so unexpected and amazing. Congrats Mr Jimenez, you're the lucky winner.

So the Indians finally return home today to face the Phillies for a bit of inter-league action. First pitch is at 7.05pm as usual with Zach McAllister on the mound for us against Philadelphia's Roy Halladay, who looks to be turning things around a bit of late after struggling to start the year. We're now at home until the 10th May when we travel to Detroit, so I'd like to see us go on a run now and get back into the fight for the AL Central. Go Tribe!

Thanks for reading.

Tribe Takes Series, Can't Sweep Chicago

I've been away on holiday for the past few days so didn't have a chance to re-cap the Yankees series last week, although the less said about that the better. However I have been around to watch some of the White Sox series over the last few days and even got a chance to watch last night's 3-1 loss from start to finish. So with that, let's get to my views about the series victory over Chicago:

M&M&M Boys Pitch Well

After the disastrous pitching performances against the Yankees, feelings on the Cleveland starting rotation were at an all time low. Thankfully, after two days off due to rainouts, the Indians staff came back with a vengeance against the White Sox and pitched extremely well. It all started with Justin Masterson, who pitched a complete game shutout on Friday 12th and was rewarded for his effort with a Nick Swisher walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th to win it 1-0 for the Indians. Masterson was incredible, giving up 5 hits and only 1 walk whilst striking out 7 Chicago batters on his way to his third straight victory. The 6'6 right hander has gotten off to a dream start in 2013 and his ERA now sits at an amazing 0.41. Now obviously we're only half way through April and it's a small sample size but I am absolutely loving what I'm seeing from Masterson this year. Have we got the AL Cy Young 2013 winner in our midst? That's a massive, and frankly ridiculous claim to make at the moment but stranger things have happened. Who expected Cliff Lee of all guys to win the award in 2008? The Francona effect is working wonders for Masterson and I hope this hot streak can continue and he can truly grow into the ace of our staff.

Zach McCallister pitched Saturday night and managed to pick up his first win of the season in a 9-4 Tribe victory. The 25 year old pitched 6 1/3 innings, surrendering only 1 earned run and no walks whilst striking out 6 White Sox. It was a very successful outing for McCallister, who is showing some real promise and if he can build on this recent performance could legitimately become our number two starter in the rotation. The matchup against Chicago's Chris Sale didn't look good from the outset but McCallister settled down after the first inning and outperformed the White Sox southpaw on his way to the win. Young Zach finally got some support from the Tribe lineup, especially from Mark Reynolds who is hot to start the season, hitting a grand slam in the 5th inning and collecting 5 RBI's altogether Saturday night.

Finally, it was Brett Myers pitching last night as the Indians went for the sweep. This was my first time watching Myers pitch and he looked a lot better than his previous two performances in a Tribe uniform indicated. He has gotten off to a pretty rotten start in Cleveland so far (4 HRs in his first start in Toronto didn't look good) and I've seen a few grumbles on Twitter and other blogs saying we should get rid of him already. It's far too early for that and I'd hope that his performance last night might have changed some opinions. Myers pitched well through 6 innings, surrendering 6 hits, only walking 1 and striking out 4. Myers looked really good early on and was given a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Michael Bourn hit a first-pitch home run off Jake Peavy. As the game went on Myers looked okay, but he kept having trouble getting the first batter of the inning out, only to work through the pressure and get out of it. In the 6th inning, with two outs, it was Paul Konerko who finally got to Myers, smashing a 2 run homer to give the White Sox the lead and they never looked back from there. Myers couldn't get help from the Tribe lineup, as Jake Peavy settled in and dominated after his 1st inning mistake, going 7 innings and striking out 11. Chicago tacked on another run in the 8th, De Aza hitting a homer against Vinnie Pestano to make it 3-1 to the White Sox and give them the win. Despite Myers getting the loss I liked what I saw and if he can pitch like that each time out, I think the Indians are getting good value for money from him.

Bourn Injures His Right Index Finger

There was more bad news for Cleveland when, in the 8th inning, Michael Bourn slid into first after hustling down the line and got his fingers trodden on by pitcher Matt Thornton. It was a total accident but Bourn received five stitches after the game and will probably miss a few days whilst his fingers heal. "I'll probably be in a little bit of pain for the next day or two. Other than that, I should be fine," Bourn commented. The 30 year-old centre fielder has made a great start to his career in Cleveland and has arrived from Atlanta exactly as advertised so far. We really need him out there on the field; we haven't had a lead-off hitter like him since a healthy Grady Sizemore and Bourn has quickly established himself as a crucial cog in the Tribe lineup. So far he's hitting .333 with 2 home runs and a stolen base, and has been lightning quick defensively in centre field. I'd be surprised if he can make it back against the Red Sox this week to be honest. As much as I'd love to have him back when Boston comes to town tomorrow, I think it'd be better if he heals up properly so he's healthy long-term.

That'll be all for today. The Tribe have their first official day off today before the hot Red Sox arrive tomorrow. Until next time...

Thanks for reading.