White Sox Swept As Race Nears End

There are just 4 games left of the 2013 regular season. I'm struggling to believe it, that the season is nearly over already. It's gone pretty fast for me. And the Indians have played some incredible baseball throughout. As we near the finish line, the Tribe are now so close to clinching a post-season berth through the Wild Card. 4 games left to get the job done...

With the Indians' two-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox last night, they still hold onto the second spot in the Wild Card race, 1 game behind Tampa Bay, 1 game ahead of Texas. Both the Royals and the Yankees were finally eliminated from contention last night, so it's just the three of us now, and we all know three is a crowd. As it currently stands the Indians would face off against the Rays in a one-game playoff to determine who would go on to play Boston. It's exciting times Tribe fans. 

Anyway, let's take a look at some of the talking points from this series:

Giambi Silences His Critics Once And For All

Coming into Spring Training, most Cleveland fans were unsure quite what to make of Jason Giambi and his role on the team. 42 years-old and a shell of the power hitter he used to be, his effectiveness as a player was questioned routinely, especially after he so nearly gave it all up to be manager of the Colorado Rockies just a few months before. A few among us believed the roster spot he inhabited could have been put to better use. In fact, as the season progressed, I saw calls for Giambi to be removed from the big league roster a lot. Well now, finally, the big man has proven his worth. 

After Chris Perez gave up two solo home runs in the 9th inning of Tuesday night's game to gift Chicago a late 4-3 lead, Giambi stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter with two outs, with Michael Brantley patiently stood at first base as the winning run (who promptly stole second base). As White Sox closer Addison Reed unleashed his pitch, Giambi got his bat on it perfectly, sending the ball deep into the right field stands. You could tell he knew where the ball was going as soon as it left his bat. The crowd erupted as the Indians emerged victorious 5-4, people going crazy having just witnessed another walk-off win, Cleveland's 11th walk-off this year, and Giambi's 2nd. It was a magical and symbolic moment of the Tribe's 2013 campaign. Just as you thought it couldn't get much worse (Perez's blown save), the Indians rally back and pull you back in. Giambi's mammoth walk-off 2-run shot will probably end up as one of the defining images of the 2013 regular season, such is the brilliant way it captures what this Indians team is all about.

I have to say it feels nice to see Giambi come through with such an important hit in such a crucial moment. Rightly or wrongly, there were times this season when he was criticised a lot but to Terry Francona's credit, he stuck by Giambi all year, never wavering. Speaking about Giambi's game winning homer, Nick Swisher said, "I almost started crying when he hit that ball." I'm sure a few of the diehards did too Nick, thanks to Giambi's heroics. He certainly earns the Player of the Series award this week. Fully deserved.

Ubaldo Poised For Playoffs

As the scheduled rotation currently stands, Ubaldo Jimenez is set to pitch against the Twins on Sunday 29th September, the final day of the regular season. If the Wild Card race is still alive and the Indians haven't yet sealed their post-season place, then I can't think of anyone else on the Tribe staff right now who I'd rather have out there for us.

However, should the baseball gods be kind and the Indians wrap it all up before Sunday's game, then Ubaldo will be rested in preparation for the one-game playoff on October 2nd, against Tampa Bay in all likeliness. The team and Francona are refusing to think that far ahead, and rightfully so, but it's worth discussing should events turn out this way.

If I'd said to you before the start of the season that Ubaldo Jimenez would become the best pitcher on the team and would be our first choice to start a playoff game, you would have laughed in my face. In fact, you'd probably have punched me, so ridiculous was the idea of Ubaldo being anything but a total mess.

Well folks, here we are, with October just days away Mr Jimenez has indeed established himself as the most effective pitcher on the Indians pitching staff. With all due respect to Justin Masterson, who has had a hell of a season and who I still consider our "ace" of the staff, Ubaldo has pitched far and above anyone's expectations and deserves the mantle of being our best pitcher. Especially given Masterson's recent injury, there is no doubt that right now, today, Ubaldo is number one. 

After yet another solid outing on Tuesday against the White Sox (6 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 7 strikeouts, 3 walks), let's take a quick look at Ubaldo's numbers. He currently sits with a 12-9 record with a 3.38 ERA after 176 innings pitched. But it gets better: In the month of September, Jimenez has a minuscule 1.04 ERA and an amazing 1.84 ERA since the All Star break. That puts him in the company of the elite pitchers in the game. Astounding.

So lets cross our fingers that the Tribe can ride this 6 game winning streak they're currently on and secure that playoff spot before Sunday's game. It would help if the bloody Rays and Rangers would lose some games too. Because I for one would really love to see Ubaldo on the mound for us on October 2nd, pitching for post-season glory. Make it happen Indians.

Thanks for reading.

Unstoppable Tribe Sweep White Sox

The Indians made a bit of history last night, defeating the White Sox 4-0 to achieve a four-game series sweep in Chicago for the first time since 1948. Why is this important? Every Tribe fan knows why but I'll elaborate nonetheless: 1948 was the last time the Cleveland Indians won the World Series, led by Tribe heroes like Bob Feller and Bob Lemon. A good omen? We hope so.

The Indians could not have picked a better time to get hot, as our AL Central foes in Detroit have slipped somewhat of late. Their loss to the Rays last night coupled with the Indians fourth win in Chicago means your 2013 Tribe have vaulted back into first place (we're tied, but hey it's still first). I did not think we would get back on top this quickly after the dreadful start the Indians made to the month of June, but there you go, that's baseball and credit to the team for putting together this wonderful run lately.

Here's a quick re-cap of the series in Chi-Town:

Offensive Explosion Powers Tribe

The Indians kicked off the series with a double-header on Friday which became the longest 18 inning double-header in major league history. And it was oh so sweet for the Indians, who won both games thanks to our powerful offense putting the White Sox pitching staff to the torch.

Cleveland took the first win by a score of 19-10, with every Indians batter getting at least one RBI except for Asdrubal Cabrera (who still collected 3 hits and 3 runs). It looked like the Tribe were in for a long night after Trevor Bauer, making a spot-start from Columbus, got absolutely annihilated in just 2/3 of an inning, giving up 6 hits, 2 of which were home runs, for 5 earned runs before he was pulled. It was the worst possible way to start a double-header, where the preservation of your bullpen is key. Luckily it didn't bother the Indians in the slightest, as guys like Ryan Raburn (4 RBI), Drew Stubbs (3 RBI) and the King of June Jason Kipnis (2 RBI) fuelled the offense and carried the Indians to a dominating victory.

After that marathon opener, the Tribe had another game to win and they delivered in dramatic style. Carlos Carrasco took the mound for us and managed to save the bullpen a bit better than Bauer did. Carrasco wasn't very good but ground his way through 5 and 2/3 innings, surrendering 10 hits for 6 runs. He wasn't doing too bad, until a 4-run 6th inning proved to be his undoing. Chicago tacked on 2 more runs in the 8th inning off reliever Matt Langwell, leaving the Indians trailing 8-5 and with a considerable hole to climb out of in the 9th. It didn't faze the Indians one bit as they roared back to tie the game on a Kipnis sac-fly before Nick Swisher redeemed himself for his recent batting woes with a monster solo home run to right field off White Sox closer Addison Reed. That made it 9-8 to the Tribe and they never looked back, Vinnie Pestano getting his 6th save of the season.

Swisher was enjoying his return to Chicago, where he spent a pretty miserable season in 2008, and wasn't finished with his Friday night heroics. Swish was torturing White Sox fans again Saturday night, getting the game winning hit in the 8th inning to bring home Cabrera to put the Tribe on top 4-3. Chris Perez made his return to the closer's role and pitched a clean 9th inning (do not adjust your screen, it is true) for his 7th save of the season, cementing the Tribe's series win.

The cherry on top of this delightful series was delivered by Justin Masterson on a sunny Sunday afternoon. In a battle of the team's aces, Masterson out-duelled Chicago's Chris Sale in a 4-0 complete game shutout to seal the series sweep. Sale was very good as usual, giving up 3 runs over 8 innings with 10 strikeouts, but Masterson was in a different class altogether. Facing just 3 batters over the minimum, our tall right-hander cruised through 9 innings, giving up 6 hits and a single walk, to go along with 8 strikeouts on his way to his 10th win of the season. It's the third time in Masterson's career he's reached double digit wins with the Indians and he's just 2 away from equalling his career best 12 wins (in 2011). He still has half a season to achieve that and just 3 more wins to break his career high. If he continues to pitch like this in the second half of the campaign, we could be looking at Masterson becoming a 20 game winner. It'll be a very difficult task for Justin but he's half way there already and as long as he stays healthy, there's always the possibility. With Masterson's fantastic outing yesterday, he surely has cemented his spot on this year's All Star team and he fully deserves it. It was the perfect way to end what was a wildly successful series for the Indians, putting us right back in contention in the AL Central.

Player Of The Series

This is a difficult one since there were so many outstanding contributors over the last four games. But my gut feeling has to give it to Nick Swisher. After my last post about his recent struggles in the Orioles re-cap, Swisher answered his critics in style in Chicago. Despite being rested for yesterday's game, Swisher collected 4 hits in the series, including a double and his game winning solo home run on Friday, for 4 total RBI, as well as scoring 4 runs and earning 4 walks. A very successful series altogether, with two memorable game-deciding hits produced from his bat. As impressed as I am with his performance, I'm almost more impressed with his mental fortitude to get out there and keep plugging away. It would be easy for a player to let his recent woes at the plate get him down but Swisher shook that off during this series and got a measure of redemption against the White Sox. Honourable mentions must go to Jason Kipnis, who is still on fire at the plate and had a terrific series, and Justin Masterson of course, whose complete game shutout was his third of the season, currently leading the league. But the way Swisher responded to adversity earns him the award for this series. Those game winning hits helped too. Congrats Nick.

The Indians ended June victorious and begin July with an off-day before travelling to Kansas City for a three-game series beginning on Tuesday. Corey Kluber (6-5, 4.16 ERA) will take the mound for us, looking to rebound from his disappointing start in Baltimore, and will face the Royals' Luis Mendoza (2-4, 4.16 ERA). I'm starting to enjoy this winning thing, let's just hope we can keep it up and ride this great form into the All Star break. Until next time...

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.