Top Prospect Lindor Finally Called Up

After last night's 5-4 win over the Tigers, the news filtered through that the Indians had decided to promote top prospect Francisco Lindor to the majors. The highly anticipated 21 year-old shortstop will join the team in Detroit today for the series finale and should hopefully take the field this afternoon when Corey Kluber toes the rubber, weather permitting.

This is like an Indians fan's Christmas and Birthday rolled into one. Finally we are going to see Lindor on the big stage, something all Tribe fans have been anxiously waiting for since his selection 8th overall in the 2011 MLB draft.

Known for his elite defensive ability at shortstop, Lindor should be able to help solve the Indians' defensive woes in the infield right off the bat. Combined with Giovanny Urshela at third base, the left side of the diamond should be a strength defensively for years to come.

Lindor's promotion is just one of a handful of highly touted prospect promotions that have happened recently. The Twins also decided to promote their number one prospect Byron Buxton yesterday, considered by most to be the top prospect in all of baseball. Lindor and Buxton will join Houston's Carlos Correa and Texas' Joey Gallo, both of whom were brought up earlier this month. It's been quite a year for prospects overall, with the Cubs' Kris Bryant and the Dodgers' Joc Pederson setting the league ablaze. Hopefully Lindor can get off to a fast start and add his name to the conversation.

Photo credit to Jonathan Quilter at Columbus Dispatch.

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.

Tribe Can't Top Tigers, Swept In Four

This was not how I hoped this series was going to turn out when I returned from my trip to Germany on Tuesday. Whilst I was away the Indians swept the Rangers, the White Sox, and took two of three from the Marlins. But yet again the Tribe came unstuck against our division foes, being swept over four brutal games.

I think we all need to recognise now that winning the AL Central is out of reach for this Indians squad in 2013. It's still mathematically possible of course but I don't see Detroit losing many games between now and the end of the season. Our best hope for the post-season will be through the wild card and the Indians now need to put this moral-sapping series behind them and concentrate on winning as many games as possible before the end of September. Thankfully we only play Detroit one more time towards the end of this month and our relatively easy schedule in September will make or break our playoff hopes.

I'm not going to do an in-depth series re-cap today, it'd be far too depressing. Instead I'm going to weigh in on a few talking points concerning the Tribe over the last few days.

Farewell Mr Reynolds

Our struggling slugger Mark Reynolds was finally put out of his misery and was designated for assignment by the Indians yesterday. And so his career in Cleveland comes to an end. Reynolds has told the front office he is unwilling to accept a demotion to AAA Columbus so he will surely be released over the course of the next few days. It'll be interesting to see if any other teams decide to take a flyer on Reynolds, or maybe the Indians can trade him for somebody useful to help us down the stretch (it's unlikely though).

It's a sad ending to what looked like a bright story early on in the season. Reynolds got off to a fantastic start in Cleveland, batting .301 in April with 8 home runs and 22 RBI. He was a key part of the offense and helped win a lot of games for the Indians over the first couple of months. But then the hits dried up and the strikeouts kept increasing. We all knew Reynolds had that side to his game; he has struck out at a ridiculously high level at every club he's been to. But that was ok as long as he was still hitting a few home runs. Right? Well that quickly became the problem, as his production at the plate has been non-existent since May. Francona had obviously lost all faith in Reynolds over the past few weeks and looked reluctant to insert him into the lineup on a daily basis. It has been pretty agonising to watch Reynolds recently, as he has looked largely over-matched nearly every day, becoming an automatic out for most opposing pitchers.

I'm somewhat sad to see Reynolds leave and it's a shame things couldn't work out the way we wanted. Having said that, I'm kind of relieved we don't have to endure watching him struggle at the plate any longer.There were a few fans calling for him to have his contract extended after his bright start to the campaign but I bet they're glad the front office didn't follow their advice now. Good luck in your future endeavours Mark. I'm sure he'll land onto another club in the near future. Some team out there will be willing to take a punt and see if his power can return (I expect the desperate Yankees may be monitoring the situation).

Raburn Earns An Extended Stay

Ryan Raburn has had a very impressive season off the bench for the Indians in 2013 and the club have rewarded his efforts with a 2 year extension that could see Ryan in Cleveland until the end of 2016. I have to say I'm pretty pleased the club have decided to keep Raburn on the team and I think he deserves it. His production has been a pleasant surprise this year, considering he was originally just a minor-league invite in the Spring. He's currently batting .274 with 13 home runs (3rd on the team) and 38 RBI, with 14 doubles as well. Not bad for a bench guy. Raburn's versatility in the field has also been of great benefit to the Tribe, slotting in with ease at both corner outfield spots as well as his natural position at second base. With Reynolds now leaving the team I can see Raburn playing a lot of DH between now and the end of September. I'm sure Francona will look to get him into the lineup as often as possible.

And what about Raburn as a pitcher? A couple of days ago you would have laughed in my face at the idea but after last night's emergency relief appearance the idea doesn't seem quite so ridiculous. And hey, the bullpen needs the help right? (I am of course joking). The Tribe's pen were exhausted again during the blowout 10-3 loss and Francona turned to Raburn to pitch the 9th inning. Ryan said no problem and proceeded to pitch a shutout inning as well as recording his first career strikeout. I don't imagine it was how Raburn intended to celebrate his contract extension, but he did add yet another layer to his versatility. The guy can do everything apparently. Congratulations to Mr Raburn.

Player Of The Series

This four-game set with Detroit has been a disaster of epic proportions but there were a couple of bright spots amongst the disappointment. Despite the Tribe losing all four games, there was some decent pitching involved. Two men stood head and shoulders above the rest: Corey Kluber, who went 7 and a 1/3 innings on Monday, giving up 6 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 6 whilst keeping Detroit scoreless. And Danny Salazar, who lasted 7 and 2/3 innings on Wednesday, giving up 7 hits and 4 runs, walking 1 and striking out an astounding 10 Tigers, often on fastballs that reached close to 100 mph. Both pitchers put in superb shifts: Kluber kept Detroit off the board in his outing, and the rookie Salazar, in just his second start, struck out the powerful Tigers with ease, although he did get hit for 2 HRs. It's tough to choose this week's Player Of The Series so I'm going to give it to both men, the first time I've done such a thing at England Tribe. Kluber has since been diagnosed with a finger injury that will keep him out for 4-6 weeks, a devastating blow to the right-hander who had turned his season into a very successful one. The impressive rookie Salazar will take his spot in the rotation and can hopefully continue to dominate unsuspecting opposition lineups.

The Tribe welcome MVP candidate Mike Trout and the Angels to Progressive Field today for a three-game series that the Indians must win. Our boys really need to rebound and do it quickly if they're to keep pace in the wild card chase. Despite Anaheim having a sub-par season and standing no chance of making the playoffs, they should not be underestimated, not with the talent they have on their roster. The Indians look to Scott Kazmir (7-4, 3.89 ERA) tonight to turn things back around and he'll faceoff against Angels ace Jered Weaver (6-5, 2.90 ERA). The Tribe need to bounce back in style and they need to start doing that tonight.

Thanks for reading.

Tribe Slip Behind, Lose Ground To Tigers

The Indians could only manage one win against our division rivals Detroit in this recent four-game series, losing yet more ground in the race for the AL Central. Cleveland have now lost five of their last six games and trail the Tigers by 3.5 games. Not an insurmountable lead of course, but this was still an important series the Indians needed to at least split to show they belong in the race, that they stand a legitimate chance at competing with Detroit. Obviously there is still some work to be done if we're to go head-to-head with the Tigers, who are one of the best teams in baseball (and I hate saying that).

We Live And Die On Pitching

Whether it be our starters or our bullpen, the Indians can only go as far as their pitchers take them. And lately they haven't taken them very far.

Let's begin with the bullpen, who have been our Achilles' heel all season long. A unit that were so strong, often dominate, in 2012 have fallen apart so quickly in 2013. Nothing highlighted this quite like Sunday's game. After another fantastic Corey Kluber outing (6 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks and 10 strikeouts), the Indians carried a 6-1 lead into the 7th inning. You'd figure a healthy 5 run lead would be enough, even for our bullpen? You would be wrong of course, nothing about this bullpen's lack of ability to get outs should surprise any of us anymore. Joe Smith came in, one of our best guys on his day, but he's been shaky lately and was again on Sunday, letting Kluber's runner score as well as one of his own. The lead was cut to 6-3 as Vinnie Pestano entered the game to start the 8th inning. Pestano proceeded to give up 4 hits and a walk, capping it off with a Torii Hunter 3-run homer to tie the game 6-6. Poor Vinnie hasn't looked right all year and you have to start questioning is it a mental thing, or is something physically wrong? Whatever the problem, Pestano needs to be kept out of tight situations until he's been fixed because he was terrible on Sunday and nearly cost the Tribe the game. Thank goodness for Michael Brantley, who saved our bullpen's ass with his heroics (more on this later) to win the game 9-6 for the Indians, their solo victory of the series.

But what about our starters? They've been better than a lot of us predicted but they aren't making life any easier for the bullpen this season. If every starter not named Justin Masterson could last a bit longer in games, we'd surely be performing much better and the bullpen probably wouldn't be suffering quite so much. Even Masterson had a stinker this series, having his shortest outing so far in 2013 as the Tigers got to him quickly Friday night in the 7-0 loss. But I feel we need to see a bit more from our starters on a regular basis. I'm not pointing fingers at Kluber, he's been great and has pitched past the 6th inning in a lot of his starts lately. However guys like Ubaldo and Kazmir, who honestly have done alright this year, they need to last a little longer if our bullpen is going to stand any chance. Kazmir pitched well again last night but couldn't make it through 6 innings, leaving it up to our tired bullpen to carry the Tribe to the finish (credit to them as well, they pitched pretty well last night, despite losing 4-2) Then we get into the Carrasco and Bauer situations and that's a completely different mystery, we never know how long those guys will last into games (not very long more often than not). So given what has transpired recently, the rotation could use some serious help and I'd like to see the front office make a move this month to remedy this. Go out and get one of those starting pitchers, because this group needs more stability if we're going to remain competitive in the second half of the season.

Congrats To The All Stars

It's not all doom and gloom here at England Tribe, as I thought I'd quickly mention Justin Masterson and Jason Kipnis were both announced as All Stars on Saturday. It's fantastic news and great to see both players recognised for their strong starts to the season. Both guys are first time All Stars as well, so they must be ridiculously excited for the trip to New York next week. I'm really glad Kipnis made it onto the team, it was going to be pretty close whether he made the cut or not. Masterson has easily been the best pitcher on the team in 2013 and he deserves his spot amongst the AL pitchers. I just hope both players manage to find themselves involved in the game and not get left on the bench. I'm looking forward to watching both guys represent the Tribe and I expect I'll be making a special effort to stay up that night to watch the game (it won't start until after midnight here in the UK).

Player Of The Series

Despite a pretty miserable series, there's only one winner for me and that's Michael Brantley. He carried the Indians on his back this series and put in an amazing performance on Sunday. Batting in the number 5 slot, Brantley smashed 2 home runs as well as a double for a total of 5 RBI. It was his second home run of the day that proved to be the difference. Brantley destroyed the ball for a 2-run bomb that put the Tribe back in the lead after the bullpen had allowed the Tigers to tie the game in the previous half-inning. Honourable mentions to Kluber and Lonnie Chisenhall, whose bat has come alive of late as he's hit a bit of form since his return from AAA. But Brantley's memorable Sunday earns him the award for this series, congrats Mike.

The Indians welcome Toronto to Cleveland today, to begin a three-game series. It'll be the Jays' big winter acquisition Josh Johnson (1-3, 4.89 ERA) up against Ubaldo Jimenez (6-4, 4.67 ERA). We need to start this series off better than we did against Detroit so I'd like to see Ubaldo last longer than the 5th inning tonight. Until next time...

Thanks for reading.

Detroit Dominate, Cleveland In Freefall

This roadtrip has gotten mighty ugly, mighty quick. The Indians have lost 7 straight games and are falling away from the Tigers at the top of the division at a rapid pace. The June swoon is in full flow ladies and gents. We haven't won a game since the start of the month, June 1st...

Lets be honest, the Tribe were never really in any of these games against the Tigers. They looked over-matched, overwhelmed, short of confidence, basically exhibiting every trait and sign of a struggling team. They were always battling out of a hole, trying to rally back into contention. Our best chance came on Sunday when Ryan Raburn golfed a shot into the stands to tie the game 1-1 but the Indians couldn't build from there. Pretty soon the Tigers' Don Kelly, who hasn't been able to hit his way out of a paper bag this season (love that cliché), took Justin Masterson yard with a 3 run bomb that put Detroit up 4-1 and they never looked back from there, winning the game and sweeping the series.

It's been a depressing month for the Indians and their fans so far. They've been in a slump for a while now and aren't really showing many signs of coming out of it yet. And it gets worse: The Tribe are in Texas today for a three game series against the run-happy Rangers, sitting pretty atop the AL West with a 37-25 record. The Rangers are having a very good 2013 as expected. Their impressive pitching staff are 7th in the league in ERA and their dynamic lineup are 10th in runs scored, a deadly combination of effective pitching and successful hitting. There is a positive for the Tribe though: The hitter-friendly confines of Rangers Park in Arlington could potentially help reawaken the Indians offense, who despite their recent woes still find themselves 8th in the league in runs scored, two places ahead of the Rangers. If the Indians can get key hits off the Texas pitchers (which is no easy task admittedly) the field dimensions in Texas could possibly help them in their quest to break out of this losing streak and get back to the task of chasing down the Tigers. We just need to get those clutch hits that served us so well in the early part of the season. Easier said than done I know...

We mustn't be too hard on the team though. All these losses recently have all come against contenders, teams cruising along with plus .500 records with hopes further down the road of going deep into October. If anything, this roadtrip has helped reinforce reality, that this Tribe team aren't going all the way this year, that they are in fact one or two more years away from being a true contender. Success will not come straight away, not after the past few years of sub-par performance. This team needs time to be built up and developed properly. I think maybe we fans needed to be brought back down to earth a little bit, although perhaps the Indians could have done it in a less painful and depressing fashion. Once the Tribe return home from Texas for their off-day on Thursday, the schedule starts to relent a bit and we begin a long home-stand, starting against the Nationals on Friday. Normally the idea of facing Washington would be daunting but these Nats are struggling lately too, crippled by injuries and facing their own problems. These are not the same Nationals of 2012, and I reckon we stand a decent chance against them.

Anyway, there is still cause for optimism and the season is far from over. There's plenty of time yet to make up the ground against Detroit, or alternatively fight for a wild-card spot. Good times are just around the corner folks. I can feel it.

Thanks for reading.

Tigers Get Revenge, Win Series

Detroit came to town and won both matchups in this two-game series, cutting the Tribe's lead in the AL Central to a 0.5 game. Max Scherzer silenced the Indians' bats on Tuesday, only giving up 2 hits in his 8 innings of work, the Tribe getting 3 hits total in a 5-1 loss. Cleveland fared much better against Tigers ace Justin Verlander last night but it wasn't enough as they fell 11-7 to lose the series.

There's not a great deal to discuss here and I need to make this post relatively quick anyway. Corey Kluber pitched a solid game on Tuesday to keep the home side in the game but never got the run support. Kluber pitched 6 1/3 quality innings, giving up 8 hits and 3 runs whilst striking out 8. It was the 2 long balls in the 6th inning that condemned Kluber to the loss, but it was a decent outing before that.

Ubaldo Jimenez couldn't summon another miracle start last night, getting hit pretty hard by this powerful Detroit lineup. He lasted 4 innings, giving up 7 hits and 6 runs, walking 3 and striking out 3 before exiting the game early. Not Ubaldo's best effort obviously but I don't think there's cause to panic again, facing this Detroit team is a tough prospect for every pitcher.

The Indians tried to keep things close in both games but unfortunately relief pitcher David Huff couldn't stem the Tigers' tide. He pitched in both contests and couldn't get the job done in either. On Tuesday he surrendered 2 hits for 2 runs in just a 1/3 of an inning's work in the top of the 9th, putting the game beyond Cleveland's reach. Last night Huff came in to relieve Ubaldo and managed to last the entire 5th inning but got shelled. He gave up 4 hits for 3 runs with 2 strikeouts, giving the Tigers an insurmountable lead that Cleveland's subsequent rally couldn't top. It's always frustrating to watch your relief pitchers come in to save the day and get destroyed and it's tough on Huff, a pitcher I've always kind of liked despite not really knowing why. I enjoyed the majority of his 2009 rookie campaign and was really happy when he managed to reach double-digit wins that year (Huff finished 11-8 in 2009, despite possessing a 5.61 ERA). So it saddens me to see him toil away fruitlessly in the bullpen, bouncing between the majors and AAA. His future with the Tribe doesn't look good but I hope he can turn things around, work with Mickey Callaway on his technique and get back to being at least a league-average reliever.

Player Of The Series

It's always difficult to choose a bright spot when your team gets swept in a series but I can't ignore the recent efforts by Michael Brantley. He was consistently good in this short two-game series and got 3 hits for 4 RBI, including the Tribe's only run of the game on Tuesday. He's been hitting well for a while now, batting .319 this month with 1 HR and 12 RBI. His .309 batting average and 51 hits this season now lead the team in both categories. I like how Brantley is developing and progressing in 2013 and he has slotted in well wherever Francona has put him in the lineup. Keep it up Mike, you win the award for this series.

So the Tribe now travel to Fenway Park for a four-game series with the Red Sox, who've cooled off a bit since we last faced them but are still one of the better teams in the American League, with a 28-19 record so far. We'll have to be careful of the superhuman David Ortiz (as always) but I think we can use this Boston series to rebound from this Detroit hiccup and get back to winning ways.

Thanks for reading.

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.