Baseball Cards: More Allen & Ginter

Howdy y'all, apologies for not posting the White Sox and Royals recaps recently. Current events (GTA V) have kept the majority of my free time occupied and I just never got around to getting online to write. Since my last post, the good news has been the Indians have managed to battle their way into one of the wild card spots.Now the hope is that they can stay there. As I'm writing this they're closing in on a sweep of the lowly Astros, getting one step closer to the post-season in the process.

Regardless of what happens, I'm pleased for the team and more pleased at the fact we'll have posted our first winning season since 2007. So really, it's my first year as a Tribe fan where we've ended the year above .500 (I only started following the team properly in 2008). That's a cause for celebration in my book.

Anyway, I received some new baseball cards in the post over the past few days so I thought I'd share my new pick-ups here. They're all from the beautiful set that is 2013 Allen & Ginter. Let's begin:

Another Justin Masterson card to add to my PC I'm working on. Here we have a 2013 Allen & Ginter jersey relic that I got for just $1. A bargain and a really nice card (although I would have preferred the jersey patch to be from the home whites).

Up next is a mini jersey relic of Tribe right fielder Drew Stubbs. He hasn't had the best debut season in Cleveland and has really struggled with the bat all year but I've been impressed with his defense in right field. Despite his troubles, I couldn't resist bidding for this card. I really like it's design and Drew comes across as a pretty likeable guy, with that Texas drawl of his. For $1.49 I wasn't going to say no.

Here we have a jersey relic of former Indians ace and 2008 AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee. I know, it's not  a Tribe card but come on, he used to play for us. And he's still tearing it up at the age of 35. I was a big fan of Cliff and will never forget his super-heroic 2008 season. All for just over $2 as well. Not bad.

Ok, from here on all connections to the Indians disappear I'm afraid. Why did I pick up this Carlos Gonzalez card? Well the star outfielder for the Rockies has been the heart and soul of my fantasy team this year and for the grand sum of $1 I thought why the hell not. It's a pretty nice card too, although I wish the pinstripe on the patch was slightly more centered. 

Last but not least is this delightful card of the reigning AL Cy Young winner (for just a tiny bit longer) Mr David Price. For just $2 I wasn't going to pass on getting a mini jersey relic of a Cy Young winner and it's a beautiful looking card too. Plus the patch is home-white too, so it's win-win for me. 

So there you have it, my latest additions to my fledgling card collection. As you can probably tell I really love those jersey patch cards, particularly the framed mini's. I expect I'll be looking to add some more before the year is out, maybe in the off-season when the prices drop slightly. We'll see...

Thanks for reading.

Tribe Drop Series To KC But Ubaldo Shines

After the Tribe took a 4-3 win to open this series against the visiting Royals on Monday, I thought they might kick on and put a marker down, show they mean business in this race for October baseball. Instead they dropped the next two games, losing the series overall, whilst looking totally anemic in the process. I'm not going to focus on the negatives today though. No sir, I'm going to shine a little light on the one Tribe player who did us proud during this series.

A Summertime Miracle

After a disastrous 2012 season, 99% of Tribe fans and the rest of major league baseball were ready to write off Ubaldo Jimenez's hopes of being an effective pitcher again. Especially after a league-leading 17 losses and a 5.40 ERA that ranked as the 3rd worst in the entire league (he was 3rd worst in walks too, with 95 in 176.2 innings). To put it simply, Jimenez was one of, if not the worst starting pitcher in baseball last year. Coming into the 2013 season, our expectations for him couldn't have been much lower. Hell, some people expected him to be released during Spring Training.

However, 2013 has proven to be a revelation for Ubaldo, a resurrection if you will, albeit with a few bumps in the road along the way (nothing is ever easy where Ubaldo is concerned). He got off to a slow start, highlighted by an awful 1.2 inning shellacking against Boston on April 16th, when he was hammered for 7 runs in that short space of time. People were calling for his head soon afterwards. But as the year has gone on, Ubaldo has gotten better and better. It's been a bit of a slow process, as he often struggled to get past 5 innings even when he was pitching pretty well. To his credit, Ubaldo has been nothing if not resilient. Whilst some pitchers get tired and worn down once September rolls around, Jimenez has been the complete opposite, looking stronger now than he's looked at any other point in the campaign. Gone are his velocity problems that plagued him early in the season (Adam Burke coined the phrase: Ubaldogate). Watching him pitch now is actually fun for once, something rarely said since he joined the club from Colorado in a mid-season trade in 2011.

After Monday's dominant outing against the Royals (7 innings, 7 hits, 1 unearned run, 0 walks and 10 strikeouts), Jimenez's season looks like this: 154.1 innings pitched with a 3.62 ERA that was as high as 11.25 in April and 5.03 in June. His ERA has only gotten lower and lower ever since, sitting at a very respectable level now. At the time of writing he is 32nd in the league in strikeouts with 157, ahead of guys like Toronto's R.A. Dickey, KC's Ervin Santana, the Yankees' Hiroki Kuroda, Tampa Bay's David Price, and Atlanta's Kris Medlen and Julio Teheran. That ain't too shabby for Ubaldo.

Yeah, he still walks too many guys (he did this even in his glory days with the Rockies), with 75 walks so far, good enough for the 3rd highest total in the league (joint 3rd with Justin Masterson actually). But Jimenez has been much better lately and seems to have harnessed the majority of his control problems. Let's play a small sample size game for a minute: In his last 4 starts Ubaldo has only given up 5 walks in 26 innings, twice pitching games where he didn't walk anybody. Did you hear what I said? UBALDO DIDN'T WALK ANYBODY. Some people probably didn't think that was possible. Within this span, Jimenez struck out 34 batters, reaching 10 K's in 3 out of those 4 games, all to the tune of a mesmerising 1.73 ERA with batters hitting just .235 off him. To say Ubaldo has turned a corner in 2013 would be an understatement. He's like a new man out there, especially since the All Star Break: 1.94 ERA, 63 strikeouts in 55.2 innings, only 3 HR's surrendered in nearly 2 months, and a measly .220 batting average against him. If the season started in mid-July, he'd be considered one of the best pitchers in the game this year, one of the elite. Yeah, your very own Ubaldo Jimenez. Go figure.

So what was the point of this gushing piece about Ubaldo and his recent hot streak? Well, if the tall right-hander can keep this up until the end of the month, and God forbid maybe into the post-season, I think he deserves a place on this ballclub in 2014. He has a team option for $8 million next year and despite turning 30 years old in January, I think Jimenez has earned another season in the Cleveland rotation. I never thought I'd say those words just a few short months ago but now I'd be quite sad to see Ubaldo depart if the Indians front office decided against keeping him around for another year. Which is why it is of the utmost importance he remains focused for just a few more weeks and continues to pitch exactly the way he has done recently. I pray he can achieve this and prove I haven't just wasted my time singing his praises. Nonetheless, the big guy has made a fan out of me.

Thanks for reading.

Tribe Woes Continue In Oakland

The Indians wrapped up their series in Oakland yesterday in disappointing fashion, unable to win the rubber game and thus losing the series overall. Scott Kazmir, he of the "dead arm", was unable to make the most of his extended rest and was on the hook for the loss, giving up 10 hits for 5 runs in 5 innings in the Tribe's 7-3 loss to the A's. Cleveland haven't had the best run of late; they're 7-10 in August but somehow still find themselves in the wild card race, 4.5 games back of Tampa Bay. Hope remains.

Let's take a look at some talking points from the series:

Ubaldo Still A Mystery 

If you were told Ubaldo Jimenez would flirt with a no-hitter in 2013, you'd probably laugh in that person's face. But believe it or not he did, shutting out the A's for 5 innings on Saturday night during the Indians' 7-1 victory. It was quite a remarkable outing for Jimenez and, like the majority of his starts, wasn't everything it seemed at first glance. Yes, Ubaldo did keep Oakland from getting a hit through 5 innings, but he also walked 5 guys, so he hardly kept the A's off the bases. It came back to bite Ubaldo in the end, as his pitch count escalated (like usual) and he was pulled after just 5 and 2/3 innings.

But there was a lot to love about Ubaldo's recent outing. The right-hander struck out 8 batters, his highest strikeout total in a game since June 29th. He also got the invaluable run support that has been sorely lacking for our pitchers at times this month. Before Ubaldo even took the mound he had been gifted a 2-0 lead; that's got to be comforting from a mental aspect and I expect it helped Jimenez settle in a bit better.

With Saturday's win in the books, Ubaldo's season stats look like this: He's sitting on a respectable 4.00 ERA with 123 strikeouts in 128.1 innings, good enough for a 8.63 K/9 ratio. He has a 9-7 win/loss record, matching the 9 victories he earned last season, so he stands a good chance to beat that and achieve double-digit wins as an Indian for the first time (he had 10 wins in 2011 but 6 of them were in Colorado).

So all in all, it hasn't been the dreadful season from Jimenez many of us expected. He hasn't been great for sure, and he's only been good a handful of times, but he's been a massive improvement from 2012 Ubaldo. With just under a month and a half left of the season, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Jimenez can produce more outings like those of the Saturday night variety. Now if only he could make it through 6 full innings...

Player Of The Series

There were some good contributions throughout this series: Justin Masterson pitched a solid game on Friday night, lasting 7 and 2/3 innings, giving up 3 runs and keeping the Tribe in the game. Unfortunately the Indians couldn't support the big man and he ended up with the loss but it was a decent performance from Masterson nonetheless. Nick Swisher has been pretty good at the plate lately and his form continued in his old stomping ground in Oakland: Swish had 5 hits in the series for 3 RBI, including a home run on Saturday, his 13th of the year. But the Player of the Series for me was Jason Kipnis, who continued to pace the offense like he has all season. Kipnis had 4 hits, 3 RBI, and stole his 22nd base of the year in the series. He now sits with a .294 average, a .374 OBP, 15 home runs and 72 RBI for the season, pretty much leading every offensive category on the team. Well done Mr Kipnis, keep it up.

So the Indians remain out west for a bit longer, travelling to Anaheim today to take on the Angels in a three game series. Rookie pitcher Danny Salazar (1-1, 4.08 ERA) will toe the mound for us, facing off against Jered Weaver (7-6, 3.49 ERA). Salazar made an impressive start to his career in the majors but faltered a bit in his last start against the Twins. He'll be looking to rebound in style against the Angels tonight, and can hopefully put the Indians back on track.

*EDIT* Salazar has been scratched from tonight's start, and Zach McAllister is set to pitch instead. Something to do with the Indians keeping an eye on his innings limit.

Thanks for reading.

Sloppy In Seattle: Tribe Lose Series

Apologies for not writing a Twins series report last week, but my All Star break was more lengthy than the MLB players was. I watched most of the Masterson game, the sole victory in that series, but I honestly didn't pay enough attention to the rest of the series enough to write a credible re-cap.

Alas, I am here now for the Seattle series that wrapped up yesterday, with an impressive 10-1 win for the Indians. Unfortunately the Indians lost the first two games, both by narrow margins. Despite a solid effort by Ubaldo Jimenez and the bullpen, the Tribe dropped the first game on Monday 2-1, the offense failing to get that important hit to nudge them into the lead. Zach McAllister made his long awaited return from the DL to start Tuesday's game but signs of rust were obvious, as he battled through 5 innings, surrendering 8 hits and 4 runs, 3 of them earned. Still, the Indians were in the game but again couldn't get those vital runs to turn things around, eventually losing 4-3, the second straight loss by a single-run deficit. Thankfully Cleveland turned it around for the final game on Wednesday, gifting Scott Kazmir plenty of run support to go along with his stellar 8 innings, coming out on top 10-1.

Let's take a look at some of the talking points in this series:

Errors, Errors, Errors

The Indians have committed 9 errors since the All Star break. That's 9 errors over the course of 6 games, 5 of those mistakes occurring in Seattle. That is embarrassing by major league standards and the Cleveland defense need to seriously sort this out before it becomes a situation. I know it's a small sample size but if they don't tighten up out there, this could become something to really worry about. Let's get this straight though: people make mistakes, even highly paid professional baseball players. No one is perfect and errors are part of the game. But 9 in 6 games? 4 by Lonnie Chisenhall alone? It's unacceptable and the players know that. But judging by some of the venomous posts I've seen on Twitter over the last few days, the Tribe faithful only have so much patience for sub-par play.

But the criticism can go too far sometimes. After Asdrubal Cabrera threw away a potential double-play in the second inning on Wednesday, the ball flying past Jason Kipnis stationed on second base, the Mariner's Jason Bay managed to round third base and score Seattle's only run of the game. The reaction from some of the fans on Twitter was amazing. You'd have thought Asdrubal had removed his Cleveland cap and took a dump in it judging by some of the intense hatred spewed his way. But no one cared to comment on the outstanding play he made earlier that inning, nor the routine play he fielded perfectly directly after his error. Nope, it was all "trade Cabrera now" and "bench that fool". He was ridiculed again later in the game for a lack of hustle as well.

I think it's time we need to start giving some of our players a bit of a break. Yes sometimes they warrant criticism and I understand fans wanting to vent their frustrations, we've all been there and done it, but the levels of abuse can reach ridiculous heights at times, often when its not at all necessary (Twitter can be the absolute worst place for this). Cabrera had a fantastic game by all accounts, going 2-for-4 at the plate, a double and a mammoth solo home run, for 3 RBI and a walk as well. Aside from his error, he made every play in the field perfectly, showing us he's still one of the premier shortstops in the American League. The Indians are having a pretty good season guys. So we need to support these players, not condemn them instantly. That's what being a fan is all about right?

All Quiet At The Trade Deadline

Since my post about potential targets the Tribe could explore before the trade deadline, there's been a bit of movement around the league, so I thought I'd update the situation where the Indians are involved. More specifically, what's happened to my trade targets since I last discussed them.

Matt Garza, possibly the player I would have like to have seen the most come to Cleveland (even if would end up being for just a couple of months), has been shipped to the Rangers recently, for a good crop of prospects the Cubs will be delighted with. Despite Garza having been a realistic option for the Indians to trade for, I don't really think we stood much of a chance at getting him in the end. He was easily the top pitcher available for trade this month and it was much more likely a contender like Texas would persuade Garza and the Cubs to join them rather than us. So it proved.

The same can be said for Ricky Nolasco, who was traded to the Dodgers shortly after my original post. I predicted as much and never really expected us to get Nolasco. I originally mentioned him on my list of targets but he was the lowest guy on my list, I only really had him on there because I preferred him to Yovani Gallardo from Milwaukee. Dear Indians front office, please pay attention to history and avoid trading for declining National League pitchers with inflated ERAs and decreasing velocity: i.e. do not trade for Gallardo, we don't need another Ubaldo situation.

However hope still remains in the form of Bud Norris. He's still pitching well in Houston, with a bevy of suitors sending scouts to each of his starts over the last month or so. If we couldn't get Garza, Norris was the next player I would have liked the Indians to acquire, plus he would have been under club control a lot longer than Garza. In fact over the last week or so I have actually been siding more towards Norris over Garza, pretty much because Norris would remain in Cleveland longer. So the opportunity to trade for Norris is still a possibility for the Tribe but as the days go by I get the feeling it won't be happening. It's been very quiet over the last few weeks where Cleveland is concerned in the trade deadline rush. Not many rumours of substance at all that mention the Indians. The race for Norris is heating up, but the only names I see mentioned with any consistency are the Orioles and Giants, and maybe the Red Sox occasionally. The word on the street is that Houston are looking for some premier prospects in return for their "ace" pitcher, which I expect most clubs are reluctant to part with. Norris is good, he's a very solid pitcher, but on most clubs he's a number 2/3 guy at best. So Houston's high asking price seems to be the main obstacle preventing Norris's departure for new pastures. As much as I'd like it, I don't expect Cleveland to be one of them.

The question now is, will the Indians make any move/s at all? There's just under a week left and so far it doesn't appear that they will. It looks like the club are satisfied with the current state of the starting rotation and any moves regarding the lineup only seem to involve the Indians as sellers rather than buyers (the Cabrera to St Louis trade is the only possibility even mentioned as far as lineup changes go). If the Tribe make any trades before August 1st I expect it'll be something minor, a move to bolster the bullpen probably, the glaring weakness this season that could benefit from immediate help. Watch this space...

Player Of The Series

There's really only one man who whole-heartedly deserves this award for the series and that's Scott Kazmir, who seems to be progressing nicely and couldn't have gotten off to a better start to the second half. Kazmir had his best outing of 2013 on Wednesday: he pitched 8 superb innings, a season high, giving up just 1 hit and no earned runs (Seattle's sole run they did score was off that Cabrera error I mentioned earlier). He walked 2 and struck out 7 Mariners in 103 pitches. It was a virtuoso performance from the left-handed veteran, a display to get really excited about. Kazmir wins the award for this series with ease, but an honourable mention most go to Yan Gomes, who has become Kazmir's personal catcher of late, who had a very successful trip to Seattle as well.

Cleveland can enjoy the day off at home today before welcoming the Texas Rangers to Progressive Field for a three game series beginning tomorrow. Corey Kluber (7-5, 3.69 ERA) will face off against Martin Perez (3-3, 3.40 ERA) on Friday evening to get things started but the game to watch will be Saturday's match-up of All Star pitchers Justin Masterson (11-7, 3.60 ERA) and Yu Darvish (9-4, 2.86 ERA). I start my holiday on Monday so I'll try and fit in a series re-cap before I go but if not I won't be back until we're midway through the crucial series against the Tigers in early August. Until next time...

Thanks for reading.

Potential Trades For The Tribe At Deadline

Apologies for interrupting your regularly scheduled programme (my series re-caps) but I thought I'd weigh in on some potential moves the Indians could make this month before the trade deadline. With the way things stand at the moment, the Indians are certain to be buyers this month instead of sellers like we've been used to in years past. So let's see who the Tribe might be looking at this month, or rather, who I'd like them to be looking at:

It Could Happen Trades

Matt Garza

Of all the players known to be on the market, Garza is one of the most achievable as far as the Indians are concerned. Competition will be fierce for the right-hander, with a number of teams looking to solidify their rotation ahead of the second half of the season, but the Indians should certainly be interested in the 29 year-old. Cleveland wouldn't have to give up too much to the Cubs either, since Garza is a free agent after this season. Maybe one of our young outfielders would suffice, since Chicago is pretty set with Starlin Castro at shortstop, so shifting one of our prized infielders can be avoided.

Garza is 3-1 in 8 starts this year with a 3.83 ERA, after missing the first seven weeks of the season. He's been getting better as the season has progressed, really getting into his groove lately. He's 2-1 in his last 3 starts with a 0.82 ERA, surrendering only 2 runs over 22 innings. Yes, those results are against mediocre teams like the Mets, Astros and Brewers but still, pretty decent numbers nonetheless, and he lasted at least 7 innings in each of those games.

I'd really like Garza to join the Tribe, even if it is for just 3 months. I've been an admirer of him since his days in Tampa Bay. As good as our rotation has been this year (compared to what we thought it was going to be) we could sure use more help in the second half, as surely injuries will take their toll during the dog days of August and September. A rotation of Masterson, Garza, Kluber, Jimenez, and Kazmir/McAllister (depending on health) is a tasty proposition. As long as the Indians don't give up too much for Garza and we get a fair deal, I'm 100% behind the club trying to acquire him from the Cubs.

Bud Norris

Houston's 28 year-old right-hander is also known to be available this month and the Tribe front office are surely monitoring the situation. So are a lot of other major league clubs though, with teams like the Orioles, Jays and Giants all in search for pitching help and Norris tops most of their wanted lists (although at the time of writing, I believe Baltimore have just made a move for Chicago's Scott Feldman, which would likely remove them from the Norris market).

Norris is 5-7 so far this year, with an impressive 3.35 ERA on a terrible Astros team. He was superb in the month of June, compiling a 2.77 ERA over 39 innings. The best thing about trading for Norris aside from his pitching ability?  He'd join the Indians with plenty of time left under club control, unable to become a free agent until 2016. Norris is enjoying his finest year in Houston to date and hopefully that's a sign of things to come, that Bud will only get better. If he does end up in Cleveland, I sincerely hope that will be the case; that we get a quality pitcher for the rest of 2013, and a reliable arm for a few years in the future. I'm all for us trading for Norris, but its difficult to predict what it will take to pry him away from Houston. There's no way we give up anybody like Francisco Lindor or Trevor Bauer, but maybe someone like Dorssys Paulino or Ronny Rodriguez would be enough. I'm probably way off the mark here and the Tribe would be giving up too much, so I'm really not sure. Let's just say I'd be happy with Norris in Cleveland and leave it at that.

Ricky Nolasco

Despite our need for another starting pitcher, I don't think we're really in the race for the Marlins' Ricky Nolasco, but until he's traded it's still a possibility. With everything I've read so far it looks as if a club with deeper pockets than us will make the move for Nolasco, with the Dodgers, Giants, Yankees and even the Red Sox rumoured to be in the hunt for the right-hander.

The 30 year-old is having a good season in Miami, currently sitting with a 4-8 record and a 3.93 ERA. He would certainly bolster our rotation but I don't expect us to be the team he joins before the deadline. It's long been established that the Marlins have had Nolasco in the shop window and I reckon Los Angeles or San Francisco will become his new home in the coming weeks.

In Your Dreams Trades

Giancarlo Stanton

The Marlins may have the worst owner in baseball in Jeffrey Loria, but even he wouldn't ship away his star player, the face of the franchise? Would he?

Well the rumour-mill is abuzz that the Marlins just might do it, that they might actually trade away 6'6 outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. The 23 year-old MVP-calibre slugger would fetch a huge haul of top prospects from every club in the league. Who wouldn't want Stanton gracing their outfield?

Well Indians fans can keep dreaming because there's a 99% chance that this trade will never happen, not in 2013 anyway. Despite Loria's reputation, it's highly unlikely the Marlins will trade away Stanton this season. You have to believe the rumours are exactly what they are; just rumours, created out of thin air. I'm pretty sure that Cleveland is one of the many clubs on Stanton's no-trade list anyway, so this move is even more likely to remain a dream. But I can dream right? Stanton would look awfully good in Indians red, white and blue, gunning down would-be runners from right field.

Cliff Lee

Ahh, Clifton Phifer Lee, what memories we had. His 2008 Cy Young season was my first proper year following the Tribe, day in, day out. So I was instantly a big Lee fan and was so sad to see him traded away in 2009. But word on the street is that the Indians are trying to make a run at bringing him back to the place where he had so much success.

It won't happen folks. Sorry to burst your bubble but Lee won't be pitching in Cleveland for the home team any time soon. For starters, the Phillies have categorically said he isn't available for trade. They're having another poor year by their standards but won't succumb to the pressures of the trade deadline madness. Their whole roster could do with a shake-up but it doesn't look like happening any time soon (they want to hold on to Chase Utley too). Secondly, we can't afford him anyway. And third, we'd have to give up a lot to reel in a superstar like Lee. To begin with, you can say goodbye to Lindor. The Phillies would certainly demand the best possible prospects for Lee, and I'm not comfortable giving away Lindor this decade, not with Cabrera approaching free agency in the next couple of years. A trade for Lee would certainly deplete the farm system and I'm not sure that's a good idea for the Indians right now.

As much as I'd love to have Lee come back, the price the Tribe would have to pay would be large indeed, too large for my liking. Kyle over at Wahoos On First has written a thorough article examining potential trades the club could try to lure Lee back, it's definitely worth checking out.

Please Poke My Eyes Out Trades

Jonathan Papelbon

I know the Indians have had their fair share of bullpen problems this season, especially when it comes to closing, but the Tribe should not waste their time looking to trade for a new closer. I've seen Papelbon's name floated around and I just have to say:

No.

No no no no.

Not only am I not a fan of the 32 year-old right-hander - I think he's overrated and overpaid - but we don't need him. I know our closer situation has been bad but it's nothing compared to the Tigers, who are actively shopping around for a new closer. Detroit has no one else for the 9th inning (until they just trust Benoit). We at least have a variety of in-house options for the 9th so there should be no way in hell we make a move for a closer, especially one like Papelbon. If the Indians are looking for bullpen help, they can forget all about closers and aim to pick up a left-handed reliever. End of conversation.

I look forward to seeing what the Indians do over the new few weeks, and hope whatever moves they do decide to make prove to be successful for the Tribe in 2013.

Thanks for reading.

Indians Earn Split in Baltimore

A series split? I'll take that. Before this series in Baltimore, I was a bit worried that the Orioles would destroy us, like they have with so many other teams this year. We've had a rough time of it against those boys from the AL East, the most stacked division in the league (every team is over .500, now the Jays have had a resurgence). So to take away two wins is fantastic in my book. It's too bad the Indians couldn't get the win last night (they lost 7-3) to take the series outright, but you can't have everything your way I suppose.

We did get to see Scott Kazmir pitch a gem, taking a no-hitter into the 7th inning on Wednesday, before the Indians nearly threw it away and lost the game. Thankfully they rallied in the 9th with 2 RBI groundouts to win it 4-3 and save their blushes. Kazmir was electric, allowing just a single hit. It was a superb performance and very comforting to see him string together back-to-back good games.

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

The People Versus Nick Swisher

Okay, I had the idea to do a piece on Swisher earlier this week. Then two of my fellow bloggers beat me to the punch, TD at Waiting For Next Year and Tom at Red Right 88. Both are excellent articles and deserve your attention, but I felt I could still share my thoughts on the Swisher situation.

We all know that Swisher was the marquee signing during the off-season and was immediately made the face of the franchise, the image of the Indians' new beginning behind Terry Francona. All the homecoming stuff was great and you could see Nick's enthusiasm was genuine; he actually wanted to play here and his energy and excitement helped restore some faith in the organisation. The 32 year-old switch hitter had never been "the star" during his career in the major leagues but he came to Cleveland hailed as one.  Unfortunately, Swisher hasn't produced like a star on the field and has yet to find his offensive groove in 2013.

As I type this, Swisher is batting .229 for the season with 7 home runs and 25 RBI. His OBP is .330 and his OPS is .713 (pretty far behind his career average of .822). He's having a really rough month, batting just .125 in June with 5 RBI and no home runs. In fact, the last time he hit a home run was May 26 at Fenway Park. Yes, that's over a month ago. To say Swisher is struggling is an understatement and he obviously hasn't delivered on the expectations we had before the start of the season.

He's been hampered by injuries this year, most recently a problem in his shoulder which must be hindering his play on the field and at the plate. So I can cut him a bit of slack there, it can't be easy playing hurt every day. Still, it's alarming to see how the fans have turned on him. His love of Ohio and being a nice guy around the club is surely holding back some of the fan's venom, but how long will it last? How much more sub-par play will the Tribe faithful put up with before they really turn on him?

Personally, I find it difficult to boo my own players and shower them with intense criticism. It's not a British thing, we boo our guys just like they do in the States and all over the world. Maybe I'm just a glass half full kind of guy? So that being said, I'm not going to start hating on Swisher and I'm not going to jump on the "trade Swish bandwagon", not that that's a realistic option anyway. I drafted him on my fantasy team for pete's sake, I'm not going to give up on that investment just yet. And neither should Tribe fans (in real life, not fantasy. Do what you want in fantasy!). I have to believe that Swisher will turn things around in 2013. The Indians front-office are paying him a lot of money to do just that. If you thought the Indians were getting a powerful 30 HR+ 100 RBI+ first baseman in the winter, you were mistaken, he's not that player anymore and never has been (closest he got to those numbers was 2006). However, I can understand the fan's frustration because I know we all expected more than what we're getting. Nick Swisher of all people knows this and I'm pretty sure he's trying his damn best to correct it.

Player Of The Series

The complete opposite to Nick Swisher offensively at the moment? Why it's back-to-back Player of the Series winner Jason Kipnis of course. Kipnis has continued his blistering hot streak at the plate lately and torched Baltimore for 5 hits, one in each game to continue his 9 game hitting streak, 2 home runs and 4 RBI.

It's amazing how well Kipnis is playing at the moment, showing us his immense talent on a daily basis. He's hitting .398 in June, that's the best average in the league this month amongst players with over 80 at-bats (that's better than Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera). In his current form, Kipnis is outperforming both Robinson Cano and Dustin Pedroia in nearly every category. He has more RBI this month (Kipnis 19, Pedroia 17, Cano 10), more stolen bases (Kipnis 7, Pedroia 3, Cano 3), more home runs (Kipnis 3, Pedroia 2, Cano 2), more hits (Kipnis 33, Pedroia 26, Cano 18), and a far higher batting average (Kipnis .398, Pedroia .277, Cano .231). Is that not enough for people to realise that Kipnis deserves a spot at the All Star Game next month? I'll admit, overall he's probably not as good as Cano and Pedroia over a full season but right now, Kipnis is the best second baseman in the league. Make it happen people, lets make Kipnis an All Star.

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.

Cincinnati Crush, Tribe In Free Fall

How the mighty have fallen. The Indians are in a bit of a slump at the moment and after losing this short two-games series in Cincinnati, have now lost 5 games in a row. It began on Monday afternoon, when the Indians kept the game close and even tied it late on with a pinch-hit solo home run by Jason Giambi, but it wasn't enough as the Reds came back that very inning to add two more runs, winning the game 4-2. Cleveland looked to split the series last night but got off to a rough start and never recovered, losing 8-2 and with it, the series.

Now we shouldn't be too hard on our Tribe; we are in the midst of a very tough schedule and these recent losses to the Reds and the Red Sox should probably have been expected. They are two great teams, contenders in their respective divisions for sure, whereas we are still very much a work in progress and still trying to find an identity. So despite it being sad to see our boys drop these games, don't be too hard on them, since we're not really supposed to be challenging these teams anyway. The frustration is understandable of course, hopes are much higher this year and the hot start has helped increase expectations but like I said, the Indians are very much a developing ballclub and will have these losing streaks from time to time. The key is to quickly find a way to prevent this drop from turning into a season-ending tailspin like the last two years. That remains to be seen but I still have faith this new group will find a way to stop the bleeding and turn things around.

Suicidal Bullpen

The biggest factor in the Tribe's recent decline in form has been the bullpen's inconsistency and inability to hold onto a lead. We're losing these games because we're shooting ourselves in the foot with these terrible performances from our bullpen. What was considered to be the rock of this team entering 2013, the Indians bullpen has regressed significantly and is costing us games, especially of late. They were the shining light of 2012. We might have sucked on the field and at the plate but we all knew are bullpen was legit and the envy of many major league clubs. How times have changed huh?

I actually like this group on the whole but I feel we are still sorely lacking some experience. We're throwing Bryan Shaw, Cody Allen, Scott Barnes and Nick Hagadone into some pretty tight spots and asking these young guys to perform miracles. It's no surprise when they get destroyed. I'd prefer to see us make a move for a veteran arm for the 'pen, particularly a left-hander since we really lack any talent there. I like Rich Hill, his breaking ball can be a thing of beauty, but if he continues to come into games and walk the first guy he faces I'm going to scream. Matt Albers has hardly been used and has looked mediocre at best when he has. Since Corey Kluber looks better and better after every start, is there anyway we can move Brett Myers into the pen when he comes back from his rehab stint? It's not like he's a stranger to being a relief pitcher and he'd certainly qualify as an experienced arm, something the bullpen desperately needs. I know we're paying him $7 million to be in the rotation but maybe we can use him to address a more glaring need for now. It's an interesting thought and something I hope the Indians are at least considering.

The normally dependable trio of Smith-Pestano-Perez has also seen it's share of failures this year and is perhaps the most worrying trend. Smith I still like a lot and I felt bad for him entering the game on Sunday in Boston, it was an impossible situation for anybody. He'll be ok. Pestano just needs to get healthy and I think he'll be fine in the long-term as well. The news that he is the closer now Perez is on the DL is good, I think this move was going to happen eventually anyway. Despite earning 6 saves this year, Perez has been downright horrible for the Indians and it probably didn't help he missed most of Spring Training. I expect him not getting a proper pre-season has been somewhat responsible for his decline this year but the writing has been on the wall for a while now. Remember the blown home-run call Angel Hernandez made against Oakland a few weeks ago? Yeah, that was Perez's pitch that should have been ruled a homer and a blown save, but luckily for him he escaped. The meltdown he had against the Mariners, giving up back-to-back home runs, was bad enough but his car-crash of a performance at Fenway on Sunday really stole the show. We'll never truly know if his shoulder was hurting before he took the mound but his performance would indicate that was the case.

Where do we go from here? Well I'm honestly losing patience with Perez these days and he is not the elite closer many fans try to make him out to be (his 3.29 career ERA is far too high for that). He's had a really good past two years with us but now I think the Indians need to look to sell as high as possible over the next couple of months. I'd be overjoyed if he returned from the DL and became the second-coming of Mariano Rivera but it's unlikely to happen. I have a feeling a change of location for Mr Perez could be beneficial for all parties.

Player Of The Series

A tough pick in what has been a largely miserable trip to Cincinnati but Ubaldo Jimenez's solid effort on Monday cannot be ignored. He was chased from his last start against Detroit after only 4 innings but he rebounded with style against the Reds on Monday afternoon. Facing one of the National League's toughest lineups, Ubaldo pitched 7 strong innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs, walking 4 and striking out 6 batters. If we're nit-picking, the walks could be better but it was a great effort from Ubaldo and it was reassuring to see him bounce back so well after that loss against Detroit. He kept the Indians in the game and that's all you can ask from him. Congrats Ubaldo!

Cincinnati remain our opponents as they travel to Cleveland today for another two-game series. The Tribe send our ace Justin Masterson to the mound, he of the 7-3 record and 3.20 ERA. Justin will face-off against the veteran right-hander Bronson Arroyo, who sits at 5-4 with a 3.39 ERA. We have to put an end to this losing streak as soon as possible and it should start tonight with Masterson. Hopefully our top guy can quieten the Reds' bats and we can get back to winning ways. We need our offense to wake up for that to happen!

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.

Thanks for reading.

Indians Split Double-Header With Yankees

A beautiful sunny Monday in Cleveland saw a rather mixed bag for the Indians in their double-header against the Yankees. Let's take a look:

The Good...

The first game of the day saw an absolutely stunning pitching performance from Justin Masterson. Backed by a 1st inning home run from Jason Kipnis (his fifth homer of the season), Masterson was untouchable. He lasted the entire 9 innings, giving up 4 hits, 3 walks and striking out 9 Yankees in a memorable outing for the 1-0 complete game shutout. Despite only having Kipnis' homer for support, Masterson didn't need anything else and protected the thin lead with ease. Masterson now sits at 6-2 with a 3.14 ERA, joint first in the majors in victories. Francona said, "Masty went out and did exactly what you want your ace to do. From the very first pitch of the game, he had power, he had breaking ball, he attacked hitters." A near perfect performance from our number one guy, a very well pitched game. It'll earn Masterson the Player of the Series award from me as well.

The Bad...

Unfortunately things didn't go quite so well for Trevor Bauer, up from Columbus for the day to make the spot-start in the second game of the double-header. He pitched the best game of his young Indians career so far but he had no help from the offense, who struggled to muster any sort of attack in a 7-0 whitewash by New York. Bauer lasted 6 1/3 innings, surrendering 6 hits for 3 runs, 2 of them earned, whilst he walked 2 and struck out 4 batters. Despite getting the loss, the improvement in Bauer's performance was notable. For one, he kept his walks down to just 2, which is significantly better than his previous two starts where he walked far too many hitters. Bauer now sits at 1-2 for the year, with a 2.76 ERA.

He wasn't helped by his bullpen. Nick Hagadone came in to relieve Bauer and immediately allowed one of Bauer's runners to score. Hagadone is really struggling of late, still adapting to life in the majors and he had a torrid time against the Yankees. He only lasted a third of the 7th inning and was hit 3 times by the Yankees, giving up 4 runs, 3 of them earned, striking out 1 and walking 1. Matt Albers and David Huff pitched the rest of the game and didn't allow any more runs but the damage was done off Hagadone and the Indians never recovered.

It was a frustrating game for the Indians offense, who have been so potent of late but stumbled in this series. The Yankees sent former Indians draft pick Vidal Nuno to the mound and he stifled the Tribe lineup over 5 innings of work to earn his first major league win. He allowed only 3 hits and the Tribe had no answer for him, nor Adam Warren who pitched the final 4 innings for the Yanks, also allowing no runs and only 2 hits, earning the save. It was a very disappointing game for the Indians offense to say the least.

... And The Ugly

I mentioned on Sunday after the 4-3 win in Detroit that the Indians might look at the Lonnie Chisenhall situation sooner rather than later and that's exactly what they did. They made a decision on Chisenhall much sooner than I expected though, sending him down to AAA Columbus on Monday and recalling pitcher David Huff, who pitched in the second game against the Yankees yesterday.

I can understand this move certainly. With Vinnie Pestano still out for a bit, the bullpen needs another arm and Huff can do that job, so I can see why the struggling Chiz is the one who has to make way. Still, I can't help but think sending Lonnie back to AAA after making him the everyday starter at third base could be slightly detrimental to his long term prospects. When he does make it back to Cleveland, and that will certainly be this year, we'll see if the trip back to Columbus did him more harm than good. I don't expect that to be the case, I think mentally this is a good move for Lonnie and he should make it back to the bigs a stronger player.

But Nino over at The Tribe Daily made a good point that Lonnie doesn't have anything more to learn at the AAA level, that he can work out his problems whilst still being part of the Indians team. I agree and I especially agree with Nino that we don't want this to become another Matt LaPorta situation. However I can see why this move will be beneficial for Lonnie. Now he can get away from the limelight of the major leagues and fix his batting mechanics in a more relaxed setting, where the fans and the media aren't dissecting and criticising his every move. He needs to snap out of this funk and get back to what made him successful in Spring Training, because right now Chisenhall is not playing like the guy we know he can be. It's not pretty, but sending him back to Columbus to fix his plate approach is ultimately the right move.

So after two games against the Yankees the Tribe now fly to Philadelphia for two games against the Phillies before getting a day off on Thursday. Scott Kazmir (2-1, 4.87 ERA) will look to continue his good start to the season against the Phillies' Jonathan Pettibone (2-0, 3.63 ERA) tonight, first pitch at 7.05 pm ET. Lets hope the offense can get back on track and put up some big numbers.

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.