Just like the series against the Twins, this upcoming series will be almost completely meaningless. While the Indians do have some player evaluations to do for next year, there is little to be learned in series against teams in the same situation as the Indians. Both the Twins and Royals are also evaluating young talent, making these games more like the AAA games that most of these players were playing in a month ago.

End of Season Goals:

• Masterson to .500: Justin's start in game one of this series will be his third to last on the year, meaning he must win all three starts to get to .500
• 43 Saves for Pure Rage: This one is still possible, but he hasn't made any progress over the last two series as each of the Indians wins has been a walk-off. 
• Not losing 100 games: At 62 wins, the Indians are almost to the point of being safe from losing 100 games. They only have to win one more game of their last twelve to do so and since they haven't lost 12 in a row all season, they should probably be able to handle this. As soon as they win one game, the new goal should be to move ahead of the Twins in the standings to end the season in fourth place.

September 21st, 8:10 PM ET: Justin Masterson, RHP, 11-14, 4.93 ERA vs Luis Mendoza, RHP, 7-9, 4.50 ERA

The Indians continued on with their winning of a single game each series with a final game win against Twins. If they are going to continue that trend, this will be the game to win as the Indians have their best pitcher going and the best match-up against the opposing pitcher. In four games against the Tribe in his career, Mendoza has allowed 15 runs (11 earned).

September 22nd, 7:10 PM ET: Ubaldo Jimenez, RHP, 9-16, 5.14 ERA vs Will Smith, LHP, 5-8, 5.08 ERA

Smith will be making his second start against the Indians this year. He won his first start which took place during the time of the year when the Indians were struggling against left-handed pitching (April through September).

September 23rd, 2:10 PM ET: David Huff, LHP, 1-0, 2.61 ERA vs Jake Odorizzi, RHP, 11-3, 2.93 ERA (AAA)

This will be Huff's second start of the year after being fairly awful in his last outing. Huff will get two more starts this season, including this one and you can't really expect him to get any better. He has been hanging around for years at this point and the Indians have to have already seen everything they need to from the lefty.

The top Royals pitching prospect, Odorizzi will be making his Major League debut after a great year for the Omaha Storm Chasers. He was a first round pick in 2008 by the Milwaukee Brewers and came to the Royals in the Zach Greinke trade. The Royals have a lot of hopes laying on his shoulders as they plan on contending in the near future.

Player of the Game

Casey Kotchman took home his 6th Player of the Game of the year with some late inning heroics. Kotchman had two singles, a double, two RBI and a run scored and was also tagged out at home when trying to score a second run. His final game score was 4.38. Every pitcher today had a positive score after a nice start by Corey Kluber (0.76). Esmil Rogers lead all relievers in scoring (2.42) as he picked up the win.

Feathers Up

While the Indians are playing mostly for pride, the Twins still have a reasonable title they are working towards. Joe Mauer came into the game third in the batting title race behind Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera. Indians pitching did a great job today of keeping him from that goal by forcing him to go 0-3 with a walk.

Moving on past the time the Indians would stop trying after getting down by a run, the Indians attempted another comeback today, scoring two runs in fourth after giving up the initial lead to the Twins. They then came back again to tie the game after the Twins scored two more over the next two innings.

The Indians have a lot of relief pitchers they want to look at in a limited time for the rest of the season so they are intentially playing for extra innings to get those pitchers a little more work.

The Twins strategies weren't enough in the 10th inning as Casey Kotchman came through with the walk off hit after Minnesota intentionally walked both Carlos Santana and Michael Brantley. Shin-Soo Choo scored the game winning run after leading off the tenth with a pinch hit double. The win moves the Indians back into a 4th place tie with the Twins in the Central and puts them one win away from guaranteeing they will not lose 100 games.

Feathers Down

Vinny Rottino batted lead-off today as Shin-Soo Choo got a well deserved day off (just his second of the year).

This was the first game of 2012 that the Indians began the game in sole posession of 5th place in the AL Central. These are exciting times.

Thomas Neal hasn't gotten much of a chance since being brought up as a September call-up. This is a little confusing as he was a highly prized prospect after coming over in the Orlando Cabrera trade, but seems to have been forgotten about, pushed off into AA all year after being in AAA last season. Most of the extra at bats this month have been split between Matt LaPorta and Russ Canzler with Casey Kotchman still getting regular at bats. With Travis Hafner back on the team there will be even less at bats to go around, hopefully this will just mean less Kotchman (who definitely won't be returning for 2013), but it will likely mean less Neal as well.

Play of the Game

Shin-Soo Choo's double to lead off the 10th inning made this Indians win possible.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 - Minnesota Twins 3

Roster Update: Travis Hafner has been activated from the disabled list and was in the lineup for tonight's game. The Indians roster now stands at 35.

Player of the Game

Jason Kipnis was all over the Indians scoring effort tonight, winning him the Player of the Game. He had two hits, knocking in two runs and scoring another. Vinny Rottino had the best game of his career, earning a score of 2.58 with a double, walk, steal and two runs scored.

Feathers Up

The first game of the play-in round of the World Baseball Classic is tonight in Florida. The two teams playing, Israel and South Africa, both feature Indians pitchers. They are Columbus Clipper Eric Berger, he of the magnificent mustache, playing for Israel and 2012 draft pick Kieran Lovegrove playing for his home country of South Africa. While the Israelis do have a few former Major Leaguers on the roster (Brad Ausmus is managing with Shawn Green as player/coach), Lovegrove is the first South African to make it as far as the minors so you won't recognize anyone else. I may be the only one, but I like the World Baseball Classic and wish more of the best players would play for their country of origin.

Vinny Rottino turned some great baserunning into a run in the third inning. Rottino walked and immediately stole second with a great jump. He then went to third on a ground ball to short, leaving second after the short stop had thrown the ball. Rottino came home on a Jason Kipnis single to left.

Feathers Down

I'm sure when Travis Hafner was talking before the game tonight he was telling everyone that all he wanted to do was get hit by a pitch in his first at bat and that is what happened. At least he's back in the lineup.

The Indians have allowed 26 consecutive steals to the Twins this season. This is a combination of the pitching staff being to predictable and easy to time and Carlos Santana having a below average arm. It has more to do with the pitchers, though, as Santana hasn't really had a chance on most of these attempts.

After hitting a home run for one of the Indians only two hits, Asdrubal Cabrera was removed when he re aggravated his right wrist. At this point this seems like the kind of nagging injury they try to fix in the off-season with surgery, but never really gets better.

Travis Hafner came to bat in the 8th inning with the game on the line and struck out swinging on a ball in the dirt. Down by two the Indians had two runners on with two outs, in their best position of the game to take the lead.

Play of the Game

Vinny Rottino made a great diving catch to end the 8th after making an awful play to give up a double right before. The play was initially called a single, but was changed after Manny Acta came out to argue the call. Replays show the correct call was made in the end.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 - Minnesota Twins 6

Player of the Game

With a meaningless home run after the game had already been lost, Carlos Santana won tonight's Player of the Game. He scored two of the Indians five runs and finished with a POG score of 3.45.

Feathers Up

Rehab Update: The Indians announced today that Travis Hafner could return to the lineup as early as this week. He should immediately go back to his normal starting DH role to continue on his quest for 200 home runs as an Indian. This will likely be his last year as an Indian so hopefully he can end it on a positive note.

The Indians spread the offense around today, with every starter getting a hit. They even managed to get a couple runs off all those hits, most notably in the 6th inning when a Trevor Plouffe error with Casey Kotchman at bat lead to two unearned runs for the Tribe.

Feathers Down

Mark Shapiro found his twitter account password today and did an impromptu twitter interview (twinterview?) for all his followers. He used this opportunity to answer meaningless questions with real answers (his favorite color is blue) and real questions with meaningless answers (when asked if he regrets any recent trades he said it was a good question and proceeded to not answer it). I don't know if there was a point to this patronizing, but I didn't see one. If he is going to give fans enough respect to allow them to ask him questions, why doesn't he respect the fans enough to give them real baseball answers. While this is just twitter we are talking about, Shapiro had a real press conference with the fans earlier in the season where he did the same thing. Indians fans are smart. We've all read Money Ball and visit Baseball Prospectus. Some of us have this bizarre tendency towards masochism that makes us watch every single game. There is no reason to sugar coat or lie about the current situation. The last thing we need is false promises and bad excuses like this tweet:

.@joycekeo I think we will have the ability to spend.Just concerned about depth of FA mket this offseason

— Mark Shapiro (@MarkShapiro) September 18, 2012

If that actually is true, then we have nothing to worry about. Shin-Soo Choo will be getting a brand new contract extension and the Indians will be fighting dollar for dollar with the Yankees for this year's Yeonis Cespedes. Excuse me for not jumping in head first after a decade of disappointments.

Rehab Update: Rafael Perez had another set back and has been announced out for the season. It's not really like the Indians need him with 11 pitchers currently in the bullpen, not including Roberto Hernandez, but it would have been nice to Perez pitch again this year. He only threw in eight games before going on the DL in late April.

David Huff was pulled after just 4.1 innings, reminiscent of the last two games where he came in for Jeanmar Gomez early in the game. Tonight it allowed the Indians to use a lot of their bullpen with Frank Herrmann and Chris Seddon taking over the fifth and sixth innings. This ultimately lead to the Indians using a team record (Milestone Alert) 10 pitchers in the game.

Cody Allen recorded his first career blown save tonight. He was bound to get one sooner or later as he is used in more close games and high pressure situations so this wasn't a terrible time to get the first one out of the way. While he did give up the tying run, he kept the Twins from taking back the lead in the 7th.

The Indians had a runner on third with no one out in a tie game in the 9th inning and didn't win. This is unacceptable.

Play of the Game

Matt LaPorta made what was very possibly the stupidest play of his career when he didn't cover first on a ground ball in the 12th inning. As a first baseman your primary job is to stand on first and catch the ball when it is thrown to you. Apparently he forgot the first part of his job as he was wondering aimlessly while Jason Kipnis was actually trying to end the inning with the tie game intact.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Minnesota Twins 6

The Indians were able to steal one from the Tigers in the last game of the series, giving them at least a single win in each of their last five series. There's no better way to keep from losing ten or more games in a row than winning a game per series. Of course, they could always win two games per series, but let's keep expectations to a minimum. With that, here's a recap of the BRB goals for the Tribe:

• Justin Masterson getting to .500: with another loss in his last start, Masterson will have to win each of his last 3 games to get to .500.
• Beat Detroit: It goes without saying the Indians failed at this goal. Chicago did win their series as well though, so they are still 2 games ahead of the Tigers.
• Decisions on players still have to be made, but many of those players were used extensively in the Detroit series and Huff has been added to the rotation.
• 46 Saves for Pure Rage: Chris did not get a save in the Indians sole win last series, making it almost impossible to reach this goal. This goal is now changed to 43 saves good enough for a 4th place tie with Doug Jones.
• Pronk coming back: Travis Hafner took batting practice on 9/14, but there is still no news on his return.

September 18th, 7:05 PM ET: P.J. Walters, RHP, 2-4, 6.70 ERA vs David Huff, LHP, 1-0, 0.00 ERA

This start will be the third time this year the Indians have pitched a left handed starter. You would think with all the Indians struggles against left handers that they would adopt the opposing teams strategy, but nay, the Indians preferred to use Josh Tomlin until his arm literally fell off. Now, after two great relief outings where Huff came in for a struggling Jeanmar Gomez, he will finally get to make his first start of the year. This shouldn't be too much to get excited for Huff since he has done this same thing each of the last three seasons.  

September 19th, 7:05 PM ET: Liam Hendriks, RHP, 0-7, 6.14 ERA vs Zach McAllister, RHP, 5-7, 4.15 ERA

The Indians beat the Australian in his last start against the Tribe for their only win in their last series against Minnesota. With the Indians most consistent starter going against a pitcher the Indians have beaten before, this is their best chance to continue the trend of winning a single game each series. 

September 20th, 12:05 PM ET: Esmerling Vazquez, RHP, 0-2, 7.53 ERA vs Corey Kluber, RHP, 1-4, 5.48 ERA

This is the last game of the year that will not be televised so after this game, Tribe fans can enjoy every single pitch of this awfulness. There has still been no news of Roberto Hernandez, even though he is probably capable of pitching again. Even though he has done nothing to prove himself a reasonable alternative starter for 2013, Kluber is still in the rotation.

As you may have noticed if you read the site regularly, I like to make lists. As a separate part of the All-Time Indians section of the site I will be adding position by position rankings of the top ten Indians of all time. Rather than writing individual bios for each player on this page, each name will be linked to the bio I have already written for them, assuming they have one. As I write more complete bios, I will link them to and from this page so you can navigate easily through the historical part of Burning River Baseball. There will be 17 overall lists (CP, LF, 3B, LHRP, DH, 2B, Managers, RHRP, RF, C, SP, SS, CF, 1B, Ace) and they will be released occasionally over the course of the next year. There will also be a top ten ranking for hitters and pitchers who played in Cleveland before they became an American League team.

The first ranking will be of the Indians best closers of all time. This was chosen as first mostly to put Chris Perez's career numbers in line with the rest of the Indians closers, but also because it is a relatively new position. The earliest member of the list was made closer first in 1954, so it is definitely slanted towards the modern age with the vast majority of the pitchers listed having pitched since the mid 1980's. This is not simply a top ten list of who has the most saves in Indians history, but is instead combining single season and career records to find out who actually was the best. There are very few closers who pitched more than one season missing from the list, but there is one conspicuous name missing. He was left off because being a closer is more than just recording saves.

10. Ernie Camacho - 44 (Saves) - 1984, 1986 (Years used as primary closing pitcher)

Camacho only closed two seasons for the Tribe, but did a fantastic job, especially in the first year when he had an ERA of 2.43 and 23 saves. He finished his time with the Tribe with 44 saves and a 3.67 ERA. 

9. Jim Kern - 46 - 1977-1978

Kern has the worst WHIP and second worst save completion percent of those pitchers in the list. He, along with Camacho and Olin are only listed as the Indians haven't had 10 really great closers yet. Only two closers in the top 10 in saves have been excluded from this list due to their absolute repulsiveness while pitching the ninth. Kern is just slightly better than those other closers.

8. Steve Olin - 48 - 1991-1992

Olin has the saddest story on the list. He was primed to take over for Doug Jones as the Indians closer in the early 1990's, but his life was cut short by a fatal boating accident with fellow reliever Tim Crews. During his short tenure as a closer, Olin racked up 48 saves in 62 opportunities with a 3.10 ERA.

7. Ray Narleski - 53 - 1954-1955,1957

Narleski is the oldest closer on this list and the only one who pitched before save opportunities were recorded. He is included on this list as the first good pitcher used exclusively as a closing pitcher. Until he was changed into a starting pitcher in 1957 (old habits die hard) he had started just 3 games in his previous three seasons. In over 100 games during his two main closing seasons ('54-'55) Narleski struck out more than 140 batters and earned a then team record 32 saves.

6. Doug Jones - 129 - 1987-1990

Jones was the Indians first long term closer, closing in parts of five separate seasons before being replaced at the end of his career with the young fire-baller ranked at #8. He had the most save opportunities of any Indians player ever and the second most total saves. While he wasn't the best at anything other than longevity, Jones was still an above average save artist for his entire time with the Indians and any team would be happy with the results he gave the Tribe. 

5. Jose Mesa - 104 - 1995-1997

In 1995 Mesa was amazing. He allowed only 8 runs in the entire season while setting the team record with 46 saves. Disappointingly, he allowed 52 runs over his next two seasons and was replaced by a pitcher who was more consistent (and not a psycho path) who is ranked higher than Mesa on this list.

4. Chris Perez - 96 - 2009-2012 (Active)

There is no future value reflected in this list. If something changes in the future, I will change the list, so you can know that Pure Rage has truly earned a place this high in the top ten in his three seasons as an Indian. Only two Indians have closed more seasons than Perez so it actually isn't that surprising. His career 3.08 ERA is third among the closers listed as is his .876 save success rate.

3. Dave LaRoche - 42 - 1975-1976

LaRoche was the first closer to be used in consecutive seasons after Narleski did the same in the 1950's. Major changes in closing philosophy started occurring around this time and are the reason this list is so slanted towards the present. LaRoche has the honor of holding the lowest ERA among Indians closers at 2.51. He also pitched during a particularly bad time in Indians history, so the fact that he was able to secure 42 saves over two seasons is actually spectacular.

2. Mike Jackson - 94 - 1998-1999

Here is a reason Jackson is listed ahead of Mesa. In their respective post season careers Jackson threw 20.1 innings, Mesa 28.1. In those innings Jackson gave up 4 runs and 14 hits, while Mesa allowed 11 runs and 36 hits. While Jackson was never given the chance to win a World Series, at least he didn't lose one. Jackson's 1998 season is undoubtedly the second best closer season in Indians history as he gave up less hits than Mesa did in 1995 and maintained an ERA of 1.55. His .895 save conversion rate is the best in Indians history.

1. Bob Wickman - 139 - 2001-2002, 2004-2006

Wickman was the longest tenured Indians closer and despite his rosy cheeks and tummy that shook like a bowl full of jelly, he was quite the pitcher. When measuring a closer, the first question asked should be, "did he get the job done." Bob Wickman did 89% of the time, better than all but one Indians closer in team history. He holds the record for most saves as an Indian and he did it in less chances than the second place Jones. He will certainly be unseated as more emphasis is placed on the closers role, but for now, this most unexpected of heroes is considered the best Indians closer of all time.

Borderline: Dan Spillner, Joe Heving, Danys Baez, Kerry Wood, Joe Borowski
 

Player of the Game

Shin-Soo Choo, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Russ Canzler all battled to be today's Player of the Game, but it was Cabrera who came out on top. Asdrubal walk, hit 2 singles, scored 2 runs, and stole a base to combine for a score of 2.52.

Feathers Up

The Indians offense finally came through today with 5 runs, which was enough to edge out the Tigers. Main contributors to the offensive performance were Asdrubal Cabrera, Russ Canzler, and Jack Hannahan, each with 2 hits, and Carlos Santana with 3.

Ubaldo Jimenez had a solid outing. He pitched 6 full innings, allowing just 2 earned runs. He only stuck out 2 batters, but he was able to control the game enough to leave the game with the lead.

The Indians fought back to win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning when Jason Kipnis led off the inning with a double and Carlos Santana knocked him in with a triple. Lonnie Chisenhall 

Feathers Down

The Indians allowed yet another unearned run. This time it came as a result of a Ubaldo Jimenez throwing error.

Joe Smith, who has been solid and reliable all season, was not so solid today. Smith gave up 3 singles and a Miguel Cabrera home run in the 7th inning, which, at that time, gave Detroit a one-run advantage.

Play of the Game

Lonnie Chisenhall hits a game winning single.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 - Detroit Tigers 6

Player of the Game

Cody Allen came on in the 7th inning with just one out and the bases loaded in relief of Tony Sipp. Allen was able to strike out the next 2 batters to get the Indians out of the jam. Allen pitched a total of 1.2 innings and struck out all 5 batters he faced. His perfect relief outing gave him a score of 3.48, which was more than enough to give him his 3rd Player of the Game.

Feathers Up

Despite the threat, the Indians did not get no-hit. They were even able to avoid the shut out after Carlos Santana hit a triple as the Tribe's first hit of the game followed by a Russ Canzler double.

Feathers Down

The Indians defense was horrible tonight. Three Tribe errors led to 2 unearned runs. The Indians are amongst worst in the league for giving up unearned runs.

Though Justin Masterson had his strike out pitch today, he struggled with command. Masterson pitched just 5 innings and walked 4 batters.

Play of the Game

Carlos Santana hits a triple in the 7th inning to break up the no hitter.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Detroit Tigers 5

Player of the Game

WIth a score of 2.77, Chris Seddon won his 2nd Player of the Game ever. Seddon pitched 2 solid innings and struck out 3.

Feathers Up

The non-Mafia part of the bullpen pitched well tonight. Chris Seddon and Frank Herrmann each pitched 2 innings and combined for 5 strike outs. The did not allow a single hit or walk in 4 innings pitched.

Jason Donald was hit by a pitch in his wrist, which may be broken. Though this may not seem like a good thing, it gives the younger players and opportunity to prove themselves in the infield.

Feathers Down

The Indians had several opportunities to score. Twice they had had singles, followed by doubles and could not get a runner across the plate. The Indians were once again shut out, and expect a few more as the season comes to a close.

Play of the Game

Russ Canzler nail Boesch at the plate.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 0 - Detroit Tigers 4

Going into a three game series with Detroit, the Indians guarantee they will only be losing to teams from the Central Division for the rest of the year. Since the Indians are out of it and I hate the idea of a team trying for a high draft pick, I like to set personal goals for Indians just to make the season a little more interesting. A few of these I have already stated, like Masterson getting to .500 and the Indians winning at least 63 games (just three wins away now). Here are a few more goals for these last few weeks:

• Keep the Tigers out of the playoffs. While the White Sox are almost as big a rival to the Indians as the Tigers, at least they didn't buy their whole team based on which NL All-Stars were becoming free agents. Some of the White Sox most successful players have been with them for years (Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski are two) and a lot of others are young players playing extremely well. They should be rewarded for building their team the right way and not causing unnecessary market inflation and discrepancy. The Indians have this series against the Tigers and two more against Chicago so they will have a huge say in who goes home with the Central Division title. Hopefully they will make sure it is the right team.
• Make final decisions on old, young players. Players that are out of options like Matt LaPorta, David Huff and others will need to be signed to the 25 man roster in 2013 or lost to waivers. If the Indians can decide now whether to keep or lose these players they can be used in trades or outright released before next season begins. This would allow them to get some value out of them rather than paying for them as an invitee to Spring Training and releasing them in April. Huff will be making Jeanmar Gomez's next start, while LaPorta, Vinny Rottino, Russ Canzler and Scott Maine have all found themselves getting into games of late. Decisions need to be made on these and a score of other AAAA players as soon as possible.
• At least attempt to get Chris Perez the Indians single season saves record. Perez currently sits with 36 saves, just 10 away from the record. At the half way point in the year he was on an easy pace to break the record and push it into the 50s, but then the Indians collapsed. If there are two blameless people in this collapse they are Perez and Vinnie Pestano (who already has the single season holds record). With 18 games left it is basically impossible, but with most of those games against the Royals and Twins, they could definitely string off a few wins to end the season.
• I would like to see Travis Hafner get at least one more at bat with the Cleveland Indians before he is allowed to become a free agent. If he can't come back before the last series, he should at least be used as a pinch hitter or DH during that last series against the White Sox. He is the greatest DH in Indians history and deserves a respectful departure.

As these goals become impossible I will probably come up with a few more for each series through the rest of the year.

September 14th, 7:05 PM ET: Justin Verlander, RHP, 13-8, 2.91 ERA vs Corey Kluber, RHP, 1-3, 5.26 ERA

A rain out in Chicago took away what could have been the game of the year in the Central Division with Justin Verlander going against the White Sox new ace, Chris Sale, so instead we get this terrific match-up against Corey Kluber. The good news is that unlike the White Sox (Verlander is 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA against Chicago), the Indians can beat Verlander. This year they have won both games he has pitched in despite Verlander striking out 11 in 15 innings and allowing just 3 earned runs per start. Of course in his other match-ups he has faced a little higher profile pitcher than Corey Kluber, but it should be a good test for the young starter. Like they say, a starting pitcher isn't really playing against the opposing starter, but the opposing hitters. So Kluber doesn't really have to face Verlander, just Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and the rest of those monsters. Good luck, kid.

September 15th, 4:05 PM ET: Anibal Sanchez, RHP, 2-5, 4.40 ERA vs Justin Masterson, RHP, 11-13, 4.96 ERA

Continuing with one of my main goals for the Indians this year, Masterson is now down to four starts left and needs to win at least two of them to reach that .500 plateau. In doing this if he could also maintain an ERA under 5.00 it would be fantastic. Masterson has pitched worse against the Tigers than Verlander has against the Tribe, but he has opposite results, going 2-1 in his three starts. The Indians have played well against Detroit all season and winning this game (and possibly the series) would put at least one small bright point on an absolutely terrible year.

September 16th , 3:05 PM ET: Rick Porcello, RHP, 9-12, 4.59 ERA vs Ubaldo Jimenez, RHP, 9-16, 5.52 ERA

Familiarity breeds contempt and the Indians and Tigers play each other a lot. Like Verlander, Porcello has pitched against the Indians twice this year and lost both games. Like Masterson, he has pitched poorly with an ERA of almost 6.00 and a WHIP just under 2.00. Ubaldo was great his last time out, but his tendency to put two bad starts between every good one makes the Indians wonder if his last start will be his last good start of the year. If he can manage to keep things under control for at least this game, the Indians should be able to beat Porcello, a feat they have already accomplished twice, and possibly win this series.