Player of the Game

Jason Kipnis won today's Player of the Game with three singles, 2 runs scored, 2 RBI and a steal.  His score of 5.11 earned him his team leading 5th award of the season.

Feathers Up

The new arrivals produced well today. Lonnie Chisenhall hit a solo home run in his first bat of 2012 and later singled while Josh Tomlin earned a win in his return to the starting rotation. Tomlin did allow 2 home runs and 4 total runs in just 5 innings, but it was good enough to keep the Tribe in the game.

The Indians makeshift lineup has had no problems producing runs even with the absence of Carlos Santana, Asdrubal Cabrera and Travis Hafner. They have averaged 5.75 runs per game since the departure of the three major players. Luke Carlin (2 singles with 1 run), Jose Lopez (2 singles with 3 RBI) and Juan Diaz (single and a run) all stepped up their game today especially as they were needed.

Feathers Down

Walks hurt the Tribe today as the Royals scored their first and last runs of the game off of walks. To start Josh Tomlin walked Jeff Francoeur and Eric Hosmer immediately followed with a home run. Later, Nick Hagadone walked Jarrod Dyson who then stole second base easily. He scored on a Alcides Escobar single.

Let no one say that I only point out when the umpires get calls wrong against the Indians. Today, Jason Kipnis was tagged out going to third in the Indians 5 run 3rd. However, the umpire called him safe and he scored on the next hit. Even if he actually wasn't touched (he was) he should have been called out for leaving the base line. Let's play fair people.

With the injury to Lou Marson yesterday the Indians only had two players on their bench today, both of whom were outfielders. Aaron Cunningham came in early as a defensive replacement for Johnny Damon leaving only Shelley Duncan on the bench. It's a good thing the Royals weren't out for blood today as there were no infielders or catchers available defensively.

Play of the Game

Lonnie Chisenhall put the Indians on the board with a solo home run.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 8 - Kansas City Royals 5

There's no place like home for the holiday. After getting pounded on the road for three in Chicago, the Indians will return home to face the dilapidated Royals on Memorial Day. The Indians have won four of six against Kansas City so far this year and will look to continue on at that pace. With the sweep by the White Sox the Tribe have fallen to a half game lead over those same Sox. Chicago will be playing against the second best team in the American League (Tampa Bay) so the Indians have a good chance to make up at least a game during this series.

After going through the first month and a half with only minor injuries (Grady Sizemore, Jack Hannahan, Josh Tomlin), the final game against Detroit was a disaster. Travis Hafner is still day-to-day after missing the entire series in Chicago as is Asdrubal Cabrera. If that's not bad enough, Carlos Santana remains on the disabled list and his replacement, Lou Marson, was hit in the face with a baseball yesterday. Luckily, Lou Marson's face is made of concrete so he shouldn't miss any more time. In all the moves to create depth after the injuries, Rafael Perez was placed on the 60 day DL, keeping him out until the middle of June.

*Roster Update: Jack Hannahan has been placed on the 15 day DL with a strained hamstring and Lonnie Chisenhall has been brought up in his place (best injury call up ever). To make room for Josh Tomlin on the roster, Jairo Asencio has been designated for assignment. He is out of options and will be exposed to waivers. If he clears waivers he can be sent to Columbus. If he doesn't the Indians have 10 days to trade or release him or to bring him back to the MLB team.

May 28th, 4:05 EST: Nathan Adcock, RHP, 0-2, 2.33 ERA vs Josh Tomlin, RHP, 1-2, 4.67 ERA

One player is returning from injury after all the pain that happened in Chicago. Josh Tomlin will be coming off the 15 day DL to take the place of Zach McAllister in the rotation. McAllister pitched well with the team during this time around, but he doesn't have the consistency or the ability to completely dominate that Josh Tomlin brings to every game yet. He will certainly play a part in the future of this team, probably again later this season when Derek Lowe's arm falls off or when some other less likely injury scenario occurs.

The Indians haven't faced Adcock this season as he will be making his second start of the year. They did face him last season, twice in relief as he came in for long relief in two Indians routs. He pitched well in both games, especially considering the Indians won the two games with a combined score of 26-3. Adcock only gave up a single earned run in 4.2 innings pitched over the two games.

May 29th, 7:05 EST: Will Smith, LHP, 0-1, 13.50 ERA vs Justin Masterson, RHP, 2-3, 4.62 ERA

The Indians will face the rapper turned actor turned white left handed pitcher and look to turn around their recent failures against lefties making their debut against the team. If only they had Carlos Santana available, the Tribe Called Tribe would certainly be able to win this battle of the bands.

Justin Masterson just pitched his best game of the season for his second win o the year and Travis Hafner and Asdrubal Cabrera are scheduled to return during this game against a young pitcher with an ERA over 10.00. This game should be a laugher for the Tribe, but you never know. Be prepared for another low scoring game as the Indians hitters attempt to make Will Smith look like Justin Verlander.

May 30th, 12:05 PM: Bruce Chen, RHP, 3-5, 4.81 ERA vs Jeanmar Gomez, RHP, 3-3, 3.94 ERA

Bruce Chen certainly has a history against the Indians as he has played with Kansas City since 2009. The lefty made his Major League debut in 1998, puting him about 10 years behind Jamie Moyer and yet still one of the longest tenured players in the Major Leagues. He is yet to play against the Indians this season.

Ever since his suspension, Jeanmar has thrown into the 6th inning in every single start. He was pitching very well, in fact, until the last game against the White Sox pushed his ERA from 3.19 to 4.94. Before that he had two consecutive games with no earned runs allowed. The only two games this season that Gomez has allowed more than 3 runs in a single game have both came against the White Sox, so hopefully that is all behind him now and the Indians can work their rotation to keep him out of any more games on the South Side.

Player of the Game

Johnny Damon finally hit his first home run as an Indian, giving him enough points to be today's Player of the Game. Damon went 1-4 today. Most of his points came from his 3-run home run in the 2nd inning. His score of 5.45 gave him his first Player of the Game of the season.

Feathers Up

In his 3rd Major League game, Juan Diaz got his first (and second) big league hit. Both hits were singles against Gavin Floyd, one in the 4th inning, the other in the 6th.

The Indians offense once again provided some run support. They are hitting the ball well and scoring runs, just not quite enough to win ball games.

Milestone Alert: With Johnny Damon's run scored today, he is now tied with Joe Morgan for 33rd all time in runs scored.

Feathers Down

Pitching failed once again. Starter, Ubaldo Jimenez, gave up 7 runs in 4+ innings pitched. The White Sox had 7 hits off of him, 6 singles and a home run. He also walked 3 and hit a batter. His relief, Jairo Asencio, pitched 2 innings today, giving up 3 runs. Asencio gave up 5 hits: a single, a double, 2 triples, and a home run. The White Sox scored 2 more runs in the 8th inning when Joe Smith allowed 2 of Tony Sipp's runners to score. It is hard to win games when pitchers give up 12 runs.

As if the Indians weren't injured enough, four Indians batters were hit by pitches today. Casey Kotchman (2), Juan Diaz, and Lou Marson were hit, and Marson was removed from the game after being hit in the mouth by Gavin Floyd. There were a total of 6 hit batters in today's game. Ubaldo Jimenez and Jairo Asencio each hit a White Sox batter.

The Indians lost all three games against Chicago. Only 1/2 game separates Cleveland and Chicago in the standings. If the Indians want to stay in first place, they need to turn things around and start winning games.

Play of the Game

Johnny Damon hit his first home run as an Indian.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 - Chicago White Sox 12

Roster Moves: Carlos Santana has been placed on the 7-day disabled list after suffering a mild concussion caused by a foul ball taken to the mask. Catcher Luke Carlin has been called up as his replacement. To make room for Carlin on the 40-man roster, the Indians transferred reliever Rafael Perez to the 60-day DL, able to be activated as early as June 25th.

Other recent injuries include Travis Hafner, who is listed as day-to-day with a sore knee, and Asdrubal Cabrera, who is also day-to-day with a sore hamstring. Jack Hannahan returned to the line up today after missing 11 games with a sore back.

Player of the Game

Jason Kipnis ran away with today's Player of the Game. Kipnis went 2-4 today, with 2 home runs, giving him 4 RBI and 2 runs scored. Kipnis was the main reason the Indians remained competitive in the game, keeping the score much closer than it could have been. His score of 8.78 gives him his 4th Player of the Game this season.

Feathers Up

Tribe batters rallied in the top of the 3rd inning when Michael Brantley hit a bases-loaded double scoring Juan Diaz (walk), Lou Marson (single), and Shin-Soo Choo (hit by pitch). Jason Kipnis continued the rally when he hit a 2-run homer, scoring Brantley. The Indians scored 5 runs in the inning, at that time giving them a 5-4 lead.

The Indians offense scored 7 runs today, which is usually more than enough to win a ballgame.

Feathers Down

Derek Lowe gave up a lot of hits early, allowing Chicago to take an early 4-0 advantage. After the Indians came back to take the lead in the top of the 3rd, Lowe was quick to give it away in the bottom of the 3rd. After just 2.1 innings pitched, Lowe gave up 8 runs on 10 hits.

The Indians kept fighting back and remained within a run until the bottom of the 7th inning when Joe Smith came on in relief. Smith had problems getting batters out, giving up 4 more runs (3 were earned) and giving the White Sox a 12-7 lead.

After Joe Smith fell apart in the 7th inning, Tony Sipp allowed 2 more White Sox runs in the 8th, giving up a double to Paul Konerko and a home run to Alex Rios.

The injury bug hit the Indians hard, removing the 3-4-5 hitters from the line up. The Indians will play short-handed again tomorrow as they avoid the sweep.

Play of the Game

Michael Brantley steals a home run from Alex Rios in the 1st inning. 

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 - Chicago White Sox 14

Roster Moves: The Indians have sent starting pitcher Zach McAllister to AAA Columbus and called up infielder Juan Diaz from AA Akron. Juan Diaz will serve as an extra infielder for a few games as Jack Hannahan is still nursing a sore back. Juan Diaz will remain on the team for the White Sox series, but will probably be sent back down at the start of the Kansas City Royals series on Monday, when Josh Tomlin is ready to return from his injury.

Travis Hafner is day-to-day and is likely to miss the weekend series after getting hit by a pitch yesterday. Jack Hannahan is still day-to-day, but can possibly return to the line up tomorrow.

Player of the Game

 With a 9th inning home run, Shelley Duncan won tonight's Player of the Game. He went 1-3 tonight with a walk and a home run. His 3.46 points won him his 3rd Player of the Game of the season.

Feathers Up

Shin-Soo Choo continues his productivity as the Tribe's lead off hitter. He provided most of the Indians offense today with 2 doubles, a walk, and 2 of the Indians runs scored.

The Indians continue to be aggressive on the base paths. They added 3 more stolen bases tonight, 2 by Jason Kipnis and 1 by Shelley Duncan.

Juan Diaz made his Major League debut tonight, pinch hitting for Asdrubal Cabrera in the 8th inning.

Feathers Down

Jeanmar Gomez was not as dominating as he had been in his last 2 starts. He was responsible for giving up 6 Whote Sox runs. He gave up 2 home runs early in the game and fell apart as the game went on.

An error by Jose Lopez in the 7th inning led to 3 unearned runs, allowing the White Sox to run away with the game.

Play of the Game

Shelley Duncan steals his first base since 2010.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Chicago White Sox 9

The Tribe swept away Detroit placing them in first place for the near future. If the Indians can continue to win series, especially in the Central Division, they will have no problem keeping their position for the rest of the season. With the sweep the Tigers are now firmly in third and the new second place team is the Chicago White Sox, who the Indians will play in Chicago next.

This will be the 4th series between these two teams already this season the most the Indians have faced any team thus far (they have played Seattle twice and will play the Royals for the third time next series). This time around the pitching will match-up a little different than the last few times as John Danks, who has pitched against Justin Masterson in each series so far, has been recently placed on the disabled list. In his place will be Jose Quintana, a call up from AAA Charlotte.

Indian killers Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski are coming into this series super hot as they each have hit multiple home runs in the last week and Konerko is batting .615 over his last 4 games (over his last 25 games he is hitting a paltry .419).

May 25th, 8:10 PM EST, Jeanmar Gomez, RHP, 3-2, 3.19 ERA vs Jose Quintana, RHP, 1-3, 2.77 ERA (AAA)

Jose Quintana will be making his first Major League start and his second appearance in this series opener against Jeanmar Gomez. Quintana's only MLB experience to this point came in a single game in the May 7th game against the Indians when he pitched 5.2 innings in relief and didn't allow a single run. Gomez was destroyed later in that same series by the White Sox to the tune of 8 earned runs. 

May 26th, 4:10 PM EST, Derek Lowe, RHP, 6-2, 2.15 ERA vs Jake Peavy, RHP, 5-1, 2.39 ERA

A blast from the past, this pitching match-up could belong in the NL West in 2008. Back then Lowe was pitching well for the Dodgers and Peavy was unhittable for the Padres. Since then they both have gone through their rough patches, but have seen a resurgence in 2012. The last time out Jake Peavy only allowed a single run against Cleveland as the White Sox earned a split of the 4 game series. In Lowe's last three starts he is 2-1 with an ERA of 1.71. This looks to be a pitching match-up of epic proportions that will make the game between Justin Verlander and Justin Masterson look like a barn burner.

May 27th, 2:10 PM EST, Ubaldo Jimenez, RHP, 5-3, 5.02 ERA vs Gavin Floyd, RHP, 3-5, 4.66 ERA

Jimenez has had two decent starts in a row giving him 3 quality starts in his last two games. This looks like some progress and is enough to place him firmly as the sixth best starting pitcher in the Indians rotation. He has only faced the Sox once this season and did not fair very well. He will look to turn things around in this key AL Central game.

Gavin Floyd has been on the White Sox roster all season and is yet to pitch against the Cleveland Indians. This madness needs to end now and it will as Floyd will start the final game of this three game series. While he has been strong all season, going into the 6th in every game this year, he just had his worst game of the season against the cellar dwelling Minnesota Twins. Floyd was unable to get out of the 4th as he allowed a season high 9 earned runs.

With the way the White Sox go back and forth on everything and their tendency to give up at the first sign of difficulty, an Indians sweep could lead to Chicago trading their entire roster away. The Indians need to try to sweep as it is the best way to never see Paul Konerko again. In related news, Chris Sale is currently a starter again.

Player of the Game

Justin Masterson outdueled Justin Verlander and won his 4th Player of the Game of the year for it. Masterson scored his 5.63 via his 7 innings pitched with only one run allowed. The Indians ace earned the win while striking out 4 and allowing 10 baserunners (plus one safe on an error). It is his second consecutive award and it ties him with Travis Hafner for the second most on the team.

Feathers Up

The Indians have thrown two runners out at the plate in two days, this time by Jose Lopez at third. This has come about mostly because the Tigers have been struggling with runners in scoring position and decided to send both runners on contact. Indians pitching has done a good job in these situations (runner on third with less than 2 outs) as well by keeping the ball on the ground or striking hitters out.

The Indians scored two runs off Justin Verlander. This is amazing against a pitcher with an ERA around 2.00 who throws 102 MPH in the 8th inning. Shin-Soo Choo hit a solo home run to lead off the game that landed in the mezzanine while Michael Brantley and Jose Lopez provided the winning margin.

Jose Lopez has been an extremely pleasant surprise the past two weeks as he has filled in for Jack Hannahan. Today he continued his hitting streak (9 games) and knocked in the go ahead run with a single. He has played in 11 games since Hannahan was hurt and has knocked in 7 over that time. His defense has also been good enough to not hurt the team. After this showcase he certainly seems to have earned a spot on the team for awhile at least.

The Indians sweep the Tigers moving them 6 games ahead of Detroit and 4 above Chicago. The Tribe will go to Chicago to face the second place White Sox tomorrow.

Milestone Alert: Vinnie Pestano has passed David Riske for 8th All-Time in holds as an Indian with 34. He also ended his consecutive strikeout streak when he pitched a perfect 8th without a K.

Feathers Down

Miguel Cabrera made a diving play from third to end the 7th inning. This is completely unfair as the Tigers were supposed to be increasing their offensive prowess at the expense of their defense.

Play of the Game

Jose Lopez threw out Brennan Boesch trying to score to keep the Tribe ahead in the second.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Detroit Tigers 1

Player of the Game

Travis Hafner provided almost all the offense today and for that he won his 4th Player of the Game of 2012. Hafner knocked in 2 with a home run to tie the game in the 6th and the Indians scored the go ahead run on Pronk's fielder's choice in the 8th.

Feathers Up

Zach McAllister was fantastic today as he pitched into the 7th and didn't allow a single walk. He did allow two earned runs, but they were as unearned as earned runs can be. Check the Feathers Down for the Indians defensive gaffs in the 6th inning.

Travis Hafner came up limping into third after he should have scored on a two out double, but hit a home run in his next at bat. The home run tied the game at two as Jason Kipnis had previously singled.

Vinnie Pestano was masterful getting out of a jam that he created for himself and Chris Perez was perfect in the 9th to win and save the game for the Indians. Perez has been perfect in save opportunities since opening day and Pestano now holds the Indians record for K's in consecutive relief outings with 23.

Milestone Alert: Two Indians hit milestones today as Travis Hafner played in his 1,051st game, good enough to tie him for 25th on the All-Time Indians list with Ray Chapman and Johnny Damon moved into 36th all time in Major League history with his 9,953rd at bat. Damon passed Pudge Rodriguez on the all-time list.

The series win keeps the Indians in 1st place in the Central through the next series with the White Sox and moves the Tigers to 5 games back. They will go for the sweep tomorrow against Justin Verlander with Justin Masterson on the mound. Get ready early for this must see baseball as the game starts at noon.

Feathers Down

The Indians played some terrible defense in the 6th and only some questionable official scoring allowed the runs allowed to be earned. First Jason Kipnis turned a single into a double by overrunning the ball on a bunt down the first base line. Andy Dirks then doubled over Shin-Soo Choo's head on a ball that could possibly have been caught to score Quintin Berry for the first run. The second run scored on a great diving stop by Asdrubal Cabrera at short when he made a poor throw to the plate. Carlos Santana was unable to catch the ball at all and the Tigers took a 2-0 lead.

Not that Jose Lopez hasn't performed admirably, but the Indians probably should have placed Jack Hannahan on the 15 Day DL when he was injured and brought up Lonnie Chisenhall. This is Hannahan's 9th day being listed as day-to-day and it doesn't look like he will start tomorrow either. His injury has severely limited the Indians bench options.

Play of the Game

Michael Brantley threw out fat and stupid as he tried to take third on a short fly to center.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 - Detroit Tigers 2

Player of the Game

Many different Indians players contributed to tonight's win, but it was Casey Kotchman who scored the most Player of the Game points. Kotchman hit 2 singles and a double, scored a run, and knocked a run in. His performance today gave him a score of 3.23. Shin-Soo Choo was a close second with a score of 3.01, and Travis Hafner in third with a 2.80.

Feathers Up

Milestone: Johnny Damon is now 37th in baseball history for career at bats, and he needs 2 more to move into 36th all time.

Shin-Soo Choo continues to dominate in the lead off position. Today, he went 2-4 with a walk, a single, and a double, 2 runs scored, and a stolen base.

Defense was stellar again tonight. Johnny Damon and Michael Brantley each make nice catches in the outfield. Second baseman, Jason Kipnis, made a nice spinning throw to get the runner at first.

The Indians continue their reign of the American League Central Division. They have just been exciting to watch. Every player contributed to today's win. Tonight's game against the Tigers had decent starting pitching, great relief pitching, outstanding situational hitting, 3 stolen bases, and outstanding defense. The Indians are proving that being in first place is no mistake.

A few Indians players have hitting streaks right now. Shin-Soo Choo has hit in 9 straight games and Jose Lopez has hit safely in all 8 games he has played filling in for injured Jack Hannahan.

Feathers Down

This game should not been as close as it was. Ubaldo Jimenez allowed 6 walks and 2 wild pitches. If you take away the walks and home run he allowed, Jimenez pitched a decent game.

Only 15,049 showed up for tonight's game.

Play of the Game

Jason Kipnis robs Ramon Santiago of a hit.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Detroit Tigers 3

The Indians remain in first place despite losing the last series to the Miami Marlins. With a three game lead over the Tigers, even with a sweep the Tribe will be tied for first as long as Chicago doesn't sweep the Twins. Of course the Indians will be looking to sweep as well over Tigers as that would put them up 6 games late in May. After the Detroit series the Indians will play the White Sox themselves, so this week will go a long way to determine the top of the Central Division.

The Tigers are currently struggling offensively, although you couldn't tell so from their record. Brennan Boesch, Alex Avila and Ryan Rayburn are all starters who are playing far below where the Tigers would like them to be. Last season Boesch and Avila had breakout years, especially Avila as he stole the starting catcher role from Victor Martinez and pushed him into being their designated hitter. Avila went to the All-Star game that year, but is far from All-Star quality right now as he is batting .221/.299/.381. Multi-millionaires Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder are carrying this team offensively now with a lot of help from young outfielders, Austin Jackson and Andy Dirks. Jackson has been especially productive this season as he looks to make the Tigers forget all about Curtis Granderson (they already have). Jackson has missed the last four games, but should be available for the start of the series in Cleveland.

May 22nd, 7:05 EST: Rick Porcello, RHP, 3-3, 5.12 ERA vs Ubaldo Jimenez, RHP, 4-3, 5.09 ERA

When you're doing a real statistical analysis, you generally throw out the top and bottom outliers as they aren't truly reresentitive of the whole. Doing this for Rick Porcello makes sense as the 8 runs he allowed in one inning against Texas should not have any bearing when evaluating his talent. If you take out that game and the next (his best game of the season against Chicago) he then has a 4.14 ERA which is closer to his career average of 4.59. Against the Indians he is even better as he has gone 5-1 in 12 starts with a 3.86 ERA.

Two quality starts in his last two games give Ubaldo Jimenez four total for 2012. Of course the Indians didn't trade their best two minor league pitching prospects for quality starts. They expected dominance, but you have to work one step at a time. Not surprisingly, 3 of Ubaldo's 4 wins have come in games where he had a quality start and he will look to add another on Tuesday against the Tigers.

May 23rd, 7:05 EST: Doug Fister, RHP, 0-2, 1.59 ERA vs Zach McAllister, RHP, 1-1, 4.34 ERA

Fister's ERA numbers are slightly overrated as he has only pitched in 22 innings this season. Fister pitched on April 7th, then spent entire month on the disabled list. Since his return he has started three times and pitched through the 6th each time. He has only given up 4 total runs, but the three games were against Oakland, Seattle and Minnesota, two of the three worst teams in the AL and the Oakland A's.

Zach McAllister seems to be finding his way back to normalcy as he allowed a season low 3 hits against the Seattle Mariners in an Indians win his last time out. Although he walked 5, control hadn't been an issue for him until that point. He currently has a strike out to walk ratio of 19 to 6 so he should have little trouble with the free swinging Tigers as far as that goes. He has also allowed only a single home run so far this season, a trend he will need to continue against the powerful Tigers if he expects to compete.

May 24th, 12:05 EST: Justin Verlander, 5-1, 2.14 ERA vs Justin Masterson, RHP, 1-3, 5.04 ERA

Verlander almost threw a no-hitter during his last start and is a threat to do so every time out on the mound. Justin Masterson will have to keep improving on his recent success to stay toe-to-toe with Justin Verlander in the battle of the Central Division Justins. This game was originally not going to be televisied, but due to the interesting match-up, what could very well be the top two teams in the Central fighting for first with their aces on the mound, STO decided to pick it up. Turn it on and enjoy some early ace baseball. Or even better, go to the game so Chris Perez doesn't get mad at you.