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.

Player of the Game

Jose Lopez has done a superb job filling in for injured third baseman, Jack Hannahan. His efforts today won him Player of the Game honors. He was 3-4 today with a single and two doubles and drove in 2 of the 3 Indians runs. His score of 3.97 gives him his 3rd Player of the Game of the season.

Feathers Up

Shin-Soo Choo and Michael Brantley put themselves in scoring position after reaching on a walk and a single, respectively. They each had a stolen base in hopes of jump starting the offense for the Tribe. Choo was abandoned at second base at the end of the 1st inning, but Brantley scored in the 5th after a Jose Lopez single.

Derek Lowe pitched well enough to get the win, but did not get the run support he needed to do so. Lowe pitched 6 innings, giving up just 2 runs. Derek Lowe continues to be a reliable asset to the Indians starting rotation.

Pure Rage Chris Perez displayed his rage in an interview after yesterday's game, and again with the press this morning. To sum it all up, Perez is sick of being booed at home, would like more support from Indians fans, and does not understand the negative vibe that is Cleveland. He stated that this is a first place team and fans should be showing up to games, instead of sulking and assuming it will not last. Perez makes some good points. The Tribe's attendance this season has been pathetic and fans should support their players, not expect the worst outcomes. Hopefully this clicks with those in the Cleveland area and more people will make it down to the ballpark to support their local team.

Feathers Down

Johnny Damon looks ridiculous sometimes, attempting to play left field. For those of you who saw the game, you know just what I am talking about. In the 8th inning with 2 runners on, a ball was hit over Damon's head, but was very catchable. As Damon approached the wall, he decided it was a better idea to go face first into the wall than to try to catch the ball.  This was ruled as a double with an earned run and more runs followed.

The game was within a run until the 8th inning. Nick Hagadone started the inning giving up a lead off double. He was removed from the game immediately after, giving way to Jeremy Accardo. Accardo gave up 3 runs (one of which was Hagadone's), giving the Marlins a 5-1 advantage with only 2 innings left for the Indians to try to come back.

The Indians were unable to win this series against the Miami Marlins. They have a day off tomorrow before beginning an important series against the 3rd place Detroit Tigers. The day off should help the Tribe, in hopes that they will come back on Tuesday swinging the bats and producing runs.

Play of the Game

Johnny Damon misplays a ball in left field, opening the game up for the Marlins.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Miami Marlins 5

Player of the Game

Jeanmar Gomez picks up today's Player of the Game  with a stellar performance on the mound for his second start in a row. Gomez earned a 7.77 with 6.1 shut out innings and only 6 base runners allowed. Gomez was aided by a couple double plays, including one he started himself. This is not just his second consecutive award, but 4 of the last 6 have been won by the Indians starting pitcher of the day. More on that later.

Feathers Up

How did this happen? The last time through the rotation, every single starter had a good outing going back to Jeanmar Gomez's last start. Gomez continued this success in today's start as he went 6.1 scoreless innings. Over those 6 games Indians starters have thrown 41 innings (6.8 per game) and only allowed 7 runs for an ERA of 0.65.

Asdrubal Cabrera hit a solo home run today to provide for enough runs to win the game. It is his 5th of the season and although he may never hit for as much power as he did in 2011, he is showing that it wasn't a total fluke.

The Bullpen Mafia was impressive today, making up for their less than remarkable outing yesterday. Joe Smith started off by getting a double play to end his inning and Vinnie Pestano followed with a perfect inning including a strike out to earn his hold. Chris Perez finished the game off in style as three Marlins hitters never lifted the bats off their shoulders as he struck out each batter looking.

Feathers Down

Edward Mujica pitched a 1-2-3 inning today. I don't think he ever did that during his entire career with the Indians. What's up wit dat?

Play of the Game

In the 6th inning, Jeanmar Gomez helped himself out after hitting a batter by fielding a ball and going to second for the double play.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Miami Marlins 0

Player of the Game

Justin Masterson pitched 7 innings as tonight's Player of the Game with a score of 3.92. In his no-decision, Masterson gave up just 2 runs and struck out 5. He allowed 6 hits and 3 walks, but was helped out by his battery mate, who threw out 3 base stealers. The is Materson's 3rd Player of the game award of the season, tying him for 2nd on the team.

Feathers Up

The bottom of the lineup came through for the Indians to score their first 2 runs in the 2nd inning. Johnny Damon walked with 2 outs in the inning, then Casey Kotchman doubled, scoring Damon. Lead off hitter, Shin-Soo Choo, then singled, scoring Kotchman. The bottom of the lineup has proven to be critical the last few games, coming through to produce runs.

Carlos Santana threw out a career high 3 attempted base stealers. The Marlins tried running on him early in the game. They attempted 4 stolen bases, the first of which was successful when Santana threw the ball into center field, but he nailed the next 3 runners. The Marlins did not attempt another stolen base after the 5th inning.

Feathers Down

The Tribe bullpen went to work in the 8th inning when the game was tied at 2. Tony Sipp recorded one out and walked a batter, before handing the ball over to Joe Smith. Smith then forced a come-backer to the mound, but committed an error when trying to pick the runner off second, which allowed him to go to third. This situation with one out was perfect for the Marlins to hit a sacrifice fly and take the lead.

The Indians only had 4 hits tonight, making it difficult to score more than 2 runs.

Play of the Game

Carlos Santana guns down 3 runners attempting to steal.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Miami Marlins 3

The Indians sweep of Seattle brings their winning streak to 4, immediately after having a three game losing streak. This streak has moved the Indians to 4 games ahead of the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. This is thanks to the series sweep of the Tigers by the Minnesota Twins. There will be a few familiar faces when the Indians play the Marlins as former central division foes John Buck (Royals), Omar Infante (Tigers) and Mark Buehrle (White Sox) currently reside in Miami. Former Indian outcasts Austin Kearns and Edward Mujica have also found a home with the Marlins. After seeing Carl Pavano and Jamey Carroll with the Twins and Eric Wedge with the Mariners its like all the Indians mistakes are coming back to play against them. Maybe this was the plan the whole time. Sign a bunch of terrible players then distribute them among the teams so the Tribe get to play against them.

May 28th, 7:05 EST: Carlos Zambrano, RHP, 1-2, 1.88 ERA vs Justin Masterson, RHP, 1-3, 5.40 ERA

Sometimes when you put crazy and crazy together they cancel each other out. This appears to be the case with Carlos Zambrano this year, as his union with Ozzie Guillen as been a success to this point. Zambrano was amazing as the Cubs ace, steadily improving from 2002 through 2007, but had fallen off in recent years. His decline in effectiveness and his childlike temper tantrums were enough to make Chicago give up on him. He has found new success in his new home, however, as he has only allowed 10 runs all season in almost 50 innings. In his last three games he has allowed only one run and struck out 21 in 23 innings. The one crack in Zambrano's game to this point in the season is that he is still wild. He has allowed 20 combined walks and hit batters, two things that the Indians excel at.

Justin Masterson has been really hard to figure out this season. In his last outing he was bombed by the Red Sox for 6 runs after having three straight quality starts. It's possible that the Red Sox had been under performing and they used that series to break out of it, but some of the blame has to fall on Masterson. He was uncharacteristically wild, hitting three batters, and when he did throw strikes, they got hit. On the season the Marlins have not been a great offensive team (144 runs scored, .238 batting average), so Masterson may be able to keep them in check a little easier than the Red Sox. Offensively the guy to look out for is Giancarlo Stanton, who has 8 home runs and 24 RBI through a month and a half. Their lineup isn't very deep, so if Indians pitching can limit the damage by Stanton and Hanley Ramirez, it shouldn't be too hard to deal with the rest of the roster. 

May 29th, 4:05 EST: Anibal Sanchez, RHP, 2-1, 2.28 ERA vs Jeanmar Gomez, RHP, 2-2, 3.75

Sanchez has thrown a quality start out there every time out so far, but hasn't gone much further from that. He has only given up more than 2 runs once this season (his first start), but has not thrown past the 7th inning. This series should feature some tough pitching match-ups in general as each team is sending it's three best starters out there.

After only giving up 4 runs in April through 15.1 innings, Gomez has allowed 11 runs in 20.2 innings during May. This includes his last time out when he threw 7 innings and didn't allow an earned run. It's not surprising that Gomez has pitched better against Minnesota, Oakland and Kansas City and worse against Chicago and Texas. Too this point Gomez is doing his job by beating the teams he is supposed to and some of those he isn't. He would like to continue this trend with a good outing against the weak hitting Marlins.

May 30th, 1:05 EST: Josh Johnson, RHP, 1-3, 5.36 ERA vs Derek Lowe, RHP, 6-1, 2.05

Johnson has definitely been hittable this year. Over his career he has a 3.12 ERA, but since coming back from injury he has struggled some. Twice this year he has not been able to get through the 4th inning and he has given up 5 or more runs 3 times. Out of the three games this series, this one will feature the Marlins worst pitcher against the Indians best.

Derek Lowe pitched a complete game shutout in his last start. This is madness. Manny Acta doesn't let starters throw nine innings!

Injury News: Travis Hafner is currently day to day after being hit by a pitch in the hand. He will probably miss the opener, but should be back by Saturday.

Jack Hannahan, who has missed the last 4 games with a strained back, is on schedule to be back in the starting lineup during this series, at least by the finale on Sunday.

Grady Sizemore took batting practice before the game on 5/16, but will not be back in the lineup until mid June at the earliest.