Most Improved Player - Justin Masterson

The most improved player is supposed to be a sappy award given to some returning player coming off an injury or terrible season. There were plenty of candidates for that after 2010 (Fausto Carmona, Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, etc), but none of them really improved in 2011. Justin Masterson went from a borderline starter/reliever that many people were willing to give up on to a bonafide ace. Masterson dropped 1.80 runs off his ERA between the two years and doubled his win total. He increased his strike outs and innings pitched while walking less batters even in the greater amount of innings. No player was more important than Masterson in games he started and last season he was just another starter.

"The Super Joe" Rookie of the Year Award - Vinnie Pestano

This was an extremely close race due to the large amount of rookies used by the Tribe this year. The main contenders were Jason Kipnis, Lonnie Chisenhall and Vinnie Pestano. Pestano comes out on top mostly because he spent the entire season with the team. Within the first month of the season Vinnie had moved into a prominent role in the "Bullpen Mafia," in fact the moniker was directly derived from him and Justin Germano. Pestano came in second on the team in holds (23) only one behind veteran lefty Tony Sipp. His 12.18 K/9 was by far the best of all Indians pitchers. His WHIP (1.05) and batting average against (.181) also lead the team. Pestano also was the only pitcher Manny Acta trusted when Chris Perez was unable to go and Vinnie came through, earning the only 2 non Chris Perez saves this year for the Tribe.

"The Steve Olin Memorial Award" for Best Reliever - Joe Smith

Joe Smith allowed 15 earned runs this year in 67 innings pitched for a 2.01 ERA. He only earned 16 holds and didn't earn any saves, but this was more of a lack of opportunity than actual talent. Chris Perez, who recorded 36 saves, was the only pitcher allowed to earn saves, but Smith was actually much more efficient during his time on the mound. His ERA lead all Indians while his WHIP (1.09) was only behind Pestano and Josh Tomlin, while his BAA was also third on the team. He pitched more games than any other reliever (tied at 71 with Rafael Perez) showing Acta's confidence in his right handed reliever. Only Chad Durbin pitched more innings out of the bullpen and his were in long relief and mop-up roles. Smith stranded 20 inherited runners this year, second on the team to Rafael Perez (25), saving the ERA's of other pitchers while still beating them in that stat. Joe Smith was just plain nasty this season. 

"The Big O" for Most Outstanding Defender - Jack Hannahan

This award I decided by mathematical equation based on my 'Player of the Game' system. The basic idea was +1 for any extra batter gotten out by good defense and -1 for any base given away by bad defense. Hannahan came out on top by 2 points. While Hannahan didn't qualify for the Gold Glove, his .983 fielding percentage was the best of all third basemen who made a single error. His 5 errors on the year were 10 less than Asdrubal Cabrera (the second best defender) made. While Cabrera did have more chances and plays a more demanding position, Hannahan was still better. 

Most Outstanding Hitter - Asdrubal Cabrera

Since there were only two starting hitters that played the whole season, the pool for this award was shallow, but Asdrubal really did earn it. Before this season, Cabrera had 18 home runs in more than 300 games played. In 2011 he hit 25 more. The new added power didn't completely destroy his batting average either as he hit .273, better than any Indian starter except Travis Hafner. Cabrera lead the team in hits, runs and RBI, while he remained at least in second in all the other significant hitting stats like doubles, home runs and walks. 

"The Addie" for Best Overall Pitcher - Justin Masterson

Most of the significant reasons for this were included in his earlier award, but there are a few more things that can be stated here. Masterson lead the team in ERA (among qualifiers), starts, wins, innings pitched and strike outs. When Justin Masterson pitched this year, every one expected the Indians to win. During games he pitched the team runs allowed per game were a full run lower than the team average for the year. His win total was harmed by the fact that the team scored less runs for him than for the rest of the staff. The numbers he pulled off at the end of the season were simply amazing considering what the rest of the team gave him in his starts.

"The Rose Award" for Best Overall Player - Asdrubal Cabrera

While Masterson was the best player in the 33 starts he made, the best player in the other 129 was Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera was undoubtedly the best offensive player on the team as already stated and was arguably the best defender. Cabrera was also the best base runner as he lead the team in steals (17) and was third in extra bases (40), just two behind the leader Michael Brantley. Most impressively Cabrera avoided the disabled list all season, only once taking two consecutive days off. His first game off during the year was game 89 a few days after he was removed from a game after he sprained his ankle and was almost unable to walk. Later in the season he hurt his knee and elbow at different times, but never missed more than a game for each. Only after the Indians were eliminated did he take any real time off. He was given 8 of the last 19 games off as he looked completely drained from carrying the team on his back all season. The Indians were so confident in his ability and duribility they didn't even carry a true back up short stop until Jason Donald was called up for game 105. Asdrubal deserves more credit than any other player for the Indians sustained playoff run in 2011.

The Burning River Awards are things I just made up and are not official Cleveland Indians team awards.

2011 saw the advacement of some veteran players, the entrance of some talented rookies and the return of a future Hall of Famer. Some of these players used the season to add themselves to the annuls of Tribe lore, entering or maintaining their positions in the Cleveland Indians all time career statistical leader charts.

Jim Thome

The return of Jim Thome was a welcome surprise in 2011. He already lead the team in a few statistical categories over his career and, while he didn't move up any, he did add a few more numbers to his already gaudy stats. Thome currently leads all Indians all time in career home runs (337), walks (1,008) and strike outs (1,400). Thome has about 150 more home runs, almost 500 home runs and more than 500 more strike outs than the next best active Indian in all those categories. Coincidentally, that Indian is Travis Hafner in all three cases. Thome remains where he stood in the top ten in runs (4th all time with 928), doubles (10th with 263), RBI (2nd with 937), total bases (4th with 2,667), OBP (3rd with .414), slugging percent (4th with .566), OPS (second with .980) and ISO (2nd with .279). 

The Bullpen Mafia

As with the single season records, many career records were imposed upon by this year's bullpen, mostly due to the recency of the use of a bullpen and certain relief stats. Four pitchers moved into the top 8 in career holds as an Indian this season, replacing such lofty names as Scott Sauerbeck and Jensen Lewis. Those pitchers were Rafael Perez (2nd place with 69 holds), Tony Sipp (3rd with 48), Joe Smith (5th with 42) and Vinnie Pestano (8th with 23). The all time record holder remains Rafael Betancourt wi 84, but he could be unseated as soon as next season if Perez has another great season.

Chris Perez also moved his name up in the record books in both saves and save opportunities. Perez is now 5th all time in saves with 68, directly trailing Mike Jackson's 94 and ultimately behind Bob Wickman's 139. He is second in save opportunities (83), because they have not been keeping track of those as long as they have been saves.

Negative Records

Fausto Carmona has surprisingly hit the 4th most batters of all Indians pitchers ever. This is despite being 40th in innings pitched. His 58 hit batters is only one behind Mel Harder and two behind Bob Feller, basically making him a lock for second if he plays at all next season. George Uhle remains on top with 95. Uhle, Harder and Feller all pitched at least 1,300 more innings than Carmona has to this point.

While Thome maintains his crown as the all-time strike out king, his spot is not as safe as it should be. Moving up the line, Travis Hafner is now second all time wi 833 k's and Grady Sizemore is 4th with 816. Good thing Manny Acta fired John Nunnally so they won't strike out anymore.

While the 2011 Cleveland Indians team didn't reach their ultimate goal, a few of their players did make a name for themselves by entering the Indians record books. Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana were forced into the spotlight when every other starter on the team was injured and they didn't disappoint. The Tribe bullpen was also a strong point, made essential by the lack of offense and the erratic starting pitching. Here are the new Cleveland Indians single season record holders.

Carlos Santana

While no there were no all-time records broken, there were some that were shattered by position. Carlos Santana played more games in 2011 than any other starting catcher has ever played for the Indians. Even though he played some time at first base, his 155 games seems silly with the amount of player coddling that happens now. The previous high for a player who was primarily a catcher was 153 by Victor Martinez in 2006. Santana also broke the runs record set in 2006 by Victor Martinez by scoring two more runs, a total of 84. Santana's 27 home runs beat out Victor's 25 in 2007, but only tied the all-time best for the Tribe, 27 by Gary Alexander in 1978. The 97 times Santana walked were more than 20 better than the next best catcher as both Steve O'Neill and Johnny Romano had 73 walks for the previous high. This combination of patience and switch hitting power is what made him seem like such a prize to the Indians in the first place and now he is starting to show it is for real. Hopefully I'll be able to write another one of these next season about how he broke all of his own records from this year.

Asdrubal Cabrera

After his hot start, it seemed like Asdrubal was going to break every Indians record there is for a short stop. It turned out not to be too easy as the Indians have had some of the greatest short stops in all of baseball play for them. Most noteably Joe Sewell and Lou Boudreau who hold each of the top 7 RBI seasons for an Indians short stop. Asdrubal's 92 in 2011 is still 8th best all time, but that isn't that impressive. Closer to the top, his 25 home runs were second most for a player whose primary position was short stop, behind only Woodie Held's 1959 season, when he hit 29. Since Held played some time at third that year, Cabrera does have the official record for most home runs while playing short stop. In setting this he surpassed Jhonny Peralta's 2005 season when he hit 24.

The Bullpen Mafia

While no single season records were set in 2011, there were some that were attempted. The single season holds leader list has been completely overhauled as three new names appear in the top 10. Rafael Betancourt still holds the record of 31 holds in 2007, but Tony Sipp's 24 and Vinnie Pestano's 23 were good enough for 4th and 5th place all time. Joe Smith also added his name to the list with 16 holds, tying him for 9th. Since holds only became an official statistic in 1999, these records are not quite as meaningful as some others.

Chris Perez just scratched the top ten in his own category of most saves in a single year. His 36 saves in 2011 place him firmly in 9th place all time, behind some guys named Mesa (1995 and 1996), Borowski (2007), Wickman (2005), Jackson (1999) and Jones (1990 and 1988). While we do have save records for all of baseball history, teams didn't really have closers before the 1970's and didn't use closers only in save opportunities until the 1990's.

Anyone who has read the blog over the past year knows that I have an equation for finding out who the 'Player of the Game' in each game. The updated career standings can be found here. I feel that my equation is a pretty accurate when discussing any players performance over any length of time. One cool thing about this stat is that I can split it encompasses every aspect of the game and can be split up into those different parts. Here are the final totals for the 2011 Cleveland Indians:

GP = Games Played, Offense = Total Offensive Score, Defense = Total Defensive Score, Pitching = Total Pitching Score, Total = All 3 Scores Together, PPG = Average Score Per Game, POG = Number of Awards Won In 2011.

Like you might expect, Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana were the teams top offensive performers of the season while Justin Masterson lead all pitchers. Note that almost every player has a negative defensive score. This is due to the fact that unearned runs count against the player who made the error, rather than the pitcher. This is why Lonnie Chisenhall has such a poor score for the season. A large part of his offensive score was made irrelevant by his many costly errors. Catcher scores are also very low in defense as most (but not all) stolen bases are counted against them.

While the chart above is interesting, it doesn't tell the whole tale. In the next chart I split the numbers again. This time between wins and losses. Players performances during wins can tell more about how much they helped the team during the season. 

W Total = POG Score In Wins, Wins = # of Wins Played In, PPGWin = Points Per Game in Wins, POGWin = Awards Won In Wins.

Starting pitchers have the largest disparity between winning games and losing them, because they are the most crucial players on the field while they are playing. Especially sticking out in this case are Carlos Carrasco, David Huff and Ubaldo Jimenez, all who had per game scores of around 5 while pitching during wins and negative scores during losses. Justin Masterson's much more even numbers between wins and losses shows he is better at keeping his team in every game, but the other pitchers were more likely to actually win the game when they played well.

Asdrubal stands out on this chart as well as he increases his points per game significantly during wins, showing that when he plays better, the Indians play better. This is not true about everyone as some players, like Ezequiel Carrera, Jason Donald and Cord Phelps, didn't see their averages change much between wins and losses.Cabrera also led the team in the only 'Player of the Game' awards that really matter, the ones that happen during wins.

One of the Indians greatest strengths this season was their defense. Not only by itself, but also as an asset to the pitchers by making plays that can't normally be expected. Every time I saw an out of the ordinary play this season I wrote it down and after evaluating the entire season I found 196 above average plays, 55 great plays and 15 amazing plays. Here are the top 10 plays in reverse order along with the 5 plays that just didn't make the cut.

The five that almost made it:

Jack Hannahan's "Living Grab"

Ezequiel Carrera makes a flying catch

Carrera's forward dive

Trevor Crowe's falling catch

Austin Kearn's slow motion, full extension dive

#10 Kosuke Fukudome's diving sacrifice fly:

On August 11th the Indians were facing the Tigers heavy into the Central Division race and looking for a sweep. With one out in the first Fukudome made this great diving catch to save an extra base hit. The run did score, marring this play and keeping it from being a little higher in the countdown. The Indians ended up losing the game by one run, then went on to lose the next 9 games against Detroit.

#9 Major League quality defense:

In his Major League debut, Cord Phelps proved that he was ready for the show by making this full extension diving catch from second base. The play came with a runner at second, so it possibly saved a run from scoring. The Indians ended up losing this one to the Twins by one run.

#8 Fukudome climbs the wall:

While it was not a home run saver, Fukudome helped out closer, Chris Perez, immensely by grabbing this ball off the right field wall in Minnesota to make the first out in the 9th. The catch was made all the more difficult by the overhang located above the fence. Perez managed to finish the rest of the inning safely and won the game for the Tribe.

#7 And now for something completely different:

Fukudome's third and final play on this countdown was a little different than the first two. This one was more of a conrolled fall as his momentum carried him through the air. The out was the final out in the 4th inning of a big win against the White Sox. 

#6 Shin-Soo Choo's game ending catch:

Chris Perez was on again to try for a save with runners on second and third and two outs in the 9th. Shin-Soo Choo made this amazing forward diving catch to end the game and save it for Perez.

#5 Zeke goes deep:

Ezequiel Carrera had a pretty good defensive season after a stumbling start and, like Fukudome, had three plays up for the top ten. However, this was the only one that was good enough to make the cut. This diving catch came in a loss to the Rangers and was a full speed, back to the infield catch to save Vinnie Pestano at least a double.

#4 Asdrubal Cabrera flings one to first:

If Asdrubal Cabrera gets any talk about being a Gold Glover this season, the fact that this is only the 4th best defensive play this season could be a reason. One thing that makes any play amazing is the fact that a regular person couldn't do it ever. This play is so ridiculous that there are probably only a handful of Major Leaguers who are capable of pulling it off. 

#3 Asdrubal shows off:

The non necessity of the behind the back throw on this play makes it great. Three days before the #4 play, Asdrubal made this stunning combination of a line drive out and behind the back flip to catch Brannen Boesch off second base. If you think this is good, just wait to see what #13 has coming up.

#2 The slowest triple play ever:

Carlos Santana made the second best play of the season in just the third game. In the fourth inning the White Sox and Ozzie Guillen were trying to get something started with runners on first and second and no one out. Trying for a little small ball, Alexei Ramirez popped up a sacrifice bunt that Santana made an all out diving catch on. This catch was made more impressive by the fact that it was his first regular season game at first base. Because the runners were off with the pitch, Santana was able to take his time throwing to Orlando Cabrera at first, who then noticed the runner who was supposed to be on second was off hanging out somewhere else. Asdrubal Cabrera caught the ball to complete the triple play, because he has to be a part of every great defensive play the Indians make. This play and a strong offense lead to the first Indians win of 2011.

#1 The 1-6-4-3 Double Play AKA: Something you may never see again:

Joe Smith should get all the credit for this play, because if he didn't tip this ball, it would have been a tailor made double play. Asdrubal Cabrera's amazing instincts to shift momentum, grab the ball barehanded and throw it hard to second are second to none. This is undoubtedly the best play in Asdrubal's young career and the best play by any Indian this season.

Do you agree? Disagree? Have a play you think got left out? Don't be afraid to leave a comment on the bottom of the page or to sent one via twitter to @BRBBlog

All video courtesy of MLB.com

The Indians season may be over, but we're not done yet over here at BurningRiverBaseball.com. We will continue to produce unique pieces daily during the off season. Coming later today will be the Indians top ten defensive plays from 2011 and over the next month there will be statistical updates from this year, discussions of team MVP/league MVP and an update of the contracts section of the site to tell you who will be back next year and who will be gone. We will also keep you updated with any big news during the offseason as we prepare for 2012. Keep coming back as Burning River Baseball will still be here with all your Cleveland Indians needs.

The 2011 Cleveland Indians season has ended with silence after a very exciting first half. The Tribe went 20-8 (.714) over the first 28 games, giving hope to a fan base that hasn't had much to cheer for during the last 3 seasons. During that stretch they had two separate win streaks of more than 7 games including sweeps of both Boston and Detroit. Few expected this kind of performance from the Indians this season and the dream was to be shattered very quickly. Over the rest of the season Cleveland went 60-74 (.448). The hot start enabled the Tribe to grab an early lead in the AL Central and keep it every game from April 8th to June 14th. The battle for the Central Division crown then ensued between the Indians and Tigers during the following weeks. While Indians fans wish it could have lasted a little longer, the Tribe did put up a fight, holding at least a share of first until July 22nd when they were unable to keep up with the red hot Tigers. Series losses to White Sox, Angels and Royals placed the Indians in a solid second place and the 10 straight losses to Detroit to end the season cemented their position.

Unsurprisingly, the Indians success and failure corresponded with a rash of injuries that plagued the team all season. While Grady Sizemore started the season on the disabled list, he was the only starting player on the list at the time. The first big player to go down was Mitch Talbot. While it may not seem like a big deal, Talbot had played extremely well the season before and had pitched well in his first two starts. After the injury he was never the same. His first start back was probably his worst in his short career as he went 3 innings and gave up 8 earned runs. Carlos Carrasco was injured about a week after Talbot, extremely taxing the Indians rotational depth. Jeanmar Gomez and Alex White were called up in their stead, but White was injured after only 3 starts and was never to pitch for the Indians again. Around this same time, Travis Hafner strained his oblique and Grady Sizemore returned to the DL with another knee injury. There are very few teams in Major League Baseball who could still compete with two of their star players missing, but the pain was only beginning for the Indians. Within a month and a half Matt LaPorta, Shin-Soo Choo and Fausto Carmona all hit the DL as well. Before Choo came back from the DL, Sizemore, Talbot and Carrasco all made return trips. 

During this hard stretch, the Indians decided to go all in to try to win the Central. Trades with Colorado and the Cubs saw the exit of Alex White and Drew Pomeranz in exchange for the services of Kosuke Fukudome and Ubaldo Jimenez. These players possibly could have helped if the rest of the team had maintained, but shortly after their entrance, the rest of the team fell apart. Michael Brantley, who had been the Indians second most productive player to that point of the season broke a bone in his hand and was announced out for the year. Jason Kipnis, a rising rookie star fresh off of home runs in 5 consecutive games tore his oblique and strained his hamstring. He managed a short comeback at the end of the year, but by then it was too late. Josh Tomlin, who was the second best Indians starter this year, missed his last 6 starts due to elbow soreness.

The greatest piece of this Indians team in 2011 was undoubtedly what became known as the "Bullpen Mafia." While the rest of the team struggled with injuries and slumps, the "Bullpen Mafia" powered through the season, playing just about as perfect as a bullpen can. Chris Perez anchored the pen as the closer, but was not necessarily the best pitcher. Joe Smith had the best ERA and was so much more than a right handed specialist. Vinnie Pestano has the composure of a 10 year vet, but the energy level of the rookie he is. Tony Sipp was the perfect set up man and led the team in holds, while Rafael Perez was still available for any extra lefties that needed to be faced. The final year long bullpen member was Chad Durbin, who, while he struggled, still managed to pitch in 68 innings, more than any other reliever. His numbers are not good, but he saved the Indians numerous wins by pitching multiple innings in lost cause games, saving the talented members of the bullpen for more important situations.

Next season looks to be a lot different than this one. Already changes has been made with the bench and pitching coaches deciding to retire. Indians management has also already announced plans to add to the team by spending competitively in the free agent market. On the other hand some things will stay the same. Manny Acta has already been extended for 2012 and every integral member of the team is signed on for next year. Only the 2011 free agent pick ups like Durbin and Jack Hannahan have expiring contracts. One thing that will be completely different is that the Indians won't be able to surprise anyone. After the way they played in the first half, everyone knows this team has what it takes to win the division. All it should take is a little luck and some smart off-season moves and hopefully next year will be even more exciting than this year was.

Player of the Game

Zach McAllister had an outstanding outing tonight, winning him his only "Player of the Game" award of the season. McAllister's score of 4.37 comprised of 5 innings pitched. He allowed 6 hits, just one for extra bases. McAllister struck out 4 and walked only one batter. The one run that was given up while McAllister was on the mound was not earned due to a fielding error by Ezquiel Carrera.

Feathers Up

The Indians struck first tonight with a run in the 3rd inning. Matt LaPorta reached on a walk and the next batter, Ezquiel Carrera, tripled him home. The Indians had a runner on third with just one out and were unable to add any more runs.

The Indians were able to add to their one-run lead in the 4th inning. Asdrubal Cabrera and Travis Hafner led the inning off with singles. Carlos Santana walked, and Jack Hannahan drove in a run on a single. The Indians scored a second run in the inning when a double-play ball off the bat of Matt LaPorta was poorly played by the Detroit defense. The ruling was an error, all were safe, and a run score. After 4 innings, the Indians had a 3-1 advantage.

The Indians were able to tie the game in the top of the 8th inning after Travis Hafner doubled, both Carlos Santana and Shelley Duncan walked, and Jack Hannahn hit a sacrifice fly.

Feathers Down

I guess Manny Acta did not want to see the last game of the season. Acta was ejected in the middle of the first inning after arguing about a called third strike on Asdrubal Cabrera. Maybe Acta was paying tribute to bench coach, Tim Tolman, allowing him to manage his last game as a coach in baseball. Tolman is retiring at the end of the season, mostly due to his battle with Parkinson's Disease. First base coach Sandy Alomar, Jr., will probably replace Tolman as bench coach in the 2012 season.

Joe Smith and the rest of the bullpen had a great season, but pitched horribly tonight. Smith came on in relief in the 6th inning. He gave up 3 singles, walked 2, and gave up 2 runs. Zach Putnam didn't pitch much better in the 7th inning. Putnam gave up a lead-off triple to Wilson Betemit, who scored on a wild pitch. Putnam pitched 0.2 innings, and gave up one run on 2 hits. Between the two relievers tonight, a 2-run lead was blown and the Tigers were able to take a 4-3 lead after 7 innings. The Indians were able to tie the game in the top of the 8th, but that didn't last long. Vinnie Pestano pitched in the bottom of the 8th inning and gave up a lead-off home run to Jhonny Peralta.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 - Detroit Tigers 5

Player of the Game

Jim Thome provided the Tribe with some offense tonight as he won his 2nd "Player of the Game" award since rejoining the Indians. Thome singled, doubled, and walked. He also scored 2 runs and drove in one, giving him a PoG score of 4.06.

Feathers Up

The Indians provided some offense tonight, scoring in 4 consecutive innings. They scored one run in the fourth inning on a Shelly Duncan double. Their run in the fifth inning on a wild pitch by Max Scherzer. In the sixth inning, the Indians scored two runs on a Jason Donald single. The Indians scored 2 more runs in the seventh inning. Jim Thome doubled in a run and Lonnie Chisenhall hit an RBI single.

Once again, Nick Hagadone looked strong in relief for the Indians. Hagadone pitched 1.2 innings. He did not allow a hit, struck out 2, and picked a runner off of first base. Hagadone has been fantastic in his last 5 outings.

Zach Putnam also had a good outing out of the bullpen. Putnam pitched the 8th inning, retiring all three Tiger hitters he faced and struck out one.

Feathers Down

The Indians fell behind early when starting pitcher Jeanmar Gomez gave up 3 runs in the first inning. Gomez pitched to 8 batters, giving up 4 hits and hitting a batter. The Tigers were able to add one more one in the second inning when Wilson Betemit hit a solo shot off of Gomez. In the fourth inning, Gomez gave up 2 more runs on a line drive that cleared the fence off the bat of Delmon Young. Gomez ended the night pitching 4.2 innings, giving up 8 runs on 10 hits.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 - Detroit Tigers 9

Player of the Game

The Indians total team score of -17.17 made this game the worst of the season for the Tribe and I don't think anyone can really question that. With that in mind it is hard to give anyone a 'Player of the Game' award, so I will just mention the two players who came out of the game with a positive score. Matt LaPorta lead the team with a score of 0.72 for his 2 singles, while Jered Head had a single of his own for a score of 0.33 as a pinch hitter. It was a great effort by everyone on the team.

Feathers Up

We got to see Corey Kluber in his first extended action tonight as he went 2+ innings against the Central Division Champion Tigers. The first two innings went very well as he struck out 2 and didn't allow a hit. His attempt at a third inning wasn't so successful as he allowed hits to all four batters he faced and all scored without an out being recorded. Josh Judy allowed two of those runs when he gave up a home run to Delmon Young

Relax, tonight's Indians team that got killed by the Tigers will not be the 2012 Cleveland Indians. Absent from the lineup today were a plethora of starters including Carlos Santana, Michael Brantley, Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo. While the bullpen mafia is still available in the pen, the relievers who pitched tonight have nothing to do with them. Josh Judy and Corey Kluber are both AAA caliber players that are just using up innings waiting for the season to end.

Feathers Down

Lou Marson tries to block the plate from behind it. Maybe he is actually trying to keep the player from going back to the dugout after they score. He did it once early in the game to day and has done it on multiple occasions in the past. Anyone who thinks Marson is defensively superior to Carlos Santana is lying to their self. The numbers have shown that as Marson has played more, his caught stealing percentage has decreased to a more normal .377. More noteably he has allowed 5 passed balls in 72 starts, more than Santana has in 87.

Every Indians pitcher allowed at least 4 runs tonight, so you'll have that.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 0 - Detroit Tigers 14