Player of the Game

Asdrubal Cabrera hit the game winning home run and was only a triple away from the cycle as he won his team leading 16th 'Player of the Game' award. Cabrera scored 7.74 'POG' points for his 3-5, 4 RBI night. By my accounting, this was his third best night of the season statistically, behind only the two games he hit two home runs in.

Feathers Up

Jim Thome hit an opposite field home run to tie the game against the Royals at 4. It was his 335th home run in an Indians jersey and his 602nd all time. I don't know if I'll keep mentioning it, but as the team leader in home runs, walks and strike outs, every time he does one of these things, it will be a new Indians record. They are also all records that are unlikely to be broken anytime soon. There is certainly no one involved with the Indians right now that has the capability of breaking any of them.

Jack Hannahan has been very hot of late, especially in the last two games. In the last two games, Hannahan has had multiple 2 out hits with runners on base. In his last 4 games, Hannahan has 9 hits (all singles except for the triple tonight) and 6 RBI, including one in each game and three tonight. Hannahan's hot play has lead Lonnie Chisenhall, who has struggled some (but not that badly), to spend an inordinate amount of time on the bench.

Leading off Kosuke Fukudome tonight was a good move by manager Manny Acta. Since Michael Brantley will be out for an unknown amount of time, it is important to find a replacement that has a little more experience and is a little more dependable than Ezequiel Carrera and Jason Donald. The top of the lineup in tonight's game was stronger than any in a long time with Fukudome followed by Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo, Carlos Santana and Jim Thome. Now if Matt LaPorta ever gets back into the lineup the Indians should be able to score as much as any other team.

Feathers Down

Shin-Soo Choo started tonight's game, but was removed after his second at bat with the same sides sorenes that has been bothering him over the last couple days. I wouldn't be surprised to see Choo held out of tomorrow's game, as it is a quick turn around in a 1:05 start.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 8 - Kansas City Royals 7

Roster Update: Injuries have really killed the Tribe this season and we have two more to add to the list. Michael Brantley's day-to-day wrist problem has pushed him onto the 15 day DL along with starting pitcher Josh Tomlin, who is out with right elbow soreness. These two bring the Tribe DL to 7 players, all of whom are starters except for Trevor Crowe, who has yet to play a game on the team this year. Nick Hagadone and Jim Thome were brought up for Brantley and Tomlin.

Player of the Game

Ubaldo Jimenez won his first 'Player of the Game' as an Indians, going 7 innings for only the 2nd time in 5 starts and only allowing one run on a solo home run. Jimenez struck out 10 and only walked one, giving him tremendous K/9 and K/BB rates for the game. Ubaldo had exactly the kind of swing and miss stuff that the Indians expected from him when they traded Alex White and Drew Pomeranz to Colorado. With the win, his final 'POG' score was 6.29, his second highest score of the year and enough to almost bring him back to 0.00 on the season.

Feathers Up

Shin-Soo Choo has returned from his side injury, and only ended up missing one full game. Choo didn't start today, but came in as a very talented defensive replacement in the 8th inning. He grounded out in his only at bat, but showed enough progress that he should start tomorrow.

Ubaldo Jimenez became the strike out machine that he is supposed to be for the first time today, striking out more than 7 batters in a game for the first time as an Indian. Jimenez struck out double digits for the 11th time in his career.

Feathers Down

It is much better to slide outside the plate when trying to score than to slide on the inside of the plate. There is a lot more room to manouver out there and it is harder to block the plate. Hopefully Kosuke Fukudome will learn this lesson from Carlos Santana. Who ever though Carlos Santana would be better at baserunning than anyone else.

When everyone was reading off Jim Thome's team records before the game started, the one they forgot was the one he leads by the most in. Strike outs. Thome had struck out 1,377 times prior to tonights game and added another 2 during the game. This now gives him more than 550 more than the next worst on the list, Travis Hafner. Unless the a young Indians phenom ends up turning into Mark Reynolds, this is one record that Thome may hold eternally.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Kansas City Royals 1

Summary:

The Indians have lost six of their last seven games. The last time Kansas City visited Progressive Field, they took two out of three from the Tribe. They outscored them, 19-8, and out-homered them, 6-2. Indians are hitting .305 (127-for-417) against the Royals this year. Masterson is 2-0 and Carmona 1-1 against them. The Royals entered Thursday night having lost eight of their last 11 games. Melky Cabrera is hitting .347 (17-for-49) with two homers and 12 RBI and Jeff Francoeur .333 (14-for-42) with three homers and seven RBI against the Tribe this year. Chen is 4-0 against the Indians in the last two years.

Pitching Matchups:

RHP Felipe Paulino (2-9, 4.40) vs. RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (7-10, 4.88) Friday at 7:05

LHP Danny Duffy (3-8, 5.48) vs. Fausto Carmona (6-12, 4.76) Saturday at 7:05 p.m.

LHP Bruce Chen (9-5, 4.12) vs. Justin Masterson (10-7, 2.83) Sunday at 1:05 p.m.

Royals Medical Watch:

• LF Alex Gordon (bruised right elbow) appeared as a defensive replacement Aug. 25. He is day-to-day.

• C Matt Treanor (concussion) went on the seven-day disabled list July 31 after being injured in a home-plate collision the night before. He passed a test Aug. 14 to establish whether he was recovered sufficiently to return to game action. Treanor, who was transferred to the 15-day disabled list, began a rehab assignment with Class AA Northwest Arkansas on Aug. 17.

• C Jason Kendall (right shoulder surgery in September 2010) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 22. He was transferred to the 60-day disabled list May 5. By June 8, he was taking batting practice on the field and throwing from up to 105 feet. Kendall reported to Surprise, Ariz., on June 20 to begin working out with the rookie-level Arizona League club, but he had a setback in early July. He underwent another shoulder operation July 13, and he will miss the rest of 2011 and all of the 2012 season.

Royals News/Notes:

• DH Billy Butler went 4-for-5, including two doubles, drove in two runs and scored two runs. In the three-game series at Toronto, Butler went 8-for-15 with five extra-base hits.

• 1B Mike Moustakas extended his hitting streak to a career-high eight games with a run-producing double off the right-field fence. He is 14-for-27 in the streak to hike his average from .182 to .222.

• The Royals took two of three at the Rogers Centre. The last time they won a series at Toronto was Aug. 19-21, 2002, when RHP Shawn Sedlacek and LHP Jeremy Affeldt were the winning pitchers.

• RHP Greg Holland entered in the seventh inning Thursday with Toronto's Mike McCoy on first. Holland retired Yunel Escobar on a fielder's choice grounder and struck out Eric Thames and Jose Bautista, stranding the runner. Holland, a rookie reliever, has permitted just one of 26 inherited runners to score. His 3.8 percent of inherited runners scoring is the best in the majors. Phillies LHP Antonio Bastardo is second at 6.9 percent (2-for-29).

• RHP Louis Coleman has struggled in his past two appearances. He surrendered a Brett Lawrie home run in the eighth inning Wednesday at Toronto to suffer the 4-3 loss to the Blue Jays. In his past two outings, he has yielded four runs on five hits in 1 2/3 innings. In his first 18 innings after the All-Star break, Coleman had given up just two runs.

• LHP Jeff Francis, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, got the win Thursday in his first career start in Canada. He allowed two runs on six hits in six innings during the Royals' 9-6 win over the Blue Jays.

With his next at bat, Jim Thome will begin his 13th season as a Cleveland Indian. Only 7 players have played more seasons than him, the most recent of which was Jim Hegan, who ended his 17 year tenure as an Indian in 1957. While he didn't leave on the greatest terms after the 2002 season, his accomplishments during his first 12 seasons with the Tribe far outweigh the negatives. Those accomplishments include the all time Indians records for home runs (334) and walks (997) as well as 3 all star appearances and a silver slugger. Bringing a player back from a long absence is nothing new for the Indians, who most recently brought back Thome's teammate Kenny Lofton for the 2007 playoff run. The most famous return was that of Rocky Colavito in 1965 after being traded to Detroit, but many others have come back to welcome receptions including Julio Franco, Doug Jones and Jim Perry.

This year, Thome can't be expected to near his past totals of home runs (37,49 and 52 in his last three seasons with the Indians), his power bat will be a huge improvement over Shelley Duncan and a suitable replacement for Travis Hafner, who now will not be missed as sorely if he truly does need surgery. I will be happy as long as he hits a couple more THome runs to increase his team record and continues the rate stats he had going with Minnesota (.248/.357/.385). Truthfully, all he needs to do to make me happy is to retire with a Cleveland Indians jersey on his back and go into the Hall of Fame with Chief Wahoo on his hat. Welcome back, Jimmy!

I've had this file saved on my computer for over a decade, glad I can finally use it for something.

The Indians and Jim Thome will not joining forces this season as the Chicago White Sox have made a claim on both Thome and Jason Kubel. It is still unknown whether the Twins will actually release Thome to the Sox, or decide to keep him, but the Jim Thome will not be an Indian in 2011. There ends another Indians dream.

*Edit: There are now conflicting reports that the Indians have also claimed Thome and that the White Sox may have just claimed Kubel. Since waiver news is supposed to be secret, there will be no official reports until an actual trade is made. There is also a rumor that Thome wants to return to Philadelphia and will use his no trade clause to avoid any other team. 

Roster Moves: Cord Phelps was promoted for Zach McAllister before today's game. Luis Valbuena previously been sent down to make room for Zach McAllister.

Player of the Game

Shelley Duncan went 3-5, all singles, with an RBI, knocking in half the Indians run to win his 5th 'Player of the Game' of the season. Duncan wasn't even scheduled to start the game, but was added minutes before the game started to replace Shin-Soo Choo. This game was even better for Duncan as he didn't look like an oaf while playing left field, like he does from time to time. Duncan's final score was 2.15, 0.77 points less than his score in last night's game. Duncan has played well in his two games back from his last trip to AAA and will probably remain on the team for the rest of the season as a pinch hitter/DH.

Feathers Up

After Felix Hernandez had effectively shut down Indians hitting the first time through the lineup, striking out the last 4 batters, Ezequiel Carrera lead off the third inning with a bunt back to the pitcher. Hernandez was not prepared for it and had to dive with Carrera ending up safe at first. Zeke then stole second and scored on Shelley Duncan's single. This was the best thing I saw in the game. When a pitcher is absolutely dominating, sometimes you have to try something different, especially when you know you don't have a chance against him.

It's irrelevant whether the Tigers win or lose if the Indians can't win anyway, so we can stop scoreboard watching. Losing 3 out of 4 against one of the worst teams in baseball is inexcusable.

Feathers Down

Shin-Soo Choo was held out of today's game after he hurt his side while stretching before the game. This sounds a lot like what knocked out Jason Kipnis. Maybe the Indians need to hire a yoga master to introduce some flexibility on the team. Michael Brantley is also day-to-day again with his wrist problem. So far Brantley has missed 8 games over the last 20 due to this injury, but has avoided the disabled list. At least when he is still on the roster he can pinch run and the Indians will have plenty of outfielders when Grady Sizemore returns and September 1st rolls around.

Maybe giving Asdrubal Cabrera a day off isn't a great idea when 2 of your best players are already out of the lineup with day-to-day injuries and Felix Hernandez is pitching for the opposition.

Josh Tomlin pitched 4.2 innings to successfully end his Major League record 37 game streak of pitching at least 5 innings each game to start a career. At first he looked like he has all season, giving up only a home run to Wily Mo Pena over the first 4 innings. Once the 5th inning started, he just lost it, allowing 4 more runs on 5 hits.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Seattle Mariners 9

Player of the Game

The player of the day was Shin-Soo Choo who, in his return to the lineup had a double, triple and 2 home runs between the two games. Choo knocked in 5 and scored twice, also walking twice on the night. There is no question now that Choo is the best hitter on the Indians now, as he should have been all season. He scored 5.50 'POG' points in game two of today's double header (2 more points than anyone else on the team) for 11.80 points on the day. Choo has averaged 2.27 points per game since his return from the disabled list, more than a full point over his season average.

Feathers Up

Kosuke Fukudome went yard for his first time in an Indians uniform. Fukudome hit a solo shot down the right field line in the bottom of the second inning to give the Indians an early 1-0 advantage.

Jack Hannahan showed off his defensive skills tonight with a few great plays. He stretched over the Tribe dugout for an out in the first inning and made an outstanding throw in the sixth to gun down Wily Mo Pena at first. Along with his defense, Jack hit singles in each of his last 4 at bats, including an opposite field drive in the 9th inning.

The Indians offense battled hard the entire game, depite being down by 8 runs at one point. They scored in 4 of the first 6 innings.

Feathers Down

The third inning was very rocky tonight. Seattle scored 5 earned runs on 4 hits, and absolutely pounded Zach McAllister. Ezquiel Carrera bobbled a ball that allowed Ichiro Suzuki to score on a Frankin Guitierrez double, but that error did not make a difference as Mike Carp homered later in the inning. The fourth inning wasn't any better for McAllister. He allowed 3 more earned runs and only got one out before the bullpen had to take over. Two unearned runs scored on a dropped ball by center fielder Kosuke Fukodome. After the top of the fourth inning, the Indians were down 10-2.

Finals Score: Seattle Mariners 12 - Cleveland Indians 7

Player of The Game

With a walk-off 3-run home run to the bleachers, Shin-Soo Choo took Game 1 Player of the Game honors. His score of 6.30 included his home run, a double, and a great defensive play. This is Choo's 6th award of the year, his second in the last 4 games. Kosuke Fukodome came in second with a score of 4.39.

Feathers Up

Shin-Soo Choo and Shelley Duncan are back with the team. It is nice to have these guys back, especially with the double header today.

Justin Masterson came to the bullpen's rescue today. The bullpen has been pitching a lot of innings the past few games. Masterson nearly pitched a complete game today,pitching 8.1 innings.

The defense was solid today, with a few good plays by Masterson and Choo. It is a lot easier to stay in the game or maintain the lead when the opposing team has to earn all of their runs.

The Indians tore the ball apart today with 12 hits, 7 of which were doubles. Kosuke Fukudome had a very solid day at the plate, providing the offense the Indians needed to win. Fukudome had a single, 2 doubles, an RBI, and scored two runs, allowing the Indians to squeak by with the win.

Walk-off home run, enough said.

The Indians snapped their 4 game losing streak. If they win tonight, they are guaranteed to gain at least a half game on the Tigers, even if Detroit wins. Hopefully this win is just what the Indians need to get back into the playoff race.

Feathers Down

Chris Perez has had a difficult time closing lately. With one out in the 9th inning, he gave up a 2-run double to the first batter he faced, giving Seattle a 5-4 advantage. On a positive note, the Indians did come back in the bottom of the 9th and Chris Perez ended up with the win.

Final Score: Seattle Mariners 5 - Cleveland Indians 7

Player of the Game

Fausto Carmona came through big in his second straight start, pitching 6 strong innings while only allowing one earned run. He only gave up 6 hits and struck out 6 with the only run coming off a home run by Ichiro Suzuki to lead off the game. Carmona is one of the most important peices of this team if the Indians are still going to try to make it to the playoffs.

Feathers Up

I got nothing. Carmona was ok, but not great. The defense wasn't good. The offense was terrible. The Indians lost another game in the standings to Detroit while playing one of the worst teams in the Majors. Finally, the majority of the starting lineup is now out with either their own medical situation or someone close to them. Where is Trevor Crowe? Give me more Crowe.

Feathers Down

Shin-Soo Choo was missing from tonight's game to be at the birth of his child. You would think his wife would understand that he is in the middle of a divisional race and can't be bothered with little things like babies. To make matters worse, he left so abruptly that the Indians weren't able to call up a replacement and had to play tonight's game with 24 men. With Choo missing along with Shelley Duncan and Travis Hafner, the Indians showed a definite drop in offensive production.

These wild and crazy pitchers have to get things under control. Between Fausto Carmona and Chris Perez, 4 Seattle batters were hit by pitches, two of whom came around to score. Both of these runs were unearned, one because of a wild throw by catcher, Lou Marson, the other because of a stupid error by Perez, who was trying to get the runner out at third on a sacrifice bunt.

Here's something I don't understand about Manny Acta. If Jason Donald wasn't even good enough to be on the team for the majority of the season (meaning he was worse than Adam Everett, Austin Kearns, etc) then why is he all of a sudden hitting higher in the lineup than Asdrubal Cabrera, Carlos Santana and Kosuke Fukudome? Just because the normal number 2 hitter (Jason Kipnis) is out, doesn't mean you need to let his replacement hit second. The higher in the lineup you bat, the more at bats you get. Who wants to see Jason Donald go 0-4 while batting second? This is an ongoing discussion I've been having all year, just with different players each time.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Seattle Mariners 3

Travis Hafner has been moved to the 15 Day DL for the injury to his foot. Pronk fouled to balls off his right foot before stumbling around first base and limping off the field. He has dealt with an injury like this through most of this season, but he is unaware if it is the same injury. At the same time Shelley Duncan (and his father, Dave Duncan of the St. Louis Cardinals) have taken family emergency as Shelley's mother goes through a serious surgical procedure. These tragedies have left the Indians without a designated hitter for the time being, with Matt LaPorta taking Hafner's spot in tonight's game.

While this may seem like a serious blow for the Indians, it may be a blessing in disguise. It has been reported that the Minnesota Twins have placed Jim Thome on waivers and the Indians are in a decent position to claim him. There are only 6 teams above the Indians on the waiver wire (Baltimore, Kansas City, Seattle, Minnesota, Oakland and Chicago) and none of them are contenders with the exception of the Chicago White Sox. If Thome makes it past the Sox, I can't see any chance of the Indians not claiming him. He would be the perfect fit as the Indians only need a DH and it would allow him to retire as an Indian (he already said he would likely retire after hitting 600 home runs). While Thome has a full no trade clause, he would probably waive it to play with his old team for one last chance at a championship. The White Sox do look like a real problem however as they would love to have a real power hitter to replace Adam Dunn. They could also claim him just so the Indians won't have a chance to. Thome is also likely to be willing to for the Sox as he is from Illinois and has played for them in the past.

If he does come back it would be reminiscent of 2007, when Kenny Lofton came back to the Indians to end his career. I would love nothing more than to see Thome back in an Indians jersey one last time and maybe add a couple more home runs to his already prodigious team record.