Player of the Game

Today's 'Player of the Game' should have also been the game winning pitcher, but the bullpen blew his lead in the 8th inning. Fausto Carmona pitched 7 innings, striking out 7 and didn't allow a single earned run (all three Angels runs were unearned). This is Carmona's third straight great start and his second in a row in which he has been named 'Player of the Game'. Most impressively, after giving up 10 runs in the first game of the season, Fausto has been able to lower his ERA to a respectable 3.83. If his last 7 starts are any indicator, that number will continue to drop, until he gets back to where he wants to be. Fausto's final 'POG' score was 6.30 helped by the fact that Adam Everett took credit for all three unearned runs, giving him a score of -4.03.

 

Feathers Up

Austin Kearns finally did something positive for the team, hitting an RBI single to give the early lead to the Indians. His defensive play was still lackluster, but at least he got a hit. Going into this game Kearns had less hits than anyone else who had played for the Tribe this year, including Travis Buck who has been in the minors for the last 17 games. He now has 7 hits on the season in 14 games played.

We K A Lot. Fausto Carmona struck out a season high 7 Angels today. That's pretty good for an Indians starter other than Justin Masterson. Cleveland pitchers are predominantly ground ball artists, but Carmona had really good movement on his slider today and was able to fool a lot of Angels, especially early in the game, before they made his stop throwing dirty pitches. Don't think the Angels were the only ones striking out, the Indians struck out 14 times as well. If you ask the Indians hitters, I'm sure they would say that Dan Haren is harder to hit off of than Jared Weaver.

The top of the lineup performed again today, with Grady Sizemore, Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana all having good games. Altogether the Tribe scored 5 runs, which should have been enough to win, since three of the Angels runs came off an error by Adam Everett. The Tribe definitely looked better the last two days on the road then they have all season away from home. Luckily for the Indians, the next two series are at home, so they have a chance to build up their Central Division lead again.

 

Feathers Down

The Tribe couldn't keep Mike Scioscia from winning his 1,000 career game as manager of the Los Angeles Angels. It would have been nice to make him wait one more day before he could celebrate that particular landmark.

The Defense was kind of sloppy again today and the Tribe infield is especially starting to look inconsistant in that department. Along with Everett's error, Fausto Carmona looked slow getting off the mound and if it weren't for a bad call at first base, all those runs against Carmona would have been earned. Austin Kearns looked awkward in the outfield again as well, and for some reason was playing more shallow than anybody else in the league. Kearns is slow enough that he should be playing back to get any advantage he can in the field.

 

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5, Los Angeles Angels 6

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Player of the Game

Shin-Soo Choo burst out against the Angels tonight winning the 'Player of the Game' award with two hits including a two run double to take the lead. Choo had been slumping of late, earning negative 'POG' scores in 4 of his last 6 games. Carlos Santana, following Choo in the lineup, earned the second highest score tonight by knocking Choo in after he doubled and scoring a run of his own. Choo won his second 'Player of the Game' award with a score of 4.03.

Feathers Up

All it took to make the best pitcher in baseball look human was one dose of the Cleveland Indians. Coming into this game, Jared Weaver led the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts, but that didn't stop the Tribe, who scored more runs against him than any other team this season. All 4 Indians runs were scored against the starter who was only able to pitch 6 innings. The Indians also got 7 hits against Weaver and didn't strike out a single time, both were the best against Jared this season. Its amazing anytime the Indians can go 6 innings without striking out, let alone against the top strikeout pitcher in the league.

Alex White pitched as well in his second start as he did in his first, earning his first career win, while only allowing 3 earned runs in 6 innings. White did allow a few hits, but got one double play and was able to get out of trouble, including keeping any runs from scoring when the Angels hit a triple with one out. White has pitched so well in his first two starts, that he may be able to keep his spot in the rotation when either Carlos Carrasco or Mitch Talbot come back.

The top of the lineup came through for the Tribe as a group for the first time in a week, with the top four hitters accounting for 3 RBI and 4 runs of the 4 runs scored. Grady Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera each walked and scored and both Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana doubled to knock in 2 and 1 run respectively and each then scored. The 5 through 9 hitters have been a strength to this team all season and it is good to see the players who are supposed to be carrying team, carry the team.

Chris 'Pure Rage' Perez earned his 10th save of the season this year in much more impressive fashion than his last few appearances. Perez was forced to pitch 5 of 6 games before having yesterday off and was beginning to look rough in the last 3 of those games. In two of those games Perez allowed 4 singles, 2 walks and 2 runs (both games were with a two run lead so he still earned saves). Today, the Rage was the perfection we have learned to expect from him, slamming down the Angels, three up and three down.

 

Feathers Down

If you think that the Indians did anything wrong tonight, you are an eternal pessimist. This team is 22-10 and just beat the best pitcher in the American League on one of the best teams in the American League.

 

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4, California Angels 3

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Justin Masterson did it again, further establishing himself as one of the most dominant pitchers in the American League by pitching another 7 innings and only allowing one run. Masterson did allow 9 hits, but the defense behind him turned three double plays and only one of the hits was for extra bases. He won his third 'Player of the Game' of the season with a score of 5.23. It would have been nice to tack on another win for the big guy, but the Indians offense was nonexistent tonight.

 

Feathers Up

Shin-Soo Choo threw out his 5th base runner of the season today, tying him for the AL lead in outfield assists. Not only did he throw out a runner at third (the longest possible distance to throw from right field) with a perfect throw, but he also delayed the end of the game by one batter when a single was hit to right with a runner on second in the 12th. The Angels won anyway, but were at least stopped for the moment as their fear of Choo would not let them risk sending the runner home.

The bullpen stood up and pitched something ridiculous the past two games. Both games went deep into extra innings and the bullpen was forced to pitch 9.2+ innings in the span of two games. The pen as a whole gave up only 3 runs in what amounted to an entire game. Vinnie Pestano, Rafael Perez and Joe Smith each pitched in both games and all were as good or better in the second game compared to the first. Pestano did blow the save yesterday and Chris Perez gave up a run, but it didn't matter since the Tribe won anyway. Tonight Justin Germano gave up the game winning run on 4 straight singles (including a ground-rule single to end the game), but you can hardly blame him as he hasn't been allowed to pitch since April 28th, over a week ago. No pitcher can expect to stay sharp when he doesn't get to pitch in a game for a week.

 

Feathers Down

Justin Masterson had some bad luck today, leading to him giving up 9 hits. As a ground ball pitcher, Masterson is extremely dependent on the fielding of his infielders and the luck of where the ground balls are hit. Tonight things did not go his way, and he gave up 5 infield singles out of the 8 total singles allowed.

Its really hard to win when you don't score, even with the dominant pitching performances that have been turned in of late by Masterson and Tomlin. For some reason the Indians offensive juggernaut that has destroyed every pitcher to take the mound in Progressive field, turns into a bunch of Pete Rose style slap single hitters on the road. Right now the Indians have played 16 games on the road and 15 at home. In Cleveland, the Indians are scoring a very impressive 6.2 runs per game, but on the road they only have managed 3.9 runs per game. Progressive Field has never really been known as a hitters park, especially this early in the season, but there is something there that is bringing out the Tribe bats. If any further evidence is needed, the Indians have hit 27 home runs at home and only 7 on the road. They are yet to hit a homer on the current road trip. While the Indians have faced tough pitching, especially in Oakland and Anaheim, the pitchers in Seattle, Kansas City and Minnesota were mostly AAAA scrubs.

 

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California Angels 2

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Player of the Game Backup catcher Lou Marson took advantage of a rare start to grab his first 'Player of the Game' award this season. Marson has been extremely consistent this season, trailing only Grady Sizemore (1.94) in average 'POG' score per game with a 1.74 in 8 games. Today Marson earned 3.43 'POG' points with three hits including a triple and an RBI single. He also scored a run. The only other hitter today with a score over two was Asdrubal Cabrera, who knocked in the first two Indians runs of the game on a single. Feathers Up Going into this series against Oakland we knew runs would be at a premium and the Indians still managed to take 2 games and win the series improving their overall record to 21-9. In the three game series the Indians scored 9 times and the A's only scored 6 times. Extra-base hits were also hard to come by and only two home runs were hit in the entire series, both by David Dejesus against Josh Tomlin last night. Don't expect things to get any easier as next, the Indians will travel to Anaheim to take on the Angels who will be starting Jared Weaver in game two and Dan Haren in game three. Both these pitchers have been among the top in the league so far and last time the Tribe faced Haren he shut them out. There was some spectacular defense today especially by Indians short stop Asdrubal Cabrera and Athletics center fielder Ryan Sweeney. Cabrera did have an error, but the fact he even got to that ball was amazing and he had multiple other plays on ground balls that were far from routine. Joe Smith also deserves some credit for making a catch on a pop fly behind the mound. I've been getting tired of pitchers who don't field their position, so it was refreshing to see Smith make such an athletic play. If he hadn't made that play, the A's probably would have scored and possibly would have won in regulation. Feathers Down There was also some very bad defense today. Some disgustingly bad defense. Austin Kearns made another poor attempt on a fly ball to left field that Michael Brantley, with his better speed and instincts, almost surely would have caught. Jack Hannahan bobbled an easy (for him) grounder that allowed an inning to continue. Shelley Duncan dropped a foul ball that hit him in the mitt and Orlando Cabrera watched a ball drop five feet away from him after he lost it in the sun. For a team that defense has been a strength, this play was surprisingly bad. Shin-Soo Choo was held hitless for the series and only reached base four times (3 walks and a fielder's choice). This comes directly after his arrest for DUI earlier this week and you have to wonder if that affected his mental state at all. Before this short slump, Choo had an 8 game hitting streak going. "Everyday Pure Rage" Chris Perez had some control problems today (1 walk, 2 singles allowed), probably stemming from fatigue. Perez has been overused in the last week due to the large number of close games. Perez has pitched in five of the Indians last six games and each of the Indians last 5 wins. What Chris could use right now is a couple of blowouts against the Angels, preferably by more than five runs each. Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 runs on 11 hits, Oakland Athleticos 3 runs on 11 hits in 12 innings no comments

Player of the Game To steal a phrase from hockey and bastardize it, Josh Tomlin has been pitching on his head all season. His dominance continued tonight against the A's and it won him his 3rd 'Player of the Game i'n 2011. Tomlin allowed two home runs to David Dejesus, but he didn't let anyone else even get on base until the 8th inning, when he was pulled from the game. Tomlin took the loss, but still managed to earn 3.41 'Player of the Game' points. Feathers Up There wasn't much good or bad in tonight's game against Oakland, just your typical pitchers duel. Josh Tomlin and Tony Sipp pitched well, combining for 8 innings pitched and only two earned runs allowed (those Dejesus homers). The problem with that was that Trevor Cahill matched them every step of the way, throwing a season high 116 pitches in 7 innings to earn the win. The whole regular starting lineup started tonight for the first time in the last 7 games. Manny Acta had been pretty consistent with his lineup through the first 20 games, but Travis Hafner's injury combined with a couple of scheduled days off had lead to some lineup shuffling. With Hafner back, I expect Acta to start sending his top 9 out there every day. Other injury good news is that both Carlos Carrasco and Mitch Talbot are making rehab starts this week and Carrasco could return as soon as next Wednesday. Feathers Down Josh Tomlin has pitched very well thus far this season, but he does have one major weakness. The long ball. Tomlin has allowed an average of more than one home run per start and has pitched in three games where he allowed two home runs, including each of his last two starts. While it hadn't hurt him prior to tonight, it could be a big deal in the future. Josh Tomlin just has to understand, if he doesn't get every single batter out in a row, he won't necessarily get the win. It can be really hard to score when you start a rally with two outs and you've only had one extra-base hit in the last two games. I'm just suggesting that maybe the first couple hitters should get on base, then the guys after them can use those outs to move the runners along and possibly score them. Final Score: Another barn burner; Cleveland Indians 1 Oakland Athletics 3 no comments

Player of the Game Fausto Carmona took the honors yet again, as he pitched a beauty and earned a 'Player of the Game' score of 7.99. Carmona pitched 8 innings only allowing 5 hits and one run while earning the win. It is Carmona's fourth 'Player of the Game', the most of anyone on the team, even though his per-game average score is only 1.46, one of the lowest averages of the starters. There are two main reasons for this discrepancy. First, in Carmona's two bad outings, he has earned a total of -19 'POG' points severely offsetting his positive games. Also, in the games he's pitched in, the team has scored only 4.29 runs per game compared to their 5.32 runs per game on the season. This means that for every Carmona start the Indians have won, he has taken most of the load. Feathers Up Jack Hannahan played stellar defense yet again, making at least three notable plays. Early in the game he caught a line drive that almost caught him. After that, the Athletics had runners at first and third when a ground ball was hit to Hannahan with the infield back. Hannahan looked home, but threw to first to get the easy out. While some players might have gotten greedy and tested the runner going home, Hannahan made sure the Indians would only give up one run by getting at least one out. Finally, in the 7th inning, he was playing for the bunt and A's called for a hit and run. Jack was able to catch the ball, turn and throw to second quickly enough to get the lead runner, and the A's did not score. Fau 'Star' Carmona looked fantastic again tonight, earning his third win of the season and lowering his ERA to 4.43. In his last two outings Carmona has pitched 15 innings and only allowed 3 earned runs, while winning both games. Pronk made an appearance tonight, showing that his foot must be almost completely healed. This was good to see as some were worried about another possible DL stint for Hafner. Travis pinch hit for Adam Everett and drew a walk, following which he was immediately replaced by a pinch runner, Orlando Cabrera. Travis Hafner is slated to start tomorrows game. The Indians have shown some real late inning magic the last few games. During the first few weeks of the season the Indians were winning by scoring early and often, but lately they have had more of a flair for the dramatic, winning 3 of the last 4 games against the Tigers and A's in the 9th inning or later. Feathers Down Oakland's starting pitching is doing great so far this year and the next two starters in this series (Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson) only get better than tonight's. The Indians weren't really able to get anything going against Tyson Ross, but luckily the Oakland bullpen is not as good as their starters are. It was good to get the first game win, because this series will probably be the hardest to sweep of any so far this season. The Coliseum is built for small ball and it took awhile for the Tribe to figure that out tonight. This team has been relying on power lately, especially in Cleveland, and it took awhile for them to adjust. There were 17 hits in the game and every one was a single, while almost every ball hit in the air to the outfield was an out. Even after seeing this during the middle of the game I saw at least Carlos Santana, Grady Sizemore and Shelley Duncan swinging for the fences. During the last couple innings the outfielders were playing so far back that anything hit shallow would have been a hit, but the Indians didn't change their approach until the 9th. Luckily there was Matt LaPorta and Orlando Cabrera to save the day. Both players did exactly what they needed to do to win the game. The expanded foul territory cost the Indians a couple outs tonight and could explain a little bit of the extremely low starters ERA for the Athletics. Why do they need so much foul ground? Its like they could play football there or something. Final Score: Indians increase winning streak to 7 games. Pretty much seem unbeatable at this point, now 20-8 on the season. Cleveland Indians 4 Oakland Athletics 1 no comments

Player of the Game Matt LaPorta just edged out Justin Masterson to win his second player of the game in 2011. LaPorta earned a 'Player of the Game' score of 4.86 by hitting two doubles and a sacrifice fly to knock in three runs. The two run double he hit in the second inning tied the game and the sacrifice fly gave the Indians an insurance run after Shelley Duncan scored to take the lead. The Indians ended up needing that run as Chris Perez gave one up in the ninth. Justin Masterson would probably have won had he finished the 8th inning, but as it was he scored a 4.55. Masterson and Tuesday's starter, Josh Tomlin (and Alex White, but he's only pitched one game) are the only Indians yet to have a negative game in 2011. Feathers Up The Indians sweep again, making it the 5th sweep of the season, more then they had in the entirety of 2010. Most importantly two of the sweeps have come against Central Division foes, both in this last home stand, the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers. The Indians have won 6 in a row and every game at home since game 2 against the White Sox. Justin Masterson has firmly established himself as the Indians new ace. Although Fausto Carmona may still have the title, it is in name only, as Masterson has mowed down the opposition every chance he has had. Today, Masterson pitched 7 innings and only allowed 2 earned runs, one of which was given up by Rafael Perez. Masterson struck out 7 and only walked 2. He now has a 2.25 ERA and is 5-0 on the season. So far the starting pitchers in Indians losses have been as follows; Carmona, Carlos Carrasco, Carmona, Carrasco, Jeanmar Gomez, Josh Tomin, Carmona, Carrasco. There's only one pitcher who has been on the team all year who's name isn't on that list and that pitcher is Justin Masterson. If Matt LaPorta keeps this up, I'll have to stop calling him "Hero" sarcastically and start calling him that for real. LaPorta owned Tiger pitching this series and was an integral part of the Indians sweep. His performance today was already mentioned, but he also hit a single and a double yesterday and a home run in the first game of the series. While it used to seem that all his hits came at unimportant times, this series every hit has been clutch. Every game of this series came down to the ninth inning and the only reason the first game wasn't a one run win, was because Carlos Santana hit a grand slam instead of a single. Without Matt LaPorta, this series could have ended a lot differently. Feathers Down Matt LaPorta messed up once today as well, and since nothing too bad happened in today's game I'll make a note of it here. On a pop fly hit in front of the plate, Carlos Santana called for the ball, but the wind pushed it out of his range and it fell for a single. Matt LaPorta or Justin Masterson could have easily caught this ball, as it was about ten feet in front and to the right of the mound, but they let the guy with the padded glove and all the equipment on go for it. Rick Manning and Matt Underwood blamed LaPorta for not calling Santana off, but I think it was Masterson's fault as much as anyone else. There is a reason the pitcher wears a glove on the field. Move ten feet, catch the ball and help yourself out next time. Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 runs on 8 hits, Detroit Tigers 4 runs on 10 hits. no comments

Player of the Game Michael Brantley hit a home run to tie the game, then scored the game winning run on Orlando Cabrera's single in the 13th, winning him his second 'Player of the Game' award this season. Brantley hit two singles along with the home run, and took second on an errant pick off attempt before scoring the walk off run. His final 'POG' score for the game was 4.52, his highest of the season. The top pitcher was Tony Sipp, who earned the win after pitching two shutout innings, striking out 2 and allowing 2 hits for a 'POG' score of 3.05. Feathers Up Alex White pitched very well in his Major League debut, going six innings and only allowing two runs. White allowed 6 hits and 4 walks (two intentional) and was never really in trouble as both runs scored on solo home runs. White would have been in line for the win if the Indians would have been able to come through when they had bases loaded with two outs in the 6th. It was still a quality start and Alex White has earned his chance at a second start. Lou Marson threw out a runner attempting to steal second today after Carlos Santana threw out a runner yesterday. The first 14 attempted steals against the Indians this year were successful, but maybe they have turned a corner by throwing out two consecutive runners. The Tribe figured out the best was to pitch to the Tigers' Miguel Cabrera and used that strategy in three of his 6 at bats. That strategy is to throw the ball three feet outside and pitch to Brennan Boesch. This was extremely successful when they used it (3 AB, 0 R, 0H, 0 RBI) and the opposite was true when they didn't (3 AB, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 2B, 1RBI). The attendance was up today, drawing the most fans to Progressive Field since Opening Day. Over 8,000 people walked up to buy tickets, the third largest ever. Apparently an 11 game home winning streak (now 12), a walk off win the day before and Alex White pitching in his Major League debut is a good way to draw a crowd. Feathers Down Who was that slick fielding shortstop, looking flashy for the Tigers and spelling his name in a funny way? It just might have been Jhonny Peralta, owner of the Indians all time home run record by a short stop. The former Indian who was spurned by fans and the media has been moved back to short stop and is now tied for third in fielding percentage at that position with a .989 (Asdrubal Cabrera is 4th). Last year Jhonny Peralta was first in fielding percent of all third basemen with more than 200 total chances. I've been too hard on the Indians for striking out so much and Austin Kearns for failing at baseball, so I won't mention here that every Indian except Michael Brantley and Orlando Cabrera struck out today and that Austin Kearns went 0-5. Final Score: The Division leading Cleveland Indians 3, the third place Detroit Tigers 2 in 13 innings. no comments

Player of the Game Carlos Santana walked off with the 'Player of the Game award tonight, by knocking in three runs more than necessary to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. After a rather uneventful first three at bats, Carlos smashed a grand salami into deep right field, knocking in Adam Everett, Grady Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera to give Chris Perez his first win of the season. Santana ended the game with a 'POG' score of 6.90. Asdrubal Cabrera was winning prior to the last hit and ended the game with a score of 6.44. Feathers Up The Tribe played the role of the comeback kids tonight, after being down 3-0 then 5-2, the Indians were able to come back to tie 5-5 in the 7th and win it with 4 more in the 9th. Early in the game the Tigers had a chance to increase their 2-0 lead with runners on first and third, one out and the infield back. Jack Hannahan got a sharp grounder at third and threw out the runner going home to save a run. The best part about this was they kept the runner on first from getting to third, thus preventing another possible run. The Tigers didn't score in that inning. Hannahan really has been the most consistently good fielder in the Tribe's infield. Tomorrow we get to see Alex White pitch for the first time in his Major League career. This is really exciting as White is the first Indians draft pick to make the team since the Indians changed their drafting strategy a few years ago. Feathers Down Chad Durbin pitched. All Durbin did was walk the first batter he saw, then, after getting out of the 6th, allowed the first two runners to get on base in the 7th, both of which scored off of Joe Smith. I propose a rule that says Chad Durbin can't pitch unless there is at least a 5 run differential. There are too many really good relief pitchers on this team to be using the one guy who can't get people out. The defense was kind of sloppy tonight, even though the team made quite a few spectacular plays. Matt LaPorta and Asdrubal Cabrera each had errors and Hannahan tipped a ball that Asdrubal then bobbled that could have been another out. On Asdrubal's error, if he would have just thrown to first, instead of trying to tag second (the runner had already reached the base), he would have certainly made the play. All for one and one for all. When one Indians hitters does something, they all try to do it. Two days ago, everyone in the lineup got a hit. Yesterday,  4 guys hit home runs and today every hitter except Shelley Duncan struck out. I would like to congratulate Shelley here. Good job getting two singles, knocking in two runs and never swinging and missing at three consecutive pitches. Final Score: The first place Cleveland Indians win 4 in a row. Cleveland Indians 9 Detroit Tigers 5 no comments

The Indians sweep the Royals for 10 straight home wins and 4 sweeps on the season. If you watched the game or follow the Indians media on Twitter, you may have only heard this 30 times already today. Player of the Game Yesterday, Orlando Cabrera took his third 'Player of the Game' award and today Grady Sizemore took his. The only difference is that Grady has played in 9 games, and Cabrera has played in 23. Of all the home run hitters tonight, Grady was the most impressive, because he followed it up with an RBI double. Sizemore then took third on a wild pitch and scored on Asdrubal Cabrera's double. Grady's final 'POG' score was 5.83, his highest of the year. There will be more about Grady later, so don't worry about it. Feathers Up The Tribe took two off of Kyle Davies early in the game with back to back homers by Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana. Choo started the season off slowly, but has really turned it on as of late, getting on base in 8 of his last 12 at bats with two home runs in that span. Fausto Carmona pitched well again, taking a shutout into the 7th inning. Although he gave up two runs in the 7th and was taken out for Tony Sipp before the 8th, it still goes down as a quality start and a win. Carmona has now had 4 good starts and 2 bad ones. When he is good he has been really good, but when he has been bad, he has been epically bad. Grady's been on fire since he got back and he kept it going tonight. Adding a double and home run to his stats tonight, Grady now has 12 extra base hits (8 doubles, 4 home runs) on the season in 10 games, equating to a slugging percentage of .878. For a point of reference, so far this season the MLB leader in slugging percent, among qualifying hitters, is Jose Bautista with a .760. Obviously, Grady doesn't qualify yet, but if he can keep up anything near this torrid pace, he's looking at another Silver Slugger and maybe even more. Feathers Down Travis Hafner was supposed to start today, but was a late scratch due to a swollen ankle he hurt when he slid into home yesterday. Every year Pronk has had some sort of injury trouble, starting when Mark Buehrle threw a fast ball in his face. The next season he broke his arm when he was hit by a pitch and we all know about his shoulder problems. Hopefully this is nothing, but its disconcerting to see him come out of the lineup for any injury. Austin Kearns had another chance today for a couple innings and squandered it as well, bobbling the only ball that was hit to him on the ground and striking out in his only at bat. If he keeps up this play, I wouldn't be surprised to see Shelley Duncan (who hit another home run tonight) taking his starts away from him in left field when either Grady or Michael Brantley get a day off. Al Pawlowski has been doing a fantastic job in the booth and is a feathers down only because it is just a matter of time before old stick in the mud Matt Underwood comes back. Baseball is a fun sport and this is a fun team, so we need fun announcers like Rick Manning and Al Pawlowski! Final Score: Cleveland Indians 8 runs on 10 hits, Kansas City Royal Wedding Crashers 2 runs on 6 hits. no comments