Player of the Game

Starting pitcher Jeanmar Gomez won tonight's 'Player of the Game' (his first of the year) he beat the A's, holding them to just 1 unearned run. Gomez allowed only 1 walk and 6 hits while striking out 4. This was Gomez's first start since July 17th, where he was blown out by the Orioles. His final score of 5.12 makes this, by far, his best game of the season and brought him within 2 points of a positive score for the season.

Feathers Up

Grady Sizemore is back, well, almost. Sizemore will be DH-ing in AA Akron tomorrow and will play 6 innings in the outfield on Thursday. We hope to see Grady back in Cleveland very soon. Trevor Crowe started his rehab assignment tonight in AAA Columbus.cher

Two infield singles and a Kosuke Fukodome double led to the first runs of the game. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, both Lou Marson and Ezequiel Carrera reached on infield singles, both of which were knocked in on Fukodome’s gap shot.

The Indians did not strike out much tonight. Tribe hitters only K'd 3 times, the first one not coming until Lou Marson struck out in the bottom of the 5th inning. This is a big improvement from last night when Indians batter struck out 10 times.

Jeanmar Gomez pitched a strong game tonight, going 6 innings and only giving up one (unearned) run. The run came on his own error, so while it was unearned, he is the reason for it scoring. Called up today for Matt LaPorta, Gomez gave up just the one run on 6 hits.

Carlos Santana takes a trip to Souvenir City for the 2nd time in two nights. Santana's two-run shot tonight came in the bottom of the 6th inning with Jim Thome on first after Thome walked for his 1,001st time as an Indian. Jack Hannahan followed a few batters later with a two-run home run of his own.

Feathers Down

Chris Perez did not record his 31st save of the year tonight. There was no save situation since the Indians we up by 4 runs, but he could have gotten a three-inning save if Manny Acta had let him.

Final Score: Oakland Athletics 2 - Cleveland Indians 6

Player of the Game

David Huff won tonight’s Player of the Game award with a score of 6.72. You couldn't have asked for a much better start from Huff. Huff pitch six shut-out innings, giving up just 3 hits. This is Huff’s fourth award of the year.

Feathers Up

The Indians did not provide much offense tonight, but it was enough to support David Huff’s great start. The first Tribe run came in the bottom of the 6th inning when Kosuke Fukudome hit a double, scoring Ezequiel Carrera from first. The second run came in the bottom of the 7th inning when Carlos Santana powered a ball over the fence in right-center field.

Even though the Mafia gave up a run, the Tribe bullpen did not give up the narrow 2-run lead. Pure Rage Chris Perez closed the game in the 9th with a 1-2-3 inning with 2 strike outs. Chris Perez now has 30 saves this season.

Feathers Down

Jason Donald was a late scratch today with a contusion on his index finger. Cord Phelps  took his spot in the lineup.

Congratulations, Brandon McCarthy, for getting a new career high for strike outs in a game. The A’s starter struck out 10 Indians hitters in 8 innings.

After a great weekend crowd for the return of Jim Thome, attendance was pathetic tonight. It could be because the excitement for Thome’s return has worn off. It may also be due to the fact that today was the first day of school for many Ohio kids. Just from reading a few Tweets over the weekend, it is obvious that big crowds pump up the players. If we truly are in a pennant race, the attendance numbers do not show it.

Final Score: Oakland Athletics 1 - Cleveland Indians 2

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana was today’s Player of the Game with a score of 1.53. Santana contributed a single and an RBI, walking with the bases loaded. Justin Masterson was a close second with a score of 1.39 in his loss today.

Feathers Up

Jared Head made his Major League debut today as the Indians left fielder. He received his first big league hit in his first at bat with a weak ground ball past the pitcher. With the injuries to Choo and Brantley, Head will probably see a lot of playing time.

Minimize the damage, that’s what Justin Masterson did today. Masterson did not have his greatest start, but he kept his team within striking distance. Despite giving up 9 hits in 6 innings, all of which were singles, only two of those runners came around to score.

Feathers Down

The Indians lose Michael Brantley for the rest of the season. Brantley, who has been battling a hand injury for the past few weeks, will have season-ending surgery. Shin-Soo Choo is also out the next few days with a strained left oblique.

The Indians offense was quiet today after scoring 8 runs last night. The only scored one run today, and it came on a bases-loaded walk. They only had 5 hits, all of which were singles, and did not get a single hit past the 3rd inning. Bottom line is that you have to score runs to win games.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 - Kansas City Royals 2

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

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

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana is your 'Player of the Game' for hitting a solo home run when the Indians were down by 7 that started a huge Indians rally. Santana later walked and scored another run, earning a final 'POG' score of 3.75. Ubaldo Jimenez hit a new personal low in his 4th game with the Tribe, scoring a -9.47 as he allowed 8 earned runs in 3.1 innings.

Feathers Up

Carlos Santana has finally started to turn things around, to the point where other teams now legitimately fear him as a power threat. During April, Santana hit .198 and slugged .395. It took a long time to even out those numbers, but Santana's hot hitting of late has brought him up to a batting average of .242 and a slugging percent of .440. While these are by no means elite numbers, the do show a marked improvement on his early season performance. The Indians catcher/firstbaseman now has 19 home runs and 61 RBI, second to only Asdrubal Cabrera for best on the Indians.

Jim Leyland and Manny Acta showed they have extremely different managing styles today, as both were put in similar positions at times during today's game. While Ubaldo Jimenez struggled through 3 innings, Manny let him try to work it out, probably leaving him in there too long as he stayed in until he gave up 8 runs. In the other dugout, Leyland pulled Tigers starter Rick Porcello after just 5 runs scored against him, even though he was lights out for the first couple innings. Later in the game, when Manny didn't like a call at second, he came out to stand up for Asdrubal Cabrera, but didn't argue and sat back down without a fight. A few innings after that a call went the Indians way as Lou Marson through out a runner at third on an attempted sac bunt. Leyland came out flaming and was tossed within seconds. This made it so he was unable to manage the last 3 innings of a one run ball game. One point goes to Leyland for pulling his pitcher before he blew up the whole game, but the second point goes to Manny for actually being able to see how the game ended.

Feathers Down

Travis Hafner more severely injured his right foot today as he was trying to run out a double late in the game. His foot had been bothering him, but not enough to miss time. With how badly he was limping it would be a surprise to see Pronk in the lineup tomorrow. To make it worse, Hafner was tagged out retreating to first after the injury.

Ubaldo Jimenez was brought in to beat the Tigers more than any other team, and he was destroyed by the Tigers worse than just about any Indians pitcher this season. With 6 games still to play against the Motor City Kitties, Ubaldo better figure something out. The only way the Indians can make the playoffs now is by beating Detroit.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 - Detroit Tigers 8