Player of the Game

Josh Tomlin takes the cake tonight, with a 'Player of the Game' score of 5.78 that should have been higher. Tomlin pitched into the 8th without allowing any runs, but had a win taken away from him and 2 runs added to his season total when Joe Smith imploded. Smith not only allowed both of Tomlin's runners to score, but three of his own, earning him a blown save and the loss for a 'POG' score of -6.57.

Feathers Up

In some non game related news, Shin-Soo Choo will begin his rehab assignment tomorrow night with the Lake County Captains. As long as there are no set backs, he should return to the Tribe within a week. The Indians have to make a roster move tomorrow as Jack Hannahan's time on paternity leave is up, so expect either Shelley Duncan or Ezequiel Carrera to be sent back to the minors. The best move would be to get rid of Jason Donald or Austin Kearns for Tuesday's game and get rid of the other one to make room for Choo, but the Indians have been very reluctant to move players not named Buck, Duncan or Carrera.

How 'bout that Michael Brantley? Over his last 3 games (10 at bats) he has hit a true cycle, single, double, triple and home run. Take that for what it's worth (not much).

Feathers Down

The Indians were only two innings away from going 4-3 on the road trip and being just 2 games behind Detroit with the Tigers coming into Cleveland next, but ended up going 3-4, 3 games behind Detroit. Now the Indians will have to sweep the Tigers to make any real progress in the division race.

Manny Acta did everything right tonight, but it still wasn't enough. He started all his starters, had one of his most reliable pitchers starting and took him out when he started to look tired. He even matched up late with Joe Smith and Rafael Perez, who have been two of the premier relievers in the American League this year. This is a prime example how little the manager actually effects the game. He put all the pieces in place, they just didn't do what they were supposed to do.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Texas Rangers 5

Player of the Game

Jason Kipnis won his third 'Player of the Game' with his 5th Major League home run. When Kipnis hit the home run it looked like it wouldn't matter, but when the Rangers scored a run in the 9th and had two others on base, it was obvious how important it really was. Kipnis also had a single and an error earlier in the game for a final score of 2.97. An interesting side note on Chris Perez; he has had only one positive game in his last seven and two in his last nine. This is largely the fault of the Indians offense and other bullpen pitchers as he has not had many save situations during that period, but he has also not had very many games where he didn't allow at least one run.

Feathers Up

Neftali Feliz made a huge mistake against Lonnie Chisenhall in the 9th inning and Lonnie made him pay. With a runner on third and one outs, Feliz threw two outside fastballs that Chisenhall swung and missed at. The Chiz Kid was no where near hitting either pitch, but rather than continue that strategy, Feliz came inside on Lonnie, who returned the favor with a sharp single pulled to right to score Kosuke Fukudome from third. Michael Brantley later came up with 2 outs and came through as well, hitting a double into a huge gap in right field that scored Chisenhall from first.

The Indians have scored 7 runs in three straight games, showing another resurgence in the offense. The best part is that some players the Indians really need to play well are playing well, like Carlos Santana (14 total bases in last 3 games) and Kosuke Fukudome (9 TB in last 3).

Shelley Duncan is back with the Tribe and there he should stay. In his two games back he has started both, hitting a double, a home run and a single, scoring once, knocking in two and has walked twice. The fact that Shelley Duncan went from minor leaguer to starter, bypassing both Austin Kearns and Ezequiel Carrera, shows that there is something very odd going on that is keeping Kearns on the team at all. Here are some stats that everyone already must have guessed, and show the same point over and over again. Austin Kearns against lefties: .235 AVG/.316 OBP/.250 SLG. Shelley Duncan against lefties: .241/.290/.379. I hope Austin Kearns knows he is costing players who are far better than him playing time and money and is hurting the Indians as a team. Indians management should know this as well. I would write a separate post about this, but it really feels like beating a pulverized horse.

Feathers Down

Asdrubal had a phantom error tonight on a ball he probably shouldn't have even gotten to. With a runner on first Cabrera tried to field a ball standing up, but it just glanced off the edge of his glove, turning into a two base error. This error ended up allowing both unearned runs that scored against Fausto Carmona.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 - Texas Rangers 5

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana makes it two in a row, beating his previous 'Player of the Game' score with an 8.51 due to 5 RBI coming off a 3 run home run and a 2 run double. The Indians should have been able to win this one on the strength of Santana and Ubaldo Jimenez, who scored a -2.55 in his Indians debut, alone, but the bullpen would not allow it.

Feathers Up

Ubaldo Jimenez's first start as an Indian wasn't great, but it was good enough to win if the Indians could have held the 4 run lead they had when he was removed from the game. Jimenez struck out 7, but allowed 7 hits, the majority of which went for extra bases. He gave up 5 runs, but the last one shouldn't be solely charged to him as it was Chad Durbin who allowed Mitch Moreland to score from first base.

Feathers Down

I guess we have to blame the Perez's for tonight's loss. It's extremely hard to beat the Rangers at all, especially in Texas, so it really hurts that the Tribe let this one get away. In order to keep even with the Tigers before their series with them in Cleveland next week, the Indians will have to pull out the last two games against Texas which seems extremely difficult with Fausto Carmona and Josh Tomlin pitching in a ballpark that is very conducive to giving up home runs.

Justin Germano is no longer an Indian, a Clipper or even a member of Major League Baseball. He was given permission from the Indians to seek employment elsewhere and has decided to sign with the Samsung Lions of the Korean League. This is kind of sad to see as I would have liked to have seen him get one more shot with the Tribe after he pitched a perfect game for the Columbus Clippers.

Jack Hannahan was missing from today's game as he has taken advantage of Major League Baseball's new paternity leave policy to spend some time with his wife while she has his child. Shelley Duncan was called up in his place (this is a good thing). I understand that your wife is having a baby or your grandmother just died or you got a stomach ache or you have to become an American citizen, but it would be nice if the Indians could play just one game with their entire Major League team. Currently, Hannahan is gone, Carlos Carrasco is suspended, Michael Brantley is nursing a sore wrist, Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo are on the disabled list and the list goes on as it has all season. I guess my point is, thank you Asdrubal Cabrera for playing in every single game this season except for one. The real question is, what were you doing that was so important on July 10th that you had to miss a game? 

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 - Texas Rangers of Arlington 8

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana atoned for last night's poor performance by offensively leading the Indians to victory. He earned a 'Player of the Game' score of 7.34 with 2 singles, a walk and a home run, scoring twice and knocking in 3. Last night Santana had a score of -0.51 as he struck out 4 times. This was his highest score of 2011.

Feathers Up

Since we often remark on the Indians inability to score runners from second base, it's important to note that the Indians did extremely well in this aspect tonight as 6 of the 7 runs were scored by runners in scoring position. The Indians had a couple of other hits with runners on as well that did not score including a single by Jason Donald with Matt LaPorta at second and two outs, where LaPorta was thrown out at home by about 20 feet. Silly Matt thought he was fast for a second.

Justin Masterson gave up the two run lead early on, but the Indians were able to come back twice and Masterson was able to keep them from scoring more than three. This is especially nice as it allowed Justin to earn his 9th win of the season after having three straight good starts without getting a win.

The Indians (especially Jason Kipnis) had been taking advantage of the short porch in right field at Fenway Park this series, but tonight, Travis Hafner and Carlos Santana each hit deep drives straight to center for a double and a home run and later, LaPorta and Kosuke Fukudome hit balls high off the Green Monster.

Feathers Down

The reason Austin Kearns has been starting the last couple games is that Michael Brantley hurt his right wrist. Apparently, he has been playing injured for some time now and is trying to see if resting it a few days will speed up the healing process. Hopefully he will be back soon as Michael Brantley with no wrists is still better than Austin Kearns.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 - Boston Red Sox 3

Player of the Game

Jason Kipnis won the 'Player of the Game' tonight against the Sox for being the only player who could figure out the knuckle-ball. Kipnis hit his 4th career home run and walked twice against Boston pitching and earned a 'POG' score of 3.45. Ezequiel Carrera, Travis Hafner and Carlos Carrasco all had decent games as well, each scoring higher than 1.70. Even though Carrasco's perfomance of only 3 runs allowed in 7 innings pitched was acceptable, I would still prefer to see David Huff make his next start in the rotation.

Feathers Up

You can take all the feathers up from last night's game and add one to them for tonight's. Jason Kipnis hit another home run, his 4th in as many games, tying him with Al Rosen for most consecutive games with a home run by an Indians rookie. Ezequiel Carrera hit another double, adding an RBI as well to continue his positive play and Lonnie Chisenhall contributed again with a double and a run scored. Of course the ending was the same as well knocking the Indians to 4 games behind the Tigers in the AL Central.

Feathers Down (AKA: Bad things about Austin Kearns)

Austin Kearns looks like a fool in the outfield. In today's game alone he mishandled a single, which could have easily turned into more and he crashed into the green monster, missing a catch that every other Indians outfielder would have probably caught. He has to know how bad he looks out there. If he had any self respect at all or wanted the Indians to win, he would just retire immediately.

He also looks like a fool at the plate. His 0-4 tonight with 1 strike out was only beaten by Carlos Santana's 4 strike out night for worst offensive performance of the night. Apparently, Jobu no hit knuckle-ball.

How does Jacoby Ellsbury beat two different Indians right handers to win the game in back-to-back nights? The Indians are now at .500 for the first time since game 4 of this season.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Boston Red Sox 4

Player of the Game

David Huff won tonight's 'Player of the Game' to keep his streak for the season going. So far, he has won the award in every single game he has pitched in (3) this season. Huff has still only allowed a single earned run on the season, although the first run of tonight's game scored on his wild pitch. He pitched 5 innings tonight, only allowing 3 hits and striking out 6. His final game score was 5.46

Feathers Up

The rookies have taken the lead over the last few games, with Lonnie Chisenhall, Jason Kipnis and Ezequiel Carrera all playing big roles for the Tribe. Jason Kipnis has hit a home run in each of the last three games making him the first Indians rookie to do that since Richie Sexson. Lonnie Chisehall hit his third home run of the season (and his career) giving the Indians a one run lead early in the game and Ezequiel Carrera has had 2 total bases in each of the last three games.

A lot of people have been saying the Indians have trouble with the Red Sox, but even after tonight's tough loss to Red Sox ace Josh Beckett, the Indians are 5-3 against them this season. It seems to me that if you win four of the first six games in a 7 game series against a team, you would be considered the better team, but that doesn't count with east coast bias.

Feathers Down

While David Huff has been very impressive in his first three starts this year for the Indians, there is one small thing that may send him toward Columbus before Ubaldo Jimenez's first start. In three games he has only given up one run, but has only pitched out of the 6th inning once. While what he has given the Indians thus far is exceptional, it may be asking the bullpen a bit too much to have them pitch 4 innings a night. Hopefully, this won't bother Indians management much and they will make the right choice by sending Carlos Carrasco back to AAA.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Boston Red Sox 3

Player of the Game

Asdrubal Cabrera took two deep tonight winning him his 13th 'Player of the Game' of the season. While he has been the Indians best player by far so far this season, he wasn't all that special in July, as he was never the best player in a game during that month. Cabrera earned 10.03 'POG' points for his 2 home run, 3 hit, 3 run, 4 RBI night. Jason Kipnis played also played well as he earned his highest score of the season, with a 5.46. His previous high was the 2.81 he earned yesterday. His score tonight more than doubled his career 'POG' total.

Feathers Up

Pitcher Josh Tomlin saved a run and prevented a potential error by center fielder Ezequiel Carrera in the bottom of the third inning. Keven Youkilis hit a triple off the garage door in center field, and when Carrera threw the ball in, he over threw the cut-off man. Youkilis then tried to score, but Tomlin, near the third base dugout, was there to backup the throw, and nailed Youkilis at the plate.

Josh Tomlin continued his streak of pitching at least 5 innings in every start of his career. Tonight in his no decision, Tomlin went 6 innings, giving up 5 runs. We look forward to seeing the continuation of this streak as the season goes on.

Back-to-back…that’s how the Indians roll. Asbrubal Cabrera gave the Indians the lead in the 6th inning with a 2-run shot down the right field line. Travis Hafner, jealous of the Asdrubal home run, decided he wanted one, too. Pronk blasted a John Lackey cutter into the Red Sox bullpen in centerfield.

Feathers Down

Carlos Carrasco was suspended 6 games for throwing a ball at Billy Butler's head in Kansas City. I'm not saying whether he deserved to be suspended or not, but he apparently thinks he is innocent, as he is appealing the suspension. He should make his next start, but will probably miss a start at some point down the line.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 9 - Boston Red Sox 6

Player of the Game

With his first career home run, Jason Kipnis won his first "Player of the Game" award of the year with a score of 2.81. Carlos Santana took second place today with a score of 2.14, which included a single and a triple.

Feathers Up

Asdrubal Cabrera continued to be a human highlight reel today. He showed off his range, arm strength, and hops on several occasions this afternoon.

Jason Kipnis hit his first Major League home run today. This hit ended an 0 for 12 drought for Kipnis. He has only played in 7 games since being called up on July 22nd. In that time, Kipnis has gone 3 for 22. Maybe this home run will give Kipnis some confidence so he can settle in and hit on a more consistent basis.

In his 3rd game as a Cleveland Indian, Kosuke Fukudome finally gets his first hit, a lead-off double in the bottom of the 6th inning.

Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana combined today to go 5 for 8. Cabrera went 3 for 3 with two singles, a double and two walks. Santana went 2 for 4 with a single and a triple. Tribe bats finally seem to be coming around, but now the Indians need to figure out how to give their pitchers more run support.

Feathers Down

The Indians have not been very aggressive on the bases lately, compared to their stolen base activity earlier in the season. Today, both Asdrubal Cabrera and Michael Brantley attempted to seal bases, but were caught before the pitcher even went to the plate. Both players were taking off on the first move, and the pitcher threw the ball to first on a pick off attempt.

Indians hitters combined for 12 strikeouts today. The main reason for firing Jon Nunnally, the former Tribe hitting coach, was because batters were striking out too much. Things have not seemed to have gotten any better.

Final Score: Kansas City Royals 5 - Cleveland Indians 3

Player of the Game

In dramatic fashion, Hero Matt LaPorta took tonight's "Player of the Game" honors. He did it with his walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the 9th inning. The home run, along with a double and great offensive play earlier in the game, gave LaPorta a PoG score of 6.11. Justin Masterson had a solid outing tonight and came in second with a PoG score of 5.04.

Feathers Up

Justin Masterson had a solid appearance today. He pitched 8+ innings and gave up just 2 runs on 9 hits. He was able to keep the Indians in the game all night, setting up the come-from-behind win. Masterson had great control all night, walking just one batter. He kept his pitch count low so he was able to pitch into the 9th inning.

Few plays in baseball are more exciting than a walk-off win at home. The Indians fought hard all game to stay within a few runs. Their offense finally came around in the 8th inning, scoring their first run in 24 innings. This momentum carried over to the 9th. A hit batter and a double set up for the tying run to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kosuke Fukudome. Lonnie Chisenhall then drew his third walk of the night, bringing Hero Matt LaPorta to the plate, who blasted a 3-run shot off the railing in left field.

Trade rumors have been stirring, and the Indians welcome Ubaldo Jimenez to the starting rotation. The Indians gave up four prospects in the deal. Stayed tuned to the site for more details regarding this transaction.

Feathers Down

In the trade mentioned above, the Indians gave up one of their top pitching prospects, Drew Pomeranz, who was just drafted last year. 

Final Score: Kansas City Royals 2 - Cleveland Indians 5

Player of the Game

Pitching 2.2 innings allowing just one run to score, Chad Durbin won his 3rd “Player of the Game” award of the season. This is the least amount of points any player has needed all season to win. On a side note, Carlos Carrasco recorded the lowest “Player of the Game” score (-10.35) since Fausto Carmona’s score of -12.63 on opening day. Carrasco also ended the streak of 4 straight starting pitchers winning “Player of the Game” honors.

Feathers Up

Kosuke Fukudome made his Cleveland Indians debut tonight. He did not do anything spectacular (0-4), but it is nice to see a fresh face in the Indians outfield. Once the Indians put their strongest lineup on the field, it will be interesting to see how Fukudome can help this team.

The Indians got a hit today, as a matter of fact, they got 5. Though, they produced more runs when they did not get any hits last time, it is nice to see that the ball is being hit into play and runners are getting on.

The bullpen ate up some innings tonight after the abrupt departure of Carlos Carrasco. Chad Durbin pitched 2.1 innings only allowing one run. Frank Herrmann then took over pitching 2 innings. Rafael Perez pitched a scoreless ninth. With the use of the bullpen today, we can only hope that Justin Masterson has a solid start tomorrow.

The defense today was a big improvement over last game. The Indians did not have any errors tonight, as compared to 5, two nights ago.

Feathers Down

Carlos Carrasco did not come out strong tonight. In the first inning alone, he allowed two earned runs on a single, a home run, a double, and a walk. In the second inning, he allowed another home run, this time to Alex Gordon. Carlos Carrasco has allowed at least one home run in each of the last 7 games he has pitched. Carrasco took the third inning off, as far as giving up home runs, but made up for it in the fourth by giving up a grand slam to Melky Cabrera. Carrasco was so frustrated, he decided it was a good idea to throw at the head of Billy Butler, the next batter. Needless to say, home plate umpire Scott Barry did not think this was a good idea and ejected Carlos Carrasco from the game.

Final Score: Kansas City Royals 12 - Cleveland Indians 0