Before the game today, Alex White was placed on the 15 day disabled list for the injury he sustained in yesterday's game. White would have been sent to the minors anyway, because Mitch Talbot is ready to return to the club, but this hastens his exit. For the time being, Josh 'The Judge' Judy has been called up to replace him.

Player of the Game

Josh Tomlin won his 6th game and his 4th 'Player of the Game' of the season. Tomlin struck out 3 in 7 innings and only allowed 1 run for a 'POG' score of 7.13. It was his highest score of the season. Travis Buck also had his highest score of the season today, 4.30, after returning to the lineup from his turf-toe injury. Buck hit the home run that won the game for Tomlin.

Feathers Up

Josh Tomlin had his best game of an already impressive season, lowering his ERA to 2.41. Tomlin pitched 7 innings, only allowing 3 hits (all singles) and one run.

Vinnie Pestano of the 'Bullpen Mafia' handled the 8th beautifully, striking out the side and earning his 5th hold of the year. Last night Vinnie notched his first career win and he doesn't look to be slowing down. Pestano fills a gap in the bullpen for a right handed set up man, that has been vacant since Rafael Betancourt was traded.

Progressive Field was sold out today for the first time since 2008 in a game that wasn't the home opener. Yesterday's game was seen by over 30,000 fans, as was the only game played in the Seattle series last week. Whether it's because the Indians are winning, the Cavaliers are losing, or because the NFL lockout is looming, it doesn't matter. People are finally paying attention to the Tribe.

Feathers Down

Yesterday, Travis Wood no hit the Indians for 5.1 innings. Today, Home Bailey kept the Tribe hit-less for 3.2. Whatever the Indians were doing to score early in games is no longer working and, while it is exciting to win in your last at bat, it isn't a sustainable way to keep winning.

Cleveland's schedule in Interleague play this year couldn't be any worse for Travis Hafner. Right now when the Indians are having home games against a National League team, the DH is injured and after he is expected back, the Indians will play nine consecutive games at NL parks at the end of June. Pronk will be limited to pinch hitting opportunities in those games, and would much prefer to be injured then, than now.

Final Score: With Kansas City losing today and Detroit on a four game losing streak, this win moves the Indians to 6.5 games ahead in first place in the American League Central Division.

Cleveland Indians 2

Cincinnati Reds 1

Player of the Game

Shin Soo Choo took home his fourth 'Player of the Game' of the season after knocking in a run by being hit by a pitch and scoring the winning run after hitting a long triple to left field. In his other two at bats, Choo struck out twice, but he still managed a 'POG' score of 2.82.

Feathers Up

This game was a reminder that in baseball, the team that plays the best wins. That doesn't mean you have to play well, though. Sometimes the other team will play so terribly, that you can't help but win. Tonight was one of those nights. The Indians played ugly baseball at its finest, giving up three errors and 2 unearned runs. Luckily the Reds were worse, having an error of their own and walking (or hitting) in two runs. The Reds defense also played Choo's triple poorly, almost turning it into an inside-the-park home run.

Ezequiel Carrera was the hero tonight in his Major League debut, knocking in the game winning run on a drag bunt in his first career at bat. Carrera got his first career hit and RBI on the play and broke both of Joey Votto's ankles doing a juke move more suited for Madden than MLB: The Show. With Carrera on the team the Indians now have two fast players (Carrera and Michael Brantley) and three players whose last names start with 'Ca' and end with 'rera'.

It looked like Manny Acta may have lost it when he pinch hit Carrera for Shelley Duncan with the winning run on third, and he looked even crazier when he called for Carrera to bunt. At this point Manny might just be crazy. Crazy like a fox. Enjoy the cigar tonight, Manny, you deserve it.

Feathers Down

In the third inning Alex White hurt his pitching hand, but remained in the game to face a few more hitters. After the injury took place, White threw 24 consecutive fast balls (according to MLB Game Day) allowing three walks and an error to Matt LaPorta. While he was still getting his pitches up to the mid 90's, it might have been a good idea to either throw a different pitch, or to tell Manny Acta that he had to come out. Baseball players tend to figure out what you're doing when you throw the same pitch 24 times in a row.

Final Score: Indians end a two game losing streak and get a head start on the Battle of Ohio.

Cleveland Indians 5

Cincinnati Reds 4

Player of the Game

Matt LaPorta mercifully took the 'Player of the Game' award away from Chad Durbin by hitting a home run in the ninth inning. Previous to this hit, the relief pitcher had been on his way to winning his second award, with an amazing score of 1.96. LaPorta finished the game with a score of 3.62, winning his 5th award of the season, the most of anyone on the team (tied with Fausto Carmona). Matt has won 'Player of the Game' in three of the last seven games.

Feathers Up

Chad Durbin did pitch well tonight, and has in 5 of his last 6 games. With Justin Germano gone, the Indians now will have more places to use Durbin, and if he keeps pitching like this, he will deserve the increase in workload.

Speaking of underachieving players, Austin Kearns had two hits today, including a double, and now has hits in 4 of his last 5 games. It's not much, but it may signify a bit of a turnaround. Kearns will need to play a lot better if he wants to stay on the team when Grady Sizemore comes back from injury. Right now it looks like Travis Buck may be the one who remains in Cleveland unless Austin can show something for himself.

Asdrubal Cabrera did this (Click on this, it's "worth the price of admission alone"). This may be the greatest double play I've ever seen. Watch it. Over and over again. If you missed the game, don't bother catching up, just watch this play. It's the only good thing that happened all night.

Feathers Down

Here's something that nobody mentioned tonight, not even once. It was really foggy, almost like 'Dracula weather' and Fausto Carmona has had trouble against the White Sox this year. Since this has been covered ad nauseum, I'll just reinforce that Carmona has allowed 18 runs against the White Sox in only 8 innings pitched. For those who can't figure out ERA, it equals not very good.

The Indians were out of the services of four players they usually have around and only one was replaced. Orlando Cabrera was in South Carolina becoming an American, Travis Hafner and Travis Buck were both scratched for injuries and Justin Germano was sent to AAA. Luis Valbuena was with the team, and could have filled in for Cabrera's absence, but he wasn't needed. In a game where the Indians lost by 6, Hafner and Cabrera's bats could really have made a difference.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2, Chicago White Sox 8

Indians lose on the south side tonight. Good pitching on both sides. Justin Masterson was good but the old Padre Jake Peavy was one better.

Player of the Game

Justin Masterson pitched the Indians first complete game of the season and was the 'Player of the Game' tonight.  He scored a 5.93 good for his fourth award of the season.

Feathers Up

The line on Masterson: 8 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 0 HR. He faced the same number of batters as Peavy (29). If it was not for the back-to-back hits in the 1st inning off him, we would be talking about him just as much as Peavy. The only RBI he gave up was on a sacrifice fly to Adam Dunn in that 1st inning. He also recorded eight ground ball outs on the evening.

Feathers Down

Peavy kept his fastball up in the zone all night long and the Indians recorded 10 fly ball outs.

Shin-Soo Choo was caught stealing in the fourth inning with one out after he singled to right. With Carlos Santana batting, baserunners are important in that situation especially with only one out.

Speaking of Santana, manager Manny Acta should consider taking him out of the clean-up spot for a while to regain his composure and confidence.

Travis Hafner was out of the lineup this evening with a strained rib cage muscle that he suffered in batting practice before the game. We will keep on eye on this because the Indians usually play coy about player injuries. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but the fans want to know and that is OUR job.

Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera were the only players in the lineup that had positive scores.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 0, Chicago White Sox 1

Player of the Game

Travis Hafner took his fourth 'Player of the Game' of the season, going 2 for 4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. Hafner knocked in all three runs on his first double and scored after hitting his second. This is Pronk's second 'Player of the Game' out of the last three games. He scored a 5.70.

Feathers Up

In the first inning, after lead-off man Michael Brantley doubled, Manny Acta called for Asdrubal Cabrera to bunt. This is coming right after the Indians lit up Kansas City for 19 runs. Acta wasn't taking anything for granted, looking to make sure to score first. The Indians did score first as Brantley, Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana all scored on Travis Hafner's first inning double. This kind of move is apparently why Manny Acta was selected today to be a coach in the All-Star game this year.

Carlos Carrasco made a successful second start after coming back from his elbow injury. On the season he has now only made three bad starts, his first start of the year, the start he made after he hurt his elbow, but before he went on the DL and his first start after the DL stint.

The Indians have hit plenty of home runs this season at home, but have had trouble hitting them on the road. The Indians have been successful this series in their bid to hit more road runs as Michael Brantley, Carlos Santana and Asdrubal Cabrera have all hit road runs in Kansas City.

Feathers Down

Chris 'Pure Rage' Perez had to pitch in another non-save situation today. How is he ever going to break the record for saves in a season if the Indians keep winning by more than 3 runs.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians sweep two consecutive series in three total games,

Cleveland Indians 7

Kansas City Royals 3

Player of the Game
Matt LaPorta took home his fourth 'Player of the Game' award of 2011 in a game that saw 14 Indians earn 'POG' scores of over 1.00. LaPorta ended the game with a score of 8.45 on the strength of four hits and a walk. He also knocked in 4 and scored twice. Michael Brantley came in a close second to LaPorta with a final score of 8.20. Brantley also knocked in 4 runs. The final team 'POG' score for the Indians was 55.63 their highest of the season, dwarfing by far the previous high of 36.31 from the Indians previous high in runs against Seattle on April 8th.

Feathers Up

How many feathers does Chief Wahoo have? You sayin' the Tribe was playing in Kansas City and not the Bronx tonight?

The Indians offense exploded tonight against the Royals pitching staff; namely Vin Mazzaro, who was supposed to be tomorrow night's starter.

All but three members of the starting lineup had a multi-hit game and everybody from starting lineup had at least one hit. Matt Laporta led the charge with four hits on the night including four RBI's

Orlando Cabrera probably had, if there was one, the biggest hit of the game. In the first inning, the Tribe had starter Kyle Davies on the ropes. He had thrown 21 pitches in which only 6 of those were strikes. With the bases loaded and one out, new pitcher Nate Adcock struck Travis Hafner out. With an 0-2 count, Cabrera singled to right field to score two runs... not allowing the Royals off the hook.

The Indians scored 19 runs on the night and only hit one homerun...

Who says Michael Brantley is just a slap hitter? He hit a line-drive, three-run homerun in the fourth inning to put the Tribe on top 13-0 at that point... It is his third homerun of the season. He, along with Laporta, also drove in four runs on the night.

Travis Hafner and Cabrera each had three RBI's. Those RBI's gave Cabrera 21 for the year and currently puts him 2nd on the team behind Asdrubal Cabrera.

Lost in the offensive explosion, Josh Tomlin and the Tribe bullpen only gave up one run on five hits. What's impressive is that after two games off and long innings when the offense was busy scoring a ton of runs, the pitching staff was solid.

Feathers Down

After both rainouts this past weekend, I only got to see Eric Wedge's epic mustache once... and I am still ticked off about that.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 19, Kansas City Royals 1

Player of the Game

Travis Hafner stole tonight's 'Player of the Game' award away from Michael Brantley with authority. Pronk hit his first home run since his foot injury and ended the game in dramatic walk-off fashion. Hafner hit an infield single early in the game, but the majority of his 4.61 'POG' score came from the two run, game winning homerun. Brantley ended the game with a score of 4.51, after hitting a home run and a double, scoring two runs. Tony Sipp was also exemplary, scoring a 3.32, the third highest single game score by any relief pitcher this season.

Feathers Up

Tony Sipp got out of a jam in the 8^th inning with one pitch. The Sipper came in with the bases loaded and two outs, after Fausto Carmona was removed from the game. Sipp threw one pitch to Adam Kennedy and got him to pop up in the infield. This could have been the most important moment in the game.

The Indians now have five consecutive walk-off wins at Progressive Field. This is really hard to do, because you have to be bad enough not to win the game before the 9^th inning, but good enough to win the game.

The Indians attendance of 33,774 tonight was the most in a non-opening day game since July 29, 2010 against the Yankees (34,455). Apparently someone is starting to pay attention.

Feathers Down

Fausto Carmona only allowed one hit through 6 innings, but was knocked around in the 7^th for 3 runs. Indians starters have been successfully pitching between 5 and 7 innings each game, but have had a hard time going any longer than that, a fact made all the more obvious by the lack of complete games for this Indians staff. Carmona and Justin Masterson especially have shown in the past they are more than capable of going nine, but for some reason this year, the endurance just isn't there.

Austin Kearns was caught stealing on a botched hit and run by Jack Hannahan. The next hitter, Michael Brantley, hit a home run. Someone made a mistake here, it was either Manny Acta for calling for a hit and run when the Indians were having trouble making contact (Fister struck out 6 in 8 IP) or Jack Hannahan, who should have choked up and just made sure he got the bat on the ball. Either way it cost the Indians a very important run in a close game.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5, Seattle Mariners and Eric Wedge's mustache 4

Player of the Game

Asdrubal Cabrera took home his third 'Player of the Game' today, by showing off how powerful a hitter he can be. Cabrera hit a solo home run and a triple to right, scoring off of both hits. His final 'POG' score was 5.01, beating out his closest competitor, the other Cabrera, by 2 points. Also of note in 'Player of the Game' news is that Justin Masterson had his first negative game of the season today, leaving Josh Tomlin as the only regular player yet to have a bad game (Alex White and Mitch Talbot have yet to have negative games, but they've each only pitched in 2 games). Justin is still averaging 4.12 'POG' points a start, making him by far the best player on the team in that regard.

Feathers Up

The Kelly Shoppach trade is really working out for the Indians. Not only it did give the Indians Mitch Talbot, who played great last season and will be coming back from injury soon and gave Carlos Santana a chance to start behind the plate, but it also gave the Indians a few free outs every game against the Rays that Shoppach plays.

Chad Durbin pitched well today for a change. When he has pitched like he did today, he has been able to go multiple innings without allowing a run and has earned a couple of wins. However, when he doesn't pitch well, he can blow the whole game up very quickly. Luckily this time he was able to get the first batter he saw out with the bases loaded, saving Justin Masterson from having as many as 3 runs scored against him.

Feathers Down

Justin Masterson had his first poor start of the season, only managing 5.2 innings while allowing 5 earned runs. Masterson still only gave up one extra-base hit and struck out 6 in the loss, his first loss of the season.

Travis Hafner has not had an extra-base hit in the Indians last 14 games and has not hit a home run in the Tribe's last 21. Hafner missed some time during this span with a foot injury, but that does not necessarily explain this lapse of power. Hafner did play better than expected in April and this may just be his numbers evening out a little bit. He is still hitting though and has the highest batting average on the team with a .333.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4, Tampa Bay Rays 7

Player of the Game

Matt LaPorta took the 'Player of the Game' award today, because he was the only player to knock in a run with his double, then score. LaPorta's 'POG' score of 2.48 was the lowest of any player this year that was the best in any game. So far this season the glory has been spread around and Matt LaPorta joins six other players with his 3^rd award of the season. Three other players have won twice on the year and one player has one five times (Fausto Carmona). Jack Hannahan is the only starting position player yet to win and Alex White is the only starting pitcher.

Feathers Up

Of all the games this series, this one was the hardest to win, so as long as the Indians win tomorrow, this loss won't matter much. With Carlos Carrasco coming back from injury and David Price starting for the Rays, this one was a long shot before the game even started.

Going back to May 3^rd, the Indians have won every other game. Since they went into that day with a record of 19-8, that's just perfect. In fact the Indians could probably keep winning every other game for the rest of the season and still make the playoffs. The important thing now is to keep the losing streaks at one.

Feathers Down

Carrasco pitched poorly in his first start back from his elbow injury, but that was to be expected. His real test will be his next start, now that he has seen Major League pitching again. Carlos stumbled through 5 innings, allowing 3 walks, 6 hits and 4 runs earning him the loss.

Today the hitting was bad and the pitching was bad. It's almost impossible to win when those two things happen at the same time. Everyone knew the home win streak would have to end at some point and it took a game like this to end it.

I wrote about the bullpen in before the game in a piece entitled, "Tribe Bullpen Needs Relief." What I wrote about there happened again, so I don't need to comment on it again other than to say that Justin Germano and Chad Durbin are a problem.

This is more of a quandry than a "Feathers Down," but why is Shelley Duncan still hitting in the middle of the lineup when he plays? If Duncan is good enough to bat 5^th, then he is better than Matt LaPorta, meaning he should be starting at first base every day. If he is not better than Matt LaPorta, then maybe Matt LaPorta should be moved up in the lineup. It was one thing early in the season to bat him 4^th on Carlos Santana's off days to keep Travis Hafner consistently batting in the 5^th spot, but at this point, everyone on the team is comfortable enough at the plate, that the lineup can change every once in awhile. The order hasn't been hitting all that well of late anyway, and it wouldn't bother me to see a rearrangement of the hitters based on what they've done this season instead of preseason expectations.

Final Score: Tampa Bay Rays 8, Cleveland Indians 2

Player of the Game

Michael Brantley won the game with a walk-off walk off Kyle Farnsworth and he won the 'Player of the Game' by hitting a solo home run off Andy Sonnanstine. It was Brantley's second home run of the season and he earned a 'POG' score of 4.97 for his efforts. Michael also stole a base and singled.

Feathers Up

I hope Joe Madden learned something tonight. No matter how many infielders you have, you still can't defend the walk. Madden went to an unconventional 5 man infield which worked against Orlando Cabrera to get the first out, but was unable to get Michael Brantley out when he walked in the winning run.

Walk this way. The Indians walked 5 times against Rays starting pitcher Andy Sonnanstine, forcing him to leave the game in the 4th inning due to his high pitch count, even though he only gave up 2 runs. Overall the Indians walked 11 times during the game, leading to the eventual win and giving them chances to win all night.

The Indians streak outweighed the Rays streak this time as the Tribe's 13 (now 14) game home winning streak continues and Tampa Bay's 8 game road winning streak comes to an end. Tampa has played notoriously bad in their history in Cleveland, especially Andy Sonnanstine, and that bad luck maintained tonight.

Feathers Down

There were four solo home runs hit in the game tonight, two by each team. I take this as a negative, because the Indians had so many baserunners (21), but were so unlucky that none of them were on for either home run. Of course one of those batters was the first man to hit in the game, so you can't fault him for that. The Rays home runs (at least the first one) showed Josh Tomlin's number one fault again. If he can ever get hitters to stop hitting him so hard when they do hit him (4 doubles and a home run allowed tonight) he will be a solid middle of the rotation pitcher for years to come.

Michael Brantley, Orlando Cabrera, Carlos Santana, Asdrubal Cabrera all did something tonight and Grady Sizemore, Shin-Soo Choo and Travis Hafner each didit twice. They left runners on base in scoring position. Multiple times the Indians had runners on third base with one out and didn't score. Two of the times the Indians did get runners in from third were because of mistakes by Rays pitchers. Once on a passed ball, the other on the game ending walk. Its not a big deal, because you only need one more run than the other team, and they did that tonight, but it could have been very important otherwise.

Poor Frank Herrman didn't get to pitch again. Its probably a good thing for the team, because they only needed to use three relievers (Tony Sipp, Vinnie Pestano and Chris "Pure Rage" Perez), but Herrman has now made three trips to Cleveland and hasn't pitched since his first one. He will be sent down to AAA Columbus tonight for tomorrow's starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 runs on 10 hits, Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays 4 runs on 8 hits.