This lineup is good. They are not going anywhere. Figuratively of course, they will not regress or take a nose dive, or fizzle out.

 They won't score 12 runs every night, but if you are sitting there thinking that the offense may not be for real, you are going to be mistaken, especially if you watched this club last night.

I can't definitively say that about the pitching. We saw Ubaldo struggle, and who knows if Zach McAllister will be brilliant all year. You still have to wonder about Masterson staying consistent and yada yada, you can make claims about the pitching, with no argument from me.

But I defy you to make an argument about this team's offense. Last year's offense had no staying power, was charged by a couple of hot streaks and a few consistent players. 

This year's offense is charged by a lineup full of productive players and you saw that last night.

INDIANS - 12 | RED SOX - 3

W: Zach McAllister (4-3)

L: Ryan Dempster (2-5)

S: Scott Barnes (1)

[BOXSCORE]

Read more...

I don't think I've ever flip-flopped between wanting a game to restart and not wanting a game to restart as much as I did with this rainy-mess of a game. Of course you would love to erase a 9-2 deficit and forget about the whole thing, because you might as chalk that one up to a loss.

But when you suddenly score three runs to make it some sort of a ball-game, then things get interesting. 

Tack on a few more to make it a two-run game, and all of a sudden you feel like you have a chance.

Of course when it was all said and done, rain couldn't prevail and neither did the Indians.

TIGERS - 11 | INDIANS - 7

W: Justin Verlander (5-4)

L: Ubaldo Jimenez (3-3)

[BOXSCORE]

Read more...

Let us, just for a moment, spit in the face of instant gratification.

Pretend - just for the moment, mind you - that you can’t reach into your pocket, pull out something the size of a hash brown and access up-to-the-minute stock market updates and read breaking news about why North Korea’s pissed off today.

Don’t get me wrong - all of that is the schnizzle. If not a reflection of progress, it at least demonstrates a proverbial Lollapalooza for the human experience.

Especially when it comes to sports. And even more especially with baseball.

While you’re waiting for the yutz from accounting to finish warming up his leftover casserole in your office break room’s only microwave, you can pull up and examine every box score from the previous night’s games without burning a calorie. You can check the standings, ponder that night’s pitching matchups, watch video clips, and, of course, buy stuff you really don’t need.

Read more...

Some nights, you can't do much. There's always things you can do differently. There's always things that could have went your way and there's always things you analyze as to what went wrong.

That happens and that happened against the Tigers on Tuesday. However, there was one thing that the Indians could do absolutely nothing about.

As hard as they tried, even if certain things went their way or they did things a little differently, there was one thing that was not being messed with.

Those nights happen. And those nights make losing easier to stomach. It isn't fun, especially with the team that the Indians figure to be locking horns with all summer, but you can at least rest a little easier knowing that what ultimately happened was out of your control and you got beat by the better guy having an awesome night.

TIGERS - 5 | INDIANS - 1

W: Max Scherzer (6-0)

L: Corey Kluber (3-3)

[BOXSCORE]

Read more...