Indians @ Royals, 9/29/07

I hate the Red Sox.

I think I've just been waiting for something to send me over the edge. Let's face facts, it's an organization that likes to pretend they're the underdog, that they're the polar opposite of the "evil empire," yet they've basically become Evil Empire, Jr. And Red Sox Nation is even worse. "Oh, we're so tortured" and yet they're really not. They buy what they need when they need it. Try being the Indians, jackasses.

But I've held my bile in check. Part of that is the fact that I actually hate the Yankees more, so the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Part of it is my friend Matt, who was born a Red Sox fan (and who freely admits that he'd prefer to support a different team, but you don't get to choose these things, as Indians fans know only too well). And sure, I probably fell for their charm in 2004.

No longer.

Minutes after the Indians managed to lose to the Royals, the Red Sox made their decision as to which ALDS they would be playing in.

Now, every Red Sox fan I've talked to has said the same thing. Every sports analyst online and on TV has said the same thing. Basically, the Red Sox would benefit the most from the short series, because their opponents, be they the Angels or the Indians, have a pair of aces and the last thing the Red Sox would want to do is allow the other team to pitch both of their aces twice in a single series. On top of that, the Red Sox basically have an ace (Beckett) and some other guys who are sometimes great and sometimes awful.

Like I said, it seemed that everyone who was anyone piece together that the Red Sox would benefit most from the shorter series.

Clearly, none of those people actually WORK for the Red Sox. Because they picked the long series.

I have underestimated the appeal of facing Lackey and Escoabar twice each in a five game series. I have underestimated the cloning abilities of the Boston Red Sox, as they have obviously created a second Josh Beckett.

I would like to hit someone now.

Indians @ Mariners, 9/26/07

Well then.

Some of that unbridled confidence I had as we headed towards the post-season dropped away last night. Sure, we've all gone back and forth on the issue at hand, but the last two nights have proven that our weak spot is glaringly obvious, and his name is Joe Borowski.

It's hard to imagine calling the league leader in saves a weak spot, but that's the way it is.

Rivera, K-rod, Papelbon, Borowski -- one of those things doesn't match, does it?

He is our closer, though, and I don't see that changing any time soon. We have an option on him for next season and I can't see any possibility that would cause the Indians to pass on that.

Some people have suggested Betancourt become our closer (in fact, I think the majority of people on the official posting board have done so). But we tried that with him last year and he didn't do so hot.

Honestly, I see the future of the ninth inning being Jensen Lewis. He has 33 strikeouts in 28 and a third innings. His ERA 2.20 and dropping. He's only getting better and I think we'll see him become the heir apparent next season behind Borowski.

Anyway, we only need to win one more game to secure, at least, the second best record in baseball, which means we'll get the wild card winner and, most likely, the longer division series.

So we've got that going for us.

Indians @ Seattle, 9/25/07

It's the bottom of the 6th and Jensen Lewis has just come in to relieve Aaron Laffey who just walked the tying run. There are runners at the corners with two outs.

Laffey threw 74 pitches, which is right around his apparent cut off of 75-85. It's clear they don't want to over work the rookie. He did a good job tonight, getting lots of ground ball outs. It will be interesting to see what he ends up doing next spring.

And Lewis gets a pop out to end the inning. Good stuff.

The Red Sox won and the Yankees lost, which is nice. I want that mess decided.

Texas beat the Angels, which is even better. It's not so much that we need to have the best record in baseball, we just need to have a better record than the Angels.

Why? Well, it breaks down like this:

From what I've read, the Red Sox would prefer a quick five game series, as they're going to face one of two teams who arguably have two aces each (the Tribe and the Angels). I would imagine the Yankees would feel the same way. For those two teams (with their pitching), it's not about who they can send out there so much as who they'll face. The Yankees choice, however, is irrelevant if they're the wild card.

So if we have the best record in baseball, it's our choice. If we don't have the best record in baseball, we just need to make sure the Angels don't and that we don't play the Red Sox. In other words, we HAVE to play the Yankees, which will happen if we either a) have the best record in baseball or b) have a better record than the Angels.

Follow all that?

Jensen Lewis gets a strikeout to end the 7th. I told you Lewis could be big. I wonder how long they'll leave him out there -- through eight?

Nope, Perez for the eighth. Borowski for the ninth, I would imagine. Fingers crossed that will be the case.

Playing It Out

So they've set the rotation for the remainder of the season and our two aces both get one more start.

Tues: Laffey
Wed: Sowers
Wed 2: Carmona
Thurs: Byrd
Fri: Sabathia
Sat: Westbrook
Sun: TBD

ESPN.com actually has Westbrook going Friday and Sabathia Saturday and Sowers pitching on Sunday, but what I wrote above is from the Plain Dealer. For that matter, it makes little sense for Sowers to pitch on Sunday, as it would be short rest.

Basically, Sabathia gets extra time off now, but regular time between his last start and his first post-season start (if it's Oct. 3rd) and Carmona's last start comes on regular rest, but he gets extra time before the post-season (as does Byrd).

It will be interesting to see who backs them up in those doubleheaders.

The mailbag over on the Tribe's official site raised an interesting point about the #3 starter debate. While I figured the debate existed because Jake, when on, can be far more dominate than Byrd, I didn't consider the other aspect: the offense.

Byrd's catcher is Shoppach, so any time Byrd pitches Victor goes to first and Garko sits. Pulling a bat like that out of the line-up is not exactly something you want to do.

For that matter, if the Tribe ends with the best record (or plays the team with the best record), they can opt for the longer series which starts on Oct. 3rd. The series is so long, in fact (day off between first two games, travel days, etc.), that Sabathia and Carmona could start games 1, 2, 4, and 5 on regular rest. If Westbrook starts the third game, then the Tribe has their normal offense going in every game.

At this point, I think it might make more sense to move Jake to the #3 spot. Sorry, Byrdie, you've been great this year, but all things considered (they should call a show that) using Jake at #3 makes more sense.

Honestly, at this point I hope we get that longer series and I hope we get the Yankees because I like our odds with C.C. and Fausto going twice each.

Pre-Season

This is what I sent to a few choice people before this season started. I apologize for the funky formatting.

I was right about a few things, wrong about others. I think I was right about our key, though:

That’s right, boys and girls and children of all ages, it’s time

 for another edition of Kyle’s Completely Unbiased and Realistic

 Indians’ Preview.  Because I have nothing better to do with my time.

First, a suggestion: The Cleveland Indians used to be the Cleveland

 Naps, named after their best player, Napolean “Nap” Lajoie.  I think

 naming a team after a player is a great idea, and hereby suggest that

 the Tribe becomes either the Cleveland Pronks or, even better, the

 Cleveland Garkos.  Don’t mess with the Garkos.

Twenty years ago Sports Illustrated picked the Indians to win their

 division.  They did the same this year.  That’s a bad sign.

But ten years ago the Indians headed down a road that brought them one

 Joe Table away from a World Series championship.  So that’s a good

 sign.

Now let’s get to the nitty gritty.

Why will the Tribe do better this year?

The easy answer there is “because they have to,” but we all know that’s not true.

Let’s start with our defense.  It was bad.  It was real bad.  And

 while most people would like to blame Jhonny Peralta, the majority of our

 errors actually came at the corners with the all-star combination of

 Aaron Boone, Ben Broussard, and Eddie Perez, none of whom are still

 around.  Marte is an obvious step up and the

 Blake/Garko/Martinez/Hafner/Harry Doyle platoon at first will make it impossible to commit the same

 mistake twice.  Personally, I look for Doyle to win a Gold Glove.

Evidently I wasn’t the only one learning from Major League, as our

 man Peralta has gone and got himself some new eyeballs.  The word on the

 street is that his range has improved a great deal and that he spends

 all his time with Barfield, our fancy pants new second baseman who looks

 nothing at all like a short, pudgy Manny Ramirez, which I think is a

 plus.  And Barfield can run!  Imagine an Indians team that can steal

 bases  -  boggles the mind.

I think we can gloss over the offense, as that’s not so much a

 problem for us these days (yet another nod to the 90’s).  At the very least

 our outfield should always be hitting right around .300 since there

 are five of them.

So let’s look at the pitching.  One big difference will be the simple

 fact that our rotation at the start of the year won’t consist of a

 3-4-5 of Byrd-Carmona-Johnson.  Sure, not having C.C. hurt us, but did

 it hurt more than having Jason Johnson?  No.  Fausto Carmona seems to

 have recovered from the trial by fire that was last season, so at the

 very least he should give us a chance (again, more so than Jason Johnson).

  And one would have to assume that Paul Byrd feels some pressure these

 days, what with the really freaking impressive Adam Miller chomping at

 the bit in Buffalo.

Yes, it would be nice to have our regular rotation to start the season,

 but regardless we’ll start off better than we did a year ago.  Fun

 fact for those who feel the need to complain about C.C.’s weight:

 Cliff Lee is on the DL with the same injury that C.C. had last year.  Have

 you looked at Cliff Lee?  He’s built like me.

As much as it may have improved, my biggest concern is still our

 bullpen.  Borowski appears to be the second coming of Wickman without the

 option for buffet jokes.  Hernandez is 102.  Fultz did not have the best

 spring.  Miller is hurt again.  And Betancourt is a lot like Charles

 Nagy: you have no idea if good Rafael or bad Rafael will show up.

So why on earth would anyone pick the Tribe to win the best division in

 baseball?  It’s simple: depth.

Everyone needs starting pitching and we have plenty.  We also have a

 whole boatload of outfielders who can hit.  I would not be surprised in

 the slightest if the Indians make some big deal at mid-season.  We’ve

 got pieces to spare, from Byrd and Westbrook (who could bring in some

 great players), to pretty much all of our outfielders aside from

 Sizemore.  We have crazy depth and we can pretty much use that to go out and

 get whatever we need during the course of the season.

Prediction: AL Central Champs.  The Tigers will be the White Sox of

 ‘06.  The Twins are one good starter away from being the best team in

 baseball, but that’s one more starter than they’ll find at any point

 during the season.  The White Sox will lose most of their team in the

 great AJ Riot of ‘07, orchestrated from afar by some kid in Los

 Angeles.  And the Royals are the Royals.

I think Garko will get more and more time at first as the season

 progresses and we’ll see a core infield form the likes of which we

 haven’t seen in a decade.  We’ll see at least one starter dealt, making

 room for Carmona full time and preparing for Adam Miller.  We’ll see

 Hafner and Sizemore jerseys all over the country.  And we’ll see the

 Indians get to the post-season.

Then again, I’ve been wrong before.

Champions!

A few quick comments on the last two games:

Byrd will have games like that, particularly when a team is on a hot hitting streak like the A's were that night. I have faith in him to right himself. Let's hope he has a good final outing.

Jake Westbrook is so amazing when he's on, it's unreal. Hopefully, today was a sign of things to come.

And it was almost as if Grady was going to close the deal today with sheer force of will.

So let's talk about the lean years.

I remember sitting in a bar in Atlanta, GA watching the Tribe play the Mariners in 2001 and thinking that if Colon could win his first start, we'd be fine, because that meant he could win his second start and we'd just need one more win on top of that (how much faith I had back then). And Colon lost his first start. And we went out in the first round.

In 2002, the Indians started the season 11-1 (the one loss coming to the Angels who, at the time, were not predicted to do much, but would go on to win it all). I remember an interview with Travis Fryman after the fast start where he points out that the team was still good, even after losing so many great players.

And then the wheels came off the wagon.

I followed the team as best I could in 2003, but this was before I discovered MLB.tv and I was living in Los Angeles. I don't know that I was actually able to catch even a single game, but followed the scores online. I remember that game against Detroit with the long delay and the awful start by whoever it was when Jake Westbrook came in and pitched seven scoreless innings and someone said to someone else "hey, maybe that guy should be a starter."

I discovered the wonderful world of watching games online in 2004. I was able to follow the team regularly for the first time since I left Ohio in the spring of 2000. It was agonizing, of course. I can remember cancelling my monthly MLB.tv suscription and the operator offering me a post-season package and explaining to him that my team was no where near being in the post-season.

Fortunately, I had a new assistant at work and he was a lifelong Red Sox fan, so I could at least be happy for him.

I spent all of 2005 telling anyone who'd listen that the wheels would come off the White Sox wagon and we'd catch them. No, really, I was saying this before the All-Star break. At one point, people actually started believing me. And we all know what happened in the last week.

I had high hopes in 2006. We all did. I even sent out my first pre-season Tribe breakdown to anyone unfortunate enough to have given me their e-mail address.

I did the same before THIS season started. And the number reason I gave for why the Tribe would win the divison? Depth. As I've mentioned before, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.

So here we are, AL Central champs, ghost of the 90's floating everywhere.

Someone put up a poll on the official Indians message board the other day asking who their favorite Indians team was. It's hard to argue with the '95 team, as they meant so much symbolically.

But I'm going to go with this team. I'm going to go with the core group that I watched wallow in mediocrity for the last few years, only to finally find the recipe for sucess. I'm going to go with Grady, Pronk, and Victor making their first post-season appearances. I'm going to go with Lofton's next shot at a ring and two Cy Young candidates. I'm going to go with a team that matches the teams of the 90's in home game homeruns and also has one of the best rotations in baseball. I'm going with a team I watch grow together over the course of the last few years.

So here we go.

Scripted

And now we try to clinch at home. It's funny how in the span of just a few days we've gone from wondering if we'll clinch, to hoping for the ideal situation in which to clinch. No longer do we hold our breath hoping the Tribe can pull this one out. Now we're making demands on how we want to win.

Ideally, of course, the Tigers will lose tonight and the Indians will win tonight and the Tribe will get a chance to clinch at home tomorrow night. That would be the earliest they can do it. Even without help from Kansas City, we can clinch at home with a sweep.

The AP article from Wednesday's game pointed out that the Indians could actually clinch during the first game of the doubleheader in Seattle on Tuesday. That's the last make-up game from the snowouts and the Tribe will actually be the home team in that game -- they'll wear home jerseys and bat second. Which means the Indians could actually clinch the division after winning a home game on the road.

There's a new stat for baseball.

Original and perhaps only remaining RCR reader Mike wondered why there seems to be a debate as to who the #3 starter will be in the post-season. I honestly don't know. Unless the coaching staff is in love with the idea of back to back ground ball pitchers, I don't see why Byrd wouldn't stay where he's at.

What I would find interesting is if there's any possibility that would deny Westbrook a start in a five game series. If the Tribe doesn't have home field advantage, it would be interesting to see if Wedge would go with C.C. on short rest to try and win a Game 4 instead of having to head back to Boston (the only team the Tribe could face and not have home field advantage over, although at this point that wouldn't be the case).

Speaking of Boston, Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe wrote an interesting article on the four playoff bound AL teams. This is what he had to say:

"Let's examine the AL contenders.

1. Cleveland. Grady Sizemore can hurt you. Casey Blake can hurt you. Jhonny Peralta can hurt you. Travis Hafner can hurt you. Victor Martinez can absolutely abuse you. They're not the Yankees, but they're all heating up at the same time. That's a lot of guys you don't want to see up, if you know what I mean.
What scares me is what C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona can do to your batters. The 6-foot-7-inch, 290-pound Sabathia is at the peak of his game, and Carmona has games in which he is laughably unhittable. Paul Byrd and his 1937 windup could easily produce six or seven solid innings in a playoff setting. And suddenly the Indians have great setup people, led by former Red Sox farmhand infielder Rafael Betancourt (1.46 with 70 strikeouts and - gulp - 9 walks). How Joe Borowski has managed to close 42 games in 48 opportunities, given that he has a 5.04 ERA and has allowed 70 hits in 60 2/3 innings (Papelbon has allowed 29 hits in 55 innings), may be baseball's greatest supernatural mystery, but that is what he's done.
Recent history teaches us that two great starters, excellent setup people, and a closer who can close are all you need.

2. New York The lineup is sometimes ridiculous, even without Jason Giambi. Did you know that Jorge Posada has an OPS of .972? The reason they have not won since 2000 is that their starting pitchers have failed them in the playoffs. Period. End of story. Are Pettitte, Wang, Clemens, and Mussina good enough? If they are, there is no reason the Yankees can't win.

3. Orange County American League Baseball Representative They're the chic team of the moment. By the way, hate to tell you that Orlando Cabrera has driven in 83 runs. Now here's a team that can manufacture a run. And assuming his right triceps tendinitis doesn't hamper him, Vladimir Guerrero is the flat-out scariest all-around hitter in the AL.
But do John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar, and Jered Weaver really frighten anybody? Give me C.C. and Dr. Faustus.
Mike Scioscia's the best manager in the derby, however. That's a fact.

4. Your Sawx Simply put, I fear that their best baseball is behind them, that what you saw as they were getting out to that 36-16 record and that big spread over the You-Know-Whos was the best baseball they could produce. Sure, if they could have started the playoffs in June when they were getting quality start after quality start and Okey-Dokey was untouchable and Youkilis was on base every five seconds and a few other things, they would have won. Then.
But this is now. Is this a team that inspires confidence?

Yeah, they could get lucky. Didn't the 83-79 Cardinals win last year?

Here's a better bet: Go, Pats."

He seems to think very highly of our Tribe.

Tigers @ Indians, 9/19/07

Who saw THAT coming?

Honestly, I went into Monday night's game hoping for a win, because that would mean at worst we'd get out of the series with a 3.5 game lead. Only in my craziest pipe dreams did I hope for a sweep.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call a statement.

Even better, we had our big inning by stringing together a series of hits, as opposed to just using the long ball for all of our runs. That's nice to see, as the power won't always be there.

Joe Borowski continues to lower his ERA by throwing 1-2-3 innings. It's a little insane how many guys (Borowski, Lewis, Hafner, Garko) seem to be choosing NOW to get hot.

C.C. definitely improved his Cy Young chances. His ERA is now 3.19, just below Beckett's 3.20. Unfortunately, C.C. most likely only has one more start left this season. Because of the doubleheader in Seattle, Sowers is getting called to make a start. C.C.'s last regular season game will be the first game of that doubleheader. The upside is that this means our rotation should be on target for the start of the post-season, with everyone getting a few extra days off.

Let's hope for some help from Kansas City this weekend so we won't have to sweep the A's to clinch at home.

I really can't believe we swept them.

Tigers @ Indians, 9/18/07

*Ahem*

From the July 31st entry of this very blog:

"On the upside, Jensen Lewis is getting more experience and he's learning to pitch in a variety of situations, including trouble he gets himself into. He could end up being key to our bullpen as the season goes on."

And from another on September 4th:

"Perhaps the unsung hero of the night was definitely Jensen Lewis. I've talked about Lewis in the past, mentioning that he has the talent, it's just his lack of experience that's a concern. As I've said before, when he's on he's a huge part of our bullpen, but when's he's off he can be off the charts bad. Experience will help him iron such things out and tonight was a great example of him getting that experience."

And from the entry the day before that one:

"Really, we just need ONE guy to step up in the bullpen and I'd feel pretty good about that, too. As harrowing as he can be, Borowoski has done his job and the two Raphaels are unbelievable. We just need one other guy to take the reins when we can't go to those guys."

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we've found that fourth reliever.

If Jensen Lewis can pitch like he did tonight on a regular basis, we have a really good shot at winning it all.

While not necessary per se, winning tomorrow would be about the greatest moment of the year.

RETURN!

Okay, so I've been gone for a while, so long, in fact, that I doubt anyone is still reading this thing. As it's wont to do, the real world got in the way of my blogging.

And what a time to stop! It's always the guys we love to complain about that get hot and come through big for us. Yes, Jhonny, everyone wants Cabrera at short and you should have made that play, but those two home runs make it easy to look past those things -- for now. And while those home runs worked out for everyone, you still need to stop trying to hit them every time up.

Hey, I had Gomez starting at third by now! Again, that's not to say we wouldn't be winning these games, but clearly it wouldn't have been as dramatic.

Last night's game was a big one. Aside from the fact that it gives us a little bit of breathing room (the worst that can happen now is that the series ends with us up by 3.5 games with only ten remaining), but we basically STOLE the game from Detroit. The Tribe might as well as had ski masks on. Between the errors and the lack of big hit for most of the game, there was no reason for us to win it -- aside from the fact that we never, ever give up.

Let's not overlook the bullpen last night, either. I was positive Fultz would walk someone. I was beside myself when Borowski came in. But both of them did a great job (Fultz aided by a questionable decision by Leyland). And, of course, Betancourt was exactly was we expect him to be, lights out.

Sure, it's worrying that we seem to live and die by the homerun on certain nights, but with Cabrera in the two spot and Lofton in the line-up, I feel like we can manufacture runs far better than in the first half of the season. And, hey, Shoppach laid down a great sac bunt last night (although ultimately to no avail).

Byrd was actually pretty good last night, minus the unearned run. I worry about him against tough line-ups, though; picture him against the Yankees. Still, you can't say enough about his performance this season and it's probably a safe bet that they Tribe will pick up his option for next season.

Speaking of which, the battle for the #5 spot in spring training should be fantastic, between Lee, Sowers, Laffey, and Miller.

At this point, I'd almost prefer that the Tribe NOT pass the Angels for second best record. With the way the Red Sox have been pitching lately, I'd much rather face them than anyone else. They just seem to have more glaring holes. That, and the Angels have owned the Yankees this year, so let them take on NY in the first round.

Yet another big game tonight. A win tonight should all but clinch the division.

Indians @ Angels, 9/8/07

Indians win! Sure, it was only a two game losing streak, but that's two more than I like to see, particularly since the Tigers are winning.

And I was at the game tonight! We had seats in the nosebleed section, but it was a good view of the game. Besides, all we needed to see was C.C. who was DEALING. Was that a career record for double play balls? I'm sure it was a career high for balls hit directly at him (BOTH by the same batter).

We have twenty games left. Our magic number is 16. We have seven more games -- one against the Angels, three at Chicago, three at home against Kansas City -- before we face the Tigers at home for the last time. I'm hoping we stay at least five games up for that series so we have a chance to put it away then.

Tomorrow should be interesting. The Angels have the pitching advantage, but I'd really hate to see us lose this series. Hopefully we can get to Weaver early.

Indians @ Twins, 8/5/07

I tried to post this yesterday, but Blogger was having some problems:

My dad actually called me today during the 9th inning, echoing a sentiment expressed many times: "Who are these guys?"

Because we can't, as Cleveland fans, believe that our team might actually be this good. Clearly, someone has replaced them.

Of course, he also echoed another sentiment that's been making the rounds: "This could be the biggest collapse in baseball."

Because that thought is never far from our minds. I keep looking at the magic number. I keep trying to figure out what a safe number of wins would be (counting a safe number of Detroit losses).

The Boston press are beginning to pick apart C.C., something the Cleveland press won't do to Beckett because that would require them to assume that an Indian is legitimately in the running for some kind of award, and Clevelanders assume nothing aside from the worst.

For the sake of argument, though, it should be pointed out that C.C., while he has one fewer win and has given up the most hits in the league, has a lower ERA, more innings pitched, more complete games, more shut outs, and more strikeouts. If it were a two horse race, I think it would be hard to argue against Sabathia.

IF it were a two horse race. I'm not sold on that. Dan Haren still has an ERA under 3, as does Kelvim Escobar, who also has 15 wins and 3 complete games. In fact, I don't understand why Escobar isn't right up there, as he's given up fewer home runs and overall hits than Sabathia or Beckett. For that matter, John Lackey's numbers are comparable to Beckett's and with his win today, Fausto has to be back in the conversation.

Honestly, the fabled 20 game winner might get the eventual edge.

Indians @ Twins, 9/4/07

Unbelievable.

I'd resigned myself to a loss going into the ninth. Since the Tigers had already lost, I was okay with it -- amazing what a 6 game lead will do for your nerves, particularly when the team chasing you has already lost their game.

Clearly, Hafner's parents have to go to every game. And even as this team pads their lead, they clearly want more.

Perhaps the unsung hero of the night was definitely Jensen Lewis. I've talked about Lewis in the past, mentioning that he has the talent, it's just his lack of experience that's a concern. As I've said before, when he's on he's a huge part of our bullpen, but when's he's off he can be off the charts bad. Experience will help him iron such things out and tonight was a great example of him getting that experience.

And say what you want about Joe Borowski, but the man is a competitor. And he even had a stirke out tonight!

Jensen Lewis, however, could be key. Adding him to our go to guys in the bullpen -- being able to count on him to perform like he can -- would solidify our relief like crazy. Assuming he's on, I'd match up our four guys against the rest of the post-season contenders (although the fact remains that those guys all have lights out type closers).

Tomorrow should be interesting. I wonder if Wedge will risk using Martinez again even though it's a day game, since Victor won't have to catch on Thursday. Then again, this could be a good chance to give him two days out from behind the plate.

Indians @ Twins, 9/3/07

It's 5-0 as we head to the bottom of the 7th. I'm going to avoid talking about the game so as not to jinx us.

Oh, and we're out of the 7th. And C.C.'s thrown 94 pages, which makes me think he'll be out again in the 8th.

But the point of this entry is to say this: I love our bench.

The addition of Chris Gomez and Asdrubal Cabrera gives me so much confidence in our infield. And even though Barfield's bat is in question, at least we can count on his defense.

And look out our outfield: possibly three of the best young outfielders in baseball (Sizemore, Gutierrez, and Francisco), a big time veteran in Lofton, and a guy who seems to always make the best of his chances in Michaels. And, hey, pie-in-the-face guy seems to do well for team unity.

Aside from yesterday, you also have to feel good about our rotation. Even if we haven't seen a lot out of Laffey, our post-season rotation would drop to four guys, and those four guys have been pretty amazing over the last few months.

Really, we just need ONE guy to step up in the bullpen and I'd feel pretty good about that, too. As harrowing as he can be, Borowoski has done his job and the two Raphaels are unbelievable. We just need one other guy to take the reins when we can't go to those guys.

It's kind of amazing, really.