White Sox @ Indians, 8/31/07

Well, it's official: we're a team of destiny.

I ask you -- I ASK YOU -- to explain Ryan Garko's hit in the 8th tonight in any other way. The Baseball Gods are smiling upon us, people. And they work in mysterious ways.

How else do you explain that Casey "I never come up big" Blake had the game winning hit? How do explain Aaron "I haven't pitched in days because no one has any faith in me" Fultz shutting the door? How else do you explain SIX walks by Carmona?

Let's go Oakland!

Twins @ Indians, 8/28/07

And suddenly we're winning again -- regularly, at that.

The Tigers lost tonight, which is big, since tomorrow we face Santana. This should be a good test to see if our offense is actually turning it around or not.

All the hype might be on Beckett/Clemens tomorrow night, but Santana/Sabathia is where it's at.

There's lots of speculation on who's going to make the Tribe's expanded roster. One name I haven't heard but that could be interesting is Scott Elarton (yes, Scott Elarton).

He has a 1.29 ERA in seven appearances over 14 innings so far for the Bisons. Considering he used to be a starter and he's had some sucess with the Indians, it will be interesting to see if he could fit in as a middle reliever, where we're sorely lacking.

God bless the Kansas City Royals.

Indians @ Royals, 8/26/07

Well, I still have concerns about our offensive, even if we did manage 5 runs today. But, as Rick Manning pointed out, we went 6-3 on that road trip, winning all three series. That's a good sign.

Now we need to get back to winning at home.

Who would have predicted that Asdrubal Cabrera would have been the big call-up for us? Not I.

I like the new batting order. I think Casey Blake performs better with less pressure on his shoulders.

We got good signs from Hafner today, too. It's not just that he got a big hit, but he drew two walks, which is something he needs to do. Granted, he also struck out twice, but I'll take what I can get at this point.

In come the Twins, having run five straight. Should be a big series.

Post-Series Wrap

Well, what did we learn this week?

We learned that Jake Westbrook -- when he's right -- is fantastic.

We learned that Joe Borowski owns stock in Rolaids.

We learned that our offense still exists, even if it's extremely shy.

We learned that Franklin Gutierrez is our every day right fielder (or should be).

And what SHOULD we have learned?

That Chris Gomez needs to get some starts at third.

Assuming we keep Cabrera at second, our infield batting AVG would be this:

Gomez: .303 (.333 with the Tribe)
Peralta: .274
Cabrera: .290
Garko: .307

That's pretty freaking good, and a VAST improvent over what we had. Or, if we're looking for defense, play Cabrera at short stop every once in a while and either move Gomez to second and plug in Casey or plug in Barfield.

Gomez has been great for us so far. I don't understand why we're not taking advantage of him more.

Indians @ Tigers, 8/22/07

I'm typing this up during the final game of the series. It's 0-0 heading into the sixth and Franklin Gutierrez just made a great catch. The general consensus after yesterday's game was that Gut should be the every day right fielder.

Oh, wait, that's been the general consensus FOR EVER.

While it was sad to see our pitching falter last night, the sheer amazement at seeing the Indians score runs (with two outs, nonetheless!) overshadowed that. Granted, we seem to be unable to string together hits again today, but this seems like a legitimate pitching duel so it's a bit more excusable.

We need to make Robertson throw more pitches, though. He just got out of the top of the sixth only throwing seven pitches.

Man, a win today would be a big, big deal.

Indians @ Tigers, 8/21/07

I could unleash on the pathetic showing the Tribe made tonight. I could talk about how it's not only painful to watch them lose, it's also incredibly boring. I could mention that the only upside to tonight's game (aside from yet another amazing outing by Carmona) was that it only lasted two hours.

Instead, I will make a suggestion.

Tomorrow, Kelly Shoppach will be in the line-up, catching, as he does, for Paul Byrd. I suggest that instead of playing Victor at 1st in place of Garko, we make Victor the DH in place of Hafner.

I also suggest that Gomez starts at third and that Gutierrez should never miss another start for the rest of the season.

That will change 1/3 of the line-up from tonight.

Something's got to give.

Indians @ Devil Rays, 8/19/07

Ah, there's the Tribe we've all grown to know and loathe lately. If I were C.C. Sabathia, I'd really be getting pissed off at this point.

The upside is that the Tigers lost, too. The downside is that the Tigers lost, too. So much for padding our lead.

Cabrera is definitely making a good argument to stay in the Majors. I have to wonder how that's working out for Ryan Garko. He and Barfield are roommates, so I wonder if it's weird for him to play with his replacement.

And how about Guterriez being moved to the two spot just days after I suggested it! I'm psychic. And he managed to move Lofton over in his first at bat. Hope that sticks.

Big series on Tuesday. Fingers crossed.

EDIT:

While I appreciate the desire to add a fifth starter who already has big league experience, I don't know how much that reasoning is going to hold up in the face of Aaron Laffey's performance since he was sent back down. He went six strong today, giving up one earned run and striking out five. Granted, he walked three, but he pitched around those, it would appear.

I know Cliff is making progress down there, but I think Sowers has made just a much progress over a longer period of time -- and Laffey has only gotten better. In the end, I think it might come down to money, as I can't imagine it's sitting too well having to pay Cliff Lee so much money to be a starter in Buffalo.