I heard a guy on the MLB channel say the Indians were winning because of timely hitting, the defense wasn't making mistakes and their starting pitching was strong. OK, aren't those the characteristics of any winning team ? ? ?

 

My theory on why they were winning is that they were scoring more runs than their opponents.

Carmona pitched well, Haren simply pitched better.  But if you're going to lose, it's still great to have Fausto giving you another strong outing against a good lineup.

I actually don't mind yesterday's loss. Carmona's performance more than made up for the lack of hitting.

The AL Central has the best combined record of any division in the MLB.

 

AL East: 21-30 (.412)

AL Central: 29-24 (.547)

AL West: 24-20 (.545)

 

NL East: 26-25 (.510)

NL Central: 30-34 (.469)

NL West: 27-24 (.529)

 

The Indians and Reds are tied for the 2nd best record in the MLB behind Texas.

^What is the weather predicted to be like?

 

(its going to be upper 70s and sunny down here in NOLA  :-D)

 

^Looks like rain on Saturday but hopefully Friday and Sunday will be dry.  Man do I hate rain outs.  I'm just happy tonight's game is early.

That was one of the worst innings of pitching I've seen in awhile from Chad Durbin. Why is he here?

^Ya wonder how long he'll still be here when Joe Smith comes back.  That was really ugly.

Crap, well, you can't win 'em all I guess.  Another good outing by one of our starters though...

 

Gotta get back on track tomorrow with the O's in town.

When we really lost the game was when we had first and third with nobody out in the top of the 4th inning and Hafner struck out, then Orlando Cabrera grounded into a DP.

Masterful!

Awesome.  Way to shake off the Ls, Tribe.

Couldn't watch the game tonight, heard about the win though, good job! How was the crowd?

I ate 11.5 dollar dogs tonight. 

I ate 11.5 dollar dogs tonight. 

 

Haha  I gave up on the dogs after I realized I would have to miss 4 innings to get any.  I am not exaggerating...4 innings for hot dogs.  The crowd was pretty good, better than the series against the Red Sox but I think people still thought it was going to rain or get too cold tonight.  It was actually quite nice for the whole game and best of all THE TRIBE WON!!!

I think only about 15k were there, but about 5k were walk-ups, so the winning seems to getting noticed.  Tomorrow's weather may be a little dicey, but would be sweet if there were a respectable crowd on Sunday.  Even sweeter if we can win this series :)

Haffner !

I don't know if they're going to play ball today, but if they do, I don't expect the crowd to be very good.

 

Last night's was over 16,000, which isn't bad, but I'd love to see more...

I don't know if they're going to play ball today, but if they do, I don't expect the crowd to be very good.

 

Last night's was over 16,000, which isn't bad, but I'd love to see more...

 

If we keep winning, we should see that number get much larger, especially as the weather gets warmer.

Check out the lines for the walk up crowds yesterday!  People need to remember to buy tickets beforehand (like in the past) so they don't wait in line for two innings  :-P

 

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/Cleveland-hopping-all-weekend

Stupid rain.

Things should clear up after this line of severe thunderstorms comes through by 2 p.m.

Its been sunny in Little Italy for about 45 minutes now.  Is it still raining downtown?

The sun is back out downtown. It came out about five minutes ago.

Nice!  Crazy that we had to win this to keep pace with the Royals of all teams.  Bizzaro standings this year.

Sizemore back in the lineup today! +1

 

Talbot going on the DL for 3-4 weeks. -1

So who is our new fifth man?

^Sounds like Jeanmar Gomez is the guy.

 

Wow, Sizemore back.  Please be the old Grady!!

Sizemore HR!  2 innings ago.

 

FYI, he's on deck.

 

EDIT: Double!

 

He's 2-3 right now.

What a DP that was!  The Indians are really playing well as a team, not just a few individuals carrying them.

Sweeeeeep!

 

My fingers can barely type this, but off to KC for the tribe to fight for sole possession of first place.

Kansas series is gonna be exciting

Barely 13K at today's game.  I know it was cold, but that's less than yesterday's rainy game.  So not cool.  I really hope we get another good road trip here and then some decent weather for the next home stand so we can see some respectable crowds.

Kansas series is gonna be exciting

 

When was the last time we could say that?? Lol

Barely 13K at today's game.  I know it was cold, but that's less than yesterday's rainy game.  So not cool.  I really hope we get another good road trip here and then some decent weather for the next home stand so we can see some respectable crowds.

I was there today, it wasn't too bad, but there was a high wind warning (gusts up to 40 mph) and 48 degrees at 1st pitch, definitely not baseball weather.  13K was bigger than yesterday's 10K rain-soaked crowd.  The weather this April has been terrible, and that's an understatement..

I'm really afraid to get excited about the potential of this team for this season.  Just don't want to get my hopes up...anyone else feeling that way? 

 

My buddy and I were watching the game at a bar before the Cavs game last Wednesday and as he saw how intently I was paying attention he said to me, "I see what's happening here, don't get sucked in too deep, you know how this usually ends."

 

I guess I'm just trying to enjoy the way they're playing at the moment and not thinking too much about the bigger picture.

 

KC lost today so we are presently in sole possession of first.

 

Current standing

 

http://stats.cleveland.com/mlb/standings.asp

Central 

Team                W      L      Pct      GB      Home      Road    East  Central  West  Last 10    Streak

Cleveland          11    4      .733      -          7 - 2      4 - 2      6 - 0    1 - 2    4 - 2    8 - 2      W 3

Kansas City      10    5      .667    1          7 - 3      3 - 2      0 - 0    4 - 3    6 - 2    6 - 4        L 1

Chi White Sox    7    8      .467      4          4 - 6      3 - 2      3 - 1    3 - 2    1 - 5    4 - 6        L 4

Detroit                7    9      .438      4.5      3 - 3      4 - 6      2 - 4    1 - 2    4 - 3    5 - 5        L 2

Minnesota          5    10    .333      6          2 - 3      3 - 7      3 - 7    1 - 1    1 - 2    3 - 7      W 1

 

I'm really afraid to get excited about the potential of this team for this season.  Just don't want to get my hopes up...anyone else feeling that way? 

 

My buddy and I were watching the game at a bar before the Cavs game last Wednesday and as he saw how intently I was paying attention he said to me, "I see what's happening here, don't get sucked in too deep, you know how this usually ends."

 

I guess I'm just trying to enjoy the way they're playing at the moment and not thinking too much about the bigger picture.

 

Yes and no.  Will they win the world series?  highly doubtful...so if thats what you want, probably dont get sucked in...However, we play in an extremely winnable division and we are incredibly well managed.  Manny Acta has these guys playing disciplined, smart baseball and emphasizing pitching.  We are not the most talented team on the field, but we are gaining confidence and have a good leader.  This team will contend this year for the central division...you can bank on that.  If they make the playoffs...well then anything can happen.

Our six starting pitchers are making a total of $8,100,600. Of that, Carmona is making $6,287,500. So you can see how "little" the rest of the guys are getting paid. I hope we are willing to spend the money necessary to keep these guys into the future.

 

Then you have CC Sabathia making $24,285,714 a year lol

^interesting enough...unlike years in the past, the tribe can actually afford to lose some of these guys and still do well.  The tribe have a ridiculous farm system in terms of starting pitching right now.  We are also loaded in outfield.  I think it would be nice to keep the nucleus together though.

I'm really afraid to get excited about the potential of this team for this season.  Just don't want to get my hopes up...anyone else feeling that way? 

 

My buddy and I were watching the game at a bar before the Cavs game last Wednesday and as he saw how intently I was paying attention he said to me, "I see what's happening here, don't get sucked in too deep, you know how this usually ends."

 

I guess I'm just trying to enjoy the way they're playing at the moment and not thinking too much about the bigger picture.

 

This team will contend this year for the central division...you can bank on that.  If they make the playoffs...well then anything can happen.

 

That's all I can ask for at this point.  I hope you're right!

Our six starting pitchers are making a total of $8,100,600. Of that, Carmona is making $6,287,500. So you can see how "little" the rest of the guys are getting paid. I hope we are willing to spend the money necessary to keep these guys into the future.

 

Then you have CC Sabathia making $24,285,714 a year lol

 

CC is making about three times as much as the Tribe's entire staff.  Very cool stat, thanks for bringing that up!

Damn this team is hot!  Now the weather needs to get hot so we can get some fans in the seats!

What's exciting is that Choo still isn't on track yet although Santana's bat seems to be waking up. So how many solid hitters do we have? Hafner, Santana, O. Cabrera, A. Cabrera, Sizemore and Choo? Brantley is a maybe. Even without him swinging a steady bat, that's two thirds of their lineup who I feel comfortable with. As long as they stay healthy, I think this team could get better as the season goes along, as they did last year, as the young players (especially the pitching) get more experience.

I think it's Choo's bat that is waking up, not Santana's.  Yes, Choo was 0-3 yesterday and Santana had a HR, but Choo had 3 hits in the series including a HR to left, where Santana still only has 1 hit in his last 27 at bats.  I was disappointed that, after his HR yesterday, he still ended up 1-4.

Either way, when both of those guys get on track, and assuming no one else goes into a slump, we should have a pretty steady line up. Combined with the pitching and defense, that's a good recipe.

Either way, when both of those guys get on track, and assuming no one else goes into a slump, we should have a pretty steady line up. Combined with the pitching and defense, that's a good recipe.

 

Absolutely.  And it looks like Grady may be back on track already.  I hate to get too excited already, but I'm pretty excited.

I was listening to the radio yesterday and they said that Santana told reporters that he had never been in a slump like this before in his career but that after yesterday he felt like he was out of it.  Of all of our big bats, Santana is probably the one I worry about the least.

 

That said, Buster Olney was on Mike and Mike today and he told them that of all the teams he's had to do a 180 on that it's the Indians that are most legitimate.  He also said that the Indians lineup is getting respect from his grapevine of MLB scouts as being "tough," and that Masterson's coming into his own and living up to his potential is what's going to really be a key. 

Fuck it. I'll be the one to say with no reservations. I am excited by this team, and manager.

That said, Buster Olney was on Mike and Mike today and he told them that of all the teams he's had to do a 180 on that it's the Indians that are most legitimate.  He also said that the Indians lineup is getting respect from his grapevine of MLB scouts as being "tough," and that Masterson's coming into his own and living up to his potential is what's going to really be a key. 

 

Buster Olney is one of the guys on ESPN I consider to be an unbiased, well-informed journalist, unlike the New York/Boston-centric, favorites-playing, talking heads/entertainers who seem to dominate at ESPN. I respect his opinion.