joez wrote:The thing I like most about him is his ability to pitch with runners on base.

Yeah he did a great job, especially in the 4th when he had runners on first and second base.....and gave up a 2 run double.....

3 runs in the last 27 innings......I'm thinking we are back to the "Nothing" phase of the all or nothing offense. I certainly hope that Francona can get them back on track quicker. It would be dissappointing to go from a 13 of 15 run to a 3 of 15 run again....and fall back to 3rd or 4th place.

That's going to happen on occasion. Except for his initial outing when he gave up 6 runs in 3 innings, he did a nice job in his next three starts (5 inn 2 runs, 6 inn 2 runs, 6 inn 1 run). He did well last night except for the double you mentioned. He's got 28 strikeouts against 8 walks which is nice.

Another day game today. Top of the 2nd, no score yet...

Bottom of the 3rd. Indians scored 2 as Reynolds doubled to left, driving in Kipnis and Cabrera.
But Phils come back with one in the bottom of the inning.
2-1 now.

Aviles and Swisher homers make it 5-1 now!

KIPNIS!!!

10-3 in the 8th.

It's a final!
As Broderick Crawford said, "10-4"

...............

WoW! Awesome way to break a modest two game losing streak. I really don't think this team will go into any really prolonged slumps this year which is a nice departure from times gone by. That translates into a hunt for the playoffs. The Indians should be in this thing right down to the wire. I have to admit that my confidence in this team is the best it's been in a long, long time.

With the major work I'm having done to the property, I didn't know that this was a day game.

Last week I had three 30 ft+ evergreens cut down from my front yard. The pine needles were a nuisence in addition to killing all my grass.

My garage floor spider webbed, cracked and was heaving. They will cut out and replace the floor starting tomorrow. I had to clear the floor and remove my work bench, all the shelving, and everything that accupied any floor space. You don't know how much you accumulate over 40 years until you have to remove it.

While they are replacing the garage floor, they'll pour a 12ft x 20ft patio in the back yard and a 4ft x 8ft stoop with sidewalk in the front yard. Then comes the landscaping.

I took a couple of Saturdays to visit my cousin in Pittsburgh. I leave Chicago on Saturday mornings at 3am, get to Pittsburgh around 1pm, visit for about 5 hours, leave around 6pm and get back to Chicago around 2am Sunday morning. Back to work Monday at 7am. My cousin has terminal cancer and had 2 months. It's been almost 2 months to the day. I just got word he in a coma.

Back to baseball..............I hope I have some time in the next couple of weeks to keep up my interest in baseball. I've already missed 3 weeks of the camping season. I think this is going to be a nice year to be an Indian fan. I guess JR can also include me in the "cockeyed optimist" category also.

I'm pooped.

Joe, everything in its time. Do not burn the candle at both ends.

Baron wrote:3 runs in the last 27 innings......I'm thinking we are back to the "Nothing" phase of the all or nothing offense. I certainly hope that Francona can get them back on track quicker. It would be dissappointing to go from a 13 of 15 run to a 3 of 15 run again....and fall back to 3rd or 4th place.

10 runs in 9 innings today!
And I used to think that the manager didn't make all that much difference, but maybe that's b/c we haven't had one as good as Francona. He was interviewed today and said too often players look ahead to an off day, and tend to start it the day before in their attitudes. He didn't want that to happen today, had all the coaches out extra early, and it appears to have paid off.

Tribe up 3-1. Stubbs with a home run.

3-3 bottom of the 8th.