Cleveland Sports Forum

Hafner slams #12 with Kipnis on base to give the Tribe a 2-0 lead .

That Hafner is quite a slugger. If he just comes back to 2007 form next year . . .

We win 4-3. Carmona makes it through 6. Then Joe Vinnie and Chris with perfect innings. Kipnis with two hits, a steal and error. Hafner two hits, and keeps his errorless streak alive.

Box score:

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=310920205

Magic number to clinch 2nd is at 8.

We are playing with wreckless abandon!

Fukudome has to be considered as a front runner for one of the outfield positions next season.

Do you think they'll make an offer to Fukudome? He's been OK, but our two "proven" OF's are both left handed hitters. I sure hope we make a serious effort for a RH bat in the OF (other than our annual pursuit of Austin Kearns)

Well! I hope so also Civ. I was looking at available players and I don't see one that overwhelms me. In fact, we would have to trade for the ideal player we are looking for. Besides Choo, Fukudome and Brantley are the best we have.

September 20 Akron Beacon Journal

"Indians fans and even some members of the media who still are paying attention to baseball have asked why Josh Tomlin remains in manager Manny Acta's plans for the last two weeks of the season. Acta has a different question: Why not? Tomlin has been on the disabled list since Aug. 26 with a strained right elbow. In the past few days, he has thrown two bullpen sessions without ill effect, and he is scheduled to pitch a simulated game today, probably two innings and 50 pitches. If he passes that test, Tomlin will start one game of Saturday's makeup doubleheader against the Twins at Progressive Field.

September 20 Akron Beacon Journal

"The Indians made it official by recalling Zach McAllister from Columbus to pitch the second game of today's day-night, separate-admission doubleheader against the White Sox. Certainly, McAllister hopes to be an option when the Tribe picks its rotation next spring, but at this point, he is a long shot to be one of the team's top five starters. "He had a good year in Triple-A, but that hasn't translated up here,'' manager Manny Acta said Monday. "We need to see more [improvement] from him up here. Tomorrow will be a good test.''"

September 20 Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Major-league hitters can work on swing mechanics until their fingers bleed, but none of it matters without confidence. If a hitter is tentative in the box, the pitcher likely will own him. Indians third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall said he is a more confident hitter than he was a month ago. Hits have resulted. Chisenhall is 15-for-48 (.313) in his past 11 games, including 1-for-3 Monday in the Tribe's 12-6 loss to Seattle at Progressive Field. "My swing feels good, and I feel good physically," Chisenhall said, "but the main thing is, I'm being more aggressive. I know what I want to do at the plate, and I'm not being timid.""

CLEVELAND --

The Indians used three home runs to power their way to a 4-3 victory over the White Sox on Tuesday afternoon, taking Game 1 of a day-night doubleheader at Progressive Field.

Travis Hafner, Asdrubal Cabrera and Kosuke Fukudome each cleared the fence for Cleveland (76-76), which has won four of its past five games. With an American League Central title off the table, the Tribe is trying to stay ahead of Chicago (74-79) for a second-place finish.

Fausto Carmona (7-15) picked up the win for the Indians after holding the White Sox to three runs on seven hits over six innings. In the second inning, Chicago pounced on him for two runs thanks to an RBI double by Adam Dunn and a run-scoring single for Alejandro De Aza. De Aza's groundout plated another run in the sixth.

Hafner belted a two-run shot -- the 12th homer of the year for the designated hitter -- off White Sox starter Gavin Floyd to propel the Tribe to a two-run lead in the first inning. In the fourth, after the White Sox had tied the score, Cabrera pushed Cleveland to a one-run lead with a solo shot off Floyd, who gave up a solo blast to Fukudome one frame later.

Cabrera's home run, which sailed into the right-field seats, was his 24th of the season. That equaled a franchise record for homers in a season by a shortstop. Former Indian and current Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta accomplished the feat in 2005.

Floyd (12-12), who has surrendered a team-high 22 home runs this season, picked up the loss after allowing four runs on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings, in which he struck out seven and walked none. It marked the 10th time this season that the Indians launched at least three long balls in a game.

Indians third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall said he is a more confident hitter than he was a month ago. Hits have resulted.

Just happened to be about the same time that Hanahan got hurt. Maybe Chisenhall plays better without pressure.

Stat of the day:

Indians starters have pitched the 11th-fewest innings in the AL at 878 entering Friday's game. Consequently, that has increased the workload of the bullpen, which had pitched the fifth-most innings in the AL at 443 .

As I posted earlier

It would be nice to entice Jeremy Guthrie to play in Cleveland. Between Guthrie, Jimenez, Masterson, and Carmona starting the season from the beginning, that's over 800 innings between the four provided health problems are abated. Assuming each has 32 starts and can average 6 innings per start, that's 768 innings. If they can average 7 innings per start, the number of innings jumps to 896.

The fifth starter(s) would pitch 36 games. Assuming they can go 6 innings, that would total 216 innings by the #5 starters. If all five starters can average 6 innings (I expect better), that would be a total of 984 innings which would most likely lead the league and keep the bullpen, our #1 asset, fresh most all of the season.

Tribe up 4-0 in the nightcap.