[cknox0723]

Originally Posted by cknox0723

We remain home for three with Minnesota and perhaps things will be clearer after this set.

Crystal, in fact. Minnesota's in third place heading into this little scrum, some team from Chicago is in second, and Cleveland's in first. A day by day summary:

7/5/2007:
CLE L 6-5 @ Boston - Keith Foulke's saved over 270 big league ballgames, but at 34 years old, with an ERA of 6.08 this season, his time as a Proven Closer (TM) may be running out. None of his BS were more painful than this one, as he retired a pair of weak hitters in 1B Bellhorn and C Vic Martinez to start the ninth before allowing a pair of singles to left off the bats of Jody Gerut and Angel Berroa. Second baseman Ray Durham, a long-time favorite of Pale Hose fans in another universe (and in this one, since he's batting .220 this year), flashed a bit of his old skillset with a game-changing two-run double to center, and fifth outfielder Coco Crisp singled two batters later to make it 5-3 in favor of the Tribe.

Who still lost. I love it! Scott Eyre goes to the top of the **** list for long-suffering Tribe fans who don't like relief pitchers, and Joe Crede (our old friend!) gets special mention for turning a 5-3 inning-ending out into the winning run, as he let one sail all the way into the seats to send the crowd home happy.
CHW day off
MIN day off

7/6:
CLE L 6-3 @ Boston - Six sixth-inning singles and one very wild peg to first from shortstop Angel Berroa led to five Boston runs and turned a two-run deficit into a three-run lead. For a Cleveland ballclub that is led in home runs with 12 by Pale Hose reject Joe Crede, asking for three runs in three innings is probably three runs too many. The much-maligned right-hander Foulke records his twentieth save of the season with a quick ninth, getting reliever Grant Roberts his fourth victory of aught-seven. Much to the surprise of anyone with a pulse, "Spicoli" Roberts worked an effective enough inning-and-a-third in relief of a largely ineffective "Petey" Martinez, whose two runs on seven hits in four-plus frames was far and away his worst outing of the year and raised his ERA to a staggering 1.38.
CHW W 4-3 vs. MIN - Mark Buehrle was not the ideal moundsman for this one, since Twins starter Ted Lilly is in the midst of his best season, and the visitors tote a rather fearsome lineup against southpaw pitchers. But starting this game would allow our ace to start our final game before the All-Star Break, and so any decision was a non-starter. So, too, was our opponent's southpaw, as our first three batters reach, and three runs cross home before the inning's finally put to bed, two of 'em on a single to left-center by the RBI machine himself, centerfielder Brian Anderson. Buehrle gives two of the runs back in the fourth, with the biggest blow being the two-out ribbie single by light-hitting infielder Jason Bartlett, and shortstop Alex Cintron brings the score to a dead heat in the sixth with his second hit of so very many this year, a double that plates dynamic outfielder Eric Byrnes. But Buehrle's multiple one-two-three innings far outweigh his few follies, especially since those three first-inning runs kept us in the black most of the way. Mike Gallo relieves in the seventh and when he gets in a jam, his foil Akinori Otsuka bails him out by fanning the dangerous Byrnes to leave the bases loaded and the score tied. When part-time third baseman Russell Branyan leads off an inning and a half later and blasts a Francis Beltran fastball into orbit to give us a one-run edge, it's Otsuka who's in line for the win, and after Kiko Calero and Joe Roa muddle through the ninth, Otsuka's W is exactly what goes into the books.
MIN L 4-3 @ CHW


7/7:

CLE L 4-1 @ Boston - 38 year old outfielder Jeromy Burnitz is hitting .172 in what should, by all rights, be his swan song, but his 449-foot three-run blast off of Armando Benitez was a crescendo if I've ever heard one. It made waste of Josh Beckett's typically brilliant (but slightly out of control) outing, and by all rights should not have been a three-run blast, but for the struggles of the pitcher who was the meat of the Beckett-Benitez sandwich, Raffy "Gasoline" Betancourt, who retired only spectacular left fielder Manny Ramirez before allowing weaker hitters in veteran first baseman Kevin Millar and shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to reach. Granted, calling Garciaparra weak is a misstatement, and Millar only reached because of yet another error by shortstop Angel Berroa...but here are the problems that plagued Cleveland while they sleepwalked through the first half of 2006. They may need electric shock therapy to even have a chance of a repeat performance of their world championship run.
CHW W 5-1 vs. MIN - Esteban Loaiza was bad enough for a full season to earn the dubious moniker of the "Art of Suck", but his solid season thus far indicates that he's sure found something this offseason. After a one-two-three first half-inning, Loaiza found himself with yet another lead to work with, courtesy of singles by second baseman Adam Kennedy, first baseman Frank Catalanotto, and third baseman Eric Munson. Though he gives up a run by the time it's all said and done, that lone first inning run was really more than enough for Esteban, who was so brilliant in this one that I have a hard time reconciling that this is the same man who was 8-16 last season. The first and only time the Twins have a baserunner in scoring position is the fifth inning, when Jason Bartlett (a utility infielder starting at first base for no discernable reason) draws a walk and swipes second. Nothing comes of it. Fourth outfielder Lew Ford comes through with a pinch-hit single to right with one out in the next frame, the first hit of the ballgame for the visiting club, but he's thrown out trying to swipe second base a few dozen seconds later. It's basically irrelevant, as Magglio Ordonez had busted the game open the previous half-frame with a three-run big fly off of starter Doug Waechter, but even that is obscured by the second half of the eighth inning, a frame that is simply a microcosm of a lousy game for Minnesota. Only one run crosses for our gang, but it comes about on consecutive outfield errors by Eric Byrnes and "Spiderman" Hunter. Where is the Spidey sense when they need it? Loaiza loses his one-hit shutout when Corey Koskie slams a one-out ninth-inning home run to left, but Hunter and Carlos Lee go down without much of a fight, and I suppose Esteban will just have to settle for a two-hit complete game. "Art of Suck", indeed.
MIN L 5-1 @ CHW

7/8:

CLE L 8-6 @ NYY - Southpaw starter Cliff Lee failed to retire even nine New York batters in an ill-fated stint where he allowed seven hits and six runs, but his counterpart Eddy Candelario fared little better despite lasting three-plus innings longer. It still ends up coming down to a beleaguered Cleveland bullpen, and again they have the chance to push the game to extra time after a ninth-inning flurry, with Joe Crede whacking a double off of Proven Closer (TM) Dave Weathers (who saved 51 games last year) to tie the game. But again the ignominious duo of Betancourt and Benitez blow it, with obscure end-of-the-bench infielder Brian Myrow the hero after blasting a walk-off two-run long ball. You think Cleveland would have saved one of these games just through sheer will or dumb luck. Guess not.
CHW W 4-3 vs. MIN - There is no way the supremely talented right-hander Ben Sheets, he of the 9-4 record and superb strikeout rate, should ever lose to a guy like Ryan Franklin who is on about his fourth right arm, no matter how gritty and gutty Franklin may be. But in the bottom of the first, it is the home club who takes a 1-0 lead after a Magglio Ordonez double is followed by Joe Mauer chucking into right field what should have been an easy 2-3 out to end the inning. Rookie left fielder Clint King blasts his second major league long ball with one out in the next frame, a real big fly to left-center tha makes it two-nil. In the third, our dynamic middle infielders at the top of the order give us yet another quick start to an inning with back-to-back singles, and "Buddha" Ordonez pokes a deep enough fly ball to allow Ramon Vazquez to amble home with our third run. That's all Ben Sheets allows, but it's more than could have been reasonably expected. It's not unreasonable that Ryan Franklin gives it all back on one lousy pitch to Eric Byrnes; I'm more than satisfied that the 34 year old gives us six-plus and another quality start. It's the same score, three-to-three, after seven-and-a-half, but somehow a one-out Frank Catalanotto double leads to a change in that score when backup catcher Miguel Olivo comes off the bench and pounds a two-bagger of his own off of southpaw Aaron Fultz. We manage to close the win out once again, and apparently that means we swept our division rivals.
MIN L 4-3 @ CHW

Here are the standings now:

Chicago.......48-39 (.552 win pct), -- GB, W4
Cleveland.....47-41 (.534), 1.5 GB, L4
Minnesota.....43-43 (.500), 4.5 GB, L3
Kansas City...42-45 (.483), 6 GB, L1
Detroit.......41-45 (.477), 6.5 GB, L2

Is this really the same team that lost 193 (one hundred and ninety-three!!!) the last two years?