Chicks Dig the Long Ball - Magic Number Now 5

Jake Westbrook walked a tightrope for 5 innings, Jensen Lewis shut the Motor City Kitties down for the 3 more to secure his first major league win, and the Indians beat the Tigers 7-4 behind 4 home runs by 4 different players off Tigers ace Justin Verlander.

The homers:

• Inning 2 - Ryan Garko (solo) - tied game at 1
• Inning 3 - Pronk (3-run) - tied game at 4
• Inning 6 - Victor Martinez (solo) - gave Indians 5-4 lead
• Inning 6 - Franklin Gutierrez (2-run) - gave Indians 7-4 lead

Three of the four home runs (Garko, Pronk, Gutierrez) were measured at over 400 feet. They were, indeed Mighty Clouts.

The Tigers stranded 10 runners and had several opportunities to put the game away in the first five innings against Westbrook, but were unable to get the big hit, and the Indians came back with a mighty clout in the bottom of every inning that the Tigers scored to keep the pressure on.

Jensen Lewis knows how to Beat Michigan, taming the Kitties by retiring 9 of the 10 batters he faced, with the only blemish an errant pitch that plunked Placidao Polanco. For his efforts, he was rewarded with Leadership Pie, and the Indians dropped their magic number to 5. Joe Knows Closing pitched a reasonably uneventful ninth for his league leading 41st save.

In another good sign, Jacobs Field was full, with over 5,400 walk-up tickets sold on Dollar Dog Night at the stadium.

The Indians have a chance to drop the magic number to 3 with a noon game. Sabathia vs. Robertson.

Mojo Watch -

Pronk:
Good timing for the Pronkmeister.

Tribe:
Still rollling with Full Elvis.

Tigers: Right now, the Motor City Kitties got no Elvis. They are Michael J Fox.

Lucky Number 7

The Indians reduced their magic number for clinching the American League Central Division by beating the Tigers 6-5 in 11 innings on a walk-off home run by Casey Blake.

The Tigers led most of the way, as Kenny Rogers' Deal With Satan continued long enough to allow him to agetreacheryguile a 5-2 lead after 7. The Indians were clubbing the ball the last three innings Rogers pitched, but right at the Tigers' fielders. Paul Byrd, after being deserted by his defense in the 4th inning, allowed 5 runs (4 earned) and agetreacheryguiled his way through 7 -1/3 innings. Aaron Fultz pitched out of a two-on, one-out jam in the 7th.

That's when the fun began. The Tigers brought in Joel Zumaya, a hard thrower who has been known to hit 100 mph on the gun, to start the 8th. He walked the Sizemore, and Cabrera followed with a single. Hafner advanced the runners to second and third on a groundout. Martinez also grounded out, scoring Sizemore, bringing Jhonny Peralta to the plate as the tying run with two outs. Jhonny proceeded to zhoom one of the park, his second home run of the game, tying it at 5.

Joe Knows Closing came on in the 9th, and, of course, that always means excitement. This time, Sean Casey, pinch-hitting for Timo Perez, lined a one-out single up the middle. Cameron "Beanstalk" Maybin, pinch-running for Casey, stole secong base, giving Cabrera an elbow to the head while popping up on his slide and forcing Cabrera to drop the ball. The next batter, Marcus Thames, grounded to short. With the play directly in front of him, Beanstalk tried to take third anyway, and was cut down by a good throw by Peralta, as justice for his assault on Cabrera. Brandon Inge flied out, ending the threat.

Indians 9th - on comes Zach Miner. Indians get winning run to second base with one out. Sizemore flies out, Cabrera walks, Hafner grounds out. Bonus baseball ensues.

Detroit 1oth - on comes Rafael Betancourt (Senor Slow). Polanco doubles with one out. Sheffield Ks on a high fastball, nearly screwing himself into the ground. Ordonez flies out.

Indians 10th - Peralta walks with one out. Josh Barfield is paroled long enough to pinch run for our most productive hitter of the game. Inning ends on a strike-em-out, throw-em-out doublte play with Gutierrez striking out and Barfield, who got a horrible jump, getting thrown out at second.

Detroit 11th. Guillen flies out. Next two batters K'd by Senor Slow.

Indians 11th - Lofton grounds out. Blake launches one into the left field bleachers. Game over. Mass hysteria. Dogs and cats sleeping together. Casey Blake gets the Leadership Pie. Magic Number at 7.

Casey Blake and Jhonny Peralta Know How to Beat Michigan

Mojo Watch:

Cleveland Indians:
This team still has the Full Elvis going strong. Different hero every night. Looking like a Team o'Destiny.

Pronk:
Mojo Shrinking. Maybe Pronk lent his free-floating mojo to the University of Michigan so they could finally win a football game.

Garkolicious!

Ryan Garko is getting used to a post-game helping of Leadership Pie .

Garko's 2-run homer in the 9th off Bobby Jenks sent the game into bonus baseball, and his bloop single to centerfield scored Jason Michaels with the winning run as the Tribe came back yet again, this time against the White Sox, 6-5.

Paul Byrd appeared to have been replaced by his beta unit, walking two batters, hitting one (Punkzynski) and giving up 4 runs in 6 innings. The Tribe got to Jon Garland in the first for 2 runs, but then let him wiggle off the hook and he ended up lasting 6 innings, and left with a 4-2 lead.

The Indians' relief staff was solid except for Tom Mastny, who gave up a run on a bases loaded hit by pitch in the 9th. The good news is that he hit Punkzynski. You gotta give the guy some credit. He dives over the plate and is always willing to take one for the team. Doesn't make him any less of a punk, though.

Pronk: 1/3 with a walk. He singled in the 8th and was replaced by pinch-runner Ben Francisco, who allowed himself to get thrown out at the plate on a very shallow pop to right field.

So, the bottom line is this - Indians win, Garko remains en fuego, and Punkzynski got hit by a pitch twice. All in all, a generally satisfying night of baseball. Day baseball today: 12:05 first pitch, assuming the weather cooperates.

Weekend With the Royals

The Tribe escaped a weekend series with the KC Royals, taking 2 out of 3 at home.

Friday: Cleveland 5, KC 4

After the Tribe tried to give this one to the Royals after JoeBo, staked to a 1-run lead going in to the 9th, gave up the tying run, the Royals gave it right back by giving up a run in the bottom of the 9th. After $57 Million Man Pronk smashed a double to right, Ryan Garko knocked pinch runner Mike Rouse in from second base with a bouncer up the middle off the mound. This was Garko's first walk-off hit in the majors, and, for his efforts, he got a taste of Leadership Pie. Pronk was 1 for 4 with a walk, with the double that ignited the winning rally as his only hit on the night. Westbrook spotted the Royals a 3-1, lead through the middle of the third, but then Westbrook settled down and the Indians regained a 4-3 lead going into the dramatic 9th inning.

Saturday: KC 6, Cleveland 5

CC Sabathia spotted the Royals a 5-0 lead after giving up a two-run double to Billy Butler in the first and, even worse, a 3-run big fly to Emil Brown in the second. CC settled down, and the Indians got to within 5-4, but then KC got a gift run in the 7th on a double followed by a fielders choice and a throwing error on Casey Blake allowing the run to score. Pronk drove in the final run with a sac fly in the bottom of the 7th. The Indians got the tying run to second in the bottom of the 9th, but could not push the run home. Pronk went 0 for 4 with an RBI on the sac fly. Ryan Garko hit a towering two-run shot to the home run porch in the 6th.

Sunday: Cleveland 5, KC 3

Pronk gave a Jorge de la Rosa pitch a one-way trip to Pronkville, going 3 for 4 on the day including a 2-run homer to the right field mezzanine in the first, and Fausto Carmona held the Royals to 2 runs through 7 innings. De la Rosa only gave up two hits, but both were homers (Garko hit a solo shot). The Tribe tacked on two more in the 6th and the Royals got one more on a home run by Jason Smith (who?) off Rafael Betancourt (huh?). The one home run per half of the season that Betancourt typically gives up is now out of the way, so we can all move on.

It looks like Pronk is snapping out of his funk. His shot to Pronkville was a line drive reported as travelling 436 feet. Later he smoked a ball off the wall that normally would go as a double, but the ball was hit so hard, and Teahen played it perfectly and threw a strike to second, nailing Pronk.

While the Indians were taking 2 of 3 from KC, the Motor City Kitties were splitting a 4-game set with the suddenly hot Mariners, so the Tribe has gained a half game on the Tigers. The Tribe us now 54 - 37, one half game behind the 54 - 36 Tigers.

The rumour du jour: the Tribe is looking to bring back Kenny Lofton. I would not necessarily oppose this at the right price, especially if packaged with Otsuka, and if the price is not too high. Lofton is having an excellent season. He gets on base and he's still running, and he could platoon with Michaels in left field (he doesn't have the arm for right field - well, actually, he never did). The Indians visit the ballpark formerly known as The Ballpark in Arlington for a four-game series on Thursday, and if anything is going to happen with a trade to Texas, this might be the week.

Next up: The Tribe has the next shot at sticking a fork in the White Sox for three. Pitching matchups: LHP John Danks (5-6, 4.62 ERA) vs. LHP Cliff Lee (5-5, 5.23), tonight at 7:05; RHP Jon Garland (7-6, 3.85) vs. RHP Paul Byrd (7-4, 4.41), Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.; LHP Mark Buehrle (6-5, 2.98) vs. RHP Jake Westbrook (1-4, 6.08), Wednesday at 12:05 p.m.

Big Ben to the Rescue

For those who have been wondering why the Indians would bring Ben Francisco up to the big leagues and then not play him - maybe you were on to something.

Francisco got his first start, his first major league hit, and his first major league home run - a walk-off shot to left field that propelled the Indians to a 2-1 victory over Tampa Bay.

In addition to showing some pop at the plate, Francisco showed some pretty good moves after the game, as he successfully dodged the first "leadership pie" from Designated Morale Officer Trot Nixon, only to get hit by the second a few minutes later.

Pronkwatch: 1 for 4, with 2 Ks.