Roster Update: The Indians added a new player to the team today as Nick Swisher's wife had their first child. Relative to baseball, this means that Swisher will be on the paternity list for as long as three days while they get things situated at home. Cord Phelps has been recalled in his place for the second time this year. Phelps went 0-8 in an earlier stint while replacing the injured Jason Kipnis. He will likely be an emergency measure only.

Player of the Game

Cody Allen earned his first player of the game award of the season with a fantastic relief outing. Allen pitched 1.2 innings, striking out 4 Detroit batters in a row.

Feathers Up

Batting Michael Brantley fourth was an odd decision going into the game (instead of dropping either Brantley or Asdrubal Cabrera down in the lineup), but it worked out well in the first. Brantley knocked in the Indians first run on a line drive sacrifice fly to deep right field.

The rather large man, Prince Fielder, struck out 4 times tonight. Corey Kluber and Cody Allen combined in K-ing the big guy.

Feathers Down

Corey Kluber proved phenominal the first 5 innings, but fell apart quickly in the 6th. He gave up the lead by allowing a home run, a double, and another home run. Kluber pitched into the 7th inning, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits.

No miracle walk-off tonight. In fact, the Indians did not have a single baserunner after Carlos Santana walked in the first inning until Michael Bourn singled in the 9th. The Indians did not record their first strike out until the 5th inning, but managed to strike out a total of 7 times by the end of the game.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 - Motor City Kitties 5

Detroit Tigers (23-19) at Cleveland Indians (26-17)
Series 15, Games 44 and 45
Progressive Field: 95, Pitcher's Park
Weather: Looks like a chance of thunderstorms with temps in the mid 80's. 

Tuesday, May 21 7:05 EDT (STO)
Max Scherzer (5-0, 3.98) vs. Corey Kluber (3-2, 5.40)
This series sets up well for the Tribe as they are 2.5 games ahead of the Tigers in the Central Division. This means that regardless of the results of the short series, the Indians will still be in first, but they also have the opportunity to move to 4.5 games up. Both pitching match-ups favor the Tigers, but the Indians were able to split two games in the last Tigers series with these same match-ups. Kluber will be playing for his roster spot again with Brett Myers scheduled to return within the next two times through the rotation. If he is a bad as he was last time against Detroit, this could be his last start with either Myers or Trevor Bauer returning. While a fifth place team can tolerate a replacement level pitcher allowing  three or more runs in a five inning start, a first place team can't.

One major difference between this time and the last series is that Miguel Cabrera has turned on the afterburners and went from being the hottest player in the Majors to a towering inferno. He now leads the league in AVG, hits, runs and RBI after a three home run, 5 RBI against the Rangers. He hit one out against Kluber last time they played, so giving him a few more intentional walks wouldn't be a bad idea.

Wednesday, May 22 7:05 EDT (STO)
Justin Verlander (4-4, 3.17) vs. Ubaldo Jimenez (3-2, 5.31)
In the surprise of the series, last time around, Jimenez out-dueled the former Cy Young and Triple Crown award winner. Jimenez has had four straight good starts and is either turning things around or getting ready for his biggest drop off to date. 

Facing Verlander will be a challenge of it's own for the Tribe hitters, but one they are familiar with to this point. They have already set a record by beating 7 (of 8 faced) former Cy Young Award winners before June 1st and Verlander will be a chance for another. He will be the first of these former winners to face the Indians a second time, but they shouldn't be too worried. Verlander has face the Indians more times than any other team in his career and no other team (that has faced him at least eight times) has been more successful. For some reason, Verlander loses all control against the Tribe and has hit almost twice as many Indians batters than any other team and has thrown seven more wild pitches against Cleveland than any other team. His 75 walks and 221 strike outs are also team highs. This patient and powerful Indians line-up matches up with Verlander better than just about any other team. 

The Indians should be able to hit off either Tiger starter, irrelevant of their successes against the rest of the league, but the real question of who will win the series depends on how the Indians starters throw. Each has been successful this year, but they both have struggled at times as well. This is the end of the home stand and the start of a long, difficult stretch of baseball, so they will want to start off right. 

Of course, after the improbable wins against the Mariners in the last series, it certainly seems like the baseball gods are looking down on the Tribe. If they keep getting breaks like those, they won't ever lose.

From May 11th through the 19th, the Indians played nine games and won seven (tied with the Pirates and Rangers for best in the Majors over that span). The run has brought the Indians from third into 2.5 games ahead of Detroit for first in the Central Division. The main reason for the team's success has been very impressive starting pitching through the entire rotation. 

Across those nine games every starter threw at least five innings every game, averaging 6.1 innings per start. They have not just been pitching deep into games, but they have held an ERA of 2.05 as a staff over that time (4.37 starter ERA for the season). While this run does include two amazing starts by Justin Masterson, it also includes starts by five other pitchers due to a double header. The only bad start during the 9 game stretch was by Scott Kazmir who allowed four runs in five innings. Excluding that game (the last Indians loss), brings the starting rotations ERA to 1.56.

While this stretch was impressive and the underlying reason why the Indians are on a current five game winning streak, there has been another starting trend that has went on even longer. The Indians top three starters (Ubaldo Jimenez, Zach McAllister and Masterson) have combined for 18 consecutive starts with at least five innings thrown. The Indians as a team have went 14-4 through the last 18 starts by those three pitchers including a current 12 game winning streak. Those starters have held a 3.13 ERA over that span

To break the rotation down even further, Jimenez has seemingly turned things around. He still holds an ERA on the year of over 5.00, but in his last four starts, he has an ERA of 1.90 and is 3-0. He has also maintained his strike out totals, striking out 29 batters in 23.2 innings, while eliminating his walks allowed (just 8 after walking 11 and just striking out 15 in his first four starts). This has been one of his biggest issues since joining the Tribe and his recent success proves how important Ubaldo's control is to his ultimate success as a starting pitcher. This current run of four straight great outings (at least 5.2 innings pitched and no more than 2 runs allowed in any game) is his best run since August 28th through September 21st of 2011, just after being traded to Cleveland. The Indians went 4-2 over that span and have gone 4-0 during the one in 2013, proving that Ubaldo can still be a winning pitcher, despite considerable set-backs (not limited to the entire 2012 season).

Overall, the Indians have finally discovered the winning combination of keeping the other team from scoring runs while scoring runs of their own. Since April 28th, the Indians are 18-4, going from 8-13 in last place in the AL Central to the top of the heap at 26-17 and the starters are the base of that success. The Indians have a league high five shut outs over that time and have outscored their opponents 131 to 76.

The Indians will now go on to play 16 straight days against teams that are all over .500 and competing in their respective divisions. This will be followed by two series on the road against Detroit and Texas, two of the best offensive teams in the Majors. How the pitching staff fares against these foes will go a long way to show where this team will stand at the end of the season. While the next 21 games will not immediately decide the season, a good showing in the two series against the Tigers and going at least .500 against the other difficult teams (especially Texas and Cincinnatti) will cement the Indians as a contender in 2013 and on.

Player of the Game

The third time is the charm as they say and today, Yan Gomes wins the Player of the Game for giving the Indians their third walk off win of the four game series. It was his second home run of the game that pushed him over the edge, giving him four RBI, two runs scored and single. Gomes also played well defensively, catching two out of three attempted base stealers. He did all this despite not playing every day. His fourth home run this year gives Gomes as many as Lou Marson has had in his entire Indians career (253 games).

Feathers Up

The Indians have played very well with two outs this year, but generally that means that players get on throughout the inning and someone gets a two out RBI before the inning ends within the next two batters. Today's second inning was something else entirely. Carlos Santana doubled with one out and Mark Reynolds flew out to make it two outs. After there were already two down, Michael Brantley walked and Ryan Raburn and Yan Gomes followed with back to back home runs, giving the Indians a 4-2 lead. To finish the inning, Michael Bourn was safe on a bunt attempt and Jason Kipnis singled to center before Asdrubal Cabrera ended the inning by striking out. The Indians batted around in the inning with six batters hitting with two outs.

Yesterday the Indians scored six runs against the AL's best pitcher (according to ERA), pushing him back to fourth in the league. Today, they scored four runs in the first two innings off the new number two pitcher, Hisashi Iwakuma, pushing his ERA over 2.00 for the first time since April 18th.

In a most perplexing turn of events, the unhittable Tom Wilhelmsen dropped an easy toss from first baseman Justin Smoak with two outs, allowing Kipnis to score the tying run on a play that should have ended the game. This was his first blown save of the year although he did continue his streak of not allowing a hit to a right handed batter by striking out Mark Reynolds to end the inning.

It was a back and forth event all day, but the Indians ended up on top with the Yan Gomes three run, walk-off home run being the deciding factor. No matter how you do it, it counts as a win and the Indians have now swept the Mariners and guaranteed a winning record on the home stand. It also means that no matter what happens against Detroit, they will end that series in first place.

It was announced today the Justin Masterson has won the Player of the Week for being just filthy in his last two starts. He is the second player this season to win the AL Player of the Week (Ryan Raburn was the other).

Feathers Down

Scott Kazmir was less than stellar for the second straight start. Kazmir struggled early on, throwing pitches that had far too much of the plate in pitcher's counts. He wasn't fooling anyone and the Mariners had no problem knocking him around to the tune of 7 hits in three innings. This was the second straight start that he allowed at least four runs in five or less innings. This comes right after a three game stretch where he threw 17 innings, allowing just five runs and striking out 21.

Despite the series win, this has been a generally bad series for the bullpen. The Indians have blown saves in three of four games with three different pitchers at fault. Today it was Vinnie Pestano in just his second game back from the DL. Chris Perez, who gave up the last blown save, gave up the go ahead run in today's game as well. Not to be outdone, Joe Smith gave up another solo home run in the tenth inning, giving Seattle home runs off of each of the Indians best three relievers.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 10 - Seattle Mariners 8

The Indians are in sole possession of first place! So, as promised, the strike out counter will be converted to a home run counter. Originally, the purpose of the strike out counter was because it looked like the Indians had a chance at breaking the all-time Major League (or at least the American League) record for strike outs. The Houston Astros have completely made all those discussions pointless as they are on pace to completely shatter both records themselves. Through 44 games, the Astros have struck out 432 times and are on pace to break the Major League record in just 155 games. The Indians are far behind this and, in fact, rank just seventh in the majors in k's. They are still on pace to break the team record of 1,269, but that was only set two years ago and they aren't set to break it until at least 155 games into the year.

Instead of focusing on the negative of tallying strike outs, Burning River Baseball will now put the emphasis on the long ball, something the Indians have been doing a lot this year. They have went back and forth with a few other teams for the AL lead, but are currently tied with the Rangers for first in the AL with 57. This puts them on pace to hit two less home runs than the team record of 221 set in 2000. Of course, with Jason Kipnis, Drew Stubbs and the weather heating up, chances are the home runs will keep coming at an even faster pace. Keep an eye on the right side of the burningriverbaseball.com home page to see how the Indians are faring throughout the rest of the season.

Player of the Game

Justin Masterson was dominant again today against the Mariners, striking out 11 in seven shut out innings. Masterson was never really in trouble and allowed just six base runners while recording the win. It is his third straight start that he has won the Player of the Game and his team leading sixth overall. His POG score of 9.79 is the best score since his last start (11.14) and the fifth best score of the year.

Feathers Up

In what has become a recurring theme with the Indians this year (as expected), speed kills. Michael Bourn lead off the bottom of the first with a line drive to the outfield and took advantage of a lazy play by right fielder Michael Morse to take second on what should have been a single. Michael Brantley then singled and scored Bourn from second easily and getting to second himself in the process. Brantley then used his above average speed to score from second on an error by first baseman Justin Smoak.

Another example of Bourn's speed came an inning later when he beat out an infield single hit straight to second. This play allowed the inning to continue, which was a very good thing for the Tribe. After Jason Kipnis singled, Michael Brantley hit a three run home run that rocked King Felix's world.

If you need another example of speed/very aggressive base running, just look to the fourth inning. After a Mike Aviles double, Drew Stubbs grounded out to the catcher. When Aviles saw the catcher leave the plate to field the ball, he ran home and scored from second on a ball that didn't travel more than 20 feet from the plate. The Indians knew they were facing one of the best pitchers in the league and a former Cy Young winner in Hernandez, so they were working hard to score every run they could. They were much more successful than they would have expected, scoring six runs in four innings playing small ball against a pitcher who came into the game with an ERA below 2.00. Most impressively, Felix Hernandez is the seventh (of eight) former Cy Young award winner that the Indians have beaten in 2013.

For the first time in years, Indians starting pitchers have started striking batters out with regularity. The two most adept at doing so, Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez, have now struck out 52 batters in their past six starts (8.67 K/G).

Feathers Down

The Indians kept David Huff on the roster instead of Nick Hagadone when Vinnie Pestano was recalled, but he has been completely unutilized out of the pen. Today would have been a perfect game to get him some innings, but instead, Rich Hill was used for the third time in the series. In the first two games against Seattle, Hill pitched two innings, blowing a save and allowing a home run and a double. In addition to Huff, who hasn't been used since May 13th, Joe Smith (who pitched today) and Matt Albers had been kept out of this series.

Carlos Santana may be working on a little bit of a slump. No one expected Santana to maintain an average near .400 as he did during the first month of the season, but as the rest of the team has heated up, he has cooled down. He is hitless in the past two games (going 0-8). This comes after a streak where he reached base at least once in 18 of his previous 19 games.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 - Seattle Mariners 0

Player of the Game

Similarly to last night, the hero wins the Player of the Game again as the Indians win in walk off fashion. Mark Reynolds knocked in three of the five Indians runs including a solo home run and the RBI fielder's choice to win the game.

Feathers Up

When he was signed, everyone knew that Mark Reynolds was a home run hitter, but where he has impressed most this year has been with runners in scoring position and two outs. He knocked in the Indians first run in the first inning in this situation. As he has been able to consistently do this year (9/18 with 2 outs and RISP) he hit the ball the other way to score Asdrubal Cabrera from second.

Of course, Reynolds still has some power as well, which he showcased with the bases empty in the fifth inning right into the teeth of a strong wind blowing in from left. I don't believe I've ever seen a player that had so much control over the baseball that he could put it exactly where he wants, whenever he wants to.

Zach McAllister was dominant (again) pitching into the eighth inning for just the second time this year. After a lead-off double to start the game, McAllister didn't give up another extra base hit until the eighth, when he gave up a double and a home run for the first Mariners runs of the game. In fact, no runner reached third until Justin Smoak did in the 8th after his double.

Indians fans had their rally caps on tonight (they were free to the first 10,000 fans), but they may have worked the wrong way. With the Tribe winning from the first inning on, they weren't the team that needed a rally. The Mariners completed their own rally with two runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to tie the game. The magic worked twice however, as the Indians were able to come back again in the ninth to win it.

Milestone Update: With a double in the ninth (and four total bases in all) Asdrubal Cabrera now has 1,135 total bases as an Indian, placing him in 50th all time, tied with great Indians outfielder, Homer Summa. 

Feathers Down

With Nick Hagadone down in the minors (despite being deserving of a Major League spot in the bullpen), Terry Francona placed his trust in Rich Hill again. Prior to today, Hill had allowed inherited runners to score in two straight appearances. As soon as Hill came into the game, Eric Wedge went to his bench and brought in the right handed Jason Bay to pinch hit, eliminating the similar hand advantage. While he exscaped just allowing a single this time, Francona was playing with fire by not just bringing in Vinnie Pestano to pitch the eighth.

Chris Perez blew just his second save of the season, ending a streak of 12 straight scoreless outings. The Indians closer allowed two solo home runs back-to-back against Justin Smoak and Raul Ibanez.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Seattle Mariners 4

Roster Update: The Indians set-up man is back after spending his minimum of 11 games on the DL. To make room for Vinnie Pestano, the Indians have demoted Nick Hagadone for the third time this year. If this continues, Hagadone will be nicknamed the Herrmann of 2013.

Player of the Game

Tonight, the hero and the Player of the Game are one in the same as Jason Kipnis hit the home run that ended the game (even though a single would have done it). Kipnis also walked and singled earlier in the game as he reached base in four of his five at bats. This is his second POG in a row as he scored 5.76 points for tonight's effort.

Feathers Up

Seeing the Mariners play the Indians is always a good time. You always get to see a fair amount of players on one team that played (or managed) for the other. They also have been competitive with each other since at least the early 1990's, providing some of the greatest match-ups in recent history. Tonight was no different as the two teams took a tie game into the tenth inning before the Indians won in walk off fashion.

What Mark Reynolds couldn't do, Carlos Santana took care of himself. With Santana at third and one out in the second, Reynolds grounded out to short with the infield pulled in. Still at third, Santana then scored on a wild pitch by Brandon Maurer to give the Tribe a 2-0 lead.

Ubaldo Jimenez did a great job throwing strikes tonight and has now been effective in four straight starts. Most impressively, and an effect of throwing strikes, is that he has struck out at least eight batters in each of his last three starts. Jimenez only allowed 7 hits, six of which were singles, only one of which ended up creating a run (thanks to Rich Hill).

Michael Bourn has found the perfect place to hit the ball, just to the right side of the pitcher. Twice tonight he was safe on an infield hit that rolled slowly toward the second baseman. The second single was necessary to set up Jason Kipnis' two out, game winning, walk off, three run home run.

Eric Wedge deserves a lot of credit for this Indians win as he removed Carter Capps, who had no problem mowing down Tribe hitters for an inning and a third. He replaced Capps with Lucas Luetge (who now has an ERA of 10.50) and Luetge walked Drew Stubbs and gave up the Michael Bourn single before losing the game on the Kipnis home run.

Feathers Down

The only non-single that Ubaldo gave up tonight was a monstrous jack hit by Kendrys Morales. The ball landed in Kendrysville (I think the Indians are renaming the mezzanine after whoever hit the last home run there) a place that no Indians hitter has reached yet this year.

Rich Hill had a fairly easy chance at a hold in the sixth inning, facing the left handed Raul Ibanez with no outs and a runner on. Hill threw a 0-1 curve ball that stayed very high in the strike zone which Ibanez deposited far into the right field seats. The blast tied the game and stole what could have been a win away from Ubaldo Jimenez, who was great.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 - Seattle Mariners 3

Seattle Mariners (19-21) Chance of Postseason Play: (19.8%) at Cleveland Indians (22-17) Chance of Postseason Play: (46.1%)
Series 14, Games 40, 41, 42 and 43.
Progressive Field: 0.905, Slight Pitchers Park.
Weather: Beautiful weather on the North coast this weekend! Especially for baseball.

Prediction: Indians split the series, 2-2.

There is a time for serious baseball analysis and there is a time for silliness. Now is that time.

For anyone who wants a poorly made Indians wallpaper for their computer, check out my Flickr account for the original.

The Cast:

Michael Bourn as the Flash - Signed for his tremendous speed, Bourn has already shown glimpses of it on the base paths and in the outfield. It is also rumored that his stint on the DL was actually because he was holding a race against LeBron James to find out who really is faster. 

Michael Brantley as the Amazing Spider Man - Wall climbing is just one of Brantley's Amazing abilities that also include diving catches in the outfield and fighting the Green Goblin.

Jason Kipnis as Iron Man - The most durable Indian, Kipnis is on the field every day no matter what. He uses his hand rockets to get that extra height when turning difficult double plays.

Nick Swisher as Nickelangelo - The original dude-bro, Nicky is way too cool to care about anything on or off the field. He actually lives in the sewers beneath Progressive Field and hangs out with a giant rat (brought with him from New York City).

Cody Allen as the Bullpen Boy Wonder - The youngest member of the Bullpen Mafia is quite a versatile little helper for Chris Perez and co. He is available for long relief or the one inning hold and is always there to save the day (or at least one time in Detroit).

Mark Reynolds as the God of Thunder - Reynolds swings a mean hammer as the most powerful member of the current Indians super team. Not only does Mjolnir put some thunder behind every swing, but his super cool, extra large helmet has really helped him add up those hit-by-pitches.

Ubaldo Jimenez as the Riddle - Who is the Riddle? No one really knows.

The Rage as the Hulk - You won't like him when he's angry and he's pretty much always angry. Sometimes he will blow away opposing hitters with an impressive fastball and slider combination while other times he will take the more simple route and just rip them in half.

Terry Francona as Professor F - The bald, parapalegic leader of the Super Tribe uses his psychic abilities to know exactly when the starting pitcher is out of gas and to create great team chemistry. Without him holding the reigns, there would be nothing to keep this group of Super-heroes together.