Juan Uribe - Tribe Slayer

Sitting in my office yesterday, watching the simulated live-cast of the Tribe game on the computer, it dawned on me just how much I hated the little dot named Uribe circling the bases in the sixth inning.

Is it just me, or does it seem that Juan Uribe hits all his homers against the Tribe?

I asked myself that question, and, for some unknown reason, I set about to find the answer.

While it turns out the ChiSox shortstop doesn't hit all his dingers against the Tribe, he certainly hits more than his share against them, at least in the recent past.

Take last year.

Uribe went 17-61 (.279) against Cleveland in 2007. No biggie.

But he hit 6 homeruns, drove in 14 runs and scored 11 against the Tribe in 18 games between the two teams last season (although Uribe actually took one of those games off).

To put those number in a larger perspective, if Uribe had played all 162 games against Cleveland last year, and hit Tribe pitching at the same clip, he would have had 54 homers, 144 RBIs and 99 runs scored.

Put another way, Uribe played 11% of his games against Cleveland, but hit 30% of his 20 homers, had 21% of his 68 RBIs for the year and 20% of his 55 runs scored.

I'm not sure what purpose these figures serve, other than to satisfy my curiosity.

But if I were a Tribe pitcher, I guess I'd be a little more careful with that guy who hits eighth or ninth in the ChiSox order. He's just so damned annoying!