With a little luck, Tribe runs streak to seven

It took an extreme bit of good fortune in the middle of a six-run, eighth-inning rally to vault the Tribe to their seventh straight win tonight. Sometimes it pays to be lucky AND good.

After the Tribe managed only two runs off of White Sox starter Mark Buehrle in seven innings, the White Sox bulpen took over with a 5-2 lead. That in itself was the Tribe's first bit of good fortune.

When the smoke cleared four relievers later the Tribe was up 8-5.

With two down and the score a bit closer at 5-3 Ryan Garko came to the plate with runners on first and third. He hit what looked like a routine grounder to short, but - with a big stroke of luck - it hit just the right spot on the cut of the grass and took a forty-five degree turn away from, and a six foot hop over the head of, Sox SS Juan Uribe. That mde it 5-4 and with some really lousy pitching by Mike MacDougal (7 strikes in 25 pitches) and a clutch three-run double by Casey Blake - yes that Casey Blake - the Tribe put six on the board to take an 8-5 lead.

During the rally Kenny Lofton got a game-tying RBI, and just like last night's game winner he did it with has bat on his shoulder, taking a bases-loaded walk from MacDougal.

Some other thoughts:

It may just be coincidence, but the Tribe rallied again just as Asdrubal Cabrera came into the game. Maybe those beads he wears around his neck are as lucky as he thinks they are.

Right fielder Franklin Gutierrez seemed to have been preoccupied on a routine grounder through the 2B hole that turned into a double thanks to the rookie's late break on the ball. The misplay, in the sixth inning, allowed Darin Erstad to score from first and resulted in a gift double and RBI for Juan Uribe.

Did anyone else feel like Wede went too long with Fausto tonight? He clearly lacked control, was not getting the ground ball outs and seemed spent by the sixth. He probably should have been removed right after Uribe's double (described above), but certainly after he allowed the fourth run of the game later that inning. It speaks volumes about the confidence Wedge does not have in his middle-inning guys.

On that topic, Aaron Fultz threw two scoreless innings tonight, facing just seven batters and picking up the win. Fultz has had four consecutive scoreless outings. Maybe it's time he and Jensen Lewis, who has also showed some recent success, get a chance to prove their worth, now that the Tribe has at least a little breathing room with the Tigers. They've got to come up with a couple of more usable guys and this would be a good time to find out if Fultz and Lewis can help.

Two-out hits (and walks) send Tribe to sixth straight win

They say two-out hits win ballgames.

How about two out walks?

Tonight the Indians used both to push their current winning streak to six.

The winning run was scored in the bottom of the ninth as Ricky Gutierrez walked to load the bases with two out and Kenny Lofton took a free pass for the game winning RBI.

But what happened earlier in the game is the major difference between this week's Cleveland Indians and the team that has been so inept at the plate for most of the last month or more.

The Indians banged out 10 two-out hits in 18 at bats tonight. Four of those hits knocked in the first five runs for the Tribe in a game they won 6-5.

Lofton's bases loaded walk will get the headlines, but it was all of those two-out hits -- with batters intent merely on driving the ball somewhere rather than taking it deep -- that led to this win. A change in approach is bringing better results.

A couple of other things:

I guess Wedge finally read my blog. He put Chris Gomez in at 3B tonight, giving Casey Blake what we can only hope is the first of at least a few nights off.

Gomez was two for four, with an RBI in the Indians' three-run second. Gomez is 8 for 21 (.381) since joining the Tribe and has a hit in every game in which he's had more than one AB.

I'm not saying Gomez is an everyday player. But I am saying they should find a spot for him in the infield every day until he cools off. Since Casey Blake has shown himself to be unable to hit in the clutch, 3B seems like a good spot for Gomez for now, with Jhonny Peralta taking a seat once in a while too.
--
Three Tribe runners have been picked off in the last two nights. Actually, Grady was picked off twice and Jason Michaels once. Needless to say you can't have that on a team that has trouble pushing runs across the plate,
--

One last little note -- on stadium "noise." The Tribe was on a five-game winning streak. They had just blown a lead in the top of the ninth but loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning. Things were pretty exciting all on their own. Do we really need that sing-songy recorded voice to say "everybody clap your hands." Duh!@!

Solving Santana, Tribe wins fourth of the year against Twins' ace

Five times Johan Santana has gone up against the Tribe this year.


Five times Santana - perhaps the best lefty in the game, though Cleveland fans will disagree - has come away empty.


Four of those five times, including tonight at the Jake, Santana has had to wear the "L". The Twins did win one of Santana's starts, on July 28, but Johan was not the winning pitcher.


I haven't checked it out, but since he has only six other losses all year, it's safe to assume no other team has beaten Santana the way the Tribe has in 2007.


The reasons for the Tribe's success against Santana this season are twofold; The lefty has run into both CC and Fausto twice, and the Tribe hitters are better against the Twins' ace than their counterparts around the league.


In five starts this year against Cleveland, Santana is 0-4 with a 4.09 ERA. Against the rest of the league he is at 3.06 - a full run lower. Given the Tribe has beaten him 5-3, 2-0, 5-2, and 4-3 that one run difference has made all the difference.


Neither Santana nor CC were at their best tonight, and it seemed like the Tribe might knock Santana out early, having scored four runs on six hits in the first inning.


But both vets sucked up their control problems and gutted out six innings each.


Some other observations:


While the Tribe swept the Twins, I'm happy to see them move on. They seem to consist of Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau and about a dozen annoying, unnamed gnats. But those gnats get on base, run the bases, play terrific defense and generally are a huge pain in the ass. They play the game the way it used to be played, which is fun to watch unless they are doing it against you. We'll see what style they play when they finally move out of that ping-pong palace they play in now.


It was terrific to see Asdrubal Cabrera get up there against Santana and hit him (homer, single and sharp ground out back of third) like he were Joe Schmoe. Cabrera clearly wasn't intimidated. Ditto Franklin Gutierrez (two doubles in three tries against Santana).


It was also great to see Jensen Lewis have a trouble-free seventh when he was sorely needed. In fact, Lewis has very quietly had a nice month of August. He has not allowed a run in seven of his last eight outings, dating back to August 4.


And let's not forget Joe Borowski, who finished his job in three batters tonight - though he was helped by a 3-6 double play started by Ryan Garko.


One final thought. Chris Gomez, starting at second and moving Cabrera to short to keep Jhonny Peralta out of the line of Santana's fire, had two more hits tonight. I've said it before. I'll say it again. Maybe it's time for Gomez to give Casey Blake (0 for 3 with four runners left on base) a nice week off.