It was a tough weekend for me sports-wise. The Indians lost 3 in a row to the Red Sox, and then lost game 1 of the Ohio Cup Series in Cincinnati to the Reds 4-2.( Game 2 will be tonight at 7pm in Great American Ballpark) And the NC State Wolfpack played in the longest game in ACC Tournament history, going 18 innings to lose to the stinking Tarheels. The Pack also played in the 2nd longest game in tourney history in 2011 going 15 innings before losing to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 7-6. Note to the NC State baseball team: take care of things in regulation. The Wolfpack will be hosting an NCAA Regional in Raleigh on  May 31st. The Pack earned the top seed in the Regional and will play the 4th seed Binghamton Bearcats in game 2 at 7pm. Game 1 will feature 2 seed Ole Miss vs 3 seed William & Mary.

The Ohio Cup is still up for grabs tonight as the Indians and Reds face each other in the 2nd game in Cincy tonight. Then the teams move to Cleveland for 2 games. Tonights pitchers will be Zach McAllister (4-3  2.89 ERA) for the Tribe and the Reds will use Mat Latos (4-0  3.17 ERA), a righty from Broward Community College. Latos last pitched on 5/22 in New York. He went 6 and 2/3 innings against the Mets, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits, walking 1 and striking out 4. The Reds won 7-4. McAllister last pitched on 5/23 in Boston. He went 5 innings against the Red Sox, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits, walking 3 and striking out 5. Cleveland won 12-3. The Tribe is now 2nd in the AL Central at 27-23, 2.5 games behind 1st place Tigers. Cincinnati is in 2nd place in the NL Central at 32-19 only 1.5 games behind the division and NL leading Cardinals.  The Indians and Reds have not faced each other in the regular season, but the Tribe swept them in 3 games to open the pre-season in Cleveland on Feb 22-24.  The Ohio Cup currently resides in Cleveland.

 

 
 
 

Indians Trounce Red Sox 12-3 in Francona's Return to Fenway.

The Red Sox fans may have been glad to see former Boston manager Terry Francona back in Fenway Park before the start of the Indians @ Red Sox game last night. They probably didn't feel that way after the game was over. The Indians used a 6 run 6th inning to defeat the Sox 12-3. Winning pitcher, Zach McAllister (4-3  2.89 ERA) went 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 3 hits, walking 3 and striking out 5. Cody Allen went 1 inning with no hits and a strike out, Scott Barnes got his first save of the season going 3 innings and giving up 2 hits and striking out 4. Ryan Dempster (2-5 4.69 ERA) got the loss for Boston. He went  3 innings giving up 4 runs on 5 hits, walking 4 and striking out 4.

On offense, the Indians put on a show. Michael Bourn went 3-6 witha run and 2 RBI's, Asdrubal Cabrera went 2-5 with 2 runs and an RBI, Carlos Santana went 1-2, but was walked 4 times and scored 3 runs. Mark Reynolds went with a run and 3 RBI's, Yan Gomes went 1-4 with 1 run and 2 RBI's, Drew Stubbs went 3-5 with a run and 3 RBI's. The Tribe went 8-19 RISP and left 11 on base. The Red Sox were 2-10 RISP and stranded 6 runners.

The Indians are now 27-19, still in first place in the AL Central by one-half game over the 2nd place Tigers. (Detroit came from behind to beat the Twins 6-5 last night to stay close.) The Red Sox are 28-20 and in 2nd place in the AL East, 1 game behind the Yankees. The 2 teams play game 2 of the 4 game series tonight. Taking the mound for the Indians will be Justin Masterson (7-2 2.83 ERA) who last pitched on 5/19 against the mariners. Justin went 7 innings giving up 3 hits, no runs, walking 4 and striking out 11. The Indians won 6-0. He last pitched against Boston in Cleveland on 4/17 going 5 innings and giving up 4 runs on 11 hits, walking 1 and striking out 5. The Red Sox won 6-3. Boston will go with John Lackey (2-4  3.31 ERA) tonight. His last game was a 6 inning effort in Minnesota on 5/19. He gave up 1 hit and struck out 5.The Red Sox won 5-1. Lackey has not faced the Tribe this season. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM in Boston.

                                                                                

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
CLE	0	1	3	1	1	6	0	0	0		12	16	0
BOS	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0		3	7	1

 

 

Waxahachie Indians Pull Off Upest of Top-Ranked McKinney North Bulldogs

The Waxahachie High baseball team pulled of a major upset in the Texas high school 4A regional baseball playoffs yesterday. The  Indians beat the top-seeded McKinney North High Bulldogs 1-0. I say the "team" pulled it off, but only because all 9 starters were actually there. However, the Indians only needed 1 guy to win the game. Waxahachie 6'2" senior pitcher, David Martinelli, threw a no-hitter shutting down the high powered Bulldog offense. The McKinney North's team average was .354 and had a 26-4 record on the season. Then in the 3rd inning, he ripped a solo home run. Martinelli went on to retire every Bulldog batter in what was only his 3rd start of the season. He is normally used in relief, but was moved up in the rotation.  Martinelli is 4-1 with a 2.23 ERA. And he isn't so bad with the bat either. He is hitting a stellar .409 this year, hitting 5 home runs and driving in 25 RBI's.

Indians come up short against Tigers. Francona headed back to Boston for 4 game series with the Sox.

The Indians once again hit Justin Verlander well, and often. But after falling behind the Tigers 9-3 in Cleveland last night, the Tribe could not pull off the comeback. 2 rain delays stretched the game, and the Tribe battled back to pull within 2 runs at 9-7. The Tigers won 11-7. The Indians are 26-19 and one-half  game ahead of the 25-19 Tigers for 1st place in the AL Central. Cleveland starts a 4 game series with the Red Sox in Fenway park tonight. It will be Terry Francona's first return to Boston since taking over as the Indians manager. The last series with Boston was in Cleveland back on April 16-18. The Tribe lost all 3 games. Boston is 28-19,  2nd in the AL East trailing the division leading Yankees by one-half game.  Zach McAllister (3-3  2.65 ERA) will take the hill for the Indians tonight. Zach last pitched on May 18th vs the Mariners. He went 7 and 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits, walking 1 and striking out 1. The Indians won 5-4 on a walk-off single from Mark Reynolds.   His last game against Boston was on April 18th, going 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits, walking 3 and striking out 7. The Tribe lost 3-6. The Sox will send Ryan Dempster, a righty from the Great White North, out to face the Tribe. Dempster (2-4  2.47 ERA) last pitched 4 and 2/3 innings in Minnesota on May 18th. He gave up 5 runs on 8 hits, walking 6 and striking out 2. The Sox downed the Twins 12-5. Dempster has not faced the Indians this season.

ACC Baseball Championship.

 The ACC Baseball Tournament has begun from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The park is the home of the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team, a Triple A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.
The pools break down like this:

Pool A

No. 1 North Carolina

No. 4 North Carolina State

No. 5 Clemson

No. 8 Miami

 Pool B

No. 2 Florida State

No. 3 Virginia

No. 6 Virginia Tech

No. 7 Georgia Tech

 In the first round, the 7th seed and defending champs, Georgia Tech, beat 2nd seeded Florida State 4-3. 3rd seed Virgina beat the 6th seed Virgina Tech 10-1, and the 4th seed NC State beat 5th seed Clemson 6-3.  The rest of the schedule looks like this:

	Virginia	Georgia Tech	May 23	11AM
	Miami	North Carolina	May 23	3 PM
	Florida State	Virginia Tech	May 23	7 PM
	NC State	Miami	May 24	11 AM
	Georgia Tech	Virginia Tech	May 24	3 PM
	North Carolina	Clemson	May 24	7 PM
	Virginia	Florida State	May 25	11 AM.
	Miami	Clemson	May 25	3 PM
	NC State	North Carolina	May 25	7 PM
Championship-	Pool A Winner	Pool B Winner	May 26	1 PM on ESPN2

The Indians dropped game 1 of the 2 game series with the Tigers 5-1 last night in Cleveland.  The 2 teams play again tonight at 7:05. The Tigers will start Justin Verlander (4-4  3.17 ERA) and the Tribe will send out Ubaldo Jiminez (3-2  5.31 ERA). Verlander last pitched on 5/16 in a loss to the Rangers in Texas. The Texans won the game 10-4. He went 2 and 2/3 innings giving up 8 runs on 6 hits, walking 2 and stiking out 3. He last pitched against Cleveland on 5/11 going 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits, walking 5 and stiking out 7. The Tribe won 7-6. Jiminez has won 3 of his last 4, needing a save from Pestano on 5/17 to seal the Indians win against Seattle. He went 5 innings giving up 2 runs on 7 hits walking 2 and striking out 9 against the Mariners. he faced Verlander on 5/11 going 6 innings and giving up 1 run on 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 8. The Indians are 26-18 and 1.5 games ahead of the 2nd place 24-19 Tigers.

NHL/NBA Play-off update

I have been neglecting the NHL and NBA playoff games in my blog. Since my favorite teams are out, I don't follow them AS closely as I would if the Hurricanes and Bobcats (for now) were in. So in the west, the Kings are up 2-1 over the Sharks, and Detroit is up 2-1 on the Blackhawks. Game 4 of the Kings/Sharks series is tonight in The HP Pavilion, in San Jose. The Sharks won an OT thriller in game 3. The Redwings and Blackhawks take the ice in Joe Louis Arena on Thursday for game 4 of that series. Detroit won 2 in a row and are playing well. In the East, Pittsburgh leads the Ottowa Senators 2-1. The Sens took the Pens to double OT to win in Ottowa on Sunday. Colin Greenburg scored on a backhander 7:39 into the 2nd OT period to keep the series in reach. They face off Wednesday from Scotiabank Place in Ottowa. The Bruins lead the Rangers 2-0. New York also fell behind the Caps 0-2 in round 1, but battled back to win 2 in a row tying the series at 2. The Caps won game 5 but NY took games 6 and 7. Not to disparage the Capitals, but the Bruins are not the Capitals. They are ready to put the Rangers away and if they go up 3-0, it could spell doom for John Totorella's squad. Game 3 is tonight in MSG.

In the NBA, the Pacers and heat face off in the eastern Conference Finals and the Grizzlies and Spurs battle out west. The Spurs lead their series 1-0 after spanking Memphis at the AT&T center 105-83 in game 1. Game 2 is tonight, also in San Antonio. The Pacers and Heat start their series on Wednesday in Miami. Indiana won 2 of the 3 regular season meetings with the Heat.

Former Arkansas QB Brandon Mitchell transferring to NC State.

Brandon Mitchell has announced he will enroll at NC State. he considered Michigan, Alabama-Birmingham, Northwestern State and Louisiana Tech. Mitchell is a senior with 1 year of eligibility and will reportedly start competing for the starting job. The 6-4. 239 lb QB played in 21 games, starting 3.  He is 25-43 passing for 332 yards and 2 touchdowns. he has rushed 23 times, gaining 75 yads and scoring 2 TD's. He has caught 17 passes for 272 yds. The Wolfpack has 2 QB's currently on the spring roster: Pete Thomas is a 6-6 234 lb Jr, and Manny Stocker is a 6-1 212 lb sophomore. Last year, Stocker played in 5 games and was 0-2 in passes thrown. Thomas spent 2011 with the Colorado State Rams. he was 161-261 in passing, for 1607 yds. He threw 7 TD's and 8 picks, with a QB rating of 116.1. The Rams went 3-9, winning their first 2 games and 3 of the first 4. They lost 8 in a row to finish the season. Thomas asked for and was granted a release from CSU and was picked up by the Wolfpack in January of 2012.

 

Indians and Tigers get together for 2 in Cleveland.

The Indians and Tigers face off tomorrow at Progressive Field. The Tribe is 26-17 and in first place in the AL Central. The Tigers are 23-19 and 2 games behind the division leading Indians. Man it felt good saying that! The Tribe is 8-2 over their last 10 games, winning 5 in a row. They are fresh off of a 4 game sweep of the Seattle Mariners. The Tigers are 4-6 over their last 10 and on a 2 game losing streak. They lost their last game 11-8 to the Rangers, with Miguel Cabrera hitting 3 home runs in the game. Tuesday's game is slated for a 7:05 start at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. The pitching duel will be a re-match of the first game the 2 teams played against each other this season. The Tigers will send Max Scherzer (3.98 ERA) and his perfect 5-0 record out to face the Cleveland batters. Scherzer's last game against the Tribe in Detroit was the only win for Detroit in the 3 game series. He went 8 innings giving up 4 runs on 5 hits, striking out 2 back on May 10th. The Tigers won the game 10-4. His last game was a May 15th home game against the Houston Astros. He pitched 7 innings and gave up 5 runs on 5 hits, walking 3 and stiking out 7 in a 7-5 Tigers loss. Al Alburquerque (0-1) took the loss. The Indians will start Corey Kluber (3-2  5.40 ERA) who last pitched against Detroit on  may 10th. He lasted 4 and 2/3 innings giving up 8 runs on 11 hits, walking 2 and striking out 4.  Kluber got the loss for the Tribe. His last game was in Philadelphia on may 15th. Coery got a win from his 6 inning effort, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits and striking out 5. The Indians won 10-4.

Gomes Walk-off 3 run shot in the 10th sweeps Mariners

Yan Gomes hit his second home run of the game and pulled of the Tribe's 3rd walk-off win of the 4 game series with the Mariners today. The Mariners jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when Scott Kazmir walked Jason Bay, who then stole 2nd. Kendrys Morales doubled to left, scoring Bay. Michael singled to center, scoring Morales. 2-0 Seattle after 1.

The Tribe stormed back in the bottom of the 2nd when Carlos Santana doubled on a liner to right. Michael Brantley draws a walk from Hisashi Iwakuma. Then Ryan Rayburn took an 89 mph 4 seam fastball out over the left field wall, making the score 3-2 Indians. Yan Gomes takes another Iwakuma 4 seamer over the left field wall for back-to-back Tribe home runs. 4-2 Cleveland after 2.

In the top of the 3rd, Jason Bay singles to right. Kyle Seager hits a ground rule double and Bay is on 3rd. Morales singles to center, scoring Bay and sending Seager to 3rd. Michael grounds into a 4-6-3 double play,  but Seager scores. The score is tied at 4. In the bottom of the 3rd, Nick Swisher singles on a liner to left.  Santana flies out to center, Swisher advances to 3rd. Mark Renynolds draws a walk and Brantley singles to right, scoring Swisher and sending Reynolds to 2nd. A double play ended the inning with the Indians up 5-4.

Kazmir walks Kelly Shoppach to start the 4th. Then gives up a double to Robert Andino. Francona goes for the hook and replaces Kazmir with Matt Albers. Brendan Ryan grounds out to short, scoring Shoppach from 3rd and moving Adino to 3rd. Michael Saunders reached on a fielders choice, Adino goes for home and is tagged out by Gomes on the throw from Swisher. With Jason Bay at bat, Saunders attempts to steal second and is gunned down by Gomes, throwing to Kipinis for the tag. The score is tied at 5.

On to the 7th inning, Yoervis Medina has replaced Hisashi Iwakuma. He walks Michael Bourn. Jason Kipins is batting and a passed ball by Kelly Shoppach sends Bourn to 2nd. Kipinis grounds out to first, Bourn to 3rd. Asdrubal Cabrera reaches on a fielder's choice and scores Bourn from 3rd. Swisher draws a walk and with 2 on and 1 out, Santana flies out to center, advancing both runners. Mark Reybnolds lines out to end the inning. 6-5 Cleveland after 7.

 In the top of the 8th, Vinne Pestano replaces Bryan Shaw (who replaced Kazmir in the 6th) and he delivers a 92 mph fastball to Kyle Seager. Seager then delivers the pitch to the right field seats. 6-6 tie after 8.

To the top of the 9th, Chris Perez comes on for the Tribe. Endy Chavez pinch-hits for Kelly Shoppach. The 2nd pitch to  Chavez was a 93 mph 4 seam fastball. Chavez lifted it to center for a solo HR. The score is now 7-6 Seattle. In the bottom hald of the inning, Tom Whilhelmsmen is on for the Mariners. Kipinis singles to right, and Swisher singles, advancing Kipinis to 3rd. Mike Aviles pinch-runs for Swisher. Santana reaches on a fielding error bt Whilhelmsmen and Kipinis scores, tying the game at 7.

In the 10th, Perez strikes out Morales and Jesus Montero grounds out to short. In comes Joe Smith to replace Perez. Smith throws 3 pitches to Justin Smoak. It proved to be one too many as Smoak parked a 92 mph sinker in the right field seats. And the Mariners are up 8-7.  In the bottom of the 10th, Charlie Furbush is on for Seattle. Michael brantley singles on a fly to right. Drew Stubbs lays down a sac bunt, but a fielding error by Justin Smoak allows him to reach. 2 on no outs, and Yan Gomes at the plate. Gomes takes Furbush's 3-2 offering of a 93 mph 2 seam fastball deep to left, scoring 3 and ending the game. 10-8 Cleveland. Those Indians love to make it exciting!

Miggy Cabrera hits 3 HR's as Tigers lose to the Rangers

I don't have any love for the Detroit Tigers. They are my AL Central nemisis. But I have to give respect to Miguel Cabrera. The man can hit a baseball. Far. And often. In the Tigers' game in Arlington with the Rangers, Cabrera hit 3 home runs and drove in 5 runs, going 4-4 on the night. Thankfully, the Texas Rangers won 11-8, keeping the Indians in 1st place in the division. Cabrera is having a Triple Crown kind of year, hitting 11 home runs, 2nd  in the AL to  Mark Reynolds (CLE) Chris Davis (BAL) Edward Encarnacion (TOR) and Robinson Cano (NYY) who all have 12. He leads the league with a .387 batting average, better than the NL leader, Jean Segura's .364 average. He leads the league in RBI's at 47, 2nd place in the AL is Chris Davis with 40 and 1st in the NL is Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki at 37.  Miggy's WARP is 2.3.  He is one of the best hitters in baseball. He is on pace to hit 42 HR and 181 RBI's this season.

Having said that, in the 3 games the Tigers have played the Indians, Cabrera went 5-14. He batted .379, scored a run, drove in 3 runs, and struck out twice. The Indians won 2 of the 3 games the teams played.

Lead-off HR becomes game winner for D-Backs

A lead-off home run in a baseball game isn't all that rare. A lead off home run on the very first pitch is slightly more unusual, but not a major sporting news event. But when that 1st pitch home run becomes the game winning score, you have got yourself a story. The game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Miami Marlins ended 1-0. A full 9 inning baseball game with a combined 236 pitches thrown, and all of the scoring came from the very first one. The pitch, a 94 mph four-seam fastball from Tom Koehler, sailed over the right field wall in Miami's lavish Marlins Park on Saturday.  D-Backs batting coach, Don Baylor, had told Parra to swing at the first pitch. This guy is either a baseball genius or a history buff. There is some signifigance of this 1st pitch HR that eventually became the game winner. The last guy to do it was Pete Rose. Charlie Hustle's first pitch lead-off HR beat the Mets 1-0 back on September 2nd of 1963. 50 years ago.

The Marlins threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the same inning when a line drive to right from Chris Coghlan had Derek Dietrich motoring home from 2nd. The right fielder made an amazing throw to get Dietrich out at the plate. Oh, the right fielder was Gerado Parra.

The winning pitcher, Brandon McCarthy, recorded his 3rd career shut out. It was also his first win since being hit by a line drive and suffering a skull fracture on September 5th of 2012.  McCarthy was pitching with the Oakland A's at the time. The ball, hit by LA Angels SS Erick Aybar during the 4th inning, struck McCarthy in the head, and he fell to the ground. He was able to leave under his own power and xrays showed the fracture.

The Marlins and D-Backs played again Sunday, with the marlins winning 2-1. Parra's first at bat was a swinging strike out on 4 pitches, he went 0-4 on the day.

Masterson strikes out 11 in Tribe win.

The Indians win  game 3 game of the 4 game series with Seattle Mariners today. The first 2 games were won with a walk-off home run in the 10th and a bases loaded walk off single in the 9th. No need for any late inning heroics today, because the Tribe dominated the entire game, winning 6-0. Justin Masterson (7-2  2.83 ERA) went 7 innings giving up 3 hits, walking 2 and striking out 11 Mariners batters. Rich Hill pitched 2/3 of the 8th giving up 1 hit, 1 walk and 1 strike out. Joe Smith pitched 1 and 1/3 with 1 hit, 1 walk amd 1 K. The Tribe got it started in the 1st inning, Michael Bourn hit a lead off double to right. Michael Brantley singled to right and Bourn scored from second. Nick Swisher reached base on a fielding error and Brantley scored. In the second, Bourn singled on a grounder to 2nd. Kipinis singled on a line drive to center, Bourn advances to 3rd. Michael Brantley turns a Felix Hernandez 93 mph sinker into a souvenir for a lucky fan in the center field bleachers. 3 runs score, and the Tribe leads 5-0. In the 4th inning, Mike Aviles sends a line drive to center for a double. Drew Stubbs hits a grounder fielded by Jesus Montero, and is thrown out at first, Aviles scores from 2nd.

Cleveland is on a 17-4 run, it's best 21 game stretch since 2007. The defeat of Felix Hernandez today was the Tribe's 7th win of the 8 games they have faced Cy Young winners. King felix lasted 5 innings, giving up 8 hits, 5 earned runs, 2 walks and 8 strike outs.

The Indians look to complete the 4 game sweep of the Mariners tomorrow at 12:05. Seattle will start righty Hisashi Iwakuma (5-1  1.84 ERA). His last game was on May 16th in Yankee Stadium. He got the win going 7 innings giving up 8 hits, 2 runs and striking out 4. Seattle dusted the Yankees 12-2. Scott Kazmir (2-2  5.33 ERA) will get the start for Cleveland. Scott last pitched in Philly on May 14th. It was a 5 inning effort in which he relinquished 4 runs on 6 hits, walking 2 and striking out 3. The Tribe lost 6-2.

The Indians are now 25-17 and 1.5 games ahead of the 2nd place Tigers. Detroit lost to the Texas Rangers last night and are currently in the 2nd inning of a scoreless game in Arlington. (Go Rangers)

Reynold's Walk-off single rains on Seattle come back.

Zach McCallister was on his way to a CGSO today with the Mariners. 8 innings in, the Tribe was up 4-0 and Brendan Ryan lifts an 85 mph splitter over the left field wall, scoring 2. Rich Hall came on in relief. Chris Perez came on to close in the 9th and gave up back-to-back homers to Raul Ibanez and Justin Smoak. So the bottom of the 9th was set up to be a thriller. Last night's walk-off hero, Jason Kipinis was up first. He singles to to center. Asdrubal Cabrera doubles to left, Kipinis is on 3rd. Oliver Perez intentionally walks Nick Swisher to load the bases with no outs. Yoervis Medina replaces Oliver Perez. He pitches 2 85 mph curves. The first one almost gets by Jesus Montero. The second one is hit and Reynolds reaches on a fielder's choice. Kipinis scores from 3rd and the game is over. Tribe wins 5-4. You certainly get your money's worth when you buy a ticket to a Cleveland Indians baseball game! SO McAllister goes 7 and 1/3 giving up 2 runs on 6 hits, a walk and only 1 strike out. Rich Hill went the other 2/3 of the 8th giving up 1 hit. Chris Perez came on to close in the 9th giving up 2 runs on  2 hits (both HR's) and notching a strike out. His ERA is still only 1.98. He got the win and goes 2-0 on the season. The Indians stranded 12 base runners and were  3-12 RISP.

The Indians and Mariners play one more game tomorrow in Cleveland. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 and it will be thrown by Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez (5-2  1.53 ERA). The Indians will rely on Justin Masterson (6-2  3.41 ERA) to complete the series sweep of Seattle. Masterson last pitched on 5/13 in a 1-0 home win against the Yankees. He had a CGSO, going all 9 innings and giving up 4 hits, 3 walks and rining up 9 k's. Hernandez last pitched on 5/14, also against the Yankees, but in New York. He went 6 innings giving up 1 run on 5 hits, walking 2 and striking out 8 Yankee batters. The Yanks won it 4-3 and the loss went to Charlie Furbush (0-2).

The Indians are now 24-17 in first place in the AL Central. The Tigers are 1/2 game out, currently playing in Texas and losing to the Rangers 6-2 in the bottom of the 5th.

Kipinis Walk-off HR Sinks Mariners

The Tribe won the 1st game of a 3 game series with Seattle in grand style last night. A 10th inning 2 out smash with 2 on gave the Indians a 6-3 win over the Mariners. Ubaldo Jiminez went 5 innings giving up 2 runs (1 HR) 7 hits, walking 1 and striking out 9. The Indians got things rolling in the 2nd when Nick Swisher drew a lead-off walk from Brandon Mauer. Calos Santana doubled, sending Swisher to 3rd. Jason Giambi flew out to right, scoring swisher from 3rd and advancing Santana to 3rd. Mark Reynolds struck out and with Michael Brantley at the plate, Mauer's wild pitch scored Santana from 3rd. Brantley struck out to end the inning. In the top of the 4th, Kendrys Morales takes a 91 mph 2 seam fastball from Jiminez over the right field wall, cutting the Indian's lead 2-1. In the bottom of the 5th, Drew Stubbs solo shot to right off of Mauer makes the score 3-1. In the top of the 6th, Justin Smoak singled to right. Ubaldo took a seat and Rich Hill faced Raul Ibanez. His first pitch, a 92 mph 2 seam fastball, sailed past Ibanez for a called strike. His second pitch, a 75 mph curveball, sailed past the right field fence, scoring 2 runs, tying the score at 3. On to the 10th inning. Mark Reynolds goes down swinging, then Michael Brantley grounds out to 2nd. The Mariners replace carter Capps with Luke Luetge. With 2 outs,  Drew Stubbs draws a 5 pitch walk from Luetge. With Miachael Bourn at bat, Stubbs steals 2nd base. Bourn singles on an 86 mph slider to 2nd, Stubbs advances to 3rd. Jason Kipinis steps in the box, Bourn takes 2nd on defensive indifference. Luetge's 1st pitch, a slider, hit catcher Jesus Montero's glove at 86 mph. Montero regretted calling for that pitch again, as the 2nd 86 mph slider that came to Kipinis ended up in some guy's den. Kipinis drove the pitch into the right field stands, scoring 3 runs, The walk-off jack gave the Tribe a 6-3 win. Kipinis is a scorching .361 over his last 14 games. He has hit 6 round-trippers and driven in 19 of his Indians team mates. Recently, Jason has readjusted his swing, going a little shorter, and it has paid off.

The pitching staff for the Indians shared the load in the last 5 innings. Hill replaced Jiminez in the 6th and pitched 1 and 1/3 before giving up the game tying 2 run shot to Ibanez. He was replaced by Bryan Allen who pitched 1 inning and got 1 K.  Bryan Shaw served up 1 strike-out in the 2 batters he faced in the 9th, and Chris Perez came in to pitch 1/3 of the inning getting 1 strike-out. Vinnie Pestano pitched in the 10th, walking 1 and striking out 1. That gave Vinnie his first win (1-0 2.0 ERA on 3 earned runs, 5 walks and 9 K's) on the season.

The Indians and Mariners play again today at 1:05 at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. Zach McAllister (3-3  2.68 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Tribe. McAllister's last game was on May 12th in Detroit. He pitched 6 innings, gave up 2 runs on 8 hits with 3 walks and 5 strike outs. The Indians won the game 4-3 on a walk-off single from Michael Bourn in the 10th. Joe Smith got the win for the Tribe. The Mariners will start Joe Saunders (3-4  5.51 ERA). His last game was a home win against the A's where he went 6 and 1/3 innings, giving up 1 run on 5 hits, walking 3 and striking out 6.

Cleveland is 23-17 and tied with Detroit for 1st in the AL Central. Seattle is 3rd in the AL West at 20-22, 6.5 games behind the 2nd place A's and 7 games behind the 1st place Rangers.

The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 88-84 last night. That gave the Grizzlies the series 4-1. Memphis will be in the Western Conference Finals for the 1st time in team history. DeAngelo Williams is beside himself with delight! During the game, a very odd 4 point play was awarded to OKC. Near the end of the 3rd period, Derek Fisher shot (and missed) a 3 point shot near the Memphis bench. Tony Allen was sitting on the bench and leapt to his feet during the play. In his excitement, he apparently forgot he was holding his warm-up shirt and inadvertently threw it onto the court. Fisher missed the shot, but complained to the ref about the shirt. The 3 point shot was allowed (some sort of basket interference call?) and Allen was given a technical foul. Fisher drained the free throw and the Thunder went on a 15-4 run after that. The Grizzlies held on to win.

The Heat sent the Bulls home in the East. They won game 5 94-91, taking the series 4-1. The Pacers and Knicks face off in game 5 of their series tonight. The Pacers lead 3-1.  The Spurs and Warriors are headed to game 6 with San Antonio leading the series 3-2.

Torres suspended for hit on Stoll

San Jose Sharks winger Raffi Torres was suspended Wednesday. There will be a hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety because of his hit on LA Kings center Jarret Stoll in  Game 1  of their western conference semis on Tuesday night. A decision will be made on any suspensions that Torres might get. He was given a two-minute minor for charging at the time. He could be suspended for multiple  games because Stoll may have a head injury. There is no word on Stoll from the Kings. He didn't come back into the game Tuesday night or practice with the team on Wednesday. His status for game 2 is unknown. Darryl Sutter said he was day to day, but that was all. Stoll has had one assist and no goals in the post season, and is 3rd in hits for the Kings in the post season with 23. Torres has 1 goal in the post season. Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday in Los Angeles. Brad Richardson will replace Stoll on the King's 3rd line with Dustin Penner and Trevor Lewis.

A very similar hit by Ottawa defenseman Eric Gryba  on Montreal forward Lars Eller during their first-round playoff game got Gryba suspended for 2 games. The director of the NHL's Department of Player Safety, Brehdan Shanahan, will meet with Torres on Thursday to determine if there will be any suspensions. Torres was suspended in 2012 when he played for the Coyotes for a hit on marian Hossa. He was out for 25 games for that one.

The Indians take the 2nd game of the series in Philadelphia 10-4. Kluber pitched 6 innings giving up 3 runs, no walks and 5 strike outs. Cody Allen came on for 1 inning striking out 2, no hits or walks. Nick Hagadone pitched 1 inning and walked 1 batter. Matt Albers came in for the final inning and gave up 1 run on 2 hits and 1 strike out. Mike Aviles, Nick Swisher and Jason Kipinis all homered for the Tribe and Mark Reynolds added a 2-run double. Reynolds has been moved to 3rd base after the Indians optioned Lonnie Chisenhall to Columbus. Chisenhall has not come through with the performance the Tribe was expecting. The Indians are off tomorrow, and on Friday welcome the Mariners to town for a 3 game weekend series. The Indians are now 22-17, half a game in back of the Tigers. The Mariners are currently 3rd in the AL West at 18-21, 4 games behind the division-leading Texas Rangers. The Indians will send Ubaldo Jiminez (3-2  5.55 ERA) out to face the Mariners Friday. Jiminez has been much improved as of late. After a rough start, he has won 2 in a row. His last outing was 6 inning effort in Detroit. The righty pitched 6 innings, striking out 8, walking 1 and giving up 1 run on 3 hits back on May 11th. The Tribe won the game 7-6. The Mariners will start Brandon Mauer (2-5  5.97 ERA). The Seattle right-hander's last game was on May 11th. He delivered a 5 inning, 6 hit, 3 run game with 2 walks and 4 k's. That 4-3 loss to the Oakland A's was his second loss in as many games.

So after the Indians lost 7-0 in the second game of the double header with the Yankees, they lost 6-2 to the Phillies in Philadelphia last night. They are cuurently playing the Phillies again. The Indians started righty Corey Kluber (2-2 5.64 ERA) and the Phillies started lefty Cole Hammels (1-5 4.05 ERA). Kluber is currently at bat...interleague play. The Tribe is back in 2nd place in the AL Central at 21-17 1.5 games behind the Tigers. The Phillies are 19-21 and in 3rd place in the NL east, 3.5 games behind the division leading Braves.

On to the NHL. Pittsburgh beat Ottowa 4-1 in game 1 of that semi-final series. Malkin scored and got an assist, Vokoun had 35 saves, Kunitz had a goal and an assist, Martin scored a goal (PP) and Dupuis scored a short-hander in the 3rd. Greening scored the only goal for the Sens in the 1st.  The Kings shut out the Sharks 2-0. Quick had 35 saves, Slava Voynov scored a goal and got an assist, Mike Richards scored a goal and got an assist.

Für meine Fans im Vaterland

Die nhl-Endspiele produzieren einige aufregende Spiele. Die Braunbär  und die Förster sollten guten Reihen sein. Die Pinguin- und Senatornversprechen, auch aufzupassen Spaß zu sein. Ich denke, dass New York die Ost-Konferenz gewinnt. Die Könige schlagen die Haifische, der Schwarzefalken schlagen die Rotdrosseln. Die Schwarzefalken und die Förster spielen für das Stanley Cup und New York gewinnt in 6.

 I don't know if that even makes sense or not. I hope it does.

Last night I expected the Caps and Rangers to put on a show. I was hyped and ready to watch those teams battle. Then The Rangers crushed the Caps 5-0. The real show was with the Maple Leafs and Bruins. The Bruins were up 3-1 in the series and it was all but over for the Leafs. Then Toronto ties the series at 3-3. Last night the Leafs were up 4-1 in the 3rd when the Bruins thought, "Hey fellas, why don't we play some hockey?"  Boston was down by 2 with 1:30 left in the 3rd, and scored 2 goals in 31 seconds to tie the game at 4. 6:05 into the OT, Patrice Bergeron scores and Boston wins 5-4, taking the series. I just do not like the Bruins. I am no Leafs fan, but I just can't stand the thought of ANY team from Boston winning anything. (I think you all know how I feel about the Sox, Patriots and Celtics)

In the East it is the Pens, the Sens, the Bruins and the Rangers. Pittsburgh and Ottowa start in Pittsburgh Tuesday night. (I feel the same way about Pittsburgh teams as I do Boston teams) The Bruins and Rangers face-off Thursday in Boston. I am looking forward to that series. Should be some quality hockey. The Penguins and NY will play for the Prince of Wales Cup. I believe the Rangers will come out of that group to represent the conference in the Finals.

In the West it is Chicago, Detroit, San Jose and the defending champion Kings.The Blackhawks and Redwings renew their rivalry while the battle of California begins in Tuesday in the Staples Center. The Blackhawks and Kings will advance to the conference finals. I like the Blackhawks to come out of the West and play the Rangers for the Stanley Cup. I think will be a good series, and the Rangers will win in 6.

Game 1 of the Indians/Yankees Double-header goes to the Tribe.

Jason Kipinis hit a solo shot in the 1st off of David Phelps. That was all the Cleveland Indians needed to take game one of today's double-bill with the Yankees at Progressive Field. The lone run gave the Tribe a 1-0 victory. Justin Masterson got a CGSO, going all 9 innings giving up just 4 hits, walking 3 and fanning 9 Yankee batters. Kipinis, Swisher, Cabrera, Brantley and Stubbs combined for 5 hits in the game. Justin got into a bit of a jam in the 2rd when the bases were loaded, but pitched his way out of it. With 2 outs, Chris Nelson singled on a grounder to 3rd. Masterson walked Corban Joseph, sending Nelson to 2nd. Chris Stewart singles to short to load the bases. Masterson  stayed calm and struck out Alberto Gozalez to end the inning and the Yankee threat. The Indians are still in 1st place in the AL Central at 21-15. The Yanks are first in the AL East at 23-14.

Game 2 is about to start. Trevor Bauer (1-1 2.7 ERA) will start for the Indians, his last outing was 5 inning 1 hit, 6 walk, 5 K effort on May 1st against the Phillies. The Indians won 6-0. Vidal Nuno (0-0 0.0 ERA) will start for New York. he pitched 3 innings against the Astros on April 29th giving up 4 hits and striking out 2. The Yankees won 7-4. The Indians are on a 3 game win streak and are 8-2 over the last 10 games. The Yankees just lost the last game and are 6-4 over the last 10. The Tribe goes to Philadelphia for 2 games tomorrow and Wednesday. They get some well deserved rest on Thursday before playing 4 in Seattle. The Yankees go home for 6 straight against the Mariners and Blue Jays, then travel to Baltimore for 3 games with the Orioles. They won't see any time off until May 23rd. I expect to see lots of rotation of the Yankee starters in game 2 this afternoon.

The Indians took 2 of the 3 games played in Detroit over the weekend, moving into 1st place in the AL Central. The Tigers won the opener on Friday and the Tribe won Saturday, holding off a late inning Tiger's rally to win 7-6. On Sunday, Cleveland had to go to the 10th inning to pull off the 4-3 win. Both the Indians and Tigers are 20-15 (.571) The Indians have a double header with the NY Yankees starting today at noon in Cleveland. The Tigers face the Houston Astros tonight at 7:08 in Detroit.

The Cleveland Indians pulled off a nail biter last night winning 7-6 over the Tigers in Detroit. The Tribe was up 6-1 in the 5th and the Tigers rallied to 6-5. The Tribe added a nun to go up 7-5 and the Tigers scored again. Chris Perez came in for the bottom of the 9th to close it out for the Indians. Game 3 of the series just started at 1 pm.

USA besiegt Deutschland in der Eishockey-Weltmeisterschaftsvorrunde 3-0

The United States beat Germany 3-0 in the prelimanary round of the Helsinki pool. Team USA has 2 Carolina Hurricanes playing, Jamie McBain and Justin faulk. Team Canada has both Staals, Jay Harrison and Jeff Skinner. Team Usa has defeated Austria, Latvia, Finland, Germany and France. They lost to Russia, and play Slovakia next.

NHL Play-offs

The NHL Play offs have had some exciting games. Last night in the Eastern conference, the Senators eliminated the Canadiens, winning 6-1. The pens beat the Islanders to go up 3-2 in that series. Toronto and Boston square off in The TD Bank Garden. The Bruins lead that series 3-1. The Leafs need to come up big to stave off an early golf season. The Rangers and the Caps meet in the Verizon Center with that series tied at 2 games each.

In the Western conference, The Blackhawks took their series with Minnesota (4-1) with a 5-1 win in front of the home crowd at the United Center. The Ducks and Redwings face off tonight in Joe Louis Arena. The octopi will be flying as the home crowd tries to drive Detroit to win and stay alive. Anaheim leads the series 3-2. The Blues travel to the Staples Center for game 6 against the defending champion Kings. LA leads the series 3-2.

The Royals and Tigers both lost tonight. Detroit lost 5-4 in Washington to the Nationals, KC fell to the Orioles 5-3 in Baltimore. That tightens up the AL Central race. The Tigers are 19-13, Kansas City is 17-13 and the Indians are 18-14. KC and Cleveland are 1 game behind Detroit. The Indians go to Detroit tomorrow and KC plays in Baltimore again. Baltimore is hot and they lead the AL East at 21-13, tied with Boston and 1/2 game ahead of the Yankees.

The Canadiens are facing elimination at the hands of the Ottowa Senators. They are down 4-1 with 9 minutes in the 3rd. The Pens are up 4-0  over the Islanders with 2 minutes left. The Pens will go up 3-2 in the series. As I was typing this, Ottowa scored again, 5-1 with 7 minutes left.

Break out the brooms at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario! The Tribe completes the 4 game sweep of the Oakland A's with a 9-2 win this afternoon in Cleveland. Scot Kazmir pitched 6 innings giving up 5 hits and 2 runs, striking out 10. Brantley went 2-5 with a run scored, Kipinis went 1-4 with a run and 3 RBI's, Cabrera went 1-3 with a run, Swisher went 1-3 with a run and an RBI, Jason Giambi went 1-4 in the DH spot with a run and an RBI, Mark Reynolds went 2 for 3 with  2 runs and 2 RBI's, Yan Gomes went 4-1 with a run and an RBI and Drew Stubbs 2-4 with a run and 1 RBI.

Kipinis, Swisher and Reynolds all homered in the game. The Tribe is now 18-14, 3rd in the AL Central, 1.5 games behind the 1st place Detroit Tigers. Detroit plays in Washington today at 4:05, the second place Royals take on the Orioles in Baltimore at 7:05.

The next game for Cleveland is a date with the division leading Tigers at Comerica Park in Detroit. The Tigers will start Max Scherzer (4-0  3.43 ERA). His last outing was a 8 inning, 1 run 3hit effort in Houston. He walked 2 and fanned 8 Astros hitters. Detroit squeaked by the Astros 17-2.  The Indians will go with Corey Kluber (2-1 3.o6 ERA). Kluber's last appearance was a 4-2 loss to the Twins, the loss snapped a Tribe 6 game winning streak. Kubler went 5 and 2/3 innings and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits, walking 4 and striking out 5. The Indians and Tigers will play 3 games in Detroit, Friday and Saturday games both Start at 7:08. Sunday's game will start at 1:08, a great day to treat mom to a ball game.

The red-hot Cleveland Indians took the third game of the 4 game series from the Oakland A's last night, winning 4-3. Justin Masterson improved to 5-2 on the season with 7 strike-outs. He has been using his splitter quite a bit lately and the results have been positive to say the least. The Tribe was up 4-3 in the ninth when A's short stop Adam Rosales took a Chris Perez pitch to deep left. The ball appeared to hit the wall and the play was declared a ground rule double. Video replay showed that it possibly hit a railing BEHIND the wall (making it a home run) but apparently there was not enough evidence to overturn the call. The would -be home run that would have tied the game stood as the call on the field, a double. A's Manager Bob Melvin came out to dispute the call and was ejected. I love the Indians, and I watched that ball about 10 times, it looked at regular speed to hit the top of the wall. In slow motion and on a couple of zoomed shots, it does appear it cleared the wall and hit something in the stands. Bad call or not, the Indians won the game. Chris Perez got his 5th save of the year. Brantley went 2-4 with a run and 2 RBI's. Nick Swisher went 1-4 with a home run and 1 RBI. Carlos Santana went 1-2 with a home run and an RBI. Cleveland looks to finish the 4-game  sweep today at 12:05. Starting for the Tribe is Scott Kazmir (1-1 6.28 ERA) and former Indians righty Bartolo Colon (3-1 3.62 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Athletics.Colon's last performance was a 5 inning effort vs the Yankees on May 4th. He gave up 3 runs on 6 hits and 3 strike outs. The yankees won the game 4-2.   Kazmir's last appearance was on 5/4 against the Twins, he gave up 2 runs on 5 hits, walking 1 and striking out 7. The Tribe won 7-3.  The Indians are 17-14 on the year, 3rd in the AL Central 1.5 games out of first. The A's are 18-17 and in 2nd in the AL West, 2.5 games in back of the Texas Rangers.

To all of my German readers, I would like to say Willkommen. danke für das Kommen. To all of my Russian readers, let me say Добро пожаловать. Спасибо. I am glad to see that my blog is being seen by so many people around the world. Please continue to read my posts and tell your friends about my blog! I have had a few from Venezuela, the UK, France and Indonesia as well.  I am excited that the Carolina Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, NC State Wolfpack and Cleveland Indians have such global followings!

Well the Tribe won 2 out of the 3 weekend games vs the Minnesots Twins. Cleveland won on a walk-off single Friday by a 7-6 score. Saturday the Indians won 7-3 and lost 4-2 on Sunday. That puts the Tribe at.500 at 14-14. They are in 3rd place in the AL Central, 3.5 games behind the 2nd place Royals and 4 games behind the 1st place Tigers. Tonight the Indians take on the Oakland Athletics ( 18-14  .563 2nd in the AL West) in Cleveland. The game is FREE on MLB TV tonight! The Tribe will start Ubaldo Jiminez (1-2 7.13 ERA) fresh off of his best performance in quite some time, getting the win over Kansas City and giving up 3 hit over 7 innings with no runs walking 2 and fanning 4. The A's will start Jarrod Parker (1-4 7.36 ERA). Parker's last outing was a 6 inning effort against the Angels where he gave up 6 hits and 3 earned runs, walking 3 and striking out 4. The A's won the game 10-6. The Indians play 4 games against Oakland at home and then pack for Detroit to play 3 with the Tigers. The Indians return to Progressive Field on the 13th for a double header with the Yankees to make up the weather postponed games from April 10-11. Then it's back on the bus for a trip to Citizen's Bank Park for 2 games against the Phillies.

The Cleveland Indians are officially on a winning streak! They have won 4 in a row and are 7-3 over their last 10. They won the last 3 games by a combined score of 29-2. The Tribe beat KC 9-0, the Phillies 14-2 and the Phillies again last night 6-0. Trevor Bauer went 5 innings and held the Phillies scoreless, with the help of the rest of the defense. He walked 6 batters (4 of them  lead-off hitters) and struck out 5. He allowed only 1 hit in the 5 innings and his pitch count reached 93 before he was relieved by Bryan Shaw. Philadelphia went 0-10 RISP and left 9 on base. The Tribe went 6-16 RISP and stranded 12.  After hitting 7 home runs in the previous game, the Tribe had no HR's last night. Brantley went 3-5 with a run, and Kipinis  went 0-4 (reaching first on a walk). Cabrera went 1-4 with a run and 2 RBI's. Mark Reynolds went 1-5 scoring a run, and Santana went 2-4 with 2 runs. Raburn went 4-5 continuing his hot hitting streak and scored 2 runs. Drew Stubbs went 1-4 and drove in a run.

The Tribe rests tonight and is back in action Friday at 7:05 when the ALC rival Twins come to town. Minnesota will start Lefty Pedro Hernandez (1-0 2.35 ERA) and the Indians will start Justin Masterson (4-2 3.12 ERA). Cleveland is 12-13, 1 game below .500 and in 4th place in the AL Central. They are 3 games behind the Division leading Royals and 2 games ahead of 5th place Chicago. The Twins are 12-12 in the AL Central, 2.5 games back and 1.5 games ahead of Cleveland.

The Indians put on a home run clinic last night in Progressive Field, going yard 7 times and racking up 14 runs on 17 hits against the Phillies. 2-time Cy Young winner Roy Halladay had the start for the Phils, and the Tribe showed him no respect. Ryan Rayburn went 3-4 with  2HR, 3 runs and 3 RBI's. Carlos Santana went 1-2 with a HR and 2 RBI's. Mark Reynolds went 2-4 with 2 runs, 1 HR and 2 RBI's. Lonnie Chisenhall went 1-4 with 1 HR, 1 run and 2 RBI's. Michael Brantley went 1-5 on 1 hit with 1 HR and 2 RBI's. Drew Stubbs went 3-4 with 3 runs on 3 hits, 1 HR and 1 RBI. Zach McAllister pitched 7 innings, giving up 5 hits and 2 earned runs. He walked 1 and struck out 4.

The Tribe takes on the Phillies again tonight in Cleveland at 7:05. Trevor Bauer (0-1  5.40 ERA) was brought up from Triple-A Columbus for the spot start. He will head back after tonight's game. The Indians also optioned Nick Hagadone to the Clippers to give Bauer a roster spot. Bauer's last start for Cleveland was a loss to the Rays in Tampa on April 6th. He pitched 5 innings giving up 3 hits, and 2 earned runs. He walked 7 Tampa Bay batters and struck out 2. The Phillies will start former Indians' pitcher Cliff Lee (2-1 3.30 ERA) who won the Cy Young Award with the Tribe in 2008. This is the first time the left-handed Lee has faced the Indians since being traded in 2009.