Tribe Up 3-1

Looking Good
It looks like the Tribe will advance another round. The Tribe is up 3-1 with their two horses in line to pitch game #5 & #6 after last night's butt-whippin' of the Bo Sox. I hate to sound like a broken record, but it's always been about pitching and always will be. Westbrook and Byrd were solid - thus the lead with one to go. It would take a real meltdown to fail now. It's possible, but not likely.

I know most of you Indians' fans panic at the drop of a hat - it's the Cleveland "the sky is falling" syndrome I personally hate. Relax. It ain't over but if their horses pitch like they are capable of, it should be soon. If they can't hold this lead, it won't be because of some silly Cleveland curse, it will be because they simply weren't good enough to finish!

We felt the Tribe matched up better with the Sox than the Yankees mainly because we feared N.Y.'s line-up more than Boston's one through nine. So far, we look semi-bright. For Boston, it has been for the most part, a two-trick pony offensively in the post-season (Ortiz & Ramirez). They aren't getting much out of their top two hitters or the bottom of their line-up. Credit the Tribe pitching.

This is also my chance to poke fun at those (one local sports writer in particular who will remain nameless) who gave this observer a hard time when we stated several years ago the Tribe could do a lot better than Coco Crisp as an every day center fielder. We went as far as stating he would be a good #4 outfielder. That brought laughter. I can think of three outfielders on the roster RIGHT NOW I would rather have playing centerfield for me - Sizemore, Gut and Lofton.

It has largely gone unnoticed to the general public, but having three true centerfielders patrolling the outfield down the stretch, has been a godsend for the pitching staff. What other team in baseball can say they have three centerfielders playing nearly everyday out there?
Those guys not only catch everything they should catch, but they also turn potential triples into doubles, and potential doubles into singles.

Finally, the Sox advance scout should be fired. They challenged Peralta with another fastball yesterday and he went yard the opposite way. I can't remember the last time JP hit a breaking ball for an extra base hit. He's a dead fastball hitter who is red hot right now. Why throw what he wants to see unless it's out of the zone?

By the way, where are all those Peralta bashers who wanted him traded last year when he was "the worst defensive shortstop in baseball?" Morons!

We are JP fans here. But we also got on his case earlier this year (check prior postings) when he was underachieving at the plate. He did not hit well the second half of the season and we stated so. But he hits 20 bombs a year and drive in 75 runs a year. That ain't bad for a middle infiedler. We want to move him to second base of course and put AC at short - where he belongs. But the point is you don't give up on a young middle infiedler with power after one bad year.

One more things - I heard an interesting comment from Mark Shapiro yesterday. He has a theory that fans recognize speed first and fall in love with it. The thinking is guys who aren't fast, especially if they happen to be middle infielders, look like they aren't hustling all the time (i.e. Peralta) and thus fans generally don't appreciate them as much. It's an interesting theory and I believe it holds water.