Jhonny Peralta has tied Woodie Held for the most home runs by an Indians shortstop in a season. He trails only Miguel Tejada in OPS by a shortstop. He's 14th in the AL in OPS, ahead of guys like Mark Teixeira and Alfonso Soriano. To think there was a time where he and Brandon Phillips were fighting for the starting job...
CC Sabathia pitched very well tonight, much better than his last outing, in my opinion. He seemed more relaxed on the mound, threw his offspeed pitches for strikes, and was able to limit damage.
After Gary Matthew Jr's phantom catch in the first inning, Kenny Rogers settled down and baffled Indians hitters like he has in the past. But thanks to two errors, the Indians finally got to Rogers in the seventh. Ronnie Belliard put together a great atbat with the bases loaded, Rogers made a mistake, and Belliard plugged the gap, clearing the bases.
Of course, I was glad when the Indians pushed the lead to four, ensuring that Wickman wouldn't be pitching. I don't think Bob has much left in the tank, and it's to his credit that he's been so successful with his stuff. I'd love to see Bob Howry back, though; he'd be a nice stopgap closer until Fernando Cabrera gets some experience in the majors.