A Look Back At The Week Ahead; June 10 to June 16

June 10

This date has been horrific on the weekends, a nasty 19-32. Luckily this year is not a weekend. And even with the poor overall record on this date, the maximum losing streak is five games and has only happened twice, 1911 to 1915 and 1945 to 1949. The longest winning streak was actually occurred at the very beginning, 1901 to 1904. The last time the Indians put together a winning streak was two games in 1996 and 1997. Even with the slim pickings, there are two games to highlight on this date though. In 1959 Rocky Colavito became the only Indian to ever hit four homers in a game. Gary Bell took the hill at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore with Jerry Walker the other starting pitcher. The Tribe opened up the scoring with a three run bomb from Minnie Minoso after Colavito had walked. The Orioles got one back in the bottom half on a Gus Triandos sacrifice fly. Billy Martin hit a solo shot in the second and Al Pilcarcik got two back on a single. So heading into the third, the Tribe was up 4-3 when Colavito hit a two run shot. Arnie Portocarrero relieved and traded zeroes with Bell until Colavito tagged him for a solo shot in the fifth. Portocarrero gave up doubles to Woodie Held and Tito Francona in the sixth before Colavito once again took him deep, the Tribe now up 10-3. Bell couldn't make it stick though giving up two walks and two singles and leaving the bases loaded for Mike Garcia to clean up. A bases clearing double by Billy Klaus cut the lead to three. Both teams went quietly in the eighth and in the ninth, Colavito completed his quadfecta with a homer to deep left off Ernie Johnson. In fact all four homers went to deep left but as there were very few baserunners in front of him he only netted six RBI.

The second highlighted game was in 1966 Sonny Siebert threw the team's eleventh no-hitter. The Senators tabbed Phil Ortega as his opposite on a Friday in Cleveland Stadium. The Senators went down in order in the first while the Tribe plated one on a solo homer by Leon Wagner. Max Alvis also had a bunt single, but it didn't factor. The Tribe threatened again in the third after Vic Davalillo walked and stole second. Chico Salmon singled him home but was thrown out at second. Meanwhile, Siebert continued to cruise, his only blemish coming in the fifth, a one out walk to Dick Nen. After the third Ortega was also cruising, only giving up two singles. But Siebert was locked in. He only went one more over the minimum on a Salmon throwing error on a Paul Casanova ground ball in the eighth. Siebert finished the game with that lone walk and seven strikeouts and finishing with a Game Score of 93.

June 11

This day has been very kind to the Tribe over the years. Heck, we even have a winning record against the Yankees. There has been no difference between the road and home, with identical .604 percentages. There has been a fantastic 12-3 extra inning record and a spectacular 33-14 weekend record. From 1913 to 1925, they went 11-1, but the best stretch was from 1990 to 2006, a 13-1 record. In 1967, they swept a double header from the Kansas City Athletics, with the opener a 12-1 thrashing. Max Alvis opened the scoring in the top of the first with a two run single against Diego Segui. Luis Tiant gave up a leadoff single and then a two out triple to Rick Monday in the bottom half. Tiant led off the second with a double, knocking out Segui, and scored on Lee Maye's single. Maye himself would score on a Leon Wagner single after being sacrificed over. In the third Tiant got a base hit and scored on Lee Maye's homer, extending the lead to 6-1. Tony Pierce would continue the bleeding for the A's, when two more scored in the fourth on a Leon Wagner single and a homer by Fred Whitfield. Meanwhile, Tiant was scattering baserunners in every inning until the eighth, when he had his only 1-2-3 inning. Daddy Wags had another solo homer in the eighth and Max Alvis scored on a Bill Edgerton wild pitch. In the ninth, the Tribe had their sixth two run inning on a Whitfiled double. Tiant would get his complete game but allowed seven hits, two walks and had eleven strikeouts to finish with a Game Score of 78.

June 12

This is one of the few days where we have had a superb record against the hated Yankees, going 13-5 overall. This includes doubleheader sweeps in 1948, 1949 and 1955. Our last victory against them was in 1992, a 3-0 home outing. Charles Nagy out dueled Scott Kamieniecki for the complete game shutout. Nagy retired the first nine in order before Andy Stankiewicz and Mel Hall led off the fourth with singles. A Roberto Kelly flyball and a Don Mattingly double play and Nagy escaped with no damage. Meanwhile, the Tribe wasn't getting anywhere against Kamieniecki either. In their fourth, Travis Howard led off with a single that Danny Tartabull booted, getting to second where he scored on an infield hit by Carlos Baerga. The Indians plated a second run in the fifth on a Brook Jacoby double and a Kenny Lofton single. They got the third run in the sixth on a Baerga single, stolen base and another infield single, this time from Paul Sorrento. That was pretty much the extent of the action as the Yankees managed only two baserunners after the fourth, a Mattingly infield single and a Charlie Hayes single who was erased on a double play. Both pitchers had really good games, of the ten hits allowed between them (five each), only one left the infield, which was the Jacoby double. Nagy finished with a Game Score of 82 with five hits allowed, no walks and five strikeouts and throwing only 90 pitches.

June 13

The most common opponent on this date is the Athletics, three times each against the Oakland and Kansas City versions and eighteen against the old Philly version. This included four straight years from 1934 to 1937 for six games total. The biggest win was the 19-1 thrashing in the nightcap of the 1936 doubleheader at Shibe Park. It didn't matter which pitcher the A's used, they all got hit. Herman Fink didn't get out of the second, allowing four runs, mainly on homers by Earl Averill and Jim Gleeson. Bill Dietrich gave up two more in the second and the A's were down a quick 6-0 after two. Red Bullock pitched next, and the Tribe got more, three in the third and four in the fourth. Pete Naktenis followed him and they kept right on scoring, three in the fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh. Randy Gumpert finally had the first scoreless inning in the eighth. Johnny Allen was throwing a gem though, scattering six hits, no walks and four strikeouts with the only run in the seventh. The nineteen runs scored came off only seventeen hits, seven for extra bases and ten walks by A's pitchers, including 6 by Naktenis in his three frames. Roy Hughes line was 6-2-3-3 with a triple and two doubles. Every player had a hit except Odell Hale who had two RBI. And Allen himself had a great day, 4-3-3-4. The game was called after eight innings, presumably due to darkness.

June 14

The worst stretch here is the eight game losing streak from 1986 to 1993. Although we have never faced the Expos/Nationals before on this date, we have played a Washington franchise 12 times, going 7-5 in those games, but only 2-3 at home. The last visit from the Rangers version of the Senators was in 1963. The Tribe pulled off a 3-2 win in 19 innings at home. This game opened with Willie Kirkland singling an unearned run off Claude Osteen in the first. Gary Bell labored in the second, but avoided damage, leaving runners at second and third. Neither pitcher was dominant but both avoided minimal trouble until the sixth when Jim King tied the game with a solo shot off Bell. The Tribe threatened with first and second and one out in the ninth, but couldn't convert. The Senators took the lead in the top of the eleventh on a pinch hit RBI double by Dick Phillips off Ted Abernathy. Claude Osteen was still in there in the bottom half and promptly gave up a gopher ball to Kirkland. The Senators got the go ahead run to second twice form the twelfth to the nineteenth, but didn't convert. The Indians managed only three baserunners until Kirkland ended the game with his second blast off Jim Coates, leading off in the bottom half.

June 15

This day is a bit crazy. The overall record is five games below five hundred but the Pythag is .502. This strikes me as an odd number as our opposition has cracked double digits 9 times (including 17 twice). And we only have six shutouts total. The wildest game was the 1925 17-15 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics in Shibe Park. Pitching was definitely optional in this game as the teams combined for 43 hits in 8.5 innings. The Tribe opened with four in the second, two more each in the third and fourth, four in the fifth, two in the sixth and a lone run in the seventh. Meanwhile, the A's scored single runs in the second, third, sixth, and seventh which means the Tribe led 15-4 in the eighth inning. Of the 24 hits, Jamieson was 6-2-5-3 with a double and two steals, Cliff Lee was 4-1-2-2 with a double and triple, Tris Speaker was 6-1-2-2 with a double and Joe Sewell and Glenn Myatt both had solo homers. Starting Pitcher Jake Miller was getting along well enough until the fateful eighth inning. In his 7.1 innings, he issued six walks to go with eleven hits and gave up seven earned runs. By Speece came in to stop the bleeding but didn't retire any of the four batters he faced. And Carl Yowell didn't retire his two batters either. George Uhle was summoned to stop the bleeding but gave up four runs on three hits and a walk, and taking the loss.

June 16

The Tribe sits at 10 games over .500 on this date, but no thanks to recent times as we are on a six game losing streak. The last win was a 2-1 nailbiter against the Rockies in Jacobs Field in 2005. Colorado threatened in the first, loading the bases, but Kevin Millwood induced Ryan Shealy into a forceout. The Indians didn't strike until the third when Aaron Boone led off with a double off future Tribesman, Jamey Wright. Grady Sizemore singled him in, stole second and then scored on Coco Crisp's single. Millwood only allowed two more hits through the fifth before being pulled after 85 pitches. Scott Sauerbeck navigated around a double on only ten pitches in the sixth because Preston Wilson was picked off. Bob Howry allowed a leadoff homer to Ryan Shealy in the seventh, but sat down the next three. Arthur Rhodes only allowed a Garrett Atkins walk in his inning of work. And then the excitement began. Brad Hawpe got a leadoff single off Bob Wickman. Pinch runner Cory Sullivan stole second. Ryan Shealy was finally retired on a groundball after nine pitches. Jorge Piedra lined out to Crisp and Desi Relaford struck out looking.