A Look Back At The Week Ahead; June 24 to June 30

June 24

As the record shows, this day has usually been unkind to the Tribe. They currently have lost nine of ten, including the last six in a row. Our luck has been pretty horrible as well since the overall .430 record actually has a .498 Pythag. Let's look at the 12-3 victory in 1978 against the Blue Jays. Mike Paxton took to the mound for the Tribe and gave up a run scoring double to Willie Upshaw in the second. The Indians got three back in the third on a Jim Norris single, a Buddy Bell triple and Johnny Grubb single off Jim Clancy. They picked up five more in the fourth on a Bell single and a Gary Alexander grand slam off Mike Willis. Paxton allowed two more in the fifth, but the Indians got one back in the fifth and two more in the seventh to complete the scoring. Paxton struggled most of the game, allowing thirteen hits and left in the eighth with the bases loaded. But Sid Monge put out the fire and got the last five outs.

June 25

And it goes from bad, to worse. The .430 record on the 24th looks glowing compared to the putrid .387 mark here. The longest winning streak was a mere four gamer from 1972 to 1975, including three straight against the Yankees in 1972 and 1973. But, the losing streaks are numerous: Eight straight from 1919 to 1925, six straight from 1929 to 1934, nine straight from 1979 to 1989, and the current five game losing streak starting in 2008. We have only beaten the White Sox twice in fifteen tries (1908, 1943). And the lone extra inning win came in 1928 in St. Louis against the Browns, 7-4 in 10 innings. The Browns got one each in the first, fourth, sixth and eighth innings off Willis Hudlin on two solo home runs by Heinie Manush, a solo homer by Lu Blue and a double by Wally Shang. The Indians got one in the first and two in the seventh and the tying run in the ninth off Dick Coffman. Coffman faltered again in the tenth, giving up three runs while Hudlin matched his complete game by retiring the Browns in the tenth. Ed Morgan and Luke Sewell went deep for the Tribe, while Homer Summa has a pair of doubles and Carl Lind and Lew Fonseca each had a double as well.

June 26

This date is a bit more even. The longest losing streak was seven games from 1979 to 1988 and the longest winning streak was recent, six games from 2004 to 2009. In that streak, there was a 10-3 win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium in 2006. Grady Sizemore opened the scoring with a two run dinger off Jason Marquis in the third. Scott Rolen singled one in the third as well and So Taguchi tied it up in the fourth on a single off Cliff Lee. But the Tribe bats went right back to work, a two run triple by Jhonny Peralta and a two run bomb by Travis Hafner in the fifth. Todd Hollandsworth added a solo shot in the sixth. They added two more in the seventh on a Victor Martinez single and a Hollandsworth sacrifice fly. Hafner capped the scoring with his second blast in the ninth.

June 27

The Indians finally get back on the winning side for this date. This is another one of those few days where we actually have beaten up on the Yankees, nine of twelve, including a 11-7 and 12-5 doubleheader sweep in 1930. But the wildest victory was against this year's opponent, the Orioles, back in 1956. The Tribe beat them 12-11 in 11 innings. Al Smith got one in the first off Bill Wight on a sacrifice fly. But Mike Garcia gave the lead right back on a Willy Miranda single and a two run single by Wight in the second. Cal McLish came on in the third btu was no better as he an Art Houtteman gave up four more on singles by Dick Williams, Tom Gastalla and a double by Miranda. Houtteman gave up two more in the fourth and now the Tribe trailed 9-1. But the Indians got 6 back in the fourth off Wight and Mike Fornieles: RBI singles by Earl Averill Bobby Avila and Gene Woodling, an Al Smith sacrifice fly and a two run bomb by Al Rosen. Bob Feller relieved in the fifth. The Indians narrowed it to a single run on a double play grounder by Averill in the fifth and tied it at nine on a Billy Gardner error on a Dale Mitchell grounder in the eighth. Ray Narleski gave the lead back to the Orioles in the ninth on solo shots by Tito Francona and Williams. But Hal Brown couldn't get the save as Vic Wertz singled in two in the bottom of the ninth. Brown would eventually lose the game in the eleventh: Rosen single and stolen base, a Jim Busby intentional walk and a Chico Carrasquel RBI single. All in all, ten players ended up in the ninth place of the batting order for this game, five pitchers, four pinch hitters and a pinch runner.

June 28

The longest winning streak is eight games from 1945 to 1955. The interesting quirk on this one is that the Tribe played doubleheaders in four consecutive years on the date from 1970 to 1973. The largest margin of victory happened in 1950, against those Browns again, 18-2. RBI doubles by Bob Kennedy and Larry Doby and a two run homer by Al Rosen got four in the first of Fritz Dorish. By the seventh inning, the Indians led 7-2, that is when all heck broke loose. Here is the play by play: Bob Johnson pitching, Bob Kennedy pop up to third, Luke Easter homer, Doby double, Rosen ground out, Ray Boone RBI single, Joe Gordon walk, Bobby Avila pinch runs for Gordon, Jim Hegan three run homer, Bob Lemon single, Tommy Fine relieves Johnson, Dale Mitchell single, Kennedy RBI single, Easter RBI single, Doby RBI single, Rosen RBI single, Boone walk, Avila two RBI single, Avila picked off. Lemon ended up with a complete game, nine hits, two runs, two walks and seven strikeouts.

June 29

There have been some high scoring affairs on this day. The Tribe has scored double digits nine times, while the opponent has done it ten times. And they have done it in the same game three times, an 11-10 loss to the Red Sox in the nightcap of a doubleheader in 1983 in eleven innings, a 11-10 loss in Yankee Stadium in 19997, and a 13-12 win over the Rangers in thirteen innings in 1984. Dave Stewart for the Rangers was cruising fairly well, giving up a sacrifice fly in the second and a solo shot by Andre Thornton in the fourth. Bert Blyleven was as well, the only blemish, two unearned runs in the fourth. But the fifth turned out to be both of their undoing. Blyleven gave up solo shots to Buddy Bell and Pete ‘Brien anfd then three more hits before being pulled for Tom Waddell. He allowed both batter he faced on base and by the time Mike Jeffcoat put out the fire, six runs had scored. Stewart gave up a three run shot to Thornton and two more solo shots to Mel Hall and Jerry Willard before he was pulled for Tom Henke. The Rangers scored two more in the sixth to take a 10-7 lead. Henke survived until the eighth when Julio Franco had an RBI double and Mike Hargrove greeted Odell Jones with a three run blast to take the lead, 11-10. Ernie Camacho was called in for the save, but after a double to Donnie Scott and a Curt Wilkerson single, the game was tied again, 11-11. The Tribe threatened in the tenth, but left runners on second and third. In the twelfth, the Rangers scored one on a Larry Parrish single off of Jamie Easterly. But Odell Jones ran out of gas in his fifth inning of work, uncorking a wild pitch with Thornton up, scoring Brett Butler. In the bottom of the thirteenth, the Tribe walked off of Dave Tobik after Jerry Willard walked, Joe Carter pinch ran for him, George Vukovich singled him to third and Brook Jacoby singled him home.

June 30

I lied for the last day, this day actually has more high scoring games: The Tribe has thirteen while the opponent has fourteen. But the highlight of this day is not one of those games, but rather the Bob Lemon no-hitter in 1948 against the Tigers. This was one of those games that if you arrived late, you missed all of the runs. In the top of the first, Dale Mitchell was safe on a Johnny Lipon error, scored an unearned run on Lou Boudreau's double. Boudreau made it to third on that play because of George Kell's error and he himself scored on Hank Edwards sacrifice fly. Wally Judnich would aslo single off Art Houtteman but was caught stealing by Bob Swift. Houtteman gave up two hits and two unearned runs in the first. Lemon allowed walks to Kell in the first, to Sam Vico in the fifth and Dick Wakefield in the seventh. That was it, he only struck out four, none of the three walks reached second, and he retired the rest on nine flyouts and fourteen groundouts, four of which Lemon assisted on, including two in the ninth. After the first, Houtteman was cruising as well, a single and stolen base to Mitchell in the third, another single by Mitchell in the sixth, a Ken Keltner walk in the seventh and a Johnny Berardino single in the eighth.