A Look Back At The Week Ahead; September 16 to September 22

September 16

The longest win streak on this date was five games, which happened from 1917-1921. That was bookended by a pair of six game losing streaks, 1911-1916 and 1922 to 1925. The other odd fact is that the Indians have only scored 10 runs or more just three times. The first time was the second game of a doubleheader at Shibe Park in Philadelphia in 1919, 12-8. The A's scored five in the bottom of the second off George Uhle. But the Tribe rallied in the third, scoring eight off Ray Roberts and Rollie Naylor. The A's picked up one in the fourth, but again the Indians responded and the score was 9-6. The A's pulled within one by getting two off Elmer Myers in the sixth, but the Tribe scores two in the seventh and an insurance run in the ninth. Elmer Smith was the hitting star of the day, 4-4-4-1, with Jack Graney contributing two doubles and Doc Johnston starting the eight run inning with a pinch triple.

September 17

The best run here was from 1910 to 1923 when they went 11-1-1. They love playing the Twins/Senators, going 16-8 against them, including five of the last six. In the 1998 game, they beat them 9-1. Dave Burba was much better than his usual self. In eight innings, he only allowed four hits, one walk, seven strikeouts and an unearned run in the sixth on a Richie Sexson drop and singles by Ron Coomer and Matt Lawton. The Tribe meanwhile was beating up on Eric Milton. Two in the first on a two run shot by Travis Fryman and an RBI single by Mark Whiten. In the fourth Fryman singled in another and Manny Ramirez crushed one to deep right, making it 6-0. The last three runs were scored in the eighth off Dan Serafini and Hector Carrasco. Enrique Wilson singled in Einar Diaz, Ramirez' fly ball scored Joey Cora and Sexson singled in Wilson.

September 18

The longest win streak on this date was eight games from 1995 to 2002. The highlighted game on this date would normally be the 1908 game where the Naps beat the Red Sox 2-1 and Bob Rhoads threw the franchise's first no-hitter. But since I don't have a boxscore for that day, let's look at the 1948 championship team, who beat the Senators 10-1. Sam Zoldak was the Tribe hurler and he faced Early Wynn (who would become a Tribe member in 1949). Wynn provided the first run of the game by scoring Mickey Vernon on a groundout in the third. Lou Boudreau tied it up with an RBI single. Jim Hegan hit a two run homer in the fourth and Wynn was chased in the fifth by a Boudreau two run shot, an RBI triple by Larry Doby and an RBI double by Wally Judnich. The Indians added a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth to get to the final score. Zoldak finished with a complete game, five hits, one walk, and one strikeout.

September 19

There have been two really dominant stretches on this date, a 14-2-1 stretch from 1904 to 1922 and a 25-7 stretch from 1938 to 1978, with an eight game win streak from 1940 to 1948. Random selection will be the other championship squad, who beat the Red Sox 2-0 in 1920. Jim Bagby faced off against Herb Pennock. Bagby ended up throwing the shutout, only allowing four hits and four walks and getting his 29th win against only 10 losses. The Tribe scored their only two runs in the sixth on Tris Speaker double, an RBI double by Elmer Smith and an RBI single by Doc Johnston.

September 20

The longest streak here was a nine game losing streak from 1972 to 1985. The Tribe has scored four runs exactly in four of the past five seasons, two being wins and two losses. Last year's win was a 4-3 home victory over the Twins in ten innings. The game was scoreless until Corey Kluber wild pitched home Josh Willingham in the fourth. The Indians took the lead in the bottom of the fourth after leadoff walks by Jason Kipnis and Carlos Santana. Each of the scored on RBI singles by Casey Kotchman and Brent Lillibridge off Esmerling Vasquez. The Twins tied it back up in the fifth when Denard Span doubled in Pedro Florimon. Tribe killer Tervor Plouffe homered in the sixth to take a 3-2 lead but a Kotchman double and an RBI single by Jack Hannahan of Kyle Waldrop, knotted it again. The Twins threatened in the ninth with first and third, but Chris Perez got the third out on a grounder. In the bottom of the tenth Shin-Soo Choo led off with a double from a Anthony Swarzak offering. A Kipnis grounder moved him over to third and Swarzak intentionally passed both Santana an Michael Brantley, to get to Kotchman. Kotchman continued hi hot day, singling in the winning run, giving Esmil Rogers a win in relief.

September 21

The longest win streak on this date was eight games from 1911 to 1921. The longest game was a 17 inning home win over the California Angels in 1989, 5-4. John Farrell took on Kirk McCaskill at Cleveland Stadium. The first run of the game came on a Kent Anderson double and sacrifice fly by Johnny Ray. Other than that though, there was no offense until the eighth. After McCaskill walked Jerry Browne, Felix Fermin bunted him over, enter Bryan Harvey. He walked Joe Carter and Albert Belle singled in Browne, tying the game. Another pair of walks to Pete O'Brien and Brook Jacoby brought in the second run. A single by Dave Clark, doubled the total to 4-1. But Doug Jones ended up blowing the save. Leadoff singles by Wally Joyner and Chili Davis put runners at first and second. After getting Claudell Washington to fly out and Lance Parrish looking at strike three, Jones was almost out of it. Jack Howell singled in one and after a Browne error loaded the bases, Brian Downing tied the game with Jim Eppard thrown out at third base to end the inning. The Angels managed just six baserunners from the tenth through seventeenth innings off of Jones, Jesse Orosco, Steve Olin and Scott Bailes. The Tibr left the bases loaded in the twelfth and first and third in the sixteenth. O'Brien led off the seventeenth with a triple of Rich Monteleone and he scored the winning run on a Jacoby fly ball.

September 22

The longest win streak on this date was six games, which happened from 1990 to 1996. Random selection for this date is a 1976 3-0 win in Detroit. Ray Bare took the hill for the Tigers and after Duane Kuiper and Rick Manning both grounded out, Larvell Blanks singled and went to second on a wild pitch. He scored when Rico Carty doubled to center. The second run came in the third inning on a Blanks single and a Boog Powell double. The third run scored in the sixth when Buddy Bell singled to right, moved to second on a Tommy Smith walk an scored on a Kuiper single. Jim Bibby pitched for the Tribe and was fantastic, allowing just three hits, two walks and two strikeouts in the complete game shutout. There was a walk to Phil Mankowski in the first but he was erased on 5-4-3 double play. Ben Oglivie singled in the second, stole second and went to third on Ray Fosse's error but was stranded. The walk to Mark Wagner in the third was also erased on a double play, 1-6-3. Willie Horton had a single in the fourth. Rusty Staub was safe on Blanks error in the seventh, but he too was erased on a 5-4-3 double play. And the last baserunner was a Wagner single in the ninth.