A Look Back At The Week Ahead; September 23 to September 29

September 23

That this record is close to .500 on this date is saying something. The Indians lost eight straight from 1913 to 1923 and six straight from 1979 to 1985. And that record against the Yankees, ouch. The largest margin of victory was a 17-2 pasting of the White Sox in 1936 in the first game of a doubleheader. The game started off pretty normally. The Indians got three in the first off Vern Kennedy and Bob Feller let two back on the board in the third. They extended the lead to 6-2 with three in the sixth. But the seventh was an explosion of runs, 11 in fact off Kennedy and Bill Whitehead. Bill Knickerbocker had a solid day, 4-2-3-2 with a double. Hal Trosky hit the only long ball, 5-1-2-3, but Jeff Heath was the one who did most of the damage, 5-3-3-4 with a triple. Feller finished with a complete game, seven hits, six walks and ten strikeouts.

September 24

This day is another that has few bright spots. With an overall record of 38-55, ugly. They lost eight straight from 1938 to 1943 and from 1967 to 2004, a pathetic 7-26. In the Tribe's first ever win on this date, a 12-2 pounding of the Washington Senators, Bill Bradley had the franchise's first hit for the cycle. One of those few wins in that terrible stretch was an 18-4 win over the Blue Jays in Toronto in 1999. This was a classic duel <sarc> between the Tribe's Jim Brower and the Blue Jays' Peter Munro. The Indians tallied a run in the first on a Kenny Lofton walk, stolen base and Manny Ramirez single. Jose Cruz and David Segui both hit solo shots off Brower in the first to take a 2-1 lead. The onslaught started innocently enough in the third, Manny hit a three run shot. But the levee broke in the fourth. Lofton had a two run double to chase Munro and in came Mike Romano. Omar Vizquel and Robbie Alomar greeted him with RBI singles, as did Richie Sexson and the score ballooned to 9-2. Manny continued his fantastic day by hitting a grand slam in the fifth. Brower went unscathed until the sixth when he allowed two more solo hots by Tony Batista and Willie Otanez. Carlos Baerga added a sacrifice fly in the seventh to make it 14-4. But the Indians weren't quite finished. Dave Roberts had subbed in for Lofton and hit the Tribe's second grand slam of the game in the eighth off John Hudek. Mark Langston, Chris Haney and Steve Karsay finished off the game for Brower.

September 25

The franchise lost eight straight from 1915 to 1923 with the longest winning streak only six games from 1956 to 1962. The oddest occurrence on this date is the day-night doubleheader played in 2000. They won the opener 9-2 against the White Sox, but lost the nightcap 4-3 to the Twins. Dave Burba beat the White Sox with seven innings, seven hits, three walks and three strikeouts. The two runs scored in the third on a Tony Graffanino single and a Paul Konerko ground ball double play in the fourth. Down 2-0, the Tribe got one back on a Travis Fryman ground out in the fourth. But it was the fifth when John Garland was chased. RBI singles by Robbie Alomar and Manny Ramirez and a David Segui forceout. Russell Branyan added one more, singling of Matt Ginter. The final three scored in the sixth, an RBI grounder by Alomar, a Manny RBI single and double by Fryman. In a scheduling quirk due to earlier rainouts in the season, the Twins arrived after the White Sox game. Manny hit a two run homer in the first off Matt Kinney and Segui added a run scoring fly ball in the third. AJ Pierzynski had his own sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 3-1. Steve Woodard handed it over to the pen in the sixth. Ricardo Rincon and Steve Reed got out of the sixth and Paul Shuey pitched a clean seventh. But Shuey loaded the bases in the eighth with two out on Denny Hocking and Luis Rivas singles and a Corey Koskie walk. Bob Wickman came in an inning early and Torii Hunter singled in two and Jacque Jones drove in the winning run with his own single.

September 26

As bad as the 24th was, this day counteracts that. There was a 15-5 stretch from 1980 to 2003 that included a seven game win streak from 1980 to 1987. That final win of that streak was at home, 11-10 over the California Angels in ten innings. Neither starter, Rich Yett for the Indians or Willie Fraser for the Angles lasted past the third. Brian Downing opened the game with a home run. The Tribe got four back in the second on a pair of two run singles by Dave Clark and Junior Noboa. Downing smacked his second solo shot in the third and Bil Buckner, Jack Howell and Mark Ryal allscores one each to make it 5-4 Angels. Clark returned the favor with a three run shot and after three the score was 7-5 Tribe. The Angles retook the lead in the sixth when Wally Joyner grounded out and Mark McLemore doubled off Don Gordon and Buckner singled off Ed Vande Berg. Brett Butler hit a two run homer off DeWayne Buice and Joe Carter singled to make it 10-8 Indians. Sammy Stewart was called in to close the game and former Indian George Hendrick tied it up with a single. Reggie Ritter got out of the inning and got the win in relief. Butler singled off Gary Lucas and was sacrificed over by Noboa. Carter was walked intentionally. After Carmen Castillo struck out, both Butler and Carter were wild pitched over. Brook Jacoby hit a grounder to Howell, who booted it and the game was over.

September 27

The overall record is nice on this date, but the longest streak on this date is another losing one. This tie it was nine games from 1953 to 1966. In 2009, we blanked the Orioles 9-0. David Huff was very good this day. He pitched eight shutout innings, only five hits, two walks and five strikeouts. The only Oriole runner who reached second happened in the eighth on an Andy Marte error and a walk to Cesar Izturis. Jess Todd pitched a perfect ninth. The hitters struck early. Asdrubal Cabrera had a two run double in the first, Andy Marte followed with an RBI single and Kelly Shoppach had a three run shot, all off Chris Tillman. Brian Bass allowed two more in the fourth on a Droobs single and Jhonny Peralta's sac fly. The final run came on a Matt LaPorta bomb to lead off the eighth off Chris Lambert.

September 28

The best stretch on this date was from 1948 to 1966 when they went 10-1. They beat the Twins 12-5 in 1961 in their inaugural season in Minnesota. The Indians opened quickly, a Tito Francona RBI single, a two run double by Woodie Held and a Vic Power RBI single made it 4-0 off Pedro Ramos. Staked to that early lead, Mudcat Grant didn't get out of second. Zoilo Versailles tripled in two and pitcher Don Lee got him in a fly ball. After walking the bases loaded, Jimmy Dykes called in Wynn Hawkins who got the final out, keeping the score 4-3. In the bottom of the third, Willie Kirkland hit a solo shot and Held hit a two run bomb off Lee. Vic Power doubled and scored on Mike de la Hoz' single, and the lead extended to 8-3. Harmon Killebrew singled in one in the fourth to cut it to 8-4. But de la Hoz had an RBI double and Johnny Temple singled in two more, this time off Danny McDevitt to break double digits, 11-4. Another bomb by Held and one by Killebrew in the ninth ended the scoring 12-5. Hawkins pitched 7.1 innings in relief, seven hits, three walks and two runs in securing the win.

September 29

The oddest fact of this date was from 1935 to 1940, six of the seven games either went to extra innings or were rain shortened to five or six innings. The best stretch on this date was 12-3 from 1946 to 1973, but the longest win streak was seven from 2000 to 2006. In 2005 they shut out the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6-0. CC Sabathia was on his gem this day, pitching eight shutout innings, five hits, two walks and nine strikeouts. He had a bit of trouble in the first when Julio Lugo singled and was sacrificed over by Nick Green. Lugo stole third, but stayed there when Eduardo Perez had an infield single. The only other spot of trouble was a walk to Lugo and a double by Jorge Cantu in the sixth. Rafael Betancourt had a 1-2-3 ninth. The Tribe scored four in the fist on a pair of two run shots by Travis Hafner and Rafael Belliard off Casey Fossum. Aaron Boone walked and went to third on Casey Blake's single in the second. Boone scored as Grady Sizemore hit into a double play. The final run was a solo shot by Jhonny Peralta in the third.