A Look Back At The Week Ahead; September 30 to October 6

September 30

The Tribe is currently on a 8-2 run. The longest win streak was a five game stretch from 1917 to 1927. There was a matching five game losing streak from 1950 to 1961. The Tribe swept a doubleheader from the Red Sox in Fenway with two shutouts, 5-0 and 3-0 in 1964. After trading singles in the first of the opener, Tito Francona opened with a triple in the second off Pete Charlton. Two batters later, Leon Wagner homered. In the seventh, John Romano walked, Wagner singled him to third and Max Alvis homered, 5-0 Tribe. Luis Tiant cruised through this game. He gave up only four hits and one walk while striking out eleven for a GameScore of 89. The nightcap was just as quiet. Fred Whitfield hit a solo shot in the sixth. In the seventh, Alvis led off with a triple and scored on Joe Azcue singled him home. Sam McDowell doubled home Azcue to put the Tribe up 3-0. McDowell's shutout wasn't quite as dominant as Tiant's, but he gave up seven hits, walked four and struck out six.

October 1

The Indians have never won a game on Thursday on this date, 0-6. The longest streak on this date was only four games, one losing from 1939 to 1948 and one winning from 1949 to 1961. In 1995, they pounded the Royals 17-7 getting them to an even 100 wins on the strike shortened season. Johnny Damon and Tom Goodwin opened with singles off Charles Nagy, but both were stranded. Tom Gordon wasn't up to the task though. Kenny Lofton singled and stole second, Omar Vizquel walked and they both stole second and third. Carlos Baerga singled to center scoring Lofton. Albert Belle walked and consecutive singles by Eddie Murray, Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez scored four more. Paul Sorrento walked to load the bases again before Sandy Alomar and Lofton both made out. After Omar singled in one more, Alvaro Espinoza (who pinch ran for Baerga) ended the first, with the Tribe up 6-0. In the second Belle, Murray and Thome all singled before a Manny Ramirez walked loaded the bases again, finally chasing Gordon. Mike Magnante struck out Sorrento. Sandy singled in two with Manny scoring on an error. After Lofton had an RBI groundout, the Tribe was up 11-0. Nagy gave four back in the third. All was quiet until the fifth. Billy Ripken hit a solo shot for the Tribe, with Brian Giles scoring another. Sorrento hit a three run homer off Rusty Meacham and Lofton hit an RBI triple, making it 17-4. The Red Sox scored two off Paul Assenmacher in the sixth and one off Ken Hill in the seventh, rounding out the scoring.

October 2

There was a five game winning streak from 1943 to 1960. But the longest streak is a seven game streak from 1993 to 2010. Last year's 4-3 win over the White Sox broke that streak. The highlight of this date though is the first perfect game in franchise history, 1-0 over those same White Sox in 1908 by Addie Joss. This game was in actuality, the impetus of the term "perfect game," used by I.E. Sanborn's recap in the Chicago Tribune about this duel between Joss and future Hall of Famer Big Ed Walsh. The White Sox and Naps were both in a serious battle with the Detroit Tigers for the flag with just five games to go.

A perfect game in itself is a masterpiece, but to have Joss do it in the heat of a pennant race and in the hitter's paradise known as League Park, makes it doubly so. The right field fence was just a mere 290 feet away, with a spacious 460 foot center field, begging hitters to slap hits for extra bases with each poke into the outfield. Spitballer Walsh himself was in the midst of a great season, pitching a record 464 innings. The Naps would only get four hits themselves in this game while Walsh struck out a staggering fifteen Nap hitters in just eight innings with just one fly ball to the outfield. With the lack of base runners and two dominant hurlers on the hill, this game finished in just over 90 minutes.

The only run occurred in the third. Joe Birmingham singled. Walsh tried to pick him off and he dashed towards second. First baseman Frank Isbell's throw bounced off him and Birmingham ended up on third. He scored on a wild pitch that Ossee Schreckengost couldn't handle. Birmingham had a second single, with Nap Lajoie and George Perring getting the others.

Joss only struck out three, but retired 16 on grounders, with only four fly balls reaching the outfielders. There is no definitive proof, but it is said that Joss only needed 74 pitches to retire all 27 White Sox [Maybe a complete game with 80 or less pitches, should be a Joss, what do you think Jason?]

The White Sox tried three different pinch hitters in the ninth. Supposedly, the closest call was with the last pinch hitter, John Anderson. He hit a liner down the left field line that was foul by about three feet. Third baseman Bill Bradley retired him on a hot smash to end the game with George Stovall digging out a low throw and just gaining control before Anderson crossed the bag.

October 3

There are very few highlights on this day considering the 11-25 record. Also, amazingly enough, 25% of the games have been against the Browns/Orioles franchise. One of those wins occurred in 1923 at Sportmans Park, 9-2. The Tribe jumped on starter Ray Kolp for a quick three runs in the top of the first. Ken Williams of the Browns doubled in two off George Uhle in the third, to cut the lead to 3-2. But the Indians hit parade kept on moving. They tagged Kolp for four more in the fourth and single runs in the seventh and eighth. In all they had eighteen hits and four walks, leaving twelve on base. Homer Summa was the top hitter, 5-2-3-4 with a homer. Tris Speaker had a double among his three hits and Joe Sewell tripled in two runs. The Indian defense was very lacking with four errors, but both runs Uhle allowed were earned. He allowed four hits, walked three and struck out five in his complete game win. Kolp also took the beating, pitching the full nine.

October 4

The pickings keep getting smaller and smaller. The Indians did win four in a row from 1985 to 1991. But the easy choice for highlighting is the 1948 one game playoff (play-in) against the Red Sox to get the Tribe to the World Series. After failing to clinch during the regular season, the Tribe and Red Sox were deadlocked at 96-58. The Red Sox won the coin flip and hosted the first play-in game to get to the World Series. Manager Lou Boudreau went with the hot hand, Gene Bearden, a knuckleballer, to try and quell the Red Sox bats. Joe McCarthy tapped Denny Galehouse to start for the Sox.

Boudreau opened up the scoring with a solo shot in the first to take a quick lead. But a Johnny Pesky double and Vern Stephens single tied it up in the bottom half. A leadoff Ken Keltner single in the second went for naught. Bearden avoided damage in the second. He walked Stan Spence. But a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play by Jim Hegan got two quick outs. Birdie Tebbetts singled and Bearden walked Dalehouse, but Dom DiMaggio grounded out to retire the side.

Galehouse returned the favor by walking Bearden in the third, but Dale Mitchell hit into a double play. Bearden then had his first 1-2-3 inning. Boudreau led off the fourth with a single. And after Joe Gordon also singled, Keltner smacked one into the seats, putting the Tribe up 4-1. Ellis Kinder relived and Larry Doby doubled. Bob Kennedy sacrificed him to third and he scored on a Hegan grounder, pushing the lead to four. Another Bearden walk to Spence was also erased by another double play.

Boudreau cranked his second homer in the fifth, making the score 6-1. After another 1-2-3 inning by Bearden, the Tribe stranded Keltner on second after his leadoff double. In the bottom of the sixth, Pesky grounded out, but Ted Williams reached on a dropped popup to Gordon. After striking out Stephens, Bobby Doerr hit a homer, scoring two unearned runs and cuting the lead down to three.

The Tribe left the bases loaded in the seventh after lead off singles by Bearden and Mitchell. An intentional walk to Boudreau after Eddie Robinson sacrificed them over. But Gordon fouled out and Keltner flew out. In the bottom half, Bearden's fourth walk was again erased on a double play. Doby opened the eight with yet another double and Kennedy again sacrificed. Hegan was given first, but Doby was picked off third by Tebbetts. Bearden then hit a fly ball that Teddy Baseball couldn't handle, with Hegan scoring an unearned run.

In the bottom of the eighth, Williams was stranded after a two out single. With the Red Sox in grand slam distance, the Tribe went to work on Kinder in the ninth for some insurance. Robinson and Boudreau both singled, with both of them moving up on a wild pitch. Gordon was also given first base, loading them up for Keltner. He hit into a double play with Robinson scoring. Bearden got Doerr to hit back to him to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Billy Hitchcock pinch hit for Spence and worked a walk. Bearden struck out Billy Goodman and retired Tebbetts on a grounder to Keltner. The Tribe had survived the one game playoff, returning to the World Series for the first time in 28 years, taking on the other Boston team, the Braves.

October 5

There has never been a regular season game on a Tuesday for this date. And there wasn't a game on this date from 1930 to 1979. The last win was in 1991, 7-5 over the Yankees in the Bronx in twelve innings. Future Tribe reliever Eric Plunk started this game for the Yankees, with the famous Eric King being the Tribe hurler. King worked out of a bases loaded jam in the first. The Indians drew first, with Mark Whiten scoring an unearned run on recent call-up Jim Thome's grounder to Don Mattingly. Both Plunk and King pitched in and out of trouble until the Yankees finally broke through in the fourth. Three singles by Alvaro Espinoza, Bernie Williams and Steve Sax plated the tying run. After a force out on a Mattingly grounder, Roberto Kelly doubled to left, scoring Williams, but Mattingly was thrown out at home, Mike Aldrete to Mark Lewis to Eddie Taubensee. The Indians left the bases loaded in the fifth and Carlos Baerga on second in the sixth. Mattingly doubled in Espinoza in the sixth to take a 3-1 lead. After pitching out of trouble most of the game, Plunk finally cracked in the seventh. Thome doubled and took third on Taubensee's single. Wayne Kirby fouled out and Alex Cole struck out, but Mark Lewis drove in Thome. Greg Caderet came in, but Lewis tied it up with his single. Garland Kiser and Rod Nichols combined to give the lead back to the Yankees on a Williams RBI single. In the ninth Caderet walked both Cole and Lewis. Baerga bunted them over, and after Whiten whiffed, Reggie Jefferson gave the Tribe a 5-4 lead with a two run base knock. Steve Olin came in for the save, but Kevin Maas singled and pinch runner Mike Humphreys was bunted over. Williams plated him with a single and the game was knotted at five. The Tribe left two more on the tenth (14 total for the game) against Darrin Chapin. Olin had a 1-2-3 tenth and Chapin did likewise in the eleventh. In the twelfth, a one out double by Luis Lopez got the lead run in scoring position, where he ended up scoring on Lewis' double. Doug Jones closed it out, but not cleanly. A Mattingly single, Kelly double play, Mel Hall single and matt Nokes grounder finished it off.

October 6

The Indians started off hot, winning the first four matchups from 1904 to 1906, but have lost the last seven matchups from 1923 to 2001. As the last victory occurred prior to the existing boxscore database on Retrosheet, we'll look at the 4-2 loss to the Twins in 1985. The Tribe had already lost 101 games going into this season finale. The matchup was Don Schulze taking on the Twins' Mike Smithson. The Twins got their first run in the third on a Mark Salas double. The Tribe tied it up in the fifth on a Jerry Willard single. Kirby Puckett scored on a Kent Hrbek grounder with Salas scoring on a Randy Bush single in the fifth. Greg Gagne plated the fourth run in the sixth off Vern Ruhle, singling in Steve Lombordozzi who led off with a double off Schulze. Willard doubled in Brook Jacoby in the seventh to complete the scoring. Smithson scattered nine hits, with just one walk and one strikeout in his complete game victory.