Last Night's Game
Indians score early and late to beat the Mets 9-4 - Let's Go Tribe
New York Mets at Cleveland Indians - September 7, 2013 | MLB.com CLE Recap
Cleveland Indians, hungry for a wild card, pound New York Mets, 9-4 | cleveland.com
The Indians took care of business again last night, jumping on Jonathon Niese and adding some late runs to put the game away. And of course Corey Kluber backed up Scott Kazmir's performance with a decent five innings of his own. As mentioned last night, the Indians are pitching their butts off despite the injuries and the pitch counts.
AL Wild Card Scenarios (Google Doc)
Things are going just about as well as possible. The thing that needed to happen (the Rays losing) is happening, as Tampa Bay has dropped the first two games of their series in Seattle. The Yankees have lost the first three games of the series with the Red Sox. In fact, I might need to add another club to this scenario: the Texas Rangers, who are now just 4 games ahead of the Indians/Orioles in the wild card race. The Rangers lost again last night, and have a particularly tough schedule over the next two weeks.
If the Indians get to 90-72, here's a scenario in which the Indians tie the Rangers. And because the Indians beat the Rangers head-to-head, that would mean they would play the Wild Card Game in Cleveland.
Texas (current record: 80-59) | Needed | Actual W | Actual L |
@LA Angels (Sep 6-8) | 1-2 | 0 | 2 |
Pittsburgh (Sep 9-11) | 1-2 | ||
Oakland (Sep 13-15) | 1-2 | ||
@Tampa Bay (Sep 16-19) | 2-2 | ||
@Kansas City (Sep 20-22) | 1-2 | ||
Houston (Sep 23-25) | 2-1 | ||
LA Angels (Sep 26-29) | 2-2 | ||
Needed final recod: 90-72 (10-13) | 0 | 2 | |
Actual final record | 80 | 61 |
Here's the wild card standings as of this morning:
Here comes CA Yan Gomes: Cleveland Indians Insider | cleveland.com
The Indians have gotten a lot of mileage out of role players and NRIs (Ryan Raburn, Mike Aviles, Scott Kazmir), but with Yan Gomes, they have a player that can not only start, but is under control for another five seasons. Gomes' hitting has allowed the Indians to fill the DH role with Carlos Santana, especially now that they have a third catcher on the roster.
AL Central News
Singing Hot Dog Man fired by Sportservice - Bless You Boys
Yes, the guy who you've undoubtedly heard in the background of Indians-Tigers at Comerica will not be a part of the ambience next season.
Leaked! Dayton Moore's Interview with David Glass - Royals Review
Neither guy is exactly popular among Royals fans.
Ten Un-Ranked Twins Position Player Prospects to Watch - Twinkie Town
For those of you who like to go deep in your prospecting (hesitatingly raises his hand), here's some red meat for you.
The 2013 White Sox: Friends to all contenders - South Side Sox
Hopefully the friendship lasts the rest of the season, as they play the Indians six more times, including a four-game series next weekend.
This Week's Classic Clip
Albert Belle in Game 3 of the 1996 ALDS. Let's not think about Game 4.