This Red Sox series looked like the most even matchup the Tribe has had all year.  All three games entered the ninth inning tied.

The last time the Indians entered the ninth tied in three straight games was May 24-26 of 2005 against the Twins.  All three games went to extra innings; the Tribe lost the first, won the second, and lost the third.

Also, the Tribe is finally the proud possessor of a triple.  They’re the last team this season to get one.  As surprised as I am by that (given that we’ve got Sizemore, Cabrera, and Francisco, all pretty fast), I was more surprised by the source of our triple.  Victor Martinez.

Victor Martinez.  The catcher.  Tripled.  Yep.  This was the second triple of his career; the other came on June 2, 2004, against the Rangers.

Didn’t see that one coming.  Lopez won’t be forgetting that one for a long time.

The last time the Indians walked off on an error was August 31, 2003. Matt Lawton hit a ground ball, which the fielder threw away, allowing Angel Santos and Jhonny Peralta to score and winning the game 5-4 for the Indians.

Don’t remember Angel Santos?  Yeah, neither did I.  It’s not that surprising, though; he only played in 41 major league games (32 with the Indians in 2003, 9 with the Red Sox in 2001), with a total of 92 at-bats.

At 4:19, last night’s game was the longest 9-inning Indians game since August 31, 2000, when the Tribe took 4 hours and 21 minutes to beat the Rangers, 14-7

14 RUN INNING!

That one inning featured:

-14 runs
-13 hits (At least one for every player in the lineup)
-17 batters
-4 players with two hits
-Five doubles
-3 home runs, including a grand slam
-5 RBIs for Cabrera
-69 pitches

Just as a comparison . . .
-The Indians scored their 14th run of the season in the 9th inning of the third game
-The 13th hit came in the third inning of the third game
-The 17th batter came in the 6th inning of the opener
-The 5th double came in the third inning of the fourth game
-The third home run came in the third inning of the third game
-Cabrera’s 5th RBI of the season came on that grand slam
-The 69th pitch the Indians faced came in the 5th inning of the opener.

. . . Wow.

And finally, an entry in the win column!

Highlights:

  Trevor Crowe – First Major League hit, a two-run double to right
  Travis Hafner – Two-run homer to right center
  Kerry Wood – Striking out the side in the ninth
  Anthony Reyes – Starting pitching actually going more than five innings.

Let word go out to all corners of the earth, the Indians have a win!

Well, at least our lineup is starting to hit (except for DeRosa, who is now 0-12).  Five home runs today.  Including three for my fantasy team.

But scoring 8 runs should mean a win.  The bullpen did well, but Pavano?  Come on.  9 ER, 1+ IP.  That’s an 81.00 ERA.  Not good.

Wasn’t Cliff Lee supposed to start yesterday?  I don’t know who that was on the mound, but it didn’t seem to be him.

Of course, it’s way too early to draw any kind of conclusion.  He did take a line drive to his pitching arm, which, despite Lee’s denial, may have had something to do with it.

On the upside, most of the rest of my fantasy team did fairly well.

The sun came out today!

It’s a sunny day in Arlington, 0% chance of rain, and the Indians are finally going to take the field.

Meanwhile, in Cleveland, it’s snowing.

Anyway, I’ve posted this link before, but it just begs to be posted again: Centerfield.

Now THAT is baseball.

Opening Day tomorrow, Indians opener Monday.

The regular season is here!