I was up at 5:30 the previous morning and couldn’t stay awake past Torii Hunter’s homerun in the bottom of the eighth of a late night game in LA against the Angels.

But one can dream.

Is it possible the Tribe bats that have been cold for nearly a week now could come alive?  With this lineup that’s entirely possible.  The Indians have a very good hitting lineup from top to bottom and the middle of it can be devastating.  To wake up and find the Erie boys had come back to win it in the ninth would be a dream come true.

So I awake and watch the top of the ninth and lo and behold it happened.  The bats did come alive to score three in the ninth and take a 4-2 lead!

But then the nightmare came in the form of “Heart Attack” Joe.  Joe Borowski, who somehow led the league in saves despite an ERA over 5 last season and a penchant for allowing 2-out magic to the other side, came in for the second night in a row looking for his third save.  I guess Joe felt his ERA of 4.50 was low (at least compared to last season) and wanted to pad it a bit.  Well, he certainly did that – and he didn’t even wait for two outs to do it.

After retiring the first batter on a foul out, he proceeded to walk two of the next three hitters and threw in a hit to Vlad just for good measure to load the bases.

This is the part of the nightmare where we usually are falling off the cliff and wake up before we land.  Unfortunately, this time I forgot to wake up.

In to the batter’s box steps Torii Hunter who is still so elated that Fausto Carmona is no longer pitching he deposits a walk-off grand slam homerun over the left field wall.  I guess Hunter moving to the West Coast just isn’t far enough way to keep him from hurting us.

To make the nightmare complete, the White Sox beat Hunter’s former team, the Twins, to move into first place in the Central.  Even Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen getting ejected for arguing balls and strikes in their home opener couldn’t make up for the nightmare in LA.

Oh well, tonight’s another night and another chance to dream.

Go Tribe!

Although the Tribe bats remained ice cold, the pitching really stepped up in yesterday’s 2-1 victory over the A’s.  Cliff Lee’s first start of the season looked reminiscent of his first start in Anaheim last season – sparkling.  Along with Lee, the bullpen team of Perez, Betancourt and Borowski were near perfect allowing only a walk between them.

The pitching was so good it even overcame missteps in the field.  Another passed ball by Shoppach allowed the only run allowed and Garko dropped a ball on an amazing play by A.C. and fell down three other times.  This obviously disproves the theory that weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down.

Cabrera continues to sparkle in the field and even though he didn’t get a hit in yesterday’s game, he did pick up an RBI.

As for the rest of the team, Sizemore is still on fire both offensively and defensively, Michaels got his first hit of the season, Delluci is still 0 for the season and Marte got a hit in his first start at third.  The team left 10 men on base and were 0fer with runners in scoring position.

The good news is VMart is expected to return to the lineup behind the plate on Monday against the Angels with Carmona is on the mound.  This should be a good pitching matchup with Fausto going against lefty Joe Saunders who pitched eight innings of four-hit shut out ball against Minnesota in his last start.

Go Tribe!

The Cleveland Indians lost their third straight game today, their second straight to Oakland.  While the Tribe pitching has not been as dominant as expected, the hitting has been downright abysmal.

The Indians have scored a combined 5 runs on 15 hits over the last three ballgames.  They’ve had chances to score as both Chicago and Oakland have tried to help the Tribe get back into each game, but the Tribe hitters just aren’t open to charity right now.

It looks alot like poor guess work in the batters box.  They’re being patient when the opposing pitcher is tagging every part of the strike zone and swinging with reckless abandon when they’re not.

Today’s game was definitely one of those to forget quickly.  CC was wild, Betancourt got hammered and for some reason Jason Michaels and his .000 batting average was hitting third.

But it’s not just the Tribe who is suffering right now.  Most of the American League is upside down.  The cream of the Central (at least on paper), Cleveland and Detroit are a combined 2 and 8.  If that’s scary, look at the AL East.  Boston and New York are on the bottom with Tampa Bay on top!  This is one extended April Fools joke!

Go Tribe!