3 Outta 4 Ain't Bad

Well, it wasn't easy or pretty, but the Tribe managed to come through when they needed it most and take three out of four games from the A's after a 4-3 come from behind victory this afternoon at The Jake.

Other than Fausto Carmona lasting an inning plus three more solid outings from C. C., Cliff Lee and Paul Byrd. C. C. had one bad inning and was dominant in the series opener on Monday, notching Win #11 on the campaign. Lee and Byrd did not pitch brilliantly but solid enough to allow the Indians to hang around and notch two come from behind victories via a pair of three run home runs. Team Rafael (Betancourt and Perez) continue to be blinding, brilliant lights from heaven (or the bullpen) and Joe Borowski managed to weasel his way out of a sticky situation in the 9th inning of today's game to notch his 22nd save.

On the offensive front, hopefully a good omen as both Travis Hafner and Ryan Garko have shown signs of life during what have been horrible, horrible Junes for both. Jason Michaels continues to impress with today's 3-run bomb to win it and a key PH double on Monday night. I am still not sold on him as an everyday player but he has taken advantage of the Dellucci injury and you can not knock his defense despite his minor brain cramp in the 9th today. Franklin Guitierrez showed a little more pop in his bat but still needs to show more consistency at the plate and get his OBP up. And what can you say about Kelly Shoppach? The PH 3 run JACK to win it on Tuesday (and he laid down a sacrifice bunt today) and I love the way he calls a game. If anything good came out of the Pronk/Garko June swoon it may be the fact that we got to see what Kelly Shoppach can do and so far, I like it.

The Tribe stands at 13-13 for the month of June which is incredible with how God awful they have played this month. They open a 3 game set with the putrid D-Rays tomorrow so lets hope they make it 15-13 heading into July and the All-Star Break. Let's be positive people. They sit sit only 1/2 game out of first and there is still a ton of baseball left to be played.