The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The Indians completed their series with the Royals this afternoon, winning 8-3, to take the series 2-1 and even up the season series against Kansas City 3-3. It truly was a series of some great baseball, some bad baseball and some plays you downright couldn't stomach if you are a Tribe fan.

The Good

• C. C. Sabathia - Wow what an outing on Tuesday. Totally un-hittable. No runner past 2nd base after the second and every hit was a lazy roller or a bloop. No solid contact at all. This from a guy who normally turns it on after the All-Star break. I'm giddy to see how far he can take this.
• Fausto Carmona - Another solid outing. Ground balls, double plays, one run, seven innings. Niiiiiiice!
• Franklin Gutierrez - Is Eric Wedge actually playing a young guy? And he actually hits a couple of dingers? Huh. Too bad he couldn't come through in the 9th on Wednesday.
• Casey Blake - 16 game hitting streak. Actually having some pop in his bat. Delivering with men on base. Who thought a return to third base and hitting int he 2 hole would wake this guy up.

The Bad

• Tom Mastny - This guy is normally so cool, so calm. Recently, so bad. Two more runs in an inning. Yuck. We need him to find his form. He could be a valuable asset in the 7th and 8th is he gets it straight.
• Lack of Late Inning Magic - The Indians left 5 men on base in the last two innings on Wednesday and lost 4-3. And they looked particularly pathetic in doing so.
• The First Time Fear - First time facing Brian Bannister and the second time facing Jorge de la Rosa and the Indians bats wilted away. And all too familiar theme for Tribe fans for over a decade.

The Ugly

• Jhonny Peralta's Limp Wristed Throwing Style - It might have cost us the game Wednesday. If he throws to first or actually side-arms the ball to Barfield the Indians are out of the inning, down only 3-0, and the game maybe goes to extra innings. Instead he decides to do a Lamar from "Revenge of the Nerds" impersonation. Jackass.
• Pinch Running for Travis Hafner - In the eighth inning, when he is the tying run, ON FIRST BASE, with one out. Maybe I can see it if he were the tying run on second with one out but dear lord. Instead of Pronk against a righty in the ninth with the bases loaded, enter Franklin Gutierrez. Kid played well in the series, but he should not have been in that spot. Awful managerial decision, Eric.

Next up for the Tribe, a 3 game set in Cincinnati, followed by snow make-up game #2 at home versus the Mariners.