Indians 2007

Hafner's bomb off Verlander in the same series.

Hafner taking Nathan deep to tie in Minn.

Victor's bomb on the road in Washington.

Betancourt closing out the magic number.

So many more...

Grady's homerun on the 3rd pitch of the season. In my head I always had one of those fantasy endings in that Sizemore would have ended the baseball season with a homerun as well, about a week from now.

The triple play.

Shoppach throwing out Aybar at 3rd in the 9th inning of the first "home" game in Milwaukee.  He earned JoBo a save in an unlikely fashion, something we were going to see more of.

And, in the interest of equal time, JoBo keep his cool and getting the save against the White Sox when the defense gave Chicago at least 2 extra outs through errors and/or missed catches.

Grady leading off game 4 of the ALDS with a home run.

I'll never forget that game.

Casey Blake against the Tigers all year

Victor with his arms around CC and Grady in the dugout at the All-Star game

Here it is for old time's sake.

Kinda eerie how many of those have come to fruition after the fact. My favourites are the Indians guy citing loyalty (so true), the Yanks guy at the end "Doing. What it takes. To win." (too perfect), and to break my heart the Sox jerks "Nevah evah giving up". We should've seen it coming. Lucky turds.

Garko's freak hit off of Seattle's RP White. Took a wicked hop and helped fuel a huge comeback that inning.

Sweeping the Tigers/Twins in the last series with them.

5 run comeback against Detroit.

Jobo's 5-out inning against Chicago.

Asdrubal tying up the game in the 9th against Detroit (?), when all looked lost up to that inning.

The Bad:

Hargrove getting the game cancelled.

Brandon Phillips destroying us in the regular season.

The depression of knowing Fausto was going back to the minors .. the elation when he came back a week later.

Ferd Cabrera completely unravelling.

Both Yankees series (although the first one hurt more).

Is his locker in Buffalo really cleaned out?!?!?

Thanks for starting this diary.  It's helped me remember what a fantastic season the Indians had.  There were so many magical moments!  It really helps lessen the sadness of the final three games.

Love Your Water.

Can anyone find a picture of that girl?

I think everything is covered.

Some things I'll not forget soon, though I'm not sure if they're good or bad.

The home games in Milwaukee.

Keith Foulke retiring and it not mattering.

Ryan Goleski earning his spot.

Ferd DFAing and then continuing to be Ferd.

Kabrera being Kabrera for about a week.

Nick Weglarz. Seriously people. Get on that Canadian bandwagon.

Vic's homerun in DC.

Hafner's magical April.

Cliff Lee's CG in Anaheim.

Yo bro, I need a little Laff in my life.

Fausto's complete game shutout in Minnesota, with 17 groundballs. This is when Fausto became Fausto for me.

The Hafner/Blake ST article.

Eduardo Perez working on BBTN. A half season later. Pfft.

Rafael Betancourt.

Rafael Betancourt.

Rafael Betancourt.

Matching mock turtlenecks for Manning and Underwood.

Grady's inside the park HR. My wife and I were there for that game and it was undescribable.

Tommy's call of the Posada strikeout.

STO running commercials featuring highlights fromt the season. That was a nice feature that went under appreciated.

The Hafner HR in Milwaukee.

The end of the season run. At no point did I doubt that this was the year. I loved listening to Cabrera emerge and Jhonny silence (most of) his critics. It was a great stretch run.

First, to plagiarize the ones I really agree with from above:
Torii Hunter talking about Fausto's stuff
Emergence of AsCab
Betancourt's entire year
Jhonny Peralta's Laser Eye Surgery Commercials (a LOL every time)
A-Rod and Jeter sucking
The Gnats
11th inning, Game 2, ALCS
Victor Martinez
Gutierrez's game saving catch, running into the wall in Cincinnati
Betancourt closing out the magic number.
Vic's All-Star game HR.
Grady on defense.
Grady during the pivotal inning of the Bug Game.
triple play
Shoppach throwing out Aybar at 3rd
Victor with his arms around CC and Grady in the dugout at the All-Star game

(i'm sure i missed some)
(whats the deal with Jensen Lewis and facebook?)

now my own:
Ben Francisco's walkoff homer
Westbrook after the all star break
Hammy on Mike Macdougal: "if you stood up there without a bat, he would walk you"
Grady's first two weeks of the season
Grady's defense, especially down by a ton in a blowout ALCS game
whooping Santana's ass
pics of jacobs field covered in snow
Mastny making the email I sent before he came in against BOS look ignorant
my sheer elation when Cliff Lee was sent to buffalo (and to a much lesser extent Sowers)
making Wang look like Carlos Silva

(again, sure that i forgot some)

As for favorite Tribe moments:

• Game 1 ALDS.  I'd never made it to an Indians playoff game before.  Had good seats, watched an amazing game.
  
• Shoppach walk-off
  
• Talking Tom Hamilton bobblehead is the best invention ever.
  
• Being there for Opening Day, freezing, watching the game in disbelief, especially when they called it with a freaking no-hitter going on.
  
• The sweep in Detroit (Lots of fans screaming at me as I walked in, none as I walked out.  Odd... Plus, had free seats in the first row behind the Indians dugout.  Fausto gave me a ball when he came off the field)
  
• The triple play.
  
• The emergence of Garko as a must-quote, namely his reaction to Matt Underwood trying to get philosophical ("Party on E. 6th tonight!  Ask for Josh Barfield!")
  
• Kenny's first few games back in Cleveland.
  
• Pronk in Minneapolis
  
• Torii Hunter's comments on Fausto
  

(1) Cleveland coming back from a 4-run deficit, twice, including 5 runs in the 9th to beat Detroit 12-11.
(2) Fausto outdueling Josh Beckett in a 1-0 win vs. Boston.
(3) Jhonny's 3-run HR to tie the game vs. Detroit in September.
(4) Blake's walkoff HR vs Detroit, his second walkoff in four days.
(5) Fausto striking out A-Rod 3 times in a playoff game.
(6) Joba Chamberlain being eaten alive.
(7) Pronk's 11th inning winner in ALDS Game 2.

I think I picked some good ones.

I forget the date, but it was the game against the Sox where Garko hit a game tying two-run homer in the 9th and then the game-winning bloop single in the 11th that scored Michaels from 2nd.

I remember three things distinctly from that game:

1. It was the first time I saw the "Rally Pie" and "Hells Bells" montages on the jumbotron.
   
2. Me jumping, screaming and taunting the tubby South Sider behind me that had been trash-talking all game after the Garksmash.
   
3. That was the first time I realized that if we get to the 9th and it's tied, we win because of our stellar relief corps.

We dominated an elite pitcher that, despite his record, was very much on his game throughout the year.

Next year I want to say the same thing about Josh Beckett.

Said Hafner: "In retrospect, it probably wasn't a pitch I should have swung at."

2.) I'd like to pick out a single moment from Fausto, but there are just too many.

3.) July 17, at the Jake.  Garko hits a walk-off single against Chicago in the 11th inning.  Not their best walk-off this season, but a personal favorite.

4.) Putting Detroit away in the final series and winning the division shortly after.

5.) Watching Cabrera play defense wearing number 13.

Kelly Shoppach putting his shoulder into the bunter, throwing to third to start a DP, and stifling a Detroit rally in the biggest regular season game of the year.  (Note to Boston fans:  This is what Fisk should have done in 1975.  So shut up.)

A beautiful moonlit night out here in the Arizona desert, sitting on the patio watching the Tribe and Tigers on mlb.tv, with the great Ernie Harwell sitting in on the Tigers' telecast.  When the topic of good control pitchers came up, Ernie  tossed out the name of Christy Mathewson.  Gawd, I love baseball.....

Can't wait till next Spring...

So, here are my favorite memories of this year (in order Of their appearance) ...

• Seeing C.C. pitch a full game against the A's on June 25 from killer seats behind the plate.

• That late-June/pre-Break blitz. This stretch of games and come-from-behind wins is what finally locked me in for the rest of the year.

• July 2. My first Carmona game at the Jake. Almost overshadowing the Icy Cold One is Rafael Perez being summoned into a bases-loaded-and-no-one-out situation not only getting all 3 outs, but not allowing a single runner to score whilst doing so.  Oh yeah ... Grady also belted a grand slam an inning or so later. Bonus.

• July 25. Fausto vs. Beckett in a 1-0 game (following a 0-1 loss the previous night). Probably my favorite regular season game of the year right there. Really, just about any time Carmona pitched was not to be missed: you were always wondering if this would be the night he'd pull off a no hitter (or perhaps something even better).

• July 16. Seeing Jensen Lewis pitch in his first major league appearance (a shootout against the White Sox).

• THA BEER GUY!!! He makes The Upper Deck Experience that much richer.

• July 27. Kenny comes home again and promptly reminds everyone how much we really missed him over the years. At the time, I was a bit apprehensive of this move remembering Lofton as a bit of a brooder and a possible disruptive influence on this group of guys. Now, I'm wishing he wasn't leaving again.

• That hilariously craptastic "Let's Go Tribe!" song. Like an unholy fusion of Toni Basil and Def Leppard.

• August 27. The Triple Play. We saw this at the game and I fairly rocketed out of my chair at the end. WOW. I still watch that clip every week or so.

• We got to the Jake early enough on 8/27 to catch the team taking batting practice. A whole bunch of kids around us were chirping "FAUSTO!! FAUSTO!!! FAUSTO!! FAUSTO!!" every single time Carmona had a ball in his hand as he paced deep in center field, chatting with another player. At one point, Fausto, without turning around, barked a faux-irritated "NO!" at one point to shut them up. That gave us a good laugh.

• Listening to ninth innings on the way home from work nearly every night and cracking up as Hammy riffed on such pitchers as Mike MacDougal: "You could stand at the plate without a bat and he'd walk you" and RP WHite: "He hasn't changed a bit!"

• September 2. The Jake was being buzzed by jets all afternoon, which was really about the only cool part of an otherwise gorgeous Sunday spent watching the Tribe getting completely wiped out by the freakin' ChiSox.

• C0mpl3+3l7 pwn1ng Johan Santana all year long.

• The statue of Bob Feller wearing the "IT'S TRIBE TIME NOW" t-shirt.

• September 17. Being at the Jake and watching Casey Blake bean walk-off homerun #2 of the weekend against Detroit. What a rush.

• September 23. Being at the AL-C clinching game. An equal dose of beauty, bedlam and nirvana.

• ALDS Game 2. Fausto 3-hits the Yankees, allowing one run. The last time we were to see him in regular season form, sadly. And, of course, the midges, if only for the sheer WTF factor of the whole incident. I listened to the radio broadcast of that game while at work and literally could not believe what I was hearing. What a remarkable, weird, uplifting comeback.

• Trot Nixon takes Roger Clemens deep in ALDS Game 3. Ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaa.

• Byrd in Game 4 of the ALDS. I was on the "oh shit pitch C.C." bandwagon and he proved me wrong. I just hope that the news that broke a week later won't end up staining this game in my memory.

• Torching the everf---ing Yankees.

• Hamilton on Pedroia: "A very easy player to dislike."

• The 10th and 11th innings of ALCS Game 2. The puppy took on the SUV and won.

• Kenny Lofton's home run off of Matsuzaka in Game 3.

• Rafael Betancourt for nearly the entire damn season, but he looked absolutely superhuman while he was systematically defanging Detroit, New York and Boston.

• Aaron Laffey's relief outing in Game 6 after Fausto and Perez went down the tubes. Ah, what if ...

• Jake Westbrook in ALCS Games 3 and (especially) 7: a true hero when we most needed one. Ah, what if ..., part 2.