What's better than sweeping the Tigers? How about sweeping the Tigers in back-to-back series! What's better than sweeping the Tigers twice? Only thing that could be better than that is the new Captain America movie. Can it just be evening already? Ahem, anyway... things are finally looking up for the ol' Tribe, but now the real test begins: The defending World Champs come to town tonight. Time to stomp some Royal behind!
Indians 9, Tigers 4
Trevor Bauer pitched a decent game, giving up three runs and getting picked up by a solid bullpen performance. Oh, and we scored a buttload of runs, too. Mike Napoli provided the big stick early on and, to a lesser extent, so did Chris Gimenez. Sweep x2!
Indians news & notes
The case for Francisco Lindor as baseball's best shortstop | Fangraphs - Carlos Correa had the hype and came into the league with the performance to back it up. Some are calling him a clear MVP candidate before the season even started, based on his offensive prowess. But there's another young shortstop in the league whose offense is damn near as good as Correa's and whose defense is far beyond Correa's league. That guy wears a block C on his cap, not and H. Well, except for when he's wearing an H on his cap.
Carlos Santana getting comfortable at the top of Indians' lineup | Cleveland.com - Carlos Santana has been a good soldier for the Indians, and this move to the top of the order is just the latest experiment. But hey, it's no "Santana at third base" experiment, and Santana seems to be settling in quite nicely.
Indians, Perez opt for surgery on right thumb | Indians.com - Not great news for the Tribe's backup backstop, but the slightly good news is that the surgery might not change Perez' timetable for return.
Uribe not having the slow start his numbers imply | Did The Tribe Win Last Night? - The numbers don't bare it out, but DTTWLN's Bob Toth thinks Juan Uribe is turning it around. The key to success, he thinks, might be mixing in regular days of rest which should be easier now that Michael Brantley and Lonnie Chisenhall are back from the DL.
News from around the league
- The big news of the day is that MLB is likely to cancel the schedule Pirates-Marlins series in Puerto Rico due to zika virus scares; Puerto Rico is calling it an act of "touristic terrorism"
- Fangraphs worries Mariners fans by starting to worry a bit about Felix Hernandez' velocity
- Carlos Gomez has been bad, but doesn't deserve full blame for the Astros' struggles
- The Twins' owner has given GM Terry Ryan and manager Paul Molitor a vote of confidence despite their 8-20 record
- Super cool and hip Cubs manager Joe Maddon is the latest enemy of bat flipping