The rest of the story

Since I already wrote about the fabulous game 1 of the Indians-Tigers series, I may as well give JHH the weekend off and finish it out.

The Tribe busted out the brooms for the second straight series, running their win streak to six and moving above .500 (78-77) for the first time since early May with a trio of weekend wins over the suddenly hapless Tigers. Game 1 is recapped in my previous article, so let's go to Saturday's contest.

Game two featured Jeremy Sowers against Detroit's Justin Verlander, who the Indians have owned this season. Tonight was no exception. Sowers struggled early, getting into james in the first and second frames but only surrendering a single run and cruising through the 3rd through 6th innings. The Indians scratched together single tallies in the 1st and 2nd - Jamey Carroll was hit with a pitch (Hey Shef, notice how he didn't attack anyone or yell or make an ass out of himself?) and later scored on a groundout, while Kelly Shoppach doubled and scored on a Verlander balk.

Shin-Soo Choo gave the Indians a bit of cushion with a two-run single in the 4th. Choo's OPS this month is 1.266. Wrap your brain around that. Curtis Granderson cut the lead to 4-3 with a two-run shot off of Rafael Perez in the 7th, but the Tribe answered right back on Asdrubal Cabrera's two-run single to extend the margin to 6-3. Jensen Lewis brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Magglio Ordoñez, but retired the Tiger slugger on a weak grounder to preserve the W.

Sunday's game, featuring a matchup between Dontrelle Willis and Indians rookie surprise Scott Lewis, was essentially decided in the first inning. The Tigers got two men in scoring position against Lewis, but Enemy of Society Gary Sheffield struck out to end the threat. I LOVED watching him walk back to the dugout as Indians fans stood and cheered. Beautiful, beautiful stuff. Then in the bottom half, Willis proved to be his own worst enemy, walking three batters and seeing them all come around on a three-run triple from Ryan Garko (yes, you read that right) that Ordoñez eventually got around to chasing. That was really it, though the two clubs played eight more innings just to keep up appearances.

The Tigers did get single runs in the 2nd and 3rd to close the gap, ending Lewis' career 15-inning scoreless streak. However, the Tribe once again came right back, putting across three in the 4th and two in the 5th to make it 8-2 and essentially erase all doubts. Andy Marte had a 2-run single in the 3rd, Cabrera added an RBI single later that ining, with the 5th inning runs arriving via Victor Martinez's RBI double and a Garko sac fly. The final score was 10-5; it is of little consequence how the other five runs came across. Look it up if you're that interested.

The Tribe look to close the season in style and continue their winning ways with a four-game set in Boston and a three-game series in Chicago to end the year. Boston's already secured a spot, but I'd love to see the Indians spoil Chicago's postseason aspirations. Go Tribe!