American League, say hello to your Cy Young. His name is CC Sabathia. With his 18th win today, CC has his career high in wins. With 7 Ks, in 7 innings of work with again, only 2 ER, CC continues to make a stellar case for the AL Cy Young. If he doesn’t win, it will show how bias the media is towards NY, LA, and Boston. Enough said there. CC continues to dominate and when he pitches, its almost a guaranteed win for the Tribe. That kind of performance only comes from a Cy Young winner.

Another great performance by the mighty Casey with his 3 HR in 5 games. He continues to be a morale booster for the Tribe, in and out of the clubhouse. He’s the leader the Tribe needs, not Trot Nixon. Again, enough said there.

But the one thing I really like about this victory, though, was the way the Tribe was able to string hits together. We were able to come through with the big hits when Michaels, Gutierrez, and Cabrera came through for us with big hits. Those are the kind of drives that win post season ballgames, not the long ball. This was a very positive win for the Tribe, if only for the fact they were able to make contact with the ball when it really counted.

The magic number is 3. Oh my, is that a good sound to my ears. The Indians would have to really screw up to miss the playoffs now. I’d like to see the sweep of Oakland to ensure we win this weekend in case Detroit starts winning, but it’s all but over for the Tigers now. With 9 games left, if we lost them all, Detroit would have to go 7-2 to force a tie. That’s all but impossible now. And with that, go Tribe!

The bottom line is, the Tribe won tonight 7-4 and the magic number is 5. But when one looks deeper into how the Tribe won tonight, there’s a troubling conclusion; this team relies heavily on the long ball. This team will not go far in the post season if they continue to play this way. Let’s look at the box score for a second. The Indians had 6 hits versus the Tigers 12. Honestly, the Indians should not have won this ball game. Sure, Hafner’s HR was devastating, but lets face the facts, the Indians cannot bat in clutch situations without the long ball. In yesterday’s game, for example, the Tribe would have lost, badly, if it hadn’t been for Peralta and Blake. And let’s face it with “Jah-hon-ey”, the man is all or nothing. Peralta swings for the fence, or he strikes out. Plus, his defense is awful. I see value in moving him over to 3B next year, Asdrubal to SS, and hopefully, a better hitting Barfield to 2B. Then using Blake as a utility man. The point is, though, as much as I love seeing the Tribe hit the long ball, it’s not going to win post season ball games. Even though the Tigers sent out their best in Verlander, pitchers such as Josh Beckett, Wang, and Lackey will not give the Tribe opportunities to hit the ball yard often. That goes for the Angels, Yankees, and Red Sox bullpen as well. The Indians are not going to see a wild Joel Zumeya every night either. The Indians need to learn to execute with men in scoring position with base hits, or face doom in the first round.

Speaking of position changes, though, I’d love to see Franklin Gutierrez and Ben Francisco start in the corner outfielder positions. As much as Cleveland loves Kenny Lofton, he’s 40 years old. He’s had a very productive year, but there’s not much value in him after that. He’s old, he isn’t going to last much longer, and there is no point in giving him a contract. Same goes with Trot Nixon. As much as my father loves Trot, if only just to spite me, he is a bum. He’s had zero production this year. About the only amount of production he’s had, is the number of pies he’s made. I hope he’s gone next season. Jason Michaels, though, would be a key to a 2008 run. I’d like to see Wedge continue to platoon him with Gutierrez and Francisco. Michaels has been doing well this year and I think he’d have an even more productive year if given a few more at bats.

The key to the Tribe’s success this year, though, is without a doubt the dynamic impact of its rookies. I’ve already mentioned how much in previous posts Asdrubal Cabrera and Franklin Guiterrez have stepped it up for the Tribe. Tonight was the night, though, for Jenson Lewis to shine. He threw three innings of scoreless baseball and got his first MLB win tonight. He has undoubtedly, took the pressure off of Raphie 1 and 2 to perform. He’s been a surprise miracle in the Tribe pen for the past month and will definitely lead the Tribe to good places.

Speaking of the Tribe pen, I tip my hat to Joe Borowski tonight. He picked up his 41st save tonight and leads the AL in saves. The press continues to bash Borowski about his ERA, but he steps it up when it counts. He’s had a career year and is a major reason why the Indians magic number is 5.

Tomorrow, CC Sabathia faces the Tigers in the series finale as the Tribe goes for the sweep. With Cy Young on the radar, lets hope Sabathia can pick up win #18 and the Tribe can sweep the Tigers, reduce the magic number to 3, and pick up a 7.5 game lead on the Tigers. On that note, the Tribe is a half a game behind the Red Sox for the best record in MLB. Let’s go Tribe!

When Jhonny hits them, he certainly hits them. Tonight was no exception to the rule. I know in my previous blog, I wanted him to start playing small ball and just make some contact to avoid striking out so often. Well, he must have only read the part about not striking out as he walked 3 times. The other two times he was up, he took the ball deep when the Indians desperately needed it. I give credit where credit is due— Peralta ****** the life out of the Tigers. He stepped it up big tonight, just as I asked. Now, if only we could get Sizemore to step it up, the Indians would be unstoppable.

Poor Byrdie, though. Didn’t have his stuff quite together as we’ve come to expect from him this year. That being said, though, he still gave us 7.1 quality innings and kept us in the ballgame. I was impressed with the performance of Aaron Fultz tonight, though. He pitched a scoreless .2 innings of baseball. Though I am a little shaky about putting him on the playoff roster, if we get there, but he was critical tonight. Same goes for Borowski (who’s continuously underrated, but continues to be clutch), and Bentancourt, the best reliever in the AL, if not MLB. Him and Perez have been lights out this year, and a key to the Tribe’s run.

Another stellar performance by my man, Asdrubal Cabrera tonight. His triple in the first inning was awesome. The kid is starting to get pitchers to be afraid of him. I think Miner gave him a free pass in the 10th intentionally because everyone is starting to realize that this kid can hit. He’s going to be a major force in the playoffs if the Tribe makes it.

And lastly, the Mighty Casey went yard tonight for his 2nd walkoff homerun in 4 games. Blake said that his homeruns come in spurts, and what a critical time for them to come. Way to go, Casey! Another pie from Trot for you tonight.

Magic number is 7, Tribe fans. Final score, 6-5. Indians are 88-62. We’re 1.5 behind the Red Sox for the best record in MLB. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were first and got to have a 8 day ALDS. Imagine having CC and Carmona pitch possibly 4 times out of a 5 game set. Oh man, I’m getting ahead of myself. Go Tribe!!!

Veterans Paul Byrd and Kenny Rogers square off tonight in this critical matchup against AL Central rivals, the Indians and the Tigers. With Detroit stacking its best starters against the Tribe in this three game set, it is critical the Indians bats wake up. Two out of three games feature 15+ game winners, Paul Byrd and CC Sabathia. The other game features the now struggling Jake Westbrook. Westbrook recently came off of a season long start and has been logging in some quality starts since early Aug. Lately, though, in the past few starts Jake has been leaving some of pitches up in the zone. Westbrook is a typical ground ball pitcher. If he can locate his pitches and get them on the ground, he can keep his pitch count down, induce many double plays, and stay in the game long. If he misses his locations, the ball usually leaves the ballpark. That’s been a problem for Jake all year. This past month, I thought he finally found his control again. His last start versus the White Sox on Sept. 12th he gave up 4 ER in 6 IP. On Sept. 2nd versus the White Sox again, he gave up 4 runs (3 earned) in 5 IP as the Indians lost 8-0. His start versus the Angels on Sept 7th was quality, where he went 7.2 innings giving up 2 ER, but the Indians still lost 3-2. The point is, though, Jake is still struggling. He needs to step it up on Tuesday in order for the Indians to win the Central Division.

With the Tigers gaining a game on the Tribe with yesterday’s loss against KC and Det winning against the Twins, this series becomes all the more important. Pitching alone will not win the series, though. Tribe starters, with the exception of Laffey’s start yesterday, have been quality over the past few weeks, probably since the All Star Break. One key to the Tribe winning this series is if Grady Sizemore and Jhonny Peralta step it up. Both are among the league leaders in strikeouts. Sizemore is 2nd in the AL with 144 and Peralta is 5th with 137. That’s too many wasted at bats and opportunities. They need to start making contact with the ball, and especially with Peralta, stop trying to swing towards the fence. Little ball wins ballgames, and Peralta needs to realize that as he matures as a player. Hopefully, he’ll think about that a little entering this critical stretch run.