While everyone else was distracted by the exploits of Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt (whose name sounds like a Dickens villain, doesn’t it?) and the underage Chinese gymnasts, the Indians have been quietly salvaging something from this lost season.
The AL Central standings on August 8, Opening Day of the Olympics:
| CENTRAL | W | L | PCT | GB | HOME | ROAD | RS | RA | DIFF | STRK | L10 |
| Chicago Sox | 64 | 50 | .561 | - | 38-17 | 26-33 | 573 | 505 | +68 | Won 1 | 5-5 |
| Minnesota | 64 | 51 | .557 | .5 | 39-21 | 25-30 | 571 | 537 | +34 | Won 2 | 6-4 |
| Detroit | 56 | 59 | .487 | 8.5 | 29-23 | 27-36 | 579 | 564 | +15 | Lost 1 | 3-7 |
| Kansas City | 53 | 63 | .457 | 12 | 27-33 | 26-30 | 488 | 565 | -77 | Lost 3 | 6-4 |
| Cleveland | 50 | 64 | .439 | 14 | 29-26 | 21-38 | 532 | 531 | +1 | Won 1 | 4-6 |
Our Indians were in last place, 2 games behind the KC Royals. Flash forward to this morning’s standings:
| CENTRAL | W | L | PCT | GB | HOME | ROAD | RS | RA | DIFF | STRK | L10 |
| Chicago Sox | 74 | 55 | .574 | - | 46-21 | 28-34 | 669 | 558 | +111 | Won 1 | 7-3 |
| Minnesota | 74 | 56 | .569 | .5 | 46-23 | 28-33 | 660 | 592 | +68 | Lost 2 | 7-3 |
| Detroit | 64 | 66 | .492 | 10.5 | 33-28 | 31-38 | 655 | 644 | +11 | Lost 1 | 6-4 |
| Cleveland | 62 | 67 | .481 | 12 | 36-29 | 26-38 | 623 | 599 | +24 | Won 7 | 8-2 |
| Kansas City | 56 | 74 | .431 | 18.5 | 29-36 | 27-38 | 532 | 657 | -125 | Won 1 | 2-8 |
Since August 8, the Indians have won 12 of 15, including the last 7, finishing up a sweep of Texas with 2 8th-inning victory rallies in the last two evenings. And so, the Indians are on a roll heading into Detroit for Beat Michigan Week with a chance to knock the Motor City Kitties out of third place with a sweep.Â
Some quick hits:
- Fausto is starting to look more like 2007 Fausto with each game. He walked “only” 3 batters in 6 innings against Texas and left with a 5-1 lead in Game 1 before Raffy Perez turned in an uncharacteristic bad outing after Wedge left him out for a second inning of work.Â
- The Indians showed some late-inning rally ability that had not heretofore been present, tacking on critical runs in the 8th or 9th inning in all three games. Saturday, the Indians came back from a 7-1 hole after 4 with 6 runs in the 5th and the go-ahead run in the 8th. Sunday, the Indians needlessly squandered a 3-1 lead by putting in Juan Rincon and then manufactured a run in the 8th on a Garko single, a sacrifice bunt and a seeing eye single up the middle from Franklin Gutierrez.
- Garko’s August line: .321Â / .368Â / .462Â
- Gutierrez’ August line:.328Â / .377Â / .578Â
- Dellucci’s August line: .362Â / .455Â / .638
- Choo’s August line: .277Â / .373 / .523Â
The bad news is that in tonight’s game, the Tribe throws Zach Jackson (“Zachson”), from the CC deal against Armando Galarraga, who has pwned the Tribe so far this year.   The Tribe is 5-7 versus the MCK this year, and Galarraga is 3-0, with a 3.57 ERA and a 0.79 WHIP in 17 innings. The Indians are batting .159 against him. The streak most likely ends at 7 tonight, but anything can happen during Beat Michigan Week.
I don’t know about you, but it would give me great satisfaction if the kids that are wearing the Cleveland jerseys would overtake the rapidly aging oldsters of the MCK for third place before the end of the season. Beating Galarraga would be an excellent first step in making that happen.Â
The Browns, on the other hand, clearly have no idea how to Beat Michigan.
