Boy, we did some run scoring!

Sure did, and it was right from the get-go.

Frankie Busts Out: And it came just when you thought, well another opportunity squandered.

Buehrle wasn’t gonna let the Indians screw it up though. With two outs he just kept walking people and giving the Tribe a shot to knock him out.

Guits had the big slam in the first and there really wasn’t much looking back.

See, in previous nights, when we don’t score, I highlight a player or two that did good.

Now… I can just run down the lineup and all the contributions.

Gutierrez obviously knocked in half the runs with the slammage. Garko went 1-3 with a nice RBI double that he took the other way. That was a Shark Double we are used to seeing, so it’s a real good sign.

Francisco had the other official RBI with the sac fly in the first.

The other runs were scored in the sixth in some more unorthodox methods.

The first was a error by Paul Konerko, where Jamey Carroll seemingly grounded out to end the inning. A run scored on the play and it was more of that taking advantage of the chances the White Sox gave them.

The next run came on a TRIPLE STEAL.

Yes.. You’ve heard double steal before, but never Triple. In an oddity of a play, Chicago funky-armer Ehren Wassermann got ready to throw to Francisco with 2 out and a 3-2 count.

Then all of a sudden he threw to first. It very well could have been a balk, that is a sort of cheap move on his part. Just throw to home, you know they are off and running with the pitch.

The White Sox would pay for getting cute. Konerko instead of chasing down Carroll and letting Dellucci score on the play threw to home to get Dellucci as a dead duck, but catcher Toby Hall dropped the ball, and everybody was safe.

Yes, stolen bases all around, Dellucci steals home and Ehern Wasserman looks real dumb.

Side Note.. Andy Marte hit a double and got a standing ovation. I too stood up and clapped. It almost went out, but I’ll settle for big double off the wall.

Hitting is contagious.

Laffey the Magician: He wasn’t the joker tonight, but rather a worker of magic.

He caught a break with one unearned run early. A error by Cabrera(but not his fault, Garko got blinded by the sun), let the White Sox get a few hits together to score some runs.

Laffey had a lot of defensive let downs though, but he managed to pick his teammates up. He did walk 2 and give up 7 hits, so he had guys on base a lot. He did a great job of getting out of jams with the pop up though.

That ERA keeps getting prettier. It’s now down to 1.59 and Laffey is putting together one hell of a fill in campaign. He exactly been Fausto like… But he is doing the same thing Carmona did last year.

Tomorrow Jake Westbrook returns from the DL to face one of the breakout youngsters for the White Sox, Gavin Floyd.

[BOXSCORE]

News and Notes: Miller on DL; Two Signed

So the Indians made a few moves today..

• Jorge Velandia and Todd Linden signed to minor league deals.

Velandia got a call up with the Blue Jays this year after they lost John McDonald and David Eckstein to injuries. He pretty much sucks with the bat.

Linden was with the A’s this year in Triple A. He has a little better bat than Velandia.

Both are on their way to Buffalo.

• Adam Miller is back on the DL…

Not good.. More finger trouble on his pitching hand. This is sort of Josh Beckett like blisters the fire baller is getting. We are gonna have to keep waiting and waiting to see if this kid can put together a healthy stretch of baseball.

Also Wedge is having trouble filling in the 2 and 5 spots on his roster. That’s been the two most prominent spots that he is having issues finding some consistency in. The 5th spot is one of the worst in the leagues in terms of production.

• Hafner was held out of the lineup on Monday because of shoulder soreness..

He is also getting a little angry, heres a quote from a story yesterday int he Plain Dealer.

“Anger? Yeah, there is some anger with ourselves,” said Hafner, whose offensive struggles (.217) have been well-chronicled. “Today was one we had to win, the way C.C. [Sabathia] and the bullpen pitched.

“You have to make your own breaks. The bottom line is we have to put up more consistent at-bats. Then you don’t have to look at one or two plays.” (Plain Dealer)

Let’s see if that anger starts to show.

Here We Go Again

Yeah that was interesting.

Two Straight Extra Innings Losses: Finding new ways to lose is always the name of the game.

The Pirates call themselves the Buccos.. Sometimes they say Yucko Baseball..

Well the Indians are playing Yucko Baseball.

So, another decent pitching performance thrown away by lack of run support.

The Indians found more ways to leave guys on base.. 26 this time..

The biggest at-bat to me was in the bottom of 8th… Asdrubal Cabrera up with guys on 2nd and 3rd with one out.

Strikeout.

Asdrubal is getting really hard to watch up there. He made another spectacular defensive play. But he is hitting .182 and not doing a good job of situational hitting. Just striking out, not putting the ball in play, taking good pitches to hit.

Just awful baseball… He needs to be sent down. I know the defense is great, but Barfield is no stiff and the hitting is just too unbearable to suffer through.

Also..

Michael Aubrey.. I love the guy and his potential, but he still needs AAA Seasoning.. The three starts in a row over Garko is unacceptable. Maybe it will get Garko going, but you need to get him back in there.

Credit to the back end of the pen for stretching it out as long as they did.

Discredit Scott Elarton for sucking.. So much for that “hot hand” thing…

Jhonny Peralta might be heating up a little bit with the home runs. I’ll take any offense, but just about all but 2 or 3 of his jacks have been solo shots. He only has 7 more RBI than he has homers.

Today… Another rematch, between Aaron Laffey and Mark Buehrle.

[BOXSCORE]