Down To Two

Is it just me or is it becoming too easy? Once again your Cleveland Indians win at home and keep streaking towards the playoffs. Thanks to the long ball and the right arm of Fausto Carmona, the Tribe took down the A's 4-3 and moved their magic number down to two. Ryan Garko and Jhonny Peralta hit back to back solo pizza's in the sixth and Asrdubal Cabrera followed with a sac fly which proved to be the difference in the one run win.

Pitching for the first time in six days, Raffy Perez didn't have it. He allowed his first two extra base hits to left-handed batters all year. Daric Barton hit a one out double off the wall in right and the infamous Jack Cust crushed a two run pizza over the high wall in left. It was Cust's sixth homer off the Tribe in eight games this year. He also has 17 RBI. He is Russell "The Love Muscle" Branyan redux. He stepped back up with the tying run on first and two outs in the ninth. I was sweating bullets - It was mostly because I had just spent the last three innings on the treadmill. Joe Borowski struck him out to polish off the A's for his league-leading 43rd save. I still cannot believe JoBo has 43 saves.

The Indians are now 13-2 in their last 15 home games and 22-5 in their last 27. Since moving Grady Sizemore back to the leadoff spot and starting AC as the regular second basemen, the Tribe is 25-8. They went from a one game lead to a seven and a half game lead. Its a beautiful thing all the way around. I don't know how many more bouquets I can throw at them. My most important issue now becomes how to split my playoff tickets with my group.

The clincher could come as early as tomorrow if the Tribe wins and the Tigers lose to Kansas City. The Browns go to Oakland's Black Hole to visit the Raiders. The Cavaliers still don't have a point guard. Should be a solid sports weekend in C-Town. Tomorrow if the mood strikes me, I'll give you an update on the KU basketball offseason and recruiting targets.