6/15 Game Recap: Tribe 6 – Tigers 4

Player of the Game

Orlando Cabrera took home his fourth ‘Player of the Game’ trophy and his first since April. Maybe having a day off every four games or so will do him good. At his age, platooning with Cord Phelps might be a good thing for the Tribe. Not because Phelps necessarily adds value to the team, but Cabrera could be a better player with an occasional day off. His final ‘POG’ score was 4.45.

Feathers Up

Everybody in the lineup had a hit, except Michael Brantley! Reminded me of April! Most importantly, they scored six runs on the night without hitting a single homerun. Can you say slump-buster?

Orlando Cabrera went 3-4 with two RBI’s. His three hits came in very important spots tonight; he singled in a run in the fourth and doubled in one in the fifth, breaking a 4-4 tie.

Fausto Carmona through five strong innings but the reason why chief wahoo has a feather up in his direction tonight is because of what will not show up in the box score; he battled through a shakey first inning, when he gave up a solo home-run to Brennan Boesch and a two-RBI single to Alex Avila. Fans are used to Carmona completely falling apart after a rough inning. But this time he battled, kept throwing his sinker and emotions in check, performed well for the next four innings to provide what could be his most important performance of the season thus far.

Shin-Soo Choo started swinging the bat well again tonight. Although the box score will only show two hits tonight, he hit the ball hard in four plate appearances. He also walked once.

How ’bout that bullpen! Once again, they held the lead late in the game against a very good Detroit lineup. Rafael Perez, Vinne Pestano, Tony Sipp and Chris Perez did not allow a hit in four innings of work. Each pitcher had at least one strike-out (C. Perez had two).

Feathers Down

Carmona had such a good day, he shall be mentioned twice! He did not have good command in the first inning. He worked from behind to most of the hitters and seemed to be “out of it” at times.

FINAL: TRIBE   6

           TIGERS 4