Player of the Game
Without a doubt, the player of tonight’s game is Jose Ramirez. The stunner took hold of the game the way he has done it all season long. He went 2 for 4 with 4 RBI and 4 runs with only a single player left on base. In the bottom of the 4th inning, with Mike Napoli on first and one out, J-Ram hit out of the park to right and tied the game up at two with a single swing. As if the two-run homer wasn’t enough, Ramirez doubled in the bottom of the 6th, putting the Tribe up to a comfortable 5 run lead over the Chisox, at 9-4.
Over the course of the season, JRam has become a staple in this teams batting order, something almost no one saw coming before the year began, and time after time, just like tonight, has done nothing but prove himself and his worth to this team. For this reason, he’s my player of the game, and maybe even in the long run, would be my player of the year as well.
Feathers Up
The Indians offense has come to play this final home stand, and their bats continue to heat up for the crisp games in October.
Leading off, Carlos Santana went 3 for 4 with 2 runs, and clean up Mike Napoli and LF Coco Crisp both did the same going 3 for 4. Napoli got in 2 RBIs and 3 runs off of three singles, while Crisp had a two out, two-run double in the 5th and a single in the 6th, both had 1 LOB a piece.
Jose Ramirez teed off tonight, hitting a two-run shot to right in the 4th inning, and getting 4 of the Indians runs tonight. The one other run for the Indians came in the bottom of the fifth by Francisco Lindor, who hit a sac fly out o right and scored Santana.
A nod to the bats, and this might just be me, was when Chicago pulled their starter Miguel Gonzalez, in the 5th, after hitting Jason Kipnis, throwing a wild pitch, and giving up two singles with no outs.
Feathers Down
In a game where the Indians scored 10 runs on 13 hits, it’s hard for me to find anything worth considering “feathers down.” The only thing that comes to mind is that Trevor Bauer gave up a couple of home runs, but aside from those in the 1st and 5th innings, Bauer was as good as we’ve seen him. This team is in a mindset of playing fall ball and they’re playing like it in all aspects of the game, and tonight has been a sample of that with a big 10 run pay off.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 10 – Chicago White Sox 4
Scoreboard Watch:
The Indians magic number continues to fall, but there are still teams who need to be watched. The Detroit Tigers, whose elimination number sits at three games, currently lead the Kansas City Royals 8-1 and right now have possession of the second AL Wild Card spot. Another team to pay attention to is the Texas Rangers, who hold the first place spot atop the AL West, but are now tied for home field advantage with the Tribe at 90-63. The Rangers and Oakland Athletics are still early in their game with no score.
On Deck:
Tomorrow night, the Indians and the Pale-hose face off at Progressive Field with a 7:10 first pitch. For the first time in a long time, we will see RHP Cody Anderson start for the Tribe against Chicago’s Jose Quintana, who’s 12-11 with a 3.26 ERA. With only TWO home games left in the regular season, and their home field game play at it’s best, this should be a solid game to see.
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