Almost/Terrible Ways To Lose a Ballgame, Part IV

I had planned, at the beginning of the season, to write a hopeful blurb about Cliff Lee. Last season, of course, he seemed to have an aversion to pitching in the seventh innings of games — so strong an aversion, in fact, that he consistently went out of his way to pitch horribly in the sixth inning of his starts. He'd roll through the early innings, look strong, then in the sixth inning, carnage.

My hope was that Lee had worked it out. One explanation I had read about Lee was that he wasn't getting the late movement on his pitches last year, that players were able to get a piece of him and foul him off repeatedly. This would drive up his pitch count, and the chickens would come home to roost in around the sixth inning. The fact that someone seemed to have an idea about why this was happening was, to me, encouraging.

It was also encouraging that Lee suffered the same spring-training strained oblique that heralded C.C.'s rise as a Number One Starter exactly a year ago.

Needless to say, I was really encouraged when Cliffie came off the DL and shut down the Angels in a complete game victory. Since then, though, Lee has has his ups and downs,

which brings us to the sixth inning of last night's ballgame. The wheels came off in classic Sixth Inning Style for Lee, and just to make sure the game went completely out of reach, Fernando "Three Mile" Cabrera came in an added his own meltdown. By the time rookie Jensen Lewis came in to record the inning's third out (and his first as a major leaguer — congrats to Jensen Lewis!), we were down 11-2. (The game was tied 2-2 when the inning started.)

It is worth noting that this is the same White Sox team that has scored the fewest runs in the American League this year.

During the middle of the sixth I told myself — grimly — that the Indians would lose this game 11-8. Turns out I wasn't far off — the Tribe did me two runs better, pulling to within 11-10 before Josh Barfield popped out to AJ Pierzynski to end the ninth, with a runner on second. From what I hear, Ass Jerk Pierzynski snarked at the Indians dugout after catching the ball — you know, because Sox won so decisively.

Lee, Cabrera, and Barfield are surely the game's goats — the pitchers for obvious reasons, and Barfield for his o-fer at the plate. It's one thing to go hitless when the team loses, but a first-pitch check-swing groundout with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 8th is inexcusable. The pop-up came off Bobby Jenks, who seemed to bring his A-game last night — but as Hegan noted in the broadcast, this was Barfield's chance for redemption, and he came up about 400 feet short.

Bright spots: these no-quit Indians don't, well, quit. Last night's gutty performance affirms the wisdom the front office's decision to extend Eric Wedge's contract earlier in the day. Jensen Lewis walked a few batters but recorded four outs, three by strikeout. Rafael Perez struck out the side in the top of the ninth. Looks like we've found ourselves a lefty reliever to complement Fultz if/when he gets back. I feel like — dare I even write it? — Hafner's pulling out of his slump. Sizemore climbed the wall in left center to steal at least a double from Paul Konerko. Replays seemed to confirm that Grady actually played it off the wall, but I say bright spot because it was still an amazing play — and also because it demonstrates that the Indians can actually get a break from the umpires at least once a year.

Finally, deserving his own paragraph, Franklin Gutierrez. All he did yesterday (to borrow an idiom from Hammy) was go 4 for 5, homer, double, and steal two bases. The second steal got him in scoring position with two down in the ninth: that's a big-time stolen base.

The starting pitching has been very inconsistent over the last two weeks, and we've been muddling through as a result. C.C. and the Boys need to pull it together real quick. We should be doing better than 2-2 at home after the break.

Hafner Extended!

Pronk and the Indians agreed this week on a 4-year, $57 million contract extension that (barring trade) will keep him with the team until 2012. Some of the total contract amount will be added to Travis's 2007 and 2008 salaries under his current contract. So it's not strictly a $14.5 million-per-year deal — especially given that Hafner is way underpaid right now.

In the end, a very good deal, I think. I'm a bit unsettled, based on how he has performed this year. The Indians surely would be snookered if the Pronk Of Old never resurfaces. But really, Travis's track record speaks for itself, and two months of subpar performance at the plate don't really read like a trend when you look at his overall body of work.

Putting aside the obvious benefit of keeping a great hitter and an all-around good guy in the fold for five more years, the deal sends some messages:

First, it tells Hafner that, whatever adversity he has faced in this first half, the Indians stand behind him and believe he is a preeminent hitting talent substantially equivalent in value to David Ortiz.

Second, it tells the fan base that the team is committed to keeping these players around. So many of my friends and family who leaved and breathed Indians baseball in the '90s can't seem to reawaken their interest. When I ask them why they're not buying in, they don't deny that the team is good, or that the front office has hit upon a winning formula. Their beef is that players come and go, and before you know it, it's 25 strangers populating the clubhouse. But we've got some terrific players and human beings on this team right now — and they look to be around for years to come.

This is Tribe Juggernaut 2.0, people. Jump on the bandwagon, everybody! And Mr. Hafner, you are charged with leading us deep into the playoffs.