Rolling along

In case you haven't noticed -- and judging by the attendance, you haven't -- the Indians have managed to win a few ballgames, and are threatening to climb out of the cellar.

Yes, that's Bob Uecker as Harry Doyle in "Major League," but it applies to the present situation as well. No, these Indians aren't going to climb over the whole division and win a one-game playoff against the Yankees, who aren't even in their division anymore, but they're riding a four-game winning streak right now, after last night's offensive explosion. They're not contenders, but there's a lot to like about this team.

Fausto was going along reasonably well last night against the Orioles, until Edward Mujica came in and threw gas on the fire. Mujica relieved Carmona with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh, and the Tribe up 7-4, and immediately gave up a three-run triple to tie it, then the run scored on a ground ball to give Baltimore the 8-7 lead. But these Indians weren't about to let that stand, putting up three in the bottom of the seventh and three more in the bottom of the eighth to win it 13-8. It's not every day you give up eight runs and still win.

Mujica, who gave up just the one run in two-thirds of an inning but allowed all three inherited runners to score, was awarded the win, and I think that's a mistake by the official scorer. Taken from the official rule book (found here on baseball-almanac.com):

(4) The winning relief pitcher shall be the one who is the pitcher of record when his team assumes the lead and maintains it to the finish of the game.

EXCEPTION: Do not credit a victory to a relief pitcher who is ineffective in a brief appearance, when a succeeding relief pitcher pitches effectively in helping his team maintain the lead. In such cases, credit the succeeding relief pitcher with the victory.

I don't know how anyone could claim that Mujica was not ineffective in a brief appearance. Brandon Donnelly, making his Indians debut, pitched a scoreless eighth to maintain the lead, and should have been given the win.

But ultimately, that's not very important. The important thing is, the Indians got 13 runs across on 13 hits, three of which left the yard. Asdrubal Cabrera hit his fourth of the year, and has hit much better since his remedial assignment in Buffalo. His season average of .211 is nothing to rave about, but keep in mind, he was hitting just .186 when he got sent down in early June. Ben Francisco's 12th of the year and Andy Gonzalez's first as an Indian (third of his career) both wrapped around the left-field foul pole in the eighth. Francisco, at .277/12/44, is having a pretty good year in just 318 at-bats, and he'll be 27 next year, which is the age at which most hitters peak. I look forward to seeing what he'll do.

And I missed mentioning this yesterday, but Cliff Lee is now 16-2 with a 2.45 ERA. SIXTEEN AND TWO. And the bullpen has blown three games in which Lee left with the lead. He could have had 19 wins in mid-August. He's probably got about nine starts left, and would appear to have a strong chance at winning 20.