Out of the cellar

Good old Mark DeRosa. His line-drive grand slam off Jamey Wright in the bottom of the seventh last night left the park in about three seconds, giving the Indians an 8-4 lead over Kansas City that would turn out to be the final score. I'm not much of a lip reader, but it looked like as DeRosa rounded first, he was shouting an expletive that rhymes with "duck," followed by "yeah." And who could blame him. The Indians' win earned them fourth place in the American League Central, as they traded places in the standings with these same Royals.

That was DeRosa's 10th home run of the year, tying him with Victor Martinez for the team lead; and gave him 42 RBIs on the season, tops on the Tribe. Not bad for a guy who can play any position on the diamond but pitcher and catcher — and I wouldn't be surprised if he's considered the emergency catcher in case Martinez and Kelly Shoppach are both hurt in the same game. At age 34, DeRosa is having a fine season, and seems a good bet to top his career high in home runs, which is the 21 he hit last year for the Cubs. So far, getting him for pitchers Jeff Stevens, Chris Archer and John Gaub — none of whom have reached the majors yet — looks pretty darned good. Of course, that'll change if one of those guys goes to a couple of All-Star games, but that's not particularly likely.

Last night's win came on a day Cliff Lee didn't pitch particularly well, giving up four runs on 11 hits in six innings. Two of those runs should never have scored, though. On Miguel Olivo's single to right in the top of the sixth, Mark Teahen beat Shin-Soo Choo's throw to third, and then slid off the bag before catching it again with his hand. Replays showed Jamie Carroll was tagging Teahen while he was off the bag. Third-base umpire Mike Reilly was looking right at it, but apparently wasn't looking hard enough. That would have been the third out of the inning, and the two runs that scored after that play would never have happened.

But the Tribe came back with four in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to some very generous defensive play by the Royals. On two separate occasions in that inning, throws pulled defenders off bags — and the Royals looked distinctly like a last-place team. Thanks to last night's result, that's just what they are.