And hey, how about that Valbuena?

As soon as the ball came off Luis Valbuena's bat in the bottom of the 11th of last night's game against the Mariners, I knew it was gone. The only question was whether it would stay fair. Of course, it did, giving the Indians a 4-3 walk-off win. It was the first walk-off home run Valbuena had ever hit as a pro, and you could see how excited he was as he tossed aside his helmet between third and home so his jubilant teammates could beat him up once he touched the plate.

Valbuena's long ball was the lead story, but the secondary story was another impressive start from Aaron Laffey. Laffey gave up three runs in the top of the first, and then settled down to put up zeroes the rest of the way. I've said it before, but Laffey is an ace in the making. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find him in the 2010 All-Star Game, and maybe making a run at a Cy Young in a couple of years.

And the bullpen came through too, as Chris Perez, Kerry Wood, Tony Sipp, Joe Smith and Rafael Perez put up four more zeroes to hold the Mariners off long enough for Valbuena to end it. Rafael Perez, in particular, has been pitching much better lately, after getting off to a terrible start this season. He had a couple of bad outings after being recalled from Columbus in early April, but has been rock-solid since then, giving up nothing over his last five outings, and getting the win last night.