Indians are cooking with gas

I don't know who those guys were wearing Indians uniforms at Target Field in Minnesota yesterday, but they sure didn't very much resemble the Cleveland Indians we've been watching all year. Not only did the Tribe put up double digits in the runs column, but they pounded out 20 hits, a season-high. And by going 5-0 out of the gate in the second half of the season, these terrible 2010 Tribesmen set a new club record. Who could have predicted that?

Trevor Crowe, who's hitting just .261 with just one single home run in 231 at-bats at the big-league level this year, had the game of his life last night, going 4-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. I don't know quite what the Indians expect of the 26-year-old Crowe, but based on what we've seen so far, this game might be the highlight of his career. Sorry, but he's just not that good; still, he should feel good about that performance last night.

Jayson Nix, who's so good the White Sox cut him in mid-season, had three hits. In fairness to Nix, he's been hitting a lot better since joining the Tribe on June 25. He's still hitting .227 for the season, but that's up from .163 when he came over; and he's hit six of his seven long balls this season in a Cleveland uniform.

Aaron Laffey got the win. He did labor through his five innings of work, but nonetheless held the Twins to one unearned run on five hits and four walks, striking out just two. The Twins had at least one runner on base all five of Laffey's innings, and loaded them in the fourth, when they got that unearned run on a passed ball by Carlos Santana. But the bottom line is he only gave up that one run, and got the win.

Justin Masterson takes the mound for the Tribe tonight against the Twins' Kevin Slowey. Let's see if they can keep it going. We still have a chance at an undefeated second half. That'd be awesome.