On Corey Kluber

Anybody who thinks Corey Kluber isn't the pitcher he was last year should have watched tonight's game against the Twins. The dude pitched a complete-game one-hitter on just 98 pitches, striking out seven. The one hit was a home run, so no shutout, but yeesh, that dude is really something. I would even go so far as to say I think he's the best Indians pitcher I've had the pleasure to watch. And he didn't even make the All-Star Game this year. Tut, tut.

In case you're wondering, the best Indians hitter I've seen in my 44 years on this planet was, without question, Manny Ramirez. No, he wasn't the best all-around player, but he was the best pure hitter.

But speaking of offense, the Tribe entered tonight's game having scored 461 runs in 114 games. That includes their recent offensive explosion, upon which I'm about to expand, but in any case, that's an average of 4.04 runs per game on the season. They've routinely had runners on base and been unable to score any of them; every Tribe fan knows all about that. But here's the Indians' runs scored over the last seven games: 9, 17, 8, 5, 2, 6, 6. That's an average of 7.57 runs per game. Obviously that 17-run outburst against the Twins a few days ago is an extreme aberration and skews that number upwards; nonetheless, the Indians have scored at least six runs in five of their last seven games.

That'll play, folks. That'll play.

And one other thing. There's a good deal of rambling in this post, and I've decided that's probably my new style. I hope you "enjoy" it.

(Putting "enjoy" in quotes is a reference to George Harrison and Monty Python. Google it if you don't believe me.)

ADDENDUM: My cursory Googling indicates Google doesn't help with that particular episode. Sorry to have misled you. But I'm not going to tell you the backstory, because I don't remember enough details even to fake it.

Thome to L.A.

Our old friend Jim Thome has been traded again. The White Sox sent him to the Dodgers to rejoin his former teammate Manny Ramirez. We all remember how devastating those guys were when hitting back-to-back in their 20s. Now they're both in their late 30s, and both can still hit the ball hard, if maybe not quite as often as they used to. It will be bittersweet to see them together again, wearing something other than Tribe unis.

But consider this: Unless Thome is ever hit with steroid allegations, he's a sure-fire Hall of Famer. He spent 12 years in Cleveland, three years in Philadelphia, and now 3 1/2 in Chicago. I don't know how long he'll be in L.A., but it won't be 12 years. He'll have Chief Wahoo on his Hall plaque.

I know, that doesn't change the fact that he left for more money after the 2002 season because the Phillies offered him more money, after saying he wanted to do whatever he could to stay in Cleveland. But as I said at the time (to friends; I didn't have a blog then), you and I would most likely have done the exact same thing.

Thome is currently 12th on the all-time home run list, with 564. Home run totals in this era don't mean as much as they used to, but if he's been clean his whole career, that's a very impressive total. Among those ahead of him are Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Alex Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro, all of whom are known to have taken performance-enhancing drugs. Manny is behind Thome on the career list, but his numbers carry that taint as well. The only other recent player ahead of Thome is Ken Griffey Jr. If both those guys are clean (which we don't know and may never), we probably have seriously undervalued their careers because of the era in which they played.

Regardless, I wish Thome well, and will always remember his time in Cleveland fondly. May he have success in Los Angeles.

Manny being chemically enhanced Manny

Turns out the best hitter I've ever seen in an Indians uniform hasn't been playing by the rules. I'm guessing anyone checking this blog right now has already heard, but Manny Ramirez has been suspended 50 games for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy. Reportedly, the drug he took was not a steroid, which raises two questions: What is it, and why is it banned by MLB? Manny says it was a drug a doctor prescribed, but it's the player's responsibility to know what drugs are banned. Raise your hand if you're surprised Manny spaced on that. (Put your hand down, you liar.)

The bigger question is what this will do to Manny's legacy. Based on his numbers, he's a sure-fire Hall-of-Famer if he retires today, but we all know that players of the last 20 years or so are not judged solely on their numbers. Mark McGwire is not within a sniff of the Hall, and we'll soon see players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens suffer similarly. I predict the latter two will eventually get in, but it will take them a long time if they do. If what Manny took was truly not a steroid, maybe it won't hurt him much, but I'm interested to see how this plays out.