Tribe Watch (Week 9)

Record: 32-27

Standing: 2nd in AL Central (0.5 games back)

While far from a great week, there was definitely an improved effort from this team in comparison to how they had played the week before. The Indians managed to score two series victories, taking two of out three from both the Tigers and the Cardinals. Both of those teams, while struggling, are solid opponents so it was nice to come away with wins against both of them. Most notably the pitching was much better this week. Ubaldo Jimenez had two quality starts in a row, which is positve to see. Sadly, the guy who probably had the best pitching performance, Justin Masterson, came away with a loss on Saturday due to the Tribe getting shut out for the first time this season. Of course, I would love to see the Indians continue to improve on offense. Now that we're in the middle of interleague play, it means we'll be playing several games without the luxury of a DH, so each of our positional players need to pick up the slack when it comes to the bat. Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis (who hit the game-winning 3 run home run today) have been great at the plate, but guys like Carlos Santana really need to start having more quality at-bats so that we're not constantly leaving guys on base. Speaking of interleague play, it continues to roll on this week as the Indians will head to Cincinnati to play their cross-state rivals the Reds for 3 games. Then it's finally back home to take on the Pittsburg Pirates in a three game set. Teams that do well during interleague play typically find their way into the post-season, so let's hope the Indians can continue their winnings ways against these National League teams. Go Tribe!