B & G's #34 5/8/08

Cleveland Indians (16-17) At New York Yankees (17-18)
At Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York
Thursday May 8Th, 2008

Paul Byrd (1-2, 3.74) Vs Mike Mussina (4-3, 4.23)
Final Score: New York 6, Cleveland 3
W- Mike Mussina (5-3)
L- Paul Byrd (1-3)
S- Mariano Rivera (9)

Baseballs:

**Johnny Damon- Came into the game 0-9 in the series, but you just knew he'd get a hit, 2-4 at the plate, including his 5Th Home Run of the year, driving in 2 runs. He now has 16 RBIs and is hitting .280 on the season.

**Mike Mussina- Moose had his curve going on early in the game. He did have a rocky 5Th inning, but he picked up his 2Nd win of the year against the Indians. 5 innings pitched, 3 runs (3 earned), did not walk a man and struck out 3. Mussina has a 4.36 ERA.

**Robinson Cano- Cano had a good day, he went 2-3, including hitting his 4Th Home Run of the season and is now up to .172. Cano has 10 RBIs on the year.

**Hideki Matsui- Matsui extended his hitting streak to a career high 17 games. Godzilla went 2-4 at the plate and is hitting .345 on the season.

**Jason Giambi- He owns Paul Byrd and today was no different, hitting his 6Th Home Run of the year, a 2 runs shot extending the Yankees lead to 3-0 at the time. Giambi has hit 3 of them off of Paul Byrd this year.

**Ross Ohlendorff- 2 shutout innings preventing the Indians from coming back. Ross has a 4.70 ERA.

**Joba Chamberlain- Joba came in the 8Th and regrouped himself after the bad performance Tuesday night. A 1...2...3 8Th cutting down his ERA to 3.14.

**Mariano Rivera- Rivera is still the best closer in baseball, getting his 9Th save of the year. Mariano has a 0.00 ERA.

**Franklin Gutierrez- Franklin went 2-4 at the plate, and he needed this day to get him going. Franklin is up to .255 on the season.

**Casey Blake- Hit a clutch double, driving in 2 runs, giving him 22 on the season. Casey is hitting .210.

**Kelly Shoppach- Kelly had a very good at bat, tying the game with his 3rd RBI, but that ended very shortly the next half inning.

**Jorge Julio- Pitched a scoreless 8Th inning. Jorge has a 3.38 ERA.

Goofballs:

**Paul Byrd- Wasn't good, 6 1/3 innings, 5 runs (5 earned), did not walk a batter, or struck out anyone. Byrdman has a 4.28 ERA. He gave up 3 Home Runs to cost him and the Indians the game.

**Mosahide Kobayashi- Gave up a Home Run himself, and thus gave up a run. Mosahide has a 2.20 ERA.

**Indians 2-4 hitters- Jamey Carroll, David Dellucci, and Jhonny Peralta went a combined 0-12, with 5 strikeouts. Not good when your offense is relied heavily on those three spots.

Indians record after 34 games in 2008: 16-18
Indians record after 34 games in 2007: 21-13
Indians record in one run games in 2008: 4-3
Indians quality starts in 2008: 19

On Deck:

Well, it's nice to take two out of three from the Yankees, but it still feels like this team took two steps forward, one step back. Our offense is what it is, still there, but barely breathing. I like the combination of Ben Francisco though, he adds a sense of energy to this team, but we still need Hafner and Garko to step it up. Jhonny needs to lay off the high pitches too. But this is the final trip to Yankee stadium and we won the series, it's a start. Tomorrow is the start of a big four game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Roy Halladay (3-4, 3.00) will take the mound, he will be opposed by C.C. Sabathia (1-5, 7.51). Game time starts at 7:05 PM, will air on STO. Indians On deck airs at 6:30 PM, and of course will be on the radio on WTAM 1100-AM. The Cavaliers face the Boston Celtics in a big game tonight, airing on ESPN and FSN Ohio starting at 7:05PM. The Cavs must win this game because they would head to Cleveland down 0-2, and well, it's so much better going into Cleveland with the series tied at 1-1. So let's rise up and get this win. Go Tribe....Go Cavs.