First Blog Posted

Putting aside the greatest rivalry in sports, I want to comment at the beginning of a baseball series between my favorite sports team, the Cleveland Indians, and the local team, the Detroit Tigers. The Tribe is traveling from Ohio after a recent four game sweep of the Tampa club to meet the reigning A.L. champions in Michigan.

Last time here, the Indians swept the Tigers in three games. (We lived in Washington, D.C. at the time, so we could not attend any of the games.) Sandy and I will be in Section 140 for the game on the 4th of July.

The series opens with the Indians in 1st place in the Central Division with a two game lead on the Tigers, losers of four of their last six. The Indians are one game behind the Angels for the best record in baseball.

I am excited about this series because it should tell how "real" this team is. The healthy starters have been fairly consistent during the first half. Paul Byrd (7-3) is starting tonight. What a surprise! He faces Nate Robertson (recently off the DL) tonight. Jake Westbrook and Cliff Lee are both coming off the DL with unpredictable results. Lee goes on Wednesday. He faces Kenny Rogers. The Tigers just got Rogers off the DL, too. He looks better than last year. Thursday's get away game features two All Star pitchers in C.C. Sabathia (12-2) and Justin Verlander (9-3).

On offense, the Indians have been quiet so far. Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore have not put up the numbers they need to if they are going to be contending still in September. Ryan Garko, Victor Martinez, and Jhonny Peralta have been hitting well for themselves. Back up catcher, Kelly Shoppach has been hitting over .360 this season. I saw him hit a walkoff home run last Tuesday against Oakland. (My mom and I went to the game.) http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=431159 The mob at home plate is the background on my desktop right now.

Here's looking forward to many more happy memories caused by Ohio teams beating Michigan teams, e.g. Cavaliers clinch the NBA Eastern Conference championship over the Detroit Pistons.