WaitingForNextYear

That seems like a pretty appropriate way to end a big losing streak. The Indians battled back last night, riding the efforts of Shin Soo-Choo to a 15-3 victory, the largest since the 22-4 wallop they put on the Yankees in their brand-new stadium. It was just the third win in 16 games for Cleveland, but this one was a little more fun for the fans along with some post-game fireworks. 

Oakland got on the board first, putting up a pair on three doubles against lefty David Huff in just the first two innings. Huff proceeded to strike out the side in the second, but a quick 2-0 Athletics lead was typical for the Indians this season and it looked like another possible loss for the Tribe. But a home run by Hafner got Cleveland a run in the bottom of the second, and a pair of walks along with a pair of errors and a single made it 4-2 through three.

The offense would not stop from there as three walks, a single and two doubles including a two-run double by Choo made it 9-3 through four innings. Coming into today, the Indians had been out-scored by an average of 4.9 to 7.1 in their past 15 games and thus it did not seem like this game was still out of reach for Oakland. A combined 12 runs per game total is pretty impressive in today’s baseball, where scoring and home runs are down big-time since the turn of the decade. This would not affect the Indians bats however, as a three-run double by Cabrera and a three-run home run by Choo made it 13-3 against the third Oakland pitcher of the game in the fifth inning.

Overall, this was just one of those miracle games where it seems like everything is clicking. Not only did Cleveland manage to absolutely destroy the A’s pitching staff, but Huff collected his third quality start in ten outings thus far this season, settling down nicely after the rough first two frames. I saw a lot of Huff last season in Akron as he coasted to a 5-1 record with a 1.92 ERA before being promoted to Buffalo in early June, and this was him in his usual fashion as he worked out of jams and eight hits with a lot of ground ball outs and some important strikeouts.

Here is a look at some of the records that were broken in yesterday’s massive scoring outburst that maybe you didn’t not see. Of course Choo had a career-high seven RBI, but it is just amazing to see that all of these long streaks came to an end in one demolition of a victory:

Asdrubal Cabrera had two doubles, first time since September 8th 2008, a streak of 72 games
Ben Francisco had four runs scored, first time in MLB career, a streak of 214 games
Grady Sizemore had three walks, first time since July 19th 2008, a streak of 121 games 
Shin Soo-Choo had two home runs. first time since September 19th 2008, a streak of 87 games

So looking forward to the rest of the season this year, the Indians are now 32-49 at the exact half-way mark in the season. Does anyone honestly believe we will only win 64 games this year and lose 98 games for the first time since 105 losses in 1991? I think this team still has a lot left in it, just like they did a year ago when they rallied from a 37-53 record through 90 games en route to finishing exactly at .500. Whether the 2009 Indians can finish the year playing .604 ball (49-32) is one thing, but I am fairly certain that they are truly not as bad as their recent stretch and their overall record indicate. Last night’s performance was just one game in a season of 162, but it showed what is possible with a relatively young and potential-laden pitching staff and some of our hot bats.