Can they catch the A's?

In their typical scrappy fashion, the Tribe has eeked out some bigs wins this week including:

- Today's 6-5 comeback on 2 out HR's by Sizemore and Blake, and then a bug 3R shot in the 8th by Ronnie Belliard
- Holding on for dear life to a 6-1 lead spotted to Scott Elarton in a 6-5 win over the Yanks
- Coming up with a huge 10 hit, 9 run outburst to finish off game 1 in the Tiger series

Let's compare upcoming August schedules for the key wild card players at the moment:

Tribe - no more Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, and a lot of Devil Ray
- 3 at KC
- 3 at home v TB
- 3 at home v Texas
- 3 at home v sinking Oriole ship
- 3 at TB
- 3 in hoser country
- 3 at home against Detrot

Angels
- 3 at Oak
- 3 at Seattle
- 3 home vs Toronto
- 4 home v Boston
- 3 at O'
- 3 at TB
- 3 home v Oak

Yanks - mixed bag
- 3 home v Pale Ho's
- 4 home v Texas
- 3 at TB
- 3 at Pale Ho's
- 4 home v Toronto
- 3 home v KC
- 3 at Seattle

A's - home cookin'
- 3 home v Angels
- 3 home v Minnesota
- 3 home v Baltimore
- 3 home v KC
- 3 at Tigers
- 4 at B'more
- 3 at Angels


Sched is looking quite favorable to the A's in the next 3-4 weeks - they're a great home team (best in AL) playing some sputtering squads. If the Tribe could play all their games on the road, I say they would have the best go at it in the next stretch (6 TB games, 3 KC, 3 O's).

Suspensions?

Given KM, RT, DR, and EW's suspensions, I can't believe 'Shiggy' was not reprimanded for plunking Sizmore - worse yet after the game he called out the play as intentional. How does the Tribe get 4 suspended, and Mariners none, when this started from Hasegawa's feeling that 'they were getting too comfortable over there'. And to accuse Riske of throwing at Ichiro in the 9th because he stole second in the 7th is ridiculous. Call it a wash and eliminate the suspensions. ESPN's recap:
"Four members of the Indians have been disciplined stemming from incidents that took place during the team's July 29 game at Seattle. RHP Kevin Millwood has been suspended for five games and fined for intentionally throwing at Seattle's Yuniesky Betancourt. RHP David Riske has been suspended four games and find for throwing at Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki. Indian manager Eric Wedge was suspended one game and fined for the intentional actions of Millwood, while bench coach Robby Thompson was suspended one game and fined for the intentional actions of Riske."


Vic and Jhonny have stepped it up huge

Good recap from Terry Pluto:

Martinez, Peralta hit well in the middle
• Heading into the weekend, Victor Martinez had more RBI (53) than any catcher in baseball. Only the Boston Red Sox's Jason Varitek (17) had more homers than the Tribe's catcher.
• Martinez was at his best when the Indians needed him most. In the 17 games missed by designated hitter Travis Hafner (concussion), Martinez hit .409 with 18 RBI. The Indians went 10-7 in that stretch, primarily because shortstop Jhonny Peralta and Martinez took over in the middle of the lineup and consistently produced.
• Remember early in the season when the switch-hitting Martinez was batting less than .150 from the left side and some fans wanted him to exclusively hit right-handed? He went into the weekend hitting .274 from the left side, .255 as a righty.
• After a dismal first two months where he batted .210 with four homers and 15 RBI in 157 at-bats, Martinez has transformed his season and played again like an All-Star. Since June 1, he's a .316 hitter with 10 homers and 38 RBI.