What a turnaround in the last year for starting pitcher Cliff Lee! It was announced on Thursday afternoon that Lee had been chosen as the 2008 American League Cy Young winner after receiving 24 of 28 first-place votes and 132 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Lee went a major league best 22-3 this season with a 2.54 ERA. Talk about a complete turn around after being sent down to the minor leagues the season before. Lee hopes to come back just as strong in 2009 and help the team compete for a playoff spot.

Lee received a $250,000 bonus for winning, and the price of Cleveland’s 2010 club option increased from $8 million to $9 million.

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The Cleveland Indians played the Boston Red Sox tough but they fell just short on Wednesday night. A Mark Kotsay rbi double in the eighth inning provided the Red Sox with the winning run as they went onto beat the Indians by the score of 5-4.

Rafael Perez was the losing pitcher as he gave up the winning run for the Red Sox in the eighth inning. Perez allowed two hits and one run in his one inning of action. Fausto Carmona was the starting pitcher but he got rocked for five hits and four runs in just one inning of action.

All four of the Indians runs came via singles as Shin-Soo Choo, Jhonny Peralta, Victor Martinez, and Josh Barfield all had rbi singles.

The Indians will have a chance to get a split in the series as they take on the Red Sox once again on Thursday.

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The Cleveland Indians picked up a very nice win on Monday night as they beat the Boston Red Sox by the score of 4-3. The win was big for the Indians as the Red Sox are in the playoff race and are out there battling for every win that they can come up with.

The Indians beat Josh Beckett which was even more impressive. Shin-Soo Choo, Jamey Carroll, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Travis Hafner all had an rbi in the game. There wasn’t much offense, but the Indians did the best with their opportunities and that is why they came away with the victory.

Zach Jackson was the winning pitcher as he tossed six innings and only gave up six hits and two runs. It was a very good quality start for Jackson who improved his season record to 1-3. Rafael Perez gave up one run in relief before Jensen Lewis finished things up to get his 12th save of the year.

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The Cleveland Indians got two rbi’s each from Jhonny Peralta and Shin-Soo Choo as they beat the Minnesota Twins by the score of 6-4. The Indians are playing spoilers right now against the Twins as they just can’t get over the hump and catch the Chicago White Sox.

Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner each had one rbi each as well for the Indians.

On the mound it was Cliff Lee starting the game and throwing 6 1/3 innings. Lee was charged with ten hits and four runs as he wasn’t his usual self on Wednesday night. Lee walked three batters while striking out five and giving up one home run.

Edward Mujica ended up picking up the inning as he recorded the final two outs in the seventh inning. Jensen Lewis picked up his 10th save of the season in the ninth inning.

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The Cleveland Indians picked up a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night. Great win for the Indians as they had ten hits compared to the Twins five hits. The tribe sure put a damper on the night for the Twins as the White Sox lost and they could have picked up some ground in the division.

Scott Lewis improved to 2-0 on the season as he picked up the win. Lewis tossed six innings of shutout baseball and only allowed three hits. Rafael Betancourt, Rafael Perez, and Jensen Lewis all tossed one inning in relief. Lewis picked up the save even though he did allow one run to score in the ninth inning.

All three of the Indians’s runs came via the home run ball. Kelly Shoppach got things started with a solo home run in the fourth inning and then Shin-Soo Choo added a two-run shot in the fifth inning. There wasn’t a lot of offense, but it was enough to get the win on Monday night.

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The Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles kicked off a series on Monday night and things did not go good for the Indians. They tribe’s pitcher just had problems all night long with keeping the ball down and the Orioles batters made them pay with four home runs.

Fausto Carmona got rocked in the game as he only lasted 5 1/3 innings. He was charged with six hits and seven runs. Carmona also walked four while striking out five in the game. He got into trouble in the sixth inning when he was pulled after only getting one out. Juan Rincon was unable to get out of the jam in the sixth inning as he was also charged with two runs. Brendan Donnelly had a terrible inning in the eighth as Adam Jones took him deep for a three run shot and then Ramon Hernandez added a two run home run that extended the Orioles lead to 14-3.

Asdrubal Cabrera got the Indians on the scoreboard in the second inning when he hit a ground rule double that scored Shin-Soo Choo. Cabrera then added a rbi single in the fourth inning as he finished the game with two rbil. The other run for the tribe came in the fifth inning when Franklin Gutierrez hit a rbi sac fly that scored Ryan Garko.

Hopefully the Indians can bounce back on Tuesday night and even up the series at one game each.

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The Cleveland Indians were attempting to sweep the Chicago White Sox in a three game series but they came up short on Wednesday afternoon as they lost 4-2. The pitching wasn’t too bad in the game, the Indians offense just couldn’t get anything going against White Sox starting pitcher Javier Vazquez.

The only two runs that the tribe were able to get off of the White Sox came in the sixth inning when Jhonny Peralta doubled to score Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore. Other then that double, the Indians struggled at the plate and when they did have a little rally going, they grounded into doubleplays.

Jeremy Sowers started the game off awesome but ran into trouble as he only pitched 5 1/3 innings. Sowers took the loss after being charged with all four runs that the White Sox scored. Three of the four runs the White Sox scored came via the home run ball as they took Sowers deep twice in the game.

The Indians will now be off on Thursday and will begin a weekend series with the Kansas City Royals.

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The Cleveland Indians defeated the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night by the score of 9-7 as they finished off the Tigers in the three game series. The Indians didn’t have any problems finishing up the sweep as they scored in five different innings and outhit the Tigers 13-9.

Kelly Shoppach and Shin-Soo Choo both hit two run home runs to lead the Indians at the plate. Shoppach also added another rbi with a single that scored Choo. Grady Sizemore had another good game as he had a two run single to finish with two rbi. Jhonny Peralta and Ryan Garko finished up the scoring with an rbi each.

On the mound, Fausto Carmona tossed six innings and allowed seven hits and four runs.  Fausto threw the ball well enough to pick up the win and improve to 7-5. Rafael Perez gave up a run and then Rafael Betancourt and Jensen Lewis finished things up in the eighth and ninth innings. Lewis did have some problems however as he allowed two runs on a Magglio Ordonez home run.

Good series for the Indians! Indians Baseball

The Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers played extra innings on Monday night and it was the Indians coming out on top with a 4-3 victory in ten innings of action. Franklin Gutierrez hit a solo home run off of Gary Glover for the game winning run. Great win for the Indians!

Besides Franklin’s solo home run, the Indians got two solo home runs from Grady Sizemore who finished the game with two rbi. Ryan Garko also added a rbi single in the fourth inning for the Indians offense. There wasn’t much offense and it would have been nice had there been some runners on base with the three solo home runs being hit.

Brendan Donnelly picked up the win after throwing a scoreless ninth inning. Jensen Lewis recorded his seventh save of the year by throwing a scoreless inning in the tenth inning. Zach Jackson started the game and pitched 6 1/3 innings while giving up seven hits and three runs to get the no decision. Jackson gave up two home runs while striking out six batters.

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Once again it was the Cleveland Indians having no problems with the visiting Kansas City Royals. The Indians jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they beat the Royals 10-3. With the win on Thursday afternoon, the Indians finished up a three game sweep of the Royals.

Grady Sizemore had a huge day as he went 4-5 with seven rbi! Sizemore had a three run home run, three run triple, and a rbi single in the game. Talk about production with the bases loaded by Sizemore! Shin-Soo Choo added a two run home run and Jhonny Peralta added a solo home run to finish out the Indians scoring.

Cliff Lee improved to 18-2 on the season as he shut down the Royals offense for seven innings. Lee gave up six hits and three runs while striking out seven batters. Rafael Betancourt and Brendan Donnelly pitched the final two innings of the game to keep the Royals at three runs.

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