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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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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Talk about an up and down game for the Cleveland Indians and all of their fans.  After going ahead in the top of the 10th inning with a Casey Blake home run, Joe Borowski blew the game as he gave up a solo home run to Alexei Ramirez and then a rbi single to Orlando Cabrera and the Chicago White Sox beat the Indians 3-2.  Very frustrating way to end what was an exciting game.

Cliff Lee pitched eight innings while only giving up six hits and one run.  Ramirez had a rbi sac fly in the second inning off of Lee for the White Sox only run in the game until the 10th inning when all hell broke loose.

Kelly Shoppach got the Indians on the scoreboard with a solo home run in the sixth inning.  The only other run for the Indians came in the top of the 10th inning when Casey Blake hit a home run off of White Sox relief pitcher Matt Thornton.

The Indians will now have to win on Wednesday to avoid the three game sweep to their rivals in the central division.

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Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Cliff Lee really stepped up on Thursday night when the Indians really needed him to.  Lee tossed eighth inning and struck out 11 Giants batters while only give up four runs to get the victory.  With the win, the Indians were able to avoid the three game sweep by the Giants.

Lee is now 11-1 on the season with a 2.34 era!  Lee was dominating on Thursday night as he rarely made a mistake.  The only one to score off of him came in the fourth inning when Rich Auruilia had a rbi single.  Other then that, Lee was on top of his game!

Joe Borowski pitched the ninth inning to pick up his sixth save of the season.

It was the Jamey Carroll and Jhonny Peralta show at the plate for the Indians.  Carroll went 2-3 with two rbi while Peralta went 1-4 with two rbi.  One thing that was bad as far as the Indians offense was that they never scored another run after the fourth inning.  It was like the Giants were always hanging around and with one rally cold have tied or taken the lead.  The Indians didn’t take advantage of all the runners on base as they stranded 16 of them in the game.

The Indians will now play a big weekend series with the Cincinnati Reds.  The Reds are struggling right now so hopefully the Tribe can take two of three or even sweep the Reds!

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The game between the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers was over after the first two innings when the Indians were already up 8-0.  The Indians ended up going on to beat the Tigers by the score of 8-2.  The teams had to wait things out with a 57 minute rain delay in the game but then, the game was more less over on the scoreboard.

Cliff Lee won his 10th game of the season to improve his record to 10-1.  Lee came back out in the fifth inning after the rain delay to finish his five innings so he could record the win.  He allowed six hits and two runs in his five innings of action.

Rafael Perez pitched two scoreless innings of relief while Rafael Betancourt and Masa Kobayashi pitched one scoreless inning each.  Good job by the three relief pitchers.

Ryan Garko hit a three run home run in the first inning and then was hit by a pitch in the second inning with the bases loaded as he led the Indians at the plate with four rbi.  Kelly Shoppach also hit a home run in the game as he hit a two run shot in the second inning to finish with two rbi.  Jhonny Peralta and Shin-Soo Choo chipped in with one rbi each as well.

The Indians will now start a three game series against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

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The Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays played in two pitchers duels on Monday afternoon and night as the both teams picked up one win and one loss.  The Indians picked up a win in the first game as Fausto Carmona tossed a complete game shutout and the Indians won 3-0.

David Delluci got the Indians on the board in the first game with a rbi single in the sixth inning and then Asdrubal Cabrera had a two run home run in the seventh inning.  It was a good thing as well because the Indians only had five hits in the game.

Onto the second game, it was the Indians on the losing end of a 3-0 game once again.  The Indians only came up with three hits in the game.  No wonder why they were shutout lol.

Cliff Lee had tossed nine full inning and gave up seven hits but no runs in the game.  No runs support for him however as he took home the no decision.  Asdrubal Cabrera pitched the tenth inning and allowed all three runs as he took the loss to drop his record to 1-2.

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Cliff Lee improved to 6-0 on the season as he faced off against Chien-Ming Wang in a battle of the un-beatens on Wednesday night.   The Cleveland Indians beat the New York Yankees and Wang by the score of 3-0.

Lee threw seven innings and only allowed six hits and no runs in the game as he stayed undefeated.  Lee struckout seven batters without walking a batter.  A great preformance for Lee as he went up against a very good offense in the Yankees.

Rafael Perez and Rafael Betancourt pitched the last two innings of the game and only allowed one run.  Betancourt closed the door on the Yankees in the ninth inning as he picked up his fourth save of the season.

The Indians scored in three different innings as they got RBI from three different players.  David Dellucci, Victor Martinez, and Casey Blake all had a RBI in the game. 

Now that was a great win for the Indians!  Indians Blog

The Clevelend Indians swept the Kansas City Royals in a double header on Thursday.  The Indians beat the Royals by the scores of 9-6 in game one and then 2-0 in the game two.  With the two wins, the Indians are now 10-12 on the season as they try to get back to the .500 mark.

Fausto Carmona improved to 3-1 on the season as he picked up the win in the first game.  Cliff Lee improved to 4-0 on the season as he won the second game for the Indians.

In game one, Grady Sizemore connected for his second home run of the season and in game two, David Dellucci hit his third home run of the season.

The Indians will now start a series against the New York Yankees.

The Cleveland Indians have named Cliff Lee the #5 starter in the pitching rotation.  Lee didn’t have the best spring training but outpitched Aaron Laffey and Jeremy Sowers.

After Lee was named the 5th starter, Laffey and Sowers were told they will begin the season in Triple-A.

Lee will have to prove that he can hold down the #5 spot all season long.  If he struggles in his three or four games, I can see the Indians making a movie and bringing up Laffey or Sowers to replace him.

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