Bauer is pitching like a pro.

You can definitely see him maturing.

Bouncing between the game, cleaning the backyard, and smoking ribs, brisket and a chicken......popped in just in time to see the homer by Santana....

Hopefully he got out of his slump.

Right after that they (Texas feed) kept it on for the entire rendition of God Bless America before cutting to commercial break.

8-3 going into the bottom of the 7th.....saw we had 12 hits and 7 LOB?

This was a big game in so many ways!

Santana hitting 8th, shows his stuff. (I do believe moving him off 3rd helps - Chisenhall continues his raking so no reason at all to move him back there.)

Tomlin pitching 8, then using Axford. Therefore resting the pen.

Great road win.

Carlos Santana - 3B - Indians

Carlos Santana went 2-for-2 with a two-run homer and two walks in the Indians' 8-3 win over the Rangers on Saturday.

Santana seemed to be finding his swing before suffering a concussion last week, and now he's 3-for-5 with three walks in two games since being activated from the DL yesterday. At .171, his average is the highest it's been since mid-April.

I agree with this. Santana was already hitting the ball better before he went out.

Tomlin will probably have to fight to stay in the rotation for his whole career, since his stuff is inferior to many of his competitors (certainly compared to Carrasco) but he sure can pitch. Great 5th or 4th starter

And, he throws strikes. Keeps his pitch count low, saving the bullpen. He's a keeper.

Today's game - another solid outing for Masterson.

Regarding Cody Allen - there is no way in hell Axford returns to the closer role the way Cody is throwing. 97 MPH fastball and throwing that great curve ball for strikes. Right now, he is not just the closer, he is an elite closer.

Early indications here are clear. 4 years at $50 mill?:


Ubaldo Jimenez - S - Orioles

Ubaldo Jimenez was done in by walks and big hits against the A's on Sunday, allowing six runs in 2 1/3 innings of work in the loss.

Jimenez' control continues to be a major problem, as he walked five on the day. He only allowed two hits before being removed, but they both went for extra bases -- a two-run double by John Jaso, and a grand slam by Brandon Moss.

That was it for the right-hander. He's now 2-7 with a 5.01 ERA and 1.53 WHIP, and he'll face one of the league's best offenses in the Blue Jays on Friday.

Apparently there is one pitching coach who can get him to put his game together, but unfortunately for the Birds they didn't sign him!

Fine bullpen work today by Shaw: 2 innings; Allen: 1. Key successful challenge by Francona. Key RBI hit by Raburn, he's not had many of those this year. Key Sac Fly by Murphy, he's done that before. 2 more hits by LH by Chisenhall, who is well over 500 vs lefties after hitting about 0 last year. Well played game. We seem to have cut down the errors quite a bit.

Chis vs lefties, not sure if this includes today: 11-21 .524; OPS 1.279]
in 2013: 4-36 .111 OPS .408

Again, making Santana a moot point at 3B. He can't even replace Chis. vs lefties.

Back to his last year's role. The only problem is when Swish comes back. Tito will be doing some serious rotating then. Until someone else gets injured of course.

PS - if I were Tito I would probably have Swisher going to DH.

Whatever happens when Swisher returns, neither Swisher nor Santana should bat higher than 7th in the lineup. I was surprised to see Santana hitting in Chisenhall's spot in the lineup today. Chisenhall getting no respect. Chisenhall and Murphy should be hitting in front of Santana and Swisher until either indicates that they can be more productive.

J.R. wrote:No magic tonight. We battled back to .500, but now are one game below. How long before we get back to even again?

Not just back to .500, but one game over now!

Santana draws walks which is why he might be useful in the top 6 somewhere.

I'm waiting for Kipnis to get hot. He hasn't really done much more than Santana or Swisher when healthy.