Indians beat Blue Jays for 14th straight win

The Indians' 14-game winning streak is alive and well. All it took was 19 innings and more than six hours to get there.

Man, will the Indians ever lose? I turned on yesterday's game in the top of the 19th after noticing the Twitter chatter about it -- just in time to see Carlos Santana tee off of Darwin Barney for what proved to be the winning run.

The Indians' current winning streak is the longest in the American League since Oakland reeled off 20 wins in a row during the 2002 season. And they haven't lost a game since the Cavaliers won their NBA championship. Peg it on the wizardry of Terry Francona.

I think it's time to turn up the Wild Card watch for the Royals, whose road and injury woes are continuing after they dropped a 4-3 game in Philadelphia last night -- without Lorenzo Cain, who went down with a hamstring injury. Because it's going to take a 14-game losing streak by the Indians for the Royals to get back into the hunt to win the division.

And then there's Joe Maddon and the Cubs, who continue to remind how much fun baseball can be. 

(Update 07.07.2016) Since I posted this Saturday, the Indians' winning streak has been halted, but they appear, at this point, to be a team destined to follow the Cavaliers' championship celebration. .

The Tigers are still a threat, the Kansas City Royals are the reigning World Series champion, and the Chicago White Sox hold a winning record.

But they all are chasing Cleveland, and another major championship does not seem far-fetched anymore.

Baseball's second half is going to be interesting.

Goodbye, Bob Feller

Ron Santo a couple weeks ago. … And now Bob Feller.

I consider myself incredibly lucky to have met and shaken hands with a half-dozen hall of famers during the last few years. And now within a couple weeks of each other, two of them are gone.

The news of Feller’s death immediately took me back to the day I met him at a signing session in 2006. Feller graciously engaged me in conversation while signing a baseball and inscribing a photo for me. He posed with me for a picture, too.

Good reads …
a Bob Ryan: Feller: Hard and fast
aJoe Posnanski: RIP Bob Feller

World Series fun

I'm having a little trouble accepting the fact that the baseball season is over.

I never would have imagined the San Francisco Giants would be crowned World Series Champions. But their pitching was so dominant the Rangers’ fate was sealed after Game 1. It was sudden.

And Edgar Renteria. World Series hero. Again. ... Beyond this dramatic home run, this was the stat that really got me when it was mentioned after the game last night: He joins Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra as the only players with two World Series-winning hits.

And whaddaya know -- I turned on the TV tonight and discovered the ESPN Classic was airing Game 7 of the 1997 World Series between Renteria’s Florida Marlins and the Cleveland Indians.

I’m watching it now. And I’m as captivated as I was when I watched it in my college dorm room on that Sunday night in October 1997.

I’ll never forget furiously e-mailing my dad after every dramatic turn of that game, and then having him ask me the next morning, after he'd logged onto the computer and seen all of the e-mails, if I was feeling lonely the night before with no one to talk baseball. See, the simple phone call was already losing ground in those days, and Skype, Facebook or Twitter were still 10 years away.

And I'll never forget burying my head in my hands when Renteria hit his first game-winner to score Craig Counsell -- because I had been rooting desperately for the Indians.

Game 7 of the '97 series is arguably my favorite world series game of my lifetime. In one of my favorite world series of my lifetime -- 2001 and 2002 being two others. Featuring one of my favorite teams of my lifetime, the 1997 Cleveland Indians.

Sheesh, both teams in that world series were stacked. And it blows my mind to watch the game now, to see guys like Jim Thome, Matt Williams, Craig Counsell, Moises Alou and Jim Leyland. And to think about how I’ve enjoyed tracking their careers.

Final note: The NBC broadcast, led by Bob Costas, just showed the longest world series title droughts -- as of 1997, mind you. The list, starting with the longest, looked like this: Cubs, White Sox, Red Sox, Indians, Giants. ... Very interesting. The White Sox, Red Sox and Giants have since won, and the Indians, at the least, made the World Series in '97. The Cubs ... yeah, still waiting.

Speaking of interesting, how 'bout those Minnesota Vikings? The Brett Favre/Randy Moss/Brad Childress drama just keeps getting better and better. That the Vikings released Randy Moss within a month of acquring him is laughable, and it's only going to get worse until Childress finds the guts to bench Favre, who clearly isn't helping the team with his broken down body.

That's my rant and I'm sticking to it.

Yankee fallout

... In a replay of my activities around this same time last fall -- several late nights in a row, concerts and postseason baseball -- I arrived home last night at about 1 a.m. from the Regina Spektor show ... and stayed up until past 3 watching the Indians-Yankees game on the DVR.

C'mon I couldn't go to bed without knowing the outcome of the game! And for that, I got just over three hours of sleep.

But hey, the Indians wiped out the Yankees! Sweet bliss ... What'd I tell you: Indians in four.

Now -- while I try to decide who I'm going to root for in the ALCS ...

(While I greatly admire Big Papi and the Red Sox Nation, I think I'm going to lean toward the Indians for these reasons ...

• The Red Sox are just three years removed from their last world championship, but the Indians haven't won it all since 1948.


• The Indians beat the Yankees after going winless against them during the regular season; that's heart. Experience, schmerience.


• And you gotta love a team that's made it this far with a roster that's had barely any posteason experience, aside from Kenny Lofton's 84 playoff games.


• I loved the '95 and '97 Indians. I loooove Kenny Lofton.)

... the real fun begins.

The Yankees soap opera.

First of all, Steinbrenner and his band of suits would be fools to get rid of Joe Torre ... The guy has returned pride to the Yankees, won 10 division titles, including nine straight, in his 12 years as manager. And he's got the utmost respect of his players ... No matter how successful they've been in their respective playing/managerial careers, I honestly can't see Don Mattingly, Joe Girardi or Tony LaRussa faring any better managing the Yankees ...

I could care less what happens to Mariano Rivera. I think he's overrated and it won't make any difference whether the Yankees have him next season.

Roger Clemens needs to stay home for good.

And that brings up Alex Rodriguez and the churning speculation of whether he's staying or going ... If I were Alex Rodriguez, I think I'd want to get the heck out of the chaotic Bronx, no matter who's calling me a quitter, and go to a franchise that's committed to building a winner around the right players for the team, not because they're sluggers or power pitchers who can be lured by throwing money at them, even if I have to renegotiate my contract and accept a pay cut. I'd want to go to a team where I could have fun playing again, go back to playing shortstop and earn the respect of the fans ... Then again, I'm not A-Rod.

... And if I were the Cubs, I'd forget about trying to make a run at Rodriguez and go instead for the veteran catcher who's a proven leader and a guy who can handle my pitching staff. That'd be Jorge Posada ...

Rockies rollin'

My tagline for the week:

Hey, I'm just happy I can start cheering for the Cubs whole-heartedly ...

Check this out and hear what Lou Piniella is saying.

More Cubs stuff ...
Chicago Tribune multimedia
99 things every real Cubs fan should know

* * *


How about those Rockies!?!

How about that game last night!?!

Going into the game, I couldn't say I was rooting for one team more than the other; I barely knew anything about either team. But as the game went on, the Rockies, their exciting lineup and their exuberant fans started to win over my heart …And when the Padres came from behind to tie the game at six in the eighth, I was all but certain it signaled the beginning of the end for Denver’s run …

Then the Padres put two on the board in the top of the 13th and send Trevor Hoffman, arguably the greatest closer this game’s ever seen, to the mound. Seriously -- game over … Nope. Kaz Matsui doubled. Troy Tulowitzki doubled. Matt Holliday tripled and drove in the tying runs … all with no outs.

I was doing all I could to squelch my clapping and screams, and not wake Kates.

Then Jamey Carroll hit the sacrifice fly to right field that sent Holliday sprinting to home plate, planting his chin in the dirt as he skidded past Michael Barrett, clearly not touching home plate for the winning run.

The unfortunate part of it, though, is that we’re going to have to listen for the rest of the week to ESPN and all the other sports talkers berating the umpires' disputed calls and pushing for instant replay in baseball. If you ask me, Tim Kurkjan put it best immediately after the game -- It was a heckuva ballgame, you’ve got the Colorado fans going crazy and you can’t say, “Oh, wait a minute, we have to review this play.” Then you take 10 minutes to review it, find out he did or didn’t touch the plate and oh yeah, now you can celebrate …

Nope. The absence of instant replay is part of what makes baseball, for lack of another word, pure.

And seriously, how awful was TBS’ coverage!? … Ugh. Good thing I'm a huge baseball fan and the game was exciting ... First of all, the announcers were such no-names TBS could've pulled any guy from the street into the booth and we wouldn't have known the difference -- Any stories or insights they provided were about as exciting as a pair of college-aged amatuers auditioning for their first internships. Plus the graphics were too gimmicky and large to digest, and Cal Ripken, sitting in the studio, looked as though he was in just as much disblelief at the unintelligent questions his partner was tossing him ... The last straw was when I caught one of the analysts say something like “Barrett has done a great job since coming over from the Mets” (He was traded from the Cubs, you idiot! He‘s never played an inning for the Mets in his career …) Worse yet, the analyst never bothered to correct himself, which leads me to believe the researchers or producers working behind him weren't any more competent ...

And we have more several more games of dealing with this.

I miss Jeanne Zelasko, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

* * *

Here’s what I’m thinking about the playoffs …

A couple weeks ago, I was saying Angels-Cubs.

But frankly, I’m not high on any of the National League teams right now …

I don’t believe the Phillies or the Diamondbacks are strong enough to advance, which leaves the Cubs and the Rockies. I’d like to think this could be the Cubs’ year, but c’mon it’s the Cubs, and they‘ve faded down the stretch.

The Rockies, however, are on a roll that’s going to be hard to stop -- check last night’s game as exhibit No. 1 -- They’ve won 14 of 15 games, and I would not be surprised if they blow through the postseason the same way last October’s Cardinals did … They're looking like a team of destiny.

In the American League, it’s the opposite. Angels-Red Sox, Yankees-Indians -- I could see any one of those teams taking it all … But injuries have slowed the Angels, and now I’m seeing the Red Sox rolling through the playoffs …

… And Yankees-Indians? Don’t even talk to me about the Yankees vaunted lineup and Mariano Rivera in the bullpen. At least the other three AL teams in the postseason have heart; the Yankees are robots. The Yankees have blown enough postseason games since 2001 (in addition to the fact they buy their pennants, rather than nurture players …) to lose their rights to be playing in October. It’s gonna be the Cleveland Indians in four games.

The Rockies will take the Cubs in five games; the Red Sox will beat the Indians in six.

Red Sox win the World Championship in a high-scoring seven-game series.

Baseball reads ...
a Burning questions: Race is over, now what?
a Here’s what the Sox need to get by the Angels
a Phillies celebration could be short-lived against a Rockies team of destiny

Toby Lightman, Sox & baseball

Another reason to think of music as the greatest discovery/
invention/revolution/evolution/solution …

…of our world:

I came home from work today in a sour mood and slipped in a promotional copy of Toby Lightman’s “Little Things” because I wanted to hear some of her music before she comes here early next month. I lied down on the couch with a page of Sudoku puzzles and noticed my mind start to wander a couple songs into this album …

Why when Lightman’s “Devils And Angels” broke onto the radio earlier this year did she not get more play!? Or why did I not pay closer attention!?

Barely a couple songs into the album, my propped-up feet were swaying to the beat and my head was nodding. I was suddenly blown away by this album. …Her fluent guitar strumming hints of Sheryl Crow or even Joni Mitchell, while the beats and passionate, soul-like vocals might draw comparisons to Joss Stone …

There’s a nice mix of danceable upbeats and relaxing ballads, all with luscious harmonies and melodies that beg you to sing along. All the things that can make me love an album …

You go Toby … Count me counting the days down to a chance to see her up close in a couple weeks!

* * *

The images of today’s ticker-tape parade are in and they’ll go down in Chicago lore. They’re unforgettable and, yeah it was the White Sox but, I’m so glad I got to experience some of it …

I was hardly old enough to remember the Brewers winning the American League Championship in ‘82 (but I still have a couple of the commemorative placemats from McDonald’s!), and the Royals’ World Championship in ‘85 (although still too young to remember that too) came six years before I set foot in Kansas City.

I’m glad I’m old enough to remember this one. Curses or not, no one knows how long it might be before something like this comes again …

The ratings for this year’s World Series might have been low across the rest of the United States, but they sure as heck weren’t in Chicago (I’d quote the numbers they gave on the radio this morning if I could remember them. And I can’t find a story to link to … let’s just say they were super high…). When the Sox won it, every Chicago television station (NBC5 arguably provided the best coverage ... ) was breaking in with live shots of people pouring into the streets and flooding the areas around Comiskey. And most of the stations stayed on, while Chicago stayed up, through the early morning hours switching from live interviews and footage with the team in Houston to talking with fans in Chicago …

In the same spectrum, I won’t forget driving to work on the morning after, listening to The Mix and hearing them play Joe Buck’s final call over and over and over and over again. Eric & Kathy had their Harry Caray impersonator pretending to do live interviews from the lockerroom and they played the 1959 Go-Go Sox theme wherever they could fit it. Pandemonium is one word to describe it …

…Granted, I wasn’t cheering for the White Sox in the World Series. And this doesn’t mean I’m going to cheer for them any harder in the future … but the Sox had a heckuva season from beginning to end and it was pretty awesome to watch and read all the news coverage. Chicago went crazy the last few days and deservedly so …

Some good World Series-related readin' ...

a White Sox Relish First Title in 88 Years
a Kansas City Star: WORLD SERIES NOTES: Living the dream
a This year's Series is not in my world
a The Cubs are now on the clock
a Mark Starr/Newsweek: Baseball’s Superior League
a With White Sox win, Cubs fans in more misery
a National League proves inferior again
a NY Times: A Year After Cursed Red Sox End Drought, Unsung White Sox Do the Same
a Houston `Just Didn't Do It': Blown Chances Doom Astros

And just for fun... World Series TV ad rewrites sports history

* * *

They’re already making predications for next year … so here I am, too, picking from my stream of consciousness now that yet another baseball season has passed and another World Champion has been crowned …

… I can barely wait to see Jim Leyland back in action again, and doing it with the Detroit Tigers, no less. I’m not ready yet to call it the strongest division in baseball, but if the White Sox are as dominant next year as they were this year -- and then you add to that some darn competitive teams in Minnesota, Cleveland and Detroit -- the AL Central should be fun to watch next year …

… It sure made me feel good this morning to be watching ‘Sportscenter’ and hear the ‘Baseball Tonight’ crew call the Milwaukee Brewers ‘the top NL team to watch next year.’ …The baseball insiders have been telling us the last couple years that Milwaukee was building a farm system to reckon with and we finally saw them coming of age this past season. There will always be a special place in my heart for the Brew Crew, but going to games this year and watching them on TV, I actually found myself having hope in them pulling out a close game or beating the good teams. I love it …

… As much I have enjoyed watching them and would hate to see them go -- Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro all should save themselves some dignity and retire. Sure, Clemens is still at the top of his game, but he’s 43, he accomplished his mission by helping the Astros to the World Series (unless they get some more consistent hitting and stay healthy, they’re not going to do any better next year …) and his body seemed to be falling apart at the end of the season. And saying all that, Curt Schilling should probably be included in this category too. … The cases on Bonds, Sosa and Palmeiro are much simpler: Sosa’s numbers have been declined year after year and they were downright awful last season. The Orioles pretty much kicked Palmeiro off the team after his steroids debacle and there’s so much skepticism (and evidence of steroids) clouding Bonds and his homerun pursuit on Hank Aaron that he would be doing more honor to the record and the game by simply retiring …

… Manny Ramirez wants out of Boston? It would suck for the Red Sox, but he really wants to go to Anaheim, and THAT would be pretty awesome … Johnny Damon may be out of Boston too and has hinted at going to the Yankees for the right price. That would be pretty sad …

Back to predictions ... or more like wishes and long shots. Teams I'd love to see in the postseason next year: The Angels (and Tony DeMarco adds proof... ), Dodgers ( ... as long as they focus on their stadium AND the team), Tigers, Orioles (Hey, they just got Leo Mazzone!), Indians, Nationals, and of course, the Royals, Brewers or Cubs.

All you need is baseball

Could it have been a better end to the weekend!? … and the regular season for that matter.

I watched the first six innings of the Red Sox/Yankees game and saw Boston blow it open (I laughed and applauded Manny Ramirez‘s moon shot to centerfield -- see above -- like I was AT Fenway to see it), and then switched over to catch the last couple innings of the Washington/Phillies game and the White Sox finish off the Indians (Weren‘t we predicting the White Sox choke last week?), and then switched again to catch the last couple innings of the Cubs/Astros game before going back for the end of the Red Sox/Yankees game.

I loved every minute.

…I’d offer World Series predictions, but honestly I don’t care who makes it as long as it’s not the Yankees. Heck, for as well as the Braves have played this year with their lineup of rookies, I’d even enjoy seeing them in the Series for once … I will say, however, I fell in love with the championship Angels team of ’02 and the Red Sox of last year, and I’d happily take either of them winning it all again….But yeah, it would be cool to see the White Sox win one for Chicago, blah, blah, blah …

Here’s a few baseball stories I’ve read over the last couple weeks and really liked. Enjoy.
a Jim Donaldson: Manny's huge talent makes flaky part more palatable ( ... I love Manny)
a Brewers no longer losers (… my butt. Sure they were more exciting to watch this year than they have been in YEARS! … but 81-81 DOES NOT qualify for a winning record).
a As a supervillain, Bonds better than ever (…OK. So his knee didn’t crumble like a cupcake. And I still don’t think it’s right for him to be on the heels of Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron … but he sure showed he can still hit.)
a Yankees have lost their direction ( … I stumbled across this 2-year-old story a couple weeks ago, but it’s still so true. I hate the Yankees.)
a Pitching for Glory
a Baseball focus of Senate hearing (… Why the heck is it so hard for the Union to accept Bud Selig’s proposal!? … I bet Don Fehr is a Yankees fan, that’s why.)

Vacation 2005!

Weeeeeeeeeeee'rrrrree Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

In perhaps one of the most spontaneous moves kates and I have pulled, we left on our road trip to Ohio one day early, deciding at about 1:30 p.m. last Tuesday that we should go camping for a couple nights before getting to Ohio on Thursday ... we had contemplated going to the zoo, but backed off because of the afternoon heat. Then Kates brought up an earlier notion of going camping. I made a quick call out to Indiana Dunes, they said we had a good chance at getting a site that night, I looked at Kates and said 'you go shopping, I'll pack the car, we can be out of here by 4:30' ... and that's exactly what we did!

We made the trek through downtown Chicago's rush-hour traffic, zipped over the Indiana (AKA: the armpit of America) border and pulled into Indiana Dunes State Park a little after 7 p.m.

I'll give you the rest in pictures ...

We were up at 6 AM on Wednesday (not by design!), ate a quick breakfast and took a hike! Imagine the Rocky Mountains covered in sand and you have Indiana Dunes.

... And the trail leads to Lake Michigan. MUCH better than the ocean, if you ask me.

... Another view of the Dunes.

We barely got in our dinner before some good thunderstorms rolled in, canceled our campfire and forced us into our tent for the evening. We survived though, packed up Thursday morning and were on the road by mid-morning.

We arrived in good 'ol Toledo late Thursday afternoon and were in Detroit a couple hours later for the Tigers-Twins game.

My stadium review: LOTS to look at! A fantastic fan experience that features a carousel and food court behind home plate, wonderful statues in left field and kiosks with Tigers history throughout the stadium ... but the food and souvenirs are pretty dang expensive compared to other stadiums I've visited ...

... We spent Friday at the Toledo Zoo. If you see one zoo, you've seen 'em all ... until you've seen this hippo!

... On Saturday, we were in Cleveland. Saw the outside of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame (didn't have enough time to go in ...) and spent some time on the Lake Erie harbor before heading over to Jacobs Field for the Indians-Mariners game! A dream come true.

From the day it opened in '94 and through watching those great Indians teams of the '90s, I had long wanted to visit this stadium. It was everything I had seen in pictures and imagined. Yet, sadly, compared to the standards of Comerica, this stadium already seemed dated ... On the other hand, the food and souvenirs weren't nearly as pricy. Plus it was cap day!

After thaaaaaaaaaaat...

We loaded up the car Sunday morning in the Toledo rain and drove through monsoons to reach the Indiana border (AKA: the armpit of America), made a couple stops for food and gas, battled traffic in downtown Chicago and arrived at our doorstep about seven hours later ...

... and already planning for vacation 2006!