No one is confusing these Chicago White Sox with the 1927 Yankees, the '95 Indians, or even the 2005 chapter of the Pale Hose that won a World Champion, but Terry Francona and the Tribe will take 3 wins to open a 4 game series anytime they can get it.  It has become par for the course in this series at US Cellular, but Saturday's 4-3 victory over their division rival was of the come-from-behind variety, like all of the others.

For the second straight game, it was Nick Swisher providing the final heroics, but the hot topic revolving around the Indians right now is Chicago native Jason Kipnis.  The former Arizona State outfielder went two-for-three on Saturday to raise his average to .299 on the year.  It was Kipnis's single up the middle that put Asdrubal Cabrera into scoring position for Swisher with the game tied in the eighth.

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It was brought to my attention by a follower on Twitter that the Indians started June in a rough way. After winning their first game, they dropped eight straight. Then the series against the Rangers turned around, and so did the month. After starting 1-8, they ended 14-5. Overall it looks average with a 15-13 record. But it's slightly above .500, and where the Indians sit right now is more than slightly over .500.

But guess what? They're also sharing first place as the calendar flips over to July. Three months down, three more to go. Halfway through and the Indians are in this thing. Not just in it, but in it. June Swoon? How about a June Boom.

INDIANS - 4 | WHITE SOX - 0

W: Justin Masterson (4-0)

L: Chris Sale (5-7)

[BOXSCORE]

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The Indians beat the Orioles in the opener of their series behind the strong hitting of Mike Brantley and the reticulated pitching of Ubaldo Jimenez.  In today’s B-List, Buff admits that “reticulated” is not actually an adjective that describes pitching, but he is not entirely sure that the standard adjectives apply to Ubaldo Jimenez’ pitching.  Or that Ubaldo Jimenez’ actions actually constitute pitching.  Basically, Buff doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.  Read the column anyway.  It’s better than depending on Rich Hill.

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When trades are completed, it’s not very often that the player to be named later winds up being the best player a team receives. That is the result of the CC Sabathia trade in 2008 to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Indians received Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson and a player to be named later.

A lot of things fell into place for the Indians with that fourth piece of the trade. The trade stipulated that if the Brewers made the playoffs, the Indians could pick the player. If the Brewers missed the playoffs, they would decide who to send to the Indians. The speculation of who was on the list includes names like Jonathan Lucroy, Taylor Green, Mat Gamel, and Michael Brantley, a light-hitting outfielder in Double-A Huntsville. With Sabathia’s help on the final day of the season, the Brewers beat out the Mets for the wild card spot by one game. The Indians, as we all know, chose Michael Brantley as the PTBNL. Lucroy has been solid, but Green and Gamel have not amounted to much of anything.

If you’re looking for a reason why the Indians have been mostly irrelevant since 2007, you can look back at this trade as a big reason why. Matt LaPorta (note how he has three A’s in his name – ironic, no?) never panned out, battling injuries and the inability to hit a slider. Rob Bryson is still toiling in the Indians minor league system. Zach Jackson managed -0.6 WAR in 63.1 innings with the Indians, was traded to Toronto, and has never been heard from again.

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