Anytime that Jim Leyland gives Justin Verlander the ball to pitch against the Tribe, the 30 year-old Old Dominion product is going to be a large part of the story.  Last time out, the Indians knocked the former Cy Young and MVP around for five innings, spraying 10 hits for 5 runs in 5 innings, despite 9 strike three pitches from Verlander in an 11-7 loss at Progressive Field on May 22nd.  The Indians would have no such luck this time around, with Detroit's ace pitching to form this time around, but it would be the Tigers 35 year-old closer, signed off the couch this spring, that made this 7-5 defeat more interesting than it should have been.

Being spotted a four-run lead, the once reliable Jose Valverde was in the advantageous position of counting outs in the ninth inning on Friday night at Comerica Park.  After Joaquin Benoit cruised through the 3, 4, and 5 spots in Terry Francona's lineup, not allowing a ball to be hit out of the infield, Valverde aka Papa Grande got the ball with the task of not allowing the Indians to notch more runs than outs in the visitor's half of the inning.

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It was one of the strangest streaks in baseball, but it went on for all or part of six seasons and included four consecutive years of the Tampa chapter of Major League Baseball being swept in 4-game series at the Carnegie and Ontario in Cleveland.  The streak last so long that a few Indians became Rays, Rays became Indians, and the Devil Rays were re-branded to just being the “Rays”. Of course, from an Indians perspective, no game in the 18-game home winning streak over the Rays was as interesting as the one played on Memorial Day in 2009.

As much as it may disappoint the die-hards, I’m not in front of the TV or at the ballpark for every inning of the 162-game schedule, and I tuned into the contest on May 25, 2009 very late in the day, so late that I wasn’t sure the game with a 6:06 first pitch would still be going.  At first glimpse, I didn’t like what I saw from my 17-28 ball club, but that was par for the course from a team that started 1-7 and never reached the .500 mark.  Despite the 10-2 score, I stayed tuned in to Sportstime Ohio.

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Indians fans are well aware of the greatness of a Tom Hamilton home run call. There’s nothing quite like Hammy’s dulcet tones when Mark Reynolds or Carlos Santana get all of a baseball and send it flying deep into the seats. It’s not just the home run calls that make Hamilton special. It’s any walk-off call. Any diatribe about incompetent umpires. Any backhanded compliment about an opposing player. Countless times we’ve laughed, cried, and celebrated with the voice of the Indians. And countless times we’ve wished we were at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario when the man behind the microphone exploded with emotion.

One of Hamilton’s many gifts is to paint a perfect picture of what we cannot see. From his descriptions of both teams’ uniforms and the ballpark dimensions to his actual play-by-play, we can visualize the field. We can feel the sun beaming down during a day game or the cool evening breeze. We can picture ourselves yelling at the umpire for the blown call that Hamilton just described.

Tom Hamilton is a gift that Indians fans want to share with the rest of the world or simply a gift that we want to open over and over again. If something big happens during a game that I’m at, I rush to the car to hear the postgame highlights just to hear how Hamilton called it. I know I’m not alone.

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Write your own introduction from this one. I got no words left.

INDIANS - 4 | YANKEES - 7

W: Shawn Kelley (3-0)

L: Justin Masterson (8-4)

S: Mariano Rivera (20)

[BOXSCORE]

Perhaps because I've become exhausted trying to figure Justin Masterson out.

Look, I love the guy, I want him on my staff, but it has become incredibly clear that the Indians need a guy ahead of him. He has been ace-like this year, but he has also been, crud-like. In the instance of last night against the Yankees.

Which tells me that if he were the number two in this rotation. Man, he'd be one of the best number two-pitchers in the entire game. To have eight wins? To be ranked where he is ranked in all the major categories among major league starters.

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