Morning Rundown: Z-Mac Beats Birds to Stop Losing Skid

I know I want Johnny Damon playing every game of this one though. He's played more than a half season worth of games in Baltimore and has 22 home runs and a .313 average. He loves Camden Yards and his home run really set the tone. Maybe it was all they needed to relax and let everything else come out, because after the first home run, the hits came.

And ultimately, it's just great to get those hits and see this team get out of its funk.

Now let's just make sure this keeps up.

In addition to his solo shot, Choo walked and scored on the night, and Asdrubal Cabrera had another hit with the home run. But the line of the night belongs to Michael Brantely, who scored just once, but was on base twice with a pair of hits and a pair of walks. His double really set the stage for Damon to hit the bomb.

Even Duncan was on base twice on the night, so overall. It was a nice night of offensive production. And look, it was against a left-handed pitcher. Anthony Castrovince pointed out a real eye-opening number concerning the Tribe's offense against left-handed hitters. A collective .624 OPS against left-handed starters and last night was just the sixth win over a lefty. 

So win one for the lefty.

Perhaps the lefty was a reason to also get Lou Marson in there, who was 1-for-3 with a walk too. He's just so good against the lefties.

Great bullpen work. Esmil Rogers has been semi-reliable since coming over to the Indians. He struck out three in two shutout innings with no baserunners in the final two frames. He's given up two runs since coming over, but this outing was perhaps his best yet. A real solid two innings of work. If we can get more of that, Rogers will be a decent arm. More is needed to be seen though.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

Castrovince's post that included the note about lefties was really all about how the Indians just seemed to be an average team. Hey, the numbers are there. Maybe he is right. Sure they're in second, but look at the division, it's very, uh, messy.

You can just look at a division like the AL East, where everyone is playing well above .500 and know that even though a team like Tampa is in third, they're pretty good.

There's the hitting left-handed pitching issue, which was not an issue last night. But perhaps the thing that Castro pointed out that registered with me, but never registered enough to bring up in the past was that the Indians seem to be rotating their starters. We had Derek Lowe and Jeanmar Gomez pitching well early. Now it's Ubaldo and Masterson pitching well with everyone else struggling.

At all times, the Indians haven't had more than two starters pitching well. Just imagine if they could get just four starters pitching well at the same time. A team that is just right there, not having lost many games in a row, could probably thrive. Offensive support be damned, a little more consistency and we're talking.

It's also bad when Aaron Cunningham, although a backup, has a lower OPS than a starting pitcher in the National League (Cliff Lee).

There's a point in the year when every team, whether they are average or not, has that moment that the media likes to make a big deal about. If things tick upwards after it, then it's attributed as having made a difference for the the better. Manny Acta held a 'closed-door' meeting with his team prior to the game. It wasn't sending a message, but rather of the "morale boost" type of get-together.

"It was just basically to talk to the guys," Acta said, "and make sure they know it's a very long season, a roller coaster where you go up and down -- how just a week ago when we left Cleveland we were sitting pretty in first place and then a week later you go through a struggle and you're where you're at. It's about staying positive, sticking together and just making sure you do what you're supposed to do and not panic and try to do too much."

Of course after the out-break offensively, as I said, a lot of people will credit the meeting, but we all know it is really not anything of the kind. This ballpark is one to hit at, you know how it all goes. It's nice that Acta was proactive about this, but not dramatic. He did it at a point that the team probably needed a little pep talk with them having their longest losing streak of the season and a considerably rough stretch offensively. Let's just not go making a big deal about it though.

Carlos Santana's absence from the lineup has more to do with the convenience of just giving him a night off than it does from his "rib-cage strain" or whatever it was reasoned for taking him out on Wednesday. Santana said it was nice to take a day and relax. He tested well following the removal, but it was just a decision to give him a full day and see how he is is progressing tomorrow.

"We feel that if he has to play, he could play, but we just want to give him the day off."

It's probably more of one of those "let's just play it safe, you're struggling anyway, so just take a day" types of days off. I'd expect him to be right back there on Friday and with the offense taking off a bit, who knows, maybe he'll catch the fever. Castrovince also pointed out that Santana's numbers have been rather lackluster and that "his continual decline is jarring and unacceptable" and he couldn't be more correct. Santana's .177 road average is disgusting.

We could also see Travis Hafner return to the lineup very soon. As the Indians return from their road trip to Cleveland on Monday, they could be joined by Pronk as he finishes up a quick rehab stint. Acta says that him doing that is realistic if he feels alright. Reports from the first start were good, but Hafner was not in the lineup on Thursday, so you have to imagine he'll be starting tonight at least.

Meanwhile, there is still some uncertainty as to when Rafael Perez will actually return from his injury. Acta says in regards to Perez that you don't know how much you miss someone until they are not there. Of course with the struggles of Tony Sipp and Nick Hagadone's latest inconsistency, it is kind of a big link that is missing right now.

"He's a very durable guy who has done a very good job for us," Acta said of Perez. "I think we have been able to notice missing him more because of the struggles Tony has had. He was a guy that when he was here, and either one of them were struggling, we could lean on the other guy up until the other guy came out of it."

So, yeah... There's no update though on the status of Perez's program and where he is on coming back to pitch. So we continue to wait.

With the College World Series done, Nick Hamilton is free to think about the future and he decided to start the future with the Cleveland Indians after he signed on. Father Tom now gets to follow his son through the system of the team he works for. Awesome.

[TIGER WATCH]

It was a successful night in the AL Central overall as the top three in the Central matched up against the top three in the AL East. The first place teams battled in New York, second place in Baltimore, and third place in Tampa.

Of course the Indians won, but unfortunately their division-mates also won both of their games. The Tigers jumped out early and didn't look back as they got the good Max Scherzer, who struck out seven rays. The White Sox were dead in the water, down 3-1 heading into the ninth and David Robertson coughed one up. Rios and Escobar reached base and Dayan Viciedo clubbed a three-run shot that stunned the Bombers in New York... Ouch. 

The standings remain the same.

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