Blake Breaks Out Big Stick; Escobar Beaches Marlins

Players of the Day from Monday, June 2, 2008 American League Casey Blake had the game of his life in just three innings. Blake hit two-run homers in the 2nd and 3rd innings, then stroked a bases-loaded double in the 4th, driving in a total of 7 runs as Cleveland outlasted the Rangers in a 13-9 slugfest on Monday. Blake a .236 hitter, isn't known for outstanding power, but he came up at the right times for the Tribe, still desperately chasing the White Sox and Twins in the AL Central. The Sox are 4 1/2 ahead of Cleveland, with the Twins just 1/2-game off the lead.

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Notes: While the Indians won the game at Arlington, Texas, they couldn't stop three of the hottest hitters in the league. Second baseman Ian Kinsler extended his hitting streak to 17 games. His double-play partner, shortstop Michael Young, has an 18-game streak going. Josh Hamilton, looking like a lock for AL MVP, hit his 16th home run, drove in a pair of runs to give him 65 and went 2-for-4 to raise his batting average to .331. Hamilton is truly on a triple crown pace, as all of his numbers lead the league. National League On the Atlanta Braves, game-winning, home run heroics are usually the province of Mark Teixeira, Jeff Francoeur or Chipper Jones, but 2nd-year shortstop Yunel Escobar took matters into his own hands, rapping a 10th inning, 2-run blast to give the Braves a 7-5, extra-inning win over division rival Florida. Escobar, a native of Havana, Cuba, singled twice earlier in the game, scored a run in the 3rd and drove in another in the 8th, going 3-for-5 with 2 runs and 3 RBI overall, raising his batting average to .301 in the process. Notes: The Braves' win increased Philly's cushion over the Marlins to 1 1/2 games, as the Phillies beat the Reds, 5-4. Atlanta is 3 1/2 back... It's June, and Chipper Jones is still batting over .400. He went 2-for-4 on Monday to lift his average to .407... the Cubs have gotten red-hot, winning 8 straight and increasing their lead over St. Louis to 3 1/2 games. That's the same margin by which the D-Backs lead the Dodgers in the West.

Grand Slammers: Blake Bombs Royals, Cedeno Crashes Mets

Players of the Day for Tuesday, April 22, 2008 American League The Cleveland Indians didn't get off to a very good start this season (8-12), and are probably a little bit irked at looking up at the Royals in the standings. On Tuesday night, Casey Blake decided to do something about it, going 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles, a single and a grand slam home run, good for 6 RBI, as the Indians pounded Kansas City, 15-1. Cleveland rapped out 17 hits against starter Gil Meche and four relievers and are just a game behind the Royals, who have lost five straight. Notes: Boston keeps on winning, beating the Angels last night, 7-6, for their 6th straight. Texas lost their 5th in a row, a 10-2 beating at the hands of the Detroit Tigers. National League Usually light-hitting Ronnie Cedeno broke out the good wood and doubling in a run in the 4th inning and smacking a grand slam in the eighth to lead the Cubs to their second straight over the Mets, 8-1, extending their NL Central lead to 1 1/2 games over St. Louis.

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Cedeno, a career .251 hitter with a total of 11 home runs before Tuesday's blast, took a Jorge Sosa offering out of the park in left field for his first long ball of the season. Notes: The Cubs have won five straight, the longest current win streak in the National League. In the Western division, Arizona continues to run away from the rest, winning their 15th against 5 losses last night with a 5-4 victory at San Francisco. The other teams in the division - Colorado, San Diego and Los Angeles - all lost, leaving the D-Backs with a comfy 6-game bulge.

ALCS: Indians grab 3-1 lead over BoSox

Cleveland 7 Boston 3 - Josh Beckett probably could have started game 4 on three day's rest, but Boston Manager Terry Francona was adamant that the starter would be knuckler Tim Wakefield, and for four innings he looked like a genius. But in the fifth inning, the wheels came off. Casey Blake (left) homered on a high, floating delivery from Wakefield to lead off the inning and the Indians just kept coming, eventually scoring 7 runs in the frame off Wakefield and reliever Manny Delcarmen. Blake started the scoring and ended it as well, with a bloop single to center that plated Kenny Lofton, who singled and stole second base, making him the all-time postseason leader in steals with 34, passing Rickey Henderson. In between Blake's RBIs, the Indians scored five more runs, highlighted by Jhonny Peralta's three-run shot to right, his second three-run homer of the series. With the Indians ahead, 7-0, the Red Sox finally got to Cleveland starter Paul Byrd in the top of the 6th. Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz hit back-to-back homers off Byrd, sending him to the showers. Manny Ramirez greeted reliever Jensen Lewis with a blast to right center for the third Boston score, but Lewis settled down and only allowed one hit after that. Rafael Betancourt, who has been nothing short of fantastic for the Indians, pitched two perfect innings in the 8th and 9th to seal the victory and leave Boston on the brink of elimination. The middle reliever has worked 5 1/3 innings between games 2, 3, and 4, allowing just 3 hits and no earned runs.

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Byrd took the win - his second of the postseason - surrendering 6 hits and 2 earned runs over 5 innings while fanning 4. The series takes a respite on Wednesday, resuming for game five on Thursday night at 8:00 pm. Boston will get their ace, Josh Beckett, on the mound, to face Cleveland hurler C.C. Sabathia. Cleveland will try to win their 4th straight over Boston after dropping a 10-3 decision in the series opener. The Indians' last trip to the World Series was in 1997, when they lost to the Florida Marlins and as young Josh Beckett. The last time the Indians won the fall classic was 1948. The Colorado Rockies, who wrapped up the National League pennant on Monday, await.

Indians down Detroit in 11; Howard Power Raises Hope in Philly

American League Detroit 5 Cleveland 6, 11 innings - Casey Blake's solo homer in the bottom of the 11th finished off a come-from-behind victory for the Indians over 2nd place Detroit, reducing Cleveland's magic number to 7 and reestablishing a 5 1/2 game lead over the Tigers. The win came on the opener of a 3-game series with the Tigers, the final meeting between the two top teams in the AL Central. Baltimore 5 NY Yankees 8 - Hideki Matsui hit his 24th home run, a solo shot in the 3rd inning that gave the Yankees the lead for good as New York closed to within 3 1/2 games of first place Boston in the East. The Yankees also opened up a 3 1/2 game lead on Detroit in the wild card race as the Tigers fell at Cleveland. Tampa Bay 7 LA Angels 10 - Chone Figgins (right) spearheaded an 18-hit onslaught by the Angels with a triple and two singles in five at-bats as the Angles reduced their magic number to 5. Figgins, who usually bats leadoff in the lineup, drove in a pair of runs and boosted his batting average to .347 over 105 games, a career high. Other AL Scores Boston 1 Toronto 6 Chi White Sox 11 Kansas City 3 Texas 4 Minnesota 5 Seattle 4 Oakland 0 National League Philadelphia 13 St. Louis 11 - Ryan Howard (right) blasted his 39th and 40th home runs of the season, the latter a grand slam, and drove in five runs as the Phillies nearly blew an 11-run lead but held on for the win. With the Mets losing at Washington, Philly is now just 2 1/2 games behind the NL East leaders, with less than a dozen games left in the regular season. While the Mets were losing their 4th straight, the Phillies are on a 5-game win streak and remain 1 1/2 back of San Diego in the wild card race. Pittsburgh 0 San Diego 3 - The Padres amped up the pressure on Arizona in the West, as rookie Jack Cassel got his first major league win, scattering 8 hits over 6 innings in just his second career start. The Padres are just one game behind the Diamondbacks. Both teams have 67 losses, but Arizona has played two more games than the Padres. The D-Backs have 11 games left to play, San Diego has 13 remaining. Milwaukee 6 Houston 0 - Rookie Yovani Gallardo (9-4) blanked the Astros on 7 hits over 8 innings, keeping pace with the Cubs, who lead the Brewers by one game in the Central division. The Cubs have a bit of an upper hand in the division, as they have already played two more games than the Brewers and have a lighter schedule down the stretch. As in the West, both teams have identical numbers in the loss column, 72. Other NL Scores Florida 6 Atlanta 11 NY Mets 4 Washington 12 Cincinnati 6 Chi Cubs 7 San Francisco 8 Arizona 5