Call it beginner's luck, call it the scouts not having had enough time to watch him, call it what you want, but Ben Francisco is on a tear. He was 5-for-6 Wednesday to raise his average to .343 on the season. Wherever the ball has been thrown, he's hit it, and usually hit it hard. Francisco has been a fixture in the lineup and will remain so as long as he's hitting. Amazing stat check: He already leads the Indians in doubles (13) despite having played in only half of the team's games.Nice to see as well: Ryan Garko's 4-for-5, 6 RBI performance. He's bumped his average up to .260. Garko needs to continue his strong hitting for the Indians' offense to shift into high gear. And give David Dellucci credit. He had two more hits Wednesday, including his sixth home run, and he now has more RBIs this season (22) than Victor Martinez (20).
Speaking of RBIs, Casey Blake has managed to knock in 37 runs to lead the team, despite his low batting average. He's on a pace to drive in 100 runs, something he's never done in his career.
And what to make of Cliff Lee? The lefthander raised his season record to 9-1, while his ERA rose right with it, to 2.45. To be fair, Rangers Ballpark is a hitter's paradise, and Lee got knocked around for six runs before exiting after six, but still got the win. Over time, hitters adjust, too, so scouts are no doubt getting a line on Lee and forwarding it to their coaching staffs. It was nice to see Lee get the run support he needed Wednesday night after all the times he's bailed his teammates out this season. Here's hoping C.C. Sabathia gets the same tonight in the final game of the series.
Red Wings do it again...
A tip of the cap to the Detroit Red Wings, who defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 Wednesday night to capture their fourth Stanley Cup title in 11 seasons, and their first since 2002. They jumped out to an early lead and held off a furious Pittsburgh rally as time ran out.But what a rally it was. Marion Hossa's power play goal with 1:27 remaining pulled the Penguins within one. Pittsburgh had already pulled Game 5 hero Marc-Andre Fleury from the net to create a 6-4 skating advantage, and they put on one last, furious attack to try to tie the game up as the seconds ticked away. Sidney Crosby's last second backhand attempt was deflected wide by Detroit goalie Chris Osgood, and Hossa's desperation attempt to tip it in trickled harmlessly across the crease as the horn sounded.
It was great theater, and a fitting end to a hard-fought, well-played series. The Penguins are young and likely to compete for the crown again next year. In the meantime, congratulations to the Red Wings, winners of the Stanley Cup for the eleventh time in franchise history.
2 comments:
It's good to see some more hits. But this is against the Rangers after all. High school teams could hit against the Rangers. It's good to get things going but they need to do it against good teams.
Thankfully it is a long season. The Indians are starting to hit. Hopefully the starting pitchers can stay healthy. Sabathia needs to step it up. I hope the Cy Young wasn't his undoing. Beckett was clearly the best pitcher in the AL last year, anyway. CC hasn't been the same this year. He needs to forget about his contract and pitch.
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