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Casey Blake got off to a slow start, and so did the Cleveland Indians.

With the third baseman showing signs of emerging from his early-season funk, the Indians hope to do the same.

Blake and the Indians go for their season-high third straight win on Saturday when they continue their three-game series against the AL Central rival Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome.

Blake entered this series batting .152 with no home runs and seven RBIs through 14 games, but raised his average 28 points and hit his first homer of the year to lead the Indians (7-10) to a 4-0 victory Friday night.

“I feel like I am (heating up),” Blake said after delivering two of the team’s five hits Friday. “It’s still the early going here and this game is about making adjustments. It’s about confidence and I’m starting to gain some confidence now.”
Series at a Glance

1.
Cleveland 4
Minnesota 0
Fri, Apr 18 - Final
2.
Cleveland at
Minnesota
Sat, Apr 19 - 3:55 pm ET
3.
Cleveland at
Minnesota
Sun, Apr 20 - 2:10 pm ET

The same can be said for Cleveland, which has outscored opponents 15-1 in back-to-back wins after dropping six of its previous seven games and 10 of 15 overall to start the season.

Minnesota (7-10) appears to be headed in the opposite direction. The Twins have been outscored 11-3 in consecutive losses and have dropped five of six after winning five of their previous seven.

To get back on track, they may need to stop Blake, a familiar face at the Metrodome. Blake, who played parts of three seasons with the Twins early in his career from 2000-02, is batting .318 against his former club since the beginning of the 2006 season, and is 7-for-13 in his last three games in Minneapolis.

“I think it is just being somewhat comfortable here,” Blake told the Indians’ official Web site Friday. “I am comfortable with the guys I am playing against, I know a lot of them. That might have something to do with it.”

Blake’s success against his former team has helped Cleveland win five straight road games against Minnesota and nine of 11 at the Metrodome since Aug. 17, 2006.

The Indians have a good shot at continuing their success against their division rivals with Paul Byrd (0-2, 6.08 ERA) taking the mound. The veteran right-hander is 10-3 with a 3.64 ERA lifetime against the Twins, including 6-1 with a 2.11 ERA in nine career starts at the Metrodome.

He was 4-0 with a 3.41 in the 2007 season series.

In his last outing, Byrd held Boston to one unearned run in six innings on Tuesday, leaving with a 2-1 lead. The Cleveland bullpen, however, gave up four runs in three innings as the Indians fell 5-3 to remain winless in Byrd’s first three starts.

Minnesota starter Scott Baker (2-0, 4.34) also left his last outing with a lead, but didn’t get a decision as Minnesota lost 6-5 to Detroit on Tuesday. He gave up three runs in seven innings.

Baker will need to do a better job avoiding the home run ball, as opposing hitters have taken him deep six times in his last two starts.

The right-hander is 2-4 with a 4.35 ERA in seven career starts against the Indians.

Let's go Tribe!!

INNEAPOLIS -- Indians manager Eric Wedge is taking a wait-and-see approach before he characterizes what kind of pitcher Nick Blackburn of the Twins is.

The Indians will face Blackburn, who has pitched well this season despite an 0-1 record, Saturday. Wedge said he doesn't know a lot about the Minnesota rookie.

"I don't know, it's too early to tell," Wedge said. "I don't like to label or give too much insight before we face a guy, but I'm sure we will have our work cut out for us."

The Indians are looking for their first series win since taking two of three game from the White Sox to open the season. Cleveland is 5-10 in its last 15 games, but has won two straight after a 4-0 victory over the Twins on Friday. Cleveland received a strong pitching performance from Cliff Lee -- who pitched eight shutout innings -- in the series opener. The Indians hope Saturday's starter, Jake Westbrook, can duplicate that performance.

The Tribe has dominated the Twins as of late, winning eight straight against Minnesota -- including five straight at the Metrodome. Last year, the Indians went 14-4 against the Twins, including 7-2 in Minneapolis.

Pitching matchup
CLE: RHP Jake Westbrook (1-1, 2.38 ERA)
Westbrook continued his solid season with a quality start -- albeit a no-decision -- against the Red Sox on Monday. He went 6 1/3 innings, allowing just two runs (one earned) on seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts. While he got ahead and got some big ground-ball outs with his trusty sinker, he also had a nasty slider working. Westbrook is 7-8 with a 3.61 ERA in his career against the Twins and 1-6 with a 4.61 ERA in nine career appearances at the Metrodome.

MIN: RHP Nick Blackburn (0-1, 3.57 ERA)
After shutting down two potent offenses in the Angels and the White Sox, Blackburn appeared well on his way to doing the same against the Tigers in his most recent start. But in his final inning of work, the right-hander gave up four runs on four hits. Last season, Blackburn pitched twice in relief against Cleveland and gave up two runs over his four innings.

Tidbits
After being walked in the second inning of Cleveland 's 4-0 victory over the Twins on Friday, first baseman Ryan Garko has now reached base in every one of the Indians' 17 games this season. Garko is hitting .298 this season, with 17 hits, two home runs, 11 RBIs and 12 walks.

link

He pitched pretty good today with a shutout. He is gone and the Tribe blew a chance to score in the top of the 8th 3-0 Twinkees.

I agree, if you have your pitcher give up 3 runs, you should win if you're a true contender.

OMG The Tribe sucks They are going to lose 100 games this year. Everybody from the GM on down should be fired at once, and we should start all over again with a AAA roster. Then if we don't win the World Series next year they should all be fired again.















(insert heavy sarcasm) but at least I sound like some of the ( (*&$*&^()&*(_) posters around here

I know the Tribe will be fine. These ummm (low IQ posters) want to panick when the Tribe starts out 0-1 on the season.

Right. April isn't a good gauge of the year.Players use the early part to work things out. detroit sucking as bad as the did the first 10 games really helped the cause b/c I believe us and the Tigers will be going at it all year. You can't count out the White Sox too. They have a decent club this year. I wish their manager would be canned already though. I seriously can't stand the man.

I'm not sure if you and Lee are talking about me in the "low iq" "jumping off the ship" group, because I wouldn't say the world is coming to an end if the Tribe keeps playing like this for another month. I think this team will be good and about a month and a half into the season, we should start picking it up and taking it from there. April records don't mean much because you can lose all the games and still win 120 games. It's just disheartening to see Jake pitch so well and get no support. Plus he's on my fantasy team and I'd like the W.

Tell me about I feel bad for him too, he goes out there and he didn't have his best stuff today but he definetely got the job done today. It sure as hell wasn't his fault we didn't pull of a win today.

Come on offense, stop hitting pop-ups and grounding into double plays. It's so weird, everytime Dellucii gets up to bat I feel like the DP is coming, and Wham! there it is.

rebound?

ill take my bottom rotation over yours.

If we're too rebound, which we'll get better around .500, it's gonna be pure pitching.

This team cannot hit, we struggle with any pitcher that can throw any kind of off speed stuff. Mostly because we lack good hitters, we hammered Verlander, then go cold again and again. Today was pathetic....

I just hope Jake doesn't lose all confidence, the only way you can win a game is with a shutout. I agree with anyone who says we aren't as bad as we've shown, very true. C.C. will be better and win some more games.

But if you think this is a 90 win team your nuts, we don't have the bullpen or hitting to win that many games in such a difficult division. If for some reason Dolan would dish out the cash for trades then we have shot, we are a big bat and closer away.

April or not, you can compare the Indians with the other supposed good teams and see we are not as talented as those team like the Bostons, New yorks and LA Angels.

Just cuz we were great last year doesn't gurantee anything this year, on paper nobody would be picking us to be a serious contender. Last year we overachieved and we were grossly overated. I'll be very happy with an 80-85 win season. People will feel an 80 win season is failing but with the current talent i'd say thats pretty good.

The sad thing is this team will always be "one year away" you have to at some point either A. Get really lucky with young guys (Marlins a few years ago) or B. Spend money to fill the last few holes of your team, which will never happen as long as Dolan doesn't spend money.

I still can't beleive we are even competitve with the kind of budget Shap has to work with, man imagine him with a $150 million dollar payroll.

One of the major reasons why baseball is an inferior sport IMO:

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I still can't beleive we are even competitve with the kind of budget Shap has to work with, man imagine him with a $150 million dollar payroll.

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The parody in the NFL is perfect. Every team has a legitimate chance, as long as your owner's name isn't Mike Brown. I hate the fact that big market teams can basically go out and hand pick an All-Star team. Smaller budget teams have gotten there, but it's the same teams every year at the top, and there's a similar theme. They all have a lot more money than we do. It's a damn shame. It really is, because baseball is the classic American sport that has fallen behind others, like the NFL.

Borrowing the line from your post: """ One of the major reasons why baseball is an inferior sport IMO: """

IMO - baseball is an inferior sport because it is boring and morbid. I was stuck in a house yesterday with the Indians TV broadcast on in the background. OMG, how anyone could actually sit down and watch that mess is beyond me. I would have to be tied into a chair with shackles to actually sit and watch a baseball game in its entirety. Give me the NBA and the NFL any day !!!!

I love watching baseball or listening to it on the radio. It's a great game. Nothing morbid or boring about it. The NBA on the other hand.....boooooriiiinnnng.

I love watching baseball, but the Indians have to be the most boring team to watch right now.

Mostly because they suck right now and inspire absolutely zero faith that they can overcome even a single run deficit.

or hold on to a single run lead.