Oh I wore shorts today... And yesterday when I cut the grass.. But today is better because I'm on campus and I woke up this morning and it looked like it was mid-afternoon. And now the weather is just perfect.

It isn't too hot, but it isn't cold.. The wind is just right.. It's a gentle breeze and I can wear shorts.

Not khakis either.. My nice comfortable Adidas shorts.

Weather is good.. Now don't screw it up Betsy Kling.

If there is one thing you can say about ALL of the starts from Aaron Laffey... It's that they've kept his team in the game. And seeing as how this staff has had trouble of doing that.. Those starts have been a bit of a godsend.
"With all of his starts, he's given us a great chance to win," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "That's all we can ask for and even more than we ask for. What you can ask for is a good chance to win the game, and he's been giving us an excellent chance to win those ball games." Wedge said he did put himself into jams, but he's good about getting out of them with the double play ball and Wedge admitted that Laffey was getting kind of tired towards the end.

The real story was Tony Sipp though and Wedge praised him to no end. "Tony Sipp really, really picked us up today," Wedge said. "You can't be in a tighter situation, later innings with those hitters coming up. Just did an outstanding job." How can you not be happy to see what he did? He came in and struck out a AL MVP with the bases loaded and one out. Then he struck out one of the hottest hitters in the game right now. Laffey said it was a "Welcome to the Big League" moment. Sipp knew the situation he was in and all he did was focus.

"I really just tried to stay within myself," Sipp said. "I've got enough pressure there, and facing Morneau doesn't help the situation."

"Hopefully, I'm building something for myself here," Sipp said. "But if you look at it, it's just two innings and nothing more."

Oh but don't mistake anything about it. Sipp knew what he was getting into.
"I was about as comfortable as you can get given the circumstances," Sipp said. "I knew what was at stake. I knew it was a lot different than the Kansas City game."Sipp was also happy to keep the win up for Laffey, who he's gone through the system with.

Then there is Masa Kobayashi.. Who is just looking for a spot. Wedge thinks he can use him everywhere... Masa knows this, but he's still trying to adjust.

"With our bullpen, it's tough to put people in specific roles," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "Masa's role, for me, is that every time we go out, he's pitched everywhere -- way early, way late. Regardless of what I need, he can fill that role for us."

"When I signed my contract with the Indians, I knew I wasn't going to be the closer, and I knew I had to prepare to pitch the seventh, eighth or ninth. It wasn't something new that popped up.

"In Japan, I was the ninth-inning closer, so it was easier for me to prepare. From the seventh inning on, I would be up in the bullpen to warm up, then as the game went on, I was getting ready for the ninth."

One thing Masa would not do is blame cultural reasons... Masa is a great guy though. He just needs to step up everytime he gets out because... honestly he's on the shortest leash of all the relief pitchers now. There is Vinnie Chulk, but if Masa just gets bad, he will be gone in one shape or way.

Overall going back to Sunday though.. Wedge was happy with the offense yesterday than on Saturday. He said the team worked a little harder offensively in their at-bats.

Peralta is one of those guys, and Tribe Third Base Coach (Not hitting coach as the article points out), said the thing Wedge said Peralta and the Indians did a bit more of. "Right now, we need to continue grinding it out and doing the things we need to do, throughout the course of the whole game," Skinner said. "There are times when you can just pick things apart. We do these things every day. You need to try to win the first inning and go from there."Can you argue with that philosophy? They won the first inning this game and they won the game. That's how the Twins do it, that's how it should be done.

This scuffling though... It prompted a change.

One change was Asdrubal Cabrera being thrown up to the top of the lineup, and paired with his defense, Wedge has nothing but good things to say about the youngster. Oh and this move is more than one a time thing, it might be the official point where he takes over if he keeps hitting well.
"That's the level you want to see him play at," Wedge said. "He was outstanding for us in the two-hole in '07. He'll be there [Monday]."And now we turn our focus to the Red Sox on Monday.. And Cliff Lee facing his favorite team.

When it comes to RBI Baseball that is.
"Then, I'm a Red Sox guy," said Lee, referring to the classic Nintendo game. Lee, Kerry Wood, and Victor Martinez do a lot of RBI Baseball. Lee says Victor is the champ, and that he's beat Wood just about every time they've played minus once.

Other than that, this really doesn't have anything to do with the series this week.

Cliff is pitching much better though and doing a better job, more towards what he did last year, rather than what he did in the first few games.