I'll be watching that Tyler Clippard vs Adam Miller matchup in game 1 of the Eastern League finals. Both these guys can make up for a lot of things this year with a big game there.

Hello acerimusdux, thanks for providing all this great info. - greatly appreciated!  :-)

Like I said, I thought I heard it wrong when SportsTime Ohio mentioned the playoff schedule; does anyone know why Akron gets home-field advantage for 3 games and Trenton only 2?  Just curious.

Speaking of the game itself, Akron has just tied up Trenton 2-2 in the 5th (Akron scored in the 1st & 5th; Trenton scored 2 in the 3rd, one of those unearned, as Adam Miller made a throwing error on a groundball that he made a play on, with runners going to 1B and 2B - I presume he went to 1B and made a bad throw, which allowed runners to move to 2B and 3B.)

Quick stats so far (stats are overall playoff stats):

CF Trevor Crowe - 0-0, 2 R, 3 BB, 2 SB (both 2B) (.294)
1B Jordan Brown - 1-3 (.409)
DH Michael Aubrey - 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 K (.350)
LF Ryan Goleski - 1-2, 1 RBI (.211)
RF Stephen Head - 0-2 (.400)
C Matthew McBride - 1-2 (.500 - first playoff series; didn't play in the Erie series.)

RHP Adam Miller
4.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HB, 1 E (1-throw); 2 G/5 F (7.50)

Trenton:

CF Austin Jackson - 1-2, 2 RBI, 1 K (.286)

RHP Tyler Clippard - 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K; 1 G/8 F (3.60)

More later - stay tuned!  :-)

Take care and have a great day!

Indians (MLB) - defeated the White Sox 8-3; RHP Paul Byrd wins his 15th game with a pretty solid outing, outside of giving up 2 HRs to Juan Uribe on two hanging breaking pitches in the middle of the plate, netting all 3 White Sox runs:

W (15-6) - 6.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 HR (solo & 2-run to Uribe); 8 G/9 F; 63 S/33 B (4.34)

Ryan Garko hit his 18th HR, a solo shot, off a hanging pitch from LHP John Danks, who didn't have good command (43 S/33 B - 2.2 IP/3 H/3 ER/4 BB/3 K, 1 HR; 3 G/1 F; 5.50 ERA.)  Neither did the White Sox bullpen, outside of LHP Heath Phillips; altogether, 10 walks were issued by White Sox pitchers:

4 BBs by LHP John Danks in 2.2 IP
2 BBs by RHP Lance Broadway in 2.2 IP
2 BBs by LHP Matt Thornton in 0.0 IP
2 BBs by RHP Mike MacDougal in 1.1 IP
0 BBs by LHP Heath Phillips in 2.1 IP

RHP Jensen Lewis and LHP Rafael Perez combined to get out of a couple of tough jams to thwart some late comeback attempts by the White Sox, as Lewis struck out 2 with runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out in the 7th and the Indians up 8-3.  After Aaron Fultz walked the first two hitters in the 8th, Perez came on, got Jim Thome to GIDP for 2 outs, then got Paul Konerko to line out to CF, stranding the runner at 3B.  He then had an uneventful 9th.

2B Asdrubal Cabrera came up with another clutch hit, a ground-rule 2B to CF in the 6th inning that gave the Indians a 4-3 lead.  That hit extended his hitting streak to 10 games.  The Indians also improved to 18-7 when Cabrera is in the starting lineup.

Sizemore, Hafner, Garko, and Gutierrez each had 2 hits.

The Indians increase their lead to 6.5 games in the AL Central and reduce their magic number to 11 as the Tigers split a DH with the Rangers, losing Game 1 13-7 (giving up 7 HRs,) while winning Game 2 4-1.

RHP Jake Westbrook vs. RHP Javier Vazquez at 2:05 P.M. EDT.

Onto the Minors:

AA Akron - lost Game 1 of their best-of-5 series with Trenton (NYY) 5-3 (stats are overall playoff stats):

CF Trevor Crowe - 0-2, 2 R, 3 BB, 1 K, 2 SB (4-2B) (.263)
1B Jordan Brown - 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI (.435 - HR #2, RBI #5.)
DH Michael Aubrey - 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 K (.333)
LF Ryan Goleski - 1-4, 1 RBI (.190)
RF Stephen Head - 0-4 (.364)
C Matthew McBride - 1-4, 1 K (.250)
2B Argenis Reyes - 2-4 (.412)

RHP Adam Miller - 4.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 E (1-throw to 1B on a groundball back to him, which moved runners up to 2B and 3B, where they eventually scored on an Austin Jackson base hit,) 1 HB; 2 G/5 F (7.50 - presumably, he was on a pitch count.  Outside of the throwing error, really didn't pitch badly; the 0 BB/5 K was good to see.)
RHP Jeff Stevens - 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 K, 1 HB; 2 G (0.00 - another solid outing for the PTBNL in the Brandon Phillips deal.)
LHP Ryan Edell - L (0-1) 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K; 1 G/1 F (10.80 - AA debut; his line is a little deceiving as it was really a nice debut, as both RHP Randy Newsom and LHP Rich Rundles allowed the IR to come in and score.  The really nice thing to see from Edell, who had a very solid year at High-A Kinston, especially out of the bullpen, was the 0 BB/3 K in 1.2 IP; he gave up some hits, but that should be expected from someone making his AA debut, so overall, really not that bad an outing by the 24-YO, 6'1" 215 lb. 8th-Rd. 2005 pick out of the College of Charleston.)
RHP Michael Finocchi - 1.0 IP, 1 BB, 1 K; 1 G/1 F (3.00 - "1s" are wild; rare to see a flyout from him, as his GO/FO ratio this year was 2.00 GO/AO at AA and 4.00 GO/AO at High-A, after being 3.80 GO/AO at High-A and 3.63 GO/AO at Low-A in 2006.)

Trenton:
CF Austin Jackson - 2-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 K (.304)

RHP Tyler Clippard - 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K; 1 G/8 F (3.60 - control was a bit of an issue for him, as evidenced by the 4 BB in 5 IP, though he kept the H/IP in check and had a strong K/IP.)
RHP Justin Pope - S (2) - 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 K; 2 F (0.00)

Trenton leads the best-of-5 1-0; Game 2 of the best-of-5 is Wednesday night at 7:05 P.M. - as mentioned above:  LHP Chuck Lofgren vs. LHP Chase Wright.

Take care and have a great day!