also, looks like greinke had another very good night

6ip, 2h, 2r, 3bb, 5k

jfish26101 - Thanks for the info. on White; I look forward to seeing what he can do next year with an offseason of rest, likely at Low-A Lake County.

Indians (MLB) - defeated the Twins 5-0; for the second time in a week, C.C. Sabathia outdueled Johan Santana:

Sabathia:

W (16-7) - 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 6 K; 12 G/6 F; 70 S/30 B (3.24)

Santana:

L (14-11) - 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR (solo to Garko on a hanging changeup); 6 G/10 F; 73 S/32 B (3.15)

Santana loses for the fifth time this year to the Indians, becoming the first Twins pitcher to lose 5 to one team since Joe Decker lost 5 times to the A's in 1974.  Santana also had one no-decision against the Indians.

Overall, Santana in his six starts against the Indians this season:

0-5, 1 no-decision (3 losses against Sabathia, 2 losses against Carmona.)
4.38 ERA
Just 8 runs of support by the Twins' offense in those 6 starts.

In today's start, besides the poor run support, two main problems for Santana in my opinion:

1. All 3 BBs came around to score.
   
2. Jason Bartlett's poor SS defense, as he committed an error on a potential double-play ball in the first inning, botched catching a relay throw from the OF that allowed Casey Blake to score in the second inning, and caught a ball that was on target to nail Victor Martinez at 3B when he attempted to reach 3B on a 1B to RF by Ryan Garko in the third inning.  The Indians scored on all three occasions after Bartlett's poor defensive plays; the botched DP most likely would have prevented the Indians from scoring in the 1st inning, not botching the relay throw probably keeps Blake at 3B in the 2nd inning, and throwing out Martinez at 3B in the 3rd inning probably would have prevented them from scoring there as well.  Bartlett now has 24 Es on the season.

The Indians' offense was able to provide support for C.C., as Lofton and Garko each had 2 hits, including Garko's 15th HR off a hanging Santana changeup.  Recently-recalled OF Ben Francisco had an RBI double off Santana.  The Indians also were very fundamentally sound, taking advantage of each Santana walk and all 3 Bartlett miscues to push a run across.

The Indians are now 6.0 games ahead of the Tigers, as the Tigers had the day off.  They host the White Sox at Comerica Park on Tuesday night at 7:05 P.M.

LHP Aaron Laffey vs. RHP Kevin Slowey at 8:10 P.M. on Tuesday night.

Onto the Minors (* - denotes team that has secured a postseason spot):

AAA Buffalo - lost to Rochester (MIN) 8-5 to finish their season at 75-67 and 3rd place in the International League Northern Division, 8.5 games behind Scranton Wilkes-Barre (NYY) and 1 game behind Rochester (MIN):

RF Shin-Soo Choo - 2-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (.260 - HR #3 - solo - I would think he'll be called up within the next day or so.)
3B Andy Marte - 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K (.267 - likely will be called up; it will be interesting to see if he can translate this current hot streak to the MLs, as well as finding out how much time he will get playing; Blake has been very solid defensively all season, though his bat has been more sporadic of late.)
LF Nathan Panther - 2-4, 1 R, 1 K (.400 - the 26-YO who batted .287/.418/.522 at High-A Kinston in 209 ABs finishes up his season with a pretty good at AAA Buffalo, where he's had limited experience in the past; he also threw out a runner at 1B.)
SS Mike Rouse - 1-4 (.277)
CF Brian Barton - 1-4, 1 2B, 2 K (.264)

LHP Jason Stanford - 4.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR (2-run,) 1 WP, 2 HB; 8 F; 40 S/21 B (4.11)
RHP Chris Niesel - 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 HR (solo); 2 G/4 F; 17 S/8 B (4.50 - AAA debut for the 24-YO, 5'11" 195 lb. 9th-Rd. 2004 pick out of Notre Dame.)

*AA Akron - lost to Binghamton 9-8 (NYM,) as Binghamton scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th off RHP Jim Ed Warden; Akron finishes its season at 80-61, 1.5 games behind Erie (DET,) but good enough to secure a postseason spot - they will open up at Erie (I believe) later this week (probably Wednesday - not sure) in a best-of-5 series:

CF Trevor Crowe - 2-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 E (7-fielding,) 1 PO (1B) (.259 - not a bad recovery in the BA after hitting less than .200 for virtually all of the first half.)
DH Jordan Brown - 3-5, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 K (.333 - the 23-YO Eastern League MVP (according to a post on LGT) with another solid season:  .333/.421/.484, 483 ABs/85 R/161 H/36 2B/2 3B/11 HR/76 RBI/63 BB/56 K/11 SB/2 CS; hit .361 over final 10 G, with 7 R/13 H/4 2B/1 HR/4 RBI/8 BB/8 K.)
1B Stephen Head - 2-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K (.276 - HR #3 - 2-run.)
C Matthew McBride - 3-4, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 HBP (.571 - 0/1 in throwing out runners attempting to steal 2nd; very impressive stint to this point for the 22-YO, 6'2" 215 lb. 2nd-Rd. Sup. 200y pick out of Lehigh University offensively at AA, especially with no High-A experience.)
RF Cirilo Cumberbatch - 1-5, 1 2B, 1 GIDP, 1 E (1-fielding) (.250 - decent stint at AA so far for the 21-YO Panamaian with no High-A experience.)

RHP Bobby Brownlie - 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR (2-run,) 1 WP; 10 G/1 F (3.17 - really strong G/F ratio.)
LHP Shawn Nottingham - H (1) - 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 WP; 1 F (4.77 - first relief appearance this season.)
RHP Michael Finocchi - BS (2) - 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (4.67)
RHP Jeff Stevens - H (8) - 1.0 IP, 3 K (3.17 - more dominant with the Ks like he was for most of the season up until recently.)

Binghamton:
1B Mike Carp - 1-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K (.251)
DH Sandy Alomar (rehab) - 0-2, 1 R (.188)

RHP Lino Urdaneta - W (1-1) 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB; 3 G (4.76 - was in the Indians' system for a brief period in 2003 when he was signed as a FA, but was lost in the Rule 5 Draft to the Tigers just over a month later; the Venezuelan originally signed by the Dodgers in 1996 as an International FA is now 27-YO.)

*High-A Kinston - defeated Myrtle Beach (ATL) 4-3, to finish with a second half record of 42-28 (2nd only to Wilmington (KC)) and an overall seasonal record of 87-52 (best in the Carolina League.)  They will open at Salem (HOU) on Wednesday at 7:00 P.M. in a best-of-3 series.

SS Josh Rodriguez - 2-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 SB (21-2B & 3B) (.262 - solid recovery with the BA after a slow start in the first half of the season, hitting .238, .216, and .227 in April, May, and June respectively, as compared to .298, .299, and .429 in July, August, and September respectively.  Overall, finished at .262/.351/.460, with 20 2B/9 3B/20 HR/82 RBI/68 BB/95 K/21 SB/8 CS.)
1B Matt Whitney - 0-5, 1 R, 4 K (.288 - BIG OUCH on the Ks, an area he's done better in for the most part this year.)
C Chris Gimenez - 2-2, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB (3-2B) (.283)
DH Beau Mills - 0-4, 1 RBI, 3 K, 1 SF (.275 - OUCH on the Ks.)
3B Wes Hodges - 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI (.288)
2B Jared Goedert - 0-4, 2 K (.256)
LF Nick Weglarz - 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K (.143)

RHP Steven Wright - W (3-2) - 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 PO (1B); 6 G/6 F (7.13)
RHP Josh Tomlin - H (1) - 1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 K; 1 G (3.58)
LHP Ryan Edell - H (2) - 1.0 IP, 3 K (3.70 - in 31.1 IP as a reliever:  28 H/17 ER/4 HR/10 BB/38 K, 2.29 GO/AO, .241 BAA.)
RHP Erik Stiller - S (4) - 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 K; 3 G/2 F (2.89)

Myrtle Beach:
CF Jordan Schafer - 1-4, 1 K (.294)
2B Brandon Monk - 1-4, 1 R, 2 K (.375)

LHP Carlos Sencion - L (2-2) - 5.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K; 2 G/7 F (2.81 - the 22-YO Dominican in 64.0 High-A IP:  53 H/20 ER/6 HR/52 BB/76 K, 0.82 GO/AO, .225 BAA.)

Low-A Lake County - lost to Delmarva (BAL) 4-2 to finish their second-half record at 33-35, 5th place out of 8 teams in the South Atlantic League's Northern Division and an overall seasonal record of 64-74, 6th place out of 8 teams in the South Atlantic League's Northern Division):

SS Carlos Rivero - 0-4, 1 K (.261)
RF Roman Pena - 2-4, 1 2B, 1 E (8-fielding) (.240 - batting in the clean-up spot.)
C Brian Juhl - 0-4, 3 K (.235 - OUCH on the Ks; has 13 BB/20 K in 68 ABs, but the 35th-Rd. 2007 pick out of Stanford struck out in 8 of his last 10 ABs.)

LHP Ryan Morris - L (0-2) - 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HR (solo); 6 G/4 F (5.22 - decent outing to finish the season for the 19-YO 4th-Rd. 2006 pick out of South Mecklenburg HS, NC.)
RHP Travis Turek - 3.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 HR (solo); 5 G/4 F (13.14 - a better outing, despite the HR, to finish a tough season for the 48th-Rd. 2006 pick out Santa Barbara JC, CA.)

Delmarva:
DH Brandon Snyder - 1-2, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB (.283 - HR #11 - solo off Morris.)
3B Billy Rowell - 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (.273 - HR #9 - solo off Turek.)

RHP Pedro Beato - 2.0 IP, 2 K; 2 G/2 F (4.05 - "2s" are wild for the 20-YO, 6'6" 230 lb. Dominican out of St. Petersburg JC, FL.)

SS-A Mahoning Valley - lost to Williamsport(PHI) 14-4; MV is currently 37-33 and has 4 games remaining - 1 with Williamsport and 3 at State College (PIT,) as their last game is on Friday, Sept. 7):

CF Adam White - 3-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K (.260 - HR #1; the BA continues to climb after a slow start.  As I mentioned above, I look forward to seeing what he can do at Low-A Lake County next season after an offseason of rest.)
C Michael Valadez - 2-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 PB (5) (.247)
2B Jeff Hehr - 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 E (5-fielding) (.239 - may be finding his bat again after slumping over the last several weeks.)

LHP Heath Taylor - L (3-3) - 4.2 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 WP; 4 G/7 F (2.35 - in probably the 10th-Rd. 2007 pick out of Oklahoma's last start of the season, arguably his worst start of the season at SS-A.)
RHP Nate Bunton - 1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K; 1 G/1 F (7.71 - just the 11th G of the season for the 38th-Rd. 2006 pick out of Midland Lutheran College, TX, as he dealt with some type of injury, as he pitched from June 25-28, July 6-16, and August 12-Sept. 3; overall in 11.2 IP:  12 H/10 ER/0 HR/10 BB/6 K, 1.42 GO/AO, .261 BAA.)

Take care and have a great day!