Morning Update: It's the Hats!

I keep wanting to bring this up, but I keep remembering, we've got one more game and I don't want to jinx it.

Two actually, since the Indians play on 9/11.

The hell with it.

But the Tribe is 3-0 with the red Americana specialty hats.

They are also 2-0 when they use the same lineup for the second time in consecutive games. Something they did last night for the first time all year.

"I want to do more and more of that," Wedge said. "It's not by choice we've had lineups all over the place. With injuries and some performance issues, it's been by necessity."

Imagine that Stan, Karate Jesus.

"It's tough when you come to the field, and you don't know who's going to be hitting behind you or in front of you," Sizemore said. "It's tough to get into a rhythm. So it's nice to see guys back and healthy."

And for the first time all year, the game actually went as you would draw it up.

"That's the way we planned it coming out of Spring Training," Wood said. "The starter gives you seven innings, and the bullpen finishes it strong."

Kerry Wood was particularly strong. I didn't see anything but his ninth inning. I got to a TV, turned it on and saw him dispatch of the A's in rather quick fashion. A strikeout and two quick ground outs on nine pitches. That's how you draw it up.

Pavano goes the 6.2 innings, giving up just the two runs. Earns win number seven, everything looks good, turns it over for Tony Sipp and Joe Smith to get the four outs leading up to Kerry.

Sipp came on to get Giambi. After he walked Cust, Wedge brought in Joe Smith to get the righties, pinch hitting Garciaparra and Travis Buck. That's kind of how we've wanted it to go all year.

Then the hitting.

Just great solid work.

Ben Francisco needs to play for the time being because he's getting hot. When he gets hot, he really hits well. You need to keep running him out there until he starts to cool off.

When Luis Valbuena and Ben Francisco, your eight and nine hitters get six of the Indians 10 hits and score three of their five runs, things are good. They also scored three of the five.

Ryan Garko and Grady Sizemore scored the others and Grizzle knocked in the other runs with a solo shot and a ground out.

You win games not always like the one on Friday. In fact it was just the opposite of Friday with Vic, Choo, and Hafner, the 3-4-5 hitters going a combined 1-11.

You need to win games like these throughout a season to be successful. The Indians flat out have not. The bottom of the order carries you, the pitching does its job from start to finish. That's how you win a lot of games if you are a successful team. The Indians haven't done that this year until last night.

"That was a good big-league baseball game," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "We made plays defensively, our pitching staff made pitches and we did a pretty good job at the plate."

Now let's get our second sweep of the year, right?

Back to Friday night first and some historical and statistical importance of the night Shin-Soo Choo had.

• Choo is the first Indian since 1952 to knock in seven runs and score four runs when Al Rosen did it.
• Choo is also the third major leaguer ever to knock in seven, score four, and steal one, joining the very prestigious company of Willie Stargell and the great Ted Williams. Impressive.
• Choo's stolen base was his 13th of the year. It was also his 13th attempt. He's a perfect 100% on attempts this year and to do that, you have to be a smart base-runner. You also have to have some luck. I can't believe he got in with the one on Friday. A better throw has him dead at third if you ask me.

Winston Abreu was activated yesterday and the plan is to get him some time today if the situation calls for it. At least Wedge said he planned on getting him in this weekend and this weekend only has one game left. Abreu spoke to reporters yesterday.

"I'm glad to be here," said Abreu, who was acquired in a trade with the Rays on Thursday and activated by the Tribe on Saturday. "I really like this team and this organization. I came here, and everybody has been nice to me."

The next step is to see if Aaron Laffey is ready for activation. It appears that more than meets the eye with his start on Friday.

"We're continuing to talk about it," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "We're trying to figure out exactly what we'll do. I'll probably have a more direct answer [today]."

"Physically, he's in a good spot," Wedge said. "He's working his way back, performance-wise."

"Right now I feel 100 percent ready to come back," he said..

"I told them, 'I don't want you guys to be concerned about that first inning," Laffey said. "I was going to keep throwing four-seamers until I established it inside. The next three innings, I threw the ball great."

You see the Indians wanted Laffey to work on his command and that he did. His first inning was horrible, but that's because he threw nothing but fastballs in order to get it done. So maybe, despite the ugly numbers, Laffey is actually ready and could take the spot of Tomo Ohka next time around.

Finally, Terry Pluto's latest points out that Matt LaPorta isn't in the big leagues because Grady Sizemore is playing and playing with a elbow that isn't at it's peak.

Because Sizemore needs backed up in center, Francisco needs to stay on the roster.

I kind of disagree and as Pluto notes, this is the Indians thinking, not his. But the indians could easily send down Chris Gimenez and call up LaPorta. You could also send down one of the extra pitchers considering this team only has three true outfielders and three bench players.

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