Indians Clinch AL Central

The Indians clinched the AL Central on Sunday afternoon, so I thought I'd take a look at some things you may not know about the Tribe. Also, video of the end of Sunday's win is below.

In their last 12 series, the Indians are 11-0-1. They haven't lost a series since being swept by the Yankees August 10-12.

Peralta's first name is, in fact, Jhonny- it was a "clerical error" on his birth certificate, and he never bothered to change it.

The Indians are 43-21 in games started by C.C. Sabathia or Fausto Carmona.

Ryan Garko was a catcher at Stanford, drafted by the Indians in the 3rd round of the '03 draft. He is very much white, but his at-bat music is "This Is Why I'm Hot". (Related note: Albert Belle is listed under "Players who specifically requested that no music be played". Somehow this doesn't surprise me.)

Lefty reliever Rafael Perez has a 1.71 ERA in 58 IP; before this year, he had pitched 12.1 innings in the majors. Lefties have hit .128/.198/.218 off him in 78 ABs.

On April 19, the Indians took at 6-2 lead into the ninth against the Yankees. Closer Joe Borowski got the first two outs, at which point the Indians had a 99.8% chance of winning. He failed to retire any of the next five hitters, then A-Rod homered to center, giving the Yankees an 8-6 win.

In 75 innings, Rafael Betancourt has struck out 75 hitters while walking only 9, with a 1.44 ERA. Righties are hitting .154/.180/.241 off him.

Last year, catcher Victor Martinez allowed 100 stolen bases while throwing out just 18% of basestealers, the worst in the majors. This season, he has allowed just 68 SBs, and thrown out 31%.

Adrubal Cabrera started last season in the Mariners' system, at the AAA level. In 203 ABs, he hit .236/.323/.360. Before the deadline, Seattle traded him to the Tribe for Eduardo Perez. This year, Cabrera, 21, is hitting .288/.349/.447 for the Indians, and Perez can be found as an analyst on Baseball Tonight.

Grady Sizemore walked 52 times in '05, 78 times last year, and 96 times so far this year.

Manager Eric Wedge is 39 years old, eight months younger than left fielder Kenny Lofton

In Cleveland's first 117 games, Josh Barfield had 399 ABs (3.4/G), playing second base pretty much every day. In their last 38 games, he has 12 at bats (0.3/G), and has mostly been used as a pinch runner.

Finally, if you've been looking for extremely low quality footage of the Indians clinching, you have come to the right place.



Update: A couple more excellent Indians posts from today: how they acquired everyone on the roster, and more pictures from Sunday.