Bobby Don Southworth hired to lead Tribe

[RebelYell]

Indians keep Bonds in check,
eke out pair of two-run victories
SAN FRANCISCO -- Coco Crisp smacked a two-run single in the 10th inning and Cleveland reliever Chad Zerbe coaxed the 10th out of the series off the bat of Barry Bonds as the Indians won the rubber game of a three-game series with the Giants, 4-2, Thursday evening.

Crisp's hit was the seventh hit of the game for the Indians -- all seven were singles -- and his second. Jose Morban also smacked a pair of singles after coming on to pinch hit in the eighth. Morban forced extra innings by driving in the tying run in the eighth.

David Riske earned the win in relief of C.C. Sabathia. Zerbe notched his 23rd save and third in four games.

"We did a good job, especially after Tuesday's game," Cleveland manager Bobby Don Southworth said. "I'd be here all night if I had to address everything we did wrong. But we did what a lot of veteran teams can't do sometimes. We regrouped. We didn't make the same mistakes twice.
We persevered."

Bonds went 4-for-14 and it was all downhill for the Giants slugger after going 2-for-5 with three runs batted in Tuesday. He was issued one base on balls.

"I don't think anybody is going to be calling me to find out how to pitch to Bonds," Southworth said. "We did what the percentages dictated. We were able to pitch to him a lot because the bases were often empty. He hurt us with a two-run single in the first game, but the home run he hit came with the bases empty."

San Francisco won the opener, 11-3. Todd Linden's three-run homer in the fifth broke a 2-2 tie. Bonds blasted his 21st of the season in the fifth with nobody aboard.

Cliff Lee got a lot of help from Cleveland's 1-2 punch in the batting order. Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips combined to go 6-for-9 with four runs and four RBIs. The Indians scored five times in the first and made it 9-3 with three runs in the sixth. Sizemore hit a two-run homer and Phillips followed with a solo shot.

The Indians are back home for a six-game homestand with Kansas City and Texas.

[RebelYell]

Thanks to ‘doing what he knows,’
a first-year manager steers Tribe
toward a Central Division crown
By Walter Leavy
Special to the San Francisco Examiner

BOBBY DON Southworth is the kind of guy who has "humble" written all over him. He doesn't particularly care for the spotlight; he doesn't see himself as a celebrity; and he would rather talk about practically anything other than himself. That's why he seems a bit uncomfortable when talk turns to him becoming a candidate for American League Manager of the Year.

With his managerial success at several different levels, what would be the reason that makes him feel a bit uneasy to talk about winning the award – to the point of near embarrassment?

Early on, Southworth's father taught him an important lesson: Individual accolades are secondary to team success.

"When I was a youngster, I would come home and begin to tell my dad about what I had done in a game, but he would always cut me off and ask how the team did," Southworth said. "It was not until I told him about the team that he would listen to anything I said about how I had done."

In less than one season as a major-league, all Southworth has done is become one of the best and most respected managers in the American League. He calls his managing style "doing what he knows," which is a heavy reliance on solid, fundamental baseball.

"Bobby Don Southworth knows the game from all angles. He's not lacking in confidence, but he remains humble," said former San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker, a fan of Southworth’s since the first time he saw the minor-league catcher play against the Shreveport (La.) Giants in the Texas League. "Now, as a manager, Bobby Don’s players trust and respect him. And they like him. You can see that. And that makes him special because it’s hard to be liked in America today while maintaining the trust and respect of young people."

It's not just the young who have given their approval. The 43-year-old Southworth has gained a level of respectability among young and old, males and females, casual and diehard fans. Some say he's a throwback to another era, in the mold of the likes of such legends as Casey Stengel, displaying an effective combination of intelligence, charm and even some unexpected levity.

“I like to kid around,” Southworth smiles. “We like to pin nicknames on the guys that serve purposes. We don’t want them to feel too good about themselves, but we want them to know that we like every one of them unconditionally.”

That might explain why, the day following a close game the Indians won, his target for a pie-in-the-face was not the player whose error nearly cost them the victory. It was the game’s hero who belted a two-run homer to end it.

“The guy who screwed up felt bad enough,” Southworth said. “The guy who got to wear the whipped cream during a radio interview isn’t any better than anybody else on this club. They all know where they stand.
“In my book, they’re all the same … except, that is, for the pitchers.”
And then, with a twinkle in his eyes he added:
“They’re particularly special. You know what I mean by special. I’m talking about the kind of special where they need to wear a bicycle helmet and a name tag and then a little yellow bus comes by to pick them up every morning. They’re that kind of special.”

[RebelYell]

Royals become fourth straight foe
to defeat Cleveland in series-opener
If the Cleveland Indians can ever learn to answer the opening bell, they’ll make a mockery of the American League Central Division race.

For the fourth consecutive time following the All-Star Break, Cleveland dropped a series-opener, this time to division rival Kansas City at Jacobs Field.

But again, the Tribe refused to be swept and, in fact, won their third of the four post-Break series.

“The difference between this series and the other was that we had a chance to win the opener. We’ve been struggling to find our focus at the start of each series and, a great example of that, is how we just got clobbered the other day in San Francisco,” Cleveland skipper Bobby Don Southworth said.
By the end of Sunday’s 8-5 victory, the Indians were back in the driver’s seat.

Cliff Lee struck out 10 Kansas City batters and almost made it through the sixth inning to pick up the win. Ben Broussard went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in and Travis Hafner smacked his second home run in two days.
The homer was Hafner’s 21st of the year.

Cleveland held on despite having two players ejected before the fifth inning was over. Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez both were tossed for arguing balls and strikes.

“Something has to be done about that,” Southworth said. “I understand being into the game and wanting to win and all, but our guys have to know the consequences of their actions. We’re going to address this problem. It may not get fixed entirely, but we’re going to keep things like this from happening again.”

Southworth said a decision on possible suspensions for both players would be reached before Monday’s game with Texas.

As for the series against the Royals, Ken Harvey went 3-for-4 and Scott Atchison marched through the Indians batting order for eight innings before tiring. Jason Jones’ leadoff double in the seventh led to a three-run uprising that broke a scoreless tie.

Jeremy Sowers took the loss as Cleveland managed only two runs in the final three frames.

Hafner tied Saturday’s game with his 20th home run in the eighth inning. The Indians went on to win the game in 11 innings, setting up Sunday’s heated battle.

[RebelYell]

Sizemore, Martinez both suspended for two games
The Cleveland Indians will be without essential pieces of their lineup over the next four days following suspensions handed down by manager Bobby Don Southworth.

Southworth suspended both Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez for two games apiece. The suspensions will not cost the players money, but Southworth said “other duties” would be assigned to them since they would not be in the lineup.

“As a team, we’re getting just a little too cocky. A little too mouthy at the plate. It wasn’t just these two incidents. Grady Sizemore has a great spirit and a whole lot of talent, but we can’t afford to just give him up in the second inning of a game because he has a beef with an umpire,” Southworth said. “That was a very costly move.”

Then, Southworth added, Martinez was ejected at the conclusion of his ongoing dialogue with the same home-plate umpire.

“Apparently, the two ejections were somewhat related,” Southworth said.

The suspensions will take place over the next four days with Sizemore missing the first and third games of the series against the Texas Rangers, which begins today. Martinez will miss the second game of the series and then the opener in New York, where the Indians will travel to meet the Yankees.

[Bobbuttons]

Originally Posted by RebelYell

Sizemore, Martinez both suspended for two games
The Cleveland Indians will be without essential pieces of their lineup over the next four days following suspensions handed down by manager Bobby Don Southworth.

Southworth suspended both Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez for two games apiece. The suspensions will not cost the players money, but Southworth said “other duties” would be assigned to them since they would not be in the lineup.

“As a team, we’re getting just a little too cocky. A little too mouthy at the plate. It wasn’t just these two incidents. Grady Sizemore has a great spirit and a whole lot of talent, but we can’t afford to just give him up in the second inning of a game because he has a beef with an umpire,” Southworth said. “That was a very costly move.”

Then, Southworth added, Martinez was ejected at the conclusion of his ongoing dialogue with the same home-plate umpire.

“Apparently, the two ejections were somewhat related,” Southworth said.

The suspensions will take place over the next four days with Sizemore missing the first and third games of the series against the Texas Rangers, which begins today. Martinez will miss the second game of the series and then the opener in New York, where the Indians will travel to meet the Yankees.

Teach a lesson to the team. Cut them both.

[RebelYell]

Tribe pitching-staff collapse
Enables Rangers to escape
With 2nd win in three days
Again, the Cleveland Indians could not open a series with a victory, marking the fifth consecutive time since the All-Star Break that has happened.

But more disconcerting to the Tribe was their performance in Wednesday’s rubber game against the Texas Rangers.

Cleveland pitchers were battered by Texas in an 18-7 loss to the Rangers. Alfonso Soriano collected four hits in five trips and knocked in three runs. The Indians had hitting stars, including Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez, but the Rangers had 13 runs after four innings and were coasting through the final five frames.

Hafner poked three hits and Martinez, coming off the first half of a staggered two-game suspension, belted his 17th home run.
Jeff Zimmerman earned his second win of the series and of the season.

“We gave up 30 runs in three games. I guess we should feel fortunate to have one a single game,” Cleveland chief Bobby Don Southworth said. “We have some tired arms and I felt like it was time to give Francisco Cruceta another chance. It’s a move that backfired on us. Francisco didn’t have very good stuff and Texas made him pay for every bad pitch he made.”

Cruceta was not the only Cleveland pitcher who had trouble getting the Rangers out.

Justin Hoyman, a former second-round draft pick from the University of Florida, was greeted with nine hits in a little over three innings of work in Monday’s first game. Kevin Mench went 4-for-6 and knocked in three runs to lead the Rangers to a 10-9 win. Cleveland scored twice in the ninth to knot the score and force extra innings, but Texas scored the game-winner in the 12th.

Hafner rapped a pair of hits and C.C. Sabathia came within one out of a complete game in Tuesday’s 3-2 victory. A well-rested Chad Zerbe got his 24th save.

“We got one and we gave up a little ground on our lead,” Southworth said. “We’re a little better off heading into our next series, though. We had a couple of everyday players take a couple of days off and we rested a couple of our starting pitchers.
We’re about to head into the dog days of the season and I’m hoping this is where some of our youth will start to take over.”

[RebelYell]

There are two rules in my household and in my clubhouse:
First, loyalty above all except honor. It shouldn’t need any explanation. Remain loyal and honorable to the people who wear the same uniform you do.
Second: Never show anybody up.

That second one, in our household, is basically the modern-day Golden Rule. Don’t yell at somebody because you don’t want to be yelled at. Share with somebody because you want to be shared with. Treat other people the way you would want to be treated.

So, in its simplest form, Grady Sizemore broke Rule No. 2. He got into an argument he wasn’t going to win and then he got himself thrown out of a game. It wasn’t the first time this year.

My job isn’t to play God or wield some kind of power over these guys. My job, the way I see it, is to be a shepherd. Off the field, I prefer to lead by keeping those who are lagging behind up with the rest of the group.

So, when Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez both got ejected from the same game, I had seen enough. I got out my shepherd's crook.

That evening, in separate meetings, I doled out penalties to both of them. The penalty ended up being virtually equal. They were both to miss two games.
And, to keep our team from being hurt too much by the short suspensions, I chose to stagger their penalties. Sizemore missed two games and Martinez missed one against Texas. He will miss Friday’s opener at Yankee Stadium, too.

But there’s more.

It would be very unwise, especially in our situation with a group of tired pitchers, to bring a player up just to cover these suspensions over the next four days. Sizemore and Martinez simply won’t be in the lineup. If I have to call on one of them to pinch-hit or to cover for an injury during one of these games, their suspension would not have been served.

Plus, I’m having both of them work two days as clubhouse boys. This isn’t to demean them. Instead, it serves several purposes. They still have to earn their daily wages by helping the team. They get to do a job other people on the team are paid to do – handling the laundry, trash pick-up and general cleanliness in the clubhouse. And, the regular clubhouse boys get to feel a little better about themselves. I think they’ll realize that their job is important and appreciated. After all, I’ve assigned two of my best to help out.

Neither of them will want to be in this situation again. From now on, this is the penalty for getting tossed for arguing with the umpires. It goes back to what I’ve always said about referees and umpires: They may not always be right, but they are always official.

[Bobbuttons]

Originally Posted by RebelYell

Plus, I’m having both of them work two days as clubhouse boys. This isn’t to demean them. Instead, it serves several purposes. They still have to earn their daily wages by helping the team. They get to do a job other people on the team are paid to do – handling the laundry, trash pick-up and general cleanliness in the clubhouse. And, the regular clubhouse boys get to feel a little better about themselves. I think they’ll realize that their job is important and appreciated. After all, I’ve assigned two of my best to help out.

I smell a union grievance.

[RebelYell]

This may be my best chance in a while. The Indians are back in town. If I can track down that lovely girl that came along with the team for the ride last time, I might be able to satisfy my appetite.

I can’t keep my mind on work lately. Things are falling apart and I know exactly why.

Of course, who am I going to tell? I may look like Tony Soprano, but this is not one of those things you share with a hoarse-sounding psychiatrist. It doesn’t come up in everyday conversations, either.

You can’t even share this stuff on the internet for fear of somebody tracing your IP address.

So I sit and baste. I’m waiting for that perfect opportunity. I’ve had plenty of chances, but only once has everything fallen together perfectly.

But I’ve got high hopes for New York. That city never sleeps.

[RebelYell]

Millwood, Lee lock down Yankees
Before ‘Big Unit’ returns the favor
NEW YORK – Well-rested pitchers were helped by timely hitting, producing a positive chemical reaction for the Cleveland Indians. Kevin Millwood, Cliff Lee and a few sprinkled-in relief efforts kept the New York Yankees’ hitting at bay and enabled Cleveland to win the first two games of the series.

Randy Johnson came back to salvage a win for the Bronx Bombers, limiting Cleveland to five hits in a 5-1 New York victory.

Johnson improved to 9-4 on the season.

Cleveland won the opener, 4-1, and the middle game of the series, 3-0.

“Everything just about came together here,” Cleveland manager Bobby Don Southworth said. “We won the first two games and had our most consistent pitcher [Jake Westbrook] taking the mound for the third game. It didn’t quite work out for us getting the sweep, but we leave here knowing that we can compete with the best team in the American League on their own turf.”

Jody Gerut and Coco Crisp both went 2-for-4 against New York starter Jaret Wright. Crisp knocked in a pair of runs and Millwood survived a 10-hit barrage by the Yankees, holding them to 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

“That was some clutch pitching,” Southworth said. “They had the leadoff man on base five times and had runners at second or third or both in three of those innings. To only give up one run is a great testimony to [Millwood’s] ability to bear down.”

Lee’s outing was much smoother. The crafty left-hander yielded just two hits and struck out eight as the Indians blanked the Yankees. Victor Martinez belted his 18th home run of the season and knocked in two of the three Cleveland runs. The Cleveland catcher also spanked a double and scored on a Gerut single.

“We had three or four guys do pretty well at the plate, but we had three other guys who went hitless in the series,” Southworth said. “We didn’t have that ‘up-and-down-the-lineup’ hitting that’s gotten us this far.
But it got us two-thirds of the way to a sweep against the Yankees.”

The sweep did not come, thanks to Johnson and his 11 strikeouts. Bernie Williams went 3-for-3 and Antonio Perez knocked in two runs to lead the Yankees.

Cleveland returns to Jacobs Field for a pair of three-game sets against the Oakland Athletics and the Minnesota Twins.

[RebelYell]

No one can ever plan for the death of a parent.

It can be expected and yet still hit you as if you were running in a dark alley and hit a brick wall.

Thud.

Whatever highs or lows you were experiencing at the time become inconsequential. Whatever faith you have, you just tap into and hope it can carry you through the really bad times.

Five-game losing streaks can't hold a candle to this kind of thing.

Mom died a little after noon on Tuesday. I was planning to make a trip to see her for her birthday. She sent word through one of my sisters that she understood, but she wasn't going to be able to make it.

We were on the way to see her when we got the call.

I'm OK with it except for the times I have to tell somebody about it. Typing it out is much easier. The throat gets all hot and swollen if I have to say the words. Even thinking them makes it tough, but it's not as hard as actually saying them aloud.

The worst part was going into her home with my dad and her sister and looking around the house that has "Mom" written all over it. On the refrigerator is a "Certificate of Completion" for the 10 radiation treatments she had complete. In January, the toughest woman I ever knew, went to the hostpital and found out she had full-blown Stage 4 cancer in a lot of different places. She was tough right to the end. She was determined to begin her chemotherapy on schedule, last Thursday, and she did.

The following Friday night was bad for her. Saturday we got a call that she wasn't doing well. Sunday came and she wasn't much better. By Monday, she was in the hospital and Tuesday she was gone.

The ballgames will keep on going, but they'll go on without me there for a while.

North Olmsted, Ohio
Aline "Sandy" Southworth, 61, of North Olmsted, Ohio, died Tuesday, April 11, 2006.

She was born April 27, 1944, in Oklahoma City.

Survivors include her husband, Frank; a son, Bobby Don; two daughters, Cindy Busch and Missy Phillip; eight grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Visitation will be 1-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Saturday at Chambers Funeral Home, 29150 Lorain Road in North Olmsted, Ohio.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at John Knox Presbyterian Church.

Memorials can be made to John Knox Presbyterian Church, 25200 Lorain Road, North Olmsted, OH 44070.

[RebelYell]

Buddy, Woody and Eddie -- there's a classic group of guys for you -- are running the team for the next few days while I tend to family business.

Fortunately, this happened while we were in town. We played six games and split them with Minnesota and Oakland. I only watched about two full games and parts of two others.

Unfortunately, this happened at all.

I ended up getting six days off and a new sports jacket courtesy of my father. Shopping at the men's store with my dad and my sister -- a place I probably have never been seen before in my life -- for a new suit. My sister took good care to make sure I looked sharp.
I spent a lot of time pacing around and waiting for the next thing to do during my time away from the diamond.

I learned a lot about Mom during this time, though. Mostly, I learned how highly thought of she was in several different communities. She was active in many ways at church, she sold lots and lots of baskets, bowled in four different leagues and she was a sponsor for many in "The Program."

The number of people to come to her visitation was astounding. The church and "program" people were pretty close to neck and neck with a lot of folks from where my dad works. I won't advertise, but it's the greeting-card company based in Cleveland.

There were lots of bowlers and people who knew her from the baskets she sold. We've still got a house full of them if anybody wants to buy a few ... dozen.

But we took time to remember. They had a moment of silence for her before the first game of the A's series. I guess they like the job I'm doing for them. It's a good organization to work for and I'll be quick -- but won't hurry -- to get back.

The kids are all handling it pretty well. Four of the eight grandkids are mine. The oldest grandchild (not mine) is also a mommy, making my very young mother who passed away much too soon a great-grandma.

And if I had to sum her up in a word. It would probably be just that: Great. She didn't much care for that word. In front of "grandma," she preferred just G-grandma. So to do right by her, I'll just say that was her. She was "G."

[RebelYell]

Run support carries Sowers in opener;
Tribe splits one-run tilts with Oakland
Jeremy Sowers did not need all those runs the Cleveland Indians scored in the first seven innings Tuesday night.
So the Indians gave some of those runs back to the Oakland A’s at Jacobs Field.

Cleveland frittered away a 10-run lead and ended up winning, 13-9, to give Sowers his eighth victory of the year.

Jason Young picked up the win on Wednesday and Chad Zerbe came on for his 27th save in a 4-3 nail-biter. The A’s escaped with a 3-2 victory on Thursday behind Kiko Calero.

Jody Gerut continued to swing the hot bat for the Indians, swatting his 12th home run and tallying three RBIs in the 13-9 triumph. Grady Sizemore, fresh from sitting out for a couple of games last week, went 2-for-5 and knocked his 16th round-tripper out of the park.

Cleveland led 12-2 after seven innings and withstood a late rally by Oakland.

“This was the chance for a couple of our young pitchers to shine,” acting manager Buddy Bell said following the series-opening win. “Part of that is our fault. We haven’t really had enough confidence in some of these guys to put them in with the game on the line. When we give them a 10-run lead, I think they’re a little too relaxed. We’re pleased to get the win, but I was hoping to get a bonus of gaining some confidence for a couple of these young guys.”

The bonus came a day later when Young earned the win in a tightly contested ballgame.

Sizemore’s eighth-inning double sparked a two-run rally that put Young in line for the victory. Travis Hafner added three hits and the Indians found themselves up 2-0 on a guest for the first time since Texas made a visit prior to the All-Star Break.
But a sweep wasn’t to be.

Eric Chavez slugged his 20th home run of the season as part of a 2-for-4 showing against Kevin Millwood and the Athletics escaped with a 3-2 victory. Millwood (11-8) walked one and struck out five while yielding six hits.

“That was a tough-luck loss,” Bell said. “A lot of things didn’t go our way [Thursday] that did go our way the day before. We just didn’t get him the same kind of run support we had on Tuesday.”

[RebelYell]

Big innings propel Minnesota
to Twin wins over Cleveland
The Cleveland Indians continue to hang on to their American League Central Division lead, but their grip is loosening.

With their manager away on personal leave and their pitching staff beginning to wear down, the Indians were the unfortunate victims of consecutive losses to the Minnesota Twins after winning the series opener.

Fortunately for the Tribe, the Twins were not within striking distance of the division lead.

“Either one of these clubs could have swept the other,” second-in-command Buddy Bell said following a 7-6 loss to Minnesota in the series finale. “We were this close to winning all three games. And, they were even closer to handing us three L’s.”

Big innings were the theme of the series. The Indians needed a four-run seventh to bounce back from a 5-1 deficit before winning the opener on a two-run home run by Ben Broussard. Broussard went 2-for-3 and knocked in three runs. Matt Miller knotted up the Twins batters in the seventh and eighth innings and Chad Zerbe nailed down his 28th save.

Minnesota turned the tide behind Zach Day’s no-hit pitching through six innings. Jake Westbrook yielded a single run before he was lifted in the eighth and Cleveland forced extra innings. Juan Rincon (9-3) stuck it out in the 10th and 11th frames to claim the win following a four-run outburst by the Twins. Mike Cuddyer and Torii Hunter both had a pair of hits. Hunter knocked in a couple of runs.

“That’s one I thought we were going to steal,” Bell said. “They had everything going their way and we just put a couple of key hits together and forced extra innings. But we never did anything against Rincon.”

The Twins tallied all seven of their runs in the fourth inning on getaway day. Johan Santana (9-10) labored five innings to get the win and Rincon picked up the save in a 7-6 verdict.

Jeremy Sowers (8-6) took the loss, allowing eight hits and seven earned runs without getting an out in the fourth.

Michael Restovich went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Five of the Twins’ 11 hits were two-baggers.

Next, the Indians travel to Baltimore to take on the Orioles.

[RebelYell]

Susan Caldwell turned 40 a few years ago and the pain still hadn’t gone away.

There were days she felt she had wasted away the best years of her life -- and those years were long behind her.

How could she have been so foolish? She spent six years after getting her undergraduate degree so she could court the man of her dreams. His name was Jay. She did everything to make him want her, need her … love her.

She thought he was hers. And then he did something that, to this day, still haunted her. He moved from the off-campus apartment near hers in suburban Washington D.C. and moved to Indiana. With nothing. To become a Catholic priest.

He could have left for another woman. He could have left for a job. He could have left to become an officer in the military. But to leave her and become a priest was the ultimate insult. To top it off, he never completed his quest for the priesthood. He lasted a year, returned to the secular world and then fell in love with another woman. He’s got four kids now while Susan has gone from one boyfriend to another.

There was the guy who lived with Susan for three years after he got out of federal prison. A white-collar criminal. Then there was the barely-18 sweetheart who almost caused Dr. Susan Caldwell to lose her job at the state’s magnet school for mathematics and sciences.

She had finally given up on finding someone to rekindle the warmth she felt with Jay when she discovered the Internet. There, she had many loves. They never last more than a month. Relationships spark quickly and burst into flames on the Internet. She had met a couple of men from chat rooms, but they were never really who they said they were. They were liars. She had decided most of the people in chat rooms were liars, hiding something and becoming who they wanted to be instead of being who they really were.

It was confusing, but Susan thought maybe she, too, had fallen into the trap of misrepresenting herself online. She was honest about her age and, from time to time, sent her picture -- she was attractive enough -- to the men she was interested in meeting. But maybe she wasn’t being completely honest. She didn’t know anymore.

Lately, though, Susan had gotten a little bit more of a skip in her step. She would race to her second bedroom – empty except for her computer equipment and $10,000 stereo system – and look for her latest "boyfriend." His name in the chat room was HellsBells. She decided immediately that he was an AC/DC fan and that was fine with her. She had Angus Young and the boys cranked up and blaring while the computer booted up.

I took a look inside your bedroom door
You looked so good lying on your bed
Well, I asked you if you wanted any rhythm and love
You said you wanna rock 'n' roll instead

Dr. Susan Caldwell had lost all hope for ever feeling the way she did nearly 20 years ago with Jay. But she hadn’t completely lost her appetite.

This weekend, her latest target was going to be in town on business. She wasn’t really sure what HellsBells did for a living, but she did know he was going to come by and take her to dinner.

She really didn’t know much about this guy, but something about him rang true to her. He seemed sincerely interested in her. After all, Susan had good judgment. She was a doctor, you know.

And, HellsBells had answered every question she asked. If she wanted to check up on him, she could have. He had told her his name. She may have written it down, but she was so trusting that she didn’t feel the need to check him out.

He was from Cincinnati or somewhere in Ohio and his name was Rick Something.

Yes, she beamed as the light from the monitor displaying her favorite chat room caused her face to glow.
His name was Rick Manning.

[RebelYell]

Millwood’s 1-hitter ends
three-game losing skein
as Indians topple Orioles
BALTIMORE – Who could have known that Howie Clark’s fourth-inning double would be the only hit the Orioles would get against Cleveland’s Kevin Millwood?

Travis Hafner socked an RBI single in the first inning and slugged a run-producing double in the eighth as the Indians earned a 2-0 win at Camden Yards on Saturday. The victory came less than 15 hours after the Tribe was beaten soundly, 8-2, by the Orioles in the series opener.

Cleveland carried the momentum into Sunday’s finale and banged out an 11-9 win.

“It felt good to be back in the saddle,” Indians first-year skipper Bobby Don Southworth said after missing the previous week’s games due to family obligations. “And it felt especially good to win a couple of games. Maybe we can get on a roll here and string together a few wins in a row.”

Southworth’s club did not play like a division-leader on Friday. The Orioles peppered C.C. Sabathia with 13 hits and eight different players in the lineup scored one run apiece. Cleveland started strong when Grady Sizemore cranked a two-run homer in the second inning, but Sizemore injured his shoulder while making a leaping attempt to steal a home run from Miguel Tejada.

“We’re not sure what the prognosis is on Grady right now,” Southworth said, adding that the Cleveland center fielder had strained ligaments in his shoulder. “Hopefully, he can get back into the lineup in the next couple of weeks, but that’s going to be up to the trainer.”

Brett Tomko (9-10) pitched 8 2/3 innings and allowed seven hits in a winning effort.

Tomko’s effort paled in comparison to Millwood’s mastery. The Cleveland right-hander improved to 12-8 while Bruce Chen (6-14) took the hard-luck loss.

“That was a truly amazing performance,” Southworth said. “That’s the most comfortable I think I’ve ever felt with a two-run lead. [Millwood] just made it look so easy.”

The tables were turned on the pitchers Sunday. Cliff Lee gutted it out for five innings to level his record at 8-8 and Chad Zerbe picked up his 29th save as the Indians battled back from 5-3 and 8-6 deficits.

Ben Broussard’s three-run double in the sixth gave Cleveland its last lead, 9-8, in the topsy-turvy ballgame. Jody Gerut sliced a two-run double to the opposite field to tie the game, 5-5 in the fifth, and scored the go-ahead run before Joe Borchard launched his second home run of the day to put Baltimore back on top. Borchard knocked in five Baltimore runs.

“We’re a good brother-in-law act sometimes,” Southworth said. “Our offense didn’t click in the first two games, but our pitching found a way to get us a win. And when our pitchers took the day off [Sunday], our bats made some noise.”

The Indians get Monday off before traveling to Tampa Bay to meet the Devil Rays on Tuesday.