Merritted! The Indians win the American League!!

The Cleveland Indians were able to piece together four and a third innings from unexpected starter Ryan Merritt with another powerhouse outing from the bullpen and finished off the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0 in Game 5 of the American League championship.
Cleveland received solo homers from Carlos Santana and Coco Crisp in the victory.
The Indians now get some badly needed time off to rest and perhaps buy time to heal some injuries before playing the National League winner.
That series is currently tied at two per...

Smoke Signals

1) Ryan Merritt did what you might have hoped for in a perfect world in keeping the Blue Jays off the board for four and a third before handing the ball off to Bryan Shaw,who pitched an inning to get the victory,
Merritt has average stuff at best,but actually challenged the Toronto hitters and made them miss in getting just two singles.
I wrote yesterday that I hoped Ryan Merritt could be this year's Bob Wolcott and he was just that.

2) Overlooked as a big play was the bullet that Mike Napoli drilled off the wall off the wall in the first inning.
Napoli hit the wall with such force that has Ezekiel Carrera played the ball properly,Francisco Lindor would have had to stop at third.
Instead,the ball bounced away and allowed Lindor to score...

3) I wondered about what Coco Crisp would bring when the Indians traded for him late in the season and he has been more than I would have thought.
The Crisp homer put the game away and more or less took the crowd out of the game...

4) So many "stat guys" try to say there is no such thing as clutch hitting and the numbers do reflect that,but the old adage of stats can say whatever you want them to say was somewhat true in this series.
The Indians hit just .168 in the series and hitting that weakly,shows the value of clutch hitting-even if you cannot count on it...

5) Eight more outs from Andrew Miller,who won and deserved the series MVP.
Miller whiffed 14 of 26 Toronto batters that he faced and makes guys like me say "What trade?"
Miller's creative usage in the playoffs has maximized his effectiveness for a team that needs that type of dominance at various times in games-not just the ninth.

6) So a battered bunch of Indians now gets time to rest as the National League series is guaranteed to be at least six games.
Can some of the injured Wahoos return to the lineup?
One can hope,they will need as much help as they can,no matter the opponent..