General Lee

This is how a team wins 15 of 17 games and closes a division deficit to 1 1/2 games with nine to play.
Cliff Lee, the winningest pitcher in the American League not named Bartolo Colon (damn, Dave, that trade was a good one) did not have his best stuff last night. He struggled to find the strike zone, and on one occassion when he found it in the fourth inning, it was with the bases loaded and Mark Teahen at the plate. Teahen promptly pretended David Riske was on the mound and deposited a 440-foot bomb into the right-field water fountains at Kauffman Stadium to turn a 5-1 Cleveland lead into a 5-5 tie.
(While we're on the subject, Teahen gets my vote for "least macho baseball name.")
Lee was sent reeling. A sacrifice fly in the fifth inning gave Kansas City a 6-5 lead, and Tribe fans everywhere were mouthing the word "letdown."
Were the Indians going to play Kansas City with glazed eyes after the emotional series win in Chicago? At this time of the year, even a four-game split with the last-place Royals is unacceptable. The Indians should sweep, truth be told, and at the very, very least, take three of four.
Last night, however, the Indians passed another test of a contending team. On a night when their winningest starter was stumbling, the offense picked him up. Coco Crisp went deep off Andy Sisco to put the Indians back on top 7-6. Casey Blake scored on a Ambiorix Burgos wild pitch. Travis Hafner, who hit a home run earlier (his sixth in five games) drew a bases-loaded walk for another RBI.
By the time the Indians finished thumping Kansas City's young pitching staff, they walked back into the clubhouse with a comfortable 11-6 win. By that time, the White Sox had lost to the Twins in 11 innings, dropping Cleveland's division deficit to 1 1/2.
The Indians (90-63) also gained a half game to increase their wild card lead to 1 1/2 games over idle Boston, which opens a series in Baltimore tonight.
(For the record, Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield is quoted as saying the Red Sox should concentrate on winning the AL East, and forget about the wild card. Too many teams playing well, he reportedly said. That's either his desire to take out the Yankees talking, or maybe he is honestly intimidated by the idea of trying to catch the Indians.)