Jeremy Sowers will remember this one for a long time. The youngster faced a potent and start-studded Yankee lineup featuring some of baseball’s most recognizable hitters but was hardly fazed. Sowers gave up an early two-run first inning home run to Jason Giambi but settled down to earn his first major league victory. That’s all the Yankees would get as Sowers went seven innings while giving up only six hits in the Tribe’s 5-2 victory Monday night at a sold out Jacobs Field. After Yankee starter Chien Ming Wang dominated Indian hitters when they last met in mid June, they were able to figure him out this time around. Victor Martinez came through with a two-run double in the third and Todd Hollandsworth hit his fifth homer of the season in the sixth inning. Fausto Carmona pitched a scoreless eighth before handing it over to Wicky who saved it in the ninth. Wickman was impressed by Sowers’ outing.

“His composure was great,” Indians closer Bob Wickman said. “That’s one thing you can’t teach. He’s got it.”

After the home run in the first, Sowers was on his game tonight. One of his biggest pitches came in the third when he struck out Bernie Williams with the bases loaded. The Indians have somehow found a spark and are playing much better baseball.

Grady Sizemore, not Travis Hafner, was the lone Indian selected to the 2006 American League All Star team. Hafner, batting .312 with 22 home runs and 66 RBIs, was snubbed again in favor of Boston’s David Ortiz. However, there is still a chance Pronk could be added to the roster with the internet voting. Hafner joins Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano, White Sox cather A.J Pierzynski, Orioles cather Ramon Hernandez, and Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander on the American League internet ballot. Fans can vote for the final addition to the American League All-Star team until 6:30 p.m Thursday. This is the second time in three years that Hafner has been included in the internet voting.

If you had to pick one Indian to make the All-Star team, Pronk would be the first that comes to mind but several factors led to him getting left out in the initial selections this season. For one, as long as David Ortiz is in the American League, Hafner will never get the respect he deserves. Secondly, this year’s All-Star game is in a national league park, which eliminates the DH from the equation. That means Hafner would have to be selected as a first baseman and the American League is a little jammed at that position. After Ortiz, Paul Konerko and Jim Thome took the remaining two first base spots on the roster. Thome is having an unbelievable first half and Konerko, although he has solid numbers, was helped by the fact that Ozzie Guillen is the manager of the American League. Both managers get seven selections of their own and Konerko was one of Guillen’s picks. Therefore, Hafner was left out and has to depend on the internet voting to get him in. He has a better chance than he did in 2004 when he lost to Hideki Matsui, who had an entire country voting for him.