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The Tribe gave the Angels a taste of their own medicine as their offense erupted in a 14-2 victory Saturday afternoon. With the game tied at two, the Indians exploded for eight runs in the sixth. Half of those runs came as a result of Travis Hafner’s third grand slam of the season. He celebrated his birthday in a Pronk-sized way, going 3 for 4 with a home run, double, and a career-high six RBI.

“I love to be in that situation,” Hafner said. “It’s a great opportunity to just go out ready to hit. You know the pitcher has to come after you with his best stuff, and you have to be ready to hit it.”

The Angels’ fielding woes were partly to blame for the Tribe’s offensive onslaught. They committed three errors in the ballgame and only four of the 14 runs scored by the Tribe were earned. The most costly error came in the sixth by Vlad Guerrero. With two outs and runners on second and third, Guerrero dropped a Ronnie Belliard fly ball down the right field line to kick start the rally. Cliff Lee rebounded from an awful month of May, giving up only two runs in seven innings.

Lee looked like his old self Saturday, which is good to see. For the past two series now, the Indians have gotten blown out in the first game and came back to win the second. The Indians have a great chance to win another series with C.C on the mound Sunday.

Young Angel starter Jered Weaver, brother of Jeff Weaver, followed up his major league debut with another dominant performance as the Angels trounced the Tribe 10-3 in the first game of the series. He gave up only two runs and struck out eight in a little over six innings of work. On the flip side, Jason Johnson reverted back to his inconsistent ways, surrendering four runs and walking four in five innings. Johnson had trouble locating the ball all night long, which led to getting behind in the count. Mota relieved him but did much worse in a shorter period of time, giving up two homers and five runs in only 1 1/3 innings. Ben Broussard, Ronnie Belliard, and Jason Michaels each had an RBI for the Tribe. Michaels homered for the second straight game, extending his hitting streak to 11 ballgames.

Why Wedge insists on using Mota is beyond me. We have Carmona sitting in the pen and he hardly ever gets any work. Perhaps it’s time to give Mota some time in AAA to iron out his issues. I’m not sure if he has any options or exactly what the rules are in his case whether or not it’s possible to send him down to Buffalo but whether it’s health problems or mechanics, something is wrong with him.

As for Johnson, he can never seem to string together more than one quality start. I wish Wedge and Shapiro would stop being so stubborn and realize what they have under their noses in Buffalo. Get Sowers and bring him up now. So what if Johnson is making $4 million or whatever a year. It’s Jeremy’s time and he needs to be up here sooner rather than later. Hell, he can’t do any worse than Jason. After the game, Johnson got a little testy with reporters.

“It’s you guys who are putting me under the microscope,” he said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with me. If that’s what you guys want to do, that’s fine. I don’t care what anybody else thinks.”

Jason, you’re 3-5, you have one win in your last eight starts, and boast a 5.92 ERA. You must have some pretty thin skin if you can’t take a little heat from the media.

The Tribe outlasted the White Sox in a wild and thrilling seesaw battle Thursday night at the Jake. The 12-8 win by the Tribe featured five lead changes and multiple big innings by both teams. The Sox scored four in the third off Paul Byrd and opened up a three-run lead. After getting a run back in the bottom of the third, the Tribe put up four of their own in the sixth to take a 7-5 lead. However, the fun was just beginning. After Scott Sauerbeck walked two in the seventh, Fernando Cabrera came in to face Jermaine Dye, who hit his second homer of the night to give the Sox a one-run lead. Then, as they had done all night, the Indians returned the favor and scored four more in the bottom of the inning with the help of Ronnie Belliard’s three-run home run off Brandon McCarthy.

“There were so many emotional swings, but when Ronnie kept fouling off those pitches, I think everybody on our bench just knew — just felt — he was going to come through. But to end that at-bat with a home run, that’s just incredible,” Jason Michaels said.

With the exception of Jhonny Peralta, pretty much the entire Indians lineup contributed to the wild victory. Ben Broussard had four hits, amazingly one shy of the whole Sox team. Usually dominant, Jose Contreras was rocked for six runs in five innings. This was one of the biggest wins of the season for the Tribe, especially considering who was on the mound for the White Sox. A win like this can be a huge boost for a ballclub. With the way the game was going and how the Indians’ bats were on fire, it just seemed like there was no doubt they were going to come back and win. It’s three in a row now and slowly the Tribe is getting it’s swagger and confidence back. What a great game to be at!

Jake Westbrook rebounded from his last ugly start as he pitched seven shutout innings in the Tribe’s 5-0 win over the White Sox. It was the first time Chicago has been shut out all season. Jake only surrendered six base hits and did not walk a batter as he got his fifth win. The Tribe end the month of May right at the .500 mark with a record of 26-26.

“My changeup worked well,” Westbrook said. “A lot of times it’s not what I rely on to get outs, but I use it to set up my sinker. That’s what I did tonight.”

The top of the Indians’ lineup led the way. Grady Sizemore continues to be locked in at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a triple and two RBI. He has now hit safely in 19 of his last 22 games. Jason Michaels stayed hot as well, adding a double and two RBI. Ben Broussard gave the Tribe the early lead with a solo homer in the second on a 3-o pitch.

Jake really had his sinker working Wednesday night and pitched much more effectively than his last outing when he left most of his pitches up in the strike zone. As for Grady and Michaels, they are starting to light up the top of the order.