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Double feature Indians rout White Sox by day, lose to Twins by night
CLEVELAND (AP) -- It was bad enough the AL forced the Cleveland Indians to play the Chicago White Sox again. Then they almost had to fight them, too. Roberto Alomar took exception to a hard slide by Chicago's Tony Graffanino as the Indians jawed with the new AL Central champions before beating the White Sox 9-2 Monday in the first game of a historic, day-night, three-team doubleheader. The Indians lost the second game, 4-3 to the Minnesota Twins. Cleveland began the day one game behind Oakland, which played Anaheim, in the wild card race. It was only the second three-team doubleheader in the major leagues since 1900 and the first since Sept. 13, 1951, when the St. Louis Cardinals played host to the New York Giants and Boston Braves at Sportsman's Park. "I guess it was something to do on a Monday," said Chicago manager Jerry Manuel, who before the game criticized the AL for rescheduling the rainout. "We sure could have used a day off." Dave Burba (16-6) set a career-high for wins in a season, and Alomar and Manny Ramirez had two RBIs each for the Indians, who weren't happy about having to make up the rainout of a Sept. 10 game, forcing them to play three doubleheaders in six days.
Alomar got into a heated exchange with Graffanino during the bottom of the sixth. Both benches and bullpens emptied and Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar was ejected after he came out to protect his brother and shoved Chicago catcher Mark Johnson. Roberto Alomar was upset with Graffanino, who slid hard into second on a fielder's choice trying to break up a double play. After Alomar hit an RBI groundout in the bottom half of the sixth, he gestured toward Graffanino and had words with the Chicago bench.
"I don't complain about playing hard or sliding hard," Roberto Alomar said. "That's OK. But the play was a forceout. There was no way I was turning that." Graffanino defended his aggressiveness. "I just slid into the bag," he said. "I've seen him (Alomar) turn that play. We were still in the ballgame. I'm just going in hard, that's it." Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko said he thought some of the Indians agreed that Graffanino's slide was clean. "Some of his teammates were rolling their eyes over there," Konerko said. "Alomar, as good as he is, you'd think he'd know better." Burba allowed seven hits in seven innings and remained unbeaten since Aug. 25 -- a span of six starts. Having clinched the division title on Sunday, the White Sox rested starters Frank Thomas, Jose Valentin and Charles Johnson. Ray Durham missed his third straight game since collapsing at Minnesota on Friday night. But all of them were out there in the sixth when tempers flared between the division rivals who could meet again in October. "All I'm going to say," Roberto Alomar said. "Is that he (Graffanino) is going to play for a while and I'm going to be in the game for a while, too." Travis Fryman and Russell Branyan added two RBIs for Cleveland. The Indians trailed 2-1 in the fifth when Burba picked Chris Singleton off second for the final out. Standing behind the mound, Burba swung his arm and pumped his fist a la Tiger Woods before he was greeted by high-fives in the Indians' dugout. "I had no intention of picking him off," Burba said. "But out of the corner of my eye, I saw Robbie's spikes flashing over. I just turned and fired. I was excited. Maybe I overreacted, but I needed that one." Burba's play seemed to fire up Cleveland, which responded by knocking out Jon Garland (4-8) with a five-run fifth and took a 6-2 lead. "The pickoff play got us going," Roberto Alomar said. "We are all tired and I think a play like that got us fired up." Notes: The Indians are a league-best 35-15 in day games. ... Burba said the pickoff was the first of his career. ... Fryman has a career-high 103 RBIs. ... The doubleheader had plenty of quirks, including two sets of umpires. ... Indians RHP Bartolo Colon was selected AL player of the week after throwing 16 shutout innings against New York and Kansas City. ... Since returning from the DL on July 13, Ramirez has 67 RBIs in 64 games. ... According to the Hall of Fame, the only other three-team major league doubleheader was in 1899, when the Chicago Orphans were host to the Louisville Colonels and Cleveland Spiders. ... Chicago went 8-5 against the Indians, winning the season series for the first time since '94.
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