A Must-Win Situation

Ten games in, and it's already that time. 

They're five games out, with a 3-7 record whose foul odor can't be ignored any longer. Five behind the 8-2 Indians, who've been out west making it look easy.

The ten game verdict: pitching not bad, hitting terrible, defense awful. JV has been great, but yesterday's four errors only highlight the careless play seen since opening day. The hitters, minus Cabrera and Peralta, have forgotten what baseball bats are for. Bruce Chen, of all people, and two rookies shut them down on Saturday. 

All this makes achieving the objective of today's game -- to score more runs than the opposition -- moderately urgent. Do that often enough, as Jim Price has been heard to say, and you'll be all right.

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Ryan Raburn -- he of the steel glove, expansive strike zone, and .227 batting average -- made it all happen. 

In the third, he took a three run homer away from Michael Young.

Bottom ninth, with two on and the score tied, he displayed remarkable restraint at the dish, walking on five pitches. Miguel Cabrera came up with the bases loaded, when you know something good has to happen.

He lined one past third, and proved Price's Hypothesis correct; that all you need to win is one more run than the other guys after nine innings.

4-7 isn't great, but is better than 3-8 and allows the fan to sample tonight's Gameday offerings wrapped in the warm, smug satisfaction of a home team victory.