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                         CLEVELAND PITCHING

MONTH     RA/G    AVG    OBP    SLG   AB/HR   AB/2B   AB/BB   AB/SO

April     4.85   .279   .348   .440    32.3    16.5    10.3     7.4

May       5.46   .271   .336   .425    33.9    17.7     9.6     5.8

June      4.39   .261   .314   .428    35.8    16.4    13.5     6.1

While their 4.39 runs allowed per game in June are good but not great, Cleveland's 3.69 ERA in June ranked second in the AL, behind only Seattle's 3.08. How is that possible? Well, the Indians allowed 18 unearned runs to score in 28 June games. In contrast, the Seattle Mariners have allowed just 14 unearned runs in 81 games this season.

Dan Miceli had a very nice June with Cleveland, pitching 13 innings with a 1.38 ERA. The Tribe quickly dealt Miceli - who has a career ERA of 4.72 - to the Yankees, along with Karim Garcia, for a PTBNL.

Rookie starter Jason Davis had a very good month, going 3-2 with a 3.02 ERA in six starts. Davis is 7-6 with a 4.53 ERA overall this season and has seen his monthly ERAs go from 6.67 in April to 4.71 in May and now 3.02 in June.

C.C. Sabathia went 3-1 with a 4.80 ERA in five June starts and continues to put together a very nice season. Sabathia is currently 7-3 with a 3.48 ERA in 16 starts. Lost in the career-low ERA is that his strikeout rate, which was a very promising 8.53/9 IP as a rookie in 2001, is down to 5.97/9 IP this year. Sabathia's monthly K rates are 5.5, 6.8 and 6.0 and he struck out 6.4/9 IP last season.

Cleveland closer Danys Baez had eight saves and a 1.93 ERA in 14 June innings. Baez is on pace to save 38 games and has a 3.51 ERA, although he is also 0-6. Opponents are hitting just .207 off him and have a .271 OBP.

                         CLEVELAND HITTING

MONTH     RA/G    AVG    OBP    SLG   AB/HR   AB/2B   AB/BB   AB/SO

April     3.31   .241   .307   .388    35.2    18.0    11.7     5.4

May       4.88   .244   .315   .394    37.6    15.4    10.3     5.5

June      4.39   .261   .332   .386    49.2    18.2     9.3     5.1

Cleveland's offense has been very strange all season. They scored just 3.31 runs per game in April and then, despite almost identical AVG, OBP and SLG numbers in May, scored 4.88 runs per game. And now in June, despite a fairly large increase in on-base percentage and a slugging percentage right around their season-totals, they scored just 4.39 runs per game.

Ellis Burks played just six games in June before his season ended with an injury and Omar Vizquel played 10 June games before he went on the DL (although he should be back at some point). Without their two veteran hitters, the Indians scored the 11th-most runs in the AL in June, although several Cleveland hitters had very good months.

Milton Bradley continued his season-long hot hitting, batting .340/.434/.500 in June. Bradley missed some time early in the year with an injury, but has played in 66 of Cleveland's 81 games and is hitting .341/.441/.516 on the year. He is second in the AL in both batting average and on-base percentage and is 10th in walks with 43, despite missing 15 games. Bradley appears to have established himself as Cleveland's centerfielder of the future.

Matt Lawton, whom the Indians got when they traded Roberto Alomar to the Mets in 2002, came into June hitting just .222/.304/.384, but had a vintage Matt Lawton .277/.398/.465 June. Lawton is fondly remembered by this Twins fan for hitting .278/.387/.478 with Minnesota in 1998, .305/.405/.460 in 2000 and .293/.396/.439 in 2001. If he is finally healthy, he could provide a big boost to Cleveland's lineup in the second-half.

Rookie outfielder Jody Gerut continues to impress, hitting .303/.384/.556 in June to raise his season-totals to .280/.333/.511 in 53 games. Gerut was originally called up as a short-term injury-replacement, but has taken over the everyday right field duties.

Fun with paces:

Matt Lawton - 150 games, 22 homers, 32 doubles, 74 walks, 76 strikeouts, 16 steals

Brandon Phillips - 152 games, 8 homers, 24 doubles, 22 walks, 94 strikeouts

Milton Bradley - 132 games, 12 homers, 50 doubles, 86 walks, 100 strikeouts, 26 steals

C.C. Sabathia - 32 starts, 202 innings, 196 hits, 134 strikeouts, 70 walks, 14 homers

Brian Anderson - 30 starts, 185 innings, 64 strikeouts, 38 walks, 28 homers, 10 wins

Danys Baez - 80 games, 82 innings, 62 hits, 66 strikeouts, 26 walks, 38 saves, 12 losses

Coming up:

7/3-7/6 - @Minnesota

7/7 - Off Day

7/8-7/10 - New York

7/11-7/13 - Chicago