Home again! I had never attended both halves of a double header until yesterday, and it turned out to be one of the best days I've ever spent at the Jake.

For some reason, Alex stayed home--I attended Game 1 with my dad. The Indians jumped out to an early lead and cruised to a 9-3 victory. Scott Elarton pitched a complete game in 115 pitches. Since I care little about Elarton's future with the Indians, then as far as I'm concerned, he can throw 150 pitches in a game. But if it had been, say, C.C. out there in the late innings with a high pitch count and a huge lead, I would have been a little upset. Just because a guy is pitching well doesn't mean you can't replace him. For one, the Indians had just called up a fresh Kaz Tadano and had made clear their intentions to send him down again between games 1 and 2 so that Jason Davis could be called up for the start. That's a free reliever right there, no strings attached, no wear on the rest of the pen, no limit to the innings he can cover for you. With an 8-0 lead going into the seventh, or a 9-1 lead going into the eighth, why not use him?

It was, of course, dollar hot dog day, which resulted in the sale of 55,000 dogs during Game 1 (to a crowd of about 27,000). This meant that the lines at all the concessions stands were ridiculously long, with the notable exception of the kiosk where they offer the more expensive, grilled hot dogs which were not included in the promotion. This was fine by me, of course, because dollar dogs or no, the grilled dogs at the Jake are the best ballpark food there is, and most definitely worth paying regular price and not having to wait in line for an hour. While I believe there were occasional hot dog delays while they scrambled to get a fresh supply at certain booths, they never ran out of dogs. More importantly, they never ran out of Bertman's!

Speaking of Bertman's, the standings for the Hot Dog Race have undergone an encouraging transformation since the last time I updated you all. With a thrilling victory in yesterday's Game 1, our hero Mustard has made up a lot of ground:

                  wins since my
           wins    last update
Ketchup      9          2
Mustard      7          4
Onion        4          0

A few readers have made some interesting points about the Hot Dog Race. One, the mustard is yellow despite appearing in front of a bottle that clearly says "Bertman's". I'd like to believe that this was a trick of the camera or something, but it seems unlikely. If there is really an imposter racing in our Hot Dog Race, I demand justice! Another reader has suggested that the races might be fixed. This is a much more serious accusation that could shake the Hot Dog Race organization down to its very roots. If the races have been occasionally fixed, that would explain how Onion has managed to win even a single race. We shall have to wait and see. If Mustard continues to rise to the top, we'll know everything is on the level. But if Ketchup keeps up its winning ways, we'll know the fix is on, perhaps arranged by some kind of Pittsburgh Condiment Mafia.

But I digress. After Game 1, I ran home (not literally) for a quick shower and to change from my #24 Sizemore jersey to my #63 Betancourt jersey. Then it was back to the ballpark, this time with my mom and stepdad. Once again, the Indians ran away with it early, but the later innings were still chock full of exciting moments. In fact, this was among the most exciting baseball games I've attended. Coco's RBI quadruple was obviously the highlight, followed closely by Travis' 1,872-foot blast as the next batter, his third home run of the day.

After the game, we stayed for the fireworks, and then, as we exited, walking along the open concourse on the south side of the upper deck, we were able to see no fewer than 20 separate fireworks displays from all over Northern Ohio, including the City of Cleveland's display down by the Flats. It was pretty breathtaking, seeing the entire horizon lighting up in literally (yes, literally) every direction.

So. With the offense now kicking the snot out of folks, the Indians have continued their rise up the standings. This includes Baseball Prospectus' Adjusted Standings, in which they lead the division by a comfortable margin (.589 to the White Sox' .550--the Twins have since fallen to third). According to third-order winning percentage, the Indians have played the best baseball in the American League over the first half of the season. Not surprisingly, then, the Indians are now given a really good chance of making the playoffs in BP's Playoff Odds Report--56%, with a 34% chance of winning the wild card and a 22% chance of winning the division. Only the three current division leaders are given a batter chance of making the postseason. No team is given a better chance of winning the wild card.

Meanwhile, I will be back at the ballpark again tonight for a third time in two days. This time Alex will be along as well, and--get this--we're going to spend an inning in the Indians radio booth with Tom Hamilton and the crew! Hopefully, tomorrow we'll be able to post some pictures from the experience and a little recap. So stay tuned!