Game 21 open thread: Indians vs. Blue Jays

Tonight the Cleveland Indians, riding high on the crest of a one-game winning streak, play host to Canada’s finest major-league baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays. The first pitch will be thrown at 7:10 PM.

And that pitch will be thrown by lefty T.J. House, who has pitched rather poorly for the Tribe so far this season. In his previous three starts, he has allowed 14 runs, all of them earned, over ten innings, for an ERA of 12.60. That’s a number which summons up happy memories for Tribe fans of a certain age, but it’s pretty abysmal for an earned run average. One doesn’t necessarily ask or expect much from a team’s fifth starter, but House has got to start pitching better if he expects to remain part of the rotation.

The Blue Jays send lefty Daniel Norris to the mound. Norris has made four starts for the Blue Jays this year. His last start, on April 25 against the Tampa Bay Rays, was by far his strongest, as he went seven innings and allowed only one run.

Fun fact: the Indians have won back-to-back games only once this season, when they won the second and third games of the season by beating the Houston Astros. Let’s hope they can end a lousy April on a good note with a victory tonight. And it’s hard to win a four-game series, but if the Tribe wants to claw its way back into contention in the AL Central, taking three of four from our friends to the north would be most gratifying.

As always, please feel free to weigh in via the Comments box. And if the game goes south, we can always talk about Mad Men. What is Don going to do?