Hello Tribe fans everywhere!

In baseball, you're only as good as what you do today. Taking seven of eight games against Oakland and Tampa Bay is old news. Forgotten. Now it's on to Detroit for a three-game stretch against division arch-rival, the Tigers.

But before we talk about the land of Kaline, Cash and Lolich, let's not forget that beating the slump-ridden teams matters. It's what the 2006 Tribe didn't do, and it's why the club was out of the division race by early June. This edition of the Indians seems much better at taking care of business -- doing all the little things that count so much. Many of the players seem to be at their best in the late innings, as illustrated by the Indians' high number of comeback victories -- best by any club in the majors.

Six strong innings by Fausto Carmona were a welcome relief last night, especially after he'd dropped three of his previous four decisions and was brutalized by the A's last week. The pitching hero of Monday's game was young reliever Rafael Perez, who took over for Carmona in the seventh inning with two runs in, bases loaded and nobody out. He escaped without further damage -- aided tremendously by his leaping grab of a high bounder near the mound, which he lobbed home for a force out.

The hitting star, again, was Ben Francisco, who slugged a homer, double and single, driving in three runs. The 25-year-old Francisco makes the most of his plate appearances, and is hitting .500 since his promotion from Buffalo. The kid has always been a hitter, and Rick Manning observed after Big Ben's third straight hit last night that "the ball just leaps off Francisco's bat."

Best of all, Francisco has always hit righthanded pitchers as well as lefties. If he can be a contributor during the second half of the season, it would really bolster a trouble spot in the Indians lineup -- the outfield. Realitistically, he won't keep hitting the way he is now, but if he can average .270 and whack another 8-9 homers during the second half, it would be a huge bonus.

Now, on to Detroit. Even if the Tigers sweep the Indians, it would leave the Tribe only a game out of first place, which isn't bad. But you know the Tribe would love to get one or even two wins in Motown.

Locally, Cleveland-Detroit games are huge because of the friendly rivalry between fans of both teams. Erie has always boasted a lot of Tigers fans dating back to the days when we had a Detroit farm team here -- Dick McAuliffe couldn't even hit .200 when he played here in 1958. Another reason was the strong signal from WJR radio, as Tiger fans in Erie enjoyed listening to the dulcet tones of Ernie Harwell, Ray Lane and others for many years.

I used to love listening to baseball on the radio, but Tom Hamilton really grates on me, and I think he's even having a negative effect on Mike Hegan, who had been a solid broadcaster for 20-plus season. I love all the Tribe games on TV, and think the team of Matt Miller and Manning is a big improvement over John Saunders and Manning. It wasn't so much that I disliked Saunders. I didn't. But the chemistry between he and Manning was terrible, and you felt those bad vibes over the air.

My only complaint about the games on TV is that I'm doing way too much sitting in the evening. At least when you listened to the games on the radio, you could putter around. Plus, my wife is about ready to kill me. She doesn't worship the Tribe with the same reverence I do.

Oh, yeah. And we were talking about the Tigers. It was easy to hate Detroit back when Jack Roach Sr., Johnny Roach and Barry Roach cheered for the men of Mayo Smith. And the Tigers, really good in those years, used to regularly wallop the Tribe.

Now that so many players on the Tigers played in Erie on their way to the bigs -- and most were very good guys, too -- it's not easy to dislike them. I'm also a big Jim Leyland fan and consider him one of baseball's finest managers. But, for old time sake, I'll hate the Tigers for the next three nights.

Go Tribe!

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The answer to yesterday's quickie quiz is: Dennis Eckerley, of course. He started his hall of fame career in Cleveland in 1975. Too bad he didn't stay longer.

Today's quiz: Name the longtime Tigers first baseman of the 1960s and early '70s who was traded from Cleveland in one of the club's all-time worst deals.

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-- Kevin Cuneo