Cleveland Indians: No Choo, No Series Win for Tribe

7 - 4 - 10     vs. Oakland     L, 3 - 1     32 - 49

     When the Indians woke up on Independence Day, they were abruptly greeted with the news that they would be without the services of their star right fielder for a while.  Shin - Soo Choo, who suffered what appeared to be a minor injury in the series opener against the Athletics, is now headed to the disabled list with a serious thumb injury.  That is bad news for the offensively challenged Tribe, and the lack of Choo was clearly evident in a series finale loss to the A's.
     After being named as the lone Cleveland representative on the American League All - Star team, Fausto Carmona took the mound, trying to keep the Indians' good stretch going.  However, in the 1st inning, the A's pecked away at Carmona, and it resulted in a run.  A walk, a passed ball, and a pair of groundout led to the score, and Ryan Sweeney picked up the RBI.
     The Tribe pushed their lone run of the game across in the 3rd.  With two outs, Carlos Santana, Travis Hafner, and Austin Kearns hit three consecutive singles with Kearns's driving in Santana.
     The A's sealed the Indians' fate coming down the stretch as Mark Ellis contributed a RBI single in the 4th, and Adam Rosales, a solo homer in the 7th.
     Fausto Carmona was able to work seven frames, but he was saddled with the loss that put his season record at a pedestrian 7 - 7.  As usual, though, Cleveland did not give their sinkerballer a whole lot of support.