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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) -- It was bad enough the AL forced the Cleveland
Indians to play the Chicago White Sox again. Then they almost had
to fight them, too.
|  | | Cleveland's Dave Burba continued his red-hot pitching on Monday by notching his 16th victory. |
Roberto Alomar took exception to a hard slide by Chicago's Tony
Graffanino as the Indians jawed with the new AL Central champions
before beating the White Sox 9-2 Monday in the first game of a
historic, day-night, three-team doubleheader.
The Indians (85-70), who pulled within a half-game of Oakland
(85-69) in the AL wild card race, then played the Minnesota Twins
in Monday's night regularly scheduled game.
It was only the second three-team doubleheader in the major
leagues since 1900 and the first since Sept. 13, 1951, when the St.
Louis Cardinals played host to the New York Giants and Boston
Braves at Sportsman's Park.
"I guess it was something to do on a Monday," said Chicago
manager Jerry Manuel, who before the game criticized the AL for
rescheduling the rainout. "We sure could have used a day off."
Dave Burba (16-6) set a career-high for wins in a season, and
Alomar and Manny Ramirez had two RBI each for the Indians, who
weren't happy about having to make up the rainout of a Sept. 10
game, forcing them to play three doubleheaders in six days.
Alomar got into a heated exchange with Graffanino during the
bottom of the sixth. Both benches and bullpens emptied and
Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar was ejected after he came out to
protect his brother and shoved Chicago catcher Mark Johnson.
Roberto Alomar was upset with Graffanino, who slid hard into
second on a fielder's choice trying to break up a double play.
After Alomar hit an RBI groundout in the bottom half of the sixth,
he gestured toward Graffanino and had words with the Chicago bench.
"I don't complain about playing hard or sliding hard," Roberto
Alomar said. "That's OK. But the play was a forceout. There was no
way I was turning that."
Graffanino defended his aggressiveness.
"I just slid into the bag," he said. "I've seen him (Alomar)
turn that play. We were still in the ballgame. I'm just going in
hard, that's it."
Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko said he thought some of the
Indians agreed that Graffanino's slide was clean.
"Some of his teammates were rolling their eyes over there,"
Konerko said. "Alomar, as good as he is, you'd think he'd know
better."
Burba allowed seven hits in seven innings and remained unbeaten
since Aug. 25 -- a span of six starts.
Having clinched the division title on Sunday, the White Sox
rested starters Frank Thomas, Jose Valentin and Charles Johnson.
Ray Durham missed his third straight game since collapsing at
Minnesota on Friday night.
But all of them were out there in the sixth when tempers flared
between the division rivals who could meet again in October.
"All I'm going to say," Roberto Alomar said. "Is that he
(Graffanino) is going to play for a while and I'm going to be in
the game for a while, too."
Travis Fryman and Russell Branyan added two RBI for Cleveland.
The Indians trailed 2-1 in the fifth when Burba picked Chris
Singleton off second for the final out.
Standing behind the mound, Burba swung his arm and pumped his
fist a la Tiger Woods before he was greeted by high-fives in the
Indians' dugout.
"I had no intention of picking him off," Burba said. "But out
of the corner of my eye, I saw Robbie's spikes flashing over. I
just turned and fired. I was excited. Maybe I overreacted, but I
needed that one."
Burba's play seemed to fire up Cleveland, which responded by
knocking out Jon Garland (4-8) with a five-run fifth and took a 6-2
lead.
"The pickoff play got us going," Roberto Alomar said. "We are
all tired and I think a play like that got us fired up."
Game
notes
The Indians are a league-best 35-15 in day games. ... Burba
said the pickoff was the first of his career. ... Fryman has a
career-high 103 RBI. ... The doubleheader had plenty of quirks,
including two sets of umpires. ... Indians RHP Bartolo Colon was
selected AL player of the week after throwing 16 shutout innings
against New York and Kansas City. ... Since returning from the DL
on July 13, Ramirez has 67 RBI in 64 games. ... According to the
Hall of Fame, the only other three-team major league doubleheader
was in 1899, when the Chicago Orphans were host to the Louisville
Colonels and Cleveland Spiders. ... Chicago went 8-5 against the
Indians, winning the season series for the first time since '94.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Chi. White Sox Clubhouse
Cleveland Clubhouse
RECAPS
Cleveland 9
Chi. White Sox 2
Detroit 15
NY Yankees 4
Tampa Bay 5
Toronto 1
Oakland 7
Anaheim 5
Atlanta 6
Montreal 0
Chicago Cubs 4
Philadelphia 3
Arizona 6
Colorado 4
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Roberto Alomar feels Tony Graffanino's slide was uncalled for.
wav: 222 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Bob Wickman shoulders all the blame for the Indians' loss to the Twins.
wav: 136 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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