Cliff Notes: Indians Say There's No Place Like Home

Cliff Lee and Progressive Field were both winners on Wednesday; although after the game one went out and celebrated, and the other spent the night covered with a tarp. Cleveland's stadium took the top spot in the Sports Illustrated fan survey for best Major League ballpark, and inspired by his home yard's impressive win — or perhaps just hopped up on caffeine — Lee went out and won his fifth straight start, 8-3 over the Mariners. Poor Seattle; their stadium only finished sixth.

Lee (5-0) ran his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 27 before Wladimir Balentien's three-run homer in the seventh. That raised his ERA from 0.28 to 0.96, still lowest in the majors. Franklin Gutierrez had a run-scoring single in the fourth and a two-run single in the fifth for the Indians, still two games below .500 in the Central.

• At Wrigley Field (15th Place). Mark Cuban watched the Cubs exceed Brandon Bass' playoff scoring average as Chicago unleashed hell on the Brewers, 19-5. It was the Cubs' 17th April win, a club record. Geovany Soto had two three-run homers for Chicago.

• At Yankee Stadium (20th Place). Placido Polanco — one of the Three Tenors, if I'm not mistaken — had two homers to lead the Tigers to a 6-2 win over the reeling Yankees, who played their first game with Alex Rodriguez on the disabled list. Gary Sheffield had two hits for Detroit, which has won seven of nine but is still below .500 (13-15).

• At Shea Stadium (28th Place). Tom Gorzelanny allowed one hit over five innings for the win, then sent his bobblehead doll to talk with reporters after the game as the Pirates beat the Mets 13-1. Pittsburgh scored nine unearned runs, and ex-Met Xavier Nady was 3-for-3 with three RBI.

• Bad News Braves. Mike Hampton, who was supposed by be back for a May 10 start with Atlanta, won't be coming back any time soon. And the Braves need him, dammit.