Blue Collar teams are winning the right way

Pitching, Defense, and Timely hitting: Cleveland Indians.
The Tribes starting pitchers have been dominant, pitching 34 consecutive scoreless innings (Tom Hamilton said 39 on the radio broadcast last night but I'll take Anthony Castrovince's word for it, since I can link to it.) Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona rank #1 and #4 respectively in AL ERA. Lee's 0.67 ERA is amazing while Carmona's 2.40 ERA isn't too shabby. Carmona pitched a complete game shutout in game 1 of Monday's double header. Lee followed by pitching 9 scoreless innings of his own in the nightcap only to see the bullpen give the game away.

Asdrubal Cabrera has been amazing in the field making diving catches, double plays, and of course an unassisted triple play.

Grady Sizemore has been doing his part with the glove.

Ryan Garko came through when it counted, knocking a 3-run homer to seal the deal for the Tribe last night.

Grinding it out: Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Pirates are hot. They're 19-20 and 4 games out of first place in the NL Central; It's been a long time since Bucco fans have been able to say that. The best thing about this team is the fact that they aren't giving up. They are grinding out the close games (games that they have lost in past years) and not giving up when they get behind.

Winning with less $$$: Tampa Bay Rays and Florida Marlins.
Normally, I wouldn't call the Rays and Marlins blue collar teams, but they are doing something that I like - winning with limited resources. Both teams are currently in sole possession of first place in their divisions and stand dead last in terms of MLB payroll. Tampa Bay has a payroll of $31.8 million; Florida has a team payroll of $33.1 million).