NOTEBOOK Indians vs. Yankees

Torre on Hafner: Yankees manager Joe Torre admitted he has "limited knowledge" of Indians designated hitter Travis Hafner, "other than [knowing] he's certainly scary when he comes up to the plate. He has a good feel for the strike zone and he's not a wild swinging guy. He has a pretty good sense of what he's doing up there and it looks like he works very hard. He's certainly a presence in that lineup. You're hoping that when you face him that there aren't a lot of guys on base." Hafner had a single, scored a run and was walked twice in Monday's game.Coming up: Sparked by a postgame fireworks show, Monday's game attracted 42,706 fans. It was the Tribe's largest regular-season crowd since Sept. 29, 2000 (42,768). The Indians say plenty of lower bowl and upperdeck tickets are available for the games against the Yankees tonight through Thursday.Pitchers: Jake Westbrook (6-4, 4.37 earned-run average) will start today's 6:05 p.m. game at Jacobs Field. The Yankees will start Shawn Chacon (4-2, 5.68). Wednesday, Paul Byrd (6-4, 4.10) faces New York ace Mike Mussina (9-3, 3.17). Thursday, Cliff Lee (8-5, 4.69) faces the Yankees' Randy Johnson (9-7, 5.25). Those games begin at 7:05 p.m.Next series: The Indians finish the first half of the season with a weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles.Blake heals: Outfielder Casey Blake, who went on the disabled list on June 16 with a strained oblique muscle, says he's close to returning. Blake hit off the tee before Monday's game and said he plans to run bases today. He expects to play a couple of minor-league rehabilitation games -- perhaps over the All-Star break -- before being activated. "I've already had a long All-Star break," Blake said.Almost home for the holiday: Umpire John Hirschbeck of Poland worked first base and Wally Bell of Boardman worked second.
Tom Williams