Taking Care of Business

It's a pretty nice feeling to be hopeful and have it pay off. Used to be that my optimism for the Tribe was sort of hollow. I felt the optimism but it never felt me back.

I've had a feeling since the first game - that very first game where everyone came out crying about how bad the Indians are...again...and we can't have a winning season ever here in Cleveland and fuck baseball - when the team rallied and scored TEN runs  to make it not only a close-r game but a good game and a fun game...that my hope and optimism would pay off this year.

Tonight we had a guy pitching a perfect game against us, and our best starter had not the best first inning. But just as my nay-sayer buddy was posting crap on Facebook about how our team looked "lazy" and this was no way to get fans to the games, the Indians scored. Then we scored again, and again and again. Four runs in the 6th to pull ahead and double our lead. Exciting runs, too - three doubles (LaPorta, CHOOOO!, Hafner) and a balk. Yeah, a balk! I wish I had some little kid to teach baseball to this season. That kid would learn more rules and nuances watching this team this year than any casual fan of any other team!

Not only did we wreck the opposing pitcher's good time, Masterson also straightened himself out by second inning and continued on with five more scoreless innings. He came away with his 4th win.

So Rafael Perez comes in to relieve Masterson in the 7th and pitch to scary lefty Alex Gordon (who has like a 14-game hitting streak), and takes care of him. Then Pestano comes in with two men already on and proceeds to walk another guy. And for some reason I felt pretty calm at this point. We're up by 4 but a homer here could tie it. It's Mike Aviles who is no actual threat, but still, you never know, especially with a young pitcher like Pestano. Anyway, I then and there decided that "wait, our pitching staff doesn't give up home runs anymore, do they?" and I shot over to MLB.com's "Sortable Team Stats" and found out that no, we DON'T give up home runs anymore. Only 10 this season - the lowest in the American League by 2 - and 4 of those were by Carmona. Half of the staff hasn't given up any and three of them only gave up one homer.

Anyway, Tim Belcher visited the mound and must have reminded Pestano of this stat because he didn't give up a home run. He struck out Aviles to end the inning.


After the pitchers tightened up and the batters went crazy, my man SIPP came in and sort of lost his shit, giving up three runs. But hey, thanks to the offense we could afford to give up 3 runs so it all worked out. Chris Perez came in for one out and was like "Watch this!" and pitched three pitches and got save number 5. Respect!

It was a pretty harmonious game. Like a good piece of music, with ups and downs and emotions but also a satisfying conclusion.

Almost everybody got a hit, too. I'll let you guess who didn't get a hit...I bet you can't! (Without looking at the box, duh) But that's ok because some guys did super-awesome and got TWO hits. One of those guys is Hafner - yeah buddy!

Tomorrow, I guess, is the rubber match? Hmm what do you call the 4th game of a 4-game series where one team can win the series or the other can tie it? Perhaps the Polystyrene game.

See you then! Sorry for the lame radio chatter...I had to w-o-r-k during the game. Ugh.

Radio Chatter:
"Grady Sizemore showing why he's a Gold-glover, and why this ballclub is a contender."
- Tom Hamilton