Thanks, Milton

Another pitcher's duel in which we come out ahead. I think it's pretty cool to have games where we get tons of hits and runs interspersed with games where we've really got to clamor for runs. Really, both are fun baseball.

What's always fun in Cleveland is great starting pitching. When was the last time we had 5 reliable starters? And a bullpen to back them up? Ok we haven't had even 10 games yet but so far so good. Masterson is the same guy we saw last time and that is not something we're used to yet, either.

After last night's trouncing, and the Mariners' track record, most of us probably expected another beatdown today. But Mariner pitcher Doug Fister (uh huh) held us to just 2 runs on 6 hits. Only one of those runs was earned - the other was courtesy of outfielder Milton Bradley.

Milton Bradley played for the Indians for a few years under Eric Wedge, until he freaked the fuck out and Wedge sent him packing. Since then he's been slowly getting more crazy every year. But his batting hasn't suffered too much so he's still in the MLB. Not sure how he ended up back with Eric Wedge, but there you have it.

Anyway, our only runs tonight came from Milton Bradley totally forgetting how to throw to his cutoff man at short, throwing the ball to no one in particular and the ball landing in the Mariners' dugout, all while Choo was heading for home after Asdrubal scored an earned run on Orlando's sac fly. Got it?

Tom Hamilton - who seriously hates Milton Bradley - could only spit out "...Thanks, Milton" in response to that mess. But once Milton was back n Hammy's radar for the night, it was on.

Later on in the game, play was stopped when Milton Bradley went to confer with the 3rd base umpire about something. Hammy and Jim Rosenhaus speculated that Bradley felt he was being harassed by fans and wanted the umpire to stop it. But the umpire didn't do anything but resume the game. When Bradley came up to bat next, he had something (cotton?) stuffed in his ears. Seriously. Rosie reported that he'd been keeping an eye on the left field bleachers and security hadn't been over there to talk to anyone so no one's sure what Bradley's problem is.

So anyway, despite the low score, our boys Asdrubal and CHOO! got 2 hits each. Hafner hits safely for the fourth game in a row, once again putting it deep in the outfield. Orlando's AVG keeps rising, and really I am liking that cat more each day. I've been sold on him since game 3 but he continues to impress.

Asdrubal also had a fantastic play in the seventh. No wait, a flashy play. Some solid short-stoppin there. Can anyone imagine Jhonny Peralta doing that?

Lots of strikeouts for Masterson today, and he gave us 6 innings with NINE strikeouts. Rafael Perez came in to relieve him after one out in the 7th and gave up an un-earned run. Sipp held strong in the 8th, and I'm still loving that guy. I had a lot of high hopes for him last year, which turned in to ho-hums, but this year he's been strong thus far.

Chris Perez picked up his 3rd save, striking out 2 in the 9th. Lessee...on track for 20+? Yes.

Tonight I "watched" the game on Gameday, for the first time really delving in to the new Gameday setup, and I must say I am pretty impressed with it. Yesterday I talked a little bit about Gameday but I hadn't "done" an entire game using Gameday.

I have my Gameday Audio running in the background and the Gameday interface in the foreground. The new format puts pretty much everything you want at your fingertips, the sort of stuff you might be looking for if you're inclined to be "connected" while watching a game. Stats are right there - in-depth player stats including a heat chart, in-depth pitcher stats including a pitch type chart. There's a Twitter interface showing all #indians and #mariners tweets as well as a field for posting your own tweets.

There's a weird little feature called "Badges" that serves up 3 player/situation combos for each team (ex: "Asdrubal Cabrera/Double") and if one of those 6 things happen in the game while you are logged in and watching Gameday, then you win a badge. I didn't win any badges tonight but you know what this means right? I must log in again and AGAIN!

One of the coolest things on Gameday, especially for someone without access to television, is the Video player. As soon as a highlight clip is available (like, within minutes) a notice pops up and you can watch the highlight instantly, right over the Gameday pitch tracker thingy. That's just amazing, at least from a radio fan's perspective. About as amazing as when they started doing replays on the big board at the stadium. It used to be just painful waiting until the next day to see a clip of something cool, and to have it in minutes is great. And...AND...they seem to be posting more clips than ever.

So, check out the MLB.com Gameday interface - which is free. Don't forget that if a game is not on WTAM, it's on WMMS (in Cleveland) so you don't need to buy Gameday Audio to hear a game.

See you tomorrow - keep spreading the cheer!

Radio Chatter - Special Milton Bradley Edition:
"...thank you Milton."
- Tom Hamilton in response to Milton Bradley's error which allowed an un-earned run

"That's why your shortstop is the cutoff man. He's not out there to WAVE at Milton Bradley, you're supposed to throw to him. Oh well..."
- Tom Hamilton, still milling over Milton's error

"The umpires are all off-season dentists, and they tell him he's fine, put the mask back on."
- Tom Hamilton, NOT in response to Milton Bradley, but in response to a delay of game while one of the umpires asks the other umpires about his tooth

"[Milton Bradley] has plugged his ears with cotton. Good lord."
- Tom Hamilton

"If Bradley strikes out here, he'll need more than cotton in his ears."
- Tom Hamilton