Carrera was brought up just today from Columbus to play center field, since apparently he's a damn good center fielder, fast as hell and according to hitting coach John Nunley, a good bunter for his level of experience.
The score is tied in the 8th with runners at first (Santana, intentional walk) and third (Choo, triple) for the Tribe. Two outs. Shelley Duncan is due up but he's only 2 for his last 29. So Manny Acta calls on Ezequiel Carrera to get up and bunt one down the 1st base line (a "drag bunt") to get Choo in to score the go-ahead run.
And he does.
All I can say is "Woah." And "What the fuck is that?!" Well, THAT is Indians baseball! That is Manny Acta Baseball.
The rest of the game was kind of roller-coaster. First, Alex White came out in the 3rd with pain in his middle finger on his throwing hand. Errr...not cool? He did pitch to a few after first feeling hurt but who knows where this is going to go.
Luckily, Frank Hermann had just come up and was able to serve as long relief. In the 6th we got Smith, Sipp, Pestano and Chris Perez. It was sort of a gutsy move of Acta to roll out the entire pen while the score was tied, but we really should not question Manny Acta anymore. Really.
So we were facing a no-hitter until the 6th inning, when Austin Kearns got himself a hit. Good, good, Austin Kearns! He really just does need some time to get back into it. Craig at Waiting For Next Year tweeted "You know who hated Carrera's play tonight? Austin Kearns." Hahaha...awww, yeah sorry bro, you might be benched for a few while we test out Zeke. But, nice catch...?
After Kearns hits, then Supermanahan hits, then Brantley hits.
Asdrubal walks, Choo gets hit by a pitch, Carlos Santana walks.
Shelley Duncan gets a sacrifice fly, and if you're following along at home, we're all of a sudden tied at 4. Four guys get RBI in the 6th, and only one of those guys has a hit!
Whatever it takes, right? This may not have been the best outing ever for the Tribe (or the Reds, for that matter) but someone had to come out on top and some sort of magic had to happen, and the magic happened tonight.
Check out how Chris Perez ended the game. That'll put a smile on your face!
"Ezequiel Carrera" is "trending on Twitter" right now. That means a bunch of people are talking about him on Twitter. Neat!
Speaking of Twitter, Mark Shapiro tweeted that there's a new "What If?" commercial. I love love love the two other promos this year "What If?" and "It's Only a Ball" but this one uh...well, take a look. What do you think? They could have made a most amazing clips promo from the first quarter of the season here. Instead it's 42 seconds of Santana's walk-off grand slam. AWESOME play for real but ... what? Santana must have an amazing agent.
So, GREAT game tonight. I was on the edge of my seat literally. I wished I had someone to be watching the game with or something...I felt sort of weird wringing my hands in front of my computer screen.
Let's re-visit that bunt, because you gotta watch it at least twice tonight.
Tomorrow's game, 4:05 PM! Tomlin vs. some guy who is 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA but who is also named Homer. It's a sold out game, let's hope the boys take it and run with it. And let's see some ZEKE!
Radio Chatter:
"Travis is going to be out...they say 3 to 4 weeks. But when you say 3 to 4 weeks with an oblique, count on 6 weeks."
- Tom Hamilton
"The only thing missing from this postcard is Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis."
- Tom Hamilton regarding a "very Amish" postcard the guys got from a person in "Youngstown, Amish country."
"The good news is, by playing so well in the first part of the season, you've built up a bit of a cushion."
- Tom Hamilton
"Once again this team finding a way after being no-hitted for five-and-a-third."
- Tom Hamilton
"What a time for Orlando Cabrera to get his first hit as a US citizen."
- Tom Hamilton
"Think of Goose Gossage. He might have thrown a player over the outfield wall."
- Tom Hamilton on the emotions of relief pitchers
"Oh, Fred Lewis put on a clinic on how not to run the bases!"
- Tom Hamilton on Fred Lewis sort of running himself out to end the game
"Both of these teams tried to throw the game away."
- Mike Hegan
"Travis is going to be out...they say 3 to 4 weeks. But when you say 3 to 4 weeks with an oblique, count on 6 weeks."
- Tom Hamilton
"The only thing missing from this postcard is Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis."
- Tom Hamilton regarding a "very Amish" postcard the guys got from a person in "Youngstown, Amish country."
"The good news is, by playing so well in the first part of the season, you've built up a bit of a cushion."
- Tom Hamilton
"Once again this team finding a way after being no-hitted for five-and-a-third."
- Tom Hamilton
"What a time for Orlando Cabrera to get his first hit as a US citizen."
- Tom Hamilton
"Think of Goose Gossage. He might have thrown a player over the outfield wall."
- Tom Hamilton on the emotions of relief pitchers
"Oh, Fred Lewis put on a clinic on how not to run the bases!"
- Tom Hamilton on Fred Lewis sort of running himself out to end the game
"Both of these teams tried to throw the game away."
- Mike Hegan
*sigh*
ReplyDeleteWe saw the game up to the point they were down 4-0, and then we left. And got back just in time to watch the last three outs. I feel like a bad Tribe fan today. Most importantly, though, is that they got the W.
For the record, I really enjoy that you're doing this blog!
Hey you're all right. Glad you two have lives instead of being glued to the radio at home all night like me ;)
ReplyDeleteI am having fun doing this blog! If nothing else, I'm introducing the wonders of Tom Hamilton to the general non-radio public.