I tried to get the score by text but it wasn't happening, so then I decided to avoid the score until I could listen to the game on the Gameday Audio archive (which I can access thanks to my Tribe Fan Club subscription). I ended up sneaking a peek at the score but listening to the entire game anyway. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a sunny Sunday than to stay holed up inside listening to baseball. Ok maybe when I'm done with this I'll put out my patio furniture and listen to today's game outdoors.
Really nice game today. Just good baseball. First off, we were facing probably the best pitcher in the AL in Jared Weaver (other top pitchers? Oakland's Trevor Cahill and the Angel's Dan Haren, today's opponent). Second, our top prospect Alex White was pitching his second game in the Majors. Things could have gone horribly wrong. Like, if it were any other year, things would have gone horribly wrong. Instead, all our guys stepped up and gave White a fantastic backing by handling Weaver with aplomb and staying tight in the field.
Like this: OMG ASDRUBAL!
Even though he gave up 3 runs, Alex White looked fan-fucking-tastic. Pitching against the West's top team and one of the AL's top pitchers? The kid was cool as a cucumber! He did give up a homer but a rare SINGLE homer (our staff likes to give up homers in groups of 2, or 2-run homers). He struck out 6 in 6 innings (Weaver? Zero) and only walked 2 (same as Weaver). Any time he was in a jam, he worked out of it. Like when he gave up a triple with one out and nobody scored, or when he had 2 on in the 6th, with only a one-run lead, approaching 100 pitches and got Mathis to strike out swinging to end the inning.
Relieving White in the 7th was our Dream Team of Sipp!, Pestano and Chris Perez, giving up just one hit with three strikeouts. Not bad after so many extra-inning games and so many appearances. Pestano pitched his third consecutive game, which he's never done before since he's had the Tommy John surgery. But he only made 12 pitches, 10 of them strikes. Some real old-school strength out there! Perez got his 10th save and Alex White got the win.
The offense really tamed Weaver today. They wore him out, getting him up to 108 pitches. Michael Brantley had an 11-pitch at-bat in the 4th, and we came back to score three in the 5th - after back-to-back walks! Usually you need to wear out the starter to get to the relievers to score your runs, but we actually got the win from Weaver himself.
Weaver was leading the league in strikeouts when the game began. He didn't strike out one single Indian.
You know who got all our runs today? CHOOOOO! And SMOOOOOOOOOOTH! (Carlos Santana) Santana scored in the 4th on a sac fly, then knocked in the winning run in the 5th. Choo was on base because he got a TWO RUN DOUBLE! When you can stop an 0-for-19 slump with a two-run double...well, you've returned.
Hafner got two hits, bringing his average to .352. HOT STUFF! Marson was in again at catcher, and got a hit, keeping his average at .303. Marson also got a STEAL...and then a pickoff. Heh.
Today's game is gonna be crazy. Fausto vs. also-awesome pitcher Dan Haren. Our bullpen is wrecked. We haven't hit any home runs in this entire road trip. Can we stick it out one more game? Well you know what? You know who, if anyone ever, can stick it out this one last game? A YOUNG team that runs on nothing but heart and hope. Could the old men from Boston do it? No.
Check out my collection of Radio Chatter today! Hammy and Rosie were having lots of FUN!
Radio Chatter:
"You can buy a baseball team when you record a song like 'Rudoplh the Red Nosed Reindeer'. [...] Just think, every time your kids sing 'Rudolph' Gene Autrey is making money."
- Tom Hamilton regarding Gene Autrey's ownership of the Angels
"Proof again that a Buckeye is always tougher than a Gaucho. What is a Gaucho, Tony? It's sort of a horse? A Spanish horseman. Well, how many Spanish horsemen can play volleyball?"
- Tom Hamilton regarding the OSU men's volleyball winning the national championships over USC Santa Barbara
"Bobby Abreau is going to finish his career at some point...he's 37...and he's going to have one of the greatest careers that nobody's ever talked about."
- Tom Hamilton
"Former Indian Izturas went with Ryan Church to Houston for Scott Stewart. The only thing I can remember about Scott Stewart is that nobody ate more Fudgecicles in the history of the Indians franchise and was less productive than Scott Stewart."
"Scott Stewart was a peacock for the bullpen and he found himself in triple-A awfully quick."
"Were there a lot of Fudgecicles in Buffalo, Rosie?"
"I didn't want to go there, but there was a shortstop gone to Montreal and the Bisons added a relief pitcher who couldn't get anyone out at that level either."
"And it was never his fault."
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus fondly remembering Scott Stewart
"Hey, there's a ball the Angels didn't get! That might be the first one in two games that they didn't make a sensational play on."
- Tom Hamilton on Santana's 4th inning double
"Oh my, what a huge hit for Choo. And it might be be the first time on this road trip that he's been able to take a deep breath and relax. And I can't believe how many Indians fans are here!"
"Tom, I think in addition to Indians fans, I think there's Choo fans."
"You're right, Rosie. Especially out west, the Korean delegation."
"When he came to the plate there was a lot of Choo-ing like at home."
- Tom Hamilton on Choo's 2-run double and the resulting wave of "CHOOOOOO!"
"Well if you like numbers, Jared Weaver in his last three starts against the Indians had given up one run, in three starts. So this again tells you how legitimate this ball club is, Rosie. They're doing it against good pitching they're not just doing it against meatballers."
- Tom Hamilton
"We've got the Angels television feed up here, and when the Angels strike out they don't replay it."
"It's like it never happened."
"Well, we are around the corner from Disneyland."
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus
"You don't see many clubs play a home game on Sunday at 12:35. [...] I guess nobody goes to church out here. Except our engineer Tony!"
- Tom Hamilton
"The Indians are third in the league in pitching, which sort of gets lots. As tough as the pitching has been for the Indians to face, the same is true for the Angels and Oakland. Runs have been at a premium for both the Indians and their opposition."
- Tom Hamilton
"Marson says he got his hand in there. [Umpire] Doug Eddings says 'I didn't see it that way.'"
- Tom Hamilton
"You can buy a baseball team when you record a song like 'Rudoplh the Red Nosed Reindeer'. [...] Just think, every time your kids sing 'Rudolph' Gene Autrey is making money."
- Tom Hamilton regarding Gene Autrey's ownership of the Angels
"Proof again that a Buckeye is always tougher than a Gaucho. What is a Gaucho, Tony? It's sort of a horse? A Spanish horseman. Well, how many Spanish horsemen can play volleyball?"
- Tom Hamilton regarding the OSU men's volleyball winning the national championships over USC Santa Barbara
"Bobby Abreau is going to finish his career at some point...he's 37...and he's going to have one of the greatest careers that nobody's ever talked about."
- Tom Hamilton
"Former Indian Izturas went with Ryan Church to Houston for Scott Stewart. The only thing I can remember about Scott Stewart is that nobody ate more Fudgecicles in the history of the Indians franchise and was less productive than Scott Stewart."
"Scott Stewart was a peacock for the bullpen and he found himself in triple-A awfully quick."
"Were there a lot of Fudgecicles in Buffalo, Rosie?"
"I didn't want to go there, but there was a shortstop gone to Montreal and the Bisons added a relief pitcher who couldn't get anyone out at that level either."
"And it was never his fault."
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus fondly remembering Scott Stewart
"Hey, there's a ball the Angels didn't get! That might be the first one in two games that they didn't make a sensational play on."
- Tom Hamilton on Santana's 4th inning double
"Oh my, what a huge hit for Choo. And it might be be the first time on this road trip that he's been able to take a deep breath and relax. And I can't believe how many Indians fans are here!"
"Tom, I think in addition to Indians fans, I think there's Choo fans."
"You're right, Rosie. Especially out west, the Korean delegation."
"When he came to the plate there was a lot of Choo-ing like at home."
- Tom Hamilton on Choo's 2-run double and the resulting wave of "CHOOOOOO!"
"Well if you like numbers, Jared Weaver in his last three starts against the Indians had given up one run, in three starts. So this again tells you how legitimate this ball club is, Rosie. They're doing it against good pitching they're not just doing it against meatballers."
- Tom Hamilton
"We've got the Angels television feed up here, and when the Angels strike out they don't replay it."
"It's like it never happened."
"Well, we are around the corner from Disneyland."
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus
"You don't see many clubs play a home game on Sunday at 12:35. [...] I guess nobody goes to church out here. Except our engineer Tony!"
- Tom Hamilton
"The Indians are third in the league in pitching, which sort of gets lots. As tough as the pitching has been for the Indians to face, the same is true for the Angels and Oakland. Runs have been at a premium for both the Indians and their opposition."
- Tom Hamilton
"Marson says he got his hand in there. [Umpire] Doug Eddings says 'I didn't see it that way.'"
- Tom Hamilton
This will shorter than my first attempt at a post, which was eaten.
ReplyDeleteThe fiancee and I actually went to this game. There were many Indians fans in attendance, and lots of high-fives were shared before, during and particularly after the game. I also had a personal heckler -- a very good-natured Angels fan who kept coming by my seat every couple of innings to point out how his team was going to win, even when they fell behind. And then there was the moronic drunk guy a few rows behind me who, in the top of the 9th, kept shouting "Aaaaaaaaasdruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuubaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!" in this really mocking tone as if Droobs was going to stop his at-bat and shed a tear at...his name. People are weird.
But my favorite moment of Saturday actually came before the first pitch. During batting practice, I lined up along the wall down the third-base foul line, along with probably 100 Angels fans, hoping, like everyone else, to track down a ball rolling my way or get a sympathetic player to toss one to me. Indians bench coach Tim Tolman was the closest person to us fielding balls. Fans begged and pleaded with him, but he'd just look at them and toss any ball he retrieved back into the infield, with the exception of one ball he happened to stick in his pocket.
At the end of batting practice, as all the players headed toward the opposite dugout, Tolman walked over to us along the wall, smiled at everyone, strolled directly up to me, pulled the ball out of his pocket, handed it to me, shook my hand, smiled at everyone else, and walked off. I hadn't even gestured at him!
Being the only fan out of 100 to be wearing the right cap and jersey has its benefits!