Magical Mystery Outfield

I think our happy little team of merrymakers has been beat to hell. Choo had a "mental day" off today. Supermanahan was still out with his sore butt. Hafner still out. Pestano was about to pitch but was stopped short by soreness. Grady being benched tomorrow, LaPorta benched today (neither for injury but the former due to proper rehab).

It's rough to watch the team work on a skeleton crew like that. Our bench is deep, I still insist, but they are deep when propped up on all sides.

Tonight the bottom of the order seemed very bottom-ish. Especially with Orlando batting second (wha?) Duncan, Kearns, Marson and Everett just couldn't finish what Brantley, Dos Cabreras and Grady could start. And Santana is still Santana. It's all much smoother if the lineup is peppered with solid hitters as opposed to toppled with them.

I still say DON'T PANIC. Because for one, this isn't our everyday team. Two, with trade stuff coming up we do need to know what every guy on our team is worth to us or to other teams. Three, now is the time to figure all this out as opposed to late in August.

Manny Acta is still not worried. I can see his plan, I think. I almost feel like he didn't think we had a chance right now against Texas so he took the opportunity to mix stuff up and give guys breaks. We're still 4 ahead of Detroit and we meet them in a week and a half, at which time we'll quickly recoup losses. Also no one wants to see us giving mental health breaks during the Yankee series. It was now or never.

But forget all that. I went to the game tonight! And....AND....I brought my sign! Holla! Once I got over the initial fear of putting marker on $3 worth of foam board and using math to figure it all out, my sign looked pretty good. So good, in fact, that I decided the people behind me also needed to see my awesome sign and I put the same message ("OMG ASDRUBAL!!") on the back as well. That way, no one would miss the excitement!

And as predicted (by me), Asdrubal did not disappoint! I was slightly scared as he did not start hitting until the 6th, and then he reached on an error. But I thought "what if this is my only chance?" and let the flag fly. Then in the 7th he's all like "LET'S SEE THAT SIGN AGAIN!" Then, as if inspired to do better, he doubles in the 8th! And gets another all-star caliber out in the 9th!

Of course, it's not me creating this greatness. But my double-sided OMG ASDRUBAL!! sign hopefully at least makes some people think "Hmm, our shortstop - he is predictably good enough to have his own fan sign. Hooray!"

Hey you know who wasn't all that bad today? Fausto Carmona. Yes he got the L and yes he gave up 4 including 2 home runs but since when is 4 insurmountable by this team? Ok not this particular lineup but this team in general? You should be able to give up 4 and have your team come back and take care of it. But they didn't and that's that.

Raffi, Smith and Durbin did well too. Two-point-two shutout innings for them.

Part of the problem with our lineup today was lack of patience, so we never got rid of Holland. He bent a little by the 8th but he never broke.

But did you know he's from Newark, OH? And this was his first time pitching against the Tribe? I actually saw a dude sitting below me with a Holland jersey and wondered what that was all about. Didn't put it together until the post-game when I heard Holland was from here. Hmm, I know a Holland family from up hereaways. I wonder if he's related?

Anyway, good job Derek Holland pitching a complete game shutout against your hometown team, probably in front of a ton of people who know you. That is truly exciting!

Now, don't do it again!

Ok so no Radio Chatter tonight (unless anyone fills in), don't expect it tomorrow (unless I go over the archive which I might) and someone consider helping me out on Tuesday as well.

Game 4 against these Rangers tomorrow. This is actually the first time we've been swept in a 3-game series (previous sweeps this year were 2-game series). But it's going to be a FOUR game series! If we were to lose Sunday, we could still claim never to have been swept in a 3-game series this year. Ha!

Ok time for bed.