It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

Wow what a cool baseball game! It felt very tense. Of course, my very large (and wet from swimming) dog growling trying to sit in my lap for half the game probably added to the overall tenseness of the night. That and the lightning.

It was just a nice little matchup for two closely-matched teams. The pitchers weren't as evenly matched, but neither of them "blew it."

Talbot only managed 6.1 innings and gave up 3 runs and only struck out 2.

Conversely, Rockies pitcher Jhoulys Chacin struck out 7 but also walked 8 so our patience chased him off after 6.2 as well with 115 pitches. He actually had a no-hitter through 6 but then walked two and CHOOOOOO! got the team's first hit and first RBI!

So it's 3-1 Rockies in the bottom of the 8th. A storm is rolling in, with thunder and lighting in the distance. Chacin is gone and Rafael Betancourt comes on. The slowest pitcher they've got, oddly enough. Possibly slow enough to allow the storm to shut down this official game.

But, there was a glimmer of that April magic when 3 singles in a row (Phelps, Asdrubal, Hafner) scores a run and still no outs. Then a pitching change. Then two outs. O noes!

Then Travis Buck, of all people, snaps an 0 for 24 slump and gets himself an RBI single to right. The game is tied! The storm is coming! Hurrah!

Ah, but, after 30 innings of scoreless work, the bullpen gives up a run. Chris Perez gave up a homer after not giving up a homer all year. BUMMER.

The last inning was still pretty fun, though. Still lightning and thundering out here, the dog panting wildly and drooling on my feet, cracks of thunder fuzzing out the radio reception. Two outs and it's Sunday's hero Cord Phelps! Oh hey he gets a triple! Yaaaaay!

Now Asdrubal's up. Yaaaay! But he walks. Not intentionally but intentional enough.

The Questionable Call of the night goes to Manny Acta for pulling Hafner in the 8th for a pinch runner (Everett, .228) and then putting Kearns (.207) in to hit. Kearns isn't the questionable call, pulling Hafner is. No Shelley Duncan anymore, ya see.

And then the game was over.

But! The storm continues and my dog continues to moan, I've had a couple Benadryl and a Goji White Grape popsicle and all in all I am pretty happy with tonight's game. I was listening to it thinking about the people I know who can't get in to baseball or sports in general and wonder if they know what they're missing. I've never felt this much emotion watching The Office. How can they like Firefly so much and not Cleveland baseball?

Weirdos.

Anyway this is the sort of game that The Positive Tribe is founded on, because even though we did a lot of losing last season there were tons of cool games like tonight. I'm happy to spend a night listening to this kind of baseball.

Lou Marson got his second (second!) triple, by the way and also threw out a guy at second. Still loving him behind the plate.

And Asdrubal went 1 for 2 with 3 walks, 2 runs scored and his 12 stolen base.

Amen.

Ooooh, I just heard that Chris Perez is going to be on WTAM in the post-game show in a bit. Great, gotta hear what he says. Gives me something to do while waiting for this damn storm to pass, because the dog has made it clear that going to bed is not in the plans.

Tomorrow's at 7:05 and I think it's going to be a great game again. This one we have a real chance of winning too! See you then!

Radio Chatter:
"Pronkville is begging for a souvenir."
- Tom Hamilton

"People listen to these games and they actually believe you guys! I pay for that in the offseason!"
- Jim Rosenhaus taking Mike Hegan to task for suggesting that he was wearing pink high heels

"Chacin is walking around the mound thinking to himself 'Why can't I throw strikes over the corners of the plate?'"
- Tom Hamilton on Chacin's multiple walks

"Those 'All You Can Eat Seats' ... great time to go to the ballpark and then get a physical the next day."
- Tom Hamilton

"The way the wind is blowing now, it'll be easier to rally from behind."
- Tom Hamilton puts a positive spin on the impending storm

"They put a 'no doubles' defense on at Coors Field and doubles will be dropping in everywhere."
- Tom Hamilton