Snakes and Ladders

Wow man. I was really scared coming in to this game, I'm not going to lie. With the way we played over the weekend and the recent outings of their starter, I was really afraid we were going to completely blow it in front of my aunt & uncle, who are DBackers to the point of having a shrine room. And we'd fall further behind the Tigers in the standings.

I also worried that all of our barking for Lonnie Chisenhall to be brought up would be for naught as he struggled to get settled in the majors.

I was wrong, I was wrong and I was wrong!

We start with pitching, which was run-of-the-mill Talbot. Three runs on 3 hits, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Mitch was yanked after 5 innings and 71 pitches in favor of Travis Hafner batting with 2 on and 2 out, which I was not totally opposed to. Except he struck out. Although Talbot was looking great since he gave up 3 in the first inning, Hafner did have a better chance at getting more runs in than him. Plus, we had the whole #BullpenMafia looking to bust out.

And bust out they did. We got almost the entire gang - Smith, Sipp, Pestano, Raffy and Rage. The only one that had a little problem was Pestano who gave up two hits and a run. But, as Rick from Waiting For Next Year tweeted: "Can't even be mad at Pestano. First run he's given up since little league I think." Yeah, pretty much.

Raffy pitched to one guy and got the win, but it was a big strikeout, closing out Pestano's bad inning. Rage came in and gave up a hit, I think in order to allow himself to get the next 3 out or something, and then he got the save.

And now, the exciting story of our bats waking up!

First off, many thanks to Asdrubal for coming out of whatever funkety-funk he's been in lately (got down to .290. Can you believe it?!) and hitting a 2-run dinger at his first at-bat, surely to impress my aunt and uncle who were sitting in the stands behind him. He went 2 for 4 tonight, bringing his average back up to a respectable-for-Asdrubal .295.

Asdrubal's other hit was a double in the 6th, and he was driven in by none other than sometimes-Indian Travis Buck! Buck also had a lovely catch in the 9th to help out ol' C. Perez.

So - Lonnie Chisenhall! His first at-bat he flew out. Then everyone in Cleveland breathed a sigh of relief as little cousin started off the 5th with a double! Woohoo! Save the ball!

Wait, it gets better! Later on in the 6th he got his first RBI, which was the go-ahead RBI! So, hopefully he'll be back tomorrow. Sorry Adam Everett...

So then Pestano gives up the tying run and we're all tied yadda yadda Orlando Cabrera hits a home run.

Serious! I mean, we have seen him do well in clutch situations and we have seen him ho-hum us at the plate. It was more in the first few weeks of the season that we were wowed. They do say the dry heat is excellent for old folks. Whatever, it was a night for Dos Cabreras to go long and go long they did.

Orlando Cabrera won the game with a home run.

That's why we love baseball, folks - anything can happen!

I don't know if you read the box scores in the morning but check this nonsense out. This is slightly extreme but this is generally how National League box scores end up:

Can you even follow that? Yeesh.

So, I'm pretty happy. Going to go to bed happy. Going to look forward to tomorrow's game and everything, maybe get myself some more popsicles.

Don't forget, 9:40 PM tomorrow and Wednesday. The pitching matchup tomorrow is absolutely even, stats-wise. Can't wait to see what Lonnie Chisenhall has going on in his second game!

Radio Chatter:
"Travis Buck has racked up the frequent flyer miles going between home and Columbus."
- Tom Hamilton

"And how 'bout the kid?"
- Tom Hamilton on Lonnie Chisenhall

"My friend went golfing today, his tee-time was 2:30. Since nobody is outside golfing since it's so darned hot, it was $7 to tee off at 2:30 on a nice course!"
- Tom Hamilton can't believe how hot it is in Arizona