First off, it was a sellout on the 4th of July. Stands to reason, as it was against the Yankees. A friend of mine was at the game and he said while there were a lot of Yankee "fans" there they didn't dominate the crowd like usual. I know I could barely hear them on the radio broadcast. Sometimes when we play the Yankees and especially when we play the Red Sox, you can't tell who's home stadium we're at!
Josh Tomlin did his thing and went 7 innings, giving him the modern era record for most consecutive 5-plus-inning games (29). He actually had a no-hitter going in to the 7th! He did end up giving up 2 in the 7th but now that our guys are batting, albeit still a skeleton crew, 2 is just ducky.
Our favorite trio came in to finish off the game. Sipp, Pestano and Chris Perez. Pestano did give up a homer to Curtis Granderson, but Granderson has 23 homers and 2 against the Tribe in 4 previous games so somebody had to do it.
Perez was back after his bereavement trip, and got his 20th save! Here's a clip of the last out, which is a very nice clip because there's some fancy fielding plus a very happy sell-out crowd and lots of smiles and handshakes. And about 75% less Rage Beard as well!
Our hitting, overall, wasn't very amazing as a team. Although Asdrubal went 2 for 4 and Pronk got a hit in the 3-hole.
Grady didn't hit but he did get 2 walks, one of which resulted in scoring a run on a very clutch 2-out single from Shelley Duncan.
Before Duncan was up, Lonnie Chisenhall had a "major league at-bat" fouling off 4 pitches from AJ Burnett and walking after 8 pitches, which included a wild pitch. He looked good up there, being selective.
But then after that, after Shelley got that hit and everyone was all riled up, and there were 2 outs and 2 men on base, and we were losing 2 to 1....Austin Kearns came up. Austin Kearns who used to be pretty awesome on other teams and he was sort of awesome for us last year but this year hasn't managed to be anywhere near awesome. Austin Kearns batting 9th and filling in for the injured Choo with his .192 batting average, 37 strikeouts and 0 home runs. He came in and did this.
Lucky for all of you that I'm posting this a day late (I had a party last night so I got up early to listen to the game archive!) and I'm able to link right to the "Tom Hamilton ... Home Run Call" Facebook page video/audio of the call. As one FB commenter put it "Hammy just reached through my radio and punched me in the face!"
I feel you, commenter!
I'm actually quite surprised that Hamilton didn't wax poetic about this team and this season and magic and something special. Maybe he's finding it too cliche anymore? Whatever...I just loved that call. I've listened to it about 7 times already today. Awesome stuff!
So after that display of 7th-inning magnificence, AJ Burnett was done. We weren't done, though, because in the 8th Carlos Santana went deep and opposite for a 2-run homer. Oddly enough to score Travis Hafner and himself! Santana had even been catching as opposed to playing 1st like he usually has. Not sure of the stats on when he hits homers while playing 1st versus when he's catching. Those would be interesting stats.
Aside from Perez's 20th win, that was all for us for the night. What a magical night, I say! I'm glad 40,000 of you were there to enjoy it! I'm also glad I got to listen to it in full this morning. It actually helped me get out of bed!
Tonight is Cookie Carrasco versus CC Sabathia. CC won't be going to the All Star game this year, even though his name has come up in Cy Young Award talks. We love to beat CC, a lot. I am super excited you bet!
See you tonight!
Radio Chatter:
"For nine days I twiddled my thumbs until the 7th inning then hoped I got an at-bat."
- Travis Hafner to Tom Hamilton
"They don't like the balls and strikes being called, but get used to it that's what he did in the first inning! [...] One thing about the Yankees - they never believe that a call should go against them."
- Tom Hamilton on a dust-up between the Yankees catcher and the home plate umpire
"I don't think anyone in the American League is sorry to see [pitchers batting] go."
"You know who will miss it? Josh Tomlin. He got some great hits!"
- Mike Hegan and Jim Rosenhaus on pitchers batting
"CC Sabathia already said 'I'm going to the Bahamas, don't call.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the All Star Game picks
"The last time these teams faced each other on the 4th of July was here, 5 years ago, and the Indians won 19-1! Tonight, nothing but goose eggs!"
- Tom Hamilton
"His numbers have started to drop a little with age. And a lack of vitamins."
- Tom Hamilton does not like A-Rod taking "vitamins" (HE MEANS STEROIDS)
"Well it had to have hit something or Teixeira would have caught it. He catches everything!"
- Tom Hamilton on a mysterious bounce in the 7th
"How about...you get your first home run on the 4th of July against the New York Yankees, and your second hit off of AJ Burnett?"
- Tom Hamilton on Kearns' homer
"Vinnie Pestano was 10 during Derek Jeter's rookie year."
- Tom Hamilton
"It doesn't matter how the weather is at home, how the wind is blowing. It's blowing in tonight and they just hit two more homers at home! We all know how miserable the spring was in Cleveland yet the Indians have now hit 53 home runs at home, 24 on the road."
- Tom Hamilton
"This is kind of a micrcosm of this season. This ballclub does not rely on one guy."
- Tom Hamilton
"For nine days I twiddled my thumbs until the 7th inning then hoped I got an at-bat."
- Travis Hafner to Tom Hamilton
"They don't like the balls and strikes being called, but get used to it that's what he did in the first inning! [...] One thing about the Yankees - they never believe that a call should go against them."
- Tom Hamilton on a dust-up between the Yankees catcher and the home plate umpire
"I don't think anyone in the American League is sorry to see [pitchers batting] go."
"You know who will miss it? Josh Tomlin. He got some great hits!"
- Mike Hegan and Jim Rosenhaus on pitchers batting
"CC Sabathia already said 'I'm going to the Bahamas, don't call.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the All Star Game picks
"The last time these teams faced each other on the 4th of July was here, 5 years ago, and the Indians won 19-1! Tonight, nothing but goose eggs!"
- Tom Hamilton
"His numbers have started to drop a little with age. And a lack of vitamins."
- Tom Hamilton does not like A-Rod taking "vitamins" (HE MEANS STEROIDS)
"Well it had to have hit something or Teixeira would have caught it. He catches everything!"
- Tom Hamilton on a mysterious bounce in the 7th
"How about...you get your first home run on the 4th of July against the New York Yankees, and your second hit off of AJ Burnett?"
- Tom Hamilton on Kearns' homer
"Vinnie Pestano was 10 during Derek Jeter's rookie year."
- Tom Hamilton
"It doesn't matter how the weather is at home, how the wind is blowing. It's blowing in tonight and they just hit two more homers at home! We all know how miserable the spring was in Cleveland yet the Indians have now hit 53 home runs at home, 24 on the road."
- Tom Hamilton
"This is kind of a micrcosm of this season. This ballclub does not rely on one guy."
- Tom Hamilton
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