Five out of our nine batters today spent most of their year in Columbus. Actually, six of 10 if you could Carrera coming in for Duncan. Those 5 guys got 11 hits between them with NO strikeouts. They only got 3 RBI but they scored 6 of our 7 runs.
The only guy who didn't get a hit is the only guy who's been super consistent for us since he joined the team, and that is Fukudome. He lead off but he did walk twice so in his position a walk is as good as a hit!
As per usual, we'll start with pitching. Today we had Ubaldo! And he did a nice job. Just 2 runs in 6 innings. He walked a lot (5) but kept his hits to just 3 so it was good yet not too tense.
Smith, Judy and Durbin followed up. Smith was back to his old self, Judy had a 1-2-3 inning and while Durbin struggled to finish off the game, his 1 run didn't cost us.
Jason Donald was batting second today and is back to rockin' at the plate, going 2 for 5 today and raising his average to .295. Good call putting him in at short...Asdrubal is still done and not doing us too many favors at the plate. I'd rather give Donald a chance to get some swings than have Asdrubal ground out on the first pitch of every appearance.
Santana's been pretty slow lately. He's second behind Asdrubal in terms of at-bats. But he gets more days off than Asdrubal, so he was in today along with Sweet Lou and LaPorta was on the bench. Santana snapped an 0-for-20 run today with a 2-out, 2-RBI double in the 8th! It's nice to say we didn't need the extra runs but it was even nicer to see Santana put out. He's got a few bad at-bats to make up for this year!
Hafner went 1 for 4 today. Oh yeah - Hafner was in today! He's trying to prove that he doesn't need surgery on his foot in the off-season. He'll be platooning with Thome at DH for the remainder of the season, which isn't bad because Thome can't play every day anyway and we've got quite a heavy schedule coming up. Here's a good article about Hafner and his injury and his contract. Good luck, Pronk!
Shelley Duncan was actually not The Man today. He was just a regular old player, going 1 for 4 just like Hafner. I guess he's taking a break from shaking hands and kissing babies to just be a regular player for a moment!
Lonnie Chisenhall found himself on base twice AND scoring twice today! Even though he's the cheese in a Columbus meat sandwich. No wait maybe he's the meat...Valbuena is the cheese.
So Luis Valbuena got a home run today. He actually went 3 for 5, adding 50 points to his batting average. Huh.
I wanted to honor Trevor Crowe's breakout game today but I couldn't do that because of Valbuena being equally as good (or better) so I can at least be angry at Valbuena about that mess. Grrrr Valbuena!
Hey Trevor Crowe! After not hitting for a couple of games, then walking a couple times last game, he finally went 3 for 4 today with one RBI and 2 runs. You'd think his average would be like .700 but not really. He stole a base, too! And got thrown out at home but...we can blame that on Steve Smith perhaps.
Let's hope this trend continues for Crowe! And, what the heck - Valbuena, too! I wouldn't mind going into the fall thinking we had this awesome other guy on our team.
Sweet Lou was doing well bringing up the rear today. He went 1 for 3 with a walk, a run and 2 RBI. In fact, it was him who drove all those sprouts (Valbuena, Crowe) in in the 2nd inning, effectively winning the game at that time with his 8th double.
I've been haunted by Lou and his smile ever since he waved to me last Tuesday. There's something about him...I don't know. I've re-created this moment the best I can, for all to share. Perhaps you will be mesmerized too:
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| "Hey Lou Marson!" "Hey back atcha, fan!" |
Did you notice they took the standings off the front page at Indians.com? They did it a while ago. We're still a half game behind Chicago if you were wondering.
No baseball tomorrow and then baseball EVERY DAY UNTIL THE LAST DAY!!! And, two of those days we have 2 games!
So rest up, fill your tank, do your laundry and get your grocery shopping done TOMORROW because it's the last time you'll be free for the next 16 days after that. Yeeeee-haw!
Tuesday at 8:05 in Texas, by the way. Masterson versus the nearly-identical-recorded Harrison and we have a chance to play spoiler in the AL West. Wicked!
PS: We won on a Sunday! Giggidy!
Radio Chater:
"Not very often are you playing major league games and basically guys are on rehab assignments. That usually happens in the minor leagues."
- Tom Hamilton
"I don't know what else they want from him. It's not his fault they're at where they're at."
- Tom Hamilton on Alexi Ramirez's frustrations with Chicago
"Ozzie Gullien doesn't even pat Will Ohman on the back. Just says 'gimme the ball.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the exit of the Chicago pitcher in the 6th
"A lot of the folks have departed. They're going downtown to have something to cheer about, hopefully joining a Bears tailgate party."
- Tom Hamilton in the 9th
"Not very often are you playing major league games and basically guys are on rehab assignments. That usually happens in the minor leagues."
- Tom Hamilton
"I don't know what else they want from him. It's not his fault they're at where they're at."
- Tom Hamilton on Alexi Ramirez's frustrations with Chicago
"Ozzie Gullien doesn't even pat Will Ohman on the back. Just says 'gimme the ball.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the exit of the Chicago pitcher in the 6th
"A lot of the folks have departed. They're going downtown to have something to cheer about, hopefully joining a Bears tailgate party."
- Tom Hamilton in the 9th
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