Four Bases and a Mound

Manny Acta did not make any excuses after the game for why the Tribe's been playing poorly at home. He said "It's four bases and a mound wherever we go," not wanting to blame it on the weather.

Truth.

But you gotta think the weather MUST be quite a factor. I mean, we played this very Kansas City team just two weeks ago and they were no problem. No problem in Kansas City.

Our pitchers don't seem to be any better or worse home or away, actually. They are a steady, predictable stream of runs given up. Tomlin's ERA was 4 and he gave up 4 - just like he did in 3 of his other 4 outings.

The bullpen has tightened itself up and aside from stuff like Asencio dropping 4 last night, they're getting back to being their 2011 selves. Good ol' Joe Smith, he hasn't changed! Keeping his ERA around 2.

Our batters went back to getting more walks, so that's cool. We still lead the league in walks. But we're second from last in batting average. So our hitters are being patient but not...smart? They're striking out more and more - at least at home.

Choo was out today so once again we didn't have our "full lineup." Even when everyone is healthy we'll be missing Santana on a rest day or we had Asdrubal on his bereavement leave. I don't know if it makes a huge difference, though.

Both Brantley and Asdrubal got hits today. I still say they hit in tandem! They even put those hits together! And then there was a walk! And a sac fly! And then Asdrubal stole 3rd!

Then Shelley got up and struck out and Hannahan got up and grounded out and that was the end of that.

Woah.

Shelley wasn't all bad today - at least not in the field. We won't give up on him yet!

Has anyone noticed that Eric Hosmer, the Royals' first baseman, has taken like 10 runs away from us so far this season? Every time we have guys on base someone seems to hit a scorcher down the first base line and Hammy gets all excited and then Hosmer turns it into an out? *shakes fist* HOSMER!

Oddly enough our big hitters of the game today were Lopez (1 hit, 1 run), Kipnis (2 hits, 1 stolen base and a bandage to hold his eye open) and Cunningham who got a hit and a RBI and now has a 3-game hitting streak!

Our big bombers in the middle not hitting (Santana, Hafner, Duncan, Hannahan) (Yeah! Hannahan!) really hurt us today and that's about all there is to it. Not sure if it was the weather or what but it's just really sad because we know they have it in them.

Another 7:05 classic tomorrow, against the Angels who are as bad as the Royals so dammit we'd better get something out of this homestand!!!

It's Justin Masterson against....Jared Weaver. *GROAN*

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Didn't you used to score at home when you were a kid? How did you learn to score?"
"I lived on a farm. We didn't have pen and paper."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton

"I felt like we were 'Smoky and the Bandit' version three!"
- Tom Hamilton on driving with Rosie

"The Indians have a lineup where they need all of the pieces to really be an effective lineup."
- Tom Hamilton

"Have you ever met them? If you met them in a parking lot you'd run."
- Tom Hamilton on the Oakland Bleacher Creatures