Help from Torii

Hey there! I totally missed yesterday's game. I was all ready to sit down and watch/listen before my birthday party but it was delayed an hour and a half. Then my niece came over early to play. She gave me some finger paintings and a signed Bob Feller Starting Lineup figure (NIB, natch) so I think I made the right choice there. Then my friends came over and we partied until 1 AM and some of them said "Too bad the Tribe lost on your birthday!" and told me how boring the game was so I just decided to ditch it. Looking at the box score this morning with our 4 hits and 2 walks, I decided just to skip it. I think I made the right choice there, too.

Today's game was a different story! Derek Lowe pitched great and even though not all of our guys hit, everyone ended up on base (except Duncan, who got the game's only RBI on record).

Lowe was super comfortable up there today. There's no reason for him to be rattled, I suppose - the Angels aren't doing anything notable this year, other than losing. He didn't have many strikeouts but he did get 14 ground outs in his 7 2/3 innings, ending up with a 3-hitter and his 4th win!

Lowe faltered a bit in the 8th, then Pestano came in and walked the bases loaded but he did good and got himself out of it. Chris Perez came in in a non-save situation and struck out 2 to end the game!

Ervin Santana, who pitched a no-hitter against us last season, is 0-5 this season and has given up 10 homers in 23 games.Unfortunately we did not see any of those home run balls today. Or if we did, we didn't recognize them. The Tribe was leading the AL in home runs (I think with Texas) earlier this month but we haven't hit a homer since April 17. Argh!

Still, we've found ways to win. You do hear people complain about "relying on the long ball too much" when a team wins only by homers, so I guess getting in some small ball is helpful too.

My plea for multi-hit games has paid off! Brantley and Santana had 2 and 3 hits, respectively and in turn they both scored runs. And their averages are over .250!

Asdrubal didn't get a hit but he did get to 2nd base on an error from Torii Hunter who dropped a high pop fly in the outfield. While this was going on, Cunningham and Brantley scored. These runs were actually sort of made possible by Kotchman and Kipnis who represented outs 1 and 2 in the inning. Had there not been 2 outs, no one would have been running and no one would have been able to score on the error. Instead, Brantley and Cunningham were free-wheelin' it around the bases and it turned out their runs counted. How's that for serendipity?!

Later on in the 8th inning, Hafner got his single (pinch run by Donald) and Santana followed with one of his own. They had Hannahan - who is currently on a break from being magical - sacrifice bunt to get them over but we got a nice present instead. The bunt was picked up and thrown wildly to first in which case Hannahan was safe, Donald scored and Santana went to third. Then up came Duncan who could USE some magic, and he didn't get a hit he did get a sacrifice fly and an RBI!

I'll also note that Casey Kotchman got himself a hit today (he's batting .149) and had some nice plays at 1st including an unassisted double play!

Also here's a coupla Web Gems for ya - Asdrubal stops and spins and Cunningham (!) recovers from a fall and makes a catch!

So everyone really pitched in today to not let Ervin Santana make a repeat of last year. This includes help from Torii Hunter who does not play for our team but I wish he did. Today's win also means we won the series and leaves us atop the AL Central for another day. Nice job for a SUNDAY, guys!

Off day tomorrow and then off to Chicago for three 8:10 PM games against the White Sox. We've really got to win those because the Sox are chasing behind us in the standings and also after that we play Texas and Texas is really freaking good. Like 16-5 good. So we need to have some padding in case we lose. IN CASE...you know?

Tuesday is Ubaldo versus Chris Sale at 8:10 PM. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Oh he's a magician out there at short stop!"
- Jim Rosenhaus on Asdrubal Cabrera

"This sinker right now is just eating up the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. That's their official name but nobody calls them that."
- Tom Hamilton gives us extra info

"Torii Hunter was getting the Bronx Cheer, but instead of getting mad about it he just turned around and flipped the fans the baseball."
- Tom Hamilton loves Torii Hunter too

"We'll see the Angels again in July. If there still only scoring 2 runs per game by then, we've got a story."
- Tom Hamilton