Best #1 A+ Win

What an amazing win. We didn't just win by one. Our pitchers didn't give up a ton of runs that we had to overcome. We didn't merely have a big inning. There was some great defense. Guys had multi-hits. We beat one of the best teams in baseball. It was hands down our best win of the season.

Starting off with starter Jeanmar Gomez. He's our little secret, for sure. He doesn't quite have Lowe's ERA (his 2.80 versus 2.27) but he's got the second lowest WHIP (walks + hits / innings pitched) on the team with .99, trailing only Vinnie Pestano. Dude is cool as a cucumber out there, too. He walked one tonight. ONE! Only 90 pitches in 7 innings. Only 3 runs given up to a team averaging over 5 runs per game.

Acta pulled him out right on time, no reason to stretch him out when we've got the Bullpen Mafia heating up behind him. Pestano cruised through the 8th and Chris Perez made his 3rd appearance in 3 days to get his 10th save. Does he lead the league in saves?

You know it!

Ok so Johnny Damon. You know I'm not a fan. I'm not gonna roll over and Damon-worship right now but uhm...Ol' Beardy sure did have a hell of an impact on this game. In the third he botched a catch in the outfield, yielding a double. But he had a chat about it with old pal Shelley Duncan - the dude he's sort of here to replace - and they were cool. Not only is Damon learning from Duncan but apparently Choo is getting some pointers from the man as well. He credits his homer (more on that in a bit) to some hints from Johnny. I'll take that, for sure...but then Damon also had a 2-run triple in the 7th, sealing our fate.

I am happy. That Johnny Damon. Is here. So far.

Anyway, Kipnis is still red fucking hot. He's on an 8-game hitting streak and today went 2 for 4 with his third double of the season. His average is now .301! He also stole a base and leads the team with 6!

Not to be left out, Asdrubal went 1 for 3 today and got hit by a pitch. HIS average is .303! He tried to steal a base too but uh...it didn't go so good for him.

Hafner, surprisingly, did not get a hit today. Not surprisingly, he got an RBI on a sac fly.

Carlos Santana had a multi-hit game, just like I told him he should do. Or maybe Johnny Damon told him? He went 2 for 4, bringing his average up over .250. He did well behind the plate and had his 3rd strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play this week!

The BIG story of the night was CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! He had two great plays in the field - one to end the first and one to end the game. Oh yeah and he got his FIRST home run of the season! FINALLY!!! Is he seeing the light? Turning a corner? Peeking out of his shell? Taking the gauze from his eyes? Whatever happened tonight I hope it's the start of something big. Cuz we can't wiiiiiiin if winning is without Chooooooooo.... (did you like that?)

Michael Brantley was there at the baseball game and he got a hit. Casey Kotchman was also there but he did not get a hit. He did get a walk.

Jack Hannahan is still tearing shit up. He'd only had one home run so far this year, and he was up with nobody on base, so you don't expect much from that situation because everybody knows Jack Hannahan is the guy who gets RBIs and nothing more. Well he hit a really long ball to right and the ball bounced around for a bit and he stopped on third. Then Johnny Damon (of course) said from the on-deck circle "Hey we should ask for a review of that" and Manny Acta said "Si" and the umps said "ok" and after a minute the umps said "home run" and Jack Hannahan said

Sweet, another way to get RBIs!

So yeah, according to how Tom Hamilton described it, Johnny Damon's heads-up job of not just sauntering in to the batter's box, thus rendering the hit un-reviewable got us a run there.

We'll welcome you back tomorrow, Mr. Damon.

Just an amazing win tonight and I couldn't be more stoked. We did EVERYTHING right and EVERYONE pitched in.

Can we do it tomorrow? I hope so. I'll be there helping out by screaming my bananas off in some lawyer's fancy diamond box seats. It's also Chris Perez jersey day, which I didn't even know when I accepted the invite to the game. I hope my friend and I get there in plenty of time to snag ours, as there are only 15k. There were 16k fans there tonight for fireworks. I think with the promotion and it being a Saturday and the weather being nice the place is gonna be PACKED!

Or not. It doesn't matter as long as Johnny Damon is there. Woo-wooo!

See you LATE (again) tomorrow night!

Radio Chatter:
"That's like the most beautiful person in the world being worried about one small freckle on their little toe."
- Tom Hamilton on the idea of Texas looking for more hitting

"It's worth it because the Indians only have to go to that furnace in Arlington, Texas just once not twice."
- Tom Hamilton is not a fan of Arlington, Texas

"So you don't think Shelley greeted him on the top step and said 'I would have caught that!'?"
- Tom Hamilton on Duncan giving fielding pointers to Damon after he muffed a ball

"He won't turn and say anything, he'll just do a little gardening with his feet."
- Tom Hamilton on Hafner getting a questionable call

"The Indians can't play a team like Texas, make a bunch of mistakes and expect to win. They've got to bring their A-game every night."
- Tom Hamilton

"Here comes Ron Washington, a day late and a dollar short."
- Tom Hamilton on Washington's trip to the mound after Damon's 2-RBI triple

"If you hold the Texas lineup to 3 runs in 7 innings of work, you have done your job."
- Tom Hamilton on Jeanmar Gomez

"The Rangers hitters are good enough, they don't need 4 strikes. Or 5."
- Tom Hamilton on a questionable call