Lots of sad stuff happened in today's game. Brantley's streak ended, Hagadone melted down, we lost, Johnny Damon played, Tom Hamilton wasn't there.
But we're going to have to forage ahead and think about what good happened today. Because we seriously need a pick-me-up for Cousin Michael.
1. OMG ASDRUBAL!!! He got his 6th home run today, right out of the gate in the first inning!!! It was super awesome because it was at home, and he hasn't had one since May 19, almost a month. THEN he ended up going 2 for 3 with a walk and now his average is over .300 again at .301. He's totally ready for Asdrubal Bobblehead day on Monday (the bobblehead made a video for you) and he's also ready for the All Star Game. Don't forget!
2. Kipnis went 2 for 4 and is batting .278. He also stole a base! He's tied for 5th in the league in stolen bases. Did you get your We Are All Kipnises t-shirt? I got mine and it's all washed and ready to go. I think I'll wear it Sunday and not Monday - Monday is Asdrubal day. But you can still vote for Kipnis too!
3. Casey Kotchman! He got his 5th home run today, baby! Albert Pujols has finally pulled away from him average-wise (Pujols .260, Kotchman .220) but the big man's not too far ahead homer-wise with 9. Casey's career high was 14 in 2008, and he's not really on pace for that. But he's closer to hitting 10 which is what he did in 2011 when he hit .306. Wow those stats are all awesome and totally useless. I should be in politics!
4. Lonnie Chisenhall got a hit! A hit isn't going to get you very far in a 9-2 game, but Chisenhall came in with a bang and quickly fizzled. He had a homer in his first game then 3 hits on June 1 and since then, pretty much nothing. However he's had 4 hits over his last 4 starts. So is he becoming more confident and settled? Well, hopefully 1-hit games lead to 2-hit games and we can put him in at DH when Jack is full-time (right now Jack is every-other-day) and stop this nonsense with Damon.
5. We only had 3 strikeouts today, and 5 walks. Having only 3 strikeouts isn't a huge thing but did you know we're 2nd to last in the league in strikeouts? That's one of those categories where being last is good. We're also 2nd from the top in walks (you want to be at the top). We're also near the top in the category called "Number of Pitches." They've tracked the number of pitches thrown against us in total. Apparently we make the other guys work! Carlos Santana didn't get a hit today but he got a walk and NO strikeouts so that's pretty good.
6. Joe Smith still has it. Everyone else aside from Masters of the Universe Pestano and Perez might be wishy-washy right now but he's been pretty lights-out in June. Even today going an unusually-long-for-him 1 2/3 innings he didn't give up a run and only gave up one hit. So even if the previously-amazing Hagadone had his worst game yet today, and Sipp gave up 1 in just 1/3, at least Smith was right there in between, being good.
7. Mike Hargrove was on the radio today. Tom Hamilton is at the College World Series for the weekend, so today they roped Grover in to it. Hargrove has some radio experience, in the form of Drug Mart and Our Lady of the Wayside ads. His voice is the opposite of booming, that's for sure. While a game without Hammy still falls sort of flat, Hargrove would be a welcome addition of sweet southern cool to Hammy's Midwestern School Of Booming Radio Voice and Rosie's No-Nonsense Rustbelt Matte Finish. The nice thing about Hargrove is that he's got the player experience of Hegan plus manager experience plus he's a current insider on the team (he's employed by the Indians in some capacity.) So every so often he gets pretty close to dropping super-secret info. The nice thing about having him and Rosie together is that Rosie is a pretty great news guy and he can get good info out of Grover. Plus, he's got a nickname. Anyway, I hope to hear more of Grover on the radio!
8. While reading the news about today's game, I read this piece on Chris Perez's dad, which is a nice piece for Father's Day. It reminded me that I've always wondered what Perez's dad looks like, being that Perez looks like the whitest white guy ever to come from Florida with the name Perez. I'm thinking it's the beard, tho. Anyway, there's no pic of his dad in the linked piece, but there's one from last year from the All Star Game of Chris and his dad. On an article from Perez's baseball academy's site. Perez's dad has the hair going on, and yeah he looks a lot more Latino than his son. So that answers that. I also kind of love that pic because that's two guys right there from Florida and they're pimping the Tribe and FUCK FLORIDA!! (Although they're from the Tampa area, so aren't Marlins or Heat fans but still...FUCK FLORIDA!!)
9. "Hafner to begin running next week." Wow really? He had knee surgery on May 31 and by the 4th week in June he's running? Cleveland medicine rules! They say he might be back by the end of the month but definitely back by after the break. Sounds totally cool to be. Heal up, Pronk. Then come back and bash!
10. There were 30,000 fans at today's game and near 32,000 at yesterday's game. Now of course a good chunk of them are Pirates fans (heck I am bringing 5 of my own tomorrow) but asses in the seats is asses in the seats. Sometimes cheers are cheers. Tomorrow I think it's gonna be pretty crazy, it being Kids Fun Day and Santana Jersey Day. I got a little base tan from today's Color Run (plus I am still slightly green) but I think our seats are in the shade pretty well anyway. How is that a good thing about today's game? Well I'm excited, that's how. Plus it's a rubber match...so I don't have to bring my stupid foam broom. And I can talk trash with my cousin since it'll be the deciding game as to which city has the better baseball club. Huzzah!
So there you go, 10 decent things. Do you feel better now? We'll include a smiley for Michael Brantley, because he needs it. :)
I didn't get any Radio Chatter today because I was exhausted from the Color Run. I didn't even run, but I walked. And before I walked I stood in the sun for a half hour. So I spent most of the game going in and out of consciousness and missing all of the juicy tidbits. Sorry. We'll see what I feel like doing tomorrow after the game, see if you get some Chatter or not. If I get at least 2 comments asking for it, I'll do it for sure!
Tomorrow's at 1:05, Jeanmar versus a guy who is really a reliever and can't throw too many per game. So that could be good if he's had enough this season and we catch him in a melt down. Look for me, I'll be the one in the red Kipnis t-shirt with the green elbows. See you there!
I heart radio chatter! I'm sorry there isn't any for this game -- I didn't tune in until about the fourth inning (I figured who cares if Hammy's not there ...) and was pleasantly surprised to hear Hargrove. I figured that if I missed anything good from the earlier innings (At one point, toward the end, did he call Bob DiBiasio a liar? Or say that he exaggerates? Something like that, and Rosie was totally cracking up; it was great.) you'd post it. And I was thinking of your story about being in the suite w/ Grover and not asking him enough questions because you wanted to watch the game. This was kind of the best of both worlds. Anyhow: Have fun at the game!
ReplyDeleteSorry I didn't get the chatter in Saturday - or Sunday! At least we didn't miss Grover's chatter on Sunday. He apparently had enough of the booth life.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading! Hope you enjoy Sunday's post anyway :)