Shelley No More

Shelley Duncan was designated for assignment, guys.

WAT?!

That doesn't necessarily mean that he's gone forever. That's what it meant for Johnny Damon and Derek Lowe and Jose Lopez this year...but it doesn't have to come to that. He also could be released and come back again some other time or even traded away and traded back, like Austin Kearns!

DFA'd for Jeanmar Gomez. Gah. Gomez better have been fitted with a cannon on his arm to justify this, is all I gotta say.

Tom Hamilton did say that the entire team was pretty bummed to see him go. He is really well-liked. I still want to know what the people who make the decisions knew that we didn't know. Why didn't he get to play every day? Why did they spend the entire season and spring saying "WE HAVE NO LEFT FIELDER!"?

Of course this is mostly Johnny Damon's fault, and I'll never forgive him for it. But I can't dislike the man more than I already do so the point is pretty much moot.

Hey, Corey Kluber had a not-too-bad game today! He had 3 earned runs in 6 innings, which is way better than 6 in 3 innings (it's happened!) And he struck out 7!

The rest of the guys didn't look so impressive...Cody Allen has lost his magic. He gave up 2 runs in just 1 inning, which would be the losing run and its cousin. He did strike out the 3 guys that didn't get hits. Good try?

Jeanmar Gomez came in for the 8th, courtesy of Shelley Duncan. He didn't give up any runs or any hits and struck out one. What else is there to say?

Poor Vinnie came in for the 9th and gave up 2 runs. Holy smokes! The dude is just wasting away in the bullpen I suspect. He struck 1 out too, and the staff struck out a total of 12 today. That's pretty crazy - I guess the last time (before last night) we struck out 16 and lost was a game Bob Feller pitched. I can only imagine what sort of new words he taught the younger players that day!

The game started off pretty promising. In the pre-game "Ask The Manager" show Manny Acta described some special game the guys played instead of batting practice, to help them loosen up. Choo and Cabrera were captains and they picked teams and they played a simulated baseball game of some sort. Not sure exactly what it entailed but it sounded super neat. If only I was able to go to batting practice TODAY!! The losing team had to collect all the balls from the field.

I bet everyone was like "Man, you know who would dig this? Shelley would dig this. Man I miss that guy."

Regardless, they did say that the players were laughing and trash-talking and in the best mood they'd been in since the slide started. And then the game rolled around and it was a rough start (Asdrubal got thrown out of the game for arguing strikes) but they score in the third. First off Jason Donald's weak-but-it-counts solo homer, followed by Zeke absolutely screaming around the bases to get a triple (I didn't see it but I couldn't believe it when they said he was already at second!) and Kipnis actually hitting him in to score a second run on a fielder's choice. Hurrah! Teamwork!

Then that was pretty much it except for a walk and a hit-by-pitch. In the 7th they put together 2 singles to start the inning but nothing came of it.

In the 8th there was some more action, with bases loaded and no outs. Bases got loaded on some way goofy error that is not a video highlight. I don't know why...aside from Donald's homer this is the only Indians offensive highlight video from tonight. It's a video of Kotchman hitting a slow roller to the second baseman while Marson scores. Yawn yawn and double yawn! Why not show how Michael Brantley got on base before that? Why not show Zeke's triple? Bad video picks!

Anyway so Kotch got a sac ground out and Marson scored. Before that Lillibridge had a sac fly and Choo scored. In case you didn't follow, that is TWO runs with bases loaded and no outs!! HOLY MOLEY I think they got it! Very sad that we have to be excited for two sacrifice RBIs (in fact, 3 of our 4 runs today were sacrifice) but considering our non-ability for scoring with bases loaded this is pretty exciting. Next stop - bases-loaded singles!

Zeke got a double in the 9th, giving him 2 extra-base hits on the night. And I guess that's why Shelley is gone. Dude's had 3 triples in 23 games with the Indians this year. Shelley had 11 homers, though (in 81 games).

Michael Brantley did not get a hit, in case you were curious. He did walk, though.

They managed to score 4 runs today which is the most runs they've scored since the 18th when they scored 5 against the A's in Oakland. That was 9 games ago. It's also the first runs they've scored since Sunday.

So did the little pick-up game before the real game help? Probably. It is definitely about relaxing right now. I think now that there is no more playoff dreams, they are all worried about keeping their jobs. Understandable, I guess.

Tomorrow is Justin Masterson versus RHP (3.52). I actually have a good feeling about the game. We've got a little hitting momentum, Masterson is on an upswing (his new pattern seems to be 2 good games and 1 bad, and he was bad just 2 outings ago).

It's a 12:05 game tomorrow. I hope people show up! The weather will be good. I'll be listening from work - see you there!

Oh as a tribute to Shelley Duncan - who no doubt enjoyed a good Nerf gun - and also to get more hits on my blog, I am going to share a secret I discovered today for modifying a Nerf Big Bad Bow.

I'll hide it for you, though, if you don't care. Click here to view.

I read the instructions found at this Instructable but it was kind of weak. Then I checked out this You Tube video which had good hints, but just said I needed 1/2" PVC pipe. Well, he must have meant 1/2" outer-dimension because no way does a 1/2" inner-dimension pipe fit inside the muzzle of that gun. Also 1/2" ID is too big for a dart - if you're not careful you'd lose the dart in there. AND if you use a big long piece of pipe you can't put an arrow on your bow anymore.

At the last minute I picked up one of these things: a 3/8" to 1/2" copper coupling. That ended up being the perfect thing!

The small end fits into the muzzle of the gun and the wide end accepts a dart snugly (I have whistler darts) . The more snug it fits, the better it shoots. Taking out the air restrictor as shown in the instructions above plus adding the snug (but short) tip gives you a way to shoot darts crazy far. And you can still shoot arrows crazy far! I only shot as far as my house is wide (uh, 25 feet?) but the darts were blasting out for realz. Oh and now your silly plastic weapon has a sweet copper tip.

Modified Nerf Big Bad Bow

Very cool - can't wait to try it out in my backyard tomorrow. Now I have something to do with my time on a day with no baseball game.

Radio Chatter:
"It looks like Bartolo Colon ate Popeye."
- Tom Hamilton says Colon didn't get good on spinach

"One thing about [umpire] Gary Darling - he's got every hitter on both sides talking to themselves."
- Tom Hamilton

"How on earth does somebody from New Jersey qualify for a higher academic institution like that? Explain it, Rosie."
"There are some people that can be very persuasive."
"Is the guy's name Guido?"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus riff on New Jersey

"What is wrong with you tonight?"
"What's wrong with me? It's 6 to 2. I gotta pick on somebody."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton

"You can't argue dumb baseball. Might as well go back to the dugout."
- Tom Hamilton on the goofy play in the 8th