Streak!

Another good-looking game! Everyone was playing their hearts out and whatever nastiness that was infecting the pitchers, fielders and batters now has turned in to niceness and everyone is playing like we know this team can!

Chris Perez has been clean-shaven for 2 days now. Is he the new Dr. "Smooth"? His chin is 2-0!

Not Chris Seddon

I wonder what they're going to do with the Perez scoreboard silhouette thingy? The one I haven't gotten a picture of and can't find online. It's beardy, you know.
 
Check it out! >>> Everybody Hits today! Yeah Shelley didn't hit but the guy who came in for him got a hit and that's house rules around here. Everybody Hits!

It's been A MONTH and five days since Everybody Hits! Wow!

Huge shout out to Ubaldo Jiminez who did what we thought he would do until he started not doing it at all until sometimes he did but today he did it better than ever. Got me? He went 6 innings and struck out 10. TEN! That's the most for him this year and matches the team's high for a starter in 2012, which was also 10 by Masterson way back on April 5. He only walked 1 and even better gave up just 3 runs. And two of them were on a homer by A-Gon who is paid to hit homers.

Pitching coach Scott Radinsky was let go today and the AAA Columbus coach, Ruben Niebla is up to replace him. Surely Radinsky isn't the linchpin for the total collapse of the team but I'm guessing he was made an example of. I did talk yesterday about how someone behind the scenes had to go and I agree with getting rid of Radinsky. Let's hope that something good does come out of it, though. Maybe this Niebla is a total hardass.

Tweets from beat writer Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian): 

Ubaldo, on Radinsky firing: "He did everything possible. It's my fault. It's all the starting pitchers' fault. We haven't been consistent."

Chris Perez, on recent 11-game losing streak: "During that streak, it's like a cancer. We looked like we forgot how to play ball, honestly."

Good. Let's go out there and win it for Radinsky - every day for the rest of the season.

Our bullpen was aces tonight, and I don't mean Smith-Pestano-Perez. I mean SIPP-Pestano-Perez yes I do! Tony came in for the 7th after Ubaldo gave up a leadoff double. Then he struck a guy out and then the next guy grounded in to a double play ... technically. 'Cuz it wasn't no 6-4-3 double play it was 6-5-6-4 with a rundown and then a good throw to get Carl Crawford trying to sneak in behind it.

Pestano gave up a hit and also hit a batter. I think he was all "I hate running all the way out here then just mowing them down one-two-three, so let's make it exciting!" He got those 2 guys on base with one out then he was done. And when Vinnie's done I mean the other team was done!

Perez got his 30th save by doing what he does, except this time he didn't give up a hit or anything he just got 2 pop outs and a ground out. BALLGAME!

So get this - Jason Kipnis was taken out of the lineup today at the last minute because he had a stiff neck. Purportedly from sleeping funny. I dig that - sometimes if I get a stiff neck from sleeping I definitely make it worse by fiddling with it all day. Anyway they had just brought Donald up and were like "ok play 2nd today and lead off." And you know what that greasy little dude did? He got a leadoff homer and then later in the game got a RBI fielder's choice. Really! For the night he was 1 for 4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI.

Oh, stop worrying, Worried Jason Kipnis! Jason Donald is NOT going to steal your job! You're our best dirtbag!

Asdrubal was clutch today, only going 1 for 4 but it was a big one! An RBI double that started a 3-run rally in the 5th, which was all we needed behind the awesome pitching. Plus Asdrubal was tight in the field, of course!

OMG you guys, gotta check out this video here. I've been being obnoxious on Twitter today trying to get Kipnis or @Indians to relay the message to Choo that he needs to use this song as his at-bat music. Hit play and let it go while you read the rest of this post!

Right? He's totally manly enough to rock that when he comes to the plate! No need to hide behind Rage Against The Machine!

Anyway Choo was slightly stymied today, just going 1 for 4 with a walk. Not bad but he didn't get any runs or RBI. It wouldn't look so bad if that song was playing in the background, amirite? Hey why aren't you still playing that song??

Santana had it going on tonight, for real - 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI. His average is out of the .230s! He was the DH and he totally did as a DH should do, ending up with 0 LOB of his own.

Brantley got his 34th double, which was his only hit of the night but he had both a great sac fly with bases loaded, and a back-to-the-plate catch in late innings. He's the total package! Oh yeah and he's on an 8-game hitting streak :)

Shelley Duncan was totally felling the pressure tonight. I don't know, maybe he doesn't like playing left field and batting. Just too much. They took him out in the 7th and put Zeke in. Then in the 8th Zeke got a lead-off single and came around to score. But hey you know if they played Shelley every day he'd be better every day! I promise!

Brent Lillibridge is here to stay for the rest of his season. He's gotta be - there's not much more fat we can trim! So we'll root for him. He's no threat to the complete fabric of the team like Johnny Damon was. Woohoo! Lillibridge went 1 for 3 today!

You know what? I heard rumblings of LaPorta or Canzler coming up when they take the bullpen back down to 7. I hope it's Canzler so we can have Kotchman, Kipnis, Cabrera, Canzler. Even more fun when Kluber pitches. Stuff like that makes me miss Herb Score on the radio!

Kotchman was on it today, being reliable again going 1 for 3, which is .062 better than his average would allow. So - way to beat the odds, Casey!

Sweet Lou was in catching again. He's actually seeing a lot more time right now with Hafner out and Santana able to DH or play first. But he's done with the hot streak he had in June, going 1 for 3 tonight and just 1 for his last 9. But whatever - he's still our guy. How could you not like this guy?

Ping!

So that's two games in a row now where the guys clearly put everything out there AND it all worked. I'm sure over the 11-game streak they were trying to put it all out there but it fell to pieces. But these last two games just felt different. Did you feel it?

Tomorrow I'm going to give blood, and my good blood vein is in my right arm. It's an inch above the temp tattoo I plastered on there Tuesday night. Hmm...so I either have to scrape off the worn-out-looking Wahoo or I need to let them try to stick my left arm. I'd say the Wahoo has been good luck but I put it on before we lost on Tuesday. It's not some sort of The Last Leaf thing either where they score fewer runs the more Wahoo wears away (5, 6, 5). I think probably being able to successfully donate blood will trump having some worn-out temp tattoo anyway. I'm an adult, after all.

Meaning of course I can buy more!

Tomorrow is FNG Chris Seddon versus RHP (4.48). If you recall he pitched a relief inning the other night. I also saw him warming up Choo between innings in the outfield. So either he's being worked hard or he's trying hard so let's give him a big hurrah and hope he can follow these last two - three - outstanding starting performances!!

By the way good job to the 19k+ fans out were out there tonight! Yes, many of you dumbasses were cheering for "your" Red Sox but there was a great deal of fervor for the Tribe. Fireworks tomorrow - I hope there's even more rooting for the good guys!

It's a 7:05 game - see you there!

No Radio Chatter tonight. I was hanging out with my bro. Listening to the game of course but mostly the crescendos. The best chatter is in the lows.