A Lot With A Little

Justin Masterson is SO AWESOME you guys! How many times did you hear today that he's the only pitcher ever to beat two previous-season Cy Young Award winners in his first two starts? Granted, a lot of things need to be in place to even get that opportunity but heck, he did it. And if he has an awesome season this year and if HE wins the Cy Young Award this year then you will hear it again and again and again.

Yeah, I'm getting ahead of myself. He's 3-0 with a mere 3 starts under his belt. Right now he leads the MLB in innings pitched and wins, and is at the top of the pack in strikeouts. I am going to crow about this a little bit because last year he never put together 3 wins in a row, so this is not the same Masterson as last year. He never hit a groove last year, and this year he might be in one right now and it might last the rest of the season.

I know what you are all about to say. DON'T SAY IT! This is the Positive Tribe and here we let the positive scenarios play out as our future like some sort of baseball drug! Wheeeeeee!

Hmm so what else happened today? Oh yeah - you can't have a Masterson win without some pretty defense, and you get pretty defense with Asdrubal Cabrera behind you! Even in his funny winter hat! What's also funny is that in the video you can't see Swisher's face at the end of the play but you know he was all smiley and saying "Wow. Wow, man! What a great play, Asdrubal!" You know who he's like? He's literally like Rob Lowe's character on Parks and Recreation.

Speaking of Swisher, the only other thing that happened in the game, aside from Masterson throwing a 9-inning shutout with help from Asdrubal, was the Tribe's walk-off win courtesy of Nick Swisher.

Michael Bourn hit a double in the 9th, and Droobs couldn't get him in. Jason Kipnis came up and the White Sox had the same thought we all had - "Jason Kipnis is going to break out any minute now!" (probably Kipnis' thought as well) so they walked him. Nick Swisher was literally our last hope and he came through with a hit into the right field corner! Yay yay yay big hugs all around for Swish!

Man, do you realize we haven't used our bullpen since Monday? Tuesday we had two starters (by the way - Carrasco, 8-game suspension, but he's already in CBus so if and when we call him up THEN he starts his suspension) and the Wednesday and Thursday games were rained out, Friday Masterson pitches a complete game, so the entire bullpen should be good to go to get us through this weekend. Right? Matt Albers is on paternity leave so that leaves us with [some dudes], Smith, Vinnie and Perez. Well-rested Smith, Vinnie and Perez. Should be awesome!

Tomorrow is Zach McAllister versus LHP 1.85. The reality is that our bats look bad, but maybe the last 2 hits of today's game lit some sort of fuse. Zach needs to take it easy, although that's hard to do when you've got a no-run lead. This is baseball, though - you never know what will happen!

I've got a wedding to go to tomorrow and have no idea when I'll be back and if I'll be able to cover the game. Be sure to listen anyway! I'll bring you home a piece of cake.

Radio Chatter:
"Well when you live in your mom's basement, there's not much else to do."
- Tom Hamilton on the encyclopedic knowledge of producer Brian Motsay

"Man, Masterson has just been incredibly accurate tonight."
- Tom Hamilton

"If you're going to get hit tonight, you want to get hit by a curveball or a changeup."
- Tom Hamilton