Friday I hung out with my aunt & uncle who were in town from Phoenix and we watched the game. Frankly, it was a boring game! The Rays' starter pitched a good one and our guys couldn't hit the ball. Well, Michael Bourn hit the ball and even Jason Kipnis did too. But Bourn had no one to drive him in and Kipnis hit the ball to where dudes were waiting for it.
Mike Aviles started at third on Friday. He missed a lot of spring training due to the World Baseball Classic. But he is a baseball player and he was playing baseball the whole time so it's not like he went from the couch to third base. Aviles looked bad at the plate and worse in the field. I don't have anything against the dude yet, but his job that he was hired for is to be a utility man and to not play every day, so he needs to hurry up and get used to not playing every day. If we're going to have a Sometimes Guy who can't hit we might as well get Shelley Duncan back! So, keep an eye out for Aviles and let's hope he improves as he gets more games under his belt.
Mark Reynolds came to us from Arizona and my uncle couldn't tell me enough about how disappointing he is as a player. I'll be honest, I was very disappointed in him through the middle of the second game (against the Blue Jays) but he hit that game-winning homer and I was all "YAY!" Then the next night he hit a homer too and that was cool! But Reynolds' MO is that he strikes out most of the time until he hits a home run or five. And who doesn't like a home run? I don't know if I have the patience to watch all of those strikeouts inbetween, especially with all of our other guys on base. I'm sort of hoping that he is getting a lot of playing time right now so that the front office can decide sooner than later if he fits on this team. He was our first pickup at the end of the 2012 season, I think (or one of the first) so if he doesn't shape up, he may be the first to go.
I think that's why he's been in instead of Ryan Raburn, who had quite an awesome spring. Raburn was in the game on Saturday in right field and he was not only one of the few guys to get a hit, he also had an outfield assist! I had mentioned to my uncle that we didn't really have a scary arm in our outfield this year now that Choo is gone, but that night (Friday) Brantley had an outfield assist and Saturday Raburn had his. Someone more educated in the field of physics might be able to do the calculations to prove that it is or is not due to their ground speed, but that's my story.
Since Raburn was in the field, Santana was the DH on Saturday with Sweet Lou Marson behind the plate. Lou got absolutely flattened on a play at the plate, with the Rays' center fielder coming down on him in a move that would have gotten 15 yards in football. But Lou hung on to the ball and actually played out the inning before everyone decided that it might be in his best interest to visit the team masseur instead of play the rest of the game.
So Carlos Santana moved from DH to catcher which left the #9 spot open in the lineup and that was filled by the pitcher. First Bauer then Albers and then Aviles at the end. Aviles came in to replace Chisenhall at third but not before reliever Cody Allen replaced him in the lineup. Beautiful-looking box score if you care to look!
If you didn't hear, Trevor Bauer became our fifth starter for one day only after Scott Kazmir went on the DL with a rib muscle strain. Bauer is only slated for this one game as Carlos Carrasco will be back in the rotation now that he's served his suspension. Bauer (also from Arizona) had a rough start, walking the first 4 batters he faced but the kid only gave up 1 run in the first and two more in the 4th before he was done. He walked 7 and only struck out 2, so I'd say he owes a bit to the defense behind him!
Matt Albers came in to relieve Bauer and he kind of sucked. Three hits and 1 run in one inning. There was almost another outfield assist in the series when Bourn caught Escobar trying to stretch a double into a single, but umpire CB Bucknor botched the call, missing the fact that Kipnis clearly tagged Escobar on the foot. Albers gave Bucknor the what-for at the end of the inning (actually he was pretty smart - the guy knew to wait until he was on his way out to get thrown out). I haven't been blown away by his pitching yet but now I know his name, that's for sure.
Cody Allen took the 7th and 8th and gave up two runs. Our bullpen has some holes, friends.
Although we managed 5 hits in the game, they were the definition of "few and far between" so nobody really even got past second base save for a short rally in the third inning where Raburn got to third base.
Even though we came out on the wrong end of the scoreboard both Friday and Saturday, at least Saturday's game had a little excitement. Do you think Nick Swisher will be able to rally the troops to perform better in today's game? Today's game features our #1 guy (1-7 against the Rays) against their #1 guy (2012 Cy Young winner).
I'll see you there - in 5 minutes!
Radio Chatter:
"Wow. How in the world was that a one-run inning?"
- Tom Hamilton after the first
"Any more than 3000 here and it elicits a parade in Saint Pete."
- Tom Hamilton
"It's one of those games where you look at the line score and say 'That must be a snoozer' but we've had some action here in the first three innings."
- Jim Rosenhaus
"Trevor Bauer trying to make like David Copperfield. Can he elude danger one more time?"
- Tom Hamilton
"If Earl Weaver was managing the Indians right now he'd be on his third pack of cigarettes."
- Tom Hamilton
"If you would have said that Bauer would make it through five [innings] back in the first...no way."
- Jim Rosenhaus
"He is arguing with C.B. 'I got another one wrong' Bucknor. [...] He could go out there with a blindfold, flip a coin and have a good a chance at being right as he would be wrong."
- Tom Hamilton
"Raburn, the ball and the wall all seemed to arrive at the same time."
- Tom Hamilton
"At some point in life, if you're not good at what you do, you should not have that job."
- Tom Hamilton on umpire CB Bucknor
"Tampa Bay must feel like they've had the Indians on the canvas all night, but the Indians keep getting up."
- Tom Hamilton
"Boy when did you think we'd ever say this? 'The good news is, the Yankees are coming to town.'"
- Tom Hamilton
"Wow. How in the world was that a one-run inning?"
- Tom Hamilton after the first
"Any more than 3000 here and it elicits a parade in Saint Pete."
- Tom Hamilton
"It's one of those games where you look at the line score and say 'That must be a snoozer' but we've had some action here in the first three innings."
- Jim Rosenhaus
"Trevor Bauer trying to make like David Copperfield. Can he elude danger one more time?"
- Tom Hamilton
"If Earl Weaver was managing the Indians right now he'd be on his third pack of cigarettes."
- Tom Hamilton
"If you would have said that Bauer would make it through five [innings] back in the first...no way."
- Jim Rosenhaus
"He is arguing with C.B. 'I got another one wrong' Bucknor. [...] He could go out there with a blindfold, flip a coin and have a good a chance at being right as he would be wrong."
- Tom Hamilton
"Raburn, the ball and the wall all seemed to arrive at the same time."
- Tom Hamilton
"At some point in life, if you're not good at what you do, you should not have that job."
- Tom Hamilton on umpire CB Bucknor
"Tampa Bay must feel like they've had the Indians on the canvas all night, but the Indians keep getting up."
- Tom Hamilton
"Boy when did you think we'd ever say this? 'The good news is, the Yankees are coming to town.'"
- Tom Hamilton
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