White Knuckles

Here's a song for you for today's game, to listen to during this post. Chicago's own Ok Go with "White Knuckles," which is totally how I was yesterday and today listening to the games! (If you haven't seen the video you'll want to watch it because...dogs)

Masterson was the starter today and I really look forward to his starts now, which is refreshing. I think we looked forward to them last season but in a more of a "maybe it'll be a good one today!" capacity unlike this year where we're just going to see what damage he will do this time!

He actually had a second shaky game but we'll just forget about that lack of decisiveness there and pretend that it was an easily-pitched 2-run game. He did only give up 2 earned runs, after all. He also went 7 innings! And he threw exactly 100 pitches! it definitely didn't feel as smooth as his complete game but the whole thing on paper is stunning. Five strikeouts too, by the way!

Before we saw Vinnie, Masterson had a crazy 7th. He hit a guy so that sucked. And then he walked a guy and that sucked. But that guy got picked off! And then the next guy hit in to a double play! Oooooooh...the Sox just crumbled around him!

Like a cookie!

Vinnie came in and it was ho-hum, classic Vinnie. 1-2-3 inning. Hooray for classic Vinnie!

Perez had a bit of a whacky inning - yes he contributed mightily to the white-knuckleness. He struck the first guy out, no prob. Tom Hamilton was mighty impressed. Then Connor Gallispe, who still is drinking our milkshake, singled. The next dude hit an omg-this-game-is-over near home run foul ball. But just a foul! The next pitch he popped up and was out. Then in a replay of last night, Perez got the final batter to ground out to third but this time Lonnie was there and he threw to Perez's new best friend Mark Reynolds at first. Ballgame!

The team didn't really do much in the hitting arena today, which is why it was a white-knuckler even though Masterson ultimately had it under control. We got 6 hits and 4 walks and only ONE extra-base hit!

Michael Brantley has a 3-game hitting streak (work with me, here) so I guess maybe he's settling in to the leadoff role now. He went 1 for 3 with a walk and came in to score a run.

Kipnis, who usually does awesome in Chicago, did not do awesome tonight. He didn't do anything.

Asdrubal, on the other hand - OMG! He got the winning RBI! RBIs! We were down 1 to 2 in the 8th and had 2 men in scoring position, thanks to Drew Stubbs being fancy-pants on the bases and getting the pitcher to throw the ball away on a pickoff attempt. There were 2 outs and Asdrubal was up. He's the guy you want up in this situation, right? Well like, you want the April 2012 version of Asdrubal up. And he showed up! He took the first pitch and booped it in to center field and our speedy outfielders speedied themselves home and those proved to be the winning runs! ¡Caliente!

Jason Giambi got a single, so that was weird.

Lonnie Chisenhall...is he breaking out? He does have 7 hits in his last 4 games, with 2 doubles and a homer in that time. His average has climbed almost 80 points in that time! He went 2 for 4 tonight - good things happen when Lonnie Hits!

Drew Stubbs also has a 4-game hitting streak and he's also becoming a difference-maker on this team. I've called him mediocre in the past but perhaps I mean more "solid" now. He's making plays in the outfield and is getting on base and now tonight he proved he can make stuff happen with the steal. He's only got 3 but - hey, he leads the team!

Speaking of Drew Stubbs...I totally was so excited about all the events of yesterday's game, and focused on "What would Shelley Duncan think?" that I forgot to add in the part where Drew Stubbs hit a home run in to some guy's box of popcorn and the Astros' outfielder got buttery shrapnel spewed upon him. Observe:

What's weird is there was no reaction from the outfielder concerning the popcorn. Imagine if you went to clean out your gutters and a box of popcorn exploded forth. Wouldn't you do more than turn around and slap your hands and say "Aww, shucks?" No, you'd probably go all "ACK!" and maybe fall off the ladder! Rick Ankiel was seriously, seriously focused on that ball. I wonder if he got back to his spot and was like "Why is there popcorn in my ear?"

So the Tribe eked it out today and Masterson got his 4th win and Vinnie got his 4th hold and Perez got his 3rd save and we're all happy happy happy! You'll see that Meryl Masterson is once again included in tonight's blog, as she helped bring us home a win the last 3 nights. She's doing such a fantastic job!

Hopefully tomorrow at 8:10 Zach McAllister will feel the Meryl Mystery and get himself a win too! He'll be facing LHP 2.55. Everyone will be well-rested at the plate for the game, and just hit the ball all over the place. Right?

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Lonnie Chisenhall hasn't gotten going yet but look out when he does."
- Tom Hamilton

"Right now for the Miami Marlins, they have hope. The hope is that they get a new owner."
- Tom Hamilton on the moving around of the Marlins

"I make enough mistakes without having to tip a few."
- Tom Hamilton on drinking with dinner

"He played here one year and the best news he ever got was that he was traded to the New York Yankees."
- Tom Hamilton on Nick Swisher

"Tyler Flowers runs like a dump truck so that's why Tekotte is in there."
- Tom Hamilton on the pinch runner for the hurt catcher in the 7th