Bullpen Woes

It was a rough, rough battle. The guy who came out on top was Carlos Carrasco. Unfortunately the rest of his team - especially the bullpen - totally brought him crashing down.

Carrasco was done with his suspension (did you miss him?) and his main issue was being afraid to pitch inside. You gotta pitch inside if you're going to pitch more than an inning. Otherwise, everyone would get bored. Oh, and get hits too. Could he do it? He also had a problem with being easily flustered. Could he get out of jams?

Yes and yes!

Carrasco ended up going 7 1/3 innings with just 4 hits and ONE walk. Not sure why they pulled him after just 90 pitches - either they thought he'd lose his cool, or they're taking it easy since he technically was on the DL - but they did pull him with a runner on. And then Carrasco ended up having an earned run because some doofus from the bullpen gave up a double. Boo!

But Carrasco really looked good and confident, which is in line with how he was throwing in the minors before he came back up. He almost halved his ERA with this outing. He gave up just as many hits and earned runs as superstar pitcher James Shields, who didn't make it as many innings as Carrasco did.

I really look forward to Carrasco proving himself again (and again!) After Kluber's and Masterson's performances lately - wow, we could have a pretty scary rotation!

Except we've got dudes like Bryan Shaw and Rich Hill, who have not been consistent for us. Well Shaw has been inconsistent (usually good but losing his stuff lately). Hill has been evenly bad all season. It's a crying shame that you can't use Allen, Smith and Pestano every day!

Shaw came in and gave up that double that scored Carrasco's guy, tying the game at 1. Then he came in for the 9th and got 2 guys on base. So Rich Hill came in. I swear, that must have been the only guy remotely available for miles around, because...Rich Hill? Not the guy you want with 2 on and no outs and tied at one. David Lough hit a bunt to the mound and Rich Hill fell over trying to get it. Bases loaded. Yeah.

Then Matt Albers came in, and he's all right I guess. Better than Hill, that's for sure. He's only given up 2 runs in his last 10 appearances. Today, though, he threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded and scored one of Hill's guys. Aye caramba!

Even though our guys only mustered to score 1 run today, and left a whole heap of guys on base, it's still a game that was lost by the bullpen. There were two tough starters and an even tougher KC bullpen. It was our bullpen's game to give up - and they did.

Bourn managed to get a hit today - a big double off the wall in the 9th. He also walked twice - but oddly enough did not steal anything.

Aviles was up batting second today (I thought Francona was a guy who never messed with lineups?) and he got a hit. However, moving to third must have blown Kipnis' mind because not only did he end his hitting streak today (stopped at 10) but he choked and died with runners in scoring position - twice! And left 7 guys on base. Holy COW!!! The Kid sure has taken a huge fall.

Maybe it's got something to do with this weird article from the Akron Beacon Journal today. Is it just me or is that a poorly-written article? Perhaps I've forgotten how to read.

Kipnis is lucky we can blame the loss on the bullpen, otherwise it'd be all on his shoulders!

Santana was lookin' good, though. He got his second home run in 3 games, and it was the team's only run scored! Not for lack of trying but it was the only one.

A little glimmer of hope today from Mark Reynolds? He went 2 for 4 - and stole a base! And as usual, we say it's always nice when Reynolds gets little hits. That means he's not swinging for the fences every time, and can help out the team by just being on base.

The Tribe's in 3rd place now but whatever, it is STILL still only June. Although I heard today that Max Scherzer won his 10th game and Chris Davis hit his howevermany-th home run. Yeesh.

Tomorrow is more of the same, with Ubaldo facing RHP 2.74. Can Ubaldo go the distance, to keep us from having to see the bullpen at all? Is that asking too much? I'm not sure what's going on with this team anymore so something like that could totally happen, much to our surprise!

No Radio Chatter tonight, again. Wow, I'm slipping. But I'm trying to earn money so I'm doing all sort of hustling on the side while I listen to the game. No time to stop and write stuff down!

You'll just have to tune in to hear stuff yourself! ;)