Everything's coming up Milhouse!
Ubaldo had a lot on his shoulders today after yesterday's blowout of the bullpen. He could have easily crumbled under the pressure but instead he barreled through Tampa Bay like so much Tampa Butter. He held them to only FOUR hits - none for those monster bats Longoria or Loney - and struck out 7. And only one walk, nobody got hit, nobody stole a base - talk about control!
Looking at Jiminez's stats for this year, it seems like the horrible game is the exception and not the rule. Completely backwards from his previous season with the Tribe. Yeah his first 2 games were stinkers and in Detroit last week he lost it, but today was his 10th start and only 3 or 4 of them have been bad. The others were good-to-amazing!
It would appear that Vinnie is back. Some would say that he never left but nobody here is used to him being anywhere near bad so to see him struggle for a bit was to write him off as near death. He closed well enough on Wednesday, giving up a homer on a 4-run lead. Today he held tight on a 5-run lead, giving up just a walk. He got the first 2 guys out quickly and struggled to get that final out but he was finally throwing back up to 93 today (he was just up to 91 on Wednesday). How lucky are we to have this guy around when Perez can't be there? Lucky!
The top of our order was where it was at today, excepting Bourn. It actually was sort of a boring game, being that our runs came on homers and not little hits or anything weird. But hey, a win's a win!
Kipnis went 2 for 4 today with his 11th double. Ramping up with a 2-game hitting streak! Let's hope he's not in a slump so much as a valley. Need this kid producing hits and runs for the team to be good, that's for sure.
OMG ASDRUBAL!!! It's been a loooong time since his last home run - May 6, when he hit two - and today he came through with a 2-run dinger! I guess he's limping around a bit with a bum quadricep but managing. I guess it's not affecting his power! Asdrubal has 12 hits and 5 RBI in his last 10 games! Almost quietly keeping it together while everyone else is trying to figure it out.
Swisher is figuring it out too. In that I think he's on his post-paternity-leave crash but if you can't put the ball in play then put yourself in play with a walk. Today he went 1 for 2 because he walked twice. After one of those walks he came in to score on a homer. Contributing!
So what's the deal with Giambi? Ever since I wished he wasn't terrible (ok, I've been wishing it since April 1 but let's say it was Wednesday) he's hit 3 homers and gotten 7 RBI in his last 3 games. He has struck out 3 times too - which sort of makes me think he's trying too hard to keep it going. I guess he's had some sort of neck trouble that is over now and we can expect to see more good things from him coming up now. Let's hope all of these big talkers know what they are talking about! I'm ready to be Eddie Murray'd again.
The only other guy with a hit today was good 'ol Mike Aviles who is basically playing every day now that Lonnie's out. Not to say it wasn't the plan to have him in this much as a roving replacement, but the opportunities have opened up a little more for him. It always seems to me like he is doing stuff when he's in but really he's only had 6 hits in his last 10 games. But today he went 2 for 3 with a walk AND a stolen base! He's our secret speed demon. Unfortunately he didn't get any RBIs or runs but oh well, we still won.
It'll be great if we can take the series tomorrow. It's looking good with pitching at least, Ubaldo having saved the bullpen for a day. And the fans are coming out so hopefully that gets the guys pumped a bit to get some more runs.
Tomorrow at 1:05 it'll be McAllister versus RHP 5.61 so we definitely have the opportunity for a lot more runs! Here's to a great Sunday - see you there!
Radio Chatter:
"The Indians hope that it's the good Ubaldo that shows up today."
- Tom Hamilton
"For all of you who say you can golf like Tiger Woods, today you can."
- Tom Hamilton on Woods' 9-hole score of 44
"If you can average 13 pitches per inning, you're going to pitch a complete game."
- Tom Hamilton on Jiminez in the 3rd
"It's never a good sign when the paper boy is wishing you a good morning as you pull in the driveway."
- Tom Hamilton
"The Indians hope that it's the good Ubaldo that shows up today."
- Tom Hamilton
"For all of you who say you can golf like Tiger Woods, today you can."
- Tom Hamilton on Woods' 9-hole score of 44
"If you can average 13 pitches per inning, you're going to pitch a complete game."
- Tom Hamilton on Jiminez in the 3rd
"It's never a good sign when the paper boy is wishing you a good morning as you pull in the driveway."
- Tom Hamilton
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