There It Is!

Finally - back to beating good pitchers! Back to cobbling together runs! Back to late-inning magic! Good [mediocre] Ubaldo!

Also, this guy!

It takes a fat guy to one-hand a fly ball with a hot dog in the other hand. I salute you!

Ubaldo only went 5 innings today but only gave up 2 runs, in the 3rd inning. He actually struggled pretty hard in the third - 2 walks and 2 wild pitches turned in to 2 runs. But the 4th was uneventful and he had a 1-2-3 5th, so he did manage to compose himself and come back good. If this is perhaps what his "bad" games look like now, I'll soooooo take it!

Since we were scourged with Hill, Shaw and Albers yesterday, today we were blessed with Hagadone (well, whatever), Allen and Pestano. Hagadone actually controlled himself and did all right in his 1 1/3 innings. Next up was the usually-solid Allen who gave up a hit and then turned it in to a triple with a bad throw. Not so solid, dude! Of course that fella came around to score on a sac fly.


Pestano came in for the 9th and it was a weird one. Two on (boo!) and a guy hits a single. The lead runner misses the "hold" sign and comes racing around third with Santana waiting for him at the plate with the ball. He gets caught in a rundown. The other two runners advance. The guy who goofed dives in to third, at the feet of the other Royal standing there. They tag him out. No wait, he's safe, he's holding on to the bag! They tag the guy standing on third. He's out. The Royal on third tells the guy on the ground to put his hands back on the base before he gets tagged out in a double play. He does. Whew! You gotta see it for yourself. 

Is everybody here?

That play prevented a run and ultimately saved the game for us. Sad that Vinnie had so many dudes on the bag at once but hey - a win's a win!

The Tribe was low on hits again today but unlike some other games during their losing streak, they were at least stacking them up today. Just 6 hits and 4 walks, and only one extra-base hit, but they still managed 4 runs!

Michael Bourn didn't get his hit until his last at-bat in the 8th, but it was a big one! He got a big long single to left to score Raburn, who had walked and was moved over by Stubbs.

Aviles, who was 2 for 4 on the night, with a run scored and an RBI. He got the team's first RBI in the 6th with a single. In the 8th he got on base after Bourn's single, eventually coming in to score the winning run!

With 2 on and 1 out, Jason Kipnis got over his very short stint of being absolutely useless in the clutch, and instead hit a RBI double to tie the game! WA-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Santana was intentionally walked after that, because he is awesome. Michael Brantley, not to go un-noticed, hit himself a sac fly to get the go-ahead run in!

Santana went 1 for 2 with 2 walks (he's tied for 4th in the league for walks, yaknow), and Brantley went 0 for 3 with an RBI.

Drew Stubbs got his hit (1 for 3) in the 6th, stole second base and then came around to score on the aforementioned Aviles single. Run, boy!

So now the team is back in second place and tomorrow they can make it further past the Royals in the standings if they get another win.

Tomorrow is Masterson versus RHP 4.08. Let's hope they keep up this stuff that made them good in the first place - hits when it matters, sticking with it through 9 and good starting pitching. I don't see anything on that list that totally can't happen tomorrow!

See you there!

No Radio Chatter tonight cuz...there just isn't. Although there was some talk about Kipnis not wanting to hug the home plate umpire. But you heard that for yourself, right?