Kazmir was a traveler of both time and space, cruising through the league-leading Oriole lineup like they were nothing but thoughts inside a dream. He didn't give up but one hit - a double. Did you hear me? Scott Kazmir gave up no home runs to any Oriole! Had his eyes not filled with sand there would not have been a throwing error on a pickoff attempt and thus that double would not have been able to score on a sac fly. But sure as the dust floats high in June, Kasmir had made it through 7 on only 78 pitches. I don't know how he only struck out 4 in all that time, but that's how it worked.
He actually came out to pitch the 8th but changed his mind, citing some sort of injury that I'm still not sure about. They had to rustle up Joe Smith to come in, which did not please Buck Showalter, who spent most of Smith's warmup time arguing about how Kasmir wasn't hurt and Smith should not have so much warm up time. But Buck, why would a guy in such a groove, who's only thrown 78 pitches, feign injury so the unsteady bullpen could make an appearance? Showoff Showalter, I say!
Although you wouldn't fault a guy for wanting to get out of the sticky heat of Baltimore and in to the "coffee room" (seriously - read the articles about a day in the life of a Tribe player. There's some sort of coffee room off the dugout, at least at Progressive. Probably in its' sister at Camden Yards, too.) Especially if he thought maybe he'd be covered by Joe Smith and Vinnie Pestano who, when it's 2012, are our sure-fire guys.
Not so much tonight, though. Ol' Joe had the levee break on him and gave up 2 runs in a 1-run game. That's right, he gave up the tying and go-ahead run. Now I know I just got done saying how teh awesomes the Orioles batters are but also they weren't hitting for anything tonight, and Joe Smith technically rocks. Except - except - for the fact that he's given up 5 runs in his last 9.1 innings.
By the way - Joe Smith got the win. YES HE DID. Lulz!
Did I mention that it was a bit of a pitcher's duel today? It was. One of our runs came thanks to their pitcher. He hit Asdrubal (Hi Asdrubal!) - barely, in the foot, thank Og - and Cabby was on when Kipnis went yard!
Yesterday I was bragging on Kipnis and his stats in June, including blowing everyone away slugging-wise. Now his stats are even better! And June STILL has more days to go! Today he went 1 for 3 with a walk, and that one was the aforementioned homer. Nineteen RBIs in June, man. Woah.
I want to punch Nick Swisher in the face.
Jason Giambi...he's growing on me. I'll never see him as some iconic Indian - not like Eddie Murray or anything (well, unless we go to the playoffs and he's awesome in the playoffs then I'll call him Eddie Murray all day long). But Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus and Jason Kipnis and even Clint Fraizer keep talking about what good he's doing. And he's not completely useless at the plate, only mostly useless. Like tonight he went 2 for 3 with a walk so that's pretty cool. And he got a double in the 9th and came around to score (by proxy) the tying run so...I do not want to punch Jason Giambi in the face.
The Chiz Kid was putting everything out there tonight. He got himself a single earlier in the game, and in the 9th he contributed his speed to avoiding a double play and keeping the inning going with just one out instead of two. I'll take hustle if he doesn't have a bat, sure!
Drew Stubbs is the king of making stuff happen with speed! One out and still with the runner on third - Stubbs nearly grounded in to a double play but dude is so fast that instead a run scored and he was safe at first! That run, you guys, was the winning run! Did you know that Drew Stubbs hasn't grounded in to a double play in some 200+ at-bats? FAST.
I liked what I saw today - even though the stupid bullpen lost the game for us, some big bats coupled with our secret weapon of speed brought it back around for a win!
I didn't realize this was a 4-game series so I mistakenly called today's game a rubber match. My bad - it was just uh, a regular match. Tomorrow is more of the same in hot hot Baltimore, a chance for us to uber-win the series I guess.
Oh! The Tigers lost! We're just 2.5 games behind! I got a whole lotta love for that!
It'll be our man Kluber versus RHP 3.75. Another even match, ERA-wise, just like tonight. Maybe there will be more Asdrubal? Maybe Kipnis will get, like, two home runs? Maybe Kluber will go 9? Maybe Tom Hamilton will read his hate mail about his bashing of the color orange? Gotta tune in to know!
See you there!
Radio Chatter:
"The thing about Baltimore is that no team has hit more home runs, but no team has given up more home runs."
- Tom Hamilton
"I tell you what...not many people look good in orange."
- Tom Hamilton
"Curtis Danburg informs me that I have now ticked off Browns fans, Bowling Green fans and Florida Gator fans all in one fell swoop."
- Tom Hamilton
"She took it right on the head because she thought that this guy that she's having her last date with would catch the ball."
- Tom Hamilton on a fan who saved a beer but missed a ball
"You know why I was able to spot her?"
"She was not wearing orange?"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus
"Kipnis is in a place where even when he's down in the count it looks like he's in control, not the pitcher."
- Tom Hamilton
"If you're afraid to pitch inside, then you can't win in this park."
- Tom Hamilton
"I'll be very honest with you folks, the Indian's defensively have not been real good lately."
- Tom Hamilton
"Joe Smith joins the parade of relievers that suddenly can't put a zero on the board."
- Tom Hamilton
Radi
"The thing about Baltimore is that no team has hit more home runs, but no team has given up more home runs."
- Tom Hamilton
"I tell you what...not many people look good in orange."
- Tom Hamilton
"Curtis Danburg informs me that I have now ticked off Browns fans, Bowling Green fans and Florida Gator fans all in one fell swoop."
- Tom Hamilton
"She took it right on the head because she thought that this guy that she's having her last date with would catch the ball."
- Tom Hamilton on a fan who saved a beer but missed a ball
"You know why I was able to spot her?"
"She was not wearing orange?"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus
"Kipnis is in a place where even when he's down in the count it looks like he's in control, not the pitcher."
- Tom Hamilton
"If you're afraid to pitch inside, then you can't win in this park."
- Tom Hamilton
"I'll be very honest with you folks, the Indian's defensively have not been real good lately."
- Tom Hamilton
"Joe Smith joins the parade of relievers that suddenly can't put a zero on the board."
- Tom Hamilton
Radi
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