Sou Brasileiro!

It was the big Brazilian game today! Rookie pitcher Andre Rienzo making his debut for Chicago, pitching against his friend and fellow Brazilian Yan Gomes, starting catcher for the Indians. The first and second Brazilians in the MLB! I think the Brazilian flag is groovy so I'm going to put it here:

And here's a little Portuguese for you from "Gomer" (sadly, not "Yanimal" in the clubhouse):

Super orgulhoso de ver o @andre_rienzo lançando hoje! Mais uma etapa do nosso pais! O futuro do esporte esta crescendo!
— Yan Gomes (@Yan_AGomes) July 31, 2013

Here's what Google thinks he said:

Super proud to see @andre_rienzo launching today! Another stage of our parents! The future of the sport is growing!
— Yan Gomes (@Yan_AGomes) July 31, 2013

I don't think Google quite has it right. But whatever - pretty cool connection there, don't you think? Thanks Jake Peavy for making this moment possible!

So we got our 6th win in a row today! It was an amazingly hard struggle, but the team once again overcame. It's not supposed to be this hard against Chicago but once again - it's all about the W.

Scott Kazmir was the starter and he was not on his game. I guess it's all right, as he's been more on his game than most others sometimes. He also did a good job of hanging in there as long as possible even though it was evident by the 2nd inning that he was most likely not going to win this game. He gave up 9 hits and only struck out 3 in 5 innings. He pitched in the 6th too, but didn't get an out before being replaced and then having his runner score.

The good thing is that he's not denying he sucked and Francona's not denying he sucked and he lasted as long as possible, and now they can go address that suckage and fix it for next time. No shoulder shrugs or fake tightness. Just "that was bad, let's fix it."

Matt Albers stepped up and did some long relief, which you don't want to see with this bullpen. But aside from letting Kazmir's runner score in the 6th, he pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball with only ONE hit (the one that scored the guy in the 6th).

I thought Shaw was our long guy so it's nice to see that someone else can do it, and not suck.

Speaking of sucking, Oh No Not Rich Hill came in to get a lefty out (Adam Dunn) and from what Tom Hamilton says, he did get him out - twice. Except those strikes were mistaken for balls and Dunn eventually walked.

Shaw came in for the next batter and got him to ground out to end the 8th.

Chris Perez came in for the 9th, and didn't give up any runs even though he had runs to give by that point. He almost let one in but he is the New-Old Chris Perez and while he gave up a hit (as expected, Old Perez!) the guy didn't score (New Perez!) He got his 15th save! And also looked happy again.

The bats were back today, with the team having another double-digit hit (10) night after getting just 4 last night. Three multi-hitters tonight! Sadly, no homers - I think they had a homer streak going there, some 6 games or something. Oh well!

White Sox pitching really have Bourn's number - he hasn't gotten any hits in this series yet! Swisher just got the one today and it was a double.

Kipnis had an 0-fer day but he did walk. No runs or RBI.

Asdrubal had it figured out, tho! He went 2 for 4, with a single in the 8th that got him on base to score the tying run!

Brantley led off the 5th with a walk, and ended up scoring on another walk after Rienzo lost his shit. Oops! That inning saw 3 walks, 3 runs scored, 2 hits and 1 error. And a FC that scored two runs. Nailed it!

Santana got a deep single in the 8th, then was pinch ran for (?) by Stubbs. And Stubbs is the friggin FLASH -

Defender of the universe!

... so Stubbs stole a base and came around to score on a single. Natch.

The role was switched for Giambi today who was actually the starting DH, but was pulled in the 8th for Ryan Raburn. Giambi had actually gone 1 for 3 but speculation was that he was spent for the day. But since our bench is so awesome (nickname: Bench Mob), Raburn came in and got himself a 2-out, 2-run single in the 8th! He drove in the aforementioned tying and go-ahead runs. That guy seems to really be locked in and ready to roll whenever he is needed!

Chiz had it going on today, going 2 for 4. Nice stuff - he's been on and off the bench recently, sharing time with Mike Aviles. Chisenhall came in to score both times he was on base, mainly because he hits ahead of...

So this is what it's like to have Yan Gomes every day? He went 2 for 3 with a walk (an RBI walk!) and 3 RBI. He's got NINE hits in his last 5 games. I mean, holy cow dude - I seriously, seriously hope Francona was not joking when he said that Gomes was going to be doing this every day for us. There's no reason to stop him now! He is winning games for us!

Oh yeah and it was also the Brazillian National Baseball day (not really) so it was important that Gomes impress everyone as much as the kid on the mound did - I think he delivered!

The Tribe has taken the first 5 of their 10-game "versus bad teams" run, so that's pretty cool! Six games in a row, total, having beaten the Mariners before coming back home to run over Texas.

Two more to go with Chicago, at home. I hope it gets easier! I don't like how we're having to struggle to beat this bottom-dweller. But leave it up to Chicago to try to play spoiler, no matter where in the season it is.

Tomorrow at 7:05 it'll be Corey Kluber versus this guy:

TB Announced

Ha! Whatever, we got this.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"He told ESPN he still wanted to be a role model. Heh, and I want to be Brad Pitt."
- Tom Hamilton on A-Rod

"You just wonder how many great players are still on that island and haven't escaped Fidel Castro."
- Tom Hamilton's deep thoughts for today

"Adam Dunn is one of the few guys in baseball that makes Jason Giambi look small."
- Tom Hamilton

"We're about an hour away from tonight's mystery garage door closing. Which door will they close to keep us in tonight?"
- Tom Hamilton is prepared to ram

"It looks like he struck Dunn out on back-to-back pitches."
- Tom Hamilton on Hill versus Dunn in the 8th

"I'm not telling anyone how to spend their discretionary income, but when you pay to see the Indians you get your money's worth."
- Tom Hamilton