Sweep! Swoop!

The Tribe seemed to cruise through this game today, which is pretty awesome because that's exactly what you need after a 5.5 hour game, and then having to show up a little earlier the next day is brutal too.

Justin Masterson was the starter, which as I said last night was exactly who we needed starting today. He could go the distance! Francona told him this afternoon that he was on a pitch count - 190. haha! He actually did go 110, after 6 2/3 innings. Not an amazing start - he only gave up 1 run but walked 5 - but it was a quality start and probably longer than anyone else could go right now. He struck out 7 while he was out there - he's 4th in the league in both strikeouts and innings pitched. If he wasn't "so out of control" (using the term very very loosely) with all those walks he could have gone the distance.

But, you know, relievers can show up 2 days in a row. They're not porcelain unicorns. Rich Hill came out to finish the 7th and nobody scored. Hooray!

Next was Cody Allen, because of course. Dude puts the "bull" in bullpen! At least this year, for this team. He gave up one hit but then struck out the other 3.

Chris Perez came in for his third night in a row. Tom Hamilton reminded us what happened last time he came in for his third night in a row (3 hits, 4 runs). I listened through my fingers. He gave up 1 hit and got his 20th save! BALLGAME!!

You know who came back around today? Michael Bourn did!! He found his thang and went 3 for 5 after hitting like .180 for a spell there. He got a triple in the third inning because he was all "Damn, I'm turning this in to a triple!" and sped the heck around the bases. It kind of, sort of made me sad that the next batter hit a homer. A bit of a waste of a triple? But maybe having a fast guy dancing around on third was what distracted the pitcher into throwing one that could be hit over the fence? Yeah, that's it.

Swisher went 1 for but his 1 was the game-winning homer, in the 3rd. A two-run dealy that sort of made it easy for everyone to sit back and relax because no way was Justin Masterson going to give up 2 runs, you know?


Kipnis, who has been money while everyone else has been jake, has now been jake for 3 games while everyone else is money. Michael Brantley is also slipping in to jake-ness. Dag.

Santana got his 31st double!

Jason Giambi had another hustle double! I guess he's from the area so his dad and his brother were visiting today. Also explains why he's pushing hard. Two doubles in two games!!

Asdrubal was out today on a rest day, so we don't know how his comeback is doing until Friday!! Raburn is out with some sort of leg thing too, btw. Sad.

Aviles was in for Asdrubal and he was really feeling it - he went 2 for 4 and hustled down the line to score an insurance run in the 9th, on a wild pitch. Love that Aviles!

Did you know he's got a Twitter account that fans set up that just posts Aviles-related news? Apparently lots of people love Mike Aviles! 

Stubbs didn't hit any homers or score any runs today but he did get on base twice with walks. They must be scared of him! Also looks like he's safely up and out of his normal .240 zone, hanging tight at .253!

Off day tomorrow, then they're back at home for the weekend against the Twins. This Twins series might be the biggest series of the year, seriously. Gotta win!

It'll be Ubaldo versus RHP 3.82. Let's hope for good things from Ubaldo, to keep this streak going. The game's at 7:05, at home.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Josh Hamilton has just done everything wrong this series."
- Tom Hamilton

"No matter what there are always at least 30,000 fans here at the Big A. I'm glad the guy who counts the tickets isn't my tax accountant ... I'd be in jail by now."
- Tom Hamilton doesn't believe the numbers

"So far, Mike Soicia is 0 for about 12 in arguments in this series."
- Tom Hamilton