Tom Hamilton said that Nick Swisher has really turned it on in the month of September. I'd say that our pitchers have too. And so has Asdrubal. And so have our bench guys and even the new guys!
I don't know about you but I'm turned on! Woo woo!
There was a 4-hour rain delay today. No joke! Probably nobody noticed because there was a Browns game at the same time as the scheduled Tribe game. It didn't bother me because by 2 PM I was knee-deep in Disney princess birthday party (funner than it sounds).
I got home just in time to hear the final 4 runs and 4 innings. Then I felt like listening all the way through again!
Do you think John Adams would have stayed for the entirety of this game had it been in Cleveland? I'd like to think he would but I am glad he didn't have to find out!
Zach McAllister was our man today. After three dreadful starts, he totally had it going on tonight with "Classic Zach." A quality-plus start - 6 2/3 innings with only one earned run, and 5 juicy strikeouts. No homers, no wild pitches, no hit batters, just one double and 5 dinky singles. How big is it for him to go long after Ubaldo went long, after two guys went short? Big big.
Bryan Shaw finished up the 7th then pitched the 8th, getting rid of 4 for 4 batters - without a strikeout. OOooOooo!
Cody Allen had a Perez-like 9th. A hit, a strikeout, and a couple of fly outs. According to Hammy, Allen and Callaway actually spotted an issue in his delivery while watching a video. Isn't baseball grand??
Francona loaded up the lineup with righties today, I think just to make Chris Sale look bad. It worked! The Tribe beat Sale for the 4th time this year - the only team he's lost to more than once, other than Oakland (2). The Indians are batting over .330 against him. Weak sauce, Sale!
Stubbs was our man at the top today, with Bourn having a day off. Leadoff doesn't seem to suit Stubbs at the moment - he went 0 for 4.
Swisher, on the other hand, is finally fired up in the 2-hole. He did one of those classic Carlos Baerga moves today - yeah, you know what I'm talking about. Homer from each side of the plate, bro! Actually that's not a Carlos Baerga thing - that's a Nick Swisher thing. He leads the league at doing it - previously with 12 and now with 13. He did it 3 times in 2007 and 3 again in 2009, plus 7 other times including tonight. Huh! He's also in his 9th year in a row with 20 homers. So, go you.
Raburn was batting third. It was a bit of a mish-mosh of a batting order! But that didn't sway our Raburn. Yes, he finally didn't get an RBI for the first time since August 13, but he did get a hit and a run! You know it!
Carlos Santana has got it turned on for real. Another 2 hits tonight, so he's got a 10-game hitting streak with 14 hits therein!
Not so much a streak but - OMG ASDRUBAL!!! ANOTHER home run! And it was a 3-run dinger, not just a little homer. That's 11 RBI in his last 9 games!! Life is better for the #1 Asdrubal fan. Much better than last September. Whew!!
Nothing doing for Aviles today (Oh Lonnie, why can't you bat right like you throw?) but according to Nick Swisher, his name is "Handsome Mike." LULZ!
Hey, new guy Matt Carson! Way to play for your job today, buddy! Three for three with a homer, an RBI single, another single and hit by a pitch. Oh, and his second stolen base! THAT is the way you get put back in the lineup, buddy. You keep doing that! (But the minute you stop, there's a lot of other guys we can put in the outfield. YOU FEEL ME?)
Little Jose Ramirez is still working hard for his spot, too. He went 1 for 2 with 2 walks. He did get caught stealing but whatever - he was out there running! Love the speed on this team and it's crazy that we have even MORE speed waiting in the wings here.
While most of our runs came via the home run today, I still feel confident about our hitting. Bourn and Kipnis were out, and Brantley was half time. Santana, Swisher and Cabrera were still heated up and new guys Carson and Ramirez did their parts. Fun stuff!
So the Tribe is 1/2 game out of the wildcard. According to Crazy-Ass-Stats at ESPN.com (scroll all the way down), the Indians have the best chance, percentage-wise, of making the playoffs compared to everyone else in the wildcard race (like 68% compared to 58% or 6%). I'm getting giddy. Are you giddy yet?
The last of our tough runs starts tomorrow, with 3 against the Royals. They're 3 whole games behind us in the WC race so every win is really critical. Do you think we've got it? I hope we've got it.
They've got their work cut out for them tomorrow. It'll be an 8:10 game with Kazmir taking the mound against RHP 3.38. Kazmir needs to dig deep and give us one more stellar game. Everyone who was off today needs to take all that rest and turn it into energy tomorrow in Kansas City. The bullpen needs to be ready if things don't go well for Kazmir. The key might be getting to that RHP early. Patience is the word.
Enjoy the rest of the above-five-hundred season! See you there!
Radio Chatter:
"One of the problems we have with Major League Baseball today is too much information. Anyone can look at a Doppler radar and say 'Well I can predict the future.'"
- Tom Hamilton
"He is making Terry Francona look like a genius, putting him in the lineup today."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Matt Carson
"The Indians have been kryptonite when it comes to Chris Sale."
- Tom Hamilton
"The attendance was listed at 18,631. There might still be 631 here."
- Tom Hamilton
"There isn't a church in Chicago as quiet as this ballpark is right now."
- Tom Hamilton
"One of the problems we have with Major League Baseball today is too much information. Anyone can look at a Doppler radar and say 'Well I can predict the future.'"
- Tom Hamilton
"He is making Terry Francona look like a genius, putting him in the lineup today."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Matt Carson
"The Indians have been kryptonite when it comes to Chris Sale."
- Tom Hamilton
"The attendance was listed at 18,631. There might still be 631 here."
- Tom Hamilton
"There isn't a church in Chicago as quiet as this ballpark is right now."
- Tom Hamilton
No comments:
Post a Comment