Today was Carrasco's first appearance. I wasn't too excited about him making the team over Josh Tomlin. But the reality of it is that they still see something in Carrasco and he is totally out of options. So the team's only choice is to throw him out there in the Bigs and get his bugs worked out, because there's no more messing around in Columbus. Tomlin, I guess, has some time.
So, we get Carrasco. I think he's got a lot of work ahead of him, and you can't really judge the rest of his season based on his first start on a cold day. We'll revisit my feelings in May!
Carrasco had one heck of a rough first inning. Gave up a homer on the second pitch, then a double, a walk and two RBI singles. The second was tidy but the third saw a hit batter, an RBI double, two passed balls (nobody told the scorer that Yan Gomes doesn't pass balls) which resulted in a run.
Carrasco actually ended up striking out 7 in his 5 2/3 innings which was more than Masterson struck out on Monday! And really, he just had 2 bad innings out of nearly 6. So he's got the stuff to strike guys out, and he's able to reel himself back in after bad innings. It's a good start (but today wasn't a good "start"). I have confidence we'll see some better stuff in his next few outings.
Atchison and Outman came in to finish the 6th through the 8th, and struck out 3 between them with no walks and no hits, so that's pretty awesome. But Vinnie....Vinnie, my Vinnie! Poor guy just cannot right his ship. I don't know if we can give HIM til May to get himself together. Seems like we've given him since last August. As much as we're all dying for the team to sign Masterson long-term, I think we're all dying for Vinnie to get back to his 2012 self. Please!!
The offense, though - what was up with that? The last-minute stuff is fun, but only sometimes. We don't REQUIRE them to have silent bats through to the 7th inning so that we get the exciting conclusions. I'm sure we'd all be happy with, say, scoring in the first inning. Or being ahead after the third inning.
They actually almost pulled out a 9th inning comeback today, or close to it. They scored two runs and if it weren't for the wind, Gomes would have gotten a 3-run dinger and made it 5-7.
Nyjer Morgan, still leading off in Bourn's stead, is looking good and putting up Bourn-like numbers. He's getting on base but not stealing yet - which Bourn didn't do much of either. He's the only Indian with 2 hits today, and he also walked twice, but he was left out there all 4 times.
Happy hero Swisher did jack at the plate today.
Our boy Kipnis went 0 for 1 today but bless him, he walked 3 times! No strikeouts at least.
Santana and Brantley (.316) both got on base once today, as they do. Santana with a walk and Brantley with a single, both in their final at-bats in the 9th. Whew!
Also hitting in their final at-bat in the 9th was Asdrubal, who got a bloop...double! Finally put one where someone wasn't waiting for it. Possibly helped by the wind. Not picky.
David Murphy was there too, I guess. Didn't notice until he was substituted with Raburn! Unfortunately Ryan Raburn was just as not good.
Our powerhouse 8 and 9 guys were still getting work done, though. Gomes got a near-homer sac fly in the 9th. He also had 2 passed balls and according to his stats he had 4 all of last year. So, I'm not buying it! Wild pitches!
Lonnie Chisenhall is in a friggin' groove, man. He's batting .500 with 4 hits. That's as many hits as Swisher who's had 3x the at-bats. That's as many hits as Santana who's had 2x. And that's more hits than Yan Gomes. Wow! Oh yeah - two of his 4 hits have been doubles already.
Anyway, crummy game today. The weather was dry and sunny but it was pretty cold. They still have a winning record. We've still got 157 to go.
Back at it tomorrow! It's 1:05, with Masterson facing RHP 7.50 - lots of hope. See you there!
Radio Chatter:
"Tom covered the Winter Olympics in Russia, and he said it was warmer there than it is here at Progressive Field."
- Tom Hamilton
"The thing about this team is that no matter what the score is in the 9th inning, they have great at-bats."
- Tom Hamilton
"Tom covered the Winter Olympics in Russia, and he said it was warmer there than it is here at Progressive Field."
- Tom Hamilton
"The thing about this team is that no matter what the score is in the 9th inning, they have great at-bats."
- Tom Hamilton
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