Sunday, June 22, 2014

Omar Day!

Hey fan! Sorry I haven't been around much. Going through stressful stuff at home and just not feeling like taking the time to blog after games. I have been glued to the radio (and TV!) for the games of course but afterwards....on to other more serious stuff.

I hope you took in tonight's game! There were 40,000 of you at the game, plus it was on Baseball Night In America on Fox so really there was room for everyone in Cleveland to see it with their own two eyes. On Friday the game was on WKYC so that was pretty special - to see two games in a row on TV!

Today was the day they inducted Omar Vizquel into the Indians hall of fame. He's the 40th Indian to be inducted and of course the greatest short stop. And aside from Bob Feller...the greatest Indian? How about greatest since 1950? I like it.

Omar's with the Tigers now. Not sure how that came about. I'm hoping it's due to iron-clad contracts and no room for him where he needs to be. Because...Detroit? Oh, Omar!

The team has been on their BEST behavior in the field while Omar is around. How could you not? No errors and a few pretty, pretty plays so far.

Unfortunately for the Tribe, the Tigers also have our Victor Martinez and he's hitting over .400 against us and it just really. really. hurts. Especially when he gets a home run (which seems like every game) and the Tribe loses by 1. I guess we made him cry, he'll make us cry now. Argh - he's so good! Not fair that the stupid Tigers get to have him and Miggy AND Torii Hunter. For Pete's sake!

Trevor Bauer was our man today, and he still is not scared. He is also not untouchable - three homers for 4 earned runs. He did go 6 1/3 innings on 100 pitches, and only walked 2 and struck out 5. It was the long ball that got him. And you could say "Well, the Tigers, man - you'll get that" but one of his homers was to leadoff man and speedster Rajai Davis so...fail.

Old Man Atchison mopped up after the kid and finished the 7th for him as well as completed the 8th. No hits for him. Kyle Crockett pitched to one guy in the 9th and that was a success, then it was Vinnie's turn to get that hold in the 9th. Yeah you heard me - Vinnie! They took the rotation down to 4 and brought up Vinnie who was throwing a .48 ERA in Columbus. He threw the final 2 outs in the 9th and nothing bad happened so that was awesome!

Cody Allen came in with the game tied in the 10th and wouldn't you know it - he un-Allenlike gave up a run. Nuts! After all that work to tie it up, in front of all those people, on Omar Day! But really if anyone was going to be out there we wanted Cody, right? I mean, who else? Is Shaw even here? Anyway, we got what we wanted and it didn't work out so oh well.

The Tribe got its offense in some interesting ways today. Not from Nick Swisher, of course. But from his pals at the bottom of the order. And Brantley and Kipnis BOTH were shut out! I am not kidding you! Brantley did get a pinch hit on Friday when he came in late after being on the concussion DL, but it just wasn't happening for him today. And not sure what Kipnis' deal was. You don't really want him flubbing while the whole town is watching but it wasn't going his way today.

Michael Bourn had a great night, going 1 for 4 with an AWESOME clutch hit in the 9th to tie the game! It was fall-outta-you-chair-worthy, man! That guys waxes and wanes on the excitement meter but since he got revved up he's been pretty steady on the reliability meter.

Speaking of unreliable, poor old Good Guy David Murphy had been 0 for 25 when he broke that streak to get on base so he could come around to score later on Bourn's single. Talk about a nice surprise!! He really reached back and dug around for his clutch-ness and brought it back at just the right time today.

Asdrubal had a night! He went 3 for 5 with a double and a HUGE RBI. It was his 18th double, which is tied with Chisenhall (who also got his 18th double tonight) which leads the team. They are better than Michael Brantley in a category! Woah!

Carlos Santana!! He's up over .200 now with a .201 average! Check him out! He's like, the hottest player in June or something. He's batting .340 with 5 home runs and 12 RBI in 53 at-bats. Did you know this??? It's almost insane that his average can still be so low but he's raised it 39 points since June 6th. Looking pretty decent at 1st base, too. He's back, man!!

Gomes had a solid hit today too but he ended up not coming around. He also threw out a guy trying to steal, which makes it 6 in a row. And people still do not seem to know not to run on Gomes (or Brantley). Bwahahahaha!

Ok I'm fading fast and have to get to sleep. Tomorrow's game is more Tigers and they gotta win to avoid the sweep! It'll be Tomlin and his hair versus Scherzer and his eyes. They have the exact same ERA! This should be interesting...

See you there!


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Fish Slapped

Oh man, Mike Trout is so good! And I love good baseball players, just love 'em! You can't really hate on Mike Trout, can you? I don't know if he's an all-around good man like Torii Hunter but he doesn't seem to be a brat or anything. He's just a damn good baseball player. Like Lonnie, but with a sillier name.

Tribe just didn't have it today, period. Bad pitching from all FOUR pitchers, bad defense (Asdrubal's 13th error), lack of hitting (7 hits but 10 strikeouts). Blergh. Like everyone had their minds focused on Puppypalooza instead of baseball!

I'm not going to go over the pitching. I'll just leave this right here:
More like "ouch, man"
Although, it didn't matter how many runs those relievers relieved themselves of, because the batting wasn't there to overcome Tomlin's 6 runs. Sad trombone.

Did you know that Michael Brantley, the day after being named the MLB player of the week, is on the concussion DL? Yes he is. He so is.

So, it was all up to Lonnie tonight to be the offensive stud and after a 4-game/13-at-bat slump for him he is BACK and ON IT today!
Ride! Ride like the wind! Lonnie went 2 for 4 today with another homer!! He's got 7 on the year (same as Asdrubal, who has played more games) and needs just 5 more to bust his HR total of last year. So he's batting .368. Kinda sad. He needs 18 plate appearances to qualify yet too. Argh! Why isn't Lonnie just the best at everything yet???

He's getting there though! There will soon be Lonnination in the MLB.

No one else had a multi-hit game today, duh. Kipnis and Gomes got doubles. Kipnis got his in the 9th, when the Tribe was down 9-2 and there had just been a short rain delay, and the Angels brought in their closer to stretch his legs, and Kipnis hits a goddamn double. And then Santana hit the bloopiest of inflield bloops, and made it to first while Kipnis literally snuck around behind everyone to score. Grind! (Did you notice Carlos got another hit?)

David Murphy went 0-4 but he did get his team-leading 5th sac fly and his team-second 38th RBI. What a guy!

Raburn and Asdrubal teamed up for a put-out at the plate, but Asdrubal had another error so everyone hates him again. He did go 1 for 4 today tho!

Tomorrow is the final game of the series with these Angles. It's also free GV Artwork t-shirt day! Going to be 10,000 lucky fans that's for sure.



It'll be a 7:10 game, Masty facing a LHP 3.05. Hmm...don't know what to make of that. I'm sure the shirts will make the whole thing exciting, regardless.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"He wasn't wishing him a very happy early Christmas."
- Tom Hamilton on David Freese arguing with the umpire

"The Indians may not have known Shoemaker before tonight's game, but they'll remember him now. He's pitching a good one."
- Tom Hamilton

"Complaining about Mike Trout striking out more is like saying Kate Upton has a slight wrinkle on her shoulder."
- Tom Hamilton

"Are there beaches in Iraq? There's a lot of sand, I know that."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"They have put the plastic tarp over the mound in the bullpen, and put a stake in the ground with a sign in it 'Gone Fishing.'"
- Tom Hamilton says the game is over

"Does anyone even realize that it's 9-2 in the 9th inning?"
- Tom Hamilton isn't into it like you are!

"Either he is near-sighted and can't read the fingers of Hank Conger, or he just doesn't want to go back to his hotel."
- Tom Hamilton on the Angles' closer

Monday, June 16, 2014

Everybody Have Fun Tonight!

Man, I have been so STOKED for this homestand. I suppose it has to do with how much better the Tribe does at home than on the road this year. But the weather has been nice and the Central is a tight race and football & basketball & hockey are over now for a minute (except there is always, always Manziel) and it's BASEBALL time now in Cleveland and I'm ready to watch the people watch the Tribe.

Every day I am finding myself totally excited for the upcoming game. And that's the way it should be!

Anyway, today it was Trevor Bauer time. I love that this kid comes off as so cocky. For some reason I think his sideburns and and his high socks make him look cocky hahaha I mean he's not killing it on the mound, but he does have some stuff to back up that cockiness. Part of being cocky is not being afraid and that means that you can tell Terry Francona "hey man, I'm going to go back out there for the 7th, all right?" and Terry Francona does it even though it means you throw 120 pitches.
Do these pants make my butt look self-assured?

It was the first time in 8 games that a Tribe starter made it that far into the game. Actually all he really ended up with was the far end of a quality start. Six and 2/3 innings, 6 strikeouts, 3 runs and 8 hits. Not one 1-2-3 inning but he kept going! And 3 runs is just fine, as long as your offense shows up. And today they did, bless 'em.

As if Bauer's performance wasn't cool enough, Carlos Carrasco came out to be the unlikely hero, pitching 2 1/3 innings to get the save! I really dig him out of the pen because he's just got length to spare in really weird situations. I mean, 7 outs - that could have been 3 relievers! But he came in to finish the 7th with a strikeout. In the 8th he walked a guy then had a strike-em-out-throw-em-out. He gave up a single but got the final strikeout to end the inning. And then a magical 1-2-3 9th! I mean, a Trout-Pujols-Hamilton 9th - woah!

Carrasco gave a post-game interview to Hammy and Rosie. Tonight was his first save in 11 years. No matter how much he ends up disappointing us as a starter, he always seems like a good, humble guy. Remember when he totally beaned that KC player in retaliation for something and got suspended for 5 games? Team player! He says he is just going to work real hard at any position he's in, and now he's in the bullpen so he'll work hard at being a great reliever. He's asking questions and learning every day. Much love, Cookie!

On the offensive side...The team only had 4 LOB today! They got 4 runs off of 6 hits. Low on hits and no 50% off at Papa John's, but at least dudes weren't being stranded!

Michael Bourn is glad to be back at home, yeesh! Dude went like 1-19 in Boston and came home and went 2-5, just like there was no slump at all.

OMG ASDRUBAL!!! Home run #7 wahoo! And suddenly he's found the patience, because other than the homer he walked twice and I can't remember the last time he walked! (8 days ago) His homer was a 2-run job.

Michael Brantley (.323) is the MLB player of the week! Because while his team was busy figuring out ways to lose miserably and win barely, Brantley has raised his already-high average 25 points with 15 hits in the week, including 3 doubles and a homer.

Then, because Cleveland can't have nice things, Michael Brantley didn't show up in left field. Mike Aviles did. There was a mild panic, and finally we found out that Brantley got a knee to the head when sliding into second. Hopefully his head is as strong as his will. BE OK, BRANTLEY!!!

Kipnis was shut down tonight, which makes me shudder.

But Carlos Santana! Whoop whoop! Dude got a home run, which turned out to be the game-winner! Still hitting under .200 but they say he has "quieted down" since his stint on the DL. Cool stuff but uhm...do you really want a guy to come off of a concussion so relaxed?? Once again I heard him on the radio, and once again I was surprised that he has a Dominican accent and is not in fact a kid from Oakland. It gets me every time!

Anyway, Santana has almost as many hits as Brantley in the last 10 games (ok just 10 but still - how many you got??) and 9 RBI. On your way up, Like a boss!

Lonnie has been shut down for 4 games now, and I think it's giving me a rash on the back of my hand. But Jim Rosenhaus pointed out - while talking about Mike Trout, actually - that there's 162 games and even amazing players can't be amazing for all of them. So if Mike Trout is going to be slumpy, so can Lonnie. Just...not too much longer, ok?

Nick Swisher is still on our team. He hit a $15mm home run the other night. Whee.

David Murphy tried his hardest, but only got a walk tonight.

It was George Kottaras day! He went 1 for 3 with a bunt single, and threw a guy out at second, thus proving that he is a well-rounded player and a great Indian. For now. Opa!

Tomorrow is MORE BASEBALL!! It's Tomlin time! Has he straightened himself back out? It'll be Tomlin's mane versus RHP 4.19 and his beard. We love RHPs at home! And it's Puppypalooza, I believe.

The fun starts at 7:05, and I forsee a lot more runs in this game so start picking out your pizza. See you there!

Sorry, no Radio Chatter today. I don't even know what I was doing to miss any potential quips. I think it was just a lack of quips. Not me, man.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Our Little Shining Stars

I don't have much to say about this game today, because I am running out of time. I'm participating in a garage sale on Saturday and OMG DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TIME THAT TAKES??? It takes hours, days. It takes a lot of time. Especially when you're in the baby clothes racket. Anyway, I just have time for a few sentences.

And those few sentences, like many sentences, will be about Michael Brantley (.313) and Jason Kipnis - our little shining stars in an otherwise barren sky over 3 days of baseball.



Despite the fact that there was no one around them to help them get home, our little stars got 4 hits between them, including a double (Brantley) and 2 RBI (Kipnis).

Brantley has a modest 4-game hitting streak, but with all the excitement over the-guy-who-was-strangley-left-out-today, no one noticed he has had 8 hits in those 4 games.

And Jason Kipnis, who came back on June 1, has played in every game since then and hit in every game but his first game back. That's a 10-game hitting streak for him with 14 hits and 9 RBI.

He also got a hair cut:


Those two weren't the only ones to hit today. For instance, Yan Gomes who sometimes elates us and sometimes leaves us hangin' got 2 hits today - elation! But he was REALLY left out there in the cold, because guess who is back and batting before him?? Yeah, him.

Raburn and Aviles got singles, and Santana of course got a walk. But there were just way too many holes tonight, too many guys stranded along with too many guys not on base at all. It was no good.

Tomlin was the pitcher by the way. He wasn't so good. Neither was Hagadone who was good for a minute but suddenly is not someone to look forward to. Carrasco, on the other hand, had another scoreless 2 innings. So that's neat.

Let's hope now that we're done with John Lester we can get back to humiliating the Red Sox! Onward and upward!!

Tomorrow it's another 7:05 game with our new-old favorite Justin Masterson on the mound against RHP 3.18. Hooray - rightie!

I'll see you there, while I'm tagging, tagging, tagging away...

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Exhale

A little deflation after last night's big big win, but at least the Tribe didn't walk out of there empty-handed. They managed to get 5 runs off the tired starter and the reliever, but that wasn't enough to overcome the poor performance by Corey Kluber (I KNOW!!!!)

Klubot was out of juice today, for the second game in a row. The last game was a "gimme" since it was a rain delay. Not sure what his deal was today. Well I mean, 3 of his runs were un-earned so that's what that deal was. But 3 other runs in his 5 innings were all on him. Two of the runs were from the longball. He did strike out 5, but he still wasn't the dominant KLUBOT we've seen up to now. Maybe he was just too wound up! Ha!

Carrasco came in to do some more long relief and I think it really suits him. Just one hit in 1 2/3 innings. No strikeouts or anything but the name of the game is no runs.

Hagadone made another appearance and it didn't go so well for him. He came in and gave up a hit, then got the final out of an inning. Then he came in for the next inning and gave up a dang homer. Argh! Atchison came in for some batters, and he gave up a hit too before getting an out. Outman was next and - BOOM! Moustakas with a 2-run homer.

Yeah that is just a bad day all around when your starter isn't too hot, then your relievers give up runS. Multiple. And then your infield gives up 3 runs on an error.

The 17 runs got to them. They thought they were untouchable.

As for the offense...they were pretty abysmal all night, until the 8th and 9th.

Michael Bourn got his 1 hit tonight, for the 4th night in a row. Not really hot anymore but definitely, far from cold.

Asdrubal is back in the doghouse with everyone for his huge run-costing error today (his 11th!) And Lindor is just down the road, basking in the love of Rubber Ducks fans. Asdrubal did go 1 for 4 tonight with an RBI sac fly, so he had that going for him. But it wasn't 3 runs, and that's the price they had on his head.

Brantley (.307) was hit by a pitch twice! DO NOT BREAK BRANTLEY!! What the heck, KC? Anyway, so he went 1 for 3 with a double.

How 'bout that Kipnis?? He's got a 7-game hitting streak, with 11 hits and 7 RBI in that time. To add to last night's 4 RBI, he got 2 more tonight on a 2-out, 2-on double in the 8th - the team's first runs of the game! He came around to score, too. Scrappy!

Santana strung together 2 hits himself today. How do we feel about that?? He does have 6 hits and 4 walks in the 5 games he's been back so that's pretty good. Going to get hot going in to the break? Let's hope!

Yan Gomes went 0 for 4 tonight. Him and Cabrera are pretty neck-and-neck in their lack of consistency. But neither of them are having super long dry spells anymore.

The Chiz Kid Lonnie Baseball was once again on his game today, even though it took until the 7th. Everyone was like "Yay! He is as good as we think!!" when he got a double. And then he got a single in the 9th and it was party time again! All hail Lonnie Baseball!
My lame attempt to liken him to Johnny Football (and this weekend's TMZ pics of him floating on an inflatable swan)
Once we knew Lonnie was safe and still hitting, and the Tribe wasn't going to go home run-less, the rest of the game was much easier to digest. Raburn went 1 for 4 and Murphy went 1 for 3 with an RBI double. Not enough, but still - 50% off pizza!

Tomorrow is already shaping up to be better because there's a RHP on the mound. It'll be Trevor Bauer versus RHP 3.41. Beatable! Let's hope Bauer is feeling better than the rest of the bullpen right now, and we get the series split!

It'll be at 2:10 in the afternoon - don't forget! See you there!

Sorry no Radio Chatter tonight. I kept being away at critical funny moments.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

BIGGER IN TEXAS!


YES! Yes, Lonnie Baseball! You dance the night away, son!

I'll just gloss over the pitching because the batting was where it was at tonight. TJ House only lasted  1/3 innings and that kind of sucked because there are still 6 games to go on this road trip, but when they took him out it was still close enough to matter. And he was at 82 pitches anyway. Everyone Else came in to pitch and only one guy gave up a run - Carrasco. Even John Axford kept his nose clean over TWO innings. So that was cool. Sorry, TJ House - still more growing up to do I guess.

So, see any good offense lately??

Tonight, Michael Bourn and David Murphy were the LEAST impressive hitters on the team. When that happens, that is one crazy night!

So Bourn and Murphy both went 1 for 5 with a run scored. Bourn got a walk and Murphy a double. Neither of them stole a base.

Asdrubal, Brantley (.307) and Kipnis all got 3 hits. Droobs came in to score 3 times with some aggressive base running and a double. Brantley  went 3 for 3 because he walked twice. His other hits were singles - and a solo homer! He came in to score 5 times. All of those runs scored can be explained by Kipnis having 3 hits and 4 RBIs! He is BACK!!

George Kottaras was randomly in the game today and totally randomly hit ANOTHER home run! His stats as an Indian thus far are 8 at-bats, 4 RBI and 3 home runs. Opa!!

Kipnis' 4 RBI and Brantley going 3 for 3 and Kottaras' third home run in his 5th at-bat are pretty special stats, and any one of those in one game would have made for some pretty happy fans and a great baseball game. In fact, all of the runs scored today without the help of Lonnie Chisenhall would have been just enough runs to pull out a win over the Rangers tonight, even with House's unfortunate start.

But Lonnie Baseball still put on one HECK of a show!!!

He went 5 for 5 tonight, with THREE HOME RUNS. THREE HOME RUNS YOU GUYS. Last person to do that for the Tribe was Choo back in 2010. And he also got a double. And a single. All of that brought in 9 runs!! Oddly enough he only crossed the plate 3 times, thanks to himself. But they can't all be Lonnies, 1-9.

He's a great Lonnie-lovin' post that the TribeVibe blog folks threw together with the highlights of Lonnie's game, and also info on how his stats fit in with Indians and MLB history.

I once went to a Tribe/Reds game in Cleveland, in 2012 I think, and sat behind the plate next to this group from Cincinnati. The one kid was a real mouth, but he absolutely loved Lonnie Chisenhall. He said he just had to - his name was Lonnie too! At one point, Chiz got hurt (hit by pitch?) and Lonnie Soloff came to check him out. Three Lonnies in one 30' radius. It was unreal!

I have a ball with Lonnie Chisenhall's autograph on it. It looks like "Lon Chill." Ha!

In case you were wondering....Chiz is at 2.81 plate appearances per game right now, where he needs to be at 3.1 to become a qualifier. He does lead the league amongst players with 150+ plate appearances, but the "going rate" right now is more like 200 PAs. But soon....soon the rest of the world will know of our Lonnie. Just a few more games

I think I'm done gushing about Lonnie - for now! I hope that sports radio stops talking about Johnny Football and his swan for 2 seconds and gives some air time to talk of Lonnie Baseball tomorrow.

Isn't this precious?
Keep playin' that one-up game, boys!

The final score was 17-7, by the way. 50% off Papa John's on Tuesday. It only took them 18 hits to get those 17 runs!

Tomorrow the team waves good bye to Texas and happily trots over to Kansas City where they hope to clobber many more baseballs. It'll be an 8:10 start again, still in the Central Time Zone. Kluber versus a LHP who has nearly the same ERA as him. It can be done, you know. And even if they can't score 17 runs again, well, this is the Klubot we're talking about here. Consider it done.

Sorry no Radio Chatter today. Hammy did call George Kottaras "Babe Kottaras" after he hit his homer. And his home run calls are all epic (you know where to find them, tomorrow). And he did say that Lonnie never had a day this good even in Little League. And when the Texas pitcher got taken out after giving up 8 runs he quoted Rocky "Cut me, Mick!" But I didn't write anything down. I'm getting ready for a garage sale. Boy is that a lot of work!

Anyway, 8:10, Kansas City - see you there!

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Messin' With Texas

Josh Tomlin!! Josh Tomlin's hair!!! Both had fantastic outings in Arlington this afternoon against the Rangers!
Flow it! Show it! Long as God can grow it!

Eight innings, 5 strikeouts, 7 hits and 3 runs. Only one extra base hit! He was getting through innings with ease, doing what the pitching coaches keep telling everyone to do - throw strikes. Guys were swinging away and getting out. It was awesome!

They put Tomlin in for the 9th, but he went up to 105 pitches and gave up a hit, so that was that. John Axford game in with a 5-run cushion, and I totally applaud this move because really how could he mess up a 5-run cushion?? He did give up one hit, as he will, but being so relaxed there were no runs scored.

More double digits in the hit column today for the Tribe (and more 50% off pizza for the fans at Papa John's!) Two doubles and two homers, and while there were 7 LOB the team still managed to score 8 runs.

Michael Bourn is starting his hitting streak back at ONE. He just went 1 for 5 today but he did steal a base.

Asdrubal wasn't feeling it today after last night's awesome game. No more homers today. No hits, actually. He was shut out AND he hit himself with a foul tip. Ouch!

Michael Brantley (.305) is never not hitting, so he went 1 for 5 with his 14th double.

Kipnis had a decent day - he went 1 for 3, but also had 2 walks and came in to score once. Much patience. Kiiiiinda wondering why he's batting 4th instead of Chiz. Maybe 4th is too heavy for the slightly younger Chisenhall?

Lonnie didn't get any extra base hits today either (he does lead the team in doubles, and has 1 more homer than Kipnis) but he went 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI. He got his THIRD RBI bloop single into left field in, I think, four games. I love it!

David Murphy, who is an ex-Ranger and from Texas and no doubt still has a home(s) in Texas didn't get any hits yesterday - no doubt in deference to his old fans who were there to cheer him on. Good guy. Today it was his new team's turn and he went 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. Interesting to see if he steps it up even more tomorrow!

Jason Giambi went 1 for 3 today with a long single that coulda been a double for maybe Michael Bourn. And everyone went "GROAN!" because on the play prior to that hit, Lonnie got caught hanging off the bag at third and it didn't produce a run. I wonder what kind of words of wisdom G imparted on him about that?!

Raburn came in to pinch hit for Giambi later and got an RBI and a run scored.

Carlos Santana! He went 2 for 2 today with a biiiiig game-clinching 2-run homer, a single and 2 walks. He came around to score twice. He was at first today and....well, he's hit in both of his games since he's been back. Did he get some skill knocked back into him when he got that concussion? Of course, two games does not make a trend. But that'd be pretty fun if true!!

Hey, did you hear they drafted Juan Gomes today? Here I was thinking that "Yan" was "John" in Portugese but it's not. It is "John" in Belarusian or something. And "Juan" is "John" Spanish. Anyway, both brothers are named "John" in different ways. And they are both Indians now. It will be just awesomely amazing when the Tribe with all of its Gomeses plays Tampa or Boston with their Gomes. What if one of those teams gets a Cabrera, too??

Anyway, Yan Gomes went 1 for 4 and it was a big, big one. It was a 3-run homer! That was all for Gomes for the day but that was all we needed from him.

Two more games in Texas yet, and I feel pretty good about them! I think the first game was decent enough and the second featured a lot of hits and matching runs. Nice weather for homers, I guess.

Tomorrow it'll be at 3:05 (for real this time. Yesterday I reported today's game was 3:05 when it was really 4:05). Masterson versus LHP 3.68. Hmm...LHP on the road. Everyone just start the game with rally caps, ok?

No Radio Chatter today - Hammy was out watching his son's graduation, and you're just not going to get quality quips from Mike Hargrove. He was trepidatious about taking questions from Twitter, though! I don't think he answered any haha

See you there!

What Went Wrong

One bad inning for Bauer, one bad outing for Zep, and too many guys left on base.

The pitching unfortunates could have been overcome by batting, and they did get 10 hits today, but they didn't get them at the right time - and struck out 11 times - so the unusually-bad pitching couldn't be overcome.

Although, no one thought the Tribe would score any off of Yu Darvish, so to get 4 off him and for Bauer to be right up there with him - well that's not too shabby.

Trevor Bauer was the man today, having an OK outing. Except for the time when he gave up 4 hits and 4 runs in an inning. That was the 2nd. He had a 1-2-3 first and a 1-2-3 third, and pitched 3 more scoreless innings, and one more out until he was at his 100 and done for the night. In 6 1/3 innings, Bauer struck out 6 and only walked 2. As someone on Twitter said:




Nice!

Zep was the next reliever, and apparently I have not been paying close enough attention to relievers. I just thought they were all equally good, less Ax and Carrasco. But people were like "nooooo!" and then when Zep gave up a homer they were like "Seeeeee?" So that happened.

Then for the 8th it was Atchison, who got the first out then Elvis Andrus got on base for the 38th consecutive game versus the Indians. Then it was Hagadone's turn and he gave up a walk, so he was gone. ? Then Axford who Axforded a run home on a sac fly. They only let 2 runs score between all of them, but that was 2 too many.

Michael Bourn was shut out tonight! After an amazing 8-game run with 11 hits and 5 RBI, today he went 0 for 5 with 4 strikeouts. He only had 6 strikeouts total in his 8 games.

Asdrubal on the other hand was having a great night! Perhaps it was due to the company of his fellow countryman Rougned Odor? Cabby went 3 for 5 with a double, single and homer! It was his 6th homer of the year, his second in 2 games, and third in just 7 games. I think he's found his power - lookout!

Michael Brantley (.307) didn't have all that good of a night, but he tried to be the hero in the 9th, and got his one and only hit to hopefully be part of the tying runs scored. Not so much.

Kipnis tried to be that guy who hit in the tying runs but that didn't happen either. He went 1 for 5 on the night as well, with his single coming in the third.

He was on base when Lonnie Baseball went yard, though! And it was a 3-run thingie so it brought the Tribe back from an 0-4 deficit! It was his only hit for the night, but he did walk. He has had TWELVE RBI in the last 7 games!!!

David Murphy had nothin' going on tonight. But Yan Gomes did! He's been a little feast-or-famine lately getting 2 hits, then none, then 2 hits, then none. Today he had 3 hits! Shockingly....no RBI and no runs on those. Oof! He did have an awesome play where he lept like 3' into the air to get a ball for a play at the plate, and after all that the guy was safe.

Santana was back from concussion leave. Kind of a bummer because they put him down there at 8th and that's sort of why Gomes had 3 hits and nothing to show for it. Then again...what have Raburn and Giambi been doing lately? Santana did get a single, though. But he left 3 on base.

Mike Aviles is also feast-or-famine lately and since he's getting more playing time, the famine is starting to show. He went 0 for 4 today, and apparently was Slowy McRunnerson on a hit today that ended up being a GIDP. The people called for his head. He says he hurt his toe. I tend to believe Aviles, because everyone believes a handsome man.

So our first loss after a 6-game streak.Tribe not so good on the road but scoring 4 on their first night out, versus Darvish, is nothing to sneeze at. They need to rub their bellies and come out swingin' tomorrow. It's all do-able!

Tomorrow is Josh Tomlin versus RHP 4.43! That's our favorite kind of pitcher! It'll be at 3:05 and broadcast on FS1.

See you there!

No Radio Chatter today. But here's a clip of Hammy and Rosie re-visiting the idea of motor oil in the 1800s. They did a big thing about this earlier in the season when they realized that cars weren't around when Valvoline first became a company, but they're at it again!


Thursday, June 5, 2014

How Bout Them Apples?!

I think I mentioned on Tuesday that I was a little bummed that the game was so short (2.5 hrs), so I got my comeuppance today with an extra 3 innings and an extra 90 minutes. And a win! And a walkoff! And Asdrubal! And a sweep!

Right?! Also don't forget we swept the Red Sox who are just a bunch of stupid rich dummies and their fans are all morons. Especially the ones from Cleveland. Harumph!

Eleven more hits for the team today, and 14 more strikeouts!! You know who the worst pitcher of the game was? Corey Kluber! And he wasn't really all that bad - he didn't give up any runs until the 6th when he gave up a 2-run homer to Ortiz. Everyone gives up 2-run homers to Ortiz, all the time. He didn't make it out of the 7th, though, when he gave up 2 more runs on a little small ball by Boston. Hey, he's human. It was late and wet!

The relievers cruised through 5 more innings, giving up just 2 hits and striking out 10!  Nick Hagadone was back for 2/3 of an inning to face Ortiz. No prob! He got Poopi to ground out and then the next guy struck out. Nice, Nick! Cody Allen didn't have to pitch, finally. Bryan Shaw struck out 2 in the 10th. And you know who got the win? Carlos Carrasco! He threw both the 11th AND the 12th, with 4 strikeouts! Secret late-inning long reliever!

Also, John Axford pitched 2 outs, getting 2 strikeouts. But in the middle of the game. Nice.

It took Michael Bourn for-ever to get a hit, but he doesn't not hit anymore so he got his in the 12th inning to continue his hitting streak at 8. Whew!

Asdrubal had a night tonight!! Back up the upswing! He got a single in the first, stole second and then came around to score the first run. Then he had a bit of a lull for 10 innings, but in the 12th there was THIS!!!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!

Brantley (.308) had some kind of night tonight, going 3 for 5 with an RBI and  run scored. Two! Hitting streak at two! Also, he is an amazing outfielder.

Jason Kipnis went 1 for 4 with an RBI single, plus a walk and a run scored. He also did this fancy-pants play in which he totally impressed himself - and us!

Lonnie Chisenhall switched up his game today and got a bunt single. Then he successfully bunted again later. The first bunt, at least, led to a run in the next at-bat! No stats for moxy, I'm afraid.

David Murphy got dat run doe! In fact he got 2 runs on his single after Chiz's bunt single. Made it work out for the kid - what a good guy!

Man, Jason Giambi had a double with a head-first slide. And there's no video of it!! Unfortunately when that happens, no more Jason Giambi. For the game, at least - I hope he didn't hurt himself too!

Mike Aviles went 1 for 5, with his hit coming in the 12th. He scored the winning run!

Everyone is very very lucky to have a day off tomorrow, from the players down to the fans. And especially John Adams who must be exhausted after this homestand! He said on Twitter that his day started at 3 AM and might as well end at 3 AM. That guy is the BEST!!

Friday we're back to business at 8:05 in Texas against Choo and the Rangers. The pitching will be a little tricky with Bauer versus RHP 2.08 but you never know what can happen. I'm not nervous - cuz I know Trevor Bauer isn't nervous.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Jhonny Peralta was doing really well for Detroit until he got caught taking the wrong vitamin."
- Tom Hamilton

"Ortiz is just now getting to home plate, and going through his usual histrionics."
- Tom Hamilton

"That's Padre baseball...catch the fever!"
- Tom Hamilton on the Padres winning a game with one hit

"The more beers you had, the more you thought you were good at everything."
- Tom Hamilton on whether or not he was good at dancing the hustle

"Late in games, walks are mortal sins."
- Tom Hamilton

"The fans that didn't have 33 dollar dogs are on their feet."
- Tom Hamilton

"Ross is going to have to hit a home run to get Ortiz in from first. Not a triple."
- Tom Hamilton

"Forget the weather. It's dark out, it'll be sunny in the morning and it'll be warmer tomorrow than it is right now."
- Tom Hamilton gives the weather report

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Everything is Cookin'

There it is! Good starting, good relieving, good hitting! It's all in place today, boys!

TJ House was our man this evening, in his second start. He alllllmost went 6 innings but for David Ortiz. Nice move by Francona to bring in Zep for the tired kid. House struck out 4 in his 5 2/3 inning. He did give up 6 hits and 4 walks, but it only ended up counting for 2 runs. TJ House is good at his job. We need pitches, innings, a warm body, someone with the guts to go up there and do it. Maybe he's not a 7-inning guy (yet) but he's getting the job done as described!

Oh, but he did do this for an out:

Scott Atchison had a lousy outing. He gave up the tying run on 2 hits and a walk. I don't feel like giving too much shit to our bullpen anymore, though. They all seem like they all pitch every day.

Atchison only lasted 1/3 so we got...Nick Hagadone! Hey bro! He ended up pitching 1 1/3 innings and 3 of his 4 outs were strikeouts! He had a pretty consistent low-90s speed and the super slow slider. Looked good to me!

Cody Allen was the lynchpin here. The Tribe was only up by 2 when he took the ball in the 8th, and they had him come back out for the 9th, instead of, say, John Axford. Even though Allen has worked 5 times in the last 7 days. Wooh, they got some confidence in him! He had to face Ortiz! But Allen handled it in awesome fashion and not only got Ortiz but he had a 1-2-3 inning, once again getting Grady Sizemore for the final out!

The offense was back to double-digit hits today. Once again, low on the extra-base hits but they did get 10 singles and a double!

The first inning saw them get 5 hits in a row and score 3 times! Talk about momentum! Ryan Raburn was half of the momentum killer when he GIDP...but at least he knocked a run in. He ended up with no hits all night. Woe is Raburn!

The only way to describe Michael Bourn right now is ON FIRE!!! Today he was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI - the two winning RBI on a double - and he came in to score a run. He's batting .299 now, with 14 hits in his last 10 games. He's just amazingly reliable right now. I checked his stats and he was actually hitting like this at this time last year. I think we're all impressed anew!

Asdrubal was a boring 1 for 4. But, hey - his one was for an RBI so that's pretty great. Happy to see him not be that first inning rally killer!

Michael Brantley (.301) had an RBI single in the first inning to lead off the scoring, and came around to score as well. Starting a new hitting streak at 1!

Kipnis had a nice night, still batting 4th. He went 2 for 4, and while he didn't make it in to score on that first inning (or on his other hit) he did steal another base. Nobody's really running away (ha!) with the stolen bases this year, so Aviles and Kipnis are tied for 2nd with 6 and Brantley is in the lead with 8.

Lonnie Chisenhall...
...did about the same thing he did last night, which is bloop a single into left with the bases loaded for an RBI. Like it's scripted! He ended up going 2 for 4. Jordan Bastian said on Twitter tonight that Lonnie is 26 plate appearances away from qualifying (erm...which may string out as more games are played because you need 3.1 per game). That is going to take forever! LONNIE EVERY DAY!

David Murphy has a 7-game hitting streak! With 9 hits in those 7 games. Today he was 1 for 3, but didn't get an RBI or a run. Still, a nice guy.

Gomes has been up and down like Asdrubal is. Today he was up and went 2 for 4, with a run scored.

Mike Aviles had a bad sac bunt that ended up getting the runner out at third, instead of him out at first. Luckilly it wasn't both? He then came around to score. That was about it for him tonight.

Boy, do I love beating the Red Sox! Almost as much as beating the Tigers! It's because there's so many dorks cheering for the Sox at games at Progressive Field. Well, suck it, dorks! We've won the series and are gunning for the sweep!

Tomorrow is another 7:05 game, with Corey Kluber taking on WHO FRIGGIN CARES?! Yeah, it'll be awesome. Another RHP really, so look out.

It's JOHNNY MANZIEL day, everyone. AND Dollar Dogs! So much sausage!

Sorry no Radio Chatter tonight. Just one of those nights.


Tuesday, June 3, 2014

A Handful of Hits and a Whole Lot of #Whiffs!

The game was on TV today! Very cool - and this time, for the first time in a long time, nobody stole my attention at all during the game. I saw it all!

Man, watching baseball on TV gives me the munchies, though. I had a bunch of snacks, and I don't even have snack food here! Did anyone else watch with the radio on? The synching was fantastic! Previously it's been double-digit seconds different. Tonight it was maybe 1 second off. Fun!

Speaking of fun, I was having a little fun with the #HeyGirlGrady meme on Twitter tonight. Found a bunch of new followers so that's cool. Check it out, see what Grady had to say!

After declaring last night that our hitting needed to be back up to par today because Justin Masterson wasn't going to take the team very far without giving up some runs, I am TOTALLY gonna eat my hat! After a shaky start in the first inning, he slammed the door shut on the Red Sox with bases loaded and did not look back from there. It was a thing of beauty to see! By the 6th inning I was lamenting that at some point, this game had to be over! And Justin would have to sit down! But for those 7 innings it was just a sight to behold!

At one point, he threw 25 straight strikes. Swinging strikes, looking strikes, foul ball strikes. Total legit strikes too, all of them. During that time, he threw a 9-pitch, 3-strikeout perfect inning- An Immaculate inning! He is the 27th American League pitcher to do so...oddly enough, the second one already this year.

He was followed in the 8th by the only guy worthy to follow that performance, who is Bryan Shaw. But Shaw is totally over-worked and not himself so he gave up a 2-run dinger. Dangit! But the Tribe had already scored 3 at this point so it was still ok. Zep got Big Papi to fly out for the third out, and that was that.

Cody Allen - who has red hair, or at least a red beard, and I did not know this - was there for the save at the end. He got them 1-2-3, with Grady Sizemore as the last out. This will make a few of you feel really old:

On the offensive side, Michael Bourn is still RED HOT! Today he was 2 for 3 with his 5th triple! He also walked and stole a base, and came in to score twice. I saw someone else on Twitter today saying that they were also getting over Nyjer Morgan. Too bad - he was quite a personality. But Bourn is all over the place now too, they like to interview him and stuff. Also, tomorrow is his bobblehead day so - good thing his hamstring is all healed!
Asdrubal was on the downward end of his current progression, with a strikeout in the first. But then he started shooting upwards when he got a nice RBI single in the 3rd to score Bourn after that triple. He also took part in 2 double plays.

Brantley (.302) went 0 for 3 today with a walk and it made me very sad. I mean...we won, great pitching, some great hits. But no Brantley. Sigh.

Kipnis got a hit, though! They are few and far between yet. He then went on to steal second by getting his hand around the glove. Nice!

Lonnie Baseball was the big winner today. Surprised?? Yeah he totally got a bloop single in to left field with men on 2nd and 3rd. So it was a 2-run bloop single. HE CAN DO NO WROOOOOOONG!!!

Giambi and Gomes were shut out. Mike Aviles was almost shut out but he got on with a fielder's choice, then stole second, then the Red Sox appealed the call and it was upheld. But then the next play was an out.

David Murphy tried with all his might to get more runs for the Tribe - he got 3 hits in 3 at-bats. But no one around him took notice, and no runs were scored.

So really, not to impressive at the plate today but in a twist of fate all of the magic was on the mound!

Tomorrow is Michael Bourn Bobblehead day and it'll be another 7:05 start. It'll be our new friend TJ House versus RHP 4.50. Yes! Bring it on!

Hope the weather is nice and you're all there!

Radio Chatter:
"You can have a lot of energy but if you're hitting 180 people tell you 'shut up!'"
- Tom Hamilton on Mike Availed and his energy (and putting it to good use)

"John Lackey is one of those guys who probably would not be a very good poker player."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Indians are like 'you wanna bunt? Go ahead big guy.'"
- Tom Hamilton on David Ortiz in the 9th

Monday, June 2, 2014

"It Got Up Outta Here"

Hell yeah it did, Michael Bourn! His first walkoff homer of his career, and not only was it a good fast swing but it was also a good fast sprint around the bases to meet his teammates at home. What a great way to end a Sunday!

The team didn't have one of their best hitting days, to be honest. But they hit enough and pitched well enough to get more runs than the other guys. And that how baseball go.

Josh Tomlin was our man today, and he got himself out of the game with 100 pitches and 3 earned runs by the end of the 6th. He did strike out 8 in that time, contributing to a total of 38 strikeouts this weekend of the NL's least-strikey-outey team. Sounds almost like a little competition they had going! Not the length the team was surely looking for with Tomlin, but hopefully it's not a trent.

Outman came in to finish the 6th, right after Tomlin's 100th pitch. Then it was Bryan Shaw who awkwardly gave up the tying run, even though his ERA was a measly 1.37 when he came in. The one thing we learned from the Rockies this weekend is that they never give up!

Zep came in to uneventfully finish the 8th, and then Old Man Atchison mowed 'em down in the 9th with three strikeouts (er, and a double).

Michael Bourn is hitting .288! He's not quite a qualifier yet (3.1 plate appearances * total games, or 176) but he's got 160 at-bats (can't find PA stats) so he'll be there soon. He's rockin' a 5-game hitting streak right now, and he's up at the top there with Brantley and Chiz as far as hitting goes! Nyjer who?

But still, he'll never be Michael Brantley (.307), right? Oh my glob, how amazing is it that we've got him locked down under contract?!?! Today he went 2 for 4, re-starting his home hit streak again at one. One of his hits was an RBI single, and the other a double. Both times he came around to score. Great!

Other than Bourn and Brantley, no one else got any extra base hits. Winding down from the last 2 games, I guess.

Giambi walked in a run, which is always great! Later on Raburn came up to bat for him, and he got a hit! Nothing came of it but any Raburn hit right now is a hit in the right direction.

David Murphy wanted a grand slam, but he followed up Giambi's walk with a sac fly RBI. Save all the glory for Bourn. What a good guy!

Mike Aviles is ramping it back up, going 2 for 4 today with a stolen base. He was on base when Bourn got his homer, too. Always in the middle of things! Speaking of the middle of things....Lonnie went hitless today but he did get a sac fly RBI. Of course!

George Kottaras was back today, and I wasn't paying close enough attention so I thought he was the one who got the walkoff homer and I was thisclose to declaring him the best Indian ever to play in Cleveland! But he didn't get that homer, and in fact he was hitless in the game. But he did walk twice, and that made him 0 for 1 on the day, and he's batting .500. So, you are still welcome here, George Kottaras!!

The next game will be against those stupid Red Sox so the stands should be full and stuff. Although the weather will be iffy...I wonder how it'll pan out? 7:05 is the start time and THE GAME WILL BE ON WKYC!!! So all of you antenna-heads out there, tune in!

It'll be Justin Masterson versus RHP 3.61. The bats definitely need to get back to Friday & Saturday form if they're to pull this one out - don't count on Masterson keeping the score low. But now that our leadoff man is our home run hero, anything is possible!

See you there!

No Radio Chatter today but my house is super clean.