Thursday, July 31, 2014

He's Gone

Well, Asdrubal's gone. He got traded to the Nationals for an infielder named Zach Walters.

I was upset with the loss of Masterson, as a Tribe fan. As the self-proclaimed #1 fan of Asdrubal, I'm pretty crushed.

But, my Tribe-fan-ness overcomes my Asdrubal-fan-ness and realizes that while he was full of the razzle-dazzle early on, he was streaky. And this year he was downright frustrating. In fact, he was bad. Even when he wasn't hitting, I still loved him as a SS. But 14 errors this year at SS and a lot of bad hitting?

Let me put it this way...I am most saddened by the circumstances that led to this being the reality. I wish Asdrubal well - I hope he finds his spark again and amazes a new set of fans.
Officially retired.
So after Asdrubal was traded away, there was a baseball game.

Zach McAllister was the starter. He's still not really that great. Pretty lucky that Kluber went the whole way last night because ZMac only managed 3 1/3 innings today and to try to win this series, Tito threw 6 more guys out there after him.

McAllister gave up 4 runs in his 3 1/3 innings and struck out none. Geez! Everyone but Carrasco and Allen showed up after that, and everyone did well with strikeouts here and there a couple hits. Until we were tied, and Bryan Shaw gave up a walk then a homer. What?? Does Bryan Shaw do that??

I guess he does now.

The offense made up one run, and got a hit in the 9th that looked promising...but it didn't happen.

It was nice to see the team batting and scoring behind their struggling starter, though! You don't HAVE to have 5 perfect starters if your offense can overcome any crap with runs. They almost did today but it just wasn't enough.

Kipnis had a rare great night tonight! He went 2 for 5 with a double and a 2-run homer! Cool! Kid has not been "on it" at all lately. Maybe this is a turn-around?

Jose Ramirez is taking over at short and in the 2nd spot in the order. He's definitely fast, that's for sure. Although he could steal on occasion, Asdrubal was never known for his speed. In the 7th inning, he got a single then scampered to 2nd on a passed ball. Then his speed let him score from second on a single by Santana. It'll be interesting to see what kind of difference his speed makes!

After being silenced this series so far, Michael Brantley (.316) had a nice night, going 2 for 3 with 2 hits and 2 walks. I'd say "of course he got a double" but in fact he got a triple! And an RBI, of course. Start of a new streak, we hope?

And, holy hot Carlos Santana! Before tonight he'd only gotten 1 hit in the series, then tonight he got 2 hits and 2 RBI! And what's kinda cool is that he didn't get any extra bases, and one of his RBI was a sac fly. Shows he's well-rounded, right?

Ugh, Lonnie Chisenhall. We are all waiting for your return, son. We're here.

After a pretty crummy June where he hit only .185, David Murphy is back "for sure" finishing off July with .280 worth of hitting under his belt. Tonight he went 2 for 4, but unfortunately had no one to hit in and no one to hit him in. Bummer!

Gomes cooled off a smidge and only went 1 for 4 himself. Dickerson left the game at some point, after a crazy throw. I don't remember the official line on his injury but dang - it is getting lethal out there in the Tribe outfield!

Good thing we have Aviles, who can and will play anywhere. He went 0 for 3 with a walk and a run scored. Because he's always in on things!

Crummy kind of game today. I was glad to see at least a couple Twerps sad to see Cabby go and hoping the team would win one for him. Didn't happen, though. It was a good start, but they just couldn't pull it out this time.

Tomorrow is Tom Hamilton's 25th anniversary celebration! Not sure if I'll be able to catch any of that. Well maybe they'll throw it up on line at some point.

The Tribe will be hosting the Rangers at 7:05. It'll be Salazar versus a RHP so new that his ERA is 1.50. The Mighty Rangers are awful this year, by the way. They are just under .400. They are worse than the Astros, who are just over .400.

So, maybe we can have a fun blowout win on Tom Hamilton day. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"If he's in long relief for the post season, Kate Upton will dump him like yesterday's garbage."
- Tom Hamilton on Kate Upton

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