That Old Feelin'

Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh. Opening Day! Ok, The Day After The Cubs Get Their Opening Day, or something. But Indians' Opening Day, nonetheless!

Indians Twitter was rearin' to go all day long. My switch flipped around 11 this morning and I kept tabbing through work, Tribe articles and stats, and Twitter. I even made a GIF and got favorited by the Tribe:

Me after 5 PM today.

I had to figure out where to sit. What to eat. How to deal with my dogs (the last 5 years I had a senior golden retriever. Now I have two teenage mutts who insist that I remain engaged with them!) Radio or TV or TV with the radio? (That.) Apparently I could have even chosen between STO and ESPN. I went with STO and WTAM.

After all that waiting and all that planning it was...a pitcher's duel! And of course being the first day there's a good chance you'll have that (unless you're the 2010 Indians vs. White Sox). So the name of the game became "What what Kluber do."

I know some people just laugh in the face of superstition but I swear - Kluber was pitching a no-hitter right up until the moment when Tom Hamilton remarked that Kluber was pitching a no-hitter and "Bob Feller is smiling down right now. Of course Feller is the only pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter on opening day." RIGHT then there was a hit. Now, do you believe in superstition?

It's funny though, because Hamilton always does that. He could give a crap about the superstition and is always the first to mention a no-hitter or perfect game. That guy!

So Klubes did go 7 1/3 today, striking out 7. He took a minute to heat up - no strikeouts until the 6th batter. But him and Keuchel were neck-and-neck throughout.

A new stat has popped up on the Box Score for the game - pitchers' Game Score.That is:

Game Score is a metric devised by Bill James to determine the strength of a pitcher in any particular baseball game. To determine a starting pitcher's game score:

•     Start with 50 points.
•     Add one point for each out recorded, so three points for every complete inning  pitched.
•     Add two points for each inning completed after the fourth.
•     Add one point for each strikeout.
•     Subtract two points for each hit allowed.
•     Subtract four points for each earned run allowed.
•     Subtract two points for each unearned run allowed.
•     Subtract one point for each walk.

Kluber's was 69, and Keuchel 72. The highest yet has been 105 and the max possible is 114. So uh...now you know. I wonder if this will come up anywhere but my blog?

Kluber did look good, though. Strong, focused, strike-y. It felt odd that the few hits he gave up really got away from him and he ended up losing the game 2-0.

No errors from the defense though! Starting off right!

Some guys who had great springs didn't start off so great (Bourn? Man, what happened??) but at least Lonnie Can! The Chiz Kid got the team's first hit of the season with a sharp one to left. He also got a walk, so he went 1for 2 on the day.

I'll give you una conjetura who got the one of the team's other walks....Si! Si! Carlos Santana, got himself on base. Like a boss! He also got a hit, as did Yan Gomes. Brandon Moss got the other walk.

It looked to me like there were a lot of cobwebs and dust to be shaken off during this game. Facing a pitcher as tight as Keuchel didn't help but we've got so many "veterans" right now compared to other seasons that you hate to see the first game go poorly. Especially against the Astros!

But tomorrow Wednesday is another game and we've got another pitcher to keep things locked down while our offense finds itself.

Taking the mount Wednesday at 8:10 is Carlos "Cookie" Carrasco who says he's been mimicking Kluber and apparently doing a good enough job of it to shoot up to second in the rotation. I am looking forward to seeing if he is as good as he thinks he is! He'll be going against an RHP, thank goodness. Our left-leaning lineup can get embarrassingly predictable at times. Get ready for some bats! See you there!

Radio Chatter:

"Luis Valbuena is batting third and somewhere Bruce Drennan's head is exploding."
- Tom Hamilton on the former Indian

"The only Brave that Jon Hart hasn't traded away is Chief Noc-a-homa."
- Tom Hamilton

"How nice. The Astros PR people have given Rosie and I Houston Astros' magnetic schedules."
"Gonna hang that on your fridge?"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus

"Off day tomorrow, for no earthly reason. Not with a retractable roof."
- Tom Hamilton