Yeah, On Paper...

It's true the Tigers are a better team on paper. Fielder, Other Cabrera, Austin Jackson, Verlander-Scherzer-Fister. They're all a few numbers above their Cleveland counterparts.

But so far this year, our team is 6 times better than their team for the number that matters, and that is wins. After tonight we're 6 and 1 against Detroit this season. We've held them to very few runs and have gotten just enough of our own to be better than them not on paper but in real life.

Mark Shapiro said "Yeah, on paper..." to Trivisano today on the radio and I totally agree. Doesn't mean we're a shoo-in for the playoffs by any stretch but if we can keep beating the Tigers at least we've got that going for us this season.

I didn't get to go to the game today or hear it on the radio or even see it completely on TV. I was spending time with my nieces so you can just ZIP IT! I did see the last couple innings and the post-game TV and the post-game radio so I think I got a handle on the whole thing here.

What a start for Ubaldo! Solid stuff - just like Masterson. Hoo boy! When was the last time we had 2 days like this from these two guys? He went 6 and struck out 4, giving up NO EARNED RUNS! They interviewed him after the game and he was very very happy. Aren't we all?

Joe Smith came in for the 7th and it was all gravy until he gave up a walk and then a 2-run, 2-out homer to Cabrera. When it left he banged his hand in to his glove and said "DAMMIT!" Or something along those lines. Whatever you were saying/thinking at the time, he was too.

As a special treat for the fans, we got Vinnie and Pure Rage to finish it out for us. Not sure why we're using them 2 days in a row and basically making them unavailable for tomorrow and maybe versus Verlander but whatever. My brother says Acta knows this was our only chance. Touche!

Vinnie gave up a single and a walk but that was it. He finished it off with nothing else on a total of 12 pitches. Perez got his done in 13. BALLGAME!

Choo didn't get a hit but he's still cookin', getting on base with a walk.

OMG ASDRUBAL!!! There you go buddy, 3 for 4 tonight with a double. But no RBI and no runs? Not cool, rest-of-lineup! That's 5 hits in his last 8 at-bats. Ugh how long until that batting average gets back to over .300, though? Dude has too many at-bats for it to shoot up - it's going to crawl.

By the way, did you notice Asdrubal wears braces? I thought I noticed at the ASG and my bro said he noticed and today we saw them (I rarely ever see games on TV). Googling for a photo, I see that he already had them at least in September of 2011:

From a cleveland.com article, October 2011

I wonder if he's getting his jaw straightened out, like I did when I had braces as an adult. Twice. Because I'm awesome and don't need friends! Although I suppose if you grew up on a dirt farm in Venezuela (I have no idea how he grew up) and sign a big Major League contract then you can do whatever you want to your teeth for fun!

Kipnis was right there behind Asdrubal, makin' stuff happen. Well actually he left 4 guys on base but he did go 1 for 4 on a double and came around to score. And we only won by 1 run so it was very important that he did!

Brantley only went 1 for 4. I cringed.

Santana, on the other hand - WTF? Where have you been? Seriously did someone teach him the sign for "Hey stop moving your foot" and now he doesn't move his foot and he remembers that he's a fantastic hitter? Whatever has prompted him to hit .379 in his last 10 games, I am all for it! Tonight he went 2 for 3 with a run AND a RBI AND he didn't strike out or anything. He got his 17th double. I TOLD you when he multi-hits we win games!

Hafner with a TRIPLE! Check it out! He was as excited as we were that he was safe at third, I tell you what. It was his second triple of the year, of course. He's a runner!

Usually it's a sleepy move to pinch run for your hoss DH in the late innings, but today it seemed like an act of genius on Manny's part to bring in the less-slow Marson with one out. Next up was Aaron "Despicable Me" Cunningham from Anchorage, AK pinch hitting for Johnny "No You Got It" Damon. He laid down possibly this season's most important squeeze bunt and Marson charged down the line, scaring Avila out of catching the ball and that is how the game was won.

Cunningham doesn't get a hit for that, just an RBI. It was an error on Fister.

 Damon did get a hit and it was an RBI single. Slow clap.

Good ol' Casey Kotchman got his hit today to keep up that .230s average. He also made a freakin' fancy play to turn two and end the 5th, so he's still doing exactly what we're paying him for.

I loved today's game and I just can't wait to get to the next two. And they're both on TV! I might actually get to see what some of our bullpen looks like. Perhaps someone has a gold tooth or an 11th finger. I'll let you know.

Plugging away with another 7:05 game - I'll see you there!

Shelley Every Day!

What a weekend! Not only did we stop a 5-game losing streak by winning 3 in a 4-game series, but we scored a lot of runs and a lot of different dudes did a lot of good stuff.

I missed the game live today but was excited to hear the score was 6-2 and Shelley got a homer! Can you spot the very exciting part of that news, that is not Shelley getting a homer or us winning? That's right - our starter (or bullpen, I didn't know) only gave up 2. The final piece of the winning puzzle!

Oh yeah and all of this came against left-handed pitching too. Rock!

Masterson went 7 innings today in 95-degree weather. He struck out 7 and only gave up 1 earned run! And for that effort, he finally got the win. He got 6 runs behind him, too and Vinnie/Perez came in to perfectly seal the deal. Pretty perfect day for him, I'd say!

Choo was "finally" silenced today, but he did walk which is great - he's there to get on base!

Asdrubal - AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL STAR - went 2 for 5 with a double and a run. Back up to .300! He was hitting DH today while taking a rest from the field. Interesting choice - I liked it. I wonder if Manny had to offer that to him on purpose as a counter-offer to "no I will play every day!"?

Kipnis was almost stifled tonight but no way, dude! He ended up getting an RBI single and stealing a base. Cuz that's what he does when he gets on base!

Lopez! Still hitting - he ended up going 1 for 4 today, ending up with 7 hits in the 3 games he played in Baltimore. Hopefully he's going to be able to keep up a little momentum as Jack and Pronk come back to replace him on the field and in the lineup.

Today's BIG NEWS is mother fuckin' Shelley Duncan! The Dunc Tank! Play that dude every day!!! Today he went 3 for 4 with a homer and 2 doubles. He got 2 RBI and scored 2 runs. ARGH WE DO NOT NEED JOHNNY DAMON!! Needless to say I am pumped. I hope he's the real deal right now...let's get him working!

The Kotch was up there getting stuff done today. He went 1 for 4 with an RBI double and also scored a run. So critical for someone to be down there hitting. Of course, everyone down at his end was hitting a bit today but it's nice that one of those guys is our starting player.

Hey, it's Jason Donald in for Asdrubal. Hmmm....Hammy says they thought his defense was better but it turns out it's not. He made an error that cost us a run but...ahem...well Asdrubal has cost us a couple runs lately, huh? Anyway, Donald did end up going 1 for 2 with a double and walked twice. Didn't get any RBI or score any runs though. I'm all for Asdrubal getting a day off though so whatever. Such is Jason Donald.

Lou Marson has a better average than both Kipnis and Brantley right now! Damn! Of course he's got 1/3 of the at-bats but whatever - bad plate appearances could make his average go down just as fast as it's going up! He went 1 for 3 tonight with an RBI on a sac fly, and he also stole a base. His third of the season! Oh man, the internal struggle is seriously heating up here...

Brantley sat today and Cunningham was in center. He got his first home run as an Indian! Did you know his middle name is "Roe Ward" and he is from Alaska? True story. My friend thinks he is a hack. I think he is the guy I'd rather have filling in spots in the outfield than Johnny Damon, and getting more at-bats because he's 2nd string not 3rd and thus being more reliable. But that's just me.

We had 11 more hits today and 7 walks. Remember, against a lefty. I am seriously excited but of course nervous. I've just got to remember to sit back and enjoy it all!

Monday is our new favorite guy, Ubaldo, versus Jared Weaver. Stay calm - we've beat him before. Let's hope against all hope that what we did against the O's this weekend was real deal. Pronk should be there too. Hopefully Shelley in left. Will you be there?

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The Indians are not a home-run-hitting club, but in this ballpark they look like a home-run-hitting team."
- Tom Hamilton

"Jason Donald was brought up here because they thought his defense had improved and they could give Cabrera a day off. After that play, you have to wonder."
- Tom Hamilton on Donald's error in the 5th

"Rosie went out last night and listened to the crabs squeal as they were put in to boiling water, so he could have his crab cakes. Hope you could sleep after that!"
- Tom Hamilton forgets he grew up on a dairy farm

"Carlos Santana may have to read up on the story of Wally Pipp."
- Tom Hamilton [Pipp is known as the guy who lost his position to Lou Gehrig before his consecutive game streak]

"Are we still on the air?"
- Jim Rosenhaus after a foul ball came up and in to the booth

"You can't have the guy who makes more money than everybody on your team hustle only when he feels like it."
- Tom Hamilton on Brian Roberts

"That throw had a parachute attached to it."
- Tom Hamilton on a bad throw from home to second

"Unless Lou Marson is Spider Man and can climb the backstop..."
- Tom Hamilton after being told there was no play on a foul ball

At Least They Homered?

I think having Johnny Damon on the bench lit a fire under Shelley Duncan. He must be in fear for his job so he's back to hitting like a champ. Or, he doesn't like hitting in Cleveland.

Whatever the case, Duncan went 2 for 3 today with a walk, 2 runs and a RBI. In the form of a home run. The team's first home run since April 17! I guess that's some sort of slump record. Most games w/o a homer since the Angels went 14 in 2003? Man I totally pulled that trivia out of my very tired butt so it's probably not exactly true. Perhaps maybe close.

Also having a great night tonight was...Jason Kipnis! He went 3 for 4 tonight with an RBI. Dude has 15 hits in his last 10 games! Not sure why he was down at #7 while Donald (.184) was #2 but Kipnis sure did complement Duncan and the #8 guy - Aaron Cunningham - who is the only other guy to get a hit! Yay Aaron Cunningham!

The only other highlight of the game was Jairo Asencio's 2 1/3 innings where he struck out 2 and didn't give up any hits. Our man from Columbus Nick Hagadone came in for the 9th and he did great, keeping his ERA at 1.69.

Otherwise...I dunno, I don't wanna talk about it. Ubaldo Jiminez makes me mad and when we do poorly on defense it makes me really sad. Especially when Asdrubal makes an error.

I am really honestly stoked about Shelley both hitting and hitting a home run. So that made the long wait worth it. I also appreciated the long wait! 9 PM is pretty nice for a starting time - it gives me enough time to go to the gym, take a shower and eat dinner before the game starts. And it's over by midnight, so that's cool.

I'm glad we had baseball today too. Because two days without is just unbearable!

We're back with the White Sox tomorrow and good news - Ubaldo Jiminez will not be starting! Neither will Chris Sale! It's Josh Tomlin and his facial hair against Philip Humber who, as it turns out, is not as great as his two-starts-ago-no-hitter would have lead you to believe. He gave up 3 homers and 9 earned runs in 5 innings. GIGGITY!

So we'll try again tomorrow at 8:10 PM, and it'll be a lot better. Maybe you'll all get to see Johnny Damon play, you Damon-lovers.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Donald has a swing like a guy who is going to hit 35 home runs this year. He's a line-drive hitter and is not going to be hitting 35 home runs."
- Tom Hamilton

"How in the world can you play a baseball game with the smoke so thick nobody can see a pop up on the infield?"
- Tom Hamilton is furious

"It isn't Jiminez's fault we're losing, it's Rosie's."
- Tom Hamilton commenting on the score since Jim Rosenhaus took over

"I tell you what, the Indians are playing defense today like it's the first day of spring training."
- Tom Hamilton as Santana misses a popup

Four Bases and a Mound

Manny Acta did not make any excuses after the game for why the Tribe's been playing poorly at home. He said "It's four bases and a mound wherever we go," not wanting to blame it on the weather.

Truth.

But you gotta think the weather MUST be quite a factor. I mean, we played this very Kansas City team just two weeks ago and they were no problem. No problem in Kansas City.

Our pitchers don't seem to be any better or worse home or away, actually. They are a steady, predictable stream of runs given up. Tomlin's ERA was 4 and he gave up 4 - just like he did in 3 of his other 4 outings.

The bullpen has tightened itself up and aside from stuff like Asencio dropping 4 last night, they're getting back to being their 2011 selves. Good ol' Joe Smith, he hasn't changed! Keeping his ERA around 2.

Our batters went back to getting more walks, so that's cool. We still lead the league in walks. But we're second from last in batting average. So our hitters are being patient but not...smart? They're striking out more and more - at least at home.

Choo was out today so once again we didn't have our "full lineup." Even when everyone is healthy we'll be missing Santana on a rest day or we had Asdrubal on his bereavement leave. I don't know if it makes a huge difference, though.

Both Brantley and Asdrubal got hits today. I still say they hit in tandem! They even put those hits together! And then there was a walk! And a sac fly! And then Asdrubal stole 3rd!

Then Shelley got up and struck out and Hannahan got up and grounded out and that was the end of that.

Woah.

Shelley wasn't all bad today - at least not in the field. We won't give up on him yet!

Has anyone noticed that Eric Hosmer, the Royals' first baseman, has taken like 10 runs away from us so far this season? Every time we have guys on base someone seems to hit a scorcher down the first base line and Hammy gets all excited and then Hosmer turns it into an out? *shakes fist* HOSMER!

Oddly enough our big hitters of the game today were Lopez (1 hit, 1 run), Kipnis (2 hits, 1 stolen base and a bandage to hold his eye open) and Cunningham who got a hit and a RBI and now has a 3-game hitting streak!

Our big bombers in the middle not hitting (Santana, Hafner, Duncan, Hannahan) (Yeah! Hannahan!) really hurt us today and that's about all there is to it. Not sure if it was the weather or what but it's just really sad because we know they have it in them.

Another 7:05 classic tomorrow, against the Angels who are as bad as the Royals so dammit we'd better get something out of this homestand!!!

It's Justin Masterson against....Jared Weaver. *GROAN*

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Didn't you used to score at home when you were a kid? How did you learn to score?"
"I lived on a farm. We didn't have pen and paper."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton

"I felt like we were 'Smoky and the Bandit' version three!"
- Tom Hamilton on driving with Rosie

"The Indians have a lineup where they need all of the pieces to really be an effective lineup."
- Tom Hamilton

"Have you ever met them? If you met them in a parking lot you'd run."
- Tom Hamilton on the Oakland Bleacher Creatures