More Sweet Stuff from the Sprouts

So the Tribe is .500 right now for the first time since April 5. We're 4 games out of first place. Last night, Bob Frantz was pondering whether or not "this is it."

GROAN! First off, no this isn't it. There are 2 more months left. We've got three more players left (Sizemore, Choo, Jiminez) an the possibility of signing someone off waivers.

All that AND our new guys are kicking ass!

Kipnis tonight with his 4th home run in as many games!

Lonnie with a big double late in the game, coming in to score when...

Zeke batting leadoff (love him but BOY did we need Brantley tonight!!) gets a ground-rule double and RBI to tie the game in the 8th.

The only other producers tonight were our steadfast Asdrubal and Hafner, who followed up Kipnis's solo shot with a single and an RBI double.

No help from any other guys. I heard someone say earlier, I think on the radio, that Santana was going to strike out and hit a home run. Well the guy was half right - 4 times!

Now that some of the chaff has been cleared from our lineup (Orlando, Buck - sorry guys!) Austin Kearns sort of sticks out like a sore thumb of badness, doesn't he? Swell guy and his kid is getting good treatment at the Autism Center but...well maybe he can just retire and stay in Cleveland?

If we're going to have guys suck in our lineup let it be the fresh new Fukudome, the wishy-washy LaPorta or Carlos "For fuck's sake stop wiggling your foot at the plate!" Santana. Kearns just isn't doing it for us anymore.

Carlos Carrasco composed himself today and only gave up 2 earned runs. He went as far as the bottom of the 8th, too. Not bad at all - someone must have had quite a talk with him. He definitely had opportunity to melt down, especially after Kearns' run-scoring error in the 1st, but he did just fine. That coolness we saw all through June that had completely evaded him through July.

Our man Sipp looked good in the 8th, striking out 2. Not sure how Smith let the game go but ... well I know how and the answer is FUCK BOSTON ARGH!!

Turns out the game wasn't on WKYC today but it is tomorrow! Not bad because I forgot to tune in until halfway through today anyway.

Still have a chance to split the series. Tomorrow's gonna be a great game between Masterson and Boston's new stud Erik Bedard. Well it'll be awesome as long as Ellsbury doesn't bat in the 9th - amirite?

Only 2 more days until Ubaldo!

See you tomorrow at 7:10!

Radio Chatter:
"Boy oh boy - with Gonzalez at the plate, not quite sure where Pedroia was going."
- Tom Hamilton on Pedroia getting picked off

"He forgot his pre-game plan against the knuckeballer was to hit from the left hand side."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Carlos Santana switching from a right-handed batting helmet to left-handed

"You are living a charmed life in this ballpark when you have 2 runners on in almost every inning."
- Tom Hamilton

"It used to be 'Jim Wisenhaus' when he was in Buffalo but now it's 'Rosenhaus' since he's in the big leagues."
- Tom Hamilton mocking the change in the pronounciation of Marco Scutaro's name when he left Cleveland

"Neil Diamond recorded that song when he had his own hair, and it's become a Fenway tradition."
- Tom Hamilton on "Sweet Caroline"

"You come to Fenway Park and you'd better not go into the 9th tied with the Red Sox coming to bat."
- Tom Hamilton

Taming the Twins

I totally was going to give you two posts today, as there were two games, but work caught up with me and then there was a storm and I had to eat dinner and all that stuff.

But really what does it matter how many times I post, as long as the Tribe keeps winnin'?! That's right!

Two wins on one day - enough to wash away the two losses prior. What's even better was that there was potential to have two spectacular losses from our starters but instead the just-up-from-Columbus guy gave up no runs and Good Fausto only gave up two. HALLELUJAH!

We'll begin at the beginning with the afternoon game and starter David Huff. He was going to pitch then hike back to Columbus. But since he gave up NO RUNS and struck out 5 over 7 innings, dude is a shoo-in over uhm...uh...that forgettable starter from Sunday.

Tony Sipp and Vinnie Pestano rock and rolled over the 8th and 9th, but for some reason Chad Durbin is back to his crap from April. Oh well, at least he was only around long enough to give up 2.

OMG ASDRUBAL! Another homer! Finally I was home for this one and could announce to everyone on Facebook (I forgot about Twitter. Yes, you can forget Twitter.) that it was OMG ASDRUBAL time and he had had 3 homers in the last 5 games. I don't know if my friends were humoring me or what but I got 6 people to "Like" it. Maybe people are desperate for any sort of good news during the work day?

It wasn't just a homer, either. It was a 3-run homer and since we won 5-2, it won the game. WINNING!

Ok so Michael Brantley? Nineteen hits in his last 10 games. Sweet Jeebus! This will blow your mind too - in 2 of those games he got no hits! So that's 19 hits over 8 games in which he got a hit in the last 10 games. Hahahaha! Anyway, .356 over the last 10 games with 6 RBI and 7 runs.

Man I hate long paragraphs with lots of numbers. My eyeballs just skip over.

Michael Brantley is on fire at the plate, y'all.

Guess who else got a home run? I almost forgot, really. It was Austin Kearns! Of "Austin Kearns?" fame. He was pinch hitting for Travis Buck, who had been shut down anyway.

Our little Ezequiel got his 4th hit and 3rd RBI in his tiny career. Rumor has it that he might be moved up to to batting first. I'm not completely against it - it's sort of working out with him batting "ahead" of Brantley right now anyway. And everyone says Brantley can hit anywhere!

There actually wasn't much hitting in the first game there. Just 12 hits across the board.But HEY ----- Only 4 LOB for the Tribe this time. Eh? EH?!

Ok the second game, lots mote hits. Weird fucking hits too.

Like Carlos Santana...with a triple!

And Sweet Lou with his first homer of the season! And a double too! Kind of sucks that LaPorta is back because he gets to play 1st and Carlos catches and Lou gets benched. Don't bench the Louuuuuuuu! His homer was huge, like a million feet out there right to center. Check out the video, it's cute.

Little Zeke got on twice even with no hits (walk, error) and then stole a base and then scored twice. Rawk.


Hafner got back into the groove and punched 2 through with 2 RBI.

Hannahan was in for the second game since Lonnie was in for the first (and didn't do much) and he was like "Don't bench the Supermanahan!"

Austin Kearns or Travis Buck? What do we think? It was almost like today was the ultimate platooning test for everyone. Lonnie got yanked from the first game and so did Buck, as neither were producing. Nice options for Manny but does it mean more?

I am actually looking forward to trading this season. So far. Because all the guys we want to keep we have locked up. A lot of the other guys are interchangeable. Fausto maybe might go but would I miss him? I dunno, not as much as I miss Lee. Although CC was all wobbly like Fausto when he was here and we all know what he's doing now.

Anyway, trade away, I say. As long as it's not Asdrubal, Chris Perez, Hafner, Choo, Sizemore or Santana I am not tied to you yet. I'm a sucker for anyone under a big blue C. Except Valbuena...still don't trust that guy.

Tomorrow is just ONE game (aaawww!) and it's at 8:05 PM. But Wednesday is another afternoon thingy. Cool!

See you tomorrow!

Radio Chatter:
"If you come to a game here folks, you ought to wear one of those hockey goalie masks if you're going to sit down below. You are so close, it's scary."
- Tom Hamilton on Target Field

"This is so typical in Minnesota. They do this all the time. The same play that Chisenhall got no hit and an error on, they give Nishioka a hit and an error. What a joke. It happens every year here."
- Tom Hamilton

"Where's Betsy Kling to explain all this to us? Besty would probably say 'Listen you two goofballs, it means it's hot.'"
- Tom Hamilton upon learning the heat index in Minneapolis is 107 degrees

"He could have gone to Columbus and been a pain in the you-know-where..."
- Tom Hamilton on David Huff being a good guy

"You can say one thing at 10:30 in the morning, and if you lose game 1 you might have a totally different mindset at 10:30 at night."
- Tom Hamilton on Ron Gardenhire

======================
"On June 1 they were dead and buried. Or so everybody thought."
- Tom Hamilton on the Twins' record this year

"They have had to use their AAA Club liberally this season."
- Jim Rosenhaus on our players going between the minors and majors

"I believe Carmona is on his third uniform of the night. He has sweated through two!"
- Jim Rosenhaus

"The one thing the Indians have over the Twins is the bullpen."
- Tom Hamilton

"The worst bullpen in baseball lives up to its billing."
- Tom Hamilton after the first reliever loaded the bases in the 7th

"Indians gave Marson the silent treatment when he returned to the dugout after his first home run of the year. They sat silent and stone-faced. Then they pummeled him."
- Tom Hamilton

O's Noes!

Weird game today (Saturday). Weird because my first reaction to simply hearing the final score was "Goddammit, Carlos Carrasco!" Then I checked out the box score and scolded myself for being so down on ol' Cookie.

Turns out it was a ... pitchers duel! Carlos did just fine - finally - only giving up 3 runs over 7 innings. And, he struck out 6!

The problem actually was with the bullpen, especially Raffy Perez in the 8th who gave up 3 runs. Ugh! He's been pitching pretty well lately with an ERA under 2, and I am so glad I held my tongue the other day thinking about him making a play for under 1, just like Joe Smith. He is up over 2 after just this one game. Oops!

Frank Hermann followed that misery with one more run, which ended up being the winning run.

But! At least it wasn't Carrasco!

The other pitcher, Alfredo Simon, apparently is about to go on trial for manslaughter in his home country of the Dominican Republic. I suspect he could have either been really shaken and pitch poorly, or really determined to have the best game of his life before possibly going to jail for the rest of it. He ended up doing the latter, holding our guys to just 3 hits and striking out 5 over 7 innings. Whoo boy!

We did end up coming back - three runs with only ONE more hit - in the 9th but fell 1 run short. Sucks!

Asdrubal almost got his 3rd homer in 3 games, but stupid Adam Jones brought it back over the wall.

Michael Brantley is still hitting hot against these O's, with 2 more hits and 2 more RBI!

You know who got 3 of our 5 runs? It was...Orlando Cabrera! That cat is not hitting for shit lately but he still can get those critical hits from time to time. Makes everyone forget that maybe we need to send him on his way. Because you do need critical hits. Anyway tonight he got a bases-loaded double for 3 RBI and brought us within 1 in the 9th.

Hey, Ezequiel Carrera was in again today! He tried to bunt again, isn't that precious? Didn't do squat at the plate but he had an outfield assist! So, we'll probably never see that guy again.

Austin Kearns has 8 hits over his last 10 games. That's nice but not necessarily enough right now.

Sorry for the lateness of this post but life caught up with me. I had to choose between the game and bouncy gymnastics time with my niece at the Cuyahoga Falls YMCA. They have a floor that sort of makes it feel like you're walking on the moon. So, who wouldn't choose moon walking over July baseball? Exactly.

Pretty excited, tho, because the next game is now in 20 minutes! And it's on WKYC! What an awesome Sunday, right?

See you later!

Radio Chatter:
"I think you're right, Rosie. I think you're right. I hate to say that..."
- Tom Hamilton begrudgingly thinks Jim Rosenhaus is right about the weather in Minnesota

"So far tonight we're seeing the Carrasco we saw in June."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"He's not hurting the club, that's for sure."
- Tom Hamilton on Chisenhall's performance at 3rd

"You'd have to be an idiot not to know how good the East is, when the Yankees and Boston are spending money faster than you can make it."
- Tom Hamilton

"I can't stop thinking of the Peter, Paul and Mary song 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' thinking about Simon..."
- Tom Hamilton on the Orioles' pitcher having to go back to the Dominican to face a manslaughter trial

"Joe Mauer is a once-in-a-lifetime find. Just because you're 6'5" and a catcher doesn't mean you're the next Joe Mauer."
- Tom Hamilton

"When the highlight of scoreboard-watching is the Kiss Cam, you know you're out of the race."
- Tom Hamilton

Tal-Bot Fail

Ok we're not going to dwell on pitching today. You can tell by the title that things didn't go well for Talbot. Again. Also our bullpen is pretty much done for the moment and they need some All Star Break.

Look at me, I'm so spoiled...our bullpen gives up 3 runs and I'm all like "Nooooo! They're so burnt out!!"

Joe Smith's ERA is still .91. But, he didn't pitch today.

Moving on...

Michael Brantley! He was tired of being in a slump, or questionably in a slump, so he went 4 for 6 today, with 2 runs and 2 RBI. If you've been following along that's 8 hits in the last THREE games, where he'd had just 4 hits in the 9 games before that. Hey hey!

Oh hey did you hear that Derek Jeter is opting out of the All Star Game starting lineup? That's right - Asdrubal is now the starter! I'm sort of bummed that since I'll be on the west coast, now I have to make sure I'm back in my hotel room by 6-ish so I can catch his start, instead of being able to wait around and see him replace Jeter and then Perez shut down. Ugh - how do you people in the Pacific time zone live with this sort of schedule?!

Anyway, Asdrubal got two hits tonight. He's .06 points away from going into the break with a .300 average. What do you think?! He also got his 51st RBI and he leads AL shortstops. Duh!

Our man Shelley Duncan was in tonight, and he got a hit. Then when they switched up their pitching, Travis Buck made an appearance and got a two-run double!

Just like Buck, LaPorta's been hitting just fiiiine lately. In fact, so has Austin Kearns. The whole middle has been just beans.

Problem is no one is getting key hits, or something. They're getting singles when no one is on, or getting 2 hits but not enough to drive guys in. We got 15 hits tonight but had 13 LOB! That's 4 more than last night!

Also hitting tonight - surprisingly - were Hannahan and Marson, getting 3 and 2 hits respectively. That's real great when your number 8 and 9 guys get on base, especially if your 1 and 2 guys are Brantley and Cabrera.

Yay to those two for their hitting but boooo to Supermanahan and Sweet Lou for totally botching a throw from home to 3rd while trying to catch a guy stealing. Jack was asleep at the bag and let one get by him while Rajai Davis both stole 3rd and then waltzed home.

The loss was pretty bittersweet tonight. Not because it came after such an awesome win, but because the guys at the plate were all our 3rd string guys. They did quite well, actually, scoring 7 runs and hitting the aforementioned 15 hits. It was Hafner who went down swinging tonight...going 0 for 5 and leaving 8 men on base. It was the starter and the bullpen who couldn't keep the runs under double digits. Tonight it was all the old reliable guys who weren't there.

Of course, Brantley and Asdrubal were there!

However it worked out, it was quite a fun ride. I had some butterflies in my stomach a few times.

Tomorrow's game will not feature Mitch Talbot (in fact, rumor has it that very few future Indians games will feature Mitch Talbot) so we have a fighting chance. Josh Tomlin is up, and we need desperately for him to give us 7 or 8 innings. Smith and Perez, they have the 8th and 9th. Everyone else, they need a nap.

Game will be on WKYC tomorrow at 7:05 PM. Woot! See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Basically when you see what we saw last night from Travis Hafner, it's like seeing a perfect game, frequency-wise."
- Tom Hamilton

"So much for the Indians being able to capitalize off the momentum of last night's comeback."
- Tom Hamilton

"You wonder how many starts he's going to get before the Indians go to triple-A."
- Tom Hamilton on Mitch Talbot

"Try to figure out this one. Jo-Jo Reyes goes three years without a win, and he's trying to beat them for the second time this year."
- Tom Hamilton

"Well the good news for the Indians is that they have Josh Tomlin tomorrow."
- Tom Hamilton

"You can't go into the 9th inning down 5 or 6 runs thinking 'Well, we'll get 'em, just like last night.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"All the time, Orlando Cabrera seems to be in the middle of it."
- Tom Hamilton on Orlando at bat as the tying run

Hello Nasty, Where You Been?

Just do we're all on the same page: Big Nasty is one of Masterson's nicknames. Hello Nasty is the title of one of the best Beastie Boys albums of all time. And the blog's title is a line from one of the songs on said album. All set? Here we go!

Justin Masterson, he's actually been here the whole time. Problem is the rest of his team seems to take a nap when he's on the mound. Seriously, I think they were revolting against the beard or something.

Nasty was up again tonight, squeaky clean again and looking even better than his last start. There were 5 strikeouts and 4 hits last time. Tonight - 6 strikeouts and 3 hits. None runs. BOOM! Giving 8 innings again too, which is awesome because even though our bullpen is the shit, you don't really need to test the shit every night.

Pestano came in for the 9th and was all...bad. So Chris Perez was all "I got this!" and 10 pitches later, save 21 out of 22 save opportunities. TWENTY ONE, GUYS!

I am actually excited about the All Star Game. Possibly for the first time ever.

The team got 10 hits tonight, and when you combine that with bitchin' pitchin' and golden glovin' what do you get? A big stinkin W and first place in the AL Central by 1.5 games!

How do you like this "vintage Grady" from tonight? Austin Kearns looked at him as if to say "Yeah, I wasn't going to jump up for that. Good work."

Oh yeah, speaking of awesome defense, Asdrubal started tonight. I find this to be good news because he's not hurt but my first reaction was "I hope he's not pushing himself only to be busted by September." Really. They said he's taped up as much as one can be taped up, and he tested the tape right away in the first. He was still going strong in the 8th, being amazing in the field. Maybe we should tape everyone from head to toe every game?

I guess I can breathe easier about Asdrubal's ankle.


Lots of nice at-bats for the boys tonight, getting walked 5 times and chasing their starter out after just 5 innings. Of course, dude just came off the DL but you really picked the wrong team to face just off the DL so don't let the door hitcha, Hughes!

Travis Hafner. Is that dude for real? I mean, I just don't believe it that someone can come in and out of the lineup like that and just be great. He's hitting .338...although not enough ABs to get him on top of any lists. But he's actually hitting like he is hitting .338...you know? Tonight he was 2 for 4 with a walk. That's actually hitting .500 but in reality a guy hitting over .300 is going to hit and that's what he did. You follow me, right?

Speaking of coming in and out of the lineup and being great - Matt LaPorta! I didn't have any expectations for that guy tonight, his first day off the DL. But he got 2 hits! I honestly thought his leg was wrecked, the way they helped him off the field when he got hurt. But Hamilton said it was more of a 2-week vacation for him. No rehab required. Let's hope he takes a page out of Pronk's Book of Hitting Good and stays hot!

Lonnie Chisenhall! First major league homer (Hamilton audio)! I've been excited about that guy since his first game. He's been pretty solid for us so far, with 8 hits in 8 games - at least one hit in every game but one. I have not followed much about his defense, other than he's got a "cannon" and I think he's got an error already but we can't all be Supermanahan at the corner.

Austin Kearns has hit in 5 of his last 6 games. I still don't know if I trust him completely but he's our right fielder now and that is helping his bat.

Michael Brantley hasn't had a good series but tonight he went 2 for 4 with a walk and 2 runs scored. So, not slumping but I think maybe still slouching.

The guys on WTAM behaved themselves a bit better tonight. There was a little bit of Yankee-stroking but our team played well enough to garner their attention. Comedian Frank Caliendo was in the booth doing impressions I guess. I caught the first few innings on TV so I missed all that fun. I'm not sure why Frank was there, other than the game being on ESPN. But I thought he was TBS's guy? I'm so confused. He was on Hot In Cleveland the other day too. I thought he lost his relevance in 2008.

You know who should be on Hot In Cleveland? Tom Hamilton. Wow, I just cracked myself up! Should I start a Facebook petition?

Oh yeah, as I mentioned, this game and all of our awesomeness was on ESPN tonight. Since we played the Yankees, of course. So everybody rocking and then kicking the Yankees' asses was totally on national TV.

I'm going to have to brace myself for the flood of "Asdrubal Cabrera's tattoo" searches tonight. I hope Google's servers don't get overwhelmed.

Ok so 4 in a row against the Blue Jays now, all at the regular time. Meaning 7:05 PM every day, even Saturday, and 1:05 PM on Sunday.

Tomorrow's starter is Zach McAllister and if you're paying attention you'll notice that he's new. Called up from Columbus to replace ol' Fausto for a bit. He's got a respectable 8-3 record with a 2.97 ERA down there so it stands to reason he'll be EXACTLY THE SAME up here. Right?

Welllll....if not, Frank Hermann really likes long relief and Joe Smith has an ERA under 1.0 so really, what could go wrong?

I'll see you tomorrow!

Radio Chatter:
"That was vintage Sizemore!"
- Jim Rosenhaus after Grady's awesome catch in the 5th

"The problem with a 2-0 lead...if you're Manny Acta you hold your breath every time a Yankee comes to the plate with a man on."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Indians have had so many opportunities, they need to cash in here or rue the day."
- Tom Hamilton on having the bases loaded

"Well you don't have to guess where Boone Logan is from. Texas. With a name like that he's not from North Dakota."
- Tom Hamilton

"With bases loaded and less than 2 outs they're hitting .613 as a team."
- Tom Hamilton, on the Indians

Austin Kearns? Austin Kearns!

It was a low-hitting game. We had an error. Nobody scored until the 7th. But MAN what a game!

First off, it was a sellout on the 4th of July. Stands to reason, as it was against the Yankees. A friend of mine was at the game and he said while there were a lot of Yankee "fans" there they didn't dominate the crowd like usual. I know I could barely hear them on the radio broadcast. Sometimes when we play the Yankees and especially when we play the Red Sox, you can't tell who's home stadium we're at!

Josh Tomlin did his thing and went 7 innings, giving him the modern era record for most consecutive 5-plus-inning games (29). He actually had a no-hitter going in to the 7th! He did end up giving up 2 in the 7th but now that our guys are batting, albeit still a skeleton crew, 2 is just ducky.

Our favorite trio came in to finish off the game. Sipp, Pestano and Chris Perez. Pestano did give up a homer to Curtis Granderson, but Granderson has 23 homers and 2 against the Tribe in 4 previous games so somebody had to do it.

Perez was back after his bereavement trip, and got his 20th save! Here's a clip of the last out, which is a very nice clip because there's some fancy fielding plus a very happy sell-out crowd and lots of smiles and handshakes. And about 75% less Rage Beard as well!

Our hitting, overall, wasn't very amazing as a team. Although Asdrubal went 2 for 4 and Pronk got a hit in the 3-hole.

Grady didn't hit but he did get 2 walks, one of which resulted in scoring a run on a very clutch 2-out single from Shelley Duncan.

Before Duncan was up, Lonnie Chisenhall had a "major league at-bat" fouling off 4 pitches from AJ Burnett and walking after 8 pitches, which included a wild pitch. He looked good up there, being selective.

But then after that, after Shelley got that hit and everyone was all riled up, and there were 2 outs and 2 men on base, and we were losing 2 to 1....Austin Kearns came up. Austin Kearns who used to be pretty awesome on other teams and he was sort of awesome for us last year but this year hasn't managed to be anywhere near awesome. Austin Kearns batting 9th and filling in for the injured Choo with his .192 batting average, 37 strikeouts and 0 home runs. He came in and did this.

Lucky for all of you that I'm posting this a day late (I had a party last night so I got up early to listen to the game archive!) and I'm able to link right to the "Tom Hamilton ... Home Run Call" Facebook page video/audio of the call. As one FB commenter put it "Hammy just reached through my radio and punched me in the face!"

I feel you, commenter!

I'm actually quite surprised that Hamilton didn't wax poetic about this team and this season and magic and something special. Maybe he's finding it too cliche anymore? Whatever...I just loved that call. I've listened to it about 7 times already today. Awesome stuff!

So after that display of 7th-inning magnificence, AJ Burnett was done. We weren't done, though, because in the 8th Carlos Santana went deep and opposite for a 2-run homer. Oddly enough to score Travis Hafner and himself! Santana had even been catching as opposed to playing 1st like he usually has. Not sure of the stats on when he hits homers while playing 1st versus when he's catching. Those would be interesting stats.

Aside from Perez's 20th win, that was all for us for the night. What a magical night, I say! I'm glad 40,000 of you were there to enjoy it! I'm also glad I got to listen to it in full this morning. It actually helped me get out of bed!

Tonight is Cookie Carrasco versus CC Sabathia. CC won't be going to the All Star game this year, even though his name has come up in Cy Young Award talks. We love to beat CC, a lot. I am super excited you bet!

See you tonight!

Radio Chatter:
"For nine days I twiddled my thumbs until the 7th inning then hoped I got an at-bat."
- Travis Hafner to Tom Hamilton

"They don't like the balls and strikes being called, but get used to it that's what he did in the first inning! [...] One thing about the Yankees - they never believe that a call should go against them."
- Tom Hamilton on a dust-up between the Yankees catcher and the home plate umpire

"I don't think anyone in the American League is sorry to see [pitchers batting] go."
"You know who will miss it? Josh Tomlin. He got some great hits!"
- Mike Hegan and Jim Rosenhaus on pitchers batting

"CC Sabathia already said 'I'm going to the Bahamas, don't call.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the All Star Game picks

"The last time these teams faced each other on the 4th of July was here, 5 years ago, and the Indians won 19-1! Tonight, nothing but goose eggs!"
- Tom Hamilton

"His numbers have started to drop a little with age. And a lack of vitamins."
- Tom Hamilton does not like A-Rod taking "vitamins" (HE MEANS STEROIDS)

"Well it had to have hit something or Teixeira would have caught it. He catches everything!"
- Tom Hamilton on a mysterious bounce in the 7th

"How about...you get your first home run on the 4th of July against the New York Yankees, and your second hit off of AJ Burnett?"
- Tom Hamilton on Kearns' homer

"Vinnie Pestano was 10 during Derek Jeter's rookie year."
- Tom Hamilton

"It doesn't matter how the weather is at home, how the wind is blowing. It's blowing in tonight and they just hit two more homers at home! We all know how miserable the spring was in Cleveland yet the Indians have now hit 53 home runs at home, 24 on the road."
- Tom Hamilton

"This is kind of a micrcosm of this season. This ballclub does not rely on one guy."
- Tom Hamilton

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

Wow what a cool baseball game! It felt very tense. Of course, my very large (and wet from swimming) dog growling trying to sit in my lap for half the game probably added to the overall tenseness of the night. That and the lightning.

It was just a nice little matchup for two closely-matched teams. The pitchers weren't as evenly matched, but neither of them "blew it."

Talbot only managed 6.1 innings and gave up 3 runs and only struck out 2.

Conversely, Rockies pitcher Jhoulys Chacin struck out 7 but also walked 8 so our patience chased him off after 6.2 as well with 115 pitches. He actually had a no-hitter through 6 but then walked two and CHOOOOOO! got the team's first hit and first RBI!

So it's 3-1 Rockies in the bottom of the 8th. A storm is rolling in, with thunder and lighting in the distance. Chacin is gone and Rafael Betancourt comes on. The slowest pitcher they've got, oddly enough. Possibly slow enough to allow the storm to shut down this official game.

But, there was a glimmer of that April magic when 3 singles in a row (Phelps, Asdrubal, Hafner) scores a run and still no outs. Then a pitching change. Then two outs. O noes!

Then Travis Buck, of all people, snaps an 0 for 24 slump and gets himself an RBI single to right. The game is tied! The storm is coming! Hurrah!

Ah, but, after 30 innings of scoreless work, the bullpen gives up a run. Chris Perez gave up a homer after not giving up a homer all year. BUMMER.

The last inning was still pretty fun, though. Still lightning and thundering out here, the dog panting wildly and drooling on my feet, cracks of thunder fuzzing out the radio reception. Two outs and it's Sunday's hero Cord Phelps! Oh hey he gets a triple! Yaaaaay!

Now Asdrubal's up. Yaaaay! But he walks. Not intentionally but intentional enough.

The Questionable Call of the night goes to Manny Acta for pulling Hafner in the 8th for a pinch runner (Everett, .228) and then putting Kearns (.207) in to hit. Kearns isn't the questionable call, pulling Hafner is. No Shelley Duncan anymore, ya see.

And then the game was over.

But! The storm continues and my dog continues to moan, I've had a couple Benadryl and a Goji White Grape popsicle and all in all I am pretty happy with tonight's game. I was listening to it thinking about the people I know who can't get in to baseball or sports in general and wonder if they know what they're missing. I've never felt this much emotion watching The Office. How can they like Firefly so much and not Cleveland baseball?

Weirdos.

Anyway this is the sort of game that The Positive Tribe is founded on, because even though we did a lot of losing last season there were tons of cool games like tonight. I'm happy to spend a night listening to this kind of baseball.

Lou Marson got his second (second!) triple, by the way and also threw out a guy at second. Still loving him behind the plate.

And Asdrubal went 1 for 2 with 3 walks, 2 runs scored and his 12 stolen base.

Amen.

Ooooh, I just heard that Chris Perez is going to be on WTAM in the post-game show in a bit. Great, gotta hear what he says. Gives me something to do while waiting for this damn storm to pass, because the dog has made it clear that going to bed is not in the plans.

Tomorrow's at 7:05 and I think it's going to be a great game again. This one we have a real chance of winning too! See you then!

Radio Chatter:
"Pronkville is begging for a souvenir."
- Tom Hamilton

"People listen to these games and they actually believe you guys! I pay for that in the offseason!"
- Jim Rosenhaus taking Mike Hegan to task for suggesting that he was wearing pink high heels

"Chacin is walking around the mound thinking to himself 'Why can't I throw strikes over the corners of the plate?'"
- Tom Hamilton on Chacin's multiple walks

"Those 'All You Can Eat Seats' ... great time to go to the ballpark and then get a physical the next day."
- Tom Hamilton

"The way the wind is blowing now, it'll be easier to rally from behind."
- Tom Hamilton puts a positive spin on the impending storm

"They put a 'no doubles' defense on at Coors Field and doubles will be dropping in everywhere."
- Tom Hamilton

C is for Cookie

Carlos "Cookie" Carrasco is on FIRE lately! Only gave up 1 run in his last 3 starts (tonight). He crept up on a no-no into the 6th inning, with only one walk. Until he gave up a hit in the 6th, he had pitched 21.1 scoreless innings in a row. I don't know what's gotten into this kid (he's 24) but DAMN! Anyone picking him up for fantasy? He's 6-1 over his last 7.

In case you were wondering who Carlos Carrasco is, let me introduce you:

MLB.com

Awesome relief pitching, as usual. Joe Smith is still rockin' the under-2.0 ERA (1.29). Our man Sipp! gets his second closing opportunity in as many nights, again giving up none. Both guys struck out 2!

Hafner didn't play tonight, and Grady was at DH. But we still looked fine without Pronk, which is great. Means he's not carrying us yet making us stronger.

Grady rocked out tonight with a double and a triple. The triple was due to some great baserunning on a looked-like-a-homer ball. If Manny Ramírez had hit a ball like that he may have been thrown out at first.

Asdrubal, gettin on base, stealin' bases, scoring runs, batting .301.

CHOOOOO 1 for 2, with 2 walks. Walking a lot lately which means that he's really focused at the plate. He had 10 walks and 28 strikeouts in May, but with June more than halfway over he's already got 7 walks and only 12 strikeouts. Tonight he went the other way for his hit, got an RBI and got his 10th stolen base as well. Nice stuff!

Carlos Santana did not get a hit tonight BUT...he got a sac fly for an RBI. He hasn't had one of those since May. Brantley also got himself a SF-RBI.

Orlando Cabrera is making a case for himself. He did sort of miss a ball to give the Pirates their first hit in the 6th, but then he came back and hit his 3rd homer of the year. Hrm.

Austin Kearns is doing better in an occasional role. He had a hard time getting started off the bench, but he's hit in 3 out of his 5 games here in June. Tonight he went 2 for 4 and scored a run.

Sweet Lou Marson was behind the plate again tonight, which my friend C agrees with me is the right place for him. Now that LaPorta is out for a bit (owie in the ankle with video *shudder*) we should see more Carlos at first. And we get Buck back too. Man I hate to lose LaPorta but I do like those players in those places...but, speedy recovery to Matt - he wasn't having too bad of a month.

Great great team effort again tonight, just like we've gotten used to. Solid starting pitching, shutout relief, small ball offense.

Hafner's back in tomorrow night. I'm excited to see the lineup! I might watch the game on tv with my dad if that's ok with everyone. No Radio Chatter, then. But that's ok as it's a little tiring this weekend without Tom Hamilton.

It's a 1:05 game tomorrow, bring your broom! Heck I might bring my broom to my dad's, just cuz I paid for it and stuff.

See you then!

Radio Chatter:
"The final count was over 60,000 dogs last night. [...] Sales of antacid in the Cleveland area were high today."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Friday's Dollar Dog Night

"Hammy is our big toe."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Tom Hamilton's absence

"Nobody can hit that breaking ball, Mike."
"Not just this ball club, nobody period."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Mike Hegan on Carrasco's breaking ball

"How many hitters would have watched it and not gotten to 3rd base?"
- Jim Rosenhaus on Grady's home-run-turned-triple

Can We All Agree Now That Asdrubal is the Best Player On the Team?

I mean seriously, folks - 5 for 5 today with two home runs and 5 RBI? Leads the team with 9 homers and 32 RBI, and leads the league's shortstops in both categories as well. And of course you have this defensive play and this one and this one  and those are just from May.

Here's a lovely article about Asdrubal and his son Meyer, in the form of tonight's wrap-up on Indians.com.

Speaking of Meyer, Asdrubal and his tattoo are responsible for about 75% of the traffic on this blog. Is there anything this dude can't do?!?!

I was at the game today. SO angry that I still haven't made my "OMG ASDRUBAL!" sign yet. Would today have been perfect or what? I wonder how many of you were wondering just that...."did JJ remember to make the 'OMG ASDRUBAL!' sign and bring it along?" No. I didn't. My excuse today was that I was sitting in the middle of a really crowded section and didn't want to piss anyone off. And, I haven't made it yet.

I didn't bring my stupid broom head either, but I did invest in a foam broom from the souvenir shop. Man, I wish it wasn't so TINY. You can't see this thing on television or anything. Sigh. Here's a picture of the broom alongside a long envelope for size perspective.

Despite my lack of sign and stupid tiny foam broom, I did get a chance to explain some baseball to my friend Jess. I tried to explain how there are 2 leagues in the MLB "just like every other sport, you know?" but apparently baseball is the sport she knows the "most" about so she didn't quite get the comparison.

My friend T was also there and it was her first baseball game ever. She lives in Cleveland at the moment but is from Dayton, and had been visiting Dayton this weekend and drove all morning just to join us at the game! And then she cheered for the Tribe! So proud!!! She's about the quietest person I know too, and she was hollerin' right along with me. We agreed that a baseball game is a great outlet for a normally-quiet person. Nobody there knows you and as long as you don't swear, no one's going to complain about your yelling (please don't swear at baseball games, folks. It doesn't become you.)

The heat today was brutal. Just relentless sun. Yes, I am a weather wuss when it comes to going to Tribe games. I prefer not to go when it's freezing or sweltering. Afternoon games are not my favorite. You should SEE my arms...I seem to have missed a few spots with the sunscreen. I did manage to keep my face and ears pretty burn-free, and those are really important areas to keep safe. The hot sun did help clear out our section a bit and allowed us to spread out some. Half of the crowd had a long drive home to Columbus or Cincy and an air-conditioned car was a much better environment than a sweltering 7-2 ballgame.

I got the silliest sunburn. I rolled up my shirt sleeves so the burn ends at my shoulders. I look like I got burnt while getting an x-ray at the dentist's office, wearing that lead smock.

Today there were a bunch of military families at the game, with video greetings from their active-duty soldiers/Marines/sailors on the board. My friends and  I pretty much gave up complaining about the heat after seeing the first greeting. Ugh.

Ok so, game recap. Carrasco pitched 6 innings and was not that impressive. BUT he did only ultimately give up 4 runs and against a normal-caliber pitcher that is small change for the Indians. He also took it like a man and gave us 6 innings, which is how our starters roll now. They also roll by giving up 2 solo homers when they give up homers (like Carrasco did today). In fact, our staff has not given up any 3-run homers or grand slams this year. For his bravery and compliance, Carrasco got the W.

Durbin came in for the 7th and looked fantastic with two strikeouts and a flyout. After the offense gathered up 4 more runs in the bottom of the 7th, Raffi Perez got 3 ground-ball outs in the 8th. Newcomer Josh Judy was rolled out for the 9th (great way to make an easy first appearance!) We were instructed by someone on Twitter that he is to be called "Judge" (as in Judge Judy) so I managed to get a couple of judge jokes out to my emptying section. He looked swell, striking out the first guy he faced. Then he gave up two hits and then was saved by Ezequiel Carrera (a single-inning replacement in center for Brantley) on a super-star catch and got the final guy to fly out.

How are you liking the top of our order? I pointed out their top-of-the-order-ness a few days back but it was a highlight again today. Brantley, Cabrerra and Choo aligned for TEN hits today, two doubles, two homers, two stolen bases and 9 RBI.

Also hitting today were Orlando, Kearns and Hannahan. I knew Kearns couldn't stay under .200 forever! He raised his numbers with a TRIPLE!

Did you notice how most of the hits today went to right field? That's because I was sitting out there I think.

Nice looking defense today. Orlando was really on top of his game after he became a citizen on Thursday and followed that up with American-style lazy-assed errors Friday and Saturday. You saw Carrera's play and Kearns was all "rly!" in the outfield too. I love when guys have to play hard to vie for a job!

As for Reds defense, check this nonsense out. Herb Score always used to say that you'll see something interesting in every game. I would have actually felt a little bad for the Reds if we had won by two. Lucky for all of those goobers involved in that play that we won by 8 instead!

Hey, good news! This game was so delicious that I had to experience it twice. After a lovely dinner with my ladies at Flannagan's and some custard at East Coast in Lyndhurst, I just could not resist hearing what Hammy and Hegan had to say. So, I tended to my sun burn then sat back and listened to the audio archive. So you get a heapin' helpin' of Radio Chatter today, even though I said I wasn't going to have anything.

Did anyone take my advice and eschew television for the radio broadcast today? I hope someone did - it's worth it!

Ok so the next 3 games are against Boston. You remember Boston, right? Last time we saw them we swept them and left them at 0-6. Now all of a sudden they are dancing around 2nd in the AL East. Hmm. Well how about this? When we first saw the White Sox they kicked our ass, and then dropped to 10 games behind us in the standings and still kicked our ass. So standings are apparently meaningless. We just need to kick the Red Sox asses like we did before.

I'm thinking of trying to get someone to go out to the game with me Monday or Tuesday, since I know how awful Boston-fan-heavy these games can be. I think the Indians can benefit from my hollerin'. I think I shall cast that net on Facebook and see if I catch any more fishfans. Or maybe I'll just go by myself. I do have a free ticket voucher that expires at the end of May.

Radio Chatter:
"It looked like a drill that went bad."
- Mike Hegan on the weird double steal/errors in the bottom of the 1st.

"The last time I saw a play like that was at Bleser Park in Avon Lake when [my son] Nick was 8. Little league."
- Tom Hamilton on the weird double steal/errors in the bottom of the 1st.

"Volquez looks like he's wearing a hat that is two sizes too small for his head. Like those kids wore in the Little Rascals. He has to keep tugging and pulling to keep it on. [...] Who the heck is the equipment manager for the Reds? Give the guy a bigger hat!"
- Tom Hamilton

"Michael Brantley has had two hits today that haven't gone 60 feet."
- Tom Hamilton

"Volquez says 'let's go through the signs again' and [Reds catcher] Hernandez says 'you only have 3 pitches.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"The Indians lead it 6-1 and [Reds manager] Dusty Baker is going to the mound to choke Volquez."
- Tom Hamilton

"Another broken belt. I'll have to ask [equipment manager] Tony Amato what the budget for belts is. Asdrubal has exceeded it."
- Tom Hamilton on Asdrubal's second busted belt this weekend

"Oh by the way, on our daily update of oblique injuries, on which we have someone to add every day..."
- Tom Hamilton on the latest injury for the Twins

"When you're getting over 2 baserunners an inning, you're going to score some runs."
- Tom Hamilton's great insight

"First base is open and that didn't look accidental."
- Tom Hamilton on Asdrubal nearly getting hit by a pitch in the 8th

"Brandon has not tortured the Indians this weekend like he normally does."
- Tom Hamilton

"What's really amazing about the Indians on the home portion of this schedule...they've lost four games, they've only lost to two teams [Chicago and Tampa]."
- Tom Hamilton

"Good attempt by Edgar Renteria who five years ago would have made that play."
- Tom Hamilton

"Brandon Phillips...[laughing] he went to tag Orlando Cabrera who had stopped [running to second] and instead they high-fived each other and that completed the tag!"
- Tom Hamilton

"You knew this club was better, but nobody - nobody - foresaw a 29 and 15 record. As Herb used to say, that's why you play the game. Everybody and their brother can make a prediction and 99.9% of the people who make predictions don't have anything at stake so it's easy to predict."
- Tom Hamilton

"Hernandez just kind of lumbering into third [...] Is Ramon Hernandez hurt?"
"I just think Ramon doesn't run too good. He wasn't going to score, Tom. He wasn't going to try down 8 runs."
- Tom Hamilton and Mike Hegan in the 9th

Speed Kills

Holy crap. So yesterday I started off the post with an exciting Asdrubal Cabrera play. Today, I introduce you to Ezequiel Carrera.

Carrera was brought up just today from Columbus to play center field, since apparently he's a damn good center fielder, fast as hell and according to hitting coach John Nunley, a good bunter for his level of experience.

The score is tied in the 8th with runners at first (Santana, intentional walk) and third (Choo, triple) for the Tribe. Two outs. Shelley Duncan is due up but he's only 2 for his last 29. So Manny Acta calls on Ezequiel Carrera to get up and bunt one down the 1st base line (a "drag bunt") to get Choo in to score the go-ahead run.

And he does.

All I can say is "Woah." And "What the fuck is that?!" Well, THAT is Indians baseball! That is Manny Acta Baseball.

The rest of the game was kind of roller-coaster. First, Alex White came out in the 3rd with pain in his middle finger on his throwing hand. Errr...not cool? He did pitch to a few after first feeling hurt but who knows where this is going to go.

Luckily, Frank Hermann had just come up and was able to serve as long relief. In the 6th we got Smith, Sipp, Pestano and Chris Perez. It was sort of a gutsy move of Acta to roll out the entire pen while the score was tied, but we really should not question Manny Acta anymore. Really.

So we were facing a no-hitter until the 6th inning, when Austin Kearns got himself a hit. Good, good, Austin Kearns! He really just does need some time to get back into it. Craig at Waiting For Next Year tweeted "You know who hated Carrera's play tonight? Austin Kearns." Hahaha...awww, yeah sorry bro, you might be benched for a few while we test out Zeke. But, nice catch...?

After Kearns hits, then Supermanahan hits, then Brantley hits.

Asdrubal walks, Choo gets hit by a pitch, Carlos Santana walks.

Shelley Duncan gets a sacrifice fly, and if you're following along at home, we're all of a sudden tied at 4. Four guys get RBI in the 6th, and only one of those guys has a hit!

Whatever it takes, right? This may not have been the best outing ever for the Tribe (or the Reds, for that matter) but someone had to come out on top and some sort of magic had to happen, and the magic happened tonight.

Check out how Chris Perez ended the game. That'll put a smile on your face!

"Ezequiel Carrera" is "trending on Twitter" right now. That means a bunch of people are talking about him on Twitter. Neat!

Speaking of Twitter, Mark Shapiro tweeted that there's a new "What If?" commercial. I love love love the two other promos this year "What If?" and "It's Only a Ball" but this one uh...well, take a look. What do you think? They could have made a most amazing clips promo from the first quarter of the season here. Instead it's 42 seconds of Santana's walk-off grand slam. AWESOME play for real but ... what? Santana must have an amazing agent.

So, GREAT game tonight. I was on the edge of my seat literally. I wished I had someone to be watching the game with or something...I felt sort of weird wringing my hands in front of my computer screen.

Let's re-visit that bunt, because you gotta watch it at least twice tonight.

Tomorrow's game, 4:05 PM! Tomlin vs. some guy who is 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA but who is also named Homer. It's a sold out game, let's hope the boys take it and run with it. And let's see some ZEKE!

Radio Chatter:
"Travis is going to be out...they say 3 to 4 weeks. But when you say 3 to 4 weeks with an oblique, count on 6 weeks."
- Tom Hamilton

"The only thing missing from this postcard is Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis."
- Tom Hamilton regarding a "very Amish" postcard the guys got from a person in "Youngstown, Amish country."

"The good news is, by playing so well in the first part of the season, you've built up a bit of a cushion."
- Tom Hamilton

"Once again this team finding a way after being no-hitted for five-and-a-third."
- Tom Hamilton

"What a time for Orlando Cabrera to get his first hit as a US citizen."
- Tom Hamilton

"Think of Goose Gossage. He might have thrown a player over the outfield wall."
- Tom Hamilton on the emotions of relief pitchers

"Oh, Fred Lewis put on a clinic on how not to run the bases!"
- Tom Hamilton on Fred Lewis sort of running himself out to end the game

"Both of these teams tried to throw the game away."
- Mike Hegan

Asdrubal Out-Omars Omar

Didja see his play? Here it is, I'll wait.

You know, I really feel sorry for people who haven't been paying attention the past few years or people who won't watch a game that "looks like" a loss. Because you miss amazing shit like that. Asdrubal's been doing amazing shit like that for a while now, you know. He's the unassisted triple play guy...and stuff.

So we had our skeleton crew in there today. Like, total bottom-of-the-barrel stuff. Orlando was out getting naturalized (really!), Grady's hurt, Hafner's hurt, even Travis Buck is hurt.

I don't know why people say the team has no depth (and by people I mean stupid greasy Mike Trivisano). Do they mean we don't have 10 super stars? Are we all of a sudden a fanwank city that neeeeeeeds a LeBron caliber player to adorn the field of play every night or else we'll shake our heads in shame?

Fuck that noise. The only one of our benchers who I do not really want to see in the lineup is Austin Kearns. I don't know what his deal is. But Kearns has proved himself already so he just needs a chance to get back into it.

Do I trust Duncan? Everett, Buck and Marson? Can any of those guys get a clutch double? Absolutely. In fact, those five guys have 15 doubles and one triple between them. Duncan has TEN RBI.

Anyway, they didn't get it done tonight but it's not solely because Grady and Hafner weren't there. The other guys who play every night weren't doing it either. Brantley didn't hit and neither did Santana.

Choo is silently and stoically coming back, getting one or two hits every night, slowly raising that AVG. He's up to .239 tonight, almost 20 points higher than last Thursday. If that's not progress, I don't know what is!

LaPorta was making up for being the lone guy with no hits last night, getting not only two hits tonight but one of them a solo home run! So, when I accused him of being hot at the plate the other day, I wasn't seeing things. Neener.

It's almost sort of comical how Fausto can't face the White Sox this year, huh? Like it doesn't matter to him that we came into this short series 10 games ahead of them in our division. The stripes must make his eyeballs hurt or something. Perhaps a bad childhood memory related to those uniforms. Perhaps Ozzie Guillén sends him nasty notes in Spanish before every game. I just don't know.

The good news is that we're not fighting for first place. We're there, baby. If our big boys need some time off to get healthy, it's cool. Let's give them that time now so that they are rock solid in later months and for the playoffs.

Hey here's a face that will make you smile:

(Mark Duncan/AP) via Indians.com

That's Carlos Baerga. He's going to represent the Indians in the draft on June 6. It's nice to see his name in Indians news, isn't it?

Here he is how you really remember him, with that mustache:

...And some chest hair. I've never seen that card before, I might actually need to seek it out.

Anyway he's a guy who loves baseball, and don't you forget to love baseball too! Here's a reminder.

I don't know if Hamilton called that play or not, as I missed most of the radio broadcast due to trivia night at Applebees (shut up, I live in the suburbs. We have no "pubs" for your fancy "pub trivia.") So of course we're low on Radio Chatter tonight too. Lame! I did go to the doctor today and am feeling better, thanks for asking.

Ok, "Battle of Ohio" starts tomorrow! Back at home, 7:05 PM, see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Carmona was too amped up for his Opening Day assignment. Tried to throw the ball 200 miles per hour."
- Tom Hamilton

"Paul Konerko continues to terrorize Carmona."
- Tom Hamilton

In Pronk We Trust

WAAAAAAHHOOOO!!

Was this a big set-up tonight? Did we purposely get behind by 2 in order to win in spectacular fashion? Because Travis Hafner coming through with a walk-off home run at home here, in front of the biggest crowd since opening day, is pretty spectacular.

First off, Carmona looked pretty ok. He only gave up 6 hits. Unfortunately, two of those hits were homers for three runs. But, eh, whatevs. Four runs against the Mariners is not a huge mountain to climb for us. Carmona also pitched 7.2 innings which is sweet.

My man Sipp! came in for relief and that was all we needed. Great job by him to get the W and great job by both pitchers to keep the rest of the bullpen out of the game. However good our pitching's been this year and however few innings our relievers end up pitching, we've still been using 3-4 relievers per game. Not unusual but also a boon whenever it doesn't happen.

The top of our order has really been top-of-the-order-ish lately. Ugh, what we wouldn't give to have Grady back up there to double the magic of Brantley. But, Brantley! He thinks he's Grady all of a sudden, being not only the sure-hitting leadoff man but the home run hitting leadoff man as well! His AVG is juuuust about .300 now, at .298. Do you think he'll be over .300 by Monday?

Grady, Brantley and Asdrubal have 15 home runs, 24 doubles and 2 triples amongst them and are hitting a combined .289. Like? LIKE!!

You know who else got a home run tonight? CHOOOOOO! Gotta love that guy hitting at home. You know he feels the love, whether it's 5k yelling his name or 33k.

Hey Austin Kearns got a hit tonight. Goodonya!

Do you feel it going into the 9th? Do you think "WINNING!" right up to the last out? I sure do. Do you see Brantley, Cabrera, Choo, Santana, Hafner due up and think "HELL YEAH!"? You should, you really should.

Did you really think we were going to lose 3 in a row? It is indeed possible to do so and still be the most awesome team in baseball (hey, they're only human!) but we didn't. The Royals lost to the Tigers, so those two are tackling each other for 2nd place, still 4 and 4.5 games behind us.

Keep an eye on the Tom Hamilton has the Best Home Run call in all of Baseball Facebook page tonight because you're going to want to hear Hammy's call. "BACK...TRACK...AT THE WALL...IT IS GOOOOoone...." then silence for crowd reaction, then composure and declaring that "the magic is back!" God bless 'im.

Don't forget the next TWO games are at 1:05 PM in the afternoon.

Radio Chatter:
"He sure got comfortable in a hurry!"
- Tom Hamilton's comment on Choo's first-inning homer, after commenting that Choo does not look comfortable at the plate

"Jack Hannahan could not get a hit the rest of the year and he'd still be worth it."
- Tom Hamilton on Hannahan's performance at third base

"Suzuki is surprised that anyone would ever call a strike on him. He's four feet out of the batter's box, I don't know how he would know."
- Tom Hamilton

"Shall he ever come to the will-call window, Tony Sipp will not be leaving tickets."
- Tom Hamilton on Sipp's college coach who told him he'd never make it in the big leagues

"This is the kind of game that makes you think there's something special going on in 2011."
- Tom Hamilton

Price is Right

Man, what a softball headline. I betcha the wrap-up on Indians.com has the same title or something similar in a 32pt font. How often do you think they use that headline in the Tampa Bay newspaper? Only once, I hope.

Anyway, I think David Price is angry and he's taking it out on the Tribe. He's angry because a couple weeks ago he gave up 5 runs and 12 hits to the Blue Jays. So now he's all "I'M GOING TO PITCH A PERFECT GAME!" "Or maybe a complete game shutout." "Or maybe a complete game."

You can't really pitch those sorts of things against these Indians. Well you can pitch a complete game if you can pitch more than 100-120. And if Grady is out getting an MRI and Pronk is having his night off and if we have to bring in Austin Kearns. What's really going to happen is that you pitch 8 and you luck out because our pitcher is just back from the DL and is not quite so good.

Here's a funny story about me and Austin Kearns...last year I was telling my friend (a Braves fan) how much I like our young team and how we've got some cool new youngsters, like Austin Kearns. And my friend, who doesn't listen to every word so he obviously missed me saying "youngsters", told me how he remembers Kearns being in some sort of home run race in 2006 or so. And I said "Wut? He's new." And my friend said "no, he's been around, like, forever." And we looked it up and sure enough, his rookie season was 2002.

Oops. I wasn't paying attention at all, was I? Well, it IS hard when you only hear games and never see them. Unless Hamilton tells me a guy's age and history, I guess I assume he's from our farm team.

Other story about Austin Kearns: He "came with" Manny Acta from Washington to Cleveland. The move turned out great for him and his family because they got a lot of help for their son at the Cleveland Clinic Children's Center of Autism. We sent him to the Yankees last July but he came right back because Cleveland is the best place for his family to live. Cool, huh?

He's going to be here a long time, I guess, so we'd better embrace him. I am ready to embrace him, for real. Except there's no real place for him right now. Other than our Hot Bench Of Awesomeness!

Anyway, back to David Price. Because this is the David Price edition of The Positive Tribe. I should let our less-aware readers know that David Price is the pitcher for Tampa Bay that pitched against us and won. He's pretty good I guess...but he's only 4-3, he's no Masterson. He isn't on any of the League Leaders lists. But for some  reason not only did he hold the Tribe to 5 hits, he went 8 innings and also only gave up 2 runs.

Oh, and Tom Hamilton and Mike Hegan gushed over him all night. Weird.

When he WASN'T busy getting Indians out, he was busy giving up doubles. Four doubles tonight! Satana, LaPorta and Dos Cabreras!

Brantley got a hit too, a RBI single. His AVG is creeping up to .300!

Tomorrow's game is at NOON so don't forget! Anyone able to go to that sort of thing? I went one year with my friend AJ and it was fun but we missed half the game because it took forever to park. Hmmm...that's right, AJ is a teacher so he's free for afternoon games all summer. I think I might need to skip more work this year! But not tomorrow. School's not out yet.

Ok, that's all about the Tribe for tonight. "But, I want to know more about David Price!" you say? Well, Radio Chatter has you covered.

Oh yeah, here's a link to the Indians.com/MLB.com wrapup. It's not up right now (I scooped them!) but it'll be up shortly and you can see what clever Price-praising headline they came up with.

Radio Chatter, The David Price Edition:
"I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, Fred Griffith, but you got the wrong time to get the Bedford Nissan Grand Slam Payoff. Not with David Price on the mound."
- Tom Hamilton

"Being 5 runs down against David Price, it might as well be 15 runs."
- Tom Hamilton

"If you get hit in the back with one of Price's pitches, you might not take another breath until midnight."
- Tom Hamilton

"It had to come to an end, and if it had to come to an end you'd think it would be against a guy like David Price."
- Tom Hamilton