We Are All Kipnises!

Amazing game today, boffins! Hit streaks! Great Ubaldo start! Winning home run! Double switch! Save! Won the series! ALL ON A SUNDAY!!!

Ubaldo Jiminez had his second good game in a row. IN A ROW! He struck out 7 in 7 innings and only gave up 5 hits and one run. That run was to Carlos Beltran who hit a home run, but that's ok because it was a solo shot, it was the only homer he gave up, and it is Beltran's specific talent to hit home runs. And the guy who leads the league in giving up walks gave up NO WALKS!! UBALDOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

He was shit at the plate, tho. UGH I hate NL rules...

Vinnie Pestano came in for the 8th as a treat for us all. Then he loaded them up on 3 walks!!! WTF Vinnie?! I think he likes to pitch under pressure and he got out there and gave himself pressure. Cuz then after that he struck out the next two guys to end the inning un-scathed.

By the time Perez came in we had a 3-run lead, and it was cake for him. He gave up one hit and struck one out, as we've come to expect. Then before he had a chance to do something he might regret, ballgame! Here's an article about Perez's return to STL "Perez Thankful Cards Traded Him". If you've ever wondered if he's happier here than there, well now you know.

Oh yeah I guess Perez puked right after the last out. Right there on the field. Carlos Santana was all "WTF? Gross!" and good 'ol Shelley Duncan was actually checking to see if he was ok. I'm guessing too much adrenaline plus an accidental swallowing of chew juice. And heat. Anyway, he's got 20 saves now. His middle name is "Ralph." No, seriously it is.

Wait WTF? Is that clip from WKYC?? Did they broadcast the game on Channel 3 today and not add it to their broadcast schedule? NOT FAIR!!! I rely on that schedule for my total happiness! Am I going to have to start turning on my television every day to check? Not cool.

On the offensive side, the team got 10 hits today but only from 6 guys. Because dudes were multi-hitting!

Guys like CHOOOO who went 2 for 5 today and scored a run. Asdrubal didn't multi-hit but he extended his hitting streak to 12, and rocked it in the field of course. Did you vote for him for the All Star Game?

Hey guess what? I bit the bullet and bought myself a We Are All Kipnises t-shirt today after the game. That's right - between the end of the game and the first line of this post, I bought a t-shirt. To be honest it's not the best time financially or wardrobe-ly to be buying a t-shirt (I'm in the middle of losing a bunch of weight) but I'm going to 2 games next weekend and Kipnis won the game today so I just needed to pay my respects. Plus, I'm a sucker for red t-shirts with Wahoo feathers. Srsly.

So Kipnis not only went 3 for 4 today (he's "back" - as speculated!), he got a game-winning 3-run homer. He walked and stole his league-leading 15th base. Is he gonna go 20-20 this year? He's halfway there with a few weeks left until the halfway point. That'd be fun! Hopefully my t-shirt will help!

If you can't get yourself a t-shirt, you should at least vote for him to be in the All Star Game.

Michael Brantley! EIGHTEEN GAMES!!!! It's still an inconsequential baby streak but it's so friggin' fun. People don't know Michael Brantley but maybe they will learn his name once he breaks 20. Maybe he will permanently replace Grady. Even the outs Brantley is making are awesome. Every ball looks like it's got the ability to be his next hit, nothing garbage from him.

Shelly Duncan was back at it again today! I suspect because his dad and brother are hanging around the ballpark (was hoping Dave Duncan would be in the radio booth). His average is back over .200 wooha!

Lou Marson was part of a double switch with Lopez (who was shut down at the plate today) and Chisenhall and Kotchman. All those substitutions and no hits. Doh!

Awesome baseball this weekend! Great to come out of the World Champion city with 2 out of 3 games and only have given up 5 runs.

Tomorrow is a day off and then we're on to Cincy to face the Reds for 3. They're 2.5 games ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central. Should be a good series - if our starters are really on a roll.

Have a nice day off tomorrow and I'll see you Tuesday!

Oh and make sure you tune in during the week because when KSU defeats Oregon tonight, Kent is going to go to the College World Series and we'll be Hammy-less all next weekend. So get your fix in this week and go Flashes!

Radio Chatter:
"Another reason to get Hammy back in the booth. I got several emails reminding me I was in the booth for the Indians' first shutout."
- Scott Bailes

"There are two kinds of pitchers - the ones who claim to be good hitters and aren't, and the ones who admit they're not good hitters."
- Scott Bailes

"The best way to quiet that Cardinal crowd is throw strike one then strike two."
- Scott Bailes on Pestano's jam in the 8th

A Loss, But Not A Bad Loss

So yeah we lost but I think it was  good baseball game. In fact, I thought it was good even for a pitchers' duel which is a type of game that I've never been a fan of. I mean, I understand why they're good and I praise great pitching but my personal makeup doesn't allow me the patience for slow baseball. But even the outs in this game were pretty exciting, so I could hang. Plus - the arches.

Masterson was finally friggin great!  But Kyle Lohse was even better, so no win for Big Nasty. But he went 7 innings and struck out 6, only giving up 1 run. How about that? He's only given up 1 run in 2 other games this year, so it was magic for him. Oh yeah and he was facing the NL's best-hitting team, so there's that. And he had to bat! He looked funny up there all 6'6" of him at the plate. He's no Josh Tomlin so he didn't do anything but he didn't make a fool of himself.

Accardo came in for the 8th and gave up another run but it actually kinda didn't matter. Our bats just weren't doing anything today.

Our guys only got 3 hits and 2 walks today. The first time all year we've been shut out! Not bad to make it in to the second week of June without being shut out, right?

We only struck out 4 times so there was a lot of contact with the ball. No doubt that's what made the game watchable. There were some solid plays for both sides.

The nicest thing is that the guys who got the hits tonight are two of our guys who are harboring streaks - Asdrubal Cabrera and Michael Fucking Brantley!

Asdrubal went 1 for 4 and continued an 11-game streak! He hit a bomb to right which coulda been a homer but it wasn't, and it coulda been a double but it also wasn't that. It was just a long single.

BRANTLEY is now at 17 games, and to prove his worthiness he didn't just get a bunt single today but also a legit single out of the infield and in to center.

So, he's pretty awesome!

That's about all for today's game. There aren't even any video highlights from the MLB for this game. Heh.

Why is Bob Frantz on the radio crying about how there was a shutout today? It happens dude, buck up. Be super happy that this is the first!

Not only are there no video highlights, there's also no Radio Chatter tonight. I swear, I only wrote down like one thing. Not worth it. Hamilton is off at the College World Series semi-finals. Kent's game versus Oregon is not until 11 PM Eastern, so if you want to know how things went check out the very nice bracket on the NCAA site.

In honor of Busch Stadium, which continues to enamor me, I am going to post a list of things all of the current baseball stadiums are named after, in order of stadium seating size:

A baseball team
A beer company
A baseball team
A rich guy
A communications company
A bank
A baseball team
An insurance company
A baseball team
A baseball team
A beer company
A bank
An insurance company
A pet store
An insurance company
A bank
A communications company
A beer company
A baseball team
A rich guy
A juice company
A communications company
A department store
A bank
A rich guy
A geographic area
A baseball team
A geographic area
A juice company

Seems kind of creepy when you break it down like that doesn't it? Did you even realize that we had two juicy stadiums?

Tomorrow's game is at 2:15. Sadly, not on television but that's ok I've gotten my fill of Busch Stadium this year. Let's hope there's more good pitching from Ubaldo and we get a Sunday win!

See you there!

Tribe 1, Champs 0

What a fun game tonight! I don't know why but that was the best game I've seen on TV in a while. Maybe because most of the TV games are crappy Sunday games which we lose. Or because Busch Stadium is a really nice stadium and I totally fell in love with the arch in the outfield last October. And then the real Arch in the distance. Maybe it's because I finally got to see the Perez Progressive commercial (which, I am told, gets a lot of air time on cable.) Perhaps too it was that I got to see the new Chisen-mustache that I'd only heard about. Here's a picture of it:

Lonnie Chisenhall as The Beatles. George is sporting a Tomlin Plus.

I'm pretty sure the main reason I enjoyed today's game so much was that the team hit well, scored runs and Tomlin pitched like a sonofagun!

Would you believe if I told you Tomlin (and his facial hair) only struck out 1 tonight? In the 7 innings he pitched he did only strike out one. He actually gave up 8 hits too! But you'll have that against the best-hitting team (average and hits) in the NL. They only got 1 extra base off him, and one walk. He was in the groove tonight. With how fast him and Westbrook were pitching I was expecting the game to be over by 9 PM. And you know what? He only threw 76 pitches. I'm guessing they were all quality.

The bullpen was a treat again tonight! Smith gave up two hits to Molina and Craig but those dudes are hitting waaaaaay over .300. Remember that guy Freese who hit all of those homers in last year's post-season? Struck him out. Struck out Matt Holiday, too. Hagadone didn't give up any hits and struck out one, while Perez warmed up in the 'pen for no real reason than to let people know that he's returned, suckers.

Choo wasn't hitting tonight but he was leggin' it out there in the field. There's a lot of ground to cover out there!

Asdrubal and Kipnis picked up the slack by both going 2 for 5 tonight and both coming around to score. Kipnis got an RBI, too. That's two multi-hit games in a row for Kipnis and a 10-game hitting streak for Asdrubal! Once again, dazzling in the field too. Don't forget to vote for them to be in the All Star Game!

Kipnis hit himself in the knee/shin area with a foul ball early in the game. Made me sick - that's just about what happened to the 4-6-week Hafner. Hafner also finished his game like Kipnis did tonight. Kipnis is the LAST guy we need to lose, holy smokes...

Santana didn't disappoint today, going 1 for 4 with a RBI double. He also hit one that was a hit except for the awesome play on the other end. And he walked which they say "is a good sign" that he is on his way back. And he didn't strike out once!

Michael Brantley stretched his streak to 16 today :) :) Not only that but he got his first hit early and then got ANOTHER hit to go 2 for 4! WITH an RBI and a run. Here's a weird thing, tho - he struck out twice. And he struck out twice yesterday. Trying too hard? Maybe. Someone send him a memo to chill out. You know - be smooth.

Johnny Damon was a useful member of the team today and got a 2-run homer.

Kotchman was crazy good in the field today, as usual. And he proved himself reliable at the plate going 1 for 4, which is near what his .222 average lead you to expect. So, above-average hitting by Kotchman today - with a bonus RBI!

Lonnie Chisenhall was not Chisenhall-esque exciting today - no homers, no stolen bases - but he was Kotchmen-esque exciting also going 1 for 4, just like Casey. Unlike Casey, that is slightly under average for him.

Josh Tomlin! Yeah, not only did he pitch 7 but he also got himself a RBI single, stinging one to right field just like the "professional hitters" before him! What's not to like about Tomlin's performance tonight?!

Guess what - the game is on FOX tomorrow so I get to watch AGAIN! Happy days! Normally I love the radio and in fact I listen to the radio during TV broadcasts anyway. But the arches....and Tom Hamilton is away for the weekend so I'm happy having the TV for the missing color.

Tom's away because he's in Eugene, Oregon watching the Golden Flashes play in the NCAA baseball semi-finals. His son, Nick, is the team's DH. If you haven't already, read these articles about Nick Hamilton from The Plain Dealer and The Akron Beacon Journal. Amazing kid with an amazing family. If you are a fan of Hammy's - and if you read this blog I'm pretty sure you are - then you're going to be one huge fan of Nick's. I can't wait to see that kid in a Tribe uniform! What a great attitude!

Anyway, I'll stop gushing. Tomorrow night is another one against the 2011 World Champions of Baseball, in their beautiful arch-y stadium. And bonus for all of us without cable - it's on FOX! Two nights in a row! Nobody better call me to tell me they ripped out their bathroom and need a hand (that's what happened last time I meant to chill and watch a game on a Saturday night.)

I will see you there - and that's a promise!

Radio Chatter:

"I'd assumed the Indians retired my number when I left, but Tomlin's out there wearing it."

- Scott Bailes

"There's a league rule that there has to be 2 minutes 30 seconds between innings. Westbrook hates that rule. He is ready at a minute and a half and has to wait around"

- Jim Rosenhaus

"He's got a shutout going... I bet he's more proud of that [RBI single]."

- Jim Rosenhaus on Josh Tomlin's hit

"The Cardinals, maybe they used up all their runs last night."

- Jim Rosenhaus on the Cardinals' 14-run game