Good Game, Greasemonkey!

Today was a nice game to show off our "team spirit" I think. Our ace pitcher was ace. Our crazy closer was nuts. Our slick star was starry. Our veteran big basher had a big bash. And in the end it was all the young kids who came around to win it.

Now, inbetween all that stuff it was kind of gut-wrenching having to listen to 1-1 baseball for the second-to-last game. One would want nothing else but to see a lot of action from both teams.

But we did get one thing we wanted and that is one more quality start from Masterson. He went 6 today and only gave up one earned run (a homer) on 4 hits and struck out 5. So...good. Bring that back with you next year, ok?!

If we were REALLY lucky we'd have Smith and Pestano pitch their two perfect innings (close - Vinnie gave up 2 hits) and then Perez shut it down but that didn't happen. He walked a guy then gave up a 2-run homer. Oops! Not a good day for him to be doing that. Then he beaned a guy up near the ear and all of Chicago (well, half of Chicago but all of the White Sox) gave him an earful. After the inning was over, he ran over to the guy he hit (and we all said "Uh oh...") and apologized and told him he didn't mean to hit him and they were cool.

He also apologized sort of for ripping on the management and basically said that Manny Acta was his problem. Huh. Dude definitely is the classic "bad boy" boyfriend - he keeps doing shitty stuff then getting out of it with sweet words.

Anyway I hope we still got Perez next year. He's our only excitement. And his intro graphics/music is awesome! I hope to see him tomorrow at the game, too.

So the White Sox's starter was pitching a no-hitter for a while until Choo broke that up with a homer in the 4th, and that was the only thing he gave up until Kipnis walked in the 7th. They brought him back in the 9th, after 104 pitches, and he proceeded to give up a single to Surprise Brantley...

Surprise!

...and then a 2-run homer to surprise Hafner!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! How cool was that, seriously? I hopped! I hooted! It was fun fun times!

I bet Chris Perez hollered loudest!

After that there were 3 more innings in which Barnes, Rogers and Seddon didn't give up any runs. All three have been pretty solid lately really. Barnes hasn't even given up a hit in 5 appearances. Rogers did have an upset yesterday but everybody had an upset yesterday. He pitches hard, too. Chris Seddon improves every time we see him. And - hair!

We did manage to get 5 hits off the Chicago relievers after getting just 3 off the starter. Jason Donald, who was in for Brantley who was in for Lillibridge who was in for the injured Brantley at center (work with me here) got a double in the 10th but Other Vinny couldn't hit him in.

The top of the lineup did nothing in the 11th or 12, and it was Chisenhall the second batter in the 12th who got on with a single. Then the Death Knell For Other Teams was sounded and they intentionally walked Russ Canzler. I have a small and un-tested (laziness) theory that most of the times other teams have put our guys on, it ends up costing them. I know it happened when I was at that Detroit game in September and I am pretty sure it happened again and oh yeah it happened tonight!

After Hannahan struck out (remember when he was our "clutch guy"?) Jason Donald - the greasemonkey! - got an RBI single and won the game!

Way to go greasemonkey!

You should watch the video, it's very feel-good. He tags first then runs towards the mob with his helmet off instead of waiting for the mob to come to him. He is very excited! Too bad it's not the last play of the last game but whatever - I'm excited to see what we'll do tomorrow!

Tomorrow I'll be at the game down by the plate. Probably will bring OMG ASDRUBAL!!! with me cuz why not? Look for us on TV! It'll be David Huff versus RHP (4.47). No problem, right? It's gonna be a real good time I think and I'm going with my bestie so you know we're gonna have fun no matter what!

See you there!!

Radio Chatter:
"Somebody tried to catch that [foul] ball and...somebody will be in a cast tomorrow."
- Tom Hamilton

"Ya hang a slider and this guy will make it 2-1 Chicago."
- Tom Hamilton on Dan Johnson

"This isn't exactly Usain Bolt but it's Jose Lopez pinch running for Dan Johnson."
- Tom Hamilton

"You could tell the hitter it's a slider and they wouldn't have a chance with this one the way Rogers is throwing it."
- Tom Hamilton

"Free Guinness for everybody if Hannhan ends it here!"
- Tom Hamilton in the 12th

Oh Neau...

I said yesterday that if we couldn't beat this pitcher today or at least make it a good game, we deserve to be in last place. Glad I threw that corollary in there else I'd be damning our boys to the basement right now.

We're still not in last place [scared smiley] but we're only one game ahead of the Twins.

Oh and did you see the football today? Yeah.

The baseball game was actually a good one with lots of runs being scored and stuff. A "see-saw battle" if you will. I don't think either team is known for pulling it out in the last moment this year but they're both known for not being able to hold on to a lead so something had to give by the end.

Manny Acta fielded 19 players today, 6 of them being pitchers. Kluber couldn't get out of the 4th, going just 3 2/3 innings and giving up 4 runs. Mauer and Morneau, man. Those guys must be married to women with ties to our organization or something because those dudes never have any problem trouncing us. Kluber gave up runs to those two in the third then came in and gave up 2 more runs in the 4th after a wild pitch and an error. Five runs were on the board to our 3, and he was gone.

Seddon made an appearance again and fared much better than yesterday, getting out Mauer to end the painful 4th and then Morneau to start the 5th. He had a 1-2-3 inning and, not to be trusted, was not asked back for the 6th.

Enter Esmil Rogers who is getting the buzz as the guy who will replace Perez (LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU) did us all a favor by looking sharp but then looked not-so-sharp. He mowed 'em down in the 6th and in the 7th had a lovely unassisted put-out on the field but got the bases loaded with the help of Mauer and Morneau and that was the end of his day.

Except of course when his day was slightly extended by Sipp letting 2 of his remaining guys score. Then Sipp had a 1-2-3 inning so I don't know what the hell everyone was up to. Good, bad, good, bad. Makes for ugly relief.

Vinnie was up for the 9th and we were tied and Morneau had not yet hit the homer part of the cycle when he came up to bat with two outs. Then he did hit that home run part of the cycle and everyone was very excited and the Twins won.

It was a 3-and-a-half-hour game, by the way. We mustered 8 hits, 6 walks and 7 runs in that time. Pretty cool but still not enough.

Choo didn't hit today but he ended up going 0 for 2 due to 2 walks. He also got a sac fly with an RBI.

Kipnis and Cabrera are no Mauer and Morneau. They were shut down except for a walk by Kipnis. Asdrubal left early due to something wrong with his hand. He was only DH-ing so it wasn't too hard to replace him with LaPorta - who got a hit! Hey hey! He went 1 for 2...but is still not batting .200 yet.

Cousin Michael of course got a hit because like, hey man, that's how he rolls. He also walked and came in to score both times he was on base...

...Because Santana was totally locked in today! After leaving EIGHT on base the other day, today he went 3 for 5 and got 2 RBI. Finally! He actually hadn't hit in this series for some reason, but he busted out in his first at-bat with a leadoff homer in the 2nd. BAM! He also had a double and a single.

Russ Canzler! Still "perfect" in September now with hits in all 7 games he's played here, which encompasses all of September thus far. Today he went 1 for 3 with an RBI but they pulled him in the 6th for Zeke. I don't know why - perhaps he complements Matt LaPorta in the lineup? Zeke didn't hit anything. I'm glad they at least waited for Canzler to get a hit before yanking him!

Brent Lillibridge was a bit of a surprise hero tonight! He went 1 for 2 with a double, an RBI and 2 runs. He scored on his double and also after being hit by a pitch. Then later on he had a sac fly for his RBI. Seeing Jamey Carroll play makes me miss having Jamey Carroll on our team but I think Lillibridge is a good approximation of him. Equally as funny-looking as well as unassuming and utilitarian. Except Jamey Carroll is hitting almost 70 points higher.

Donald was a bit of a surprise tonight too - he got a triple! An RBI triple! He also scored a run earlier in the game. Way to go, greasemonkey!

You know Manny Acta was serious about winning this game when he pulled Marson (R/R) for Kotchman (L/L) in the 8th, having to shuffle around catchers and stuff. Doesn't matter - neither dude hit anything today. Oh well.

Tomorrow is the decider. To decide if we are 2 games less bad than the Twins or equally as bad. The game's at 8:10 and it's Masterson versus RHP (3.36).I predict the game will rest on Masterson's shoulders if he can keep them to a run or two while we hope our bats eke out a few runs. If Masterson doesn't do well I don't think it's gonna happen for us.

Enjoy the extra hour off - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Anybody that is breathing and can throw will get a chance to pitch for the Twins in September."
- Tom Hamilton

"Why in the world is he throwing Lou Marson a 3-2 change up? He's your number nine hitter for a reason."
- Tom Hamilton

"The organ player is on her nineteenth cup of coffee."
- Tom Hamilton

"Between Vasquez's pitching and Doumit's catching, this game looks like it could be played in Fort Meyers or Goodyear."
- Tom Hamilton

"There might not be a worse staff in baseball at holding runners than the Indians' [staff]."
- Tom Hamilton

"How about this - the Minnesota Twins have the worst record in the American League and their fans are on their feet here for bases loaded."
- Tom Hamilton

"I tell you what the Indians have little guys that swing like they're 40 homer a year guys - Carrera, Donald, Lillibridge. That's the problem. Know thyself."
- Tom Hamilton

The Cody Allen Experience

Ubaldo had a really good game. For all intents and purposes a quality start, and nearly a complete game. He went 7 1/3 innings and only gave up 2 runs until he gave up 1 in the 8th then left a guy on that his reliever got home. Absolutely fantastic for Ubaldo, though, and that is 3 games in a row where our starters went 6 innings. He only struck out 3 but he also only walked one and didn't hit anyone! He gave up a homer but it was to Cabrera (geez) and was pretty perfect between that and letting it go in the 8th.

So Cody Allen started the year not giving up any runs until his 14th inning/13th appearance when he gave up 2. Then none, then 2, then he was back to giving up none again. Until today, when he was really put on the spot in the 8th. Acta grabbed him by the balls and said "Have fun!" and left him out there to face Cabrera with a guy on third. He did ok against Cabrera, which means he didn't give up a homer. Unfortunately he gave up the sac fly. Then he met Prince Fielder who hit him out of the park. Then two singles and Peralta with a 2-run double. Five runs later it was over and the game was super out of reach for the Tribe, who had one more turn to bat.

What does this show us about Cody Allen? I have no friggin clue! He's human, there's that. He's not a closer? He's no good in super high pressure situations? He can't keep a lit on heavy hitters?

I do want to see him next year, though. I predict a decent end to his season to match the beginning of it. Hopefully he's going to spend all of his off day studying his tape and getting some fixes in place so this doesn't happen again. Good call on Manny for keeping him out there, though. Tom Hamilton is right - we've got nothing to lose now, let's throw guys out there and see what happens!

Today's game really was about the pitching, on both sides, as Doug Fister continues to have our number. Only 4 hits and 2 walks and that was it. The game was over in just under 2.5 hours - there were a lot of 1-2-3 innings for both side.

 Kipnis was awesome again tonight going 2 for 4 and scoring the lone run! He's got a 5-game hitting streak and 8 hits in those games! That means he's gotten a hit in every game in September - remember, he hit .180 in August. Rock!

Choo had a rough go of it tonight going 0 for 4, even though he's batting .500 against Fister over the past 5 years. Asdrubal didn't fare much better tonight, going 0 for 3 with a walk and leaving 2 on base. He doesn't have a good history versus Fister, though. In fact, no one but Choo does. Choo broke his little 6-game hitting streak tonight.

Santana is as hot as Kipnis, also with a 5-game hitting streak for the month of September and also with 8 hits in that time, including 1 tonight!

Brantley is also "hot" in September with a hit in each of the 4 games he's appeared in. Tonight he got the team's only RBI, because he rocks. :)

The kids from Columbus rounded out the order tonight - including Cord Phelps! Did you know he appeared in 35 games last year? Yeah, me neither. He was doing pretty well in CBus with a .276 average, but he was shut down tonight. So were LaPorta, Carrera and Donald. Bringing in Hannahan and Kotchman to show them what's what didn't get any what done.

Special props to Jason Donald, the greasemonkey, for this spectacular play at third, diving into the stands and making the out. Oh yeah and leaping into the air to make this catch. Way to go, kid!  If only he could bat a little bit better, I'd be much less worried about the eventual loss of Hannahan.

So we didn't sweep the Tigers but we did give 'em a run for their money. We did test out a lot of young guys against two good teams, too. So I think it's been a good 6 games.

Tomorrow is a day off and then it's on to Minnesota to face the Twins and hopefully HOPEFULLY push them further away from us into the basement. It's pretty critical and I think we're in a good spot to do it.

Have a nice day off tomorrow and I'll see you at 8:10 Thursday for the return of the return of Jeanmar versus RHP (6.11). A guy with no wins. We've GOT this!!!

See you there!

No Radio Chatter today. I had so many chores to do, dang. I STILL have to take a shower and finish my laundry yet!

Shelley No More

Shelley Duncan was designated for assignment, guys.

WAT?!

That doesn't necessarily mean that he's gone forever. That's what it meant for Johnny Damon and Derek Lowe and Jose Lopez this year...but it doesn't have to come to that. He also could be released and come back again some other time or even traded away and traded back, like Austin Kearns!

DFA'd for Jeanmar Gomez. Gah. Gomez better have been fitted with a cannon on his arm to justify this, is all I gotta say.

Tom Hamilton did say that the entire team was pretty bummed to see him go. He is really well-liked. I still want to know what the people who make the decisions knew that we didn't know. Why didn't he get to play every day? Why did they spend the entire season and spring saying "WE HAVE NO LEFT FIELDER!"?

Of course this is mostly Johnny Damon's fault, and I'll never forgive him for it. But I can't dislike the man more than I already do so the point is pretty much moot.

Hey, Corey Kluber had a not-too-bad game today! He had 3 earned runs in 6 innings, which is way better than 6 in 3 innings (it's happened!) And he struck out 7!

The rest of the guys didn't look so impressive...Cody Allen has lost his magic. He gave up 2 runs in just 1 inning, which would be the losing run and its cousin. He did strike out the 3 guys that didn't get hits. Good try?

Jeanmar Gomez came in for the 8th, courtesy of Shelley Duncan. He didn't give up any runs or any hits and struck out one. What else is there to say?

Poor Vinnie came in for the 9th and gave up 2 runs. Holy smokes! The dude is just wasting away in the bullpen I suspect. He struck 1 out too, and the staff struck out a total of 12 today. That's pretty crazy - I guess the last time (before last night) we struck out 16 and lost was a game Bob Feller pitched. I can only imagine what sort of new words he taught the younger players that day!

The game started off pretty promising. In the pre-game "Ask The Manager" show Manny Acta described some special game the guys played instead of batting practice, to help them loosen up. Choo and Cabrera were captains and they picked teams and they played a simulated baseball game of some sort. Not sure exactly what it entailed but it sounded super neat. If only I was able to go to batting practice TODAY!! The losing team had to collect all the balls from the field.

I bet everyone was like "Man, you know who would dig this? Shelley would dig this. Man I miss that guy."

Regardless, they did say that the players were laughing and trash-talking and in the best mood they'd been in since the slide started. And then the game rolled around and it was a rough start (Asdrubal got thrown out of the game for arguing strikes) but they score in the third. First off Jason Donald's weak-but-it-counts solo homer, followed by Zeke absolutely screaming around the bases to get a triple (I didn't see it but I couldn't believe it when they said he was already at second!) and Kipnis actually hitting him in to score a second run on a fielder's choice. Hurrah! Teamwork!

Then that was pretty much it except for a walk and a hit-by-pitch. In the 7th they put together 2 singles to start the inning but nothing came of it.

In the 8th there was some more action, with bases loaded and no outs. Bases got loaded on some way goofy error that is not a video highlight. I don't know why...aside from Donald's homer this is the only Indians offensive highlight video from tonight. It's a video of Kotchman hitting a slow roller to the second baseman while Marson scores. Yawn yawn and double yawn! Why not show how Michael Brantley got on base before that? Why not show Zeke's triple? Bad video picks!

Anyway so Kotch got a sac ground out and Marson scored. Before that Lillibridge had a sac fly and Choo scored. In case you didn't follow, that is TWO runs with bases loaded and no outs!! HOLY MOLEY I think they got it! Very sad that we have to be excited for two sacrifice RBIs (in fact, 3 of our 4 runs today were sacrifice) but considering our non-ability for scoring with bases loaded this is pretty exciting. Next stop - bases-loaded singles!

Zeke got a double in the 9th, giving him 2 extra-base hits on the night. And I guess that's why Shelley is gone. Dude's had 3 triples in 23 games with the Indians this year. Shelley had 11 homers, though (in 81 games).

Michael Brantley did not get a hit, in case you were curious. He did walk, though.

They managed to score 4 runs today which is the most runs they've scored since the 18th when they scored 5 against the A's in Oakland. That was 9 games ago. It's also the first runs they've scored since Sunday.

So did the little pick-up game before the real game help? Probably. It is definitely about relaxing right now. I think now that there is no more playoff dreams, they are all worried about keeping their jobs. Understandable, I guess.

Tomorrow is Justin Masterson versus RHP (3.52). I actually have a good feeling about the game. We've got a little hitting momentum, Masterson is on an upswing (his new pattern seems to be 2 good games and 1 bad, and he was bad just 2 outings ago).

It's a 12:05 game tomorrow. I hope people show up! The weather will be good. I'll be listening from work - see you there!

Oh as a tribute to Shelley Duncan - who no doubt enjoyed a good Nerf gun - and also to get more hits on my blog, I am going to share a secret I discovered today for modifying a Nerf Big Bad Bow.

I'll hide it for you, though, if you don't care. Click here to view.

I read the instructions found at this Instructable but it was kind of weak. Then I checked out this You Tube video which had good hints, but just said I needed 1/2" PVC pipe. Well, he must have meant 1/2" outer-dimension because no way does a 1/2" inner-dimension pipe fit inside the muzzle of that gun. Also 1/2" ID is too big for a dart - if you're not careful you'd lose the dart in there. AND if you use a big long piece of pipe you can't put an arrow on your bow anymore.

At the last minute I picked up one of these things: a 3/8" to 1/2" copper coupling. That ended up being the perfect thing!

The small end fits into the muzzle of the gun and the wide end accepts a dart snugly (I have whistler darts) . The more snug it fits, the better it shoots. Taking out the air restrictor as shown in the instructions above plus adding the snug (but short) tip gives you a way to shoot darts crazy far. And you can still shoot arrows crazy far! I only shot as far as my house is wide (uh, 25 feet?) but the darts were blasting out for realz. Oh and now your silly plastic weapon has a sweet copper tip.

Modified Nerf Big Bad Bow

Very cool - can't wait to try it out in my backyard tomorrow. Now I have something to do with my time on a day with no baseball game.

Radio Chatter:
"It looks like Bartolo Colon ate Popeye."
- Tom Hamilton says Colon didn't get good on spinach

"One thing about [umpire] Gary Darling - he's got every hitter on both sides talking to themselves."
- Tom Hamilton

"How on earth does somebody from New Jersey qualify for a higher academic institution like that? Explain it, Rosie."
"There are some people that can be very persuasive."
"Is the guy's name Guido?"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus riff on New Jersey

"What is wrong with you tonight?"
"What's wrong with me? It's 6 to 2. I gotta pick on somebody."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton

"You can't argue dumb baseball. Might as well go back to the dugout."
- Tom Hamilton on the goofy play in the 8th

Click Here for the Good News

A rundown of good things from today's game...

- Kluber sucked, wow. And so did Tomlin. But the good news is that he's Corey Kluber and not our "ace" (Masterson) nor is he the guy we paid a lot of money for to save us (Jiminez). He's just some kid that had to come up because Lowe was toast and Tomlin was failing. Oh and Tomlin did bad because Tomlin is failing.

- Cody Allen still pitching 0.00, now over 11 innings.

- Santana in left. Ha!

- John Lester had a hell of a game. He was pitching like people had hoped he would pitch but he never actually did pitch. Perhaps we could have eked out more than 1 run but it wasn't likely. I don't think we can necessarily say there was bad batting today.

- Ha!

- Jason Donald is still showing up, going 1 for 4 today. Not sure how long he will keep it up (not like he's a stuperstar or anything...) but good to see him not totally failing.

- Zeke is also still showing up and not a fluke. He went 1 for 2 today with a walk and a double. Batting .393.

- There wasn't a pitching meltdown on Gaylord Perry day, because that would have been embarrassing. Although he would have had some fantastically southern things to say about it.

- It was a lovely day. The weather turned out to be nice, I hung out on a playground with my niece. I ate a piece of cake. Couldn't really let a baseball game turn it sour. Hope you didn't either!

Onward and upward to tomorrow. The boys are no doubt already in Anaheim to play the Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim. Or the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles? I hope you all brought your sleeping bags because it'll be 9 days of late games (4:05 Sunday woohoo!) against the Angels, A's and Mariners.

Tomorrow (yeah, no day off!) is Masterson versus LHP (3.34) who has been struggling lately. Behind Justin will no doubt be a team ready to rip the cover off the ball. Yeah!

10:05 - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"You can almost gaurantee that's what Acta went to the mound to tell Kluber and Marson - 'Hey, fix it up! Didn't you learn anything from Kansas City?'"
- Tom Hamilton in the first inning

"If everybody in the ballpark can see you're upset with the umpires, good luck getting any close calls."
- Tom Hamilton

"Starting to look like a spring training scorecard with all the changes."
- Tom Hamilton in the 6th

"Well we told you he's never been out there before and he looks like it."
- Tom Hamilton on Santana's catch in left

"This is one game that is certainly not going to go into anyone's scrapbook if you're an Indians player or fan."
- Tom Hamilton

Streak!

Another good-looking game! Everyone was playing their hearts out and whatever nastiness that was infecting the pitchers, fielders and batters now has turned in to niceness and everyone is playing like we know this team can!

Chris Perez has been clean-shaven for 2 days now. Is he the new Dr. "Smooth"? His chin is 2-0!

Not Chris Seddon

I wonder what they're going to do with the Perez scoreboard silhouette thingy? The one I haven't gotten a picture of and can't find online. It's beardy, you know.
 
Check it out! >>> Everybody Hits today! Yeah Shelley didn't hit but the guy who came in for him got a hit and that's house rules around here. Everybody Hits!

It's been A MONTH and five days since Everybody Hits! Wow!

Huge shout out to Ubaldo Jiminez who did what we thought he would do until he started not doing it at all until sometimes he did but today he did it better than ever. Got me? He went 6 innings and struck out 10. TEN! That's the most for him this year and matches the team's high for a starter in 2012, which was also 10 by Masterson way back on April 5. He only walked 1 and even better gave up just 3 runs. And two of them were on a homer by A-Gon who is paid to hit homers.

Pitching coach Scott Radinsky was let go today and the AAA Columbus coach, Ruben Niebla is up to replace him. Surely Radinsky isn't the linchpin for the total collapse of the team but I'm guessing he was made an example of. I did talk yesterday about how someone behind the scenes had to go and I agree with getting rid of Radinsky. Let's hope that something good does come out of it, though. Maybe this Niebla is a total hardass.

Tweets from beat writer Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian): 

Ubaldo, on Radinsky firing: "He did everything possible. It's my fault. It's all the starting pitchers' fault. We haven't been consistent."

Chris Perez, on recent 11-game losing streak: "During that streak, it's like a cancer. We looked like we forgot how to play ball, honestly."

Good. Let's go out there and win it for Radinsky - every day for the rest of the season.

Our bullpen was aces tonight, and I don't mean Smith-Pestano-Perez. I mean SIPP-Pestano-Perez yes I do! Tony came in for the 7th after Ubaldo gave up a leadoff double. Then he struck a guy out and then the next guy grounded in to a double play ... technically. 'Cuz it wasn't no 6-4-3 double play it was 6-5-6-4 with a rundown and then a good throw to get Carl Crawford trying to sneak in behind it.

Pestano gave up a hit and also hit a batter. I think he was all "I hate running all the way out here then just mowing them down one-two-three, so let's make it exciting!" He got those 2 guys on base with one out then he was done. And when Vinnie's done I mean the other team was done!

Perez got his 30th save by doing what he does, except this time he didn't give up a hit or anything he just got 2 pop outs and a ground out. BALLGAME!

So get this - Jason Kipnis was taken out of the lineup today at the last minute because he had a stiff neck. Purportedly from sleeping funny. I dig that - sometimes if I get a stiff neck from sleeping I definitely make it worse by fiddling with it all day. Anyway they had just brought Donald up and were like "ok play 2nd today and lead off." And you know what that greasy little dude did? He got a leadoff homer and then later in the game got a RBI fielder's choice. Really! For the night he was 1 for 4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI.

Oh, stop worrying, Worried Jason Kipnis! Jason Donald is NOT going to steal your job! You're our best dirtbag!

Asdrubal was clutch today, only going 1 for 4 but it was a big one! An RBI double that started a 3-run rally in the 5th, which was all we needed behind the awesome pitching. Plus Asdrubal was tight in the field, of course!

OMG you guys, gotta check out this video here. I've been being obnoxious on Twitter today trying to get Kipnis or @Indians to relay the message to Choo that he needs to use this song as his at-bat music. Hit play and let it go while you read the rest of this post!

Right? He's totally manly enough to rock that when he comes to the plate! No need to hide behind Rage Against The Machine!

Anyway Choo was slightly stymied today, just going 1 for 4 with a walk. Not bad but he didn't get any runs or RBI. It wouldn't look so bad if that song was playing in the background, amirite? Hey why aren't you still playing that song??

Santana had it going on tonight, for real - 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI. His average is out of the .230s! He was the DH and he totally did as a DH should do, ending up with 0 LOB of his own.

Brantley got his 34th double, which was his only hit of the night but he had both a great sac fly with bases loaded, and a back-to-the-plate catch in late innings. He's the total package! Oh yeah and he's on an 8-game hitting streak :)

Shelley Duncan was totally felling the pressure tonight. I don't know, maybe he doesn't like playing left field and batting. Just too much. They took him out in the 7th and put Zeke in. Then in the 8th Zeke got a lead-off single and came around to score. But hey you know if they played Shelley every day he'd be better every day! I promise!

Brent Lillibridge is here to stay for the rest of his season. He's gotta be - there's not much more fat we can trim! So we'll root for him. He's no threat to the complete fabric of the team like Johnny Damon was. Woohoo! Lillibridge went 1 for 3 today!

You know what? I heard rumblings of LaPorta or Canzler coming up when they take the bullpen back down to 7. I hope it's Canzler so we can have Kotchman, Kipnis, Cabrera, Canzler. Even more fun when Kluber pitches. Stuff like that makes me miss Herb Score on the radio!

Kotchman was on it today, being reliable again going 1 for 3, which is .062 better than his average would allow. So - way to beat the odds, Casey!

Sweet Lou was in catching again. He's actually seeing a lot more time right now with Hafner out and Santana able to DH or play first. But he's done with the hot streak he had in June, going 1 for 3 tonight and just 1 for his last 9. But whatever - he's still our guy. How could you not like this guy?

Ping!

So that's two games in a row now where the guys clearly put everything out there AND it all worked. I'm sure over the 11-game streak they were trying to put it all out there but it fell to pieces. But these last two games just felt different. Did you feel it?

Tomorrow I'm going to give blood, and my good blood vein is in my right arm. It's an inch above the temp tattoo I plastered on there Tuesday night. Hmm...so I either have to scrape off the worn-out-looking Wahoo or I need to let them try to stick my left arm. I'd say the Wahoo has been good luck but I put it on before we lost on Tuesday. It's not some sort of The Last Leaf thing either where they score fewer runs the more Wahoo wears away (5, 6, 5). I think probably being able to successfully donate blood will trump having some worn-out temp tattoo anyway. I'm an adult, after all.

Meaning of course I can buy more!

Tomorrow is FNG Chris Seddon versus RHP (4.48). If you recall he pitched a relief inning the other night. I also saw him warming up Choo between innings in the outfield. So either he's being worked hard or he's trying hard so let's give him a big hurrah and hope he can follow these last two - three - outstanding starting performances!!

By the way good job to the 19k+ fans out were out there tonight! Yes, many of you dumbasses were cheering for "your" Red Sox but there was a great deal of fervor for the Tribe. Fireworks tomorrow - I hope there's even more rooting for the good guys!

It's a 7:05 game - see you there!

No Radio Chatter tonight. I was hanging out with my bro. Listening to the game of course but mostly the crescendos. The best chatter is in the lows.

For You, Justin

Hey did you notice I updated the Everybody Hits box, like a few hours ago? Because everyone had a hit by the 7th inning. And it turned out to be the game-winner, too!

Crazy game tonight. West coast night games always seem crazy, just listening to baseball at midnight. The craziest part was that Justin Masterson sucked. No wait - the craziest part was that Justin Masterson sucked and we still won!

Masterson was fine for the first two innings. He had nine pitches in the first. In the third he walked a guy then gave up a homer and never seemed to recover. In the 4th he gave up 6 runs. Yeah - Justin Masterson gave up 6 runs! He walked a run in, he hit a guy to get a run in. Fucking crazy...but, hey, he's good. We know he's good. He'll get good again. He was amazing in his last game and the rest of the team lost it for him so we owe him one.

In comes Nick Hagadone for relief. Why he wasn't already up here before today, I do not know (but I'm sure people who know things knew why). I thought he was great last year. They opted to bring him up from the minors when Asdrubal had to cut out on a 6-day bereavement leave (his abeulo died. That's Venezuelan for grandpa). SMART move by whoever made that move and I was already applauding it before Masterson had his meltdown. Our bullpen is not "the bullpen" yet and a good fresh arm was just what it needed.

Anyway so Hagadone - who is from Seattle - no not acquired from the Mariners, I mean he grew up there - got off a plane just today and is back pitching in the big leagues. He pitched an inning and a third and struck out two. In that third of an inning the bases were juiced and he got out of it. Welcome back!

They had to employ the rest of the bullpen for 4 innings, which is not how we wanted to start this trip, but they did good pitching about 20 each and not giving up any runs. Chris Perez tho, man...he got himself into one hell of a pickle. Of course it was partly to blame on a grounder off Jason Donald's face but a closer shouldn't have to worry about guys on 3rd base. Yeesh!

So yeah the boys were back hitting like madmen again today. Brantley once again got on base out of the gate and was like "let's go everybody!" He was so excited he stole a base and was able to score off that move on a single from Hafner. Hafner once again hitting singles and making them COUNT! He went 2 for 5 tonight, keeping that average up over .300.

So it was scary and sad when Masterson gave up two in the third and then six in the fourth. We came up in the fifth down seven runs. Mother! That is not a deficit the first-week-of-baseball Indians could overcome. Now, it's sort of no problem for the against-the-Royals Indians to handle but as you could tell from the distinct lack of barbeque smell in the air, we were not in Kansas City anymore.

Turns out the guys brought their bats to Seattle. Even without Asdrubal and having both Donald and Kipnis in the lineup they still got it done.

Casey Kotchman did not have a home run nor did he steal a base today. Ah well, perhaps only on weekends.

Carlos Santana, on the other hand, DID have a home run. A big, beautiful 3-run home run that brought us within ONE run of the Mariners and all but erased Justin's shitty start.

After careful contemplation, Duncan walked and Supermanahan got him to third with a double (yes, good, do not send Duncan in that situation). Then Jason DONALD of all people came up and did the right thing by hitting a sac fly and got Shelley Duncan in and the game was tied.

Later on, Travis Hafner had another productive single. After careful contemplation, Shelley Duncan walked again. Tom Hamilton would later go on to say that his fielding is just fine, maybe even great. TOM HAMILTON KNOWS THE SCORE.

Hannahan and Kotchman failed to do anything, but then came Jason Donald and we all said "erp, Jason Doald." Then he proceeded to get a single and hit in the go-ahead run after graciously hitting in the tying run just innings earlier!

I will now cease mentioning his greasy hair and goofy smile because he did that. And he did not completely suck at short. But he does have weird greasy hair. And look at this shit:

Otherwise, we love you Jason Donald!

So there was that and it was only the 7th inning when that happened and we had to wait aaaaaaallll the way until the 9th inning and through 3 relievers and until 1:30 to finally hear that sweet sweet "BALLGAME!" meaning "you can go to bed happy tonight."

Tomorrow is Lowe which means good things for us because so far we have proven that he can pitch and the team can hit so it's a match made in heaven, like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. I predict another 8-inning game for the old man. We're also already slipping super way behind in home runs so we need like...4 home runs tomorrow. Maybe Jason Donald will hit one!

Good night and good job to all of you who stayed up. See you later today!

Radio Chatter:
"Kevin Milwood - you can tell he's 37 years old. The fast ball is 88, 89 miles per hour."
- Tom Hamilton

"You have to earn your home runs here. There are no cheapies."
- Tom Hamilton

"We hear some boo-birds among the paying customers here."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"He's come to the right city. They just open up a vein and pour the coffee in you in this city."
- Tom Hamilton on Nick Hagadone's rush trip to Seattle

"[Seattle catcher] Montero looks like Rosie in the kitchen when his wife flips him a red hot potato from the oven."
"How do you know what we do for evening entertainment?"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus

Fan Appreciation Day...

...Was awesome! This is the third year in the row that I've gone to the last home game of the year and it seems to get better every year.

The deal was that players would be greeting fans at the gates from 11:30-12, so my friend and I left the 'burbs around 10:30 to get there on time. We left extra early because there was a Browns game downtown too and it was a good call on her part because we did hit traffic.

We got there with time to spare so we were able to mill around the Kids Fun Days area in the plaza. Not sure what this is all about as I don't have a kid (but my friend does so believe me we'll be back) but they were giving out all sorts of free stuff to kids and adults. We got nice canvas bags and an Indians scarf, plus we got to create a Christmas card to be sent to troops. We also could have gotten a foam visor and made a keychain but...meh.

There were extremely large snakes being shown off, just slithering down the alley. That was cool. My friend disagreed.

So around 11:40 they had the players come out and let the fans through the gate. Our gate featured Zach Putnam (actually it was "Who Was That?" until I just now looked it up), Justin Masterson and Jim Thome. This group did not include Perez, Shelley or Asdrubal so we ran through to another gate where we found Perez, Grady and Sipp. I wanted to take a picture of myself with Perez but I heard an usher tell someone no pictures with adults so, fair enough. They also said no autographs. The guys were handing out short packs of baseball cards. I got this picture:

I got another picture but my phone screwed it up. But anyway, Chris Perez did shake my hand. He's got some big paws! I've got big paws myself so it's nice to see that our closer dominates me in the hand area.

Then we ran over to the third gate where Ubaldo was having a great time having his photo taken with fans. If Asdrubal and Shelley had been there they were long gone and it was just Ubaldo and some coaches. And that was that.

Then we went to eat in the Terrace Club because our tickets allowed it. I'm pretty much done with the Terrace Club. Yeah, it's a nice place to sit down if you've got an hour to blow but the menu is very small, the food is not that good and it's expensive. And the service was super slow. Had they no idea that we had someplace to be?! Anyway...I think I am just going to stick with concessions anymore.


But not the hamburgers because they suck. After 11 games this season my pick for non-hotdog foods worth eating at the ballpark so far are the "Food Network" steak sandwiches (blue cheese - yum!) and the cotton candy.

I did try some stuff from the new "App Store" (they sell fried everything, except fried mozzarella!) and it was good but I am not a huge fan of fried food. I got the "trio" with  fried cookie dough, fried Twinkie and "funnel fries." One of those "good in the moment" food choices but by the drive home you question your decision. I wish I would have gone with their September "Fried Food of the Month" - fried mac & cheese. Oh well - next year!

Our seats were awesome, I got them off StubHub. Third row right behind the plate. The crowd there was sparse...I suspect season-ticket-holders or corporate clients must get bored by this time of the year. Plus there was a Browns game.

The seats behind the plate don't seem to get much sun...so it smells moldy back there! Really, $80/seat and it's moldy! Then again maybe that's just a September thing.

I trucked OMG around with me all morning (actually my friend did a lot of trucking for me!) but Asdrubal didn't play. First time that's happened! But since the 2 seats next to us were open, OMG sat there. I think it would have been EPIC to be able to put the sign to use being where we were situated (we actually were on TV quite a bit!) but alas...

Wouldn't you have loved to see OMG right there?

I did have my foam broom, my "Tribe Time Now" towel and some weird necklace consisting of beads and a plaster Chief Wahoo that I got at a garage sale early in the summer. None of these talismans seemed to work any sort of magic...

So there was a baseball game going on at this baseball game, which was also fun.

Good Fausto pitched 6 1/3, and after a shaky first he sailed through giving up just one run in the 5th and one in the 6th. The bullpen came in and did awesome (Raffy, Pestano, Smith) but our recently-hot bats couldn't overcome that deficit. We were tied and went into extra innings, and Sipp couldn't hold it in the 10th and then we couldn't heroic ourselves out of that, bat-wise.

The Twins had 2 more hits than us and that proved to make all the difference.

Fukudome was back to being awesome leadoff guy man, at least when he went 2 for 2 in his first 2 at-bats. Unfortunately this didn't lead to any run scoring. But he did do a lot of work out there in the outfield...that also came in the first 2 innings with 4 balls going out to him. Then he got his hits to right!

Santana and Hafner both went 1 for 4 and walked. Only Hafner managed to get any runs out of it - he came around to score twice.

Oh, do you know why? Because Shelley Duncan bats after Hafner and he rocks! Shelley went 3 for 2 today with a homer and 2 RBI. That makes, oh, TWENTY-TWO RBI in the month of September! And 7 homers in 72 at-bats. How about that?!

He tried in vain to make one of his patented "Did I do that?" catches in the outfield but it didn't work out so well this time. He put that paw up in the air and did not come down with a baseball this time. Instead the other guy came down with a triple. Oops!

My dad - who has not been paying attention this year - asked why he missed the catch if he was such a great outfielder. I said it was because he is not actually a great outfielder, just tall.

So in the 8th they took out Duncan (yep, Duncan, not Hafner) and put in Thome. Manny Acta apparently had been thinking about this bit of cleverness all night. Tom Hamilton and Mike Hegan said how nice it was that Manny Acta "gets it." We all got to give Thome more ovation wheee!

Then Thome was walked and we got to boo. Then Chisenhall hit into a double play and that was that. That really killed me because we were tied and there was a man on base and who else but Shelley Duncan would you want up in this scenario? We got Thome instead. But oh well, the season's over I am not going to be bitchy about that move.

Then Thome came out of the dugout with a glove and stood at third. I guess this was Manny's master plan for TWO ovations! Because we all loved Thome as a fielder (?). But anyway, he stayed in for one pitch then they shoved a very confused Jerad Head out there and told him to go to left and called Lonnie back in to third. And then the crowd booed because, goddammit, if you're going to put Thome in to play third LET (MAKE) HIM PLAY THIRD! At least one whole batter, something! Standing there for one pitch is just stupid. Even if he plays and fucking sucks, we all at least get a good laugh out of it.Acta gave up on the game by taking Shelley out so why not stick with the theme and let Thome play an out? Ack.

That was the first time in my life that I've ever been slightly sickened by the whole idea of the designated hitter. A 41-year-old man with an $3mm contract who can't play one out in the field? Seriously?

Sorry for the un-positiveness. And Thome-hating! Argh what is my issue?!

Awwww, I'm tellin'!

Anyway, Lonnie did get a hit today and Jason Donald rocked it going 2 for 3. He's now hitting .320 and has a 5-game hitting streak with 9 hits in those 5 games!

Sweet Lou, he did not get a hit. But he seemed to look and smile at me between every play. He really appreciated my heckling encouragement now that I was sitting so close. He actually had 3 hits that, had they been an inch either way, would have actually ended up as hits but not outs. Poor Lou!

It started raining during the Tribe's last at-bat. It had actually sprinkled during the Twins' first at-bat. My friend and I tried to get in line to run the bases but...well so did 20,000 other people. Next time!

 All in all, I had a great afternoon at the ballpark. I had a great summer at the ballpark! Every time I sat in a different section and had a different experience. I saw a bunch of different types of games and, according to my calculations, saw 37 different players. Maybe even more! I tried a lot of food and a lot of Diet Dr Pepper and managed not to collect any more collectible cups because I have 10 already and that is a full set.

I took 11 different friends with me to these 11 games, one of them going to her first game ever and ended up going to 5 total this summer! I also got Baby Jack into a game who not only went to his first game but also got to hang with the Hargroves. I met Hammy, Hegan and Rosie and got my sign on the big board a few times. I got sunburnt and rained on and watched some milestones hit and records broken.

I hope next year I get to take my niece and some of my friends' kids to games. I already started devising a plan where they pick me up at the Rapid station and leave when they've had enough and I stay to the end and take the train home. I also think next year I will buy more StubHub tickets and try for autographs.

And I definitely, definitely will get Shelley to autograph my foul ball.

So we've got 3 more games in Detroit then we're done. Don't forget to tune in for the next 3 days to get as much Cleveland baseball out of this year as possible.

Remember this...even if we lose the next 3, you still got 6 whole months of Cleveland baseball. Don't be a sour puss - be positive!

So, see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Shelley Duncan knows he should have caught that ball."
"Everybody in the ballpark knows."
- Mike Hegan and Tom Hamilton on Duncan's missed ball in the first

"You aren't going to tell me that Jim Thome is going to come in and pinch run for Travis Hafner are you?"
"That would surprise everyone. Jimmy would be surprised too!"
- Mike Hegan and Tom Hamilton on Acta's "surprise"

"Lou Marson's gonna say 'What do I have to do to get a base hit?'"
- Mike Hegan says bloop hits and line drive outs do not even out

"Just another day in the office for Duncan in September. He's 2 for 2 with a home run and 2 RBI."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"Oh for the love of Pete...ball two! Here comes Tim Belcher. I bet Belcher is hoping the home plate umpire comes out there. This is absurd..."
"And the home plate umpire isn't going."
"He knows better."
"He's telling Perez 'as soon as he gets to the dirt area, tell me and I'm going to turn around.'"
- Tom Hamilton and Mike Hegan (and Tim Belcher) are not impressed with the young ump behind the plate

"Oh please don't let it end with me getting hit..."
"If it does, do you want those golf balls?"
- Mike Hegan and Tom Hamilton on a foul ball hit in to the booth

"This is a situation where the heart rules the head."
- Mike Hegan on the display of Thome in the 8th

What Was That?

I mean really, Chad Durbin - what was that?

Four runs off three homers in the 8th? That does not a good reliever make! I hope there is some sort of punishment ritual in your little mafia group...

Ubaldo actually wasn't too bad. He did give up 4 but only 1 until the 7th when he gave up 3. They left him in just slightly too long. He did strike out 7. Did you know he averages 9 strikeouts per 9 innings with the Indians? That's pretty awesome - he leads our starters by 2.5. Vinnie Pestano leads the bullpen with 12, if you were wondering.

Our hitting was all over the place today, with no one getting multiple hits but 8 different guys getting at least one.

Asdrubal wasn't in today. He went around telling everyone he was just fine but Manny sat him. They say he'll be in tomorrow, which better be the case because me and OMG are going to the game!

Fukudome was the leadoff tonight with Kipnis following. Both guys got doubles, and Kipnis with an RBI. As you can imagine, they didn't put those doubles TOGETHER so they didn't amount to much. Kipnis also had a base-running error after his double which would have amounted to a run if he had stayed on. Oops!

Santana was third. Have we seen him there yet? Not a bad idea if Asdrubal's out (or slumpy) and Pronk is in. Santana was on when Hafner belted a 2-run dinger (minus Kipnis).

Hafner has 2 homers in his last 2 games and 8 RBI in his last 4 games! Woah! The whole top of the order has been doing pretty well lately. Even with Donald further down the lineup and Asdrubal out, they got all the RBIs tonight.

Nice to see the top of the lineup looking good, with Brantley and Asdrubal gone.

Remember Michael Brantley? He was really good. Like, REALLY good. I can't wait to see him next year...

Donald was down in the 6-spot today. Coming in to the game he had hit 7 in his last 9 at-bats and after tonight it's 8 for the last 12. Wow! He's hitting .311 and I don't think it's a fluke...

Who's going to be the infield next year, then? Because Donald was slated to play 3rd but Hannahan rocked and now Kipnis and Donald are sort of fighting for 2nd. Let's not forget Chisenhall, either. (Valbuena who?) Jim Rosenhaus said "It's a good problem for Manny Acta to have." I agree, I just hope that we can hang on to this depth and make the right choices!

Sweet Lou started and went 1 for 3, and then we got a glimpse of Super Jack pinch hitting. Hi, Jack!

The game could have been a lot better, all-in-all, but we weren't quite hitting Buehrle like we did last time and well...DURBIN!!!

Oh well...going to the game tomorrow where Buehrle is not pitching. Jeanmar (who's been great!) versus Huber. I'll be in the top deck right over the plate. Please oh please oh please don't fall...

Let's hope we can come away with a split. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"He looks like he's chopped some wood in his past."
- Mike Hegan on Jason Kipnis

"It's a good problem for Manny Acta to have - 4 good players for 3 infield positions."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Jason Donald's new role

"Hey may have hit that as high as he did far!"
- Tom Hamilton on Hafner's homer

"Lou Marson put down 5 fingers, which is something I've never seen a catcher have to do."
- Mike Hegan on Jiminez's immense repertoire

"You haven't had that good a year, Alex. No one's trying to hit you."
- Tom Hamilton tells Alex Rios to stop bending out of the way of strikes

"Hope you're enjoying the ambiance of a screechy in-house PA system. Just wanted to give you the ambiance of the ballpark."
- Tom Hamilton

Too Few

Too few runs scored. Too few good bullpen guys at the moment. Too few Asdrubals in the second game. All too few.

Zach McAllister brought his ERA down some 4 points today by only giving up 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings. He actually hadn't given up any runs on his exit but left two guys in for Raffy to send home. He had a great game, I think. And he picked Omar Vizquel off second!

Then Raffy gave up one of his own which was all...what? The next 3 guys were newbies - Putnam, Hagadone and Judy. Hagadone and Judy have had a little bit more work than Putnam (maybe one game each) and he gave up 2 while the other guys managed to put a lid on it.

Putnam and Judy did hit THREE guys in their 1 1/3 innings. Ooops....

Didn't matter tho because 5 runs was too much for our old beat-up team to overcome. We did get 4, however.

Jason Donald was FUCKING AWESOME tonight going 4 for 5. Unfortunately there were too few hits before and after him, giving him just one run and no RBI. That gives him 12 hits in his last 10 games tho. I wonder what that means for his 2012?

Thome had it going on tonight. He was another guy (along with Donald and the lead-off, Zeke) who didn't play this afternoon. He ended up going 1 for 2 with two walks, a run and an RBI. He seems to be doing pretty good against his two former teams.

Shelley Duncan, or "Little Blond Thome" as we might call him, also got 2 walks and went 1 for 1. He came in to score one of the runs. They pinch hit Fukudome for him late in the game...I bet Fuku thought that was weird.

Sizemore and LaPorta both had RBIs. Sizemore was in the form of a sac fly and LaPorta had an RBI double. Yeah, I know - LaPorta!

Luis Valbuena went 1 for 3. Ok.

It's my opinion that we have 2nd place locked up. We can win the next 1 or 2 against the White Sox and we could very well take 4 against the Twins. Even if the Tigers devastate us the last 3 games of the year (they'll probably play a B-squad!) we're good.

So my advice is just...everyone stay healthy!

Ok it's been a long day so everyone get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow at 7:05 for some Ubaldo-on-Buehrle action!

Radio Chatter:
"They keep talking about Flowers and what a show he puts on during batting practice, but 5:05 is very different from 7:05."
- Tom Hamilton

"It's audition time!"
- Mike Hegan on rookie pitchers in September

"Ozzie Guillen is a killjoy tonight."
- Jim Rosenhaus on the intentional walk of Thome

"The young kids, for them, they have been in awe since Thome got here."
- Tom Hamilton

Wet and Wonderful

So I was at that game tonight. Me and 15k (yeah right...more like 3k) of my closest, wettest friends.

I came about my tickets in an awkward way (won them in an auction, supposed to have seen batting practice, didn't want to come at 1:30, batting practice some other time...) so it didn't occur to me just where my seats would be until I got there and just 10 feet in front of me were Shelley Duncan and Asdrubal Cabrera (and, like, Grady Sizemore and Lonnie Chisenhall. Whatever...)

Oh, how I longed for a Sharpie. How I longed for a ball. My Asdrubal sign. A "Batter's Up" magazine. Anything! But alas, I was ill-prepared. I simply shouted "SHELLEY DUNCAN YOU ROCK!!!" He didn't hear me tho. Or maybe he did but he was getting ready for the game as he ran by. Then, I had the privilege of being close enough to tell him how much he rocked between every inning. I know he cares. In the 5th or 6th inning, some kids in the bleachers were like "HEY SHELLEY DUNCAN" between pitches and he turned around to wave. What a guy!

Hey kids!

I think they purposely pump up the audio in the stadium between innings so you can't harass the players as they run to the dugout. What do you think?

Side note - not only were there like 3000 people at this game but also John Adams was NOT THERE. I can't believe I was at a game he wasn't at. I can't believe he skipped a game! My uncle and I decided he must have come to the original PPD game and thus counts that as being "at" the game and today he was at home, enjoying the game on television. At least we hope that's how it went down because that would be the best. John Adams just not showing up is unacceptable. And the Patron Saint Of This Blog would never do such a thing!

Anyway so yeah - I was in the 4th row, right behind the tarp. It rained the entire time I was there. I was with my uncle from Phoenix. I told him that tonight's game would be unlike any he would ever go to in Phoenix - cold and wet. I didn't disappoint!

We spent most of the game keeping our eyes on the ball, being terrified that we might get hit by a foul ball. But then we hoped one would bounce in one of the 200 empty seats around us and land softly in our laps. Neither thing happened.

So David Huff...well, he's taken a permanent detour to Sucksville it would seem. The dream is over, I think. Nine runs in 2 2/3 innings?

Ok, 4 un-earned runs. But still, 5 runs? Bro. It was wet yes but...

Although Durbin couldn't get his shit together, either. Two more runs from him. One from Hermann. Good job Hagadone, at least.

Lonnie Chisenhall was working hard today. I know he was cuz I was RIGHT BEHIND HIM. He caught a couple of foul balls JUST NEXT TO ME. Awesome!

But he had an error. His 10th of the year in just 53 games. Tsk tsk.

Batting was pretty fun tonight! (apparently, for Seattle too...)

Jason Donald was hitting 2nd and playing 2nd today, and he went 3 for 4! He came in to score twice, too.

Of course, since the guy in front of Asdrubal was kicking ass, so was ASDRUBAL himself! And I didn't have my sign...ARGH! It was just too wet. I want to use the sign for seasons to come so I wasn't ready to sacrifice it to the weather.

Some enterprising fans out in center field had laminated signs. GO YOU GUYS!!!

Speaking of Asdrubal, another reader has come out of the woodwork and left a comment! Holla Libby! She's another huge Asdrubal fan so she understands the EXCITEMENT of Indians baseball!

Anyway so Asdrubal...hit for the near cycle (who knows...had the game not been truncated...) with a single, homer and double. That's 3 more RBI for him. If you aren't following along (WHY AREN'T YOU FOLLOWING ALONG?!) that's 7 hits and 4 RBI for him in his last 2 games. Asdrubal is going out with a BANG!

Oh and BTW... OMG ASDRUBAL!!! Homer #23!! Once again I was not stationed to announce this on Facebook or Twitter. My friend Doug, who I don't think actually follows baseball in any meaningful way, posted "OMG Asdrubal # Whatever!!!! (btw, it was # 23)." on his Facebook wall. This is much better than a few weeks ago when he randomly posted "OMG ASDRUBAL #88!" on his wall on a day there wasn't even a game. Much improved, Doug.

So anyway, not to be outdone, Carlos Santana got himself a homer too, right after Asdrubal's homer. Almost in the same spot, too! No complaints here. Also, he NOW holds the record for the most switch-hitting home runs by an Indians player, 26. Before I said he held it (he was tied) and I wasn't sure if it was just Indians or what. Just Indians.

Hafner and Sizemore both went 1 for 3, which is nice to see in person. You know, cuz they're like team mascots so it's nice when they do stuff. We also want them to leave the season reminding us that they're healthy and 2012 is their YEAR, BABY! Or at least that the value of my autographed Sizemore bat won't go down too much.

That's about all that happened in the baseball game, other than my uncle and his buddy leaving me "for a beer" and me sitting by myself in the rain for 2 innings (all the people in my section left) and singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" by myself. It was all right. I had an Emergency Rain Poncho.

Then all of a sudden a large group of young men came dashing towards me and hopping up into the seats. I mean, on to the tarp. Just like the SWAT team in The Blues Bothers. The lead groundsman was like "go, go, go!" and they rolled the tarp out.

That sort of sucked because really, it wasn't raining much. Then this girl who had more makeup than sense bounded down the stairs and asked me what was going on. I had to explain rain delays. Then she asked if I knew how long it would be. I told her until it stopped raining. Then she started yelling at the grounds crew "Hey, hey Indians!...Do you know any of their names?" "Well, no, they're not the Indians..."

That was weird. Later, she got one of the bullpen crew to come over and chat with her, because she is blond and she was there.

Anyway before I departed, a mess of beard and hair and batting-practice-hat came strolling past me and I was like "HI CHRIS PEREZ!" and this time he turned and waved and smiled! THANK YOU CHRIS PEREZ!

Lou Marson must have talked some sense into him.

So that was my time at the game tonight. Pretty eventful considering it only lasted 7 innings and we lost by 6 runs. But we GOT 6 runs so that was awesome and Chris Perez said "Hi" to me so whatever else happened, I'm oblivious.

I had to leave work early today to go to the game, and apparently right after I left the network went down for 2 or 3 hours and I totally missed it all. This may have truly been the best game of the year!

I've got a pounding headache so no Radio Chatter tonight. I gotta go to bed, I can't listen to the game.

TOMORROW we've got a super treat - a double-header! 1:05 and 7:05 versus the White Sox. So much baseball in so little time!

See you there!

There We Go, Boys!

The youngins were out in full force today. Even - dare I say it? - LUIS VALBUENA!

Five out of our nine batters today spent most of their year in Columbus. Actually, six of 10 if you could Carrera coming in for Duncan. Those 5 guys got 11 hits between them with NO strikeouts. They only got 3 RBI but they scored 6 of our 7 runs.

The only guy who didn't get a hit is the only guy who's been super consistent for us since he joined the team, and that is Fukudome. He lead off but he did walk twice so in his position a walk is as good as a hit!

As per usual, we'll start with pitching. Today we had Ubaldo! And he did a nice job. Just 2 runs in 6 innings. He walked a lot (5) but kept his hits to just 3 so it was good yet not too tense.

Smith, Judy and Durbin followed up. Smith was back to his old self, Judy had a 1-2-3 inning and while Durbin struggled to finish off the game, his 1 run didn't cost us.

Jason Donald was batting second today and is back to rockin' at the plate, going 2 for 5 today and raising his average to .295. Good call putting him in at short...Asdrubal is still done and not doing us too many favors at the plate. I'd rather give Donald a chance to get some swings than have Asdrubal ground out on the first pitch of every appearance.

Santana's been pretty slow lately. He's second behind Asdrubal in terms of at-bats. But he gets more days off than Asdrubal, so he was in today along with Sweet Lou and LaPorta was on the bench. Santana snapped an 0-for-20 run today with a 2-out, 2-RBI double in the 8th! It's nice to say we didn't need the extra runs but it was even nicer to see Santana put out. He's got a few bad at-bats to make up for this year!

Hafner went 1 for 4 today. Oh yeah - Hafner was in today! He's trying to prove that he doesn't need surgery on his foot in the off-season. He'll be platooning with Thome at DH for the remainder of the season, which isn't bad because Thome can't play every day anyway and we've got quite a heavy schedule coming up. Here's a good article about Hafner and his injury and his contract. Good luck, Pronk!

Shelley Duncan was actually not The Man today. He was just a regular old player, going 1 for 4 just like Hafner. I guess he's taking a break from shaking hands and kissing babies to just be a regular player for a moment!

Lonnie Chisenhall found himself on base twice AND scoring twice today! Even though he's the cheese in a Columbus meat sandwich. No wait maybe he's the meat...Valbuena is the cheese.

So Luis Valbuena got a home run today. He actually went 3 for 5, adding 50 points to his batting average. Huh.

I wanted to honor Trevor Crowe's breakout game today but I couldn't do that because of Valbuena being equally as good (or better) so I can at least be angry at Valbuena about that mess. Grrrr Valbuena!

Hey Trevor Crowe! After not hitting for a couple of games, then walking a couple times last game, he finally went 3 for 4 today with one RBI and 2 runs. You'd think his average would be like .700 but not really. He stole a base, too! And got thrown out at home but...we can blame that on Steve Smith perhaps.

Let's hope this trend continues for Crowe! And, what the heck - Valbuena, too! I wouldn't mind going into the fall thinking we had this awesome other guy on our team.

Sweet Lou was doing well bringing up the rear today. He went 1 for 3 with a walk, a run and 2 RBI. In fact, it was him who drove all those sprouts (Valbuena, Crowe) in in the 2nd inning, effectively winning the game at that time with his 8th double.

I've been haunted by Lou and his smile ever since he waved to me last Tuesday. There's something about him...I don't know. I've re-created this moment the best I can, for all to share. Perhaps you will be mesmerized too:

"Hey Lou Marson!" "Hey back atcha, fan!"

Did you notice they took the standings off the front page at Indians.com? They did it a while ago. We're still a half game behind Chicago if you were wondering.

No baseball tomorrow and then baseball EVERY DAY UNTIL THE LAST DAY!!! And, two of those days we have 2 games!

So rest up, fill your tank, do your laundry and get your grocery shopping done TOMORROW because it's the last time you'll be free for the next 16 days after that. Yeeeee-haw!

Tuesday at 8:05 in Texas, by the way. Masterson versus the nearly-identical-recorded Harrison and we have a chance to play spoiler in the AL West. Wicked!

PS: We won on a Sunday! Giggidy!

Radio Chater:
"Not very often are you playing major league games and basically guys are on rehab assignments. That usually happens in the minor leagues."
- Tom Hamilton

"I don't know what else they want from him. It's not his fault they're at where they're at."
- Tom Hamilton on Alexi Ramirez's frustrations with Chicago

"Ozzie Gullien doesn't even pat Will Ohman on the back. Just says 'gimme the ball.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the exit of the Chicago pitcher in the 6th

"A lot of the folks have departed. They're going downtown to have something to cheer about, hopefully joining a Bears tailgate party."
- Tom Hamilton in the 9th

That's What I'm Talkin' 'bout!

Nice bit of baseball going on in Chicago tonight. Especially by the Indians!

Jeamnar Gomez had a lovely lovely start tonight, giving up only 2 runs and pitching 6 innings with 3 strikeouts. The kind of thing you want to see from, say, guys who are not just up out of Columbus.

Good thing he only gave up 2 because Smith is into giving up runs lately (albeit just 1 tonight) and we're also giving Nick Hagadone a chance to show his stuff and you never know how that's going to work out (tonight - one run and one hit in one inning but he also struck out 1!)

Very nice hits-to-LOB ratio today with 11 hits and 6 LOB. We did have 10 strikeouts and maybe that helped us not leave too many on base (they never got there - HA!) but, 8 runs? Yeah, I'll take it!

Fukudome was leading off today. I haven't been keeping up with what's going on with Grady. But, he wasn't starting tonight.

That's ok because FUKUDOME STILL ROCKS! Isn't it awesome to have a trade like that go so well? His 2 hits tonight has him surpassing Asdrubal as the team's best "qualifying" hitter (awwww Asdrubal!) and gives him 2 more RBI. They like to say how he's gotten more RBI with us this year than the Cubs and well...it's true!

He shoulda had a 3rd hit tonight but it was caught on a stupid good play. Or really a poor play in which the player got lucky at the end.

Jason Donald is back to being hot, which is pretty cool. He's got 11 hits over 10 games, close to Fuku!

OMG Shelley Duncan are you for real?! Two more hits today! No homers, but a double so that's cool. He's not a "qualifier" (3 at-bats for every game the team has played) but Duncan's up there at the top of the Tribe for slugging and OPS. Right up there with Asdrubal, Hafner and Santana.

Boy I just looked at the stats for our team and you know how many "qualifiers" we have? Just 3 - Asdrubal, Santana and Brantley. Brantley will end up about 35 at-bats short of qualifying by the end of the season, too. Now, most other teams only have 5-7 qualifiers but we'll only end up with 1/3 of that. Yikes!

But, we can at least have fun with the new guys while everyone convalesces. For example - Lonnie Chisenhall! Where did this dude come from?! He's having a Shelley Duncan sort of week with one homer on Wednesday with 2 RBI, and TWO more homers today with 4 RBI! But, he had an error because he's not Jack Hannahan. But, his new batting sure as hell does help ease the pain!

Sweet Lou, my new best friend, raised that batting average tonight by going 2 for 4. He also stole a base. Yeah he did!

Trevor Crowe still hasn't gotten a hit, so his average remains at .000. He DID walk today, not once but twice, and turned both of those into runs. And he stole a base. So, you GO, little brother!

Zeke was batting 9th today, so we're back to having 2 leadoff guys. Except he was in a super slump, something like 2 for 26 after being fairly consistent. Well today he got 2 hits and one of them was a double (his 7th) and he got 2 RBI. His second hit was a FC double or something...where he fell down turning the corner around first. Look at the video, I thought it was pretty scary watching his legs bend like that. I really really hope he's all right. Because this trend of players being hurt is just NOT FUN.

But the game itself was pretty fun tonight, with lots of hits and lots of runs. All from weird people too. 'Cuz it looks like Asdrubal is done at the plate and Santana is perhaps back to forgetting not to move his foot around. And Thome wasn't even in. At least we got Fukudome!

Tomorrow is 4:10 PM if you can stand it. I know for me it'll cross over with some plans (mom's all turning 60 and stuff) so you might not get my post until later.

But you know I'll be there eventually. See you then!

Radio Chatter:
"I guess the White Sox are celebrating St. Patrick's Day in September today."
- Tom Hamilton on the White Sox green uniforms

"Jack Hannahan didn't open the door, he kicked it down."
- Tom Hamilton on Hannahan's entrance into the team this year

"this is a night when somebody in the marketing department ran out of ideas. [...] How much green beer was consumed at that meeting?"
- Tom Hamilton again on the green uniforms

"I wouldn't know what goes on at 3 in the morning, except for when I have to get a cab to go get Rosie."
- Tom Hamilton on having fun in Chicago late at night

"You're saying there are some things you miss about Winterhaven?"
"Well I miss the Super Wal-Mart, since Wal-Mart is one of our sponsors. I also miss driving down the street and seeing a denture maker on every corner, and a chiropractor across the street."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton on the former Indians Spring Training site

Fake Sunday

My friend pointed out that today being a holiday it counts as this week's Sunday. And even though we won in grand fashion yesterday, today was our Sunday loss.

Yeah, right!

Tough game today. Detroit's starter Doug Fister was beating up his own strikeout record, ultimately striking out 13.

Ubaldo looked amazing the first three innings, basically matching Fister for strikeouts. He was at his absolute best he's been for us, really. But Victor Martinez got a ball that got away from Ubaldo in the 4th and that was that. A 3-run homer and we never got more than 2 runs.

Jiminez struck out 8 over 7 innings.

Smith wasn't too hot today, giving up a run in his 2/3 of an inning. Sipp and Pestano finished off the game, with Pestano striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced.

Grady was back today! I am always trepidatious on a guy's return in a big game. Because really is he going to be amazing out of the gate? He wasn't amazing out of the gate the two other times he came back this year. He also doesn't run as fast as Zeke, who would have legged out the FC Grady hit in to (it was an RBI tho). But, he's one of our main guys and he is still amazing in the field. Hopefully tomorrow he's ready again.

Fukudome did his best to make us win, getting his second homer this year for the Tribe. He hit it right in to the wind too - seems like it took forever to get out! He also got a single, giving him 12 hits in his last 10 games.

Thome got a single, so yay for that. Today was the first game we've lost with him in the lineup.

Lonnie Chisenhall - playing for the injured (!!!) Jack Hannahan - did not strike out today, on a day where we struck out 13 times as a team. Go Lonnie!

Jason Donald is still a stud and got another hit today, batting .368 in his last 10 games. His average is creeping up towards .300 at .293. I don't think he's got enough plate appearances to be "eligible" for anything but not bad for a sometimes-player!

We looked decent today in that we didn't lose our shit like Chicago did last night - losing 18-2 to Detroit. So we've got that going for us. But as Manny always says the score doesn't matter, just the W.

Gotta reach for that W tomorrow, Fausto versus Porcello. I'll be there! It's going to be CRAZY.

For those of you not going to the game, it'll be at 7:05. Look for me and my sign in center field, first row. Go StubHub!

Radio Chatter:
"Amazingly this kiddie-core has kept the Indians in the hunt. They're playing meaningful games in September."
- Tom Hamilton

"I guess everybody growing up in Venezuela is a short stop, huh?"
- Tom Hamilton on Miguel Cabrera's original position

"Ozzie Guillen said it best - 'I don't want to hear any complaining. We're getting paid a lot of money. Go play.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"The only thing good about this scenario? Miguel Cabrera has banged in to 23 double plays. Otherwise...there's nothing good about this scenario."
- Tom Hamilton on Smith loading the bases with Cabrera up in the 8th

Eventful

Such an awesome game today! And I'm not just saying that because Asdrubal peeked out of his slump in order to get a 2-run homer. Because before that he bashed himself in the knee with a foul ball and after that he left the field, unable to continue playing.

I'd almost forgotten that God Hates Cleveland Sports.

We'll put that nonsense behind us for now, and concentrate on how good tonight's  game was. Yay!

First off, ol' Nasty got himself a 5-run lead to work with. The Twitterverse thought this was a hoot. Five runs for Masterson! He did end up faltering after 5 innings but being the ace that he is, he didn't melt down he just kept going until Vinnie Pestano could come in to save him. Only 4 strikeouts in his 7 innings but 11 ground outs.

Chris Perez came in to the 9th with just a 1-run lead and got them out 1-2-3. Ballgame!

Royals pitcher Bruce Chen usually gets our goat, but not tonight. We totally broke through him with 5 runs!

Fukudome is still awesome. He's hitting about .320 since the start of August, when we got him. Tonight he had 3 hits and came around to score 2 runs. Almost as nice as having Kipnis in the 2-hole. In fact, if Asdrubal doesn't come out of it by the time Kipnis gets back I wouldn't mind seeing a test of Kipnis and Fukudome in the 2-3 spot. Or Kipnis-Fukudome-Cabrera. Interesting.

I'll mention it again that Asdrubal got a 2-run homer! First homer and first RBI(s) since 8/27. Ok that's only a week but it seems like a year, considering how he played for most of the rest of the season.

Did anyone see last week's Hot In Cleveland? The bartender looked like Asdrubal with an afro. Screenshot!

Asdrubal is on the right

Carlos Santana got his 28th double today, still 1 behind Asdrubal. But it was a good one - he got the first RBI, then came around to score on the next batter.

Jim Thome! He got himself a long single in the first to score Santana. Did you know we've been undefeated while Thome was in the lineup? That's pretty freaky. We've only played Oakland and KC since he's been here - two pretty awful teams - but the two games he sat, we lost.

I bet you didn't know this, but Jason Donald has an 8-game hitting streak. Today he knocked in his first home run of the year. Last year he had 4 in 88 games. Looking at stats...wow, he's only played 19 games this year? That makes his 8-game streak particularly nice! He also got his 4th double of the year today. Atta boy!

So tomorrow it's Huff versus Hochevar, and I think we'll give it to Huff. The Detroit/Chicago game looks evenly matched after tonight's Verlander whoopin. We did gain a game on Chicago!

Tomorrow at 8:05, so cancel all your plans. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Tigers now beating White Sox 5 nothing in the 5th. So that game's over. With Justin Verlander on the hill...thanks for coming, Chicago."
- Tom Hamilton

"How neat would it be to see Jim Thome and Grady Sizemore in the same Indians lineup?"
- Tom Hamilton

"Another ball that should have been in his hip pocket."
- Tom Hamilton on Zeke missing a fly ball in the 6th

"You're down 3 runs with one out, you're not trying for a sacrifice. He was bunting for a hit and he didn't get it."
- Tom Hamilton on the scoring of Escobar's at-bat in the 7th

"Fouls it back our way...and into our booth. And we no longer have an engineer."
- Tom Hamilton

Jack the Ripper and Suphermann

So get this...

First off, I missed listening to a good chunk of the game (I watched on TV with some friends), so I was planning on staying up late and catching the audio archive for some quotes. This was the plan around the 8th inning which is when I got back to my desk. I ended up catching 8 whole innings anyway, and staying up late anyway. But it was all fresh baseball!

Secondly, due to Jack Hannahan's two homers, I was ready to roll out the "Supermanahan" blog post title today already by the 6th inning and guess who Supermaned us to victory in the 16th? Super Jack is who!

But there is also Frank Hermann who went FOUR scoreless innings for us, just like he did in that long Detroit game. And funny how his name fits with Superman...well, it's late. This is the title you get. If you guys want to start a meme, please run with it!

Anyway my point is I'm totally psychic.

This is a funny one from Twitter: "You can tell the A's scouting has gotten lazy when they just sign pitchers with last names like Outman."

So the game went 16 innings, in case you didn't know. Ubaldo went 6 and gave up 3 runs, which probably isn't what Manny wanted for the sake of the bullpen. But what he REALLY didn't want was the bullpen going 10!

Ubaldo did strike out 6 in his 6 innings, so he wasn't half bad. Three is pretty acceptable to overcome, especially now that we're hitting again.

The #bullpenmafia ended up pitching 10 scoreless innings which is great for everyone's ERA but not so great for the arms. Two for Sipp, one for Rage, one for Smith, one for Durbin and as I said, 4 for Hermann.

Nine strikeouts in the 10 innings for the guys and of course no runs. It's really nice to rely on that 'pen in a regular situation but to rely on them for 10 innings is insane. Go, guys!

Batting could have been a lot better today, even though we got 11 hits. Why? LOB is why. Ten LOB.

Zeke started off the game with a triple (dude is FAST!) and then scored on a Fukudome sac fly. Our man Fuku did get a hit tonight but he didn't razzle-dazzle like he has been lately. He kind of let us down by striking out with 2 on in the 15th...if you haven't been paying attention, that is not what we expect of Fukudome anymore.

Jim Thome actually played in to the win tonight, getting on via single (single!) and having his pinch runner Cord Phelps score the winning run. He also had a double earlier in the game. This was his first multi-hit game for us!

Carlos Santana actually wasn't the hero tonight, being held to just one single.

But Jack Hannahan....!!!! He got his 2nd homer in 2 nights - and then his 3rd! Both of them were solo shots. Then he got that hit in the 16th to bring Phelps home. This puts Jack at 16 hits in his last 10 games. Since his son Johnny was born in early August, Jack has had 21 hits and 13 RBI in 16 games.

If you recall, Choo was looking to be Super Dad too right after his Abigail was born. Unfortunately his body betrayed him.

You know who has a 6-game hitting streak? Jason Donald does. That's actually 12 hits in his last 10 games. Tonight he got 2 hits including his 4th-ever double. Unfortunately, the fellas behind him - Jerad Head and Lou Marson - combined for 1 hit and 5 strikeouts. Oops!

So not bad hitting tonight but also not good situational hitting. And nothing from Asdrubal. I wonder if he'll get more extra days off during this murderous stretch of 31 games in 29 days? Or if we're just going to push him to THE EXTREME!!!!!?

Man I need to get some shuteye. It's really lucky for me that tomorrow's a noon game (ELEVEN HOURS! WOOT!) because I gotta start sleeping at night again. After the Hargrove game, last night's live game and audio archive and then 16 innings tonight, I haven't had my 8 hours in a while.

So one more against the A's at noon. Bring your brooms!

Radio Chatter:
"Juan Gonzalez...he always had an entourage. Many of those people are incarcerated now."
- Tom Hamilton

"If you're not going to bunt in that situation, you shouldn't be taking 2 or 3 bunt swings during batting practice."
"If Reggie Jackson can bunt, so can Brandon Allen."
- Mike Hegan and Tom Hamilton don't like Allen not having bunted in the 10th with runners on

"We're going to have to do a bunting clinic tomorrow. Brandon Allen is excused, since he never is allowed to bunt again."
- Tom Hamilton being meta in the 12th inning after Coco Crisp had a messy bunt attempt

"Frank Hermann is doing the job in long relief. Middle relief. Late relief. Whatever you want to call it, he's doing the job."
- Tom Hamilton

"The people are too tired to go after it. They just waved at each other and said 'It's yours.'"
- Tom Hamilton on fan foul ball apathy in the 16th

"My score sheet is just one page. I've now erased every Indians' first name and am keeping score along the side."
- Mike Hegan in the 17th inning