Happy John Adams Day!!

The Indians creamed the Twins today and that is absolutely how John Adams Appreciation Day should go, no doubt. It would have been an total shame to do it any other way.

Today was the 40th anniversary of Adams' first game at the field with his drum. Here's a cool story from the Indians' site, an interview with Glenn Moore at Cleveland.com and a photo slideshow of some fan photos, with nice comments in the comment area, also at Cleveland.com. My favorite pic in the slideshow is Adams (a fat Adams!) with Sister Mary Assumpta and Son Of Gouhl. So Cleveland!

(Side note...Sister Mary Assumpta is no longer a nun. WAT HATH GOD WROUGHT?!)

It was also Nick Swisher jersey day, and the people seem to like Nick Swisher - over 26k came for his jersey today (or they came for U2 fireworks!) Funnily enough, I also received a reply from the Indians today from when I bitched at them about making the site background just Tito & Swisher. They were polite. I'm still sore about it but I said what I had to say, and the season's near over, so oh well.

Zach McAllister was the starter today, and he had his third great start in a row! A quality start (what I like to call quality plus!) with 7 1/3 innings and just 2 runs on 4 hits. He struck out 5 and only walked 2!

Since ZMac did such a nice job, we only needed 1 2/3 innings of bullpen. Bryan Shaw and Mark Rzepczynski were faced with the task of not blowing it for John Adams. It was a big test - and they did well!

Shaw came in for the rest of the 8th, after McAllister surprised us both by coming out for the 8th and giving off a leadoff home run. Shaw got a strikeout and a lineout and that was that.

Zep was up for the 9th (although it would have been a fun night to have Perez), and he got the first two outs, which brought the crowd to their feet. Then...that awkward moment when everyone is up on their feet cheering for the third out and you give up a double...

But, he made up for it striking out the next batter. Ballgame!

The Tribe got 7 runs off just 9 hits and 3 walks today. Pretty impressive! Three doubles and 2 homers is the key. They each were at the plate 4 times too - the last batter was Drew Stubbs. I wonder how often that happens? (I tweeted the question to Jim Rosenhaus. Let's see if someone at WTAM can figure it out!)

The only guy who didn't get on base today is Yan Gomes. Can you believe it?!

Bourn got on with a walk, then came around to score from first on a double. It was Nick Swisher's 2-RBI double in face. He had a slow start to Swisher jersey day, but his double with the Brothers Speed on the bases made him a pretty popular guy today! He's got 11 hits in his last 10 games, so let's hope he keeps this up for the next month. And then some.

Kipnis has gone like 0 for his last 20, give or take. Yeesh! But today the Kid broke out and went 2 for 4, not only with a single that allowed him to score in the first on a homer, but with a 2-run homer of his own in the third!! Ok kid - this is the beginning of something big!

Speaking of something big...apparently Carlos Santana is a bit of a saint. Before the game he met with this kid named Niko, who said he was Santana's #1 fan and Niko asked for a homer. That's pretty special to be Santana's #1 fan...I think it's way more lonesome than being Asdrubal's #1 fan. Anyway, the Indians posted this at about 5:30, so it's no fake:

This is Niko, who calls himself Carlos Santana's No. 1 fan. He told Carlos he wants him to hit a home run today! pic.twitter.com/HtYrt3k3Ho
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) August 24, 2013

Then of course, later on:

Just talked with Niko, the youngster from earlier who requested Carlos' homer. He also asked Kip to hit one ... and he did. #HireThatMan
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) August 25, 2013

And after the game:

Carlos Santana, re: his homer for #Niko: "They told me I was their favorite player, and I promised to hit a home run for him."
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) August 25, 2013

I love this stuff!!!!

Michael Brantley has been just as cold as Kipnis (just as all the other guys were finally getting their acts together) but he came through with an RBI single in what was the big 5th inning. Start of a new streak, no doubt!

Speaking of streaks...Asdruuuubal, six games! He's gotten doubles in 3 of those 6 games, including tonight. OMG!

Chisenhall has been quiet for the last 2 games but today he also got a double. No RBI or runs for him but every little bit helps, even if it just means getting a hit to break out of a slump to be ready for the next game!

Drew Stubbs was a major player today, getting 2 hits and coming around to score twice.  He stole second and "unfortunately" it ultimately didn't matter because he got hit in by a homer. Although I like to think having guys on 2nd and 3rd rattles the pitcher. They did that the other day, too. Later on he came in to score on that Swisher double, and it was cool because his speedy friend Bourn was right on his heels. See this insightful graphic I made:

It's not that impressive until you consider that Stubbs is dang fast. No one else could ever be on that boy's heels!

Fun friggin' times tonight, and I hope tomorrow afternoon is just as cool. We need the team to hit like that every night, and let the pitchers do what they'll do. With 7 runs to cushion them, they can be awesome or awesomely bad and the team record doesn't have to struggle because of it!

Tomorrow at 1:05 is Scott Kazmir versus RHP 5.19. Whoop! That's a nice fat ERA! Kazmir has been struggling lately so the bats have to show up. It could all very well fall in place tomorrow...

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Shortstop Pedro Florimon says 'I will, I will, I will!' and he does catch it."
- Tom Hamilton

"This is a completely different ballclub when Kipnis and Brantley are hitting."
- Tom Hamilton

"I grew up on a dairy farm...and not once did I see mom and dad strap monkeys to our dogs to get the cows into the barn."
- Tom Hamilton on minor league entertainment

"Does anybody in baseball now have a bullpen that doesn't feature 5 or 6 guys throwing in the mid-90s?"
- Tom Hamilton

"Tito Francona ought to be named the American League player of the year for what he's done with this club."
- Tom Hamilton

Choo, Cabrera, Santana, Brantley ... Marson!

So let's see...what went wrong here?

Josh Tomlin wasn't all that right today. He gave up 6 runs in 4 innings with 4 of those runs coming on homers. Yes to Votto and Phillips but he coulda just thrown them junk. Even I saw that coming a mile away.Tomlin did get a hit, and now he's batting .400.

The untouchable Scott Barnes was touched so much today they almost called the Special Victims Unit. He gave up 5 runs on 5 hits in 1/3 of an inning. His ERA went from 0 to 10.38. Ha!

Young Esmil Rogers finished off the 5th for him, and took the 6th (long relief!) and "only" gave up 1 run while striking out 2. Jeremy Accardo ended up being our sweetheart of the day going 2 innings and giving up no runs. Well at least they didn't need to burn our "good bullpen" today.

Batting didn't fare much better, except for the cats mentioned at the top. They all actually had a very very nice game. Too bad the other 4 weren't on board.

CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, who has had 3 homers so far this year, got TWO homers today. TWO TODAY!!! He got a lead-off solo homer - which falsely got everyone's hopes up for the rest of the game - and then another solo blast in the 5th. He ended up going 2 for 5 with just the 2 RBI.

Asdrubal, after having 2 not-so-good games (ending his 12-game streak and then just getting 1 hit yesterday) went 3 for 4 today with a walk, showing once again that he gets pumped by great lead-off hitting (Choo!) One of those hits was his 17th double. Sad, sad, sad then that he got neither a run nor an RBI.

Santana did go 1 for 3 with 2 walks, so that's good for him. He also a run and an RBI. I'm just ready to see "usual for him" and not "good for him."

Michael Brantley! Continuing the streak at 21!!! And not just any old hit, a double that eventually turned in to a run. :) :) :)

Everyone else was all blah, including pitchers (Tomlin and Barnes both got hits, whee), Kipnis, Cunningham, Damon...Jesus, I think we cleared the entire bench!

Everyone, that is, except for LOU MARSON!! Dude went 3 for 4 today. Yeah, better than Asdrubal and Choo and everyone else! But no one ahead of him was hitting and the pitchers were behind him so he got no walks and no runs. Bother.

Sad series in Cincy, so I'm ready to get out of there and back here for the baseball team from Pittsburgh. I'm serious guys - they have a baseball team. They'll be here for 3 games. Friday is a right-handed pitcher and the matchup looks pretty even (Masterson). Let's hope Justin's back in form and the batters can get their shit together. I know they've been missing John Adams - how could you not miss that beat? How does he only have > 4000 followers, too? What is wrong with you, Twitterverse?!

Everyone dust themselves off and I'll see you Friday night for some Cleveland-style baseball!

Radio Chatter:
"Mike Leake might be looking for that IV sooner than later."
- Tom Hamilton on Choo hitting a homer off a sick Leake

"We could be looking at a donnybrook today."
- Tom Hamilton thinks it's perfect weather for a lot of homers

"If his career is as promising as they hope it'll be, he'll be the first guy from Punxsutawney to overshadow that goofy groundhog."
- Tom Hamilton on Devin Mesoraco

"Could you imagine the Indians teams of the 90s playing in this ballpark? That'd be a 5 hour game!"
- Tom Hamilton

"I've seen The Godfather 23 times. I know what your dad's capable of."
- Tom Hamilton on Rosie's story about a New Jersey Little League team

"Any time it gets to be 11-3 that's what happens. You say things you shouldn't."
- Tom Hamilton is now going after the French

"You are just leaving a path of destruction in your wake today."
"Hey I'm out of town Saturday..."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton

"Slider and Gapper have been like two kindergartners on recess during this series."
- Tom Hamilton on the Indians and Reds mascots

Dos Cabreras!

Is it catching on yet? Asdrubal Cabrera leads the team with 19 RBI and Orland Cabrera follows with 18. Orlando got the game-winning hit tonight and Asdrubal knocked in two insurance runs. Asdrubal got three hits! Orlando didn't even start - he came in as a pinch runner for Hafner, who came in as a pinch hitter for Everett - and he still won the game. Because that is the sort of thing that Dos Cabreras can do!

How much are you loving this lineup? I'M LOVIN' IT! Having Brantley down at 6th and Hannahan at 8 or 9 is like having two lead-off and two cleanup guys. It seems like a perfect balance of speed and power. Actually, all of our power guys can get small hits in too, unlike somThome players who either strike out or hit homers.

It took a minute to realize it, but Fausto was doing his job well tonight. He was getting the A's to swing at the ball, which is great. First, if they make contact then so what - there are 7 bored guys out there to pick it up. And second, the more they swing the fewer pitches he ends up putting out and the longer he can go. He went 8 innings and didn't hit 100 pitches. He also had TEN ground-outs. That's the stuff right there.

Fausto got win number 3, and Chris Perez threw 12 pitches and got save number 8. Sometimes it's comically easy for Perez to get his S but whatever. We like stats!

Nobody gave up any home runs tonight, on either side, although we did each have a man caught stealing and our Brantley got picked off as well (he was our guy caught stealing). In fact it was quite a pitcher's duel until the 9th, when we'd had our fill of the A's starter and subsequent relievers, and did our whole "THE TEAM WILL RALLY NOW AND PROBABLY WIN IN OUR LAST AT-BAT" thing. And that's exactly what happened.

You had to stay up late and also had to not settle down someplace comfy to have caught any action, but it was there.

Hey, Tom Hamilton wanted you to read this article on ESPN.com about what the heck is going on in the AL Central right now. It also should include a video about John Adams (patron saint of The Positive Tribe). John looks good on the TV! If the video is not part of the linked article (seriously, they're two different things), here it is here.

Is Coco Crisp still sporting his afro? I didn't see a lick of baseball on the tv tonight. I love the look, myself. It's my tradition the past few years to wear my Tribe hat like that on Opening Day...while at home by myself, of course. Oh yeah, I have hair like that. So I feel a bit of camaraderie with Coco, and of course, Oscar Gamble.

While we're talking about cool hair, I had this link saved for you too. It's a picture of Aeros pitcher Eric Berger and his handlebar mustache. No idea if he's still rollin with that but I thought you'd get a kick out of it.

Ok so I spent all day today yelling at people to go vote yes on our local school levy, and that failed. But I am all riled up and ready to get the rest of you to go vote for your Tribe for the All Star Game. This time, you can't just fill in all Indians, though, it's going to take a small bit of work. Do NOT vote for anyone for AL 3rd base - as you see, our designee is Jason Donald (rly? srsly.) That won't do. Not only is he not playing yet this year, our fill in JACK HANNAHAN IS AWESOME. So you gotta scroll on down to the write-in box and write JACK HANNAHAN for third base. Got it? DO NOT VOTE FOR A DIFFERENT THIRD BASEMAN!

Since you went through all the trouble of writing in Supermanahan for third base in the AL, MLB.com gives you a break by letting you vote 25 times in a row, just by pressing "vote now" 25 times. Now, you might find that absurd but you also have to remember that a ton of dorkuses are sitting there doing that 25 times in a row, and signing up with a new email address and doing it 25 more times, and finding a proxy and doing it again. Unless you want your vote to count as 1/25th of a vote, you kind of have to do it 25 times. Think of the children. Think of Meyer & Ashley.

Oh, and I'm sure a lot of you are all "I want the best players at the All Star game, not just my team or the best-known players," and I feel you. I wouldn't ask if I didn't think that every guy on our A-team wasn't All-Star quality. It's not like we're voting in Jhonny Peralta, you know?

I'll try to remind you every day until June 30. Really, I will. I will not be swearing and comparing people to Hitler like I did in my levy campaign, but it sure would be nice if I had a reason to watch the All Star Game this year.

Get ready for another pitcher's duel tomorrow. Two guys with low ERAs who are 4-0 (Tomlin and Trevor Cahill). Our key will be to make Cahill pitch pitch pitch and get past him to his relievers as soon as we can.

Dos Cabreras! Olé!

Radio Chatter:
"Right there is an example of an out that is simply a foul ball in any other ball park in the major leagues."
- Tom Hamilton

"The chance of the A's signing Adrian Beltre this summer was the same as Rosie and I sprouting wings and flying back to our hotel."
- Tom Hamilton

"Boy, the outfield couldn't play any deeper unless they were sitting on the wall."
- Tom Hamilton

"'Enjoy the journey'...that's the motto Stephanie Hagel has driven in to those of us who work here. 'Don't worry about whether or not we make it on the air or not, just enjoy the journey and I'll take care of the rest."
"Would you make that statement if it wasn't after midnight back home?"
"Oh sure, I'm livin' on the edge."
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus

"This would be a great way to start one of the ruggedest...that's not even a word...before we have every English teacher writing us...this would be a great way to start one of the most rugged road trips in baseball this year."
- Tom Hamilton

Quite a Welcome for Alex White

I bet you thought I was going to have a clever joke in the title about Albuquerque.  You were wrong. Actually I wanted to have some sort of awesome quote from A Clockwork Orange but that didn't work out welly-well. I went with vanilla title.

Alex White gave up 2 homers today, in the 4th. Scott Cabrera is not surprised. Alex White also takes the field to Billy Squire's "The Stroke". He is TOTALLY going to fit in here! But, seriously, he did great in his first major league start - especially with his whole family AND the entire Tarheel Baseball staff in attendance. Two runs but only on six hits, four strikeouts and only four walks. Fits right in, for real.

Our bullpen got the full stretch tonight, first with the "planned" Smith and Pestano in the 7th and 8th, and Chris Perez capping off the 9th. Only, our lineup didn't catch fire tonight so we had to figure out what was on the other side of the door and the answer is Rafael Perez (still gave up no runs) in the 10th and 11th, and Sipp in the 12th and 13th. Not bad to have 5 guys come out and give up no runs!

Hannahan was impressive at third today, picking up a sa-weet out from a bare-handed grab. He tried to make such a grab last night and almost did it (this was while coming across the middle of the diamond, tho) and tonight he actually almost bobbled it, but instead he looked like a great third baseman and got Miguel Cabrera out at first. Hammy and Hegan threw out the term "Gold Glove" after that one but...rly? Being from Cleveland I don't quite know what a Gold Glove third baseman looks like, so maybe I just don't get it. But, Gold Glove level or not, he's top quality for Cleveland PLUS he bats so we'll keep him!

Santana was looking like a first baseman today too AND he got his 5th home run, tying Asdrubal to lead the team. Santana was at first because both Grady and Hafner were out today. Hafner is still nursing the sore ankle but Acta said he was available to pinch hit, and will probably be back Monday.

Grady had off today because he is supposed to have a break after every 3rd game, and he had actually gone 4 games. So there was no choice but to let him sit.

But it's cool, because there wasn't much going on in the outfield and we've got Michael Brantley to fill Grady's other important role as lead-off man.

Brantley did his duty by getting 3 hits in the game (.297!) including a hit to lead off the 13th, and then drew a wild throw to first putting him on second. This of course gave our Bunter Of The Year Asdrubal Cabrera a chance to bunt him to 3rd, which is what happened. Choo, who is getting scarier (to other teams) every day got intentionally walked and guess what? So did Santana who is super scary to the Tigers right now.


Now you've got the bases loaded and really, if you look at the rest of our lineup, you have not done yourself any favors. Any of those guys can get a hit at any time. ESPECIALLY Orlando Cabrera. He's a veteran, he's gotten some key hits for us today. ESTE ES UNO DE DOS CABRERAS! 

And well, if you managed to get out Orlando Cabrera, Jack Hannahan would have figured it out.

So, another walk-off win for the Tribe. Really fun baseball these last two nights, even though it was sort of low-scoring and/or intermittent scoring. I had a great time, how about you?! Playing for that 18th April win and to gain a whole game over a team in the standings, all that stuff really adds to the excitement.

Speaking of excitement, you MUST check out this Facebook page, Tom Hamilton has the Best Home Run call in all of Baseball. Dude caps all of Hammy's home run calls and puts them on Facebook. It's the best audio clip Facebook page ever in the history of audio clip Facebook pages (do others exist?) I watched the video of Santana's walk off grand slam about 5 times on MLB.com last night but then today I watched Hamilton's version another 5 times. Goosebumps!

Speaking of MLB.com, you might think that I work for MLB.com or shill for them or get some sort of kickback for mentioning them but I actually don't. I guess maybe I am just a fan of Web sites that deliver fresh content and stuff. I don't know...I like it. I don't get money from them but if I did, you bet I'd be talking about them three times as much! Will blog for free swag!

Did anyone check out the John Adams (patron saint of The Positive Tribe) stuff at the game today? The Defend Cleveland Show reported that there were indeed drum lines present and he threw out the first pitch. Here's a picture of the only mention of it on Twitter. I would like to know more, tho. Tried to get someone to go to the game with me today...actually tried two someones...and failed. Did you know that John Adams has only missed 37 games (Wikipedia says 34..?) since 1973? I am pretty happy that so many people came out to see the game (25k plus) on John Adams day because seriously people, if he can come EVERY DAY then we can come out more often. We can even take turns.

Radio Chatter:
"There isn't a prettier ballpark than this one when it fills up like it did tonight. There's a new energy at the corner of Carnagie and Ontario."
- Tom Hamilton

"Looking at his jersey, he's got letters starting at his waist, going up and ending again at his waist."
- Tom Hamilton, commenting on Al Alburquerque

"He only weighs about a hundred pounds. [...] If his name was Saltalamacchia it would go all the way around his number. He only needs a few more letters."
- Mike Hegan's take on Alburquerque's name

"You're saying 'Why not go to Everett?' and it's because Jack Hannahan, against left handed pitching this year, is hitting .529."
- Tom Hamilton

"Jim Leyland, who normally has a cigarette going, has smoke coming out of his ears."
- Tom Hamilton on Brennan Boesch's first-pitch popup with a man at second in the 13th inning.

"...Unfortunately, April is over."
- Tom Hamilton

Supernatural

You know what I like best about this team? Better than the good pitching, better than the lightning fast outfield, better than the super cheap seats...?

I like that the whole team can hit. There is no soft spot, no downer in our lineup. Having 6 outs left in which to win a game seems like a lifetime. If someone just isn't feeling it, we've even got pinch hitters and benchers.

All night tonight I just knew that if we could get past this Scherzer fellow and see some new pitchers, our lineup would have no problem. Obviously Scherzer was golden, and Jeanmar Gomez was uhm...not so much. All our guys needed to do was get the guy to run up his pitch count, and get someone else in there and it was game over for the Tigers.

It was true. That's exactly what happened. Actually, we didn't have to get rid of Scherzer so much as tire him out. He was just around 100 pitches and had had a visit from Leyland when OMG ASDRUBAL! hit him out of the park and tied it at 5. Heynow!

Just to back up a bit...Jeanmar Gomez sort of sucked and so did Chad Durbin. Enough about that.

Even with 5 runs given up by those guys, we had some nice plays. Hannahan played some third base, remembering to take care of the runner going home in the 2nd. There were good plays on each side of second by Dos Cabreras. Who knows what the score would have been if we weren't playing a real game of baseball.

Ok so this time last year, we'd all have been turning off the TVs or maybe going to bed early. (Well not me but I am obviously insane) This year, tho...did everyone else feel it? A three-run deficit in the 6th, is that a big deal anymore?

Not when you have - dum da duuummm - SHELLEY DUNCAN! Remember him from last night from remembering him from the night before? He's been in for Hafner and has done something exciting every night. Tonight's exciting thing was a two-run single in the 6th to bring us within one.

But o noes - Durbin and Smith sort of gave up two more runs in the 7th. You GUYS! Stop it!

It's ok, tho. Because not everyone on our team had gotten a hit yet, and we hadn't hit any homers yet. Turns out these are things we've decided we really like to do lately. Especially with the home runs.

LaPorta goes long, then the aforementioned visit to the mound -> OMG ASDRUBAL! and now it's tied!

The real bullpen comes out - Vinne Pestano with his studly 0.90 ERA. Three up, three down. Orlando gets his hit, Brantley gets his hit. It wouldn't be a Tribe game lately if Brantley didn't get his hit, huh? It's .282, if you're wondering.

Chris Perez, our firestarter does his job and does it well in the 9th.

Then, dangit, it was time to get down to business. Three outs to get one run? No friggin' problem! If one guy gets on, it's a pretty safe bet someone will come up and get him in. Because we need it and because it matters. Because we need to break our record of 16 wins in April and we need to get our 57th walk-off win at Progressive field and Perez needs his first W and the season's biggest non-opening-day crowd NEEDS THIS WIN!!!

So Hannahan gets his hit, and Grady gets his hit (wow yeah, didn't hit until the 9th), and they put Asdrubal on because OBVIOUSLY HE IS A BEAST and now it's up to Santana. Well not totally up to Santana as there is just one out but you know what? Everyone else has gotten a hit thus far. And the bases are juiced. And everyone in Cleveland is about done praying to the altar of Carlos Santana because really he was going to save us if he could only heal up and it turned out that we didn't quite need him anyway.

Well now we needed him. We needed him to do something like get a walk or get a sacrifice fly. He needed to do it too because we all still remember a week or so ago when he froze up at the plate and watched 3 go by for an out instead of a hit. Something needed to happen and it sure would be nice if Carlos Santana could do it right here.

So, on 3 and 1 Manny Acta or maybe Sandy Alomar or even Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gave him the green light and Carlos Santana ripped a grand fucking slam to right field and won the game, amen.

Here's the video. I wish you could hear Hamilton call it because it was a thing of beauty, but television will do. At least you get to see the celebration. I was cleaning my bedroom - because that's what cool people do on Friday nights - and I whooped and danced, yes I did. It's funny when you listen to games alone because there's no one around to hear you scream. All I could muster was a few texts of "AAAAAHHHH!" to Scott Cabrera, in hopes that I could perhaps share the joy with someone. Because my dog...well she is not a fan of the whooping and dancing.

Anyway, wish you were here. Or wish I was there. But at least I have my Hammy and that is pretty exciting.

Hey remember how I mentioned that I should do some sort of "thing" when everyone hits? I gotta do that thing now. I think I'll use stars from the Mario games, since Mario's coins are the Indians' choice for runs scored. Stars sort of make sense...

Also did you know that "Everybody hits!" is already a thing? It's a thing for Philadelphia. You can even get it on some underwear.

I'm not going to talk about "believing" or going/not going to games or anything anymore. Because if you don't get Indians baseball now, you never will. I'm just going to keep enjoying it and being happy that I picked this year to do this blog because damn, is this easy!

Remember an early start, 6:05, tomorrow. And it's John Adams Day (patron saint of The Positive Tribe), celebrating his 3000th game. So people better show up to honor the man. I might possibly go, but my only drum is a kid's drum. And I just noticed that one of the sticks is misplaced. I wonder, tho, if I own a pair of real drum sticks? I know I used to have some...IF ONLY I WERE STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL! Growing up sucks.

Anyway, try to go to the game if you can. If not, join us on the radio at 6. By "us" I mean the other people listening to the radio. I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Is it that hard to let everyone know what the call is? Is his right arm that heavy?"
- Tom Hamilton

"Now, what in the world...why, in the month of April, should a team from the west coast play a team from Florida in a dome? It's not that hard to make the schedule. It's idiotic."
- Tom Hamilton

"Manny Acta's faith never has waivered on Santana. And never has a manager's faith had such a big return."
- Tom Hamilton