Home Opener For The People

It's actually going to be a short blog post today, because there is just TOO MUCH to day about the Home Opener but no doubt you've all been ingesting Tribe-ness all day long and there is nothing left for me to add.

The Home Opener - even more than Opening Day - is SUCH a joyful, Tribe-ful day in Cleveland that it hardly needs any extra rah-rah that this blog can bring. It's like the one day when we're all on board with The Positive Tribe!

Everyone was friggin excited about the ballpark changes and from what I saw they looked great! It's a little bittersweet but I am actually quite happy about losing 6,000 seats. That's 6,000 less empty seats on cold, cold days. And even though I'm not a drinker the new bar looks so cool! And all the people are really enjoying it and that's what I like. The Kids Club changes got thumbs-up on Twitter, too. More bodies in the stadium! How about that crazy bullpen setup, too? And the view between E. 9 and the stadium? I am not quite sure how that looks from E. 9 yet but it looks pretty from home plate!

If you haven't had a chance to look at pictures be sure to hop on Twitter, or go to Cleveland.com or maybe Scene or something and check out all the fun everyone had at the ballpark today.

Usually I don't go to games until like, May (cuz I hate being cold) but I am officially itching to get there sooner, now. I'm comin' home!

Oh one thing that sucks is that apparently Progressive Field WiFi is only for Verizon customers now. Suuuuuuuucks! I am a Verizon wireless customer actually but I don't have a smartphone plan through them. So whether or not I can get on to the network and tweet from the park remains to be seen. One of the best new additions to the park is gone already!

So, the game. You win some, you lose some. Today we lost some. Some sloppy defense and not-our-best pitching came to light and the score ended up being 8 to 4, Detroit. Yowza.

Zach McAllister gave up 13 hits and 5 runs over 4 innings of work. That's more hits and runs than the entire staff gave up the first 3 games, isn't it? So maybe he needs more time to warm up than the first 3 guys. Those 3 guys are in fact insane - perhaps ZMac is too human.

Crockett still rocked it, so did Shaw and Atchison. Anthony Swarzak is still with us. Did you know? He gave up a run. Zep gave up two un-earned runs. Nick Hagadone was tacked on at the end there. So uh maybe we won't see him for the rest of the series?

Bourn got more hits! Two per game average - what do you think? Can he keep it up? Sadly, he got caught stealing after his first hit. Oops...

Kipnis is still hitting. Just one today but he came in to score. He just needs to keep hitting consistently and he'll fill our role as "keystone" nicely.

Brantley is back! From his back. I hope he didn't over-play, but he said "Every home opener is important to me" awwwww. He went 1 for 4.

Santana, man that guy is on a tear so far. He hit a homer that was ruled a double then reviewed as a double but it was a homer that someone touched before it was a homer. Dangit. Still he went 2 for 3 with another walk  and 2 RBI. Oso!

Brandon Moss got his first hit! He's got a ways to go, yet.

Gomes got another putout so that's cool. But Miggy stole third on him so that's not so cool.

Tribe had their first error, by the way. Zep air-mailed one to first. Like, super bad. And 2 runs scored. But 1 error in 4 games is better than last year already!

So that was that. Yes we lost the home opener but there's a lot more baseball to be had. And everyone had a great day ANYWAY! Right?

Tomorrow is Kluber versus Detroit's #1 guy, also a LHP. I'll admit that doesn't sound too good for us. But things change after the hoopla of the Home Opener - let's see if today's game gives them a charge for tomorrow. Don't forget, it's a 4:10 game.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:

"The way it's flying it might need somebody to take it home."

- Tom Hamilton on a wayward pigeon on the field

"Anyone else would have had a 5 year contract extension."

- Tom Hamilton on Cespedas coming off a "bad" year

"If the play is overturned Greg will get a bonus, be able to get that Big Mac meal super sized."

- Tom Hamilton on the video review crew guy

"The replay official will be visiting the optometrist tomorrow in New York City. Hope they're open on Saturday."

- Tom Hamilton on what he believes to be the wrong call

"The Tigers must get down on their knees every night. How they got out from under that Prince Fielder contract and got Ian Kinsler....unbelieveable."

- Tom Hamilton

"I have no idea why I brought that up"

- Tom Hamilton pondering why he is pondering the size of the flags

"Dale Scott has a dinner reservation at 8. He's not missing that baby."

- Tom Hamilton on calling a strike on a check swing

"Jobs chamberlain pitching like he gets paid by the minute."

- Tom Hamilton

Not a Picasso, but Still Priceless

Are you pumped yet?! Three games into the season and the pitching staff is already DOMINATING, threatening stuff like no-hitters every night and racking up the strikeouts. The offense has four homers, three doubles and a triple. No errors. Is your mind BLOWN?!

The Tribe didn't completely dominate Houston, like you would expect any team to do. But you gotta hand it to Houston - that Keuchel guy and Altuve are both the Real Deal.

Trevor Bauer was our man on the hill today. Since the kid is so tightly wound, it took him a few innings to stop working so hard and settle into just making outs. He had 81 pitches by the end of the 4th. Still no hits and no runs, but 4 walks. In the 5th and 6th he was cruising, and he left the game after 6 with a career-high ELEVEN strikeouts and no hits. Looks like they've tamed the Bauer Tiger, don't you think? Arizona was happy to get rid of him because his crazy mindset couldn't be zoned in to a Real MLB Pitcher. But the Indians know Crazy, so it was nothing for them to put him straight. And here he is, winning games and taking names!

The Boy Pitcher Kyle Crockett came in for the 7th. Remember him?

Yeah after a partial season with the Tribe last year he's totally in the bullpen for real now! Anyway Crockett had It in him today, as did all the men who came before him, and he smoked the 7th inning with just one walk and two strikeouts.

Next was Scott Atchison - 16 years Crockett's senior - who also faced 4 batters and added one more to the K count (16 in all). Once that was over, everyone was like "OMG WE CAN'T NOT SAY IT ANYMORE! NO HITTER!" It's been 34 years since the Tribe has had a no-hitter. Seriously? The last one was Barker's perfect game in 1981.

Kluber came a little close yesterday but the Tribe as a team came even closer today. Nobody but nobody wanted to see Nick Hagadone in there for the 9th - and you can bet especially Nick Hagadone didn't want to see it - but there he was. Indians Twitter collectively counted to "One!" when there was one out. But there was no "Two!" as Hagadone gave up a homer to the next batter. LULZ

Terry Francona was having none of it tho. He was like "I'm here to win games from now to October, not fuck around with my bullpen to get you guys free Domino-nos pizza." (Hugely paraphrased) He's right. He's always right. Trust in Tito.

A ninth-inning homer didn't matter one skosh, anyway, because our bats finally woke up! In fact, as a consolation prize for missing the free Domino's we get 50% off Papa John's. Tribe5 - don't forget!

Bourn is back! He got two hits today, doubling up his total from yesterday and hitting like a lead-off man should. I don't know why people hate him so much. Is it just because he has a tendency to get hurt? Because everyone on our team seems to be hurt all the time (SEE: Michael Brantley) and we don't count them out. Bourn is at least good when he is in! Unlike some charlatans who are like "oh I'll just play on two bad knees, even if it means I'm awful. At least I try, right?" Bourn is just all right with me and I think we all need to love him!

People are diggin' Jose Ramirez in the two-hole, but I dunno if he is going to be hitting for power maybe he needs to move on down the line! JoRa went 2 for 4 today with a walk and a solo homer. Nice! Also they seem to think he's the second coming of Omar. I think he's great, no doubt, but I honestly am saddened by the complete disregard for Asdrubal's amazing years. I am almost wondering if Asdrubal had a crappy personality or something, which is why Tom Hamilton gives him zero respect now that he's gone. But, whatever - JoRa is our man with the moves now!

Who was ready for the big return of Jason Kipnis? Me me me!!! But with trepidation, right? Because how many times have we heard that guys are "back" from injuries but never quite the same? It feels like a crapshoot as a fan! But you KNOW we can trust in Kipnis, and the JK Kid is not disappointing! Today he had a darn TRIPLE, as well as an RBI single to go 2 for 4. And he's batting .333. Brantley numbers, yo!

Carlos Santana didn't follow up his birthday homer with any homers today, or even hits. But he used his good eye and got on base via two walks. I also heard a snippet of him saying something extremely wise - Houston is a good home-run park and that kind of sucks because when you get to the plate you just try to hit home runs. He's smarter than the average bear!

Oh Brandon Moss...some day you will come around and be the Brandon Moss we paid for. Any minute now. Aaaaaaany minute...

Did you see Yan Gomes' awesome play at the plate? He got a double in the 2nd inning and then came around to score on a single to right. He was pretty much a dead duck by the time he was 50 feet down the third-base line, but he faked to the right then swerved to the left and TOTALLY got around catcher Hank Conger! Conger is a bit of a boob and Yan Gomes is The World's Best Catcher so it makes me wonder how far in advance Yan planned that one. He was probably on second watching ol' Hank fumble around back there thinking "that guy won't be hard to cross up." He was right!

David Murphy got a hit today, as was expected of him. Nothing came of it, though. Same for Lonnie Chisenhall, who was also real-error- and virtual-error-free today!

Roberto Perez was the catcher today and he went 2 for 4 with a homer and 2 RBI. How awesome is it when your BACKUP catcher is so awesome? We had this "problem" with Santana and Gomes and now look what we have with them. It'll be interesting to see how much they use Perez since Gomes is so amazing as a catcher. Also interesting to see if the kid can keep it up when coming off the bench. Excited to watch it unfold!

Tomorrow is the HOME OPENER! YAAAAY! I think the home opener is a weird thing because the whole city is abuzz about it, and the game gets sold out, and then 2 weeks later you can't even find a Tribe game on at a bar anywhere. Kind of like how Christmas is a big deal for everyone but the other 364 days a year everyone's an atheist.

But, whatever. I have at least one friend who's going. I hope he sends me pics! And of course the game will be on WKYC - it may possibly be the last game I see on TV this year (I don't see any other games scheduled for WKYC yet). Plus I get off work early (I'm the boss so I set the rules!) and who doesn't love that??

The Tribe will be facing off with the Tigers at 4:10 (festivities start at 3, though). Zach McAllister will go against a RHP (whew!) This team has always been dynamite at home so I expect BIG things tomorrow. Can't WAIT!!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"This is shades of your 12-year-old Little League game. The pitcher and catcher are the only guys involved."
- Tom Hamilton on Bauer's first inning

"if it was Pitt in the 1980s, they were cheating. The coach was Jackie Sherrill and he went to the bank in a mask."
- Tom Hamilton muses on the 1987 Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston

"Here comes Evan Gatiss, the human air-conditioning unit."
- Tom Hamilton

"It's not a Picasso but it's still priceless."
- Tom Hamilton on the "messy" pitching that still resulted in a 1-hitter

Omar Day!

Hey fan! Sorry I haven't been around much. Going through stressful stuff at home and just not feeling like taking the time to blog after games. I have been glued to the radio (and TV!) for the games of course but afterwards....on to other more serious stuff.

I hope you took in tonight's game! There were 40,000 of you at the game, plus it was on Baseball Night In America on Fox so really there was room for everyone in Cleveland to see it with their own two eyes. On Friday the game was on WKYC so that was pretty special - to see two games in a row on TV!

Today was the day they inducted Omar Vizquel into the Indians hall of fame. He's the 40th Indian to be inducted and of course the greatest short stop. And aside from Bob Feller...the greatest Indian? How about greatest since 1950? I like it.

Omar's with the Tigers now. Not sure how that came about. I'm hoping it's due to iron-clad contracts and no room for him where he needs to be. Because...Detroit? Oh, Omar!

The team has been on their BEST behavior in the field while Omar is around. How could you not? No errors and a few pretty, pretty plays so far.

Unfortunately for the Tribe, the Tigers also have our Victor Martinez and he's hitting over .400 against us and it just really. really. hurts. Especially when he gets a home run (which seems like every game) and the Tribe loses by 1. I guess we made him cry, he'll make us cry now. Argh - he's so good! Not fair that the stupid Tigers get to have him and Miggy AND Torii Hunter. For Pete's sake!

Trevor Bauer was our man today, and he still is not scared. He is also not untouchable - three homers for 4 earned runs. He did go 6 1/3 innings on 100 pitches, and only walked 2 and struck out 5. It was the long ball that got him. And you could say "Well, the Tigers, man - you'll get that" but one of his homers was to leadoff man and speedster Rajai Davis so...fail.

Old Man Atchison mopped up after the kid and finished the 7th for him as well as completed the 8th. No hits for him. Kyle Crockett pitched to one guy in the 9th and that was a success, then it was Vinnie's turn to get that hold in the 9th. Yeah you heard me - Vinnie! They took the rotation down to 4 and brought up Vinnie who was throwing a .48 ERA in Columbus. He threw the final 2 outs in the 9th and nothing bad happened so that was awesome!

Cody Allen came in with the game tied in the 10th and wouldn't you know it - he un-Allenlike gave up a run. Nuts! After all that work to tie it up, in front of all those people, on Omar Day! But really if anyone was going to be out there we wanted Cody, right? I mean, who else? Is Shaw even here? Anyway, we got what we wanted and it didn't work out so oh well.

The Tribe got its offense in some interesting ways today. Not from Nick Swisher, of course. But from his pals at the bottom of the order. And Brantley and Kipnis BOTH were shut out! I am not kidding you! Brantley did get a pinch hit on Friday when he came in late after being on the concussion DL, but it just wasn't happening for him today. And not sure what Kipnis' deal was. You don't really want him flubbing while the whole town is watching but it wasn't going his way today.

Michael Bourn had a great night, going 1 for 4 with an AWESOME clutch hit in the 9th to tie the game! It was fall-outta-you-chair-worthy, man! That guys waxes and wanes on the excitement meter but since he got revved up he's been pretty steady on the reliability meter.

Speaking of unreliable, poor old Good Guy David Murphy had been 0 for 25 when he broke that streak to get on base so he could come around to score later on Bourn's single. Talk about a nice surprise!! He really reached back and dug around for his clutch-ness and brought it back at just the right time today.

Asdrubal had a night! He went 3 for 5 with a double and a HUGE RBI. It was his 18th double, which is tied with Chisenhall (who also got his 18th double tonight) which leads the team. They are better than Michael Brantley in a category! Woah!

Carlos Santana!! He's up over .200 now with a .201 average! Check him out! He's like, the hottest player in June or something. He's batting .340 with 5 home runs and 12 RBI in 53 at-bats. Did you know this??? It's almost insane that his average can still be so low but he's raised it 39 points since June 6th. Looking pretty decent at 1st base, too. He's back, man!!

Gomes had a solid hit today too but he ended up not coming around. He also threw out a guy trying to steal, which makes it 6 in a row. And people still do not seem to know not to run on Gomes (or Brantley). Bwahahahaha!

Ok I'm fading fast and have to get to sleep. Tomorrow's game is more Tigers and they gotta win to avoid the sweep! It'll be Tomlin and his hair versus Scherzer and his eyes. They have the exact same ERA! This should be interesting...

See you there!

Everything is Cookin'

There it is! Good starting, good relieving, good hitting! It's all in place today, boys!

TJ House was our man this evening, in his second start. He alllllmost went 6 innings but for David Ortiz. Nice move by Francona to bring in Zep for the tired kid. House struck out 4 in his 5 2/3 inning. He did give up 6 hits and 4 walks, but it only ended up counting for 2 runs. TJ House is good at his job. We need pitches, innings, a warm body, someone with the guts to go up there and do it. Maybe he's not a 7-inning guy (yet) but he's getting the job done as described!

Oh, but he did do this for an out:

.@THouse25 busts out the glove flip: http://t.co/Kwuu18JWU8 pic.twitter.com/lXVBY8Ce6q
— MLB (@MLB) June 4, 2014

Scott Atchison had a lousy outing. He gave up the tying run on 2 hits and a walk. I don't feel like giving too much shit to our bullpen anymore, though. They all seem like they all pitch every day.

Atchison only lasted 1/3 so we got...Nick Hagadone! Hey bro! He ended up pitching 1 1/3 innings and 3 of his 4 outs were strikeouts! He had a pretty consistent low-90s speed and the super slow slider. Looked good to me!

Cody Allen was the lynchpin here. The Tribe was only up by 2 when he took the ball in the 8th, and they had him come back out for the 9th, instead of, say, John Axford. Even though Allen has worked 5 times in the last 7 days. Wooh, they got some confidence in him! He had to face Ortiz! But Allen handled it in awesome fashion and not only got Ortiz but he had a 1-2-3 inning, once again getting Grady Sizemore for the final out!

The offense was back to double-digit hits today. Once again, low on the extra-base hits but they did get 10 singles and a double!

The first inning saw them get 5 hits in a row and score 3 times! Talk about momentum! Ryan Raburn was half of the momentum killer when he GIDP...but at least he knocked a run in. He ended up with no hits all night. Woe is Raburn!

The only way to describe Michael Bourn right now is ON FIRE!!! Today he was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI - the two winning RBI on a double - and he came in to score a run. He's batting .299 now, with 14 hits in his last 10 games. He's just amazingly reliable right now. I checked his stats and he was actually hitting like this at this time last year. I think we're all impressed anew!

Asdrubal was a boring 1 for 4. But, hey - his one was for an RBI so that's pretty great. Happy to see him not be that first inning rally killer!

Michael Brantley (.301) had an RBI single in the first inning to lead off the scoring, and came around to score as well. Starting a new hitting streak at 1!

Kipnis had a nice night, still batting 4th. He went 2 for 4, and while he didn't make it in to score on that first inning (or on his other hit) he did steal another base. Nobody's really running away (ha!) with the stolen bases this year, so Aviles and Kipnis are tied for 2nd with 6 and Brantley is in the lead with 8.

Lonnie Chisenhall...

...did about the same thing he did last night, which is bloop a single into left with the bases loaded for an RBI. Like it's scripted! He ended up going 2 for 4. Jordan Bastian said on Twitter tonight that Lonnie is 26 plate appearances away from qualifying (erm...which may string out as more games are played because you need 3.1 per game). That is going to take forever! LONNIE EVERY DAY!

David Murphy has a 7-game hitting streak! With 9 hits in those 7 games. Today he was 1 for 3, but didn't get an RBI or a run. Still, a nice guy.

Gomes has been up and down like Asdrubal is. Today he was up and went 2 for 4, with a run scored.

Mike Aviles had a bad sac bunt that ended up getting the runner out at third, instead of him out at first. Luckilly it wasn't both? He then came around to score. That was about it for him tonight.

Boy, do I love beating the Red Sox! Almost as much as beating the Tigers! It's because there's so many dorks cheering for the Sox at games at Progressive Field. Well, suck it, dorks! We've won the series and are gunning for the sweep!

Tomorrow is another 7:05 game, with Corey Kluber taking on WHO FRIGGIN CARES?! Yeah, it'll be awesome. Another RHP really, so look out.

It's JOHNNY MANZIEL day, everyone. AND Dollar Dogs! So much sausage!

Sorry no Radio Chatter tonight. Just one of those nights.

A Handful of Hits and a Whole Lot of #Whiffs!

The game was on TV today! Very cool - and this time, for the first time in a long time, nobody stole my attention at all during the game. I saw it all!

Man, watching baseball on TV gives me the munchies, though. I had a bunch of snacks, and I don't even have snack food here! Did anyone else watch with the radio on? The synching was fantastic! Previously it's been double-digit seconds different. Tonight it was maybe 1 second off. Fun!

Speaking of fun, I was having a little fun with the #HeyGirlGrady meme on Twitter tonight. Found a bunch of new followers so that's cool. Check it out, see what Grady had to say!

After declaring last night that our hitting needed to be back up to par today because Justin Masterson wasn't going to take the team very far without giving up some runs, I am TOTALLY gonna eat my hat! After a shaky start in the first inning, he slammed the door shut on the Red Sox with bases loaded and did not look back from there. It was a thing of beauty to see! By the 6th inning I was lamenting that at some point, this game had to be over! And Justin would have to sit down! But for those 7 innings it was just a sight to behold!

At one point, he threw 25 straight strikes. Swinging strikes, looking strikes, foul ball strikes. Total legit strikes too, all of them. During that time, he threw a 9-pitch, 3-strikeout perfect inning- An Immaculate inning! He is the 27th American League pitcher to do so...oddly enough, the second one already this year.

He was followed in the 8th by the only guy worthy to follow that performance, who is Bryan Shaw. But Shaw is totally over-worked and not himself so he gave up a 2-run dinger. Dangit! But the Tribe had already scored 3 at this point so it was still ok. Zep got Big Papi to fly out for the third out, and that was that.

Cody Allen - who has red hair, or at least a red beard, and I did not know this - was there for the save at the end. He got them 1-2-3, with Grady Sizemore as the last out. This will make a few of you feel really old:

Allen, on Sizemore's out in 9th: "I was a kid when he was here at his peak. ... To be able to get him out for the 27th out was pretty cool."
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) June 3, 2014

On the offensive side, Michael Bourn is still RED HOT! Today he was 2 for 3 with his 5th triple! He also walked and stole a base, and came in to score twice. I saw someone else on Twitter today saying that they were also getting over Nyjer Morgan. Too bad - he was quite a personality. But Bourn is all over the place now too, they like to interview him and stuff. Also, tomorrow is his bobblehead day so - good thing his hamstring is all healed!

Asdrubal was on the downward end of his current progression, with a strikeout in the first. But then he started shooting upwards when he got a nice RBI single in the 3rd to score Bourn after that triple. He also took part in 2 double plays.

Brantley (.302) went 0 for 3 today with a walk and it made me very sad. I mean...we won, great pitching, some great hits. But no Brantley. Sigh.

Kipnis got a hit, though! They are few and far between yet. He then went on to steal second by getting his hand around the glove. Nice!

Lonnie Baseball was the big winner today. Surprised?? Yeah he totally got a bloop single in to left field with men on 2nd and 3rd. So it was a 2-run bloop single. HE CAN DO NO WROOOOOOONG!!!

Giambi and Gomes were shut out. Mike Aviles was almost shut out but he got on with a fielder's choice, then stole second, then the Red Sox appealed the call and it was upheld. But then the next play was an out.

David Murphy tried with all his might to get more runs for the Tribe - he got 3 hits in 3 at-bats. But no one around him took notice, and no runs were scored.

So really, not to impressive at the plate today but in a twist of fate all of the magic was on the mound!

Tomorrow is Michael Bourn Bobblehead day and it'll be another 7:05 start. It'll be our new friend TJ House versus RHP 4.50. Yes! Bring it on!

Hope the weather is nice and you're all there!

Radio Chatter:
"You can have a lot of energy but if you're hitting 180 people tell you 'shut up!'"
- Tom Hamilton on Mike Availed and his energy (and putting it to good use)

"John Lackey is one of those guys who probably would not be a very good poker player."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Indians are like 'you wanna bunt? Go ahead big guy.'"
- Tom Hamilton on David Ortiz in the 9th

"It Got Up Outta Here"

Hell yeah it did, Michael Bourn! His first walkoff homer of his career, and not only was it a good fast swing but it was also a good fast sprint around the bases to meet his teammates at home. What a great way to end a Sunday!

The team didn't have one of their best hitting days, to be honest. But they hit enough and pitched well enough to get more runs than the other guys. And that how baseball go.

Josh Tomlin was our man today, and he got himself out of the game with 100 pitches and 3 earned runs by the end of the 6th. He did strike out 8 in that time, contributing to a total of 38 strikeouts this weekend of the NL's least-strikey-outey team. Sounds almost like a little competition they had going! Not the length the team was surely looking for with Tomlin, but hopefully it's not a trent.

Outman came in to finish the 6th, right after Tomlin's 100th pitch. Then it was Bryan Shaw who awkwardly gave up the tying run, even though his ERA was a measly 1.37 when he came in. The one thing we learned from the Rockies this weekend is that they never give up!

Zep came in to uneventfully finish the 8th, and then Old Man Atchison mowed 'em down in the 9th with three strikeouts (er, and a double).

Michael Bourn is hitting .288! He's not quite a qualifier yet (3.1 plate appearances * total games, or 176) but he's got 160 at-bats (can't find PA stats) so he'll be there soon. He's rockin' a 5-game hitting streak right now, and he's up at the top there with Brantley and Chiz as far as hitting goes! Nyjer who?

But still, he'll never be Michael Brantley (.307), right? Oh my glob, how amazing is it that we've got him locked down under contract?!?! Today he went 2 for 4, re-starting his home hit streak again at one. One of his hits was an RBI single, and the other a double. Both times he came around to score. Great!

Other than Bourn and Brantley, no one else got any extra base hits. Winding down from the last 2 games, I guess.

Giambi walked in a run, which is always great! Later on Raburn came up to bat for him, and he got a hit! Nothing came of it but any Raburn hit right now is a hit in the right direction.

David Murphy wanted a grand slam, but he followed up Giambi's walk with a sac fly RBI. Save all the glory for Bourn. What a good guy!

Mike Aviles is ramping it back up, going 2 for 4 today with a stolen base. He was on base when Bourn got his homer, too. Always in the middle of things! Speaking of the middle of things....Lonnie went hitless today but he did get a sac fly RBI. Of course!

George Kottaras was back today, and I wasn't paying close enough attention so I thought he was the one who got the walkoff homer and I was thisclose to declaring him the best Indian ever to play in Cleveland! But he didn't get that homer, and in fact he was hitless in the game. But he did walk twice, and that made him 0 for 1 on the day, and he's batting .500. So, you are still welcome here, George Kottaras!!

The next game will be against those stupid Red Sox so the stands should be full and stuff. Although the weather will be iffy...I wonder how it'll pan out? 7:05 is the start time and THE GAME WILL BE ON WKYC!!! So all of you antenna-heads out there, tune in!

It'll be Justin Masterson versus RHP 3.61. The bats definitely need to get back to Friday & Saturday form if they're to pull this one out - don't count on Masterson keeping the score low. But now that our leadoff man is our home run hero, anything is possible!

See you there!

No Radio Chatter today but my house is super clean. 

All Caught Up!

I don't know what happened but I kept running in to roadblocks from being able to listen to Friday's and Saturday's game. I mean, I know what happened - I was out - but what happened that suddenly made me so popular?

Friday was Eddie Izzard at the Palace and man - if you haven't been out to Playhouse Square lately, go there! You can actually get dinner beforehand and drinks after at a variety of places. And there's an outdoor chandelier!

I tried to listen to Friday's game on Saturday but I got halfway through and it was time for Saturday's game. Then I fell asleep. Then I went to my friend's birthday cookout. Life is so complicated!

But I did get Saturday's game listened to, and half of Friday's and it's pretty cool - they didn't need me to win!

Friday was Kluber's game, and anyone can tell you that he doesn't need any help. He keeps slowly and quietly matching and breaking pitching records. According to Jordan Bastian:

Kluber's name now resides alongside some of the all-time great arms in Cleveland's long and storied history. With his 12 strikeouts on Friday, Kluber joined Dennis Eckersley (1976), Bob Feller (eight times), Sam McDowell (eight times) and Herb Score (1956) as the only pitchers over the past 100 years to strike out at least 60 batters in a single calendar month.

So there's that - 12 strikeouts, and a record alongside 4 of the biggest names in Tribe pitching history. How's that make you feel, Klube?

He pitched 7 1/3 on Friday so he just needed a little tidying afterwards from Zep (1 strikeout) and Cody Allen (2 strikeouts). They made it look easy!

Saturday was Trevor Bauer and he is proving to be the real deal now. He had a quality start with 6 innings, 2 earned runs and 8 strikeouts.

The Indians struck out the Rockies 26 times on Friday and Saturday, while the Rockies only struck out the Indians 10 times. Are the Rockies a high strike-out team? Actually, no - they are last in the NL for strikeouts (meaning they have the fewest). The Indians are third last in the AL for strikeouts, but 28th overall. Now you know.

Anyway, so, Scott Atchison - something happened cuz he gave up a homer then 2 guys got on so he left with 1/3 of an inning and 1 run scored. But then Josh Outman came in and on one pitch gave up a 3-run homer so Atchison got 2 more runs tacked on and Outman one. They had to bring in Bryan Shaw to save that mess, and then also pitch the 8th. And he did and it was good.

Cody Allen was all fancy closer today, coming in with just a 1-run lead. He walked one guy but the other 3 went quietly. Ballgame!

The offense was back to doing their thing, getting 21 hits and 12 runs (half price pizza RIGHT NOW!! And tomorrow) in these two games! After going a bunch of games without extra-base hits, the team had 3 doubles and a homer Friday night, and 2 more homers on Saturday! Even with all of those hits, neither game was an "everybody hits" game. Ha!

Michael Bourn had ended his little hitting streak the other day in Chicago, but he's back hitting again and put up 3 hits in these 2 games. He's got 16 hits over his last 10 games, in fact! No stolen bases, but he is hitting .288 so that's cool. Stay healthy, man!

OMG ASDRUBAL!!! I think I have missed all but one of Asdrubal's homers this year. Weird, right? I mean, he only has 4....but still, I think I missed 3 of them. Friday he got a 2-run jobby, and went 1 for 4 on the night. He's batting second right now, for what it's worth. Also coming out of a bit of a slump - we hope! Saturday he got a hit also, but he had 4 LOB...which sadly is what he's known for these days.

Michael Brantley (.303) is also getting in to the record books, by having the longest home hitting streak at Progressive/Jacobs field. His ended at 19 (he didn't get a hit Saturday) after breaking the 18-game record held by Kenny Lofton and Robby Alomar. The Municipal Stadium record is a bit higher, at 27 and the team record (I suspect spanning a couple stadiums) is 30. He got his 12th double on Friday and that was his only hit. He did come around to score twice!

Jason Kipnis is back in the lineup, batting 4th and he wasted no time getting hits, going 2 for 4! No runs or RBI but what are you gonna do? He came in to pinch hit on Saturday, got a walk and hustled in to score the winning run in the 8th!

Raburn was DH on Saturday and he is not doing well at all. Oh Raburn...we all have so much hope for you!

Gomes was moved up to 5th on Saturday, after an unproductive Friday, and he went 2 for 4 with a run scored!

Lonnie Chisenhall...

...Yes, him. He is just f'n amazing! He went 2 for 4 with a double (his team-leading 15th) and 2 RBI. Then Saturday he went 2 for 3 with a homer (his 3rd of the season and 3rd in 10 games), 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Saturday he was batting 8th because, why not? Why not score a ton of runs at the end of the lineup?! Oh yeah and he got his homer off a lefty today. He has only had like 14 at-bats against lefties this year but he's batting over .500 against him.

Lonnie every day, y'all!! People like to point out that he's not the best 3rd baseman, but neither is Santana and he is hitting like .200 higher Santana. And if we look at errors this year, Nick Swisher is not the best 1st baseman and Asdrubal is not the best shortstop but there they are. Every day. EVERY DAY!!!

Jesus Aguilar has been playing 1st while Swisher is out being old. Aguilar is humongous which is what you like in a first baseman (at least that's why they told me I was on first). He's still getting his shit together when it comes to the plate, but he's not much worse than Swisher right now. A few points worse, but I think the more he plays and the more he sees MLB pitching he'll fit in fine. He didn't get a hit Friday, but Saturday he went 1 for 2 before getting Kipnis as a PH.

David Murphy, good guy that he is, got hits both Friday and Saturday including a double. He came in to score both nights!

Mike Aviles didn't play Friday but Saturday he was back to being awesome! He seems kind of streaky - kind of like Matt LaPorta (which you will have from a bench player). But unlike LaPorta he is definitely more "on" than "off." In Saturday's game he got a 3-run homer in the 2nd, got a single in the 6th, and it was Aviles who got the winning RBI in the 8th when he got a single through the right side to score Lonnie from second. Viva Aviles!

All of Saturday's 7 runs came from the guys batting 8th and 9th. Cool!

Sunday is going to be a 1:05 start, Tomlin versus RHP 5.20. Wow, the scales are tipped HEAVILY in our favor on this one - now let's just hope that the whole team is on board with keeping up this hitting.

See you there!

Sorry for the slim pickin's on the Radio Chatter. I didn't hear anything that great! But the one quote I got was pretty good, I thought.

Radio Chatter:
"Something's gotta give this weekend. Will it be the Indians' strikeout staff or will it be the Rockies offense putting the ball in play?"
- Tom Hamilton

#THELEGENDOFLONNIE

"#THELEGENDOFLONNIE" was the hashtag dujour this evening. At least in my little corner of Twitter (I've finally curated a fantastic follow list that is entertaining and not just a Jordan Bastian circle jerk). Big Lon only played half the game and still he seemed to make things happen!

He still couldn't make the game end at a reasonable hour, but he did keep it going so we could win in 13!!

Check out the fun #THELEGENDOFLONNIE tweets from tonight. Lots of hilarious ones.


Of course, the biggest difference-maker in this game was probably the pitching. Already decimated from yesterday, finding the strength for 13 more innings was pretty heroic. I guess they did pitch themselves into extra innings but heck, they pitched back out!

Justin Masterson was tapped to start, a day early, on 3 days of rest. The way I heard it explained today that the guy who was starting in Columbus today (the guy everyone assumed would pitch) is still not as good as a tired Masterson. And I also heard that a tired sinker-ball pitcher is sometimes better than a lively one. No shit - people study this stuff.

So, Masty it was. And I was very happy with his first 5 innings, where he didn't give up a run. Five innings was already longer than what he was able to give on non-tired days, and no runs was also novel for him. And he kept it up in the 6th, when I sat down and typed in to Twitter that I was satisfied with his start so far. I was about to type "the rest is icing on the cake" and then the Orioles scored 5 runs. Like, literally, before I could even click "DELETE" on Twitter, Justin Masterson had given up 5 runs. I guess he reached his limit. But heck - for 5 2/3 innings he was downright impressive.

Next was a guy named Mark Lowe who's been around since 2006. He started the year in Tampa and now he pitches for us. A walk and an un-earned run. I think the infielders were truly thrown by having this stranger on the mound, as Asdrubal and Santana both had errors in the inning to give up that one run. Or something.

Zep was good for 2/3 of an inning but Cody Allen was better! He went 1 2/3 innings on slight rest and while he gave up a hit, he struck out 2 and no runners scored! (Ok, Zep was just as good. Just one inning less, on no rest).

Then John Axford. Tied in the 10th, in an away game. I held my breath for 3 outs and 1 hit. And it turned out ok.


Then it was Josh Outman's turn to go out there and pitch his heart out. And, hey man, can you do it for 2 innings? He totally did! Just one walk and one hit in all that time, and he struck out 2. Outman is the one who came away with the win!

The Tribe scored 2 in the 13th, and thank goodness they did because it was Atchison's turn to pitch and it was way past his bedtime. So he did stumble a bit and gave up a homer but he did make sure the bases were clean beforehand so in the grand scheme of things it was ok. I just, though - love that Atchison! He ended up with the SAVE!

Here's two interesting tidbits for you: 1) Even though the team got 14 hits, not everyone got a hit. Cabrera didn't get a hit, and left early (probably with a sore knee from yesterday's bruise) and neither did his replacement Justin Sellers. Also, David Murphy didn't hit! 2) Not only did Carlos Santana get a hit, and not only did he get TWO hits, but he got the game-winning hit!! Amaze!!!

Michael Bourn is still diggin' deep and earning his money, going 3 for 6 today with a run scored. That's SIXTEEN hits in his last 10 games, and a 6-game hitting streak. Dude is definitely feeling the TPlush love, and earning his place on this team. Love it!

Brantley (.303) was hitting third again today. He "only" went 2 for 6 today, and "only" got 1 RBI. He came in to score 2 runs. One of his hits was a TRIPLE ! I am sick, sick I tell you! Sick in the head for being somewhat disappointed by Brantley's stats today. What is wrong with meeeeee? I want him to be everything.

Ryan Raburn was in the cleanup spot today, and he got the team's first RBI. It made me laugh because he wanted that RBI from the balk yesterday! His run came in the form of a solo homer in the 2nd. He was, once again, at the plate when a run scored without him as a wild pitch was thrown and Brantley came down from third. He's magic at the plate!

Raburn only had 3 at-bats, and since a lowly right-hander came in they put in Lonnie. And then Lonnie got a home run (his second this year) to tie the damn game in the 8th!!! And then he almost won it in the 10 with a man on 3rd, but the ball did not go where he wanted to put it and someone actually caught it. But in the 13th, Lonnie bunted a ball up into the air, over the infielders and he was safe at first. SAFE AT FIRST, MAN. Hilarious because earlier in the game Tom Hamilton had suggested that newb Justin "SellBlock" Sellers should bunt over everyone's head but that's just too hard to do. And then Chisenhall did it!

Nick Swisher is still on the team.

Yan Gomes was all Brantleyish and he went 2 for 6 today too. He came in to score a run. More importantly, he caught a guy stealing! e hasn't had an error since May 7, and this is so far the longest he's gone error-free this year, so maybe that is all behind him!

When we left off in the 13th, Lonnie was at second after hitting his bunt single and Swisher had walked. Bases were juiced for Gomes but nothing happened. Carlos Santana, already with a hit on the night, banged his 6th double down the line in left. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???? I LOVE IT!!! Carlos Santana, you beautiful dummy!!

David Murphy went 0 for 5 today, but he did get a ground out that allowed Gomes to score the tying run. Right after that, the go-ahead run scored. What a good guy.

Mike Aviles, also a good guy (and handsome) was the one to hit in that go-ahead RBI. The fella didn't do much else today but he was contributing anway!

The team has been doing a great job banding together - both the pitching staff and the offense. I love knowing that when we're down 2 runs, it's not over! It makes every game exciting again, win or lose! Although it seems like they do nothing but win anymore. Ha ha ha ha....

Speaking of winning...although we're in last place, we have as many wins as KC and Minnesota. We're just behind Chicago, who is behind those two, but they have one more win. But as many losses as us. And Detroit only has 4 more wins than us but we're 6.5 behind because they have played 5 fewer games than us. Basically, everything is still fucked up from the weather, and the AL Central standings go by the order of number of games played - fewest first. So this ain't over yet - not by a long shot!

Tomorrow is another game at 7:05 in Baltimore. It'll be newcomer TJ House versus RHO 3.58. RHP? Sounds utterly winnable! Nice that we have the offense to back up a new pitcher, and hopefully the kid can go long. He's ready to go. Look at this. Isn't this the best?

A big thanks to the Indians for giving me this chance to do something I've dreamed of for a long time #RollTribe #Indians
— TJ House (@THouse25) May 19, 2014

Me and Teej will see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Boy if Ryan Raburn gets hot, look out."
- Tom Hamilton speaks the truth

"A Houdini act for Justin Masterson tonight."
- Tom Hamilton on Masterson's performance in the 4th

"Yes Virginia, Santa Claus is alive and well in the Chesapeake Bay."
- Tom Hamilton on a hit that shoulda been an error

"Flaherty is still so excited about his 3-run homer, he's booted two balls!"
- Tom Hamilton

"How can a kid from Akron rob his hometown heroes?? He just did!"
- Tom Hamilton on David Lough's catch

"That's a strikeout! Thanks for playing!"
- Tom Hamilton is excited about the bunt-strike

"If you were really confident, take that 90 mph fastball and bunt it over the head of Machado. That's easy to do in the backyard."
- Tom Hamilton is calling the shots

"If you're wearing a pacemaker and you're an Indians fan, you'd better check the battery in that thing."
- Tom Hamilton is not a doctor

"Let's face it - every ball that's hit to him you hold your breath."
- Tom Hamilton on Carlos Santana

"Patton walks the left-handed hitter, and Buck Showalter may go ahead and strangle him."
- Tom Hamilton

"Normally this is the time we bring you scores but the Baltimore Orioles elected to turn off Internet access to the press box."
- Tom Hamilton is friggin' pissed!

Best. Game. Ever.

Man, I was lamenting the lack of baseball last weekend and for the last three days the Tribe has been BRINGING it! And today, they served up 5 hours of epic, epic baseball! Even if they lost it woulda been epic but to end with a walkoff balk? UNBELIEVEABLE!!!

Good evening, sir...

Sad Albequerque

There was so much game today. So much. All the pitchers. All the hitters. Errors, stolen bases, guys thrown out at the plate, guys thrown out of the game, two Cabreras, two Martinezes, three starting pitchers and a guy who pitched relief for himself.

I almost am hesitant to recap this game because 1) I hope you read about it online and see it on TV and watch some videos 2) I hope you listened to/watched it anyway or maybe want to check out the replay tomorrow 3) It's so crazy, how could I possibly do it justice?!?

There were definitely low spots to this game. Two errors and a base-running mishap were big, plus a bad start from Zach McAllister. He's sort of falling down that same rabbit hole that Carrasco was, where he's putting together strings of bad starts. Except unlike Carrasco, he started off awesome. Is he hurt? I kind of hope he is...? Because you don't want him just turning bad overnight.

So after ZMac gave up 4 earned runs in 2 innings (plus one homer to start off the 3rd), he was done. Glad Francona got him out of there early. There was no time for playing around today! No one probably realized that there'd be 11 more innings to go, so relief became crazy important.

Atchison did as Atchison does and went 2 very strong innings with no runs scored. He actually didn't have to face the cream of their lineup but even the low guys on this team are all up over .230. Someone posted this amazing photo meme to Twitter and I love it:

@CLERallyChicken @Indians pic.twitter.com/4qUoAh8Hhe
— Nathan Edwards (@NateEddy4) May 21, 2014

Scott Atchison is old. Get it? Hilarious!

Zep was next and HE had to face the cream and it did not go so well for him. He gave up 2 runs and didn't make it out of the inning. Carlos Carrasco had to bail him out. Embarrassing! Cookie actually did ok and pitched 2 whole innings. He also frustrated Miguel Cabrera enough to get him to get ejected. Heynow! It was a lovely ejection. I love ejections. Here's the video - the Detroit announcers are like "Tim Timmons was quick to pull the trigger" and then a minute later "this is the third time he's been ejected at the plate" so....really, guys?

Next was Axford, who really fucking sucks. Two more runs. Although one was an un-earned run on an error but we'll blame that shit on him anyway. So he was no help in the length department, going only 1 out.

Next, Josh Outman. Fine. One full inning, no hits, no runs, no strikes, no balls. Huh!

Next was this guy:

No kidding! He was there for a Major League game! And he totally got 5 outs, including Don Kelly and Victor Martinez. Oh, his name is Kyle Crockett. Really awesome to see him blow through like that today - especially since the older, veteran, millionaire Axford couldn't get two outs.

Bryan Shaw, who was throwing his third game in a row, came out just to finish the 10th inning. Francona was out of pitchers, as Allen was just off the table and he was the last one. Who was next? Tomorrow's starter, Josh Tomlin! And his hair!

Tomlin threw THREE innings and basically pitched like he would have pitched tomorrow. Two hits, one earned run and SIX strikeouts. Yeeehaw! Don't mess with Texas!

After all that it was Tomlin who got the win, cuz it was still tied up when he came in and it was very un-tied by the time he left. So now the bullpen is SPENT and our starter for tomorrow is used up. Will be interesting to see what they do. I would figure they bring in the next starter but I am not in charge of such things. I'm sure there's a lot of gum-chewing going on right now in deep discussions about this.

So, that was just the pitching!

Would you believe....that not everyone got a hit today? I'll give you a guess as to who fell short. No, not Dick Swisher but really good guess. Carlos Santana, that's right! But did he walk? Of course.

Michael Bourn is going up up up again, today upping his total to 3 hits (last night, 2) with his 5th double of the year and 2 runs scored.

Asdrubal was kind of cooled off in the second spot, just going 1 for 6. He also got HBP in the knee, and I don't know how or why but he stayed in the game. I guess because he knew Yan Gomes was not going to be able to come in to play short for him. Plus it was the 13th inning so who wouldn't want to be on base when the winning run scored? And like, SCORE THE WINNING RUN? On a balk!

Michael Brantley (.302) is a god among men and I think we should all start sending him notes every day about how much we love having him in Cleveland. Why isn't he on Twitter? Why must we be forced to send him weird notes on paper? That's weird. Brantley went 4 for 7 today and got 3 RBI, including the tying RBI. He also stole 2 bases because, dangit, nobody else was. And 2 of his RBI came with 2 outs. So, get your purple pens out and start telling him how awesome you think that is!!

David Murphy being a good guy is a meme now, or at least a trending Twitter hashtag. Check it out, there are some very clever photo memes being made! Today, Murphy and the Lord teamed up together go to 2 for 6 but most importantly they had 4 RBI. Including a 2-run homer in the 9th to tie the game. A.MEN.

Nick Swisher is still on our team. He had a walk and then got a pinch runner in Justin "SellBlock" Sellers.This guy:

California love

Jason Giambi got his first hit of the season! He also walked. Somehow, this didn't translate in to any RBI or runs scored but it's nothing but up from here. Uh...I hope. He woulda been up during the balk but they had Raburn pinch run for him, so it was Raburn who "won" the game!

You've already heard the sad, sad tale of C-los, batting 7th.

The Chiz Kid played at third and first today. He moved to first after Swisher came out for pinch runner Sellers, who plays second. Aviles went from second to third. Easy peasy. More Lonnie at first, please!

Lon went 2 for 5 today with a walk, and his 11th double on the season. He got an RBI and came in to score 2 runs. He did have an error (tied for 5 with Santana) and a base-running blunder but fuck it. Dude is hitting .367. Nick Swisher has 6 errors and he does nothing to contribute at the plate. Bah.

Handome Mike had a Handsome game today, himself. he went 3 for 6, also with a double, and also with an RBI and 2 runs scored. He did a really nice job hustling to score the tying run on Brantley's single in the 13th. Aviles is everything!

Man that was so much awesome baseball, I never want it to stop. It's like a rebirth, with all the fun on Twitter and talking to the non-usuals about what a great game it was and watching highlights and seeing all the memes and stuff. Is this the start of something good?

My brother posited "What happened with the Tribe?" and my answer was they FINALLY happened! It's not too weird that they played like this today (except McAllister) - the weird part is that they HAVEN'T played like this all season! And not just today but all 3 games here. This is totally the team I was bragging on the day before the season started, and the team I was sure would be knocking on Detroit's door all season. What changed to bring this out in them? Was it the lineup changes? The personnel changes? The return of Giambi? Quicker Columbus trigger fingers?

Whatever it is, we must see it carry over to the Baltimore series. It's imperative. And if it does - it's FINALLY going to be an awesome season for us!

Tomorrow they face Baltimore in Baltimore. It'll be a MYSTERY PITCHER (since Tomlin pitched today) versus LHP 3.69. O noes! LHP! It will be a fine test indeed.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Of all people that you can't give a 4-run lead to, it's Max Scherzer."
- Tom Hamilton

"Max Scherzer is probably saying [to his pitching coach] 'Why don't you talk to my defense and ask them to catch a fly ball?'"
- Tom Hamilton

"This Tiger club with their offense, they are never out of a ballgame."
- Tom Hamilton

"Carlos Santana must feel like a pinata when he's catching. I've never seen someone take so many foul tips."
- Tom Hamilton

"It's almost like Scherzer started the game then Scherzer came in for long relief."
- Tom Hamilton

"If you're just joining us...yikes, you've missed a lot."
- Tom Hamilton

"Martinez knew it was strike three. The only person who didn't was [umpire] Tim Timmons."
- Tom Hamilton

"Knowing Josh Tomlin, he probably went up to Terry Francona and said 'Hey, put me in there.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"They heard Miquel Cabrera probably say some things they probably should not repeat."
- Tom Hamilton on what the kids at the field for Weather Day may have learned instead

"We enjoyed lunch with you, now we enjoy supper."
- Tom Hamilton

"HOW ABOUT THAT!! We now. have seen. Everything!! A walkoff balk! Unbelieveable!"
- Tom Hamilton

 

Bauer Boy, Tell 'Em!

Again, with the baseball! The Tribe playing baseball!

And, hey - Everybody hits!!

But first - our main man Trevor Bauer.

Awww yeah! The kid is back, and he's the perfect guy to throw out there against Verlander because he's totally a cocky sunofagun. Trevor Bauer ain't afraid! He didn't strike out too many in his 6 innings - just 5. He also gave up 2 homers. Solo homers, though. Otherwise, he was getting the ground outs, just like Justin Masterson (who normally is out there on Verlander days!) Bauer got up to 100 MPH, according to the Progressive Field gun. And according to Jim Rosenhaus it's a couple digits high, but whatever - it's worth a shout-out! I remember last time I saw Verlander pitch in 2011 he was throwing 100. But what was special about that it that it was the 8th inning and his 111th pitch. HA!

Bauer finished 6 innings with 95 pitches. No HBP, no wild pitches. Great stuff! Bryan Shaw came in to do what Bryan Shaw does - namely throw TWO innings with no hits and no runs. And of course he faced some .330+ worth of batters because their entire lineup is crazy good. Shaw got an out and a double play in the 7th, then in the 8th Kinsler popped out, Lonnie made a double-saving play at third and then Shaw strikes out Miggy. Yep!

So what was left after that? Cody Allen versus only like, .300 worth of batting average. V-Mart, Austin Jackson (who is always just awesome against the Tribe) and Castellanos. Strikeout, out, out. BALLGAME! No problem for Cody Allen!!

Like I was talking about yesterday, we need some REAL BASEBALL around here and that meant not only pitching and hitting but some stellar FIELDING too. Today we got it again. The aforementioned awesome stop by Chiz. Another outfield assist by Brantley - his league-leading 5th of the season (I love having an awesome player that nobody seems to know!) THREE double plays and no errors!

The Tribe got 12 hits! Eleven of them were off Justin Verlander. Holy SMOKES! Four doubles and a homer off the man, and 5 earned runs.

Michael Bourn had a good night, going 2 for 5 with 2 big doubles, one for an RBI. And he totally rocked Verlander by stealing 3rd - only his 3rd steal this year but I guess that makes him more surprising to catchers! Bourn's got 12 hits in his last 10 games, by the way.

Asdrubal again in the 2-hole and he's heating up again, going 2 for 3 with NO strikeouts. A walk, a run and an RBI. His average is a big, beautiful, beefy, round .268!!! And two DP for him today to boot! (No, no booting.) He's got 14 hits over his last 10 games.

Michael Brantley (.291) is still our God. He should make $45mm a year. He "only" went 1 for 4 today - 6-game hitting streak! But he had that huge outfield assist, nabbing Ian Kinsler in the 5th. Boop!

Lonnie Chisenhall had the cleanup spot today. Which...duh! Dude is batting .366. Not leading the team in homers (er...he has none) but he's up there in doubles. He leads on on-base percentage. Still not enough at-bats to qualify though, as they just don't let him hit versus lefties. Grr! He only went 1 for 4 today but he got the job done on that one with an RBI!

David Murphy was the last guy to get a hit today, but he's such a good guy he wanted me to update my list and so he got a HOMER in the 7th! He also walked.

Santana's chillin' down in the 6 spot. He got a single to go off Miggy's glove and roll down the first-base line, and 'Los took the opportunity to try to hustle out a double. I know he stole a base the other day but really he ain't that fast. I also know that he was counting on Miggy to go all slow on the play - and he did - but his throw still beat out Santana at second and he was out. He went 1 for 4 today then (that 1 was a 1 and out) with 2 strikeouts.

Nick Swisher is batting above .200 now. He is much less scared of the ball batting 7th.

Gooooomes! A big 'ol double and a walk tonight. His walk was made way more exciting when it was followed up by a huge 2-run double from Aviles to start off a 4-run inning. Yeah! Handsome Mike is back to wow us!

So nice to see everyone playing good baseball today. Wish they had it in them to play like this before...but we can't go back so let's hope it goes on forward forever!!

Tomorrow is a noon game, our chance to sweep the series. And you know what? JOHN ADAMS WON'T BE THERE!!! Wow. What do we do? How do we score? I sure hope people are filling the stands and going crazy in his stead.

YOU GO BE THIS!

It'll be ZMac trying to redeem himself for not being Kluber or Bauer, versus Scherzer who is actually better than Verlander and was last year too. But he's a righty so NO PROBLEM.

Noon! See you there!

No Radio Chatter tonight. I was at my niece's pre-school graduation. Here she is, a lifetime ago in 2013.

Outmatched

Sunday's game was a really good game. I listened to the game while I was napping. Then Monday, I sat down to listen to it for real no fewer than 3 times and just kept getting distracted and having to stop. By the time I got to the 8th inning, it was bedtime! No time for a blog. But it was a fun game, huh? Morgan AND Bourn! Santana at first! (Except at the end when Allen pulled an Axford and we were all like WHAT?! But the rest and the end was good).

Anyway, today's game was pretty good because it wasn't a blowout either way, and some exciting stuff happened. Unfortunately the exciting stuff happened for both teams. The Tribe hung with the Jays but the Jays hung with the Tribe.

Masterson was our starter and he didn't fare so good. No quality start - he only made it 5 1/3 innings and gave up 5 runs in that time. Woosh! Seems as though someone has totally figured him out - no doubt going to his mlb.com page and clicking "splits" and noting that lefties are hitting .305 against him while righties are hitting just .171. Amazing scouting! Throw all of our left handed hitters at him! That plan totally worked. Five runs on 6 hits and only 3 strikeouts. Lots of extra base hits.

Outman kept it tight to finish off the 6th and *gasp* Axford came out in the 7th with the Tribe down by 1 run. He had a 1-2-3 inning, striking out 1! Way to not crumple and die, Ax Man!

Zep and Lee paired up to finish the 8th and that was it. No one gave up any runs except Masty.

Michael Bourn had a good night at the plate. He not only went 2 for 4 but he also got a hit off a left-handed reliever, presumably brought in just to face Bourn. He rose to the challenge and took his sub-.200 average against lefties and got himself an RBI single! Is it wrong to be frustrated when he does well because I want to see more Morgan? I think it is, a little bit.

Swisher just went 1 for 4. He did follow up Bourn's bases-loaded RBI with a sac fly RBI. Hey you know what I saw? The Indians posted about the Swisher bobblehead today and a bunch of people said nasty things about how Swisher is bad. That made me happy! I mean, it makes me happy to know that I am not the only one who is so down on the dickhead. I like feeling like part of a group.

Michael Brantley (.278) ended his hitting streak today, at 11 games. *sob* But I bet tomorrow he starts a new one!

Carlos Santana got himself a hit today! He got to second on a passed ball, then Yan Gomes got a single and Los totally tried to score the tying run but he is a catcher and it played out how these things have gone historically when catchers try to run. Out. Moving to third base has not made him any faster.

Asdrubal got back on the hit horse after going 0-4 on Sunday and today went 1 for 4 with a run scored. He's back!

After being fairly useless in May compared to super useful in April, David Murphy went 2 for 4 today with a run scored. Don't get too excited yet, though - he had a 3-hit game last week then went silent again for 3 games. Can't call him hot yet - but let's hope!

Yan Gomes has been pretty good this month when it comes to hitting. Nothing spectacular but at least 1-2 hits per game. Tonight he got 1 hit and 1 walk, with a run scored. And he tried to get that RBI but you know...catchers.

Lonnie Baseball did not get a hit, but once again he was in there making stuff happen - getting hit by a pitch with bases loaded! He's been HBP 4 times this year so far, which ties him for 9th in the league with a lot of guys, including Asdrubal. But I'm telling you - he's always in there getting stuff done!

I'm surprised Aviles wasn't more of a game-changer today. He did have a few opportunities, and left 3 men on base. He went 1 for 4 and did come in to score a run, but I've just been on a Handsome Mike kick lately, you know? Oh, but here he is working on a Mother's Day card on Sunday. Seriously.

The guys working on mothers day! pic.twitter.com/qa8OqUc0xU
— Danny Salazar (@DannySalazar67) May 11, 2014

Aviles, he has HEART!!

All right, tomorrow  is another one in the Great White North (take off!) at 7:07 PM. It'll be our Klubot versus RHP 4.63 which is more than a whole point over Kluber's ERA. Yes!

I only have one bit of Radio Chatter from tonight, the rest are from Sunday. Cherish all!

Radio Chatter:
"Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus! But he doesn't live in the North Pole he lives at the Rogers Centre!"
- Tom Hamilton on a correct error call

------------
"Michael Pineda...who feels that pine tar on the neck is the newest hot fashion."
- Tom Hamilton

"He is 38 years of age. Doesn't look a day over 50! But he can catch."
- Tom Hamilton on Jose Molina

"If he gets a bunt single, then we are going to have a total eclipse tonight."
- Tom Hamilton on Jose Molina

"He got about 10 steps out and realized 'Hey I'm Jose Molina, I can't go!' then he went back."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Molina trying to steal a base

Everybody, Take a Seat

Kipnis is on the bench with a muscle strain. Now Bourn is on the bench with his hamstring acting up again. Giambi is just like...old? Gomes and wife had their baby yesterday so he's having a sit-down too. After a long cold April you wonder how we made it through with no injuries but all of a sudden they are not only having to make replacements mid-game, but they did some shuffling around of the roster. Josh Tomlin is IN, speedy little Jose Ramirez is IN, Elliot Johnson is OUT and hey! It's Nick Hagadone!

The guys who did manage to play today had an all-right game. "All right" because while they won it wasn't too convincing of a win. Two un-earned runs off 5 hits, and 2 errors in the field. Luckilly, the White Sox matched us error-for-error. They had some super-nice plays to match ours, too!

Justin Masterson was on the hill as it happens, as he is not a stranger to lack of run support. Dude finally had himself a second long game, going 7 1/3 innings. That's the second time in a row he's gone that long, and he hadn't gotten too many innings in his other games this year. "Only" 6 strikeouts - and I say "only" because I know he's got the power to get more. But only 4 hits and 1 strike so I'd say that was classic "ace" stuff. Real Masty!

Cody Allen gave up a hit. Whaat? Tom Hamilton called him "The best set-up man." Awww...Vinnie :( But yep, Cody Allen got the second out in the 8th with a man on second, then there was the question of whether to walk Abreu to face Dunn or what. Cody Allen answered that with a resounding STRIKE OUT. BOOM!

Did you know that the rally chicken is back? Well maybe not THE rally chicken but A rally chicken made a visit. In fact, TWO of them did.

Original recipe, from 2013

Extra crispy (from Friday)

Being that Abreu was done with, Axford came in for a very closer-like 9th inning, getting them out 1-2-3. Did you see the guys' bowling team picture from Monday?

Masterson, Allen, Outman and Axford. Ooh la la!

So who hit today? Only 5 guys, no multi-hit for anyone, and only one extra base. But you know what? NO STRIKEOUTS, MAN! How often does that happen?

That's super positive, even if the guys are bangin' the ball around like they did yesterday.

Bourn got a hit in his 2 at-bats, before he left with a sore hamstring. That means 16 hits in 16 games for him so far this year! I worry about that hamstring, though...that's an important part of a baseball player and all, especially an outfielder, a leadoff man and the guy who should be leading the team in steals. Mike Aviles came in to replace him, because he's a stud and can play ANYWHERE.

Stupid Swisher didn't get a hit today, but he was getting stuff done. Grumble. He got a walk, and later got a sac fly for a run. And he also had an un-assisted double play at first where he caught the ball with bases loaded and one out, then got to the bag before the dude who took off for second could return. Good but, whatever.

Brantley (.271) was shuffled up to the third slot today, because he can hit from anywhere. And he did, going 1 for 4.

Santana didn't hit today, and he didn't walk either. Neither did David Murphy but he had a sweet catch in the outfield. And Santana caught a guy stealing! Huh!

The Chiz Kid was at #5 today. How awesome is Brantley-Santana-Chisenhall if they are all hitting??? Brantley is usually hitting, Chiz is always hitting and Santana is hitting right now so uh well like, forget about today's game but think of how awesome it COULD be!! All of those doubles and homers...my goodness.

Chisenhall started off the second with a double, then had some good baserunning to get himself to third on a flyout, and had no trouble scoring on an error at third. He's always makin' stuff happen!

Asdrubal is keeping up, not being too bad or too good, going 1 for 2 today. He's at least staying out of the .100s with a .226 average.

Do you remember Jose Ramirez? He came up last year for a bit, and did a lot of running out hits and stuff. He's coming from Columbus with a .319 average, 17 RBI and 8 steals. I think he's gonna be fun! Today he went 1 for 3 with a bunt that he totally turned in to a single. Right?!

I'll be at the game tomorrow, but without OMG ASDRUBAL!!! because I never made a new one and uhm...well, it's not time yet? I need some kind of revolving sign, so I can cheer for all of the guys. All of them but Swisher ha ha!

First game of the year, because I'm totally not going to sit out there when it's cold. Or too hot, really. Ooooh I'm gonna bring my broom!

Sad 'ol broom.

Tomorrow is 1:05, with the return of Kluber versus RHP 4.05. Easy peasy, right?

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Like the IRS, they pop up out of nowhere."
- Tom Hamilton's take on recurring hamstring injuries

"Take the glove, take the ball, let's just hope it all stays in there."
- Tom Hamilton on Abreu's play at first

"Hot dog wrappers flying everywhere. The top of an Orel Hershiser bobble head just went floating by."
- Tom Hamilton

Can We Trust Today?

I missed the game today because I was busy holding a Wiffle ball game in my backyard with a bunch of toddlers. Also we built a tower out of blocks.

I got done with that and I read the box score and I saw the final and I still decided I would listen to this game's radio archive. Because erm....I dunno, I like baseball a lot.

Nothing happened in this game. Nothing but Danny Salazar throwing 7 innings with just one earned run. He only walked 1 and struck out 8. Finally! FINALLY!!! His length has been atrocious and he was giving up runs right and left. Ok so now we know he can do it. Can he repeat it?

It was a weird day, though. I don't know if I can count on Salazar's performance. You know why? Because Cody Allen had a bad outing today. Cody, Mister Oh-Point-Oh-Oh. He gave up a 3-run homer in the 9th. All three runs were his batters, too. His ERA jumped to 2.35.

So can you trust Danny Salazar's 7-inning one-hit game on a day when Cody Allen gives up 3 runs? I just don't know.

Michael Bourn got 2 hits and Yan Gomes hit a solo home run. That is IT, man. One run on 3 hits.

After the game Terry Francona said "We have to stop letting guys get us out." LOLOLOLOL Can you trust a day when Terry Francona sounds like a doofus?

Tomorrow's my birthday. They'll be playing the Angels, Justin Masterson versus LHP 3.21.

No Radio Chatter today but funny thing...Tom Hamilton is so bored, that he told pretty much all of the same anecdotes and gave the same color about San Francisco as he did on Saturday. Perhaps he was a recording??

After All That...

Blowing Timmy out of the game, one hit over 4 innings for McAllister, being up by 3 runs into the 5th, and after all that - a big ol loss.

More problems with leaving runners on base and not getting those guys home. Lots more problems with the fact that our cleanup hitter is batting .128.

McAllister totally had it going on....until he didn't. He didn't even make it a quality start. He was out after 5 innings, after giving up 4 runs in that 5th inning on 4 hits and a walk. He had an error on a pickoff, though - that didn't seem to do him well.

Of course, with our lineup, a guy should be able to have an off day. ZMac gets an off day being that he's so far been our best pitcher. But they had 9 hits and left 9 on base. That does not get anyone anywhere.

ZMac got his first hit, though! They kept the ball for him.

And Kluber came in to run for Giambi in the 9th! Cool!

Michael Bourn looked good coming out of the gate. He stretched his hit into a double, then tagged up and took third when Swisher hit a fly ball to short left because the left fielder wasn't paying attention. Right after that, Kipnis hit Bourn in for the team's first run.

Swisher got 2 doubles today, so now he's hitting about 50 points under what we're paying him for.

Kipnis had a nice game, getting 2 of the team's 3 RBI. He seems to be warming back up.

Brantley and Cabrera were shut down today. Asdrubal's back to his old trick of hitting stuff hard, right to guys. Brantley is "down" to .273.

Lonnie Chisenhall came in to pinch hit today. He wasn't able to make a difference.

That's it, though. Really nothing to write home about vis this game. Let's hope they get their stuff together tomorrow at the plate, and don't drop an entire series out there on the west coast. Ugh!

Tomorrow will be another 4:05 game with Salazar facing an equally-struggling RHP (7.71). So there's definitely a chance we could have a fun afternoon. So, see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The last time he weighed 245 was junior prom."
- Tom Hamilton on Sandoval's published vitals

"If it were Christmas right now and you could ask for something from Santa, the Indians would be looking for a big bat in the middle of the lineup."
- Tom Hamilton

Left Their Bats In Cleveland

Not much to say about this game. Carrasco still can't get a quality start, but he did show improvement. Still the same 4 runs as usual but this time he went a little longer. Yes?

Trevor Bauer is all like:

Please stop tagging me in negative posts about my teammates. We all do our absolute best for the team and fans. Please have some respect
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) April 26, 2014

Ha! Yeah guys, be cool! What about Tomlin?

Josh Outman gave up a run out of nowhere. He started the 7th, gave up a run, and that was it for him. Lee finished, and then Atchison finished it out. Neither of them gave up a run.

Hitting was dum today. Triple for Bourn, RBI single for Swisher and that's all for runs. Swisher got another hit, and Kipnis got 2 solo hits and that's all for hits.

Santana left 3 on base and Brantley - our clutch guy - left SIX on base. Holy Toledo, guys...

Santana got two walks off their starter, though - who prior to that, was the first guy since 1900 to go 30 walk-free innings. Science!

Elliot Johnson made an appearance, and nobody cares. Except I am going to do this before he gets sent down:

Elllllliot....

 Ugh, stupid wasted non-DH nonsense. (Yes, because we could have gotten 4 more runs with a DH...)

Tomorrow is 4:05, awesome McAllister versus greasy Timmy. Timmy without hair. But I guess it doesn't matte on the radio! Let's hope everyone is over their jet lag and can get some H-I-T-S tomorrow. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Sliding into third....that was not an earthquake! That was the Panda!"
- Tom Hamilton on Sandoval's triple

Always Forward

So, cool. They dropped one but came back and had a nice solid win. Solid because it happened by the 7th and ended with an insurance run. No scrapping at the last minute or hoping for a miracle just some good baseball!

Justin Masterson pitched his second quality start in a row! Still not super long innings - which probably would be nice right now - but it was 44 degrees and windy at game time (sunny too, so no doubt in the 30s by dark) so we'll call it a nice outing for him. He's also still not the Strikeout King that he was last year but he did have a respectable 6 in his 6 1/3 innings. Add in just 2 walks and 2 earned runs, and we can all look past the 8 hits.

Once again, AGAIN, the bullpen was Teh Awesomez. Yes, so good the Cheezburger cat got my tongue! Zep (.96), Shaw (1.86), Allen (0.00) and the closer Axford. Two and two-thirds innings, 2 hits, 3 strikeouts and no walks!

Axford has 8 saves now and it sort of makes me laugh, because he has the bullpen's second worst ERA. It's the other guys, stupid! He was 0 for 7 for save opportunities last year. If he gets 40 this year, it ain't cuz he's awesome. It's because the guys before him are. But then again, if he does BECOME awesome, I won't complain!

Asdrubal, Bourn and Kipnis were our big hitters tonight. That sounds super promising doesn't it? Asdrubal is still on the fence, Kipnis is more down than up, and everyone was about done with Michael Bourn. But they found some #BatMagic today and along with our super-producers Brantley, Gomes and Chiz made for a 5-3 victory!

Bourn was on his game tonight, going 3 for 5 with his first TRIPLE of the year. Ok, he was actually half on his game because when he wasn't hitting he was striking out, and twice when he was on base he got caught stealing. MOTHER.... argh. He did get 2 RBI on his triple so there's that. Also he's got a 4-game hitting streak with 7 hits in that time. Much better than his first 3 games back where he did nothing but get a single hit.

Jason Kipnis came up in the 7th with 2 on and 2 out, and got himself a 2-RBI double. How nice is that to see? Everyone is rooting for Kipnis to be the best Kipnis he can be, right?! He only left 1 guy on base tonight too. What a gentleman!

Oh Carlos Santana. What are we going to do with you, kid? You do realize that there's another 3B/DH on the team who is hitting almost 300 points higher than you, right? Try not to think too hard about that. Free your mind, and the rest will follow.

Also bumming me out is the fact that a Raburn/Murphy combo in the 5th spot produced nothing but a walk today. Yeesh.

But there's always Michael Brantley (.295) to turn that frown upside down!

Brantley went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored. And he stole his 4th base so far. Because of course he did!

Asdrubal was ON IT today! Two for 3 with a run scored, NO strikeouts, and he also managed to steal a base. Pretty sweet that both Brantley and Cabrera got steals today - apparently the Royals' catcher is a pretty sure arm. Ok he did get Bourn twice but he was only 50% sure today!

Gomes went 1 for 4 with a strikeout. Hey - no errors today!

Aviles was at third today, I guess they're easing Santana back in to playing after his big "mental day off" yesterday. Pfft. Anyway, Aviles got on via force out then chugged around to score on Bourn's triple. They pinch hit for him with Lonnie in the 8th, who came up with bases loaded and floated up a single. Yeah Lonnie! Then Big Bucks Bourn and Swisher got up and struck out with the bases loaded so now I'm sad again. Sigh.

Here's a bunny with a Buster-Posey-signed baseball on his head, so that's cool.

Lots of good stuff happened in this game, and we won despite all the bad stuff so it's all good! We're either going to win or split this series so that's good too!

Tomorrow is a NOON game so don't forget! It'll be the Klube against ol' slow-hand Bruce Chen who is not so badass right now with his 6.60 ERA.

So, noon! See you there!

Sorry no Radio Chatter - I was mowin' the lawn!

Yesterday Squirrel, Today Moose

Mike "Moose" Moustakas, that is. He came out of his season-long-slump to hit his first homer, a 3-run jobby in the 4th, which is all the Royals needed to win. They made sure to get some more, though.

The man they call Moose.

Tribe actually got 9 hits today, and a walk. Ten men left on base, man.

Didn't help that Salazar still couldn't manage a quality start. A quality start is 6 innings and 3 or fewer runs. Our man can't seem to get out with 5 innings or under 4 runs.

The bullpen was strangely bad. Possibly burnt out? They gave up 3. Luckilly none of them were Cody Allen who hangs on to his 0, nor did we see Zep who has his 1.

When Mickey Callaway came out to talk to Scott Atchison in the 9th, after he gave up 2 runs to make it 8-2, the "organist" at Progressive Field played the theme from M*A*S*H. If you recall, the name of that song is "Suicide is Painless." Ouch.

Michael Brantley got 2 hits! He's at .293, and he stole his 3rd base. Neither Chisenhall or Santana got hits, though.

Michael Bourn finally had a multi-hit game with 2 singles, and one of them resulting in a RBI! More?

Gomes had a single and a double. But would you believe - he also had his 6th error!

Asdrubal struck out twice. Sigh.

Good thing there's always tomorrow. And May.Tomorrow is another 7:05 start, with Masterson facing a LHP, 2.48. Tribe has not been good against LHP at all this year. Hoping they'll surprise us

It was almost hard to get Radio Chatter today because Hammy and Rosie seemed like they were calling a golf match by the time it got to the 8th inning. Yikes! They also had a long somber discussion about Pujols' 500th homer. If you didn't know, Hammy is not a fan of the steroids one bit.

Radio Chatter:
"He looks like he's about to sit on a stool and milk a cow."
- Tom Hamilton on Aoki's batting stance

"We might as well just tell you when there ISN'T a defensive shift on..."
- Tom Hamilton thinks there are a lot of shifts

"If you were here right now you could have a four dollar beer that becomes a four dollar beer Popsicle."
- Tom Hamilton

"I don't think you can pitch for Kansas City unless you pitch in the mid-90s. Unless you're Bruce Chen but that's it."
- Tom Hamilton