Only In Dreams

Pretty nice when you fall asleep to the sounds of baseball, dream about scoring a bunch of runs, and wake up and your team is in the lead 5-0. It was pretty quiet when I fell asleep, but being that Ubaldo Jiminez was pitching I should have known I would be rocked awake by offense. Thanks, Ubaldo!

It really was Cory Kluber that lulled me to sleep, though. Strikeout, groundout, strikeout, flyout. An occasional hit here and there. The same old thing for 7 innings straight! He struck out 9 and only gave up 5 hits - just ONE of them for extra bases, a double in the 4th. People are totally throwing around the word "ace" today. He leads the MLB in strikeouts. HE DOES! (For now, by 1)

I wonder how many fantasy teams he is on. I bet, like, 2.

It did take 103 pitches for Kluber to get through all those innings, so he had to have some help to finish. John Axford managed to keep the shutout going, but not before giving up 2 hits. Axford! Good ol' reliable Zep was there for the 9th, with a 9-run lead, and gave up one hit but no runs. Shutout!

Batting was interesting today. They got 9 runs on just 11 hits. Not everybody got a hit today (David Murphy is VERY sad about this.) They only got 3 extra-base-hits. But still 9 runs to 0 runs - see above!

Bourn, Bourn, Bourn! Two more hits today! 8-game hitting streak, with 15 hits in that time. He walked again, too. Came around to score once.

Aviles is still in the second spot while Asdrubal is out. Better than yesterday's o-fer, today he got a run, a hit and an RBI.

Michael Brantley (.303) is still killin' it! Ten-game hitting streak. Today he pulled a Lonnie and got HBP with bases loaded to score a run (So Ubaldo!)  He got a single and a walk, with a run and RBI. And a stolen base. Oh, and he totally had another outfield assist! Because Brantley.

Even more exciting than Brantley right now (srsly) is Lonnie Baseball! He got 2 more hits today and is batting .382. He got his 14th double, which is pretty great for just over 100 plate appearances. He's got a 7 game hitting streak, with 12 hits in those 7 games. Shouldn't this guy play every day? Shouldn't he??! Worked out just fine today with Santana at first and Lon at third...

Is Raburn heating up? He's got 8 hits in his last 10 games so that seems pretty good. He's been playing a lot more lately, with these long-ass games. Also with Giambi playing. And not playing haha Today he went 1 for 5 with 2 RBI, which came off his double. He also hit into a double play with scored a guy but I guess that's not an RBI.

[Grrr...Nick Camino just read a tweet of mine on the radio and I think also said something about me (because it took a long time between start and finish) but I didn't hear what he said because my brother was talking to me. Interacting in person is awful.]

I don't even know what to say about Carlos Santana. I think every time we're all at the end of our rope with him, he gets something done. He had that game-winner the other day, and then he didn't do anything the next day and it was TOO MUCH! But now today he got a 2-run homer. He also walked 3 times and came around to score again. Right?

Gomes went 2 for 3 today with a walk and a run scored. No errors. He's batting .280!

Justin Sellers is still here at short. Tom Hamilton was saying that he's a really reliable fielder, so that's cool. Cuz I wasn't sure what his deal was, and why he is up here. He's doing ok at the plate, maybe kind of like Aviles was when he was just getting into being on the team. Today he went 1 for 3 with a run scored. Pretty Aviles, right?

Tomorrow is Trevor Bauer day! A 1:35 start, the 4th game in the series, in Baltimore. He'll be facing RHP 4.35 which is just about what Ubaldo is so...should be a super fun game again, right?

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Carlos Santana is an enigma. Sometimes he looks like he has never played defense in his life."
- Tom Hamilton on a good play by Santana

"Lonnie Chisenhall is making the case here that he should play every day."
- Tom Hamilton is astute

"The Indians will send the biggest baby gift you've ever seen, just get that guy out if the lineup."
- Tom Hamilton on Chris Davis's potential paternity leave

"Well today everybody can sit back, relax and enjoy a blowout."
- Tom Hamilton

You'll Have That...

It was a bit of a gap game today, wouldn't you say? I think the main point of the game was to use as few pitchers as possible, and winning was secondary. They did a good job with the main goal but they fell short of the secondary. Ah well.

TJ House was our man today. He was a high school pickup for the Tribe in 2008, and he entered our minor league system in 2012. This year in Columbus he's pitched 41 innings in 7 games, with a 2.40 ERA and only one home run given up. With the shelling of the bullpen and the extra use of starters over the last couple days, he was our best hope. House didn't have a quality start but he did give us 6 innings! And the Tribe was only down by 1 when he left! House gave up 2 homers - but at least he gave them up to homer-hitting guys. RBI, too. He gave up the homers to Nelson Cruz who has 15 homers and 43 RBI, and Chris Davis who oddly only has 7 homers and 25 RBI. Davis pegged House for 4 RBI on the night. I probably would have given some up to Chris Davis, too.

Mark Lowe, who came in for a minute the other day (from Tampa Bay, remember?), came in for the 7th and his outing didn't go well at all. He wanted it to go well - Lowe intentionally walked Chris Davis. He had a throwing error on a hit to the mound that should have gone for a double play but instead went to visit the center field grass. That play scored a run, and so did the next 2 plays. And Asdrubal wasn't even in the game! Oh Mark Lowe....what you gonna do?

Carlos Carrasco came in for a 1-2-3 8th inning. Huh! But it was too late by then.

The Tribe only managed 4 runs on 7 hits today but I think their offense looked much more like post-Tigers offense than pre-Tigers aka Oakland offense. You know exactly what I mean. Hits and runs - wow!

Michael Bourn keeps getting hotter. Today he switched it up a bit by going 1 for 2 with 2 walks! Tom Hamilton says that when he walks that means he is most comfortable at the plate. Good deal. He went on to steal his 4th base, too. Unfortunately, no one was able to bat him in.

Mike Aviles didn't have any sort of a night tonight, not even HBP or nothin'.

Michael Brantley (.302) of course got a hit tonight! Don't be ridiculous! That's a 9-game hitting streak for him with 15 hits over those 9 games. He also came in to score a run!

Lonnie Baseball is just ... blowing up. Dud is BLOWING UP. Today he went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored! That's a 6-game hitting streak for him with TEN hits in that time. Oh my gaaaawd why doesn't he play every day?? Didja vote? Didja write him in? Well why not now??

David Murphy, despite being an awfully good guy, was not very good at the plate today. He went 0 for 4. But he didn't strike out or anything - nothing untowards like that!

Carlos Santana went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored tonight. His hit was a double! Erm...comeback? Someone asked Tito after the game what he thought about Carlos's performance and he was like "Well he hit the winning runs yesterday didn't he?" Well yeah, Tito but how about all those at-bats where nothing happens? Weird answer.

Jason Giambi....I wish he still had it in him...

Wish? Did somebody say "wish"?

Oh, he does, baby! In his second game back from his second stint on the DL, in his second at-bat - BOOM! A 3-run homer! So very exciting that he can still do that, you think? I really hope he can do this a few more times this season, or at least hit with some regularity. I wish, I wish...

Yan Gomes was shut down tonight too! Argh!

Justin Sellers was in at short today while Asdrubal rests a sort knee and foot. Not sure what he did to his foot but he did take a ball to the knee. MRI test went well so that's good - just gotta get over a bruised knee. In the meantime, we've got the tattooed lady at short (actually, I'm just being flip - I LOVE tattoos and I think Sellers is fine). Not exactly sure what makes Sellers stand out to come up and play over other guys in Columbus. His average was just .227. Maybe that he's had some MLB experience (with the Dodgers)? He seems fine, though. He got a hit today, going 1 for 4. He also was in the middle of both of the Tribe's double plays. I'd like to be able to watch him play with his tattoos hanging out there! Alas, I just have to wait for him to be around long enough for Tom Hamilton to start getting really offended and talking about them every time he's at bat.

Speaking of Tom Hamilton, sorry for the chincy Radio Chatter today. There was a lot of talk about the 13 weddings in their Baltimore hotel today, and how Hammy and Rosie were going to crash them. Hammy had at least 4 picked out based on the menu. Good fun - sorry if you missed it!

Tomorrow is a 12:35 start. Interesting. GUESS WHO'S PITCHING for the O's??? It's Ubaldo! He's a RHP 4.50 by the way. Our guy is the Klubot, so we've got this on lockdown. LOCKDOWN, MAN!

Should be fun - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Boy it's like it's contagious. Whoever joins the Indians, they can't play defense."
- Tom Hamilton after Lowe's error

#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!

It Was All For The Chicken

So there was a chicken hanging out in the outfield before the game tonight.

TribeVibe

I am not kidding. It was either the chicken or Ryan Raburn that brought back the Tribe We Know And Love today. Or maybe Raburn brought the chicken?

Here's a video of it. And here's some Twitter quotes about said chicken:

Francona: "I'm pretty OK with, as long as we win, whatever it takes. But I don't know about farm animals."
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 5, 2013

Joe Smith on if #rallychicken finishes season: "I'm not sure if he can fly. I’m not sure how that goes with livestock on planes." #indians
— PatMcManamon (@PatMcManamon) September 5, 2013

Raburn, on chicken: "He was in here after the game. Everybody had to give him high-fives. If we keep rolling he's going to be here a while."
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 5, 2013

Indians' Cody Allen, who initially balked at questions about the chicken: "We scored six runs today. The chicken might be here tomorrow."
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 5, 2013

#Indians manager Terry Francona & numerous players want P.E.T.A. to know the chicken is in good hands. Definitely eating & living well.
— Nick Camino (@CaminoTribe) September 5, 2013

So that was fun, huh? No doubt there was some Jobu-style batmagic going on tonight. FOR THE CHICKEN!!!

First off, pitching. ZMac was not at his best tonight. No no no no. He went only 4 2/3 innings before it was shutters for him. He was fine in the first 3 innings, not giving up any runs. He hit a guy and gave up a double. In the 4th it was just a solo homer, but, hey - a guy can give up one run! But in the 5th there was a double, a walk and a 3-run-dinger by Not Chris Davis, and that's just unacceptable right now. Smooth move by Tito to sit him down! He did strike out 6 before he sat, so that was nice.

Even nicer was that Shaw, Allen, Smith and Perez teamed up to finish the thing giving up just ONE hit between them in 4 innings! They didn't give up any walks and they struck out 5! Perez was back to his 1-2-3 inning stuff, even. Whew!

Michael Bourn had a rough night at the plate, striking out 3 times. But the 1 time he did get on base he came around to score - and had a sweet play to end the game. That's what we got him for!

Kipnis was back on track today with his first multi-hit game since August 24. He went2 for 3 with a walk, and came around to score twice. Multi-hit Kipnis - that is what we need!

Santana walked and came around to score. Not so much a big stick today but being on base - that is what it takes.

Yan Gomes was up in the Brantley spot tonight while Brantley takes a breather, and he continued on his streak of awesomeness, getting 2 more RBI today to tack on to the 2 from yesterday! He comes up in the first inning with bases loaded and is all like "BAM! RBI SINGLE!"

Then later on he's up with 2 guys on and is all "BAM! RBI DOUBLE!" He hit another single too, and came in to score during that awesome 4-run first inning. All hail Yanimal! (Or Gomer. Or Gomey. Gomey? Come on, lame!)

Asdrubal had a rough night but he did walk once and then came around to score.

Ryan Raburn, back in action! He's so good...

...He's so good that people like to see him twerk it! All night long!

Dude returned with a bang, getting a 2-run double in that first inning on his first plate appearance since August 18. In fact, he's keeping up a 3-run hitting streak since the 17th now!

Matt Carson game in to relieve Raburn in the 6th, and what do you know? He got a single.

¡Hola, Mike Aviles! Remember how I was saying yesterday how cool it was that Gomes and Aviles have 70 of the team's RBI? Well now they have 73! Aviles got himself an RBI single in that fabulous first, and later on hit a double. He went 2 for 4 on the night!

Our man Stubbs didn't fare well tonight, and his ~.240 is slipping down to .235. Maybe he is afraid of chickens?

Clearly I was excited by this game today. This is the team I wanted to root for all year. Now the thing is to keep it up for the rest of the month and THEN we'll have a chance at greatness! Nice to pick up 2 whole games on the O's that's for sure. Speaking of picking up games did you see what Boston did to Detroit tonight?

This.

I never want to find myself rooting for the Red Sox but...daaaaayum!

Tomorrow is a day off and then Friday the Mets come to town. Hooray for the mediocre Mets! Hopefully we see Dice-K and since he's been giving his secrets away in CBus all summer, we'll know exactly how to hit him and score many many runs!

The matchup Friday is Kazmir versus RHP 3.36. The only real question to ponder, though - will the chicken be there?

Let us pray.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Mike Aviles is often like a 3-year-old kid with a bag of candy. He is always in perpetual motion."
- Tom Hamilton

"Anything close, Chris Davis gets the call. It's like he's George Brett all of a sudden."
- Tom Hamilton

Just One Victory

Sorry about the sparseness of my blog posts lately. Nobody's really noticed they've been missing! But I just...I dunno, I'm not excited about baseball right now. I think the problem is that in the last couple years there was no pre-season excitement that there might be playoff hopes. This year, on paper, it looked very do-able. So the last couple years I was able to just sit back and enjoy the game as a game. There was nothing really to be disappointed in as expectations were low.

This year expectations were (and are) high and that leads to the possibility of disappointment. So instead of looking starry-eyed at young exciting players and forgiving their growing pains, I'm looking critically at guys who should be doing better.

It's not that I don't still love baseball or still love the Indians. I still listen every day! I'm just finding it harder and harder to put a positive spin on it every day and I dasn't come here to bitch about the team. You will find that in every other article about the games, I'm sure!

Anyway, I guess my point is that it's too hard to love a team with a chance! It's much nicer if nobody expects anything. Then we get to experience everything.

I did enjoy today's game, though. After last night's absolute nightmare where Justin Masterson developed a crease down his middle, it was relaxing to see Ubaldo come in and do what we had been anticipating Masterson to do the night before.

It felt like he threw forever but Jiminez went "just" 6 innings giving up no runs on just 4 hits. He only struck out 4 but that means he let the guys hit the ball instead of throwing it by them, and that is exactly what the pitching staff has been pleading with him to do all summer. So, quality start for Ubaldo!

Since Ubaldo gave us the Tidy Game Special, we were further rewarded with Allen-Smith-Perez (ooooh Vinnie! Vinnie, I weep for you!) That was pretty great - only one hit for Allen and Smith, and no runes scored.

Then Chris Perez had another hiccup, with a 4-run lead in the 9th, and suddenly it was 4-3 Indians. DUDE!! Whatever that was about, he got out of it with the good guys still winning, and that's ultimately what matters.

Somehow this team that has not been hitting or scoring managed to score enough to get past Perez's mistakes and past Chris Tillman who has 15 wins (they actually didn't hit much, and Tillman actually has a 3.71 ERA so there's all that...)

They only got 5 hits today but FOUR of those hits were doubles!

Kipnis got a double, and came in to score. Santana walked twice and didn't get a hit, but he came in to score.

Hey guess what happened while I was away, sitting in the corner and brooding? Michael Brantley has an 8-game hitting streak! I'll be darned! Pretty awesome, considering he had a huge hitting slump before that. Today he went 1 for 3 with one of those doubles, and he also came around to score.

Asdrubal has NOT been on a hitting streak. Streaky, yes, but not a hitting streak. Today he didn't get any hits but you know what he did instead? Instead he chilled out and managed to get 2 RBI via sacrifice fly. That's friggin great!! What this team needs is RUNS, not guys who try too hard to be heroes and fail!

I don't know what's up with signing Jason Kubel, but here he is, and he got one of those doubles today. He also walked twice so he went 1 for 1. He's 2 for 5 since coming here. Also, he gets Matt Carson and Jose Ramirez to pinch for him. Er, ok.

I'll admit it - I don't like the passing over of Stubbs and his glorious ~.240 batting average for a less-fast guy hitting .224. How does this help??

Do you realize we got Yan Gomes and Mike Aviles from the Blue Jays for Esmil Rogers? Man, I bet Toronto is hating themselves right now. How many games have we won because of that trade?! They've got 70 RBI between them (almost 12% of all our RBI) - and they come off the BENCH!!!

Gomes went 1 for 3 today with a biiiiig 2-RBI double! His were the RBI that ended up winning the game!

The Chiz Kid and Aviles teamed up to hit 9th, and sadly didn't do anything. Chiz had an error early on but he played good defense through the 6th, when they had Aviles hit for him.

There you go. Two wins in three days. Amazing. I'm pretty sure I don't see any real improvement in the offense but at least the pitching is hanging tough. And the guys are getting the bats on the ball.

Tomorrow is a big one where we can gain a whole game on those O's. It'll be some Zach on Zach action with ZMac facing LHP 4.76 who is also named Zach. Dude's ERA is nearly one point higher than the Right Zach so LET'S DO THIS THING!!!!

No radio chatter tonight. I don't think Hamilton can be bothered, either.

Bye Bye Bawlmer

Corey Kluber, after pitching like this guy in Washington:

...just did not have the same stuff today. I won't blame it on the heat because dude is from Alabama. It was just a bad outing, I guess.

He was getting in and out of jams all through the first 4 innings. Then he got to the 5th inning and it was downhill from there. Sound familiar? He gave up 6 hits and 5 runs. Holy smokes! At least he didn't give up any homers to the big-homering team. He gave up 7 runs and 11 hits all told.

His stats for the season are so weird. He doesn't seem consistent at all. But everyone attests to how he is really working his butt off to become a premier pitcher for this team and I do feel that. If he was bad all the time, you wouldn't believe he was working hard. If he was consistently mediocre, you wouldn't think he was changing. But the up and down means something's afoot...I just hope it gets here soon!

The bullpen was shockingly effective today! They rolled out the b-team: Hagadone, Shaw and Albers. Hagadone finished off that awful 5th inning with a strike, then came back for a 1-2-3 6th inning. Then there was a rain delay.

Intermission music:

Oddly enough I had cooked up this grand scheme to go to the store during the game (I have been hella busy after work, no time to shop) and decided that dangit, I was going to listen to the game on headphones while I shopped. So I was sitting in the car trying to tune my radio to 100.7 (the NBA draft was on 1100 WTAM. The NBA draft is more important than a mid-season Tribe game. AS IF!) and as soon as I tuned it they were like "Rain delay. See you soon."

So it turns out I didn't have to shop with headphones on. The delay was over just about the time I got home. Neat!

Anyway after the rain delay was Matt Albers, who had a 1-2-3 inning then Bryan Shaw who had a 1-2-3 inning. Gloriously boring outings from 3 of our relievers!

The Tribe got a lot of hits today but they got NO walks. Not a one! They also struck out as many times as they hit (10)...which can't be good. Even though they got 10 hits, the hits were all spread out enough that it only resulted in 3 runs.

Michael Bourn was back to hitting today, going 2 for 5. Waiting for him to heat back up, any second here.

Kipnis was held to just a single today, and went 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Perhaps this is the key to why we lost?

Brantley got a hit, finally, after being shut down for 2 games. He got his 11th double!

The man of the night, though, was Lonnie Chisenhall!! After showing up with his hustle last night, today he brought the bat and went 3 for 4, with 2 RBI, a double and a bit PHAT homer! Real nice, out of the park and on to Utah street where 69 other homers have landed since 1992.

His double was an RBI double, too. In fact it was a long single that he legged in to a double, nearly getting picked off at second. But more importantly he proved he could do stuff in the clutch, with a man in scoring position - something he's been missing almost all year.

Let's hope this is the beginning of something awesome from the Chiz Kid!

Other guys got hits today but they weren't Asdrubal or Yan Gomes, so I'm sure you're not interested. I did pick up some sort of coconut, fudge-covered Oreo cookie thing from the grocery store during the rain delay....I think that's a bit more interesting, don't you?

Ok so tomorrow is a traditional double header, I guess, being that the first game starts at 5 PM. We'll be facing the White Sox in Chicago. Trevor Bauer will start the first game and Carlos Carrasco the second. Jeebus - I don't know WHAT to expect! Bauer's ERA is kind of high in the Minors but he does have 67 strikeouts over 65 innings, so that's cool.

I'm hoping it'll be a hum-dinger of a series - Chicago is awful right now. Perhaps it'll give the team a chance to get their win on again. At least they'll be in the Windy City and not the City Of Horrible Humidity And Stickiness!

I don't have any Radio Chatter for you today, sorry. I've been painting a thing, and I'm lucky they give me a radio at all. I don't get a pad of paper to write down quotes, too.

When Movin' Through Kazmir

Weird night for pitching. Despite the two starters having ERAs over 5, it was a pitchers' duel through seven innings.

Kazmir was a traveler of both time and space, cruising through the league-leading Oriole lineup like they were nothing but thoughts inside a dream. He didn't give up but one hit - a double. Did you hear me? Scott Kazmir gave up no home runs to any Oriole! Had his eyes not filled with sand there would not have been a throwing error on a pickoff attempt and thus that double would not have been able to score on a sac fly. But sure as the dust floats high in June, Kasmir had made it through 7 on only 78 pitches. I don't know how he only struck out 4 in all that time, but that's how it worked.

He actually came out to pitch the 8th but changed his mind, citing some sort of injury that I'm still not sure about. They had to rustle up Joe Smith to come in, which did not please Buck Showalter, who spent most of Smith's warmup time arguing about how Kasmir wasn't hurt and Smith should not have so much warm up time. But Buck, why would a guy in such a groove, who's only thrown 78 pitches, feign injury so the unsteady bullpen could make an appearance? Showoff Showalter, I say!

Although you wouldn't fault a guy for wanting to get out of the sticky heat of Baltimore and in to the "coffee room" (seriously - read the articles about a day in the life of a Tribe player. There's some sort of coffee room off the dugout, at least at Progressive. Probably in its' sister at Camden Yards, too.) Especially if he thought maybe he'd be covered by Joe Smith and Vinnie Pestano who, when it's 2012, are our sure-fire guys.

Not so much tonight, though. Ol' Joe had the levee break on him and gave up 2 runs in a 1-run game. That's right, he gave up the tying and go-ahead run. Now I know I just got done saying how teh awesomes the Orioles batters are but also they weren't hitting for anything tonight, and Joe Smith technically rocks. Except - except - for the fact that he's given up 5 runs in his last 9.1 innings.

In an odd stroke of fate, the Indians actually did some stuff in the 9th and got ahead, and Vinnie came in with a lead! And not a multi-run lead because those are his to blow. First, he struck out Chris Davis who is this guy:

Then he had a little help from his BFF Kipnis who caught a scorcher to second. And then he struck out another guy and that was the ballgame! Well done, Vinnie! We might be able to sit back and enjoy your appearances now! Although, Perez is on his way back this week so maybe pretty soon you'll be able to sit back and enjoy your role as holder once again.

By the way - Joe Smith got the win. YES HE DID. Lulz!

Did I mention that it was a bit of a pitcher's duel today? It was. One of our runs came thanks to their pitcher. He hit Asdrubal (Hi Asdrubal!) - barely, in the foot, thank Og - and Cabby was on when Kipnis went yard!

Yesterday I was bragging on Kipnis and his stats in June, including blowing everyone away slugging-wise. Now his stats are even better! And June STILL has more days to go! Today he went 1 for 3 with a walk, and that one was the aforementioned homer. Nineteen RBIs in June, man. Woah.

I want to punch Nick Swisher in the face.

Jason Giambi...he's growing on me. I'll never see him as some iconic Indian - not like Eddie Murray or anything (well, unless we go to the playoffs and he's awesome in the playoffs then I'll call him Eddie Murray all day long). But Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus and Jason Kipnis and even Clint Fraizer keep talking about what good he's doing. And he's not completely useless at the plate, only mostly useless. Like tonight he went 2 for 3 with a walk so that's pretty cool. And he got a double in the 9th and came around to score (by proxy) the tying run so...I do not want to punch Jason Giambi in the face.

The Chiz Kid was putting everything out there tonight. He got himself a single earlier in the game, and in the 9th he contributed his speed to avoiding a double play and keeping the inning going with just one out instead of two. I'll take hustle if he doesn't have a bat, sure!

Drew Stubbs is the king of making stuff happen with speed! One out and still with the runner on third - Stubbs nearly grounded in to a double play but dude is so fast that instead a run scored and he was safe at first! That run, you guys, was the winning run! Did you know that Drew Stubbs hasn't grounded in to a double play in some 200+ at-bats? FAST.

I liked what I saw today - even though the stupid bullpen lost the game for us, some big bats coupled with our secret weapon of speed brought it back around for a win!

I didn't realize this was a 4-game series so I mistakenly called today's game a rubber match. My bad - it was just uh, a regular match. Tomorrow is more of the same in hot hot Baltimore, a chance for us to uber-win the series I guess.

Oh! The Tigers lost! We're just 2.5 games behind! I got a whole lotta love for that!

It'll be our man Kluber versus RHP 3.75. Another even match, ERA-wise, just like tonight. Maybe there will be more Asdrubal? Maybe Kipnis will get, like, two home runs? Maybe Kluber will go 9? Maybe Tom Hamilton will read his hate mail about his bashing of the color orange? Gotta tune in to know!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The thing about Baltimore is that no team has hit more home runs, but no team has given up more home runs."
- Tom Hamilton

"I tell you what...not many people look good in orange."
- Tom Hamilton

"Curtis Danburg informs me that I have now ticked off Browns fans, Bowling Green fans and Florida Gator fans all in one fell swoop."
- Tom Hamilton

"She took it right on the head because she thought that this guy that she's having her last date with would catch the ball."
- Tom Hamilton on a fan who saved a beer but missed a ball

"You know why I was able to spot her?"
"She was not wearing orange?"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus

"Kipnis is in a place where even when he's down in the count it looks like he's in control, not the pitcher."
- Tom Hamilton

"If you're afraid to pitch inside, then you can't win in this park."
- Tom Hamilton

"I'll be very honest with you folks, the Indian's defensively have not been real good lately."
- Tom Hamilton

"Joe Smith joins the parade of relievers that suddenly can't put a zero on the board."
- Tom Hamilton

Radi

Don't Blink!

Do not blink!

This rarely happens to me, since I'm usually glued to the radio for the entirety of a game, but today I had one of those classic baseball moments when you turn away from the game for a few minutes and the next thing you know the score is vastly different than when you last looked up. It was 3-1 when I left the car radio in order to pick up my dog. By the time I visited with my folks for a minute and got the dog in to the car, Justin Masterson was being escorted from the field with a towel over his head by large men wearing sunglasses and earpieces (not really).

Ugly stuff, man. A tale of two games, really - one game that was the first six innings, in which Masterson gave up 3 hits, no walks, one run and fanned 7. Then there was that game that unfolded in the 7th, after Masterson hit a guy, gave up a homer, walked a guy, gave up a single, threw a wild pitch and gave up a 3-run homer. All of that in one inning. Ouch.

We'll give it to Masterson, because he's been tight for us this year - heck he was tight the first 6 innings! But the biggest question is...is it mechanical or mental? Mental, fine. Have an off inning. Mechanical? Noooooo! Be healthy, bro!

Time will tell, I guess. Or Terry will tell, tomorrow.

Fun fact: Alexi Casilla, who got the 3-run homer (Masterson's last pitch), had one homer last year, and hasn't hit another until today. The last guy off whom he hit a homer? Justin Masterson.

Hagadone and Albers came in to finish the game and I like to think they were humbled by the implosion of their leader, and did everything they could to not look like idiots and give up more dumb runs through the 9th. They did good, not giving up any runs and no hits. As it should be.

The Tribe's hitters weren't really wowing them in Baltimore today, either. They had a lot of chances wasted again today - 6 hits and 6 walks, and 7 left on base. Six walks!

The top of the order was doing all the work today, but still it wasn't much good work. Bourn was back on the hit horse but it was too little too late - just 1 for 5 today with no walks. His hit was a double.

Aviles broke an 0-for-16 slide and got a hit, going 1 for 3 today with a sac bunt.

Jason Kipnis is still...dang, dude! Two more hits for the Kid today! A single and a 2-run homer. He's still over .400 for June, and his slugging for June is .638. That's higher than Ortiz and Cabrera in June, and 10 points shy of Davis in June. His slugging for the last 7 days is 1.053 - 100 points higher than Chris Davis and everyone else in the league.

DUDE!!!

Oh, if only Nick Swisher, batting after Kipnis and all of Kipnis' doubles, were playing like we paid him a bazillion dollars to play for our team!

Carlos Santana is slipping down in to lower average territory again. Michael Brantley didn't get a hit but at least he got himself another sac fly RBI.

Reynolds and Chisenhall both got hits, and they even put something together (a walk followed by a single). But they they both got out a bunch more, and ultimately Chisenhall left the team in a lurch by GIDP in the 9th with two men on. Ho hum.

That was it, man. Brantley with the sac, Kipnis with the bomb and a lot of dudes left on base. Another case of "Who lost it?" I think - after all, Masterson only put them 3 runs down, and the bullpen miraculously held it. I think it's all Nick Swisher's fault.

Tomorrow is the rubber match in sticky sticky Baltimore. Kazmir versus RHP 5.30, which is an ERA similar to his. Make sure to tune in - and don't blink!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"These are the kind of opportunities that come back to haunt you later in the game if you don't capitalize early."
- Tom Hamilton on Aviles' at-bat in the 2nd

"That's why in Baltimore they say 'Miguel who?' Chris Davis, in their minds, is every bit as good as Miguel Cabrera."
- Tom Hamilton

"Let's face it - that's not Johnny Bench behind the plate."
- Tom Hamilton on Carlos Santana

"Who ever saw this inning coming?"
- Tom Hamilton after the 7th

"I think anybody who gambles has a couple of screws loose anyway...but to gamble on baseball you're out of your mind."
- Tom Hamilton

"This guy walks by you in the cluhouse and you get sunburn."
- Tom Hamilton on Jason Kipnis

"Oh boy - here's Babe Ruth."
- Tom Hamilton on Chris Davis

"Can you imagine - the young catcher from Aruba who got to catch Chris Perez? That's the thrill of a lifetime."
- Tom Hamilton on Perez's rehab game in Mahoning Valley

"At age 42, he still gets pitched to as if he's 22."
- Tom Hamilton on Jason Giambi

"The fans are out of their seats, those who can get out of their seats and aren't sticking to them in this heat."
- Tom Hamilton

Un-Slumping

For a minute, anyway. Swisher, Brantley, Reynolds all with hits tonight. Swisher and Brantley with 2 apiece! On the other hand, Bourn was shut down and Kipnis "only" got a double.

Ubaldo Jiminez was the starter. He got the win but he still didn't go long - only 5 1/3 innings today. He did only give up 2 runs in those 5 1/3 innings so that's cool, and struck out 6 to boot. The two runs he gave up were on homers. He actually does NOT lead the team in homers given up - that would be Brett Myers with 1 ever 2.1 innings pitched. Gross! He is third, though, after Kazmir.

The Orioles do have the most home runs in the league.

Anyway, Ubaldo could have done worse. Could have done better and gone more innings, but I guess the least we can ask anymore is that he doesn't let shit get away from him.

Dare I say it - the bullpen wasn't half bad, either. In fact they were near PERFECT for 3 2/3 innings, save for one hit. This includes Oh No Not Rich Hill!! Wow! This is against the team with the most homers, the second most runs scored and the second highest average in the league. And our knuckleheads held them to just 2 runs and no runs off relief. Unbelieveable!

After Hill it was Shaw, Smith and Pestano. Vinnie apparently had one hell of a slider working, according to Tom Hamilton, but he still gave up both a walk and a hit. It was thanks to Aviles being Asdrubal-y again that the buck stopped there.  Man - look at how sweaty Vinnie is in that video. The Baltimore/DC region seems like a horrible, horrible place (in the summer).

Even though we scored 5 runs it was only on 9 hits and 4 walks, so for the most part the hits were productive. Also, they only had 2 hits going in to the 6th. But in the 6th they broke out with 4 hits in a row, and a walk, for 3 runs. Then they tacked on a couple more in the 8th!

Kipnis got his 19th double, tying him at the top of the team along with Santana who ALSO got a double tonight. Neither guy got an RBI but both came in to score. Santana safe on a play at the plate!

Swisher went 2 for 4 with an RBI. Good, do more of that Nick Swisher. Every day.

Michael Brantley was really the hero of this story (aside from the bullpen!) He went 2 for 4 with FOUR RBI! That's 4 of the team's 5, yo! He got a 2-run homer, giving him 3 homers and 7 RBI in his last 5 games. Except the 3 games in the middle of those 5 games, he did zip. Uhm...impressive two games, Cousin Michael! He also got a 2-run single because why not?

Really awesome that Brantley could be "on it" when Bourn is shut down. Now, if only the two of them were hot together! Look out! Maybe that's what we've got to look forward to tomorrow?

Speaking of hot did you know that Drew Stubbs has gotten hits in 13 of his last 15 games? He's hitting over .300 in that stretch (most of June). Tonight he went 2 for 3 with a walk, and his average skyrocketed up past his usual .240 to .245! If only Bourn were solid tonight we may have seen a few more runs.

So maybe tomorrow we'll have Bourn "on" again, Brantley staying on it, Kipnis with more hits and Stubbs staying Stubbs. And Swisher doing what he's paid to do. I think poor Mike Aviles needs a break, though - he hasn't had a hit in 4 games now. Perhaps it's time for a little Johnny Mac? Also - Asdrubal needs to come back. Hearing great stuff about his return! Any day now!

Tomorrow is Masterson looking for his 10th win (wait what? Before the break? Puts him on pace for 20! And his highest wins in the Majors is 12!) versus RHP 3.71. In hot, sticky Baltimore.

See you there!

No Radio Chatter tonight cuz I was busy power washing a playset. Power washing + baseball on the headphones - I could have gone all night.

A Special Batting Practice

I was supposed to go to batting practice today, the third time since I won a "batting practice experience" in a 2011 Coats for Kids auction. For the third time, batting practice was cancelled. Not because of rain this time - not sure why, exactly. They did their BP indoors. I'm guessing they had some sort of "talking to" or something - and whatever it was, it worked!

By the way the Indians have been very cool about me missing BP. They've given me 2 sets of fantastic tickets so far (one of the 3 times I had my own tix) and have extended the offer indefinitely until I get my BP, even if it goes in to 2013. So kudos to them!

Justin Masterson was HOT STUFF today! He "only" struck out 6 in 7 2/3 innings but it seemed like he struck out everydamnone! He only walked 1 and gave up 1 earned run. The guy who came around to score happened to be a guy that Masterson hit with a pitch. He looked great and worked FAST. So did the guy on the hill for the O's - it was only a 2.5 hour game!

Masterson looked like he was going to finish the game, going into the 8th with 85 pitches, but they had Vinnie sprint out after one out. Masterson had left one on, and Vinnie gave up a double but Cunningham got the ball in fast, and the guy who was trying to come home on said double got caught in a rundown and was out!

That was really cool because it was the second rundown in the game. The entire row in front of me was middle-aged bespectacled dudes and they were all keeping score, so they were trying to figure out how to score the two rundowns! That out was 7-6-2-5. The previous one in the 2nd was 1-5-6-5-4-6!

So anyway after the run was saved, Vinnie faced Thome and he watched a couple then struck out swinging. GOD I LOVE BASEBALL!!! You could see Vinnie shaking his head on the way off the mound. He knew he got out of something there!

The 9th brought us Perez and he got the first guy to pop out to him and the second to strike out swinging. Eight pitches between them. Wilson Betemit had the count loaded after 5 pitches then hit 6 foul balls before grounding out to second. More nail-biting! Man I love seeing Chris Perez! I think I've gotten to see him most of the games I've been at this year. They now have some crazy Perez silhouette thingy they show on the board after they're done with the Firestarter montage. I was too late to snap a picture. It's sort of like the Bat Signal or something. Creepy!

Defense was great behind these pitchers today, by the way. Kotchman had a bunch of nice stops at first (I was right next to him!) They turned 3 double plays. Damon wasn't awful in left. Cunningham had his assist. Nice work all around!

Choo trade rumors. Ok whatever, moving on. CHOOOOOOOOOOOO got his 12th homer today to seal the win for the Tribe. It was a 2-run blast with 2 outs in the 3rd! He also got a single in the awesome 8th inning and came around to score the insurance run. NOBODY IS TRADING CHOO OK??

Chris Perez trade rumor as well. NO.

Asdrubal! I carried my sign all over that stadium today (parked at A, sat at C) and had to keep it from blowing away, so I held it up as much as possible. Three double plays, of course. Then a muffed ball infield single and an infield single that ricocheted off the pitcher. I'll take it!

Kipnis also went 2 for 4 and participated in those double plays. Kipnis was just like Asdrubal! Except he got a double "only" his 12th.

Brantley and Santana each went 1 for 4. Santana froze up a bit leaving 4 men on base. Hafner also left 4 on going 0 for 4, and striking out with the bases loaded and one out. Sad trombone.

Johnny Damon, always looking to make a liar out of me, did ok today going 1 for 3 with a single and a nice bit of running after that. He didn't score or anything but...nice bit of running. I just read tonight that he wants us to sign him for next year. Uh...no?

Good ol' Kotch got himself on base today, going 1 for 3 with a single that had him on when Choo hit his homer. Great guy to have down at the bottom!

Oh speaking of guys at the bottom, today's Photo Day was with Lou Marson and Tony Sipp. We chose Lou because I didn't want to say something mean to Sipp. I look extremely stupid standing next to him. He makes everyone look stupid, I bet. My mouth is SO crooked compared to his painted-on pearls!

The "get to know your team" question reel on the scoreboard today was "Who would make the best movie star?" and most everyone said Grady. Then Grady said Choo and a few other guys did too. Then the pitchers all said Lou and one said "because he already thinks he is." Do you think they're enamored with him and like to pitch to his beautiful face? I bet they all have man crushes on him! Ha!

Ok sorry to get all girly on you there. I'm just pumped from a great game and seeing some GREAT baseball. If we could just hit a BIT more - 10 hits today but NO walks! - looks like our starting pitching is tight and defense is SHARP since the break. It's to the top, folks! Hopefully the Indians aren't sellers or traders this week. I don't want to see it. I want our guys to excel, even if it means me continually missing batting practice for secret meetings with the Maharishi.

Tomorrow starts the Tigers! BRING EM ON! We're 5-1 against them this year did you know that? Totally. It's Ubaldo versus Doug Fister. Choo has 8 hits in 16 AB against him, with 2 homers. Just sayin.

It's a 7:05 start in CLE. See you there!

Coulda Been Worse

Coulda been a shutout. Shelley Duncan coulda broke his face when he tripped over first base. Carlos Santana could still be shitty.

Josh Tomlin looked hella good tho didn't he? Well except that 2-run homer in the first. That didn't help us none. But he went 6 innings and those were the only 2 earned runs he gave up. He only struck out 2 but didn't walk any. That's a quality start, though. Like, the legal definition.

Esmil Rogers, who has pleased me much lately, gave up a run in the 7th and it was a bad, bad time for him to start being displeasing. Jeremy Accardo, who makes a habit out of being displeasing, didn't disappoint today. He was plenty disappointing, giving up the winning run in the 8th.

Cody Allen came in for the 9th and didn't give up any runs, so yay Cody Allen!

Not much really happened in this game today for the good guys. At least they looked good on the field. But so did the birds.

Choo and Kipnis both got on twice (Choo with walks, Kipnis with singles (not doubles, I get it)) but to no avail. Asdrubal wasn't doing anything today between those two. I dunno why, I dunno why. Hopefully it's just a Sunday Slump and not indicative of a false start.

Carlos Santana. Wat?! He went 3 for 4 today with a double, a homer and 2 RBI. While he hasn't necessarily been hitting he does have a 16-game on-base streak so that's pretty great. Well not as great as his homer today. It was only his 7th so he's got a bit to go before he catches up to where he should be but hopefully today was a glimpse of things to come!! Actually it was a glimpse of how things have been, and hopefully will be. You know what I mean.

Shelley Duncan was in on the near-comeback in the 9th. After Santana's homer he got a big hit and everyone was praying for it to be a homer - no one praying harder than Tom Hamilton - but it was just a double off the top of the wall. Maybe woulda been a triple - I guess Shelley wiped out going around first but impressively got the double still. His hard work paid off as he came around to score on a pinch-hit single by Hafner (batting for Marson).

Pretty exciting! Three runs in, only one out, one on base. Woohoo! We'd been waiting all day for this! Then Damon was up and yadda yadda Asdrubal got the third out. Grumble...

But late-inning comebacks are rare for this team this year so I was thrilled to see it. Hoping it carries over to tomorrow. I should have some influence on it as I will be attending batting practice. This will be my third attempt at attending batting practice - it's rained the other two times. And guess what? IT IS SUPPOSED TO RAIN TOMORROW!! Argh!

Oh well at least I'll get to go to a game with my friends. And it's Photo Day again so we'll get to have our picture taken with oh...hmm...well heck, Roberto Hernandez isn't busy, maybe him! I sure hope it's Chris Perez tho, that'd be the bees knees.

Anyway, if I'm at batting practice tomorrow I'll be sure to tell everyone they're doing better lately but they gotta calm down. Asdrubal especially. Even Brantley, he's not seemingly Smooth right now.

Glad we got a little glimpse of some baseball today, at least. Tomorrow's back at regular time - 7:05 so I'll see you there! (But not til late)

Radio Chatter:
"If somebody told him he'd hit better standing upside down, Joe Madden would be the one to try it."
- Tom Hamilton

"Oh man, do they Indians need SOMEBODY to deliver a big hit right now."
- Tom Hamilton in the 6th with 2 on and 1 out

"Lot of ways to get here. Very cheap. Indians dot com."
- Tom Hamilton's wrap-up of the new offers

"These pitchers now are walking a tightrope with no net underneath them."
- Tom Hamilton on the Indians' pitchers

Zach Attack!

Zach McAllister is pretty awesome! Right now I dare say he's our best starter. Masterson was again for a second but Zach's been real steady so far. He has quality starts without giving up crazy amounts of runs.

Tonight he went 7 and gave up 3 runs off 5 hits. Through 6 innings he faced 19 batters (minimum plus 1). He gave up a single and then a homer in the 7th. He actually pitched to 3 guys in the 8th as well (only 95 pitches by then) but gave up another homer and that was it. Still, he struck out 6 and any team should be able to overcome a 3-run game by a starter. 'Cept this one.

Sipp came in for the rest of the 8th and walked one and gave up a single, but got out of it un-scathed. For the sake of working, Vinne Pestano came in for the 9th and struck out 2. Because he rocks.

Unfortunately, the back end of Baltimore's bullpen is even better than ours. Like, for real. Ours is 40-2 when we lead in the 8th and theirs is 39-0. Booooing!

CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO got his 11th homer! Always fun times when he puts it out of the yard. Cuz he's just our little leadoff guy right? Ha ha joke's on you! He only went 1 for 4 thought.

Brantley got a hit :)

Carlos Santana got a double and a walk. That is very good, Carlos Santana - you keep it up!! Everyone keeps saying he needs to get his stuff together. Well here he is - where everyone else?

Damon and Kotchman each went 1 for 4, but not at the same time. So nothing came of that.

Looks like my conjecture last night about the possible back-ness of Jack Hannahan is true! Today he went 2 for 3! But nothing came of that, either.

Everyone was fairly decent tonight but nobody was putting their hits together with other hits. We also only got one walk. The putting runs together thing, that's really crucial to the scoring runs thing.

I'm just glad I took the time to clean the house and do a million chores during this game today. I'd feel pretty busted if I wasted all night listening to that hooey. Bah.

In other news, Roberto "Fausto" Hernandez is on his way to CLE right now after obtaining his visa. I thought he was already in the country in AZ but he was actually in the Dominican practicing at our Dominican facility. He's going to be suspended for 3 weeks but he'll be playing in the minors in that time. Anyone going to try to catch him at one of the minor league games?

Tomorrow is another game against those Orioles. Charlie Nagy jersey day. It's a 3:05 thing, I think it will be packed. Yesterday we had 34k today 36k. People really enjoying the free parking or something!

Let's hope the fans get to see a win tomorrow. I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"[Umpire] Jerry Layne's main job tonight is to make everyone in the ballpark guess what the call is."
- Tom Hamilton

"When that trade was made, there were probably four Yankee fans who had heard of Zach McAllister. And two of them included his mom and dad."
- Tom Hamilton on the trade of Austin Kearns for McAllister

"Unless there's an outbreak of measles, the Indians are going to face Doug Fister, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander."
- Tom Hamilton

Double Trouble

First post! Do you think I was first in with this clever, clever title today? Started writing before the end of the game because when they take out Choo and Cabrera for Cunningham and Lopez, you know the game's over.

Derek Lowe did not have the stuff today. No more "wow that old man is good!" nope just "please don't suck today!" He gave up 9 runs in 3 innings, including 5 doubles and 2 homers. He didn't strike out any today but today it wasn't cute and funny like it usually is with him. "Hee hee he didn't need to strike any out he had 27 ground ball outs!" No. He just plain sucked.

Then Manny Acta just started throwing everyone out there. First was Cody Allen, fresh up from AAA. Very fresh. He walked the first two he faced, loading the bases (Lowe had left a guy on base) then Lowe's guy scored on a ground ball out. Then Allen struck a guy out yay! And a ground ball out. I wonder if he went back and puked in the clubhouse.

Next was Rogers for 2 innings, who has pitched 8 innings in his last 4 games, and is still coming out to pitch 96 MPH so he's looking good. Except he did give up a double and an earned run, but whatever - that's tons better than Lowe in his 3 innings.

Still with 3 innings to go, we saw Smith, Sipp and Perez. Smith was awesome, as usual. Sipp was awesome, surprisingly (one walk, one hit but no runs) and Perez struck out 3. Holla!

You sort of thought this game was going to go differently when it first came on, didn't you? I did. Yeah there was an Oriole run in the first due to a walk and a wild pitch but then Asdrubal comes in and reminds us THE SLUMP IS OVER and you think "All right! Gonna be hot!"

Not so.

Choo went 2 for 4 with his 30th double (2nd place behind Alex Gordon with 31). When it was 1-10, they sat him down for Cunningham.

Asdrubal, as you may have heard, got his team-leading 12th home run in the first inning! OMG ASDRUBAL!!! He went 1 for 3 until they put Hannahan at short and plugged the left side with Lopez. He went 0 for 2.

Kipnis is back to doing stuff, getting his 11th double (once again - only 11?) and going 1 for 4. Michael Brantley, on the other hand, didn't do stuff. Amazing!

Carlos Santana, still with the patience! He went 0 for 1 because he walked twice and was hit by a pitch. He's got 13 walks and 7 hits in his last 10 games. Only 5 RBI (4 of them Wednesday) but I'm hopeful. This is indeed better than nothing.

Also better than nothing was Hafner going 1 for 3.  He got a single and also got hit by a pitch. Lean in there, hoss!

Today's hot hitter was Johnny Damon. Of course, not in the second inning when the bases were loaded, but ever other time he was up he got a hit, going 3 for 4. Why does he get the willies when there's guys on base? Jeez!

Of course, he did this act of magic. Dammit.


I hate when I have to tip my hat to that money pit.

Casey Kotchman...he left 6 on base and didn't do anything tonight. Tsk tsk...

Supermanahan was out tonight, getting his 4th homer of the year! Woohoo! He only went 1 for 4, though. I think we're done waiting for him to come back now - we'll consider him back, and start prodding him to do better.

Nothing was coming together for us today against the O's starter. That didn't do us much good considering we had a 9-run deficit to work with. The lineup gets off the hook due to Lowe's utter failure, but we still need these guys to hit consistently no matter what.

Tomorrow is our new favorite guy, Zach McAllister, versus an even newer guy, Chris Tillman who's got an ERA of 1 since he had one great start then one start in which 5 of the 7 runs given up in the first inning were un-earned.

Anyway he's a right-handed kid. LET US CRUSH HIM!!

It's a 7:05 game. I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Why are all the uniforms pink?"
- Tom Hamilton musing on the thought of Rosie helping with the team laundry

"This isn't New York - he really caught the ball, it's not in some fan's back pocket."
- Tom Hamilton on Damon catching a foul ball in the stands

"Well you can't teach stuff. And he has stuff."
- Tom Hamilton on Cody Allen

"Get out of here! ... and no, it won't."
- Tom Hamilton on Choo's almost homer

"Jim Thome has surpassed Sammy 'I didn't cork the bat. What do you mean it broke open and cork flew everywhere?' Sosa on the all-time home run list."
- Tom Hamilton

"Well it's 10-2 so Rosie and I have got to talk about something."
- Tom Hamilton after a long diatribe about performance enhancing drugs

Shelley Every Day!

What a weekend! Not only did we stop a 5-game losing streak by winning 3 in a 4-game series, but we scored a lot of runs and a lot of different dudes did a lot of good stuff.

I missed the game live today but was excited to hear the score was 6-2 and Shelley got a homer! Can you spot the very exciting part of that news, that is not Shelley getting a homer or us winning? That's right - our starter (or bullpen, I didn't know) only gave up 2. The final piece of the winning puzzle!

Oh yeah and all of this came against left-handed pitching too. Rock!

Masterson went 7 innings today in 95-degree weather. He struck out 7 and only gave up 1 earned run! And for that effort, he finally got the win. He got 6 runs behind him, too and Vinnie/Perez came in to perfectly seal the deal. Pretty perfect day for him, I'd say!

Choo was "finally" silenced today, but he did walk which is great - he's there to get on base!

Asdrubal - AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL STAR - went 2 for 5 with a double and a run. Back up to .300! He was hitting DH today while taking a rest from the field. Interesting choice - I liked it. I wonder if Manny had to offer that to him on purpose as a counter-offer to "no I will play every day!"?

Kipnis was almost stifled tonight but no way, dude! He ended up getting an RBI single and stealing a base. Cuz that's what he does when he gets on base!

Lopez! Still hitting - he ended up going 1 for 4 today, ending up with 7 hits in the 3 games he played in Baltimore. Hopefully he's going to be able to keep up a little momentum as Jack and Pronk come back to replace him on the field and in the lineup.

Today's BIG NEWS is mother fuckin' Shelley Duncan! The Dunc Tank! Play that dude every day!!! Today he went 3 for 4 with a homer and 2 doubles. He got 2 RBI and scored 2 runs. ARGH WE DO NOT NEED JOHNNY DAMON!! Needless to say I am pumped. I hope he's the real deal right now...let's get him working!

The Kotch was up there getting stuff done today. He went 1 for 4 with an RBI double and also scored a run. So critical for someone to be down there hitting. Of course, everyone down at his end was hitting a bit today but it's nice that one of those guys is our starting player.

Hey, it's Jason Donald in for Asdrubal. Hmmm....Hammy says they thought his defense was better but it turns out it's not. He made an error that cost us a run but...ahem...well Asdrubal has cost us a couple runs lately, huh? Anyway, Donald did end up going 1 for 2 with a double and walked twice. Didn't get any RBI or score any runs though. I'm all for Asdrubal getting a day off though so whatever. Such is Jason Donald.

Lou Marson has a better average than both Kipnis and Brantley right now! Damn! Of course he's got 1/3 of the at-bats but whatever - bad plate appearances could make his average go down just as fast as it's going up! He went 1 for 3 tonight with an RBI on a sac fly, and he also stole a base. His third of the season! Oh man, the internal struggle is seriously heating up here...

Brantley sat today and Cunningham was in center. He got his first home run as an Indian! Did you know his middle name is "Roe Ward" and he is from Alaska? True story. My friend thinks he is a hack. I think he is the guy I'd rather have filling in spots in the outfield than Johnny Damon, and getting more at-bats because he's 2nd string not 3rd and thus being more reliable. But that's just me.

We had 11 more hits today and 7 walks. Remember, against a lefty. I am seriously excited but of course nervous. I've just got to remember to sit back and enjoy it all!

Monday is our new favorite guy, Ubaldo, versus Jared Weaver. Stay calm - we've beat him before. Let's hope against all hope that what we did against the O's this weekend was real deal. Pronk should be there too. Hopefully Shelley in left. Will you be there?

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The Indians are not a home-run-hitting club, but in this ballpark they look like a home-run-hitting team."
- Tom Hamilton

"Jason Donald was brought up here because they thought his defense had improved and they could give Cabrera a day off. After that play, you have to wonder."
- Tom Hamilton on Donald's error in the 5th

"Rosie went out last night and listened to the crabs squeal as they were put in to boiling water, so he could have his crab cakes. Hope you could sleep after that!"
- Tom Hamilton forgets he grew up on a dairy farm

"Carlos Santana may have to read up on the story of Wally Pipp."
- Tom Hamilton [Pipp is known as the guy who lost his position to Lou Gehrig before his consecutive game streak]

"Are we still on the air?"
- Jim Rosenhaus after a foul ball came up and in to the booth

"You can't have the guy who makes more money than everybody on your team hustle only when he feels like it."
- Tom Hamilton on Brian Roberts

"That throw had a parachute attached to it."
- Tom Hamilton on a bad throw from home to second

"Unless Lou Marson is Spider Man and can climb the backstop..."
- Tom Hamilton after being told there was no play on a foul ball

Bouncin' Back

Hey! Bet you thought I forgot, huh? Naw, I just had promised some folks I'd go out and they were kind enough to wait for the end of the game. So I had to rush out after the game.

I did find myself at a place called Lopez in Cleveland Heights, so we were sure to drink a toast to The Legend That Is Lopez tonight.

Here's a song for you to play during this post:

So where really do we begin? Today's game was the most awesome in a long time, even more awesome than the 10-9 one in Cleveland versus Cincy. It was cool because we broke away and there wasn't much nail biting. Also cool because our pitchers "only" gave up 5 runs instead of 9. Was it the best game of the season? Nah that was probably one of the Detroit games - the O's just aren't that good. But still the game was AWESOME!!

Tomlin started and Tom Hamilton was making noises about this being Tomlin's final deciding game as to whether he'd remain a starter, get put in the bullpen or go down to CBus. He gave up 5 runs in 6 innings. Not too fantastic but better than a few of his recent outings. Plus he's a "fly ball pitcher" pitching in a "crackerbox park" so the fact that he only gave up one homer surprised some. I'm no pitching expert so I honestly don't know what Tomlin's fate is. I'm thinking he gets yet another chance in a different park, probably home.

Excitingly enough, the 3 guys after Tomlin - Rogers, Pestano and Sipp - gave up no hits and no runs. Yeah you heard me - even Sipp! Praise be!

If you were wondering: defense was a ton better today. No errors (for the good guys) and two double plays. It helps!

Now on to the featured entertainment! The hitting! And boy, was there hitting!

CHOOOOOOOOOOOOO (who I think was getting roundly Choo'd by some Bawlmer fans, or Cleveland fans in Baltimore, whatever) had a MONSTER game with 4 hits, 1 walk, 4 runs and 4 RBI and a homer! That means 8 hits, 2 homers, 6 RBI and 7 runs in his last 3 games (against the Orioles). His average is up at .291 now and he's hitting .417 over his last 10 games. *gurgle*

Not to be left out, Asdrubal had a monster game too! He went 3 for 5 with a double, 2 RBI and 2 runs. He did strike out twice, though. Is that what you have to put up with when your guy becomes the team's Home Run Guy?

Speaking of Home Run Guy, Jason Kipnis was shut down today! Well he did get intentionally walked and hit by a pitch. He also stole a base but oddly enough it didn't turn in to a run. And he hit into a run-scoring fielder's choice so I guess we can say he was out there getting stuff done regardless of whether or not he had the stats. But still, in a game with so many hits, quite odd that our team leader in most things batting got shut down!

LOPEZ!!! This is the dude I remember from Spring Training! He played 3rd today and batted cleanup and it was quite a fantastic decision by Manny Acta. Duncan could have been in that spot. Kipnis or Brantley could have been in that spot. But he stuck with Lopez in that spot and he went 5 for 6 with 3 RBI and a run. Yes, 5 for 6!

Brantley went 2 for 5 with a walk. Somehow that didn't turn in to any runs or RBI either (ok, I know how. I know. Left on base.) We're back to a 3-game hitting streak for Cousin Michael! I'm just going to keep counting and re-counting from here on out.

SHELLEY EVERY DAY! He had his homer today. He only went 1 for 6 though - eep! But hey HE'S got  FOUR-game hitting streak, with 3 RBI in those 4 games. Johnny who?

Kotchman and Cunningham were both shut down today. Eh. Still, hard to believe that in a 19-hit game that THREE guys went hitless, right? They did.

Encompassing 4 of those hits was Sweet Lou himself! And he ALMOST went for the cycle, woohoo! He got them all but a homer, got two singles and walked. He only got 1 RBI out of all that but he came around to score 3 times! Did you know he's hitting .284 now? Hate to say it but Santana is already seeming like a distant memory right now...

I don't know what to make of all this. I think I'll stay cautiously optimistic for now because Baltimore sucks right now and their park is a hitter's park. Plus, we saw a ton of runs a couple times against the Reds just last week then went on to score hardly anything against the Astros and Yankees.

However, I will go to bed smiling from ear to ear and I will stash the nugget that Manny had "a talk" with the team the other day and maybe, just maybe, that turned something around. I'll also cling to my fantasy that the Yankee series was rock-bottom and from now on we're rocketing to the top.

Bouncin' back, as it were.

Tomorrow I'll be visiting my kinfolk in Pittsburgh (yeah and hopefully my cousin's 10-year-old and I can talk baseball!) so I won't hear the exciting conclusion to this series until late. But you bet I'll be there as soon as I can!

It's 1:35 in case you didn't know. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Looks good maybe on October 31st if you're a jack-o-lantern."
- Tom Hamilton on Oriole orange

"...at some point, an Orioles hitter has to hit the deck. [...] An Orioles player has to feel the same discomfort"
- Tom Hamilton puts out the call after Kipnis gets hit

"So, they milk cows then go to the beach at night?"
- Tom Hamilton wondering how the Jersey Shore works

"Rosie, when you're born and raised on a dairy farm and you're milking cows, the view never changes.'
- Tom Hamilton tells Jim Rosenhaus why they never discuss Wisconsin

"These are situations, where if a guy like Cunningham wants to stay on this ballclub, he's got to do better than that."
- Tom Hamilton on Cunningham's strikeout in the 5th with a runner on 3rd

"It's not just errors, it's the plays that should have been made but aren't."
- Tom Hamilton on the Baltimore defense

"The Orioles might start feeding him Fudgecicles."
- Tom Hamilton on Matt Wieters losing weight and losing power

New Way To Lose

At least you can't say it wasn't an exciting game. They came out of the gates hitting and scoring, and scored in 5 innings. They were on base in all innings but the 8th. They managed a respectable 8 earned runs but...12 left on base! The big problem today was errors.

Derek Lowe seems to maybe be out of that "wow that old man can still pitch!" juice that has been going around the league this year. It's not like he's throwing everything in the dirt but we don't need another dude with a 4+ ERA right now.

I will give it to him tho - he gave up 4 and there were 3 un-earned right along with them. Son of a bitch!

Accardo did ok in his 2/3 of an inning. Walking 2 but getting out of it. Smith came in and gave up what ended up being the tying run (GROAN!) and somehow it worked out that even tho the homer Perez (yeah Chris Perez) gave up in the 8th was the winning run, it was Smith who got the loss. Almost like Perez paid him to take that L or something.

So ... pitching? Yeah, kind of crummy today. Nobody's bullpen needs to be giving up 2 runs in 3 innings. But there were 3 un-earned runs on errors by our truly amazing infield - Asdrubal and Kotchman. Not sure why Asdrubal has 9 fucking errors this year...is there some sort of post-All-Star curse? Didn't seem to hit Chris Perez. Or it all hit him on the first game of the season and he beat the curse to death with his bare hands.

Batting was pretty great today, except for when it wasn't. I mean 5 guys had a multi-hit game and almost everybody hit (DAMON!!! *shakes fist*) There were merely 6 strikeouts which isn't bad when you consider how many at-bats we had. But everyone was leaving guys on bases left and right. A tragedy!

Choo had a great night, going 3 for 5 with 3 hits and a walk. He got 2 RBI and scored a run and you know what? All that on no doubles or homers! One of those RBI was an RBI walk! I caught the first inning on TV and my mom was impressed at how dirty Choo was by the time Kipnis was up. Working hard!

OMG ASDRUBAL!!! #11! He's being less disappointing at the plate right now but damn what's up with the errors, bro? He's got 9 on the year and the last 3 have been COSTLY. Ugh. Well he went 2 for 6 today but he did leave me sad when he was up in the 9th and blooped out with a man in scoring position.

Kipnis was locked in today, going 3 for 5 with 2 RBI. That's 2 TWO OUT RBI! Cool! Brantley also hit and went 1 for 4 with a walk.

Now that Santana's out for a smidge (hurt back), our top 4 guys are hitting a combined .282, and really they were the stars of the show tonight getting 6 of the 7 RBI (one run was a fielder's choice). Not to totally discount the bottom of the lineup, though - they scored 6 of those runs!

Kotchman scored 2 of those runs today, from being on base twice. But like Asdrubal he also made a run-costing error today. My friend was joking about the number of errors Asdrubal has made, and wondered why Kotchman was erroring too. Do you think they are erroring way too much (18 for Hannahan. Asdrubal and Kotchman) or do you think we notice it way too much because they are - all other times - awesome? Kipnis only has 3 errors, same as Kotchman, but I think he's been exciting at 2nd this year. Because we expect him to suck.

I refuse to blame anything on the heat today, by the way, because if you recall we had a hell of a time in April and it was blamed on the cold. All these guys are from Latin America, Florida or Arizona - they can handle the heat. Except Brantley who's from Washington state, but he's Dr. Smooth so nothing flaps him.

Speaking of Arizona - Shelley Duncan had a nice night! But first he had to come in for Lonnie Chisenhall, who had a nice night! Lonnie went 1 for 2 ... and then got hit by a pitch in his arm and now his arm is broke and GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! He was just about to break out - or already had broke out - and now that's it. Surgery.

On the POSITIVE side, Shelley Duncan ended up going 2 for 2 with a double, an RBI and 2 runs. Bittersweet, yo...bittersweet.

Supermanahan and Marson both went 1 for 4 with a walk. They're both hitting about .250 which would be great to see up in the .270s soon. They both need to get their games in and stabilize at the plate and we know they can do well. Question is - how much more Marson will we see? Now that there's very little question of "how much more Lonnie?" (MOAN!) we know we'll see a ton of Hannahan...let's hope he's still got it. A nice fat .275 or .280 at the bottom of our lineup sure would be swell!

So all-in-all we made a lot of progress but had a bit of a step back. Pitching didn't get any WORSE and hitting didn't get any WORSE - it got better in that we got an early-season level of hits but we're still leaving them stranded. But fielding cost us big, which was sort of a new way to lose the game.

Tomorrow we're back to trying to figure out LHP. Let's hope there's some confidence and we can keep on with the hitting and could-be-worse pitching. Tomlin is up - he's seen worse. Don't need to see it again.

It's a 4:05 start, and it'll be damned hot. Bring your battery powered fan and enough cash for at least 3 large pops. I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"When you have a pitcher who is first in the league for ground outs to fly outs, you're going to have to play good defense."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Cleveland karma is paying off for us, now that we've gotten out of New York with that engineer Paul..."
- Jim Rosenhaus on the Baltimore engineer who married a Mayfield girl

"This is an Indians ballclub that cannot stay in contention if they can't find some middle relief. Whether it's Cody Allen, or George Allen, or Marty Allen, they need some help."
- Tom Hamilton

"Adam Jones just learned that Christmas can happen even on a hot day."
- Tom Hamilton on a questionable fair ball

Homers? Homers!

Woo woo!! What the heck is up with this?! The Tribe winning the game on homers? Against a lefty? WITH HELP FROM JOHNNY DAMON??

Seriously, that is what happened today.

Zach "E-Z Mac" McAllister came up today in a nice trade with ourselves for Jeanmar Gomez. Thank you, ourselves! He pitched 5 2/3 innings and only gave up 2 earned runs, striking out SIX. Goddamn! I had thought Lowe was pitching today (oops, that's tomorrow) but Zach was just as good. Like vintage May Lowe.

After McAllister was done we got Joe Smith and Esmil Rogers who faced 10 and sent down 10. Rogers struck out 3 in 2 innings. Like that guy yet? I do!

So it looks like our pitching staff had it together, all at once. Cool!

We had a couple guys with a mutlti-hit game tonight, and we also got back to getting WALKS. Seven on the night. Still had 8 LOB but...well, that'll have to come down later.

CHOOOOO! Had himself a homer today, going 1 for 3 with a walk and 2 runs. Stills struck out twice, tho. What's up with that?

Not to be outdone, OMG ASDRUBAL!!! Must have read about my disappointment in him yesterday. He ended up going 2 for 5 with a 3-run dinger. NO strikeouts.

Kipnis wasn't shut out - he got 2 walks. Didn't turn in to anything, tho.

Lopez was in at first, and went 1 for 3 in the 6 innings he was in. Not sure why he came out for Kotchman, because the switch happened before a pitching change. Perhaps there were a bunch of lefties coming up and they needed the vacuum on the right? Who knows. Kotch didn't do anything with the bat.

Michael Brantley got TWO hits and TWO walks and didn't strike out once! :) :) He went 2 for 3 on the night with 1 run. Of course he got his 23rd double - it's actually been a while since he got one!

In a bold move they had Duncan in at the SAME TIME as Damon. It paid off - he went 1 for 4 with a walk.

And speaking of Damon, ok, he got a 3-run homer in the 2nd. Yay for Damon. I'll be a jerk and point out that we had 4 other runs besides his and only needed 3.

Wow, what a jerk I am.

Sweet Lou was behind the plate today - because 1) he's a great catcher for a rookie 2) because he's 4th on the team versus lefties and 3) because Santana's back hurts. And he's bad at the plate right now. Lou went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run. His hit was a double!

So good starting, good relief and good batting. Good batting against a very good lefty starter, even. Weird!

Did we hit rock bottom the other day like I said? And now it's all up from here? Maybe so, maybe so...I'm especially excited about the guys hitting a lefty.

Tomorrow is more of the same, and THIS time it's really Lowe against some other guy. This other guy is a RHP. Let's get 14 runs!

I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"You're not in Japan anymore, not when you're facing Derek Jeter."
- Tom Hamilton on Chen's start in the Majors

"I can tell you he's the most excited 39th round draft pick for the Indians."
- Tom Hamilton on his son Nick

"Pitchers love throwing to Lou Marson. He's a pitcher's catcher."
- Tom Hamilton

"So basically it's been a triple crown for the Orioles tonight as far as categories of play in baseball."
- Tom Hamilton says the O's didn't bat, pitch or defend well