Shelley No More

Shelley Duncan was designated for assignment, guys.

WAT?!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Modified Nerf Big Bad Bow

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vinnie Had His Turn

It was bound to happen, boffins. Vinnie had to have a bad game at some point. Don't worry though - it didn't go on his record. The earned runs were Smith's runners and Smith got the loss.

But still Vinnie did give up 2 hits to let some guys he inherited get home. We were tied when he came in and lost by the time he left.

McAllister didn't do all that much better. He had a 4-run lead which got down to 1 run when he gave up a bunch of hits and a walk in the 4th. But then again his ERA is 3.64 so it stands to reason he'd give up the 4th run to tie it in the 5th. He was doing quite well with getting out of jams and then having a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd. He just...lost it.

Inbetween McAllister and the ill-fated Smith was Sipp who went 2/3 of an inning with no hits or runs. Yeah!

Not all on the pitchers today, though. Our guys could not get anything going at the plate for nothin'. Only 6 hits and 1 walk, against a pitcher who did not warrant only 6 hits.

Asdrubal had a good night! He went 2 for 4 with a double, for the second night in a row! Asdrubal has 13 hits in his last 10 games. Unfortunately, Choo and Kipnis are struggling around him and neither guy got a hit today.

Santana went 1 for 3 with a walk. He's slowly climbing out of the gutter but has a lot of early-season crud to overcome to get his average back up there.

Brantley and Donald each went 1 for 4. Brantley also got on via an error, which is when he came in to score a run. Donald actually has a 5-game hitting streak going on and has only not hit in 1 game since his return. Huh! Zeke came in to replace him in the late innings and just this once didn't get a pinch hit.

Shelley Duncan, though - look out! SHELLEY EVERY DAY! THE DUNC TANK! GRAAAAAND SLAAAAM! Man how many grand slams have we had this year? Two? There's been a dearth, no doubt, considering how our guys usually clam up when the bases are juiced (especially Johnny Damon who always seemed to be up aaarrrgghh!) Tonight Shelley had the bat magic to send it out! The TV commentator said the guy should have thrown him a changeup because throwing Shelley a fastball was "like trying to throw a pork chop past a wolf." Ha!

That was it, though. No one else hit, no one else scored. Not even Shelley. Heck not even Asdrubal by that point. The A's brought in their bullpen with their ridiculous Vinnie-like ERAs and that was all she wrote.

On a more positive note - check out this car I painted for my friend's kid! I fixed up a used, abused, faded Little Tikes Cozy Coupe with paint. Tomorrow is his first birthday party, pretty excited to give it to him:

Turns out Krylon makes a paint for plastic so you can do all sorts of crazy stuff to kids' toys. I have extra blue and some decals left...perhaps his outdoor swing needs a makeover next?

Anyway so that should leave you warm and fuzzy until tomorrow's game at 9:05. It's Corey Kluber versus RHP (3.55). A guy you're sure to remember. Imagine a little boy lighting up at the sight of his new toy car. Then imagine the Indians going to clobber one of the oldest dudes in baseball. If nothing else, perhaps you can create a really solid drinking game based around how often Tom Hamilton brings up Colon's age and "special medicine."

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Rosie decided to taste every grape in Napa Valley."
- Tom Hamilton on Jim Rosenhaus's anniversary in San Francisco

"This and at Oakland Raiders games - a lot of folks are picked up by their parole officers to go home."
- Tom Hamilton

"Nothing says romance like the Oakland Coliseum."
- Tom Hamilton

"There is nobody who gives a hoot about the Boston and Yankees series this weekend. [...] That's what happens when one team's not good and the other team is bad."
- Tom Hamilton

"It's almost like he wants to scream 'Why?! Why can't I throw this slider for a strike?!'"
- Tom Hamilton on Vinnie Pestano

"I wonder how many people are going to ask Bartolo Colon for the phone number of his doctor. The first one will probably be Jane Fonda."
- Tom Hamilton

I Don't Care If I Never Get Back

So there was a lot of good stuff about this game and just enough bad stuff - or rather, such horrible bad stuff - that the evening turned out to be a wash for me.

The weather was great again. The crowd was sparse so parking in my favorite deck was a breeze. I got my ticket from my stupid Perfect 10 voucher and my Diet Dr Pepper With One Refill and was up in my seat at the top of the bleachers by the time the little kid said "Play Ball!"

I've become fond of life at the top there. No one else was there except the occasional little kid who wanted to see what the view was. And patron saint of this blog John Adams of course. I had plenty of room for OMG ASDRUBAL!!! and my big pop and could put my feet up. And since I was there alone I could have the radio in my ear which was good because you can't hear the PA or see the scoreboard from up there.

That was all pretty fun. I did a lot of clapping and hollering and standing - which is good because I've foregone two days at the gym to go to two baseball games! There were a group of high school cheerleaders down below me in the bleachers, and I tell you what...when those kids put on those uniforms, nothing can stop the exuberance! And the game was going awesome and I had reason to throw up my sign and I was excited for everyone!

Here's me watching Shelley's homer:

Yaaaaaay!

Then I went down to meet two of my friends in their fancy borrowed season ticket seats, in the section behind the Tribe's dugout. It was actually kind of awful down there. It was crowded and the people behind us were racist and drunk while the people in front of us were foul-mouthed and drunk. Balls kept nearly taking our heads off. Kids kept running down to our section to get junk from the Fun Bunch. It was a totally different ballpark than the one I'd just left up top. Our team was winning when I was up top, too.

And then they weren't.

I don't know - do I have to go over the end of the game? This blog is just for positive stuff. So I'm pretty sure I should not go over the end of the game. Here's what Jason Kipnis has to say about it:

Today is when it really got frustrating. Yes, the other 10 losses have been frustrating as hell. But they generally were not a waste of good pitching. We generally did not get let down by our key guys in key places. Mostly they were all a general blah all around. Bad pitching, bad hitting. The extra-inning loss against the Tigers wasn't as bad as today because we came back in a surprising fashion. Plus the Tigers are good. The Twins aren't so good. We were leading after 7 by 4 runs. We had an unexpectedly amazing start from a new guy. We had hits, we had walks.

But then we had errors. Errors from not just Asdrubal (who now has 15 on the year) but then also Kotchman and Kipnis, neither of whom are butterfingers this year. We found a new way to lose today, and it sucked.

I'm not an idiot when I say I still support the team and still like baseball and still go to (and will go to) games. I totally know our season is over. But I don't understand all of the talk about how the owners suck and how we need to throw money at our problems. Ok yes it worked for Detroit but how many Miggys, Princes and Pujolses are out there? And Verlander didn't get plucked from the sky and signed for billions - he was drafted by the Tigers and he's been with them ever since.

If you watched this year and last year you'd know that there is a ton of talent on this team. That's the most frustrating part is that we have a bunch of dudes who can throw 2-hitters and a bunch of dudes who can hit .280-.300 and no one is doing anything. Huge talent pool that is not living up to its potential one bit.

What does that mean? Is it Manny Acta? Possibly. I have no idea how much direct influence a manager has over how well his pitchers pitch and how well his hitters hit. We did get a new pitching coach this year and pitching suffered. We did get a new batting coach towards the end of last year and batting has suffered ever since. People are calling for Acta to go and replace him with Alomar. While I love Sandy Alomar tons I don't know that he's the answer. Only because...he's there. He's already there and we're still not getting it done. Does moving him one slot down the bench suddenly change his influence? I doubt it.

If we want old Indians players to come help out what we need is Charlie Nagy in the bullpen, Jim Thome in the cages (as much as I hate him as a player, I think he can redeem himself by coaching) and Omar Vizquel chasing everyone around the infield. I don't really think our guys are going to learn much from occasional visits from Carlos Baerga and Kenny Lofton. Our current coaches aren't cutting it and I think they need to go.

Of course we can't get any of the above guys right now, so I guess we're stuck with the same dudes for now or whoever is sitting by the phone. Candy Maldonado.

Anyway I don't think it's the players' abilities and I don't think it's all Manny Acta. They can't all be that bad at one time for no reason. Someone needs to get in there and find the reason - and squash it.

In the meantime, jeez folks - quit your whining. Seriously it's time to just laugh it off. It's over, it's done and now we're starting to at least see some good baseball in between spectacular, soul-crushing losses.

Ok here's a rundown of the good bits of the game...

Corey Kluber totally redeemed himself and halved his ERA by going 6 full innings tonight and only giving up 1 earned run! Not big on the strikeouts (3) but he only walked 3. I'm stoked that his bad start seems to be behind him now and hopefully we can look forward to a solid rest of the season from him.

Speaking of new guys...Chris Seddon (tall, skinny, hair) who started on Sunday came in to pitch an inning of relief today. Why the hell not? He pitched one out and finished off the 7th.

VinnieP52 continues to rock. I think he's possibly the last man left on the team who has yet to disappoint us this year in a spectacular fashion. Well Choo and Brantley maybe, they've been solid - but they had slow starts. Vinnie has been up in this bitch since day one!

Hey! It's Frank Herrmann! The Herrmannator! The pride of Harvard! He was here to get the last out and save the day - hooray!

I was rockin' my We Are All Kipnises t-shirt again today, looking positively tomato-y up there in the bleachers with my matching red hat. I thought he looked good in the field, until he didn't. He also had a good leadoff night at the plate - he went 0 for 1 because he walked twice and got hit by a pitch. He came in to score two runs!

I swear to Og, Asdrubal saw my sign today. He ramped it up and went 2 for 3 with 2 walks and an RBI, and also looked good in the field, until he didn't. And he stole a base! I tried to catch his eye with the sign at the end of the game, when I was down sitting behind the Tribe dugout. Surely he saw it...

Choo was having a rough night. He ended up 0 for 5, but he did get a sac fly RBI.

Santana got his extra base hit - a 2-out RBI double! He also got his walk. He might be out of the .230s soon!

Brantley did not have any extra base hits today. Hard to imagine! However he did go 2 for 4 with a walk, and then he stole a base and came in to score a run. Because it's what he does!

My friend was wondering who Kotchman was and why he made her so sad when he came to the plate. I explained that he's not paid to be great at the plate but...really? He's not bad at all. Especially considering Choo went 0 for 5 before him and he at least went 1 for 5. And she apparently totally missed his two awesome plays at first he had before he had a bad one. Luckilly I had pointed out how awesome he was at first before he wasn't.

Hey did you see Shelley Duncan? Yeah he's in, cuz Lopez (LOPEZ!) is gone. Yeah man...they got rid of the dude who's hitting .249 and covering 3rd for Old Man Hannahan. I guess he had to be let go so Herrmann could come up but uh...I dunno, Brent Lillibridge? One more LOPEZ! to grow on, though:

Anyway back to Shelley Duncan, who now has to fight for DH but I guess Hafner doesn't put up much of a fight. He did the DH-y thing and got himself a 2-run homer to put the team safely in the lead! He went 1 for 3 on the night with a walk too.

Hannahan also went 1 for 3 with a walk but he did leave 4 on base, ouch!

Ezequiel Carrera's bat seems to have cooled off - he only went 1 for 4 tonight with 2 strikeouts. However he totally blows away Damon and even Duncan in left field. One did drop in front of him today but I can attest to it being un-catchable. Yesterday he let one go but I am faulting Damon - Asdrubal went back to get it, not being used to having a competent left fielder behind him, and Carrera couldn't get the momentum to get the ball and also not run Asdrubal over, so nobody got the ball. That was all Johnny Damon's fault - still making problems from his couch in Tampa!

Anyway Zeke looked good in the field and also running the bases. He ran out a bunt down the first-base line tonight. I think he meant to hit it down the third-base line. But he ended up pulling it off anyway - just like when we first met. Awww!

So good stuff did happen today but ultimately the bad stuff won out. You just gotta let it go, folks. Don't let bad baseball ruin your life or make you sad for too long - otherwise you're going to have a really hard time living in Cleveland.

Tomorrow is a noontime game at 12:05, Justin Masterson versus LHP (3.49). Surely you will tune in because surely you are guaranteed one of two things: A) We can't possibly lose 12 in a row or B) We can lose 12 in a row and break a franchise record and you'll be there to hear/see it!

Oh yeah, I finally did my temporary tattoo. We'll see how long it lasts. I'm surprised it still looks this good after an evening of veracious clapping! You like?

Dangit - I'm supposed to give blood Friday and this is my good vein arm!

I'll be listening from work - see you there!

Radio Chatter:

"Jack Hannahan will never use that bat again but it went for a good cause."

- Tom Hamilton on Hannahan's broken-bat single

"Oh that got him on a tough spot..."

- Jim Rosenhaus on Mauer being hit with a pitch playing behind the plate (HIS NUTS)

"What's important is that they've got stuff. They are throwing in the 90s and tricking guys."

- Tom Hamilton on Kluber and McAllister

"If the Indians lose this game all they have to do is look in the mirror. They have no one to to blame but themselves. They have no business losing this game."

- Tom Hamilton in the 7th

Lost Weekend

Well we can't put this one solely on the pitcher today. Yes, Ubaldo gave up 5 runs but he pitched against a dude with a similar ERA and we did not get the same 5 runs off him. We managed just 6 hits, 1 walk and 1 run. Not even an extra base hit!

Ubaldo Jiminez went 6 1/3 and struck out 6 while giving up 5 earned runs. An ace compared to the last two! He kept playing with fire by getting himself into jams then getting out of them, but then in 3 innings he didn't get out of it unscathed. He gave up 5 stolen bases too, and I don't think it was really any of Lou Marson's fault. I think in the 2nd he was going to the mound to say "Get rid of the baseball faster. You're making me look bad." Oh yeah he balked too.

So Ubaldo wasn't totally awesome but still, I dunno, he wasn't totally to blame.

Hey here's one good thing about this game - Sipp helped him finish, pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings! That's 2011's Sipp!

The only other good thing about this game is that Shelley Duncan rocks and he went 2 for 4 with our only RBI. You really got the impression that we were going somewhere in the 4th, with back-to-back 2-out hits and Shelley's RBI single but...that was it.

Asdrubal, Lopez and Brantley also got hits, as did Lillibridge. How is he relevant two days in a row?

Kotchman and Brantley had nice plays...I think Kotchman's was better. Brantley was no Ben Revere backwards somersault but it was reminiscent of Ahmad Abdul-Rahim of the fabled Bears.

(from the Dick Allen Hall Of Fame site)

I missed the game today and instead went to Shark Weekend at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium. We participated in the Draw the Line and drew some sharks in a parking lot. Here's my shark - I call it Sparkleshark.

 Then I went to Shakespeare in the Park at Wade Oval, which was really nice. And really free! There's still one more weekend of performance if you're interested...although we play the Tigers next weekend so you probably will want to stay home for some good baseball.

But see, it wasn't all that bad of a weekend in Cleveland. The Olympics, a bonfire at my house (oh yeah you missed the bonfire at my house), sharks, Shakespeare. There was just some really bad baseball behind all that.

Oh yeah and Chris Perez is frustrated as hell too. He was taking it out on Twitter, because people were hating on him and that's not cool. He's the biggest personality on the team, and he loves to play good baseball. Not sure why people give him shit (well I do know but it would be rude to say out loud.)

The trade deadline is Tuesday at 4 PM. I personally do not want to see anyone go. Anyone we have worth trading is even more worth keeping, just to get some cohesiveness to this team. Choo and Perez have special scoreboard graphics! How can you get rid of your two guys with special graphics?!

Anyway, I don't even want to think about it. I am seriously going to close my eyes and plug my ears and la la la my way to 8:10 on Tuesday when the Indians play the Royals.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The thing about Jiminez this year - when he's good he's really good. When he's bad he's really bad. He's never mediocre."
- Tom Hamilton

"When you have both pitching and hitting going in the wrong direction, you just don't have any chance to put any kind of a winning streak together."
- Tom Hamilton

"How do you beat Verlander then get completely shut down by the worst pitching staff in the league?"
- Tom Hamilton wants answers

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

Oh, Ubaldo...

I did it! I went to a wedding and manged to come back and listen to the game in my hotel room in full! It almost didn't happen because my computer was acting totally stupid, but I tried turning it off and back on again and eventually got the game to play. Nice!

This game was all Ubaldo's fault. Even though we had 8 LOB and only scored 1 with bases loaded and no outs, it was still on him. Even though our relievers gave up 3, still on him.

You don't give up 8 runs in 3 innings, bro. You just don't. Especially not when you're our second starter.

That's pretty much all I have to say about Ubaldo right now. There's no rhyme or reason to when he's going do well or do poorly right now. Remind you of anyone? Fausto, right. Whee!

Barnes and Accardo gave up 3, but Rogers did well in the 9th and we almost came back. But we didn't. Gave it a great try, tho!

The offense was exciting, though! How about that bottom of the lineup, huh? When I got home and loaded up the box score I thought I was looking at the totals for yesterday's game. Three morehits for Brantley? Get out!

Choo's having a rough start of the half. Yeah it's only 2 games in but he's 1 for 8. He did go 1 for 4 today with a walk so he's still hovering just under .300.

Dropping far from .300 is Asdrubal, who went 0 for 4 today but did have a walk, a stolen base on indifference and then a run. Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus pointed out what I've been noticing - he's swinging at junk. Just swinging away quickly and often. Hopefully when someone points this out to him (and soon), he'll rectify. He was hitting over .300 for most of the season so surely he can be fixed.

Kipnis is in the same boat as Choo, 1 for his last 8 with a walk. Yawn.

Hey, Lopez! Been a while since we saw him (not really)! He went 1 for 4 today ALSO and came around to score on a bases-loaded walk.

Hafner pinch hit for him in the 8th and got a RBI single! Cool!

Santana...well he went  0 for 3 but  walked twice and ended up coming around to score both times. That's progress! Still rough getting him in that lineup, tho - he was DH, Hafner hit, Marson hit, Kotchman killed at the plate and in the field. Careful, buddy!

Holy shit, Michael Brantley! I mean - holy shit! Six hits in his lat 8 at-bats! He's at .299 - do you think he's going to be hitting .335 by the time Grady comes back, as I jokingly predicted this spring? He's up from .280 on July 1. It's not a fluke, either - he hit like a sonofagun last season too. What about his hitting streak? Up to 12 now? Thirteen? How about 3 of his 4 homers coming in the month of July? His 4th was tonight - a 2-run bomb! Love. This. Guy!!!

And Shelley too! He ALSO went 3 for 4 and had a 2-run homer. He had 3 RBI on the day, getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the 2nd. He's got 5 home runs in his last 7 games. FIVE HOME RUNS IN HIS LAST 7 GAMES!!! Aaaaargh why do we still play Damon?!?!

Tied for 4th on the team in homers is Casey Kotchman who ALSO got a 2-run homer today. Dayum! He went 1 for 5 today with 2 RBI and he had this piece of niceness at first. Because he is so super awesome! See why it's hard to get excited about Santana?

If it's still hard to see, Lou went 1 for 4 today. Not too exciting BUT he's got a 9-game hitting streak and is hitting .293. He's up 60 points in his last 10 games. He did let 3 bases get stolen today but...I dunno, they can't do it all...?

So yeah, the offense did end up doing fairly well - 12 hits and 6 walks, with 9 runs. They actually almost came back, which is sort of unusual for this team but hopefully not unusual going forward. But it's hard for any team to come back from 9 down. This one is squarely on Ubaldo.

Rubber match tomorrow - Derek Lowe versus Villanueva who is sort of good but also a RHP. It can be done!

I'm sort of geeked because I'll be in the car and within radio range at 1:07, so I'll get to finish my trip home while dialed in. Will make for a short ride!

I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Boy, Chad Fairchild behind the plate has proved one thing - that he did not see an optometrist during the break."
- Tom Hamilton

"You can't make up for the first half in one swing of the bat."
- Tom Hamilton on Santana trying too hard at the plate

"You just hope Jiminez finds it before he is knocked out of this game."
- Tom Hamilton in the 3rd just before Jiminez gives up 8

"Fairchild is going to go home tonight, call his wife and say 'Nobody likes me.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"Nothing against Aaron Laffey but it feels like the Indians should have 8 runs themselves."
- Tom Hamilton

"As much as people talk about this club needing a hitter, they probably need pitching even moreso."
- Tom Hamilton

"You look at that big scoreboard in center and one number pops out at you - 8 in the third. That's your ballgame."
- Tom Hamilton

"A guy that was having a club sandwich suddenly had a baseball right in the middle of his plate."
- Tom Hamilton on Encarnacion's homer

"Hang on folks - this one's not over yet!"
- Tom Hamilton after the Tribe scores 4 in the 8th

"Remember, here in Canada, they know hockey."
- Tom Hamilton was going somewhere with this, he swears

Everyone's At The Rally Alley!

I was there at the game today, boffins! I was there with my OMG ASDRUBAL!!! sign! Even though it was over 90 degrees at gametime, it was actually quite pleasant up in the upper box where there was both shade and breeze.

We went early to check out the Rally Alley. The Rally Alley isn't as exciting as I'd imagined but it does give you something to do an hour before the game. Mostly we stood in line to get our faces painted. Only not our faces because we were all sweaty. It took forever to get through the line but the painting was free and they did a GREAT job, in my opinion:

There were other designs to choose from and stuff. Chief Wahoo, a baseball, any player's name, block "C", script Indians, etc. Well worth the wait! Some dude got the block "C" painted on his face (as in from his forehead to his chin) and he ended up being the University Hospitals fan of the game. Check him out here.

Joe Charboneau was there signing autographs. I didn't get one cuz I think I've already got one. Doesn't everyone have one by now? Also at the Rally Alley were a roving magician and juggler, a dude on stilts, three old guys playing old-timey music, a caricature artist, a cheap hot dog and beer stand, some guys from the Cleveland Blues Base Ball Club and an RTA bus at which they were giving away t-shirts and bobbleheads. The t-shirts were actually pretty cool - a RTA bus with a Wahoo feather. Sadly I did not get one as they were only size L and I instead got a XL white t-shirt with the block "C". Oh well - my friend got one. I'll ask if I can have it later when she remembers that she doesn't wear t-shirts.

I'd probably go to the Rally Alley again - just to get a RTA t-shirt and a cool arm painting. Otherwise it's sort of a bust.

Hey how about that baseball game?! Here's my seats:

Like I said, cool and breezy. Got a nice view of where the ball was crossing the plate too - except every 5 minutes when someone walked up those steps, or stood at the bottom of the steps looking confused. Frustrating! But...cool and breezy...

Ubaldo looked fantastico tonight! It was sort of scary since Justin had such a bad game yesterday, but Ubaldo didn't follow suit. He went 6 innings with only 2 earned runs (off a homer) and EIGHT strikeouts! He only walked 1 and was pitching pretty consistently in the 90s. The pitching staff ended up striking out 12, which is only the 6th time this year they've struck out more than 10 in a game.

Sipp came on in the 7th and he was back to his old self! Well he was helped out by a BIT of wind blowing in from center. I think that kept one or two balls in. But no hits, no walks, no runs and he struck out one. VinnieP52 came in for the 8th, just to work I guess, and he had his 2nd quickest sprint in of the year (they time it now!) He had 1 walk and 1 strikeout, no hits or runs.

Rogers came in  for the 9th, which was weird - no Perez! But we didn't need him. I predicted Perez would come in and give up 1 run, because he had a run to give up. Rogers gave it up instead - a homer on the first pitch. But he got the next guy to ground out and then the next 2 struck out so he looked fine. Pitching in the high 90s even!

Kipnis was out today, as were Hafner, Damon (good, I didn't have to complain about him) and Kotchman. Weird to sit guys this close to the All Star break but I suppose when it's a million degrees out and your bench is playing pretty decent, it doesn't matter. It didn't work so well yesterday (but it didn't matter, thanks to Masterson) but today it worked just fine. The guys showed a lot of patience at the plate, getting rid of their starter after 95 pitches in 4 2/3 innings.

Choo didn't have the best day, even though I got my "arm ink" in his honor. Did you notice I got extra O's and everything? He went 1 for 4, no doubles or anything. He even got caught stealing!

Even worse was Asdrubal, who was the only guy on the team who didn't get a hit. And me with my sign! Oh well, I got to put it up a few times from plays on the field. And he didn't make any errors, so there's that. Oh yeah - he did walk, so it was only 0 for 3. And he came around to score after.

Lopez was in at 2nd and didn't goof anything up out there. He went 1 for 4 on the night and had a really nice double that dropped on the left field foul line, bursting forth with chalk. He came around to score, too.

Lopez was the guy in this play, where, for the first time in my life I saw umpires overturn a call.  What was cool was that Lopez stayed on base while EVERYONE else left the field. I guess he saw the first baseman bobble the ball, or someone told him to stay put, cuz he did. Pretty neat - make sure you watch the vid!

Brantley was the man who brought them in...well, at least Asdrubal, on a ground out. Earlier he got a double then came around to score :) Six-game streak!

Might I say that Santana looked GOOD tonight? And he was in at first so there was no loss of Lou! He went 1 for 2 with a double, two walks, a run and a RBI. All of a sudden he's in the middle of things again! Not sure what that means. Tomorrow he might lay down and take a nap on home plate. Or get 3 hits.

SHELLEY DUNCAN has the power! I made sure to remind Manny Acta on Twitter (@Mac_Triber11) that we should have Shelley Every Day! He's got the new dad juice going (see: Choo, Damon, Hannahan) times two and got himself a 2-run blast to left in the 8th! He went 1 for 3 with a walk, 2 RBI and 2 runs. He was the DH today.

Sweet Lou! Laser Lou! He's unstoppable at the moment with a 7-game hitting streak. He's licking the bottom of .300, too. Tonight he went 1 for 3 with an RBI, run and walk. His hit was an RBI double which set off a string of RBIs in the 2nd.

After him was Hannahan who grounded out, but Shelley scored. And after that was Cunningham who got a really nice hustle double that scored Lou. Jack ended up going 1 for 4 with a single to left, and Cunningham walked to end up going 1 for 3. He did get caught stealing - seems as though his hustle double gave him some false courage.

Really swell game, and it puts my 3-game total at 29 runs. YOU'RE WELCOME!!

I don't have time to listen to the game to get some Radio Chatter tonight, but you're in luck - since the game wasn't on TV, all of the audio for the MLB.com video is courtesy of Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus! So while we may have all missed some jokes about New Jersey or comments on how much Rosie may have eaten tonight, at least you get to hear the awesome calls.

I'm going to miss the game tomorrow but hopefully will listen later in the evening and get you everything you need, boffins. I'm also hopefully going to take a tour of Wrigley Field! Cool!

The game is at 1:05 and it's McAllister versus RHP. I won't predict the outcome but you know what I'm thinking. I also bet Manny Acta throws everyone out there to play, since it's the last game until next Friday. I think it's going to be a fun time!

See you there!

This Is The Real Deal!

I knew it! I knew that the game against Weaver wouldn't be a good test of whether or not we were hot. Just like beating the Orioles wasn't a good test. But 6 runs and a win off Dan Haren? That's the stuff!

Zach E-Z Mac McAllister was our starter and he looked fantastic! He only gave up 3 earned runs and had there not been an error, perhaps none earned runs (weird situation where you can't assume a double play so what woulda been a double play was an error but only 1 runner was un-earned blah blah...) He gave us 6 solid innings and struck out 5. Right now he's looking better than Derek Lowe!

Smith, Pestano and Esmil Rogers had a near-perfect 3 innings of relief, with only Pestano giving up 1 hit. No walks, no runs, no hits otherwise. Vinnie did good sitting in a 45-minute rain delay and they didn't make him sit after warming up. Rogers pitched one out in the 9th then came back after the second delay. Very courageous of both of them!

Our hitters were on fire tonight, with several guys having a multi-hit game! We ended up with 9 runs, 14 hits and 2 walks. A relatively low (for us) 6 LOB! We got some 2-out RBI, doubles, a triple, a homer and a stolen base. The guys were getting it done!

Pretty excited my little buddy SMac was at his first game tonight - it was a great game for a little fan! He ended up missing the fireworks because of the rain delays but I hear tell he was clapping and cheering along with everyone, and said that Progressive Field was his baseball field. Indeed!

CHOOOOOOOOOO delivered some excitement right off the bat, getting a lead-off triple then coming down to score.He went 2 for 5 on the night with 2 runs and a double as well.

Asdrubal was shut out. I guess he has an awful record versus Dan Haren - 2 for 20. Also bad against Weaver, 6 for 30 and Ervin Santana 3 for 23. He did face their relievers too but he never got through to them. Oh well. His average dropped a whole 10 points from .300 to .290, and now he's behind Choo who has .292.

However, the top 5 guys are batting .281 and that's not skipping ANYONE (Santana is 6th). Cool!

Kipnis had it figured out, going 2 for 4 with 2 runs, an RBI and a walk. Not an All-Star...but you know what? Look for him next year!

LOPEZ! He wasn't in yesterday and look what he did today - 3 for 4 with an RBI, a run and a doule. Think he should play every day when Hafner's not available? Yeah me too. He's got 10 hits in his last 4 games!

Brantley went 1 for 4 with 2 RBI. He got the RBI on his non-hits, and then another run came via an error on Pujols. Yes! Anyway, he was in the thick of a bunch of our runs today. And he got his 10th stolen base!

Santana went 0 for 3 with a walk. Huh.

Kotchman was also out there in the thick of it, going 2 for 4 with a double and scoring 2 runs. His average has pretty much stabilized around .225, which isn't bad for a dude we just need for his fielding. He legged it around from first in the 2nd inning when Hannahan hit a double to center. Kotchman was clearly going to be out except the catcher completely botched the catch and Kotchman came out the hero!

SHELLEY EVERY DAY! Don't worry, I tweeted Manny Acta to remind him that Shelley Duncan rocks hard. He's got Baby Fever (see: Choo, Damon) expecting twins any minute. So before he goes on paternity leave he's going to get red hot. Today he went 1 for 2 with a homer and a RBI on a sac fly. He's got 3 homers in his last 4 games, 9 hits in his last 10 games and 7 RBI.

Aaron Cunningham came in for him, and I'm not sure why. He actually went 1 for 1 with an RBI single!

Supermanahan is back to getting stuff done, thanks to Kotchman getting on base and Choo being red-hot behind him. He went 2 for 4 with an RBI (the aforementioned Kotchman run), both of those hits being doubles. Will be amazing if this means he's back!

Our bats were "Oriole-level Hot" today, putting up 9 runs against the second-best pitching staff in the league. Winning against the guy who is 3 and 0 against us. Tomorrow is Santana who previously had our number but I feel good about our chances against him, as he's looking a little weak right now. And we're looking a little powerful!

Will there be Pronk tomorrow? Will Duncan's twins let him play one more game? Will anyone set my neighborhood on fire with fireworks? IT WILL BE AN INTERESTING DAY!

It's a 4:05 game. Tom Hamilton says you have time to get in a round of golf before going to the game and then going to see your local fireworks afterwards. The Indians have it all planned out for you - See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"People want the Indians to trade him but it's just not possible."
- Tom Hamilton on Zach McAllister

"He makes every play at first base close."
- Tom Hamilton on the hustle of Kipnis

"What a week he's having. Twins on the way and bombs away."
- Tom Hamilton on Shelley Duncan

"You have a chance now that if you hit a ball to deep right field, the third baseman might catch it."
- Tom Hamilton on the wind picking up

"There isn't any aspect of the game that Kipnis isn't doing well right now."
- Tom Hamilton

"Tony LaRussa should pick Kipnis for the National League team and really tick Dusty Baker off."
- Tom Hamilton

"Texas starter Roy Oswalt may wish he's back on the farm..."
- Tom Hamilton on the White Sox crushing the Rangers

"I tell you what, these folks love their fireworks."
- Tom Hamilton on the fans who stayed through 2 rain delays

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

Nobody is a Hero

Sunday strikes again, huh? I do need to stop complaining about Sundays because I think we're 5-7 on the year so it's not like we lose EVERY Sunday. But like I said before - it just hurts more because I usually get to see it on TV.

It was a stupid game today - stupid pitching and stupid hitting. It didn't matter that our pitchers gave up 7 because our batters could only muster 1. Everyone lost this game. Even Johnny Damon who thankfully didn't play today.

Lowe melted down and gave up 3 runs in 6 2/3. Three doesn't sound to bad but it's nearly unsurmountable when your team isn't hitting. Plus when he left the game he had 2 guys on base. He was pretty pissed at himself and once again started tossing shit around the dugout. Well, tossing it then picking it right back up because that's about as shitty as giving up 3 runs. Derek Lowe, the Gentleman Pitcher.

Smith did his thing and finished off the 7th without letting more score. Then Nick "Remember When He Was Good?" Hagadone came in gave up 3 runs, including a homer, in 2/3 of an inning. You know he was fucking good before because after giving up 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning his ERA is still under 6. Anyway he left and went in the dugout and had a bit of a "Remember when I was good?" sniffle over his performance (that's the kind of sad stuff you get to see on the TV on Sundays) while Esmil Rogers got the third out. But before he got the third out he gave up a home run.

Dayum!

On the offensive side, Choo was shut down. Asdrubal shut down. Kipnis was shut down. FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, BRANTLEY WAS SHUT DOWN!

Lopez got himself a hit - a big honkin' double off the wall. He then came around to score on a passed ball. End of story as far as runs go.

Lessee...Oh yeah, Shelley Duncan started today and even though he didn't hit (just like Asdrubal and Kipnis) he got TWO walks! SHELLEY EVERY DAY!!!

Today's big winner was You Can Always Count On Casey Kotchman (Usually). He went 2 for 4, hoofing out a single in the 5th.

Speaking of good fielding (we were talking about Casey Kotchman, of course) - Kipnis looked pretty fancy out there today. He had another nice one too. I also think that a couple of hits could have been avoided if Derek Lowe didn't fall to the side and check the bus schedule after every pitch. Several hits went right up the middle and it looked like Lowe was trying to get out of their way instead of do stuff like stop the ball.

Lowe did get a hit! He bunted himself to first on a bunt down the first-base line. He snuck by the Astros while they were waiting for it to roll foul. It didn't! This happened on one out. Excitement! Choo and Cabrera couldn't do shit to get him in. Horror!

That's about it for today. I did manage to get a lot of chores done due to the extra hour I had before the game so that's cool. I also got sunburn so now it really feels like summer time. Also I hope you had a chance to listen to the radio because Hammy and Rosie were continuing the saga of the FroYo machine and I can't really print it all here because there's so much of a back story. I did grab some for you. Just note that Rosie really likes the frozen yogurt machine and Hammy calls him out on it, but he likes it too.

Oh yeah also the Astros' announcer Milo Hamilton (no relation) came in to chat and call a couple innings. That was cool...he sounds great, and he's 85 years old! I really hope we get to keep our Hamilton that long...

We're off to face the Yankees now. I hope someone remembers to pick up our bats on the way from Houston to New York. I think they got left in Cleveland!

No break tomorrow - a 7:05 game. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"In a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, Tom Hamilton is eating a large plastic cup full of ice cream."

- Jim Rosenhsus

"The servers said 'Mr. Hamilton we advise you to get the biggest cup possible because Mr. Rosenhsus has requested a hose to be run from the machine to the booth'"

- Tom Hamilton

"You wonder Rosie if that's a function of hitting 8th. You think 'The pitcher is coming up. I should try to get extra bases.'"

- Tom Hamilton

"It's the bottom of the 6th, there are four hits and two runs and nobody's made an error - that's been called.

- Milo Hamilton

"You can see the video board on Mexico City, it's so big."

- Tom Hamilton

"Boy that ice cream has made you really sharp today. That's where the confidence comes in. You were confident when you went for the Butterfinger crunch..."
- Tom Hamilton after discussing Hagadone's lack of confidence

"I don't care if you're Manny Acta, Eric Wedge or even Joe Torre - if you don't have a bullpen you can count on, you're doomed any way because any decision you make blows up in your face."
- Tom Hamilton

Runnin' on Empty

Our old nemesis LOB was hovering over us today like noontime shadows in the outfield. We had 10 hits and 4 walks with 10 left on base.

And, to add insult to injury, our friend and reliable pitcher Jeanmar Gomez had a bad outing giving up 5 earned runs in just 5 innings.

Scott Barnes was called up from Columbus and wowed everyone by striking out his first guy. Then he walked two! Nooooo! He settled down and took care of the rest of the 6th inning, tho.

Sipp came in as we held our breath but he didn't do any damage. Just took over the 7th inning, gave up 1 hit and no runs. He even had a pickoff! Whew. But you know who DID give up runs? Vinnie Pestano! How weird! He walked 2 and gave up a hit and a run! For some reason the guy can't be lights out unless he's getting a hold. This wasn't a hold situation, since we were losing.

Choo, Kipnis and Cabrera (back at short!) all went 1 for 4 today with 1 walk each. Choo had himself an RBI. Kipnis stole his 10th and 11th bases right there in the 2nd inning! Really, who knew that kid was a runner? So frustrating that he couldn't come around to score...

Lopez is wearing out his welcome a little bit here. He went 1 for 5, and didn't fare so well with the bases loaded and 1 out on the 9th. He could have been today's hero but he was most decidedly not anyone's hero.

Speaking of heroes, Shelley Duncan tried to be one today and was thrown out. He got a little fire going and took an extra base on a fielding error in the 5th, moved to 3rd on a single by Brantley and then when they caught Brantley in a run-down at first he tried to sneak home and was caught. That right there is frustrating.

Duncan did, however, end up going 1 for 3 today and scoring a run.

Michael Brantley is all alone being on fire in the bottom half of this lineup. He extended his streak to NINE today! Whoop whoop, nine smiley! :-9 He didn't get just ONE hit today but TWO, and scored a run!

Oddly enough, Damon got 2 hits and a walk today against his "old" team. I think he's played for every team in the AL.

The man who is making a difference is Casey Kotchman who went 1 for 4 today with an RBI! The only guy who didn't get a hit was Luke Carlin. But like last night, he managed to get on base anyway, this time as part of a fielder's choice. Then he came around to score!

Today had all the potential for and all the promise of a win, but nothing but the heartache of a loss. And LOBs.

Hopefully a night and a day off will give them a little respite and they can stop being whiny bitches and start winning games again! Chicago is going to run away with all the goodies if we don't do a little bit of winning in the very near future.

I think they all should have about 6 hours of mandatory hitting-against-lefties batting practice between now and Friday night, don't you think? They can't run their way to wins...looks like right now they're running themselves OUT of wins.

Day off tomorrow then we're back at home with Ye Olde Derek Lowe facing Ye Olde Carl Pavano. I don't even know what to say about that game, it could be awesome it could be a mess. BUT YOU GOTTA WATCH TO FIND OUT! I might go to that game. Watch me!

All right, see you Friday!

Radio Chatter:
"...like a wide receiver making a post pattern, made the over-the-shoulder catch to retire Cabrera."
- Tom Hamilton on Eric Hosmer catching a pop foul

"That's one of those plays when you're a manager you're going 'No no no!'"
- Tom Hamilton on Shelley Duncan's taking of 3rd base

"I wonder if these Kansas City catchers have a bonus clause? Between Quinteras and Pena they spend as much time on the mound as behind the plate."
- Tom Hamilton

"A mistake here and the Royals are going to have a happy plane ride home."
- Tom Hamilton on Barnes pitching to Francoeur with the bases loaded

"You could land the Royals' team plane in right center."
- Tom Hamilton on the shift for Kotchman

"Let's see if the Indians have another rabbit they can pull out of their hat. In this series they haven't been able to find the hat, much less the rabbit."
- Tom Hamilton

"Can you imagine, Milton Bradley? He would have taken the 20 pizzas and smashed the fans in the face with them."
- Tom Hamilton on Jeff Francoeur buying pizzas for bleacher fans

B-Squad Bomb

I don't know why I was nervous about this game. I was sort of not feeling it, back in the corner of my brain. Then my friend told me he knew we were going to blow it, like at 4:30. I tried to convince him otherwise but my arguments were weak. "Kipnis is great in Chicago!" "Shelley Duncan!" "Rookie pitcher!" I didn't even remember to mention Jeanmar. But no Hafner, no Hannahan, no Brantley.

Really, I think it's those black uniforms.

Jeanmar wasn't too bad. Until he was. He gave up 3 runs pretty quick and held tight until the 6th where he gave up 3 more. That was the bad part. Asencio followed suit with 3 runs of his own and while Accardo didn't give up any runs, he sort of didn't look too good walking 2 and giving up a hit.

Kind of seems like we were hosed after 3 fantastic days of bullpen. That same goodness wasn't going to happen today for a 4th day so we had to settle for the B-Squad of the bullpen. I don't think Jeanmar is a B-Squad pitcher. He's been pretty solid. It just always seems to be his turn on crap days.

Our lineup was light, as I said, missing Hafner (crunched-up leg after hitting a ball off it), Hannahan (ready to play but not really?) and Brantley (I don't know why). In were Damon, Duncan AND Cunningham.

Eventually that list would include Lou Marson (Santana tweaked something while catching) and oddly enough, Juan Diaz who replaced Asdrubal during the 8th when he hurt something. Odd because Diaz was just called up today and McAllister sent down.

So our final lineup was Choo, Kipnis, Diaz, Marson, Lopez, Duncan, Damon, Kotchman and Cunningham. Ha!

Choo was ON again today! He went 2 for 3 with a walk and those 2 hits being doubles. He came around to score twice! That's 15 hits in his last 10 games. Can we say "Genius move, putting Choo at leadoff!" enough?

As I predicted, Kipnis was hot again in Chicago. He went 2 for 3 with a walk, also, after going hitless yesterday.

Asdrubal went 1 for 3 and his average stays over .300 - for now. It's "down" to .301. But he did get one of the RBIs tonight. Santana got another of the RBIs on a fielder's choice.

Shelley Duncan! I also predicted good things from him! Of course, too little too late but he got his 4th homer in the 9th. It was a little highlight I'll take home with me, thanks.

Damon did a thing. He also struck out twice.

Kotchman, surprisingly, did nothing.

That's pretty much it! Also of note is that Tom Hamilton's son is in the NCAA baseball championships with Kent State, so Hammy's been out for 2 games now. The first game was Jim Rosenhaus and Mike Hegan, which was cool. But you could tell Hegan wasn't up for a second game so today was Rosie with ex-pitcher and Fantasy Camp good guy Scott Bailes. He wasn't as awful as I thought he would be but he (and anyone) is miles away from Hammy so it was just surreal. I think this is what most people have to sit through when they listen to baseball on the radio, excepting maybe Dodger fans. Just two dudes who are not Tom Hamilton or Vin Scully. Weird.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day. A 4:05 game and I don't know why. That's 3:05 Chicago time. A bunch of games are at 4:05 actually. It's going to eat up most of your day, just you watch.

I'll be listening, tho. Our hero Derek Lowe versus Jake Peavy. Those guys are set but who knows who will show up to bat for us? We've got to win at least one to keep a solid hold on first place and tomorrow is our best chance.

See you there!

Radio (And TV) Chatter:
"He got to Charlotte and they said 'Keep going, you're pitching in the big leagues, pal.'"
- Jim Rosenhaus on Jose Quintana

"Catchers don't like that. They like goign station to station, not this back and forth."
- Scott Bailes on Pierzynski taking off on every pitch of a full count

"Thank you to Shelley Duncan for providing us with our McDonald's I'm Lovin' It play of the game. We were running out of time."
- Matt Underwood

What Ended Up Being A Fun Evening

Ooooh that was a tough one! We had our "B" team in, as it were. The score stayed close, then there was a rain delay, then it was tied up. Would there be extra innings? Would we have to delve in to our bullpen? WOULD TONY SIPP SUCK?!

No, yes, no. Yay!

Tomlin was great! He went 7 1/3 innings. Not a complete game bu even better than McAllister did this afternoon, and 7 1/3 was great! He bested his personal strikeout record with 8 and only walked 2 and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits. He was ready to leave in the 8th, and who wouldn't have been? Cuz it was pouring rain and he'd given us 104 pitches. Oddly enough, he didn't get the win.

Wheeler came in and the umps were like "Uh...him? How about a rain delay?" and there was a rain delay for like an hour and a half, in which time Joe Smith got his shit together and said "Put me in, coach!" and then came in and gave up Tomlin's second run. But then he got Dunn to ground out and if you recall, Adam Dunn Does Not Suck Anymore so that wasn't too shabby.

Sipp was the only guy left, I think, so he had to come in for the 9th. He got the first 2 outs then walked Konerko (not a bad idea) and then gave up an omg-that-was-almost-a-home-run to Tyler Flowers before striking him out. WHEW! Sipp's ERA is now down to 8, woohoo!

So Brantley was back up top tonight and he went 1 for 4, so he had a pretty good day, comparatively. Kipnis, who had gotten shut down this afternoon for the first time in 10 games, got his hit and also went 1 for 4. Both guys had RBIs which isn't bad considering we only had 3 total.

Speaking of 3 - Asdrubal went 3 for 3 with a walk. YES HE DID!!! So he's got 14 hits and 7 walks in the last 10 games. Know what his average is? It's .356 is what it is!!! He's 7th in the league and it's LEGIT!! WOOOHOO!

Santana was at first tonight and he wasn't too bad in the field, to be honest. He went 1 for 3 with a walk and is up to .250.

Lou Marson was behind the plate and his average is lower than Kotchman. Lower than dirt. Seriously bad. But he walked and then stole second, allowing him to score the tying run in the 5th!

Also showing up this evening from the "B" bench was former "B"-bencher-cum-"A"-bencher Shelley Duncan who was at the plate with two on in the 8th. If I had the game on TV I may have looked away. I believe in Shelley in April, I'm afraid of what he might do in May.

Fear no more!!! He got an RBI double is what he did and as it turns out he won the game! There was much rejoicing and a loud clap from me which freaked out my dog who was just coming down from being freaked out by thunder.

So our "B" team - Marson and Duncan - contributed mightily tonight. Our bullpen didn't let us down tonight. Everyone was tight again tonight and basically we did what it took to get the job done. Oh and Asdrubal is the best ever!

We've got 2 more against these White Sox at 7:05 on the next two days. Tomorrow is Masterson and I have a feeling he's going to have one of those games where we're all "That is why he's our first starter!" I just know it.

I love this roll we're on. See you tomorrow!

Radio Chatter:
"This is a guy with 3 walks in 16 at-bats, and that walk became a mortal sin for Eric Stults."
- Tom Hamilton on Lou Marson

"I'm sure the umpires wish one team had an 8-run lead right now. Then it'd be easier to pull the tarp out, wait a bit, and say 'Goodnight, everybody.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"We need Betsy Kling to call the clubhouse and tell them they're lining up the dogs and cats 2-by-2."
- Tom Hamilton

"Look, you don't need to say nice stuff about Jerry Crab just because he's the coach of your son's little league team. You want Nathan to hit third..."
"I'm just saying... [...] But if he hits third that's good too."
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus

"Well this isn't baseball now this is just survival."
- Tom Hamilton on the rain

At Least They Homered?

I think having Johnny Damon on the bench lit a fire under Shelley Duncan. He must be in fear for his job so he's back to hitting like a champ. Or, he doesn't like hitting in Cleveland.

Whatever the case, Duncan went 2 for 3 today with a walk, 2 runs and a RBI. In the form of a home run. The team's first home run since April 17! I guess that's some sort of slump record. Most games w/o a homer since the Angels went 14 in 2003? Man I totally pulled that trivia out of my very tired butt so it's probably not exactly true. Perhaps maybe close.

Also having a great night tonight was...Jason Kipnis! He went 3 for 4 tonight with an RBI. Dude has 15 hits in his last 10 games! Not sure why he was down at #7 while Donald (.184) was #2 but Kipnis sure did complement Duncan and the #8 guy - Aaron Cunningham - who is the only other guy to get a hit! Yay Aaron Cunningham!

The only other highlight of the game was Jairo Asencio's 2 1/3 innings where he struck out 2 and didn't give up any hits. Our man from Columbus Nick Hagadone came in for the 9th and he did great, keeping his ERA at 1.69.

Otherwise...I dunno, I don't wanna talk about it. Ubaldo Jiminez makes me mad and when we do poorly on defense it makes me really sad. Especially when Asdrubal makes an error.

I am really honestly stoked about Shelley both hitting and hitting a home run. So that made the long wait worth it. I also appreciated the long wait! 9 PM is pretty nice for a starting time - it gives me enough time to go to the gym, take a shower and eat dinner before the game starts. And it's over by midnight, so that's cool.

I'm glad we had baseball today too. Because two days without is just unbearable!

We're back with the White Sox tomorrow and good news - Ubaldo Jiminez will not be starting! Neither will Chris Sale! It's Josh Tomlin and his facial hair against Philip Humber who, as it turns out, is not as great as his two-starts-ago-no-hitter would have lead you to believe. He gave up 3 homers and 9 earned runs in 5 innings. GIGGITY!

So we'll try again tomorrow at 8:10 PM, and it'll be a lot better. Maybe you'll all get to see Johnny Damon play, you Damon-lovers.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Donald has a swing like a guy who is going to hit 35 home runs this year. He's a line-drive hitter and is not going to be hitting 35 home runs."
- Tom Hamilton

"How in the world can you play a baseball game with the smoke so thick nobody can see a pop up on the infield?"
- Tom Hamilton is furious

"It isn't Jiminez's fault we're losing, it's Rosie's."
- Tom Hamilton commenting on the score since Jim Rosenhaus took over

"I tell you what, the Indians are playing defense today like it's the first day of spring training."
- Tom Hamilton as Santana misses a popup