Lost in Space

Actually, I mean "Left On Base." I just happened to be reading an article about Keir Dullea visiting Cleveland last weekend.

Justin Masterson rocked out tonight, giving us over 7 innings and striking out 6. He didn't give up any runs. And how do you think the Indians repayed him? That's right - 8 LOB. Of course not as bad as we've been doing lately with double-digits LOB but that's only because no one was getting hits. Half of those 8 guys were walked.

Tony Sipp did his job in the 8th and then Chris Perez, of all people, blew a save. BLEW IT! I'm pretty sure he's upset about it, as evidenced by this screen grab from @PureRage_Perez. "So sick of Double Bubble."

But you know who helped him blow it? Luis Valbuena, who was playing the outfield for the second time in his career (Brantley out with the bubonz and Buck beaned in the belfry). He came upon a fly ball from Danny Valencia with the bases loaded in the 9th, and just sort of let it drop there while two runs scored. The tying and winning runs. At least that's how Tom Hamilton explained it and that's the story I'm sticking to.

Valbuennnaaaaaaaa!!!!

So with Buck out and Valbuena in, who is even left on our bench? Hafner and Chisenhall. Not too bad to have on your bench (actually not our usual bench - more like LaPorta and Chisenhall) but hopefully Shelley will be back up again soon. Acta's post-game description of whatever Brantley has doesn't sound good at all.

That's all that happened in today's game. Glad tomorrow's game is 7 hours early so we don't have to prolong the sadness.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be fucking hot in Minneapolis again. So far our guys are handling it ok, especially playing 2 on Monday. Tomorrow is Tomlin versus another mediocre Twins pitcher. Let's hope we have enough guys to show up and make it 9 to a side.

See you there! Bring a lunch!

Radio Chatter:
"The Mariners may have a new edict, and that is 'quit trading with the Indians.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the acquisition of Carrera from Seattle

"At some point the Indians have got to make Liriano pay for all these walks!"
- Tom Hamilton in the 6th after 4 walks

"When the fans heard Matt Capps was coming out, they said 'Are you kidding me?'"
- Tom Hamilton on Matt Capps

"We don't have any money raised tonight, and we don't have any highlights either."
- Tom Hamilton in the post-game wrapup

Sloppy Sunday

Oh, boffins...once again uninspired by Indians baseball on a Sunday afternoon.

New sprout pitcher Jeanmar Gomez was up to pitch today, and was deceptively good until it was too late and he had already given up 3 homers and 5 runs. Then, Joe Smith did something Joe Smith is not supposed to do, and gave up 2 runs. Now his ERA is 1.30!!! Nooooooo!

I still haven't found the place on the Internets that lets you compare stats for Major League Bullpens. You know, how everyone says "The Indians have the [#]-ranked bullpen in the league!" or "The Indians bullpen has given up the [#] fewest runs so far this year!" The stats exist but the extrapolation does not exist easily so I don't know how the bullpenmafia has slipped lately but they have.

The first few batters tonight, Hamilton was all "They might not be able to figure [Orioles pitcher] Mitch Atkins out until the second time through the order." Then, Travis Hafner cruuuuushed one and then Santana cruuuuushed one. After that, Hammy and Rosie were all "They totally have Mitch Atkins figured out!" and "ZOMG Rosie they are gonna kick some butt!"

But then they pulled Atkins and put in this Hendrickson guy from Friday. Let me tell you, this man is very thin. He is 6'9" tall and if you read previous Radio Chatter on him, you'd know he played for the Cavaliers at one time. Anyway it was 90 degrees out with I think 99% humidity and dude was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. Probably partly because he was cold and partly because he is embarrassed of his very thin arms.

Anyway, we got no hits off of fatty there, and no runs off anyone for the rest of the game.

Eleven LOB, folks.

Other than the 2 homers we did get 8 hits. Travis Buck got 2 hits and the only other RBI, off a double. He hit in Ezquiel Carrera, who was running for Grady, who ... is out with a knee injurygoddammit.

I think I said yesterday that we'd never see Zeke again but uhm...surprise! He'll be here until Grady is back I suspect.

Valbuena, who I still don't trust, had 2 hits. He also struck out so, boo! Hiss!

Matt LaPorta was kinda OK today. He went 1 for 2, getting hit by a pitch and walking once.

They shut down Asdrubal and Brantley today, tho. Big time, since the pair has been doing pretty super good against the Orioles. They didn't even get walked!

Asdrubal did have an awesome play today - another behind-the-back flip going past second. I honestly can't find it online anywhere. I mean, it was just as spectacular as his previous flip from this year so where is it? Is it clichéd to show Asdrubal rockin' the infield now? Was that play from yesterday instead? Am I confused?

I am pretty sure I saw it happen. It was awesome. Sorry that you missed it!

Tomorrow's going to be TIGHT. Well, "tight" in a sense that it's a sort of way to describe "exciting" and "exciting" is a way to describe a day with two baseball games. I can't say that I have the utmost confidence in our starters, or our even-further-skeletonized offense but hey - 6 hours of baseball!

So the games are at 1:10 PM and 8:10 PM. Bring your radios to work!

Radio Chatter:
"You have problems if you can't figure out Mitch Atkins."
- Tom Hamilton

"Rosie if Mitch Atkins is around in time for you to do the play-by-play in the 4th inning, I'll be shocked."
- Tom Hamilton (Atkins lasted 3)

"I don't like the way this game is going. The Orioles keep hanging around."
- Tom Hamilton

Tal-Bot Fail

Ok we're not going to dwell on pitching today. You can tell by the title that things didn't go well for Talbot. Again. Also our bullpen is pretty much done for the moment and they need some All Star Break.

Look at me, I'm so spoiled...our bullpen gives up 3 runs and I'm all like "Nooooo! They're so burnt out!!"

Joe Smith's ERA is still .91. But, he didn't pitch today.

Moving on...

Michael Brantley! He was tired of being in a slump, or questionably in a slump, so he went 4 for 6 today, with 2 runs and 2 RBI. If you've been following along that's 8 hits in the last THREE games, where he'd had just 4 hits in the 9 games before that. Hey hey!

Oh hey did you hear that Derek Jeter is opting out of the All Star Game starting lineup? That's right - Asdrubal is now the starter! I'm sort of bummed that since I'll be on the west coast, now I have to make sure I'm back in my hotel room by 6-ish so I can catch his start, instead of being able to wait around and see him replace Jeter and then Perez shut down. Ugh - how do you people in the Pacific time zone live with this sort of schedule?!

Anyway, Asdrubal got two hits tonight. He's .06 points away from going into the break with a .300 average. What do you think?! He also got his 51st RBI and he leads AL shortstops. Duh!

Our man Shelley Duncan was in tonight, and he got a hit. Then when they switched up their pitching, Travis Buck made an appearance and got a two-run double!

Just like Buck, LaPorta's been hitting just fiiiine lately. In fact, so has Austin Kearns. The whole middle has been just beans.

Problem is no one is getting key hits, or something. They're getting singles when no one is on, or getting 2 hits but not enough to drive guys in. We got 15 hits tonight but had 13 LOB! That's 4 more than last night!

Also hitting tonight - surprisingly - were Hannahan and Marson, getting 3 and 2 hits respectively. That's real great when your number 8 and 9 guys get on base, especially if your 1 and 2 guys are Brantley and Cabrera.

Yay to those two for their hitting but boooo to Supermanahan and Sweet Lou for totally botching a throw from home to 3rd while trying to catch a guy stealing. Jack was asleep at the bag and let one get by him while Rajai Davis both stole 3rd and then waltzed home.

The loss was pretty bittersweet tonight. Not because it came after such an awesome win, but because the guys at the plate were all our 3rd string guys. They did quite well, actually, scoring 7 runs and hitting the aforementioned 15 hits. It was Hafner who went down swinging tonight...going 0 for 5 and leaving 8 men on base. It was the starter and the bullpen who couldn't keep the runs under double digits. Tonight it was all the old reliable guys who weren't there.

Of course, Brantley and Asdrubal were there!

However it worked out, it was quite a fun ride. I had some butterflies in my stomach a few times.

Tomorrow's game will not feature Mitch Talbot (in fact, rumor has it that very few future Indians games will feature Mitch Talbot) so we have a fighting chance. Josh Tomlin is up, and we need desperately for him to give us 7 or 8 innings. Smith and Perez, they have the 8th and 9th. Everyone else, they need a nap.

Game will be on WKYC tomorrow at 7:05 PM. Woot! See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Basically when you see what we saw last night from Travis Hafner, it's like seeing a perfect game, frequency-wise."
- Tom Hamilton

"So much for the Indians being able to capitalize off the momentum of last night's comeback."
- Tom Hamilton

"You wonder how many starts he's going to get before the Indians go to triple-A."
- Tom Hamilton on Mitch Talbot

"Try to figure out this one. Jo-Jo Reyes goes three years without a win, and he's trying to beat them for the second time this year."
- Tom Hamilton

"Well the good news for the Indians is that they have Josh Tomlin tomorrow."
- Tom Hamilton

"You can't go into the 9th inning down 5 or 6 runs thinking 'Well, we'll get 'em, just like last night.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"All the time, Orlando Cabrera seems to be in the middle of it."
- Tom Hamilton on Orlando at bat as the tying run

A Night of Magic

Tonight's game was sort of boring. Mike Hegan said so, Manny Acta said so. I actually didn't notice because I had to work so it could have droned on for 8 hours and I would have been fine with it.

I don't think it's that boring when we get 10 hits. It's definitely sad when we get 10 hits, 5 walks and strand 9.  And strike out 8 times.

But, it was cool to see a rookie pitcher, Zach McAllister, come start and do a decent job. He was shaky for sure, walking 4 and giving up 3 runs in 4 innings. But Fausto does shit like that all the time and he has been in the pros for a while.

And we've got the bullpen to back it up! Raffy, Durbin, Hermann and Smith shut 'em down for 4 innings. Joe Smith - ERA of .91! Our man Sipp came in in the 9th and gave up a run and...got the win? Whatever. Giving up a run was no big deal 'cause we were already down 3, why not 4? And it was a home run to Jose Bautista, his 29th. Someone had to do it, you know?

Pitching wasn't really the story of the night, though. Neither was Lonnie getting hit in the face with a pitch (Fuuuuucck....)

The story is not Travis Buck getting his 9th hit in 8 games, putting his batting average 30 points higher than the middle of June, a respectable .252.

The story is also not Matt LaPorta smashing a double off Francisco in the 9th, after Buck's single, further solidifying his back-ness.

The story is not, no matter how much I want it to be, Asdrubal being "Clutch-drubal" and getting a bases-loaded single in the 9th, driving in our first run of the night.

But with the bases loaded and the Tribe down by 4 (thanks to the wounded Asdrubal, in case you forgot)...after 3 hours of sort of boring baseball...well this happened.

Ok I won't make you click the link because I hate when I have to watch a video to get the rest of a story. But you really should click the link and hear it. Because Travis Hafner, good ol' Travis Hafner, he hit a walk-off grand slam. And Tom Hamilton called it and it was beautiful. I mean really beautiful.

It's nights like these where I really hate sitting here alone listening to the games. Scott Cabrera was ignoring baseball. My brother was off doing something. The dog was asleep. There was absolutely no one to high-five. Nothing to yell. Nothing to do during that perfect post-homer moment when Hammy lets the crowd noise spill through the radio.

I actually ended up doing something like this:

No fucking joke!
Even though we love Carlos Santana, and his walk-off grand slam was neato, it wasn't as neato as Pronk's. I think they need to replace Santana's "What If?" video with a Pronk one STAT. Because no matter how much we think Carlos Santana is going to be, I don't think he'll ever be Travis Hafner in Cleveland.

Things are feeling much better lately with guys getting hits and us having the ability to come back. That's something we took for granted in April and May and completely lost in June. Guys are also returning from their injuries and getting right back to where they left off (LaPorta, Buck...Asdrubal). The bullpen is no fluke whatsoever, our starters - while not perfect - are really a phenomenal bunch.

We're going to hopefully roll into the All Star break in 1st place. Some of our performances lately are really a great way to start the second half. It seems like we're getting better from the bottom-up as we rotate though our bench and Columbus. There's still a lot of striking out going on, and the occasional sloppily-defended game. But it looks like they are back to trying everything it takes to get the win.

I think tonight is a great look at more wonderful things to come!

See you tomorrow for more magic. It's going to be rocky on our side with Talbot, but their pitcher is reported as having given up 14 runs in his last 15 innings pitched, so we'll take a big heapin' helpin' of that mess!

Radio Chatter:
"I don't think Villanueva is going to invite Dana DeMuth for a late-night dinner."
- Tom Hamilton on the home-plate umpire's tight strike zone

"They've got a shift on for Hafner. My goodness, there is a second baseman in right field, about 40 feet."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Indians have the makings of a pretty good rec league basketball team now with [McAllister], Masterson...Carlos Carrasco is a big boy too, maybe on point."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"You know, 94 pitches here in the big leagues, the way he had to work so hard, is like 120 pitches down in Columbus."
- Mike Hegan on McAllister's pitch count

"This game has had the pace of the old tortise and the hare race. [...] As we've said before, some 4 hour games are too short and some 3 hour games are too long. This game is too long."
- Mike Hegan after 3 hours

"Encarnacion jumps up in the air and he's not happy. But he's got to get in line, Dana DeMuth has 15 other people unhappy with his calls tonight."
- Tom Hamilton after Encarnacion strikes out

"If the Indians don't win this game, they have only themselves to blame."
- Tom Hamilton

"You don't want to be down 3 runs but if you have to be down 3 runs this is the situation you want to face."
- Mike Hegan with Hafner up and the bases loaded

"A night of utter frustration ends with one of the best 9th innings ever at Progressive Field."
- Tom Hamilton

Happy Nasty

Whew! Justin Masterson got himself some run support. Not just a few runs but EIGHT runs. Masterson hasn't won since APRIL, even though he was only giving up 2 runs per game for most of June.

I forget who else we used to do that to. Westbrook, maybe. Anyone remember?

Anyway, our ace looked ace-y tonight for real. Eight innings, 1 run, 5 strikeouts, 2 double plays. Dude even got a HIT. He got his 6th win, making him 6-6.

Really great that he went 8 innings tonight, since Chris Perez (happy birthday!) is out on bereavement leave until Sunday night (sorry you lost your grammy).

Chad Durbin came in to pitch the 9th, probably just to get some work. He hasn't worked since June 20.

A lot has been said about how cool Masterson has been about this whole "no run support" thing. Everyone has been giving a lot of props to him for being such a nice guy. Manny Acta explained to Jordan Bastian how Jesus kept Nasty from actually getting nasty:

"I think his upbringing has a lot to do with it," Acta said. "He's a Christian man of a lot of faith, one of the best teammates, very positive, low-key, down to earth."

I contend that his beard (and now lack of beard) had something to do with all of it.

I didn't get to give my "OMG ASDRUBAL!!" shout-out on Facebook or Twitter tonight for his 14th home run, because I was out and about. But when I got home and saw the final score I knew it'd be worth my while to check out the archived audio. Totally was!

It was a really well-pitched game by Masterson (duh) and the guys looked good in the field - especially Lonnie Chisenhall at third (shit...we have a backlog of third basemen?!) I wonder how it is that we play so well against the Reds? Did someone convince the team that this Ohio Cup or Battle of Ohio or whatever it is is important or something? If you recall, we scored 19 runs over 3 games in May. Chalk us up for 27 runs in 2011 with two more games to go!

Man, ALMOST everybody hit today and it wasn't even the pitcher who was left out, it was Lou Marson who actually hit in the last 3 games. LOUUUUUUU! You're killing me! He did have a Caught Stealing tonight, for his 17th. He doesn't lead the league but the 3 guys ahead of him have twice as many games as him. So he's pretty awesome behind the plate.

Ok so, like I said, Asdrubal got home run number 14 and RBIs 48 and 49. Would you like to know how many career home runs he had coming in to the 2011 season? I'll tell you. It's 18. Asdrubal is hitting .500 against the Reds.

Right after that, as in the next batter, Carlos Santana smacked one out too. He's only got 12 homers - doesn't it seem like he's had more? Ah, I see. He got a whole ONE in May, so his April and June made him on track for more than we've actually seen.

Speaking of seeing things, check out the guy at :18 in this clip of Santana's home run. There's some Santana doppelgänger out there and he's a fan!


Oh! Grady also got a home run today, and a double, hitting 5th. Un-slumped? I guess - he's hit in his last 4 games. And what of Brantley? Another hit tonight but jury's still out on that. It doesn't seem like he is even eligible for a slump this season, really - but I suppose we'd rather he be in a slump than all of a sudden actually bad.

Time will tell!

Travis Buck...he had two hits tonight and two RBI. Hitting really well over the past 10 days. Now "day to day" with a hurt leg. That's all I got to say about that.

You know who's hot, even though he's back in the midwestern humidity? Orlando! I saw the nickname "Grandbrera" for him on Twitter the other day. Uncle got himself 2 more hits today and turned them into 2 runs scored. Would you like to see the Dos Cabreras secret handshake? Here you go, scroll over to :29. Actually you can watch the whole thing because it's Asdrubal going deep, and then some douchebag in pinstriped shorts and a white belt throwing the ball back, too. You rock on with your bad self, angry Cincinnatian.

Really fun game tonight. Totally worth me staying up until almost 3 AM to take it all in.

Tomorrow's game is at 4:10 PM and it's on FOX, just like last Saturday. I think I could get used to this sort of schedule on the weekends. Although I do love my Sunday afternoon TV games too. More broadcast baseball, please!

See you tomorrow!

Radio Chatter:
"You come to this balllpark and you'd better score runs. You're not going to see many 1-0 games in this ballpark."
- Tom Hamilton

"Justin Masteron has a lead!"
- Tom Hamilton, after just 2 innings

"Can you imagine Brett Favre uncorking a throw from short?"
- Tom Hamilton talking about Favre's amature baseball career

"Dusty [Baker] thought 'if that idiot on the radio thought of it, why didn't I think of it two innings ago?'"
- Tom Hamilton noticing that the Reds got someone warming up as soon as he mentioned it

"Does anybody ever get hurt when they're in a slump?"
- Tom Hamilton on the exit of the hot-hitting Travis Buck

"Boy, it's hard to think of a third baseman right now who has a stronger throwing arm than Lonnie Chisenhall."
- Tom Hamilton

"If the Indians are in town, Brandon Phillips is going to have a big weekend. He just absolutely TORTURES the Indians. It's almost as if he wants to make sure the Indians never forget they let him get away."
- Tom Hamilton

"We're going to get to see the Cuban Missle, Aroldis Chapman. He can throw 100 miles an hour, but there's a chance he'll also throw it up here to our broadcast booth."
- Tom Hamilton Aroldis Chapman's control

"Two hours for Rowland, but an hour and twenty minutes for Rosie."
"You gotta make up your mind. I've been accused of driving slowly before, too."
- Tom Hamilton on driving from Cincinnatti to Indianapolis

"All Drew Stubbs is trying to do right now is padding his stolen base total. You know what's going to happen to Drew Stubbs this weekend? He's going to get drilled."
- Tom Hamilton does not like you trying to steal when we've given up trying to throw you out

"What the remaining Reds fans are saying now is that the fireworks better be phenomenal. Because the game got ugly quick for Reds fans."
- Tom Hamilton

Snakes and Ladders

Wow man. I was really scared coming in to this game, I'm not going to lie. With the way we played over the weekend and the recent outings of their starter, I was really afraid we were going to completely blow it in front of my aunt & uncle, who are DBackers to the point of having a shrine room. And we'd fall further behind the Tigers in the standings.

I also worried that all of our barking for Lonnie Chisenhall to be brought up would be for naught as he struggled to get settled in the majors.

I was wrong, I was wrong and I was wrong!

We start with pitching, which was run-of-the-mill Talbot. Three runs on 3 hits, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Mitch was yanked after 5 innings and 71 pitches in favor of Travis Hafner batting with 2 on and 2 out, which I was not totally opposed to. Except he struck out. Although Talbot was looking great since he gave up 3 in the first inning, Hafner did have a better chance at getting more runs in than him. Plus, we had the whole #BullpenMafia looking to bust out.

And bust out they did. We got almost the entire gang - Smith, Sipp, Pestano, Raffy and Rage. The only one that had a little problem was Pestano who gave up two hits and a run. But, as Rick from Waiting For Next Year tweeted: "Can't even be mad at Pestano. First run he's given up since little league I think." Yeah, pretty much.

Raffy pitched to one guy and got the win, but it was a big strikeout, closing out Pestano's bad inning. Rage came in and gave up a hit, I think in order to allow himself to get the next 3 out or something, and then he got the save.

And now, the exciting story of our bats waking up!

First off, many thanks to Asdrubal for coming out of whatever funkety-funk he's been in lately (got down to .290. Can you believe it?!) and hitting a 2-run dinger at his first at-bat, surely to impress my aunt and uncle who were sitting in the stands behind him. He went 2 for 4 tonight, bringing his average back up to a respectable-for-Asdrubal .295.

Asdrubal's other hit was a double in the 6th, and he was driven in by none other than sometimes-Indian Travis Buck! Buck also had a lovely catch in the 9th to help out ol' C. Perez.

So - Lonnie Chisenhall! His first at-bat he flew out. Then everyone in Cleveland breathed a sigh of relief as little cousin started off the 5th with a double! Woohoo! Save the ball!

Wait, it gets better! Later on in the 6th he got his first RBI, which was the go-ahead RBI! So, hopefully he'll be back tomorrow. Sorry Adam Everett...

So then Pestano gives up the tying run and we're all tied yadda yadda Orlando Cabrera hits a home run.

Serious! I mean, we have seen him do well in clutch situations and we have seen him ho-hum us at the plate. It was more in the first few weeks of the season that we were wowed. They do say the dry heat is excellent for old folks. Whatever, it was a night for Dos Cabreras to go long and go long they did.

Orlando Cabrera won the game with a home run.

That's why we love baseball, folks - anything can happen!

I don't know if you read the box scores in the morning but check this nonsense out. This is slightly extreme but this is generally how National League box scores end up:

Can you even follow that? Yeesh.

So, I'm pretty happy. Going to go to bed happy. Going to look forward to tomorrow's game and everything, maybe get myself some more popsicles.

Don't forget, 9:40 PM tomorrow and Wednesday. The pitching matchup tomorrow is absolutely even, stats-wise. Can't wait to see what Lonnie Chisenhall has going on in his second game!

Radio Chatter:
"Travis Buck has racked up the frequent flyer miles going between home and Columbus."
- Tom Hamilton

"And how 'bout the kid?"
- Tom Hamilton on Lonnie Chisenhall

"My friend went golfing today, his tee-time was 2:30. Since nobody is outside golfing since it's so darned hot, it was $7 to tee off at 2:30 on a nice course!"
- Tom Hamilton can't believe how hot it is in Arizona

DON'T PANIC.

You know who's not panicking? Manny Acta. I like to say that John Adams is the patron saint of The Positive Tribe, but Manny Acta is the Pope. He's the one in direct contact with God (is that how that works?) After every game during his interviews he's just cool as a cucumber saying stuff like "hey we won 2 out of the last 4" and "errors will happen." He told Paul Hoynes (I think it was him...someone named Paul) "Hey, I'm a positive guy!" Love it!

Didja see? Asdrubal got home run #11. He also got 2 singles and went 3 for 4, putting his average at .307. He also looked niiiiice on the field. Although MLB.com doesn't seem to find it video-worthy.

Travis Buck, HE was video-worthy tonight with this catch early in the game. It is not better than Baltimore's Adam Jones' catch on Wednesday but it does end with a satisfying "thud."

Jack Hannahan is out for a smidge due to some over-third-basing last night that made him sore, so Adam Everett was in for him. I think he let a few go past him that Supermanahan would have gotten. What do you think?

Masterson didn't rock it out today, but he did get 7 strikeouts in 6.1 innings. I would say that the team let him down tonight. Also letting him down was the bullpen, who did not look like our bullpen at all today. At. All.

But, Justin...shave your goddamn beard. That style beard does not become anyone, and it certainly doesn't become a man with a shaved head. Come back to earth, call your mother. I'm sure Sandy Alomar can give you a tip on a good barber who will shave you.

Asdrubal was the subject of Anthony Castrovince's column on MLB.com today. I know how much you love reading about Asdrubal, that's why you're here! So, read some more.

I'm sorry to say guys that for the second night in a row I don't have any radio chatter for you today. I got a last-minute invite to go hang out with my niece. It worked out ok because we hadn't practiced our CHOOOO! in a while. But I didn't hear a lick of radio and I apologize.

Tomorrow I will be AT the game and I SWEAR TO OG THAT RIGHT NOW I AM GOING TO MAKE MY POSTER! I have the poster board and the markers sitting on the kitchen table. Gonna happen...now.

Anyway if anyone submits Radio Chatter for Saturday's game I swear I won't swoop back in and overwrite it. If not, I might actually listen to the games on Sunday night and find some chatter for you, maybe. I might end up missing Sunday's game on the radio too due to family stuff. You really cannot get a toddler to sit and listen to the radio with you!

So, anyone willing to get me at least 2 quotes from the next 2 games (or 5 or 10!) would be thanked profusely. If not, I'll figure something out.

Two more against the Rangers. Look for me tomorrow in the front row of the mezzanine section 311, with my "OMG ASDRUBAL!!" sign and a sunburn.

Baseball and fireworks set to Star Wars music. A Saturday night doesn't get much better than that!

lolwut?

So that was pretty weird, huh? It was basically a spring training game with a rookie pitcher or something.

Good news:
1. Mitch Talbot will not be making a first start just off the DL again.
2. Shin-Soo CHOOOO! got himself a hit today and so did Travis Buck!
3. Before today, Shelley Duncan only had 2 hits in May. Now he he has double that and two more RBI!
4. Grady ran the basepaths today and is probable for Friday!
5. Since we're SO good, we're still 5 or 6 games ahead of the 2nd place team.
6. 26,408 people got to skip work or school today and sit in the 70-degree sunny weather and watch baseball.

So at least 26,408 of you can't get all sour and sad just because the Indians lost. Have some perspective, folks!

I personally am pretty stoked to have passed the day with 3+ hours of baseball on the radio. Anyone listen on the radio at work?

I want to talk about popsicles now. I'm not a big fan of popsicles or even ice cream (sensitive teeth). I had occasion to need popsicles earlier this year so my mom picked me up some Edy's brand grape Fruit Bars and man were they good. The coconut ones are pretty good too, if you like coconut.

Ever since then, mom has been buying popsicles to keep at her house. Not sure why...perhaps hoping that the grandbaby will ask for a popsicle? Anyway, she got some Edy's Antioxidant Fruit Bars and I must say that Goji White Grape is just about the best popsicle I've ever had. I ate three of them yesterday and like I said, I don't even like popsicles. I wonder how the other two antioxidant flavors are? I bet they are good too.

Anyway at least today you learned about some awesome popsicles.

Everyone gets the night off tonight! I think I might try to go to Melt and get something cheesy. We've got tomorrow off too. No idea what I will do then...I haven't had 2 consecutive weekday nights off since March, right? What a sad existence that must be.

We get back to the Rays on Friday for a weekend series. Very tough schedule coming up. But our guys will have had some rest and we should have Grady back.

Hope you enjoy the popsicles!

Radio Chatter:
"Now how in the world, with a shift on, did he get that between two guys that are part of a three-man left side of the infield?"
- Tom Hamilton on

"David Ortiz's first infield hit since 1998."
"For sure. When David Ortiz gets an infield hit you know things are going bad."
- Tom Hamilton and Mike Hegan

"Well this is a day when we need [WKYC meteorologist] Betsy Kling to whip up a storm and it needs to get here in 5 minutes and continue all day."
- Tom Hamilton after the 7-run Red Sox first inning

"You sometimes have to lose the battle to win the war."
- Tom Hamilton on making Mitch Talbot give at least 5 innings

"Albert Belle probably lost that award because he and the writers didn't have many group hugs."
- Tom Hamilton on Mo Vaughn winning the MVP over Belle in 1995

"I don't think David Rackley will want to see a replay of his game behind the plate today, for either side."
- Tom Hamilton expresses his disappointment in the home plate umpire

"Don't write any obituaries for David Ortiz just yet. He's still got some pop in that bat and some speed in that bat head."
- Mike Hegan after Ortiz's home run in the 6th

"I don't think I've seen anyone hit the ball as far foul as Shelley Duncan does. I mean, he hit that ball 100 feet foul."
- Mike Hegan

"A new ballpark isn't always the panacea. A new location - like a new city - is sometimes the answer."
- Tom Hamilton regarding the Marlins' new ballpark

Meeting Our Match

Do you see my new banner? Now I need you to vote for Asdrubal for All Star. You can still write in Jack Hannahan, but I think Asdrubal is going to need your help too.

Played the second game against the Red Sox tonight. It didn't look hopeful being that Josh Beckett was starting for them and Fausto was starting for us. Someone had to lose...

Josh Beckett was pitching slowly, much like Buchholz was last night. Boring the fuck out of our bats, I'm sure.

Carmona did have 7 strikeouts and went 8 innings (plus one batter) so that's pretty cool. If you look at the play-by-play, Boston's scoring plays sort of look like ours usually look when we win pitchers duels.

But you know who got a hit? CHOOOO!! He's hitting .244 now. He's restarting his hitting streak at one again, or maybe ten minus one? He's only got one error and has six assists. We still love him - A LOT!

Remember Ezequiel Carrera? He got a hit and an RBI tonight. Makin' stuff happen with men on base and two outs!

Matt LaPorta and Travis Buck both went 2-for-4 tonight. Travis Buck got a solo homer off Jonathan Papelbon (*spit*) in the 9th, surely raising everyone's hopes.

LaPorta had a looks like he belongs there snag at 1st base tonight. I've been really impressed with a lot of our defense lately. It's the cherry on top of our good season, I think. Sure we've had our errors but there have been plenty of "Web Gems" this year so far. They seem to be stepping it up lately too.

Hey hey! Guess who's back tomorrow? Mitch Talbot! I hope he comes in and wows everyone. If you don't remember, we really liked him as a starter before he got hurt.

Noon game tomorrow. Expecting a big crowd, which always surprises me but never surprises Tom Hamilton. I went to one noon game a few years ago and I felt like I was absolutely awesome for leaving work in the middle of the day. Turns out I'm pretty ho-hum.

Radio Chatter:
"What does Cabrera not lead this club in?"
- Tom Hamilton

"I can't remember Boston starting pitchers being so slow. [...] If we had Josh Tomlin working in one of these games it'd be polar opposite of either Beckett or Buchholz."
- Tom Hamilton

"I didn't mean to say 'short and squat' did I? [...] Compact. I wish I would have thought of that first."
- Mike Hegan on Carrera's stature

"Carmonas pitches are going straight down. That's how you know his stuff is working. It's when they go sideways that things go bad."
- Tom Hamilton

"The way Beckett's pitched tonight, 4 to 1 is huge. But the way the Indians play...you never know."
- Tom Hamilton

"It's one thing to struggle. It's another to become...Pittsburgh."
- Tom Hamilton on the Twins' record this year

"Some nights we leave the booth here and say to each other 'how did they do that?' [...] We said that a lot in 2007 too."
- Tom Hamilton

Battle of Ohio: Won

It's official - we're the best baseball team in Ohio for 2011. Right?

Another close game today. Great pitching by Josh Tomlin, going seven full innings only giving up one run. He got his 6th win today.

Did you see Vinnie Pestano come in and MOW 'EM DOWN?! Dude struck out the side in the 8th! He got as many strikeouts in one inning as Tomlin did in 7 innings. Our bullpen is really seriously impressive this year. All the boys are on Twitter now, in case you didn't know:

@thethree8 - Joe Smith
@jgerm39 - Justin Germano
@SippTony - Tony Sipp
@VinnieP52 - Vinnie Pestano
@ChadDurbin37 - Chad Durbin
@ChrisPerez54 - Chris Perez

@Raffyperez53 - Rafael Perez

Collectively, they are the #bullpenmafia. No joke! And, Chris Perez is so popular there is even a fake Chris Perez, @PureRage_Perez. It's funny to read these guys' stuff sometimes and remember that they are all young jocks in their 20's and uh...well I definitely am not.

Anyway, back to baseball. I'm all confused because I saw the game on television today with no radio. I had no idea that Josh Tomlin looks like a 16-year-old. I also spotted some major CLE Clothing and Homage representage today just behind the plate. I didn't scope any Fresh Brewed Tees but I'll give them a free shout-out while we're at it.

So, CHOOOOOO today on Choo Jersey day (those look pretty sharp! Aaaand....already one on eBay) extended his hitting streak to 8 games. He's hit in 11 of the last 12 games with 3 doubles and a triple. Slowly but surely....

Brantley and Asdrubal also got hits today, both of them hitting over .280 (note for newbies: A batting average of .300 is considered quite good). That's just amazing for our #1 and #2 hitters. And really, Choo's .242 is not bad at all. If they are all hitting in the same inning (which is usually their 3rd at-bat) then we're golden!

I bet someone has a stat on that.

So Asdrubal was on base with two out when Travis Buck came in and ripped one to center, putting us up 2-1. Buck was actually DH today because they've moved Brantley over to left and put last night's hero Ezequiel Carrera in at center.

I thought Carrera looked pretty good out there today. He called off Asdrubal on the first fly that came near him and also snagged a shallow fly hit off the end of the bat to save a hit.They also had him bunting at one at-bat!

So with Buck looking good at the plate and in the field, it'll be interesting to see how they are used in the upcoming lineups. Both bat left. I'm pretty sure Carrera is a total stud in the outfield but Buck has had two 3-hit games off the bench for us, getting hits in 9 out of 15 appearances.

Yeah, and some greasy assholes are still saying this team has no depth? Psssh.

Ok so tomorrow I will be AT the game so there will be no Radio Chatter. Cuz I'm not going to listen to the radio at the game (I'm hosting a group of friends!) and I'm not going to listen to the archive afterwards. I'm not! You know what you should do, tho? Make a nice pitcher of iced tea, set up your radio outside and enjoy the afternoon free of HDTV. Weed the garden, wash the car, play catch with your kids or your dog. Listen to the radio and you'll hear gems like the last three videos on the Tom Hamilton Has The Best Homerun Call In All Of Baseball Facebook page. I just listened to them all again for like the 5th time.

So, you listen to the game on the radio tomorrow. You hear ALL of the Radio Chatter. You'll thank me, you will.

1:05 PM start. Final game against the Reds. Bring your broom!

Radio Chatter:
"Josh Tomlin, folks - you spell his name 'winner.'"
- Tom Hamilton

Well, That Was Weird

Was anyone expecting that? If you caught my last two posts, you'd see that losing 0-1 to the White Sox was about the last thing I expected to happen today.

Seriously, I was just telling you yesterday about how we've only been shut out once. And here we are, shut out.

Hamilton was saying before the game how if the Sox lost the series they'd be 12 behind us, and if they swept they'd be 8 behind.

Jake Peavy, his ERA was 6.00 when the game started. He pitched a complete game shutout and now it's 2.40. Jake Peavy also had his arm muscle come away from his bone once, then someone fixed it and now he is obviously some sort of pitching Übermensch.

We scored 26 runs in the last two games, yaknow.

Won't discount Masterson, though. He had a bit of a rough start, sort of matching his previous start. But he found his groove and pitched a complete game too. He struck out as many as Peavy (8) but gave up two more hits. A double in the first is what did him in.

You know who got our three hits tonight? For one, ASDRUBAL! Because, face it - he is the best player in baseball ever (wee exaggeration).

The other guy, the guy who got two hits tonight, was CHOOOOOOOOOOO!! You heard me!


We still like Travis Buck, tonight! Check it!

Also, we're still digging Jack Hannahan at third. Check it! Vote!



Actually, after those last two games, that was sort of a boring fucking game wasn't it? LULZ! I didn't even pick up one bit of Radio Chatter. But don't be mad, I don't feeeeeel good.

I did have a chance to buy some tickets for the June 4th game against the Rangers, which also happens to be STAR WARS FIREWORKS NIGHT! And I just read we get a free team photo! That game is actually very close to being sold out. I couldn't find anything worth buying under $60, but I did end up with some sweet seats from StubHub.

Have you seen the new ticketing system at Indians.com? Not sure when they upgraded it but it's been sometime in the past week or so and it's totally awesome. For some reason they had lost the "click here to see your view" feature of the previous ticketing system and it became pretty frustrating to get the seats you wanted.

You still can't see the view from the section you choose BUT you can pick the actual seat you want. It's VERY cool. I don't think I'm describing it well enough (remember, I don't feeeeel good) but I was actually quite excited to buy tickets from this system. This is probably because I'm a Web geek but still, this is great especially for those of us who want to sit on the aisle and don't want to call to buy tickets.

Anyway, check that out.

Tomorrow's game is Fausto against Gavin Floyd. The thought of Fausto against the White Sox might give you chills but it's ok. I don't know that Floyd has had any cyborg-type surgery that gives him am edge.

Hey! Runs!

So there you go, Vin Mazzaro - it's not your fault that you gave up so many runs last night. The Indians are just that good. It could have happened to anyone (not really. That many earned runs in that few innings  hasn't happened to anyone in the entire history of baseball.) I'm bet at least he was relieved to see that the Indians are proving, again (since we seem to be taken to task every damn day) that they are really seriously good for real.

The Tribe has scored the most runs in the AL so far this season. Is it me or does that not seem right? It doesn't feel like we're putting up 19 runs each night or anything. But we have only been shut out once, by the Angels. Is that the difference? If you were wondering, we have 207 runs (I think that was before this game) and have given up 144 total (earned/unearned) runs, which is the second lowest in the AL. Good hitting, good pitching, all together in Cleveland. Can you dig it?!

Carlos Carrasco had a very very good night. SOOOO glad to see him pitching 5-plus and only giving up 5 hits and 2 runs, just his second outing after returning from the DL.

Raffi Perez came in and finished the 6th for Carrasco, this time remembering that he doesn't give up any runs. Smith was walking guys and making everyone say "Awwww geeeeeeeez, Joe Smith - we thought you were good!" But then our man Sipp! came in helped us forget about Smith, hooking us up with a scoreless 7th and 8th. This led the way for Chris Perez to come in and...not look like a closer at all. He was actually sort of fucking around out there, throwing hard and giving up two walks, a hit and a run. Perez doesn't seem to want to perform real tight if he's not eligible for a W or a S. He likes those badges!


Almost got an Everybody Hits! tonight. Matt LaPorta, who I accused of being "hot" [at the plate] did not get a hit tonight. He did get a walk but that does not count in the strict recordkeeping that is the Everybody Hits! board.

If almost everybody hits, that means that CHOOOOO got his hit!

More doubles and more homers for the club tonight. Both Hafner and Brantley were up with bases loaded - which goes to show how good both the top AND bottom of the order are. Hafner got a 3-run double in the first inning, setting the stage for the rest of the game. No walk-off wins tonight, yo! He actually got a SECOND double later on, and came in to score. Second night in the row for a 3-run double for him, yaknow.

OMG ASDRUBAL! Home run number 7!!! Back to leading the team! Carlos Santana also got a homer tonight, putting him at 6 which is tied for second on the team. Santana got TWO hits tonight - way to be!

Travis Buck, who we are welcoming with open arms, got himself an RBI single today too.

Did you catch some of the lovely gloves? Asdrubal with a nice one and Hannahan too, then Santana threw a bullet to pick off a runner at 2nd to end the 7th. Five strikeouts and 7 groundouts for Carrasco.

Sorry I was late with the ol' post tonight...I was enjoying me some Cake at the Cleveland Masonic Auditorium. The mellowest rock show I've ever been to. They even gave away a tree to a lucky fan. A real tree.

But, I ran home and listened to the entire game on the Gameday Audio archive. I totally did! I don't know why my Radio Chatter is so crummy, tho. I apologize for that. It's actually sort of hard to listen to the archive and fast-forward through the commercials, and also not have Gameday going in the background when there are three Cabreras on the field. Did you know that the Gameday Audio pop-up tries to synch up/rewind Gameday while you listen to the game? Unfortunately Gameday is about an inning or two ahead of the audio. I think that the Gameday is synching up with the time on the Gameday Audio, which INCLUDES an hour or a half hour of pre-game. Someone should tell MLB.com. Maybe I will.

Oh man oh man oh man I can't wait to see what we do with the White Sox tomorrow (tonight). Don't forget - 8:10 PM. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"[Asdrubal] Cabrera is starting to make either jump throws or throws-off-balance better than any player in the league."
- Tom Hamilton

"Treanor dancing off the bag there. Why, I don't know. It's sometimes more distracting for the hitter than anything."
- Tom Hamilton

"And Matt Treanor gets picked off at second for the final out of the seventh with his club down five! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
- Tom Hamilton, moments later


"He'd be a bad poker player wouldn't he? He's out there wearing his emotions on his sleeve when he doesn't have that good command."
"Yeah he's an adrenaline guy. If he were a poker player right now Rosie he might throw the deck of cards back at the dealer."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton on Chris Perez's not-so-awesome 9th

Royal Beating

Can a team carry the momentum of a fantastic walk-off win at home across two rain-outs and one time zone? Survey says yes!

So here's the low-down. KC starter Kyle Davies was not faring very well there in the first. He walked three guys and was pitching in the 80s (that's MPH) and they ended up taking him out due to injury. So Nate Adcock comes in for relief and gives up 2 runs in the form of Davies' baserunners (after less than an inning of work, dude gets the loss. Bummer.)

We score more off this kid in the next inning, and in comes Vin Mazzaro the guy who was slated to start for KC tomorrow.

Then we score 10 runs in the 4th off Mazzarro. His ERA went from 4.50 to 22.74. How do you even let a pitcher give up 10 in one inning? Three-run doubles will sneak up on you real quick. So, yeah, not a good outing for ol' Vin.

Remember way back in April when we played the Royals for first place? That seems like a lifetime ago, eh?

Their first baseman, Eric Hosmer, is really good. And that's all I have to say about the Royals.

So, on to THE TRIBE and the amazing things THE TRIBE did tonight, and wonderful wonderful BASEBALL being back after a long quiet weekend!

First off - everybody hits! Didja see, I added a new star over there -->

Twenty hits for our boys tonight, producing 19 runs. Two-out RBIs? Eleven. Runners left in scoring position? Only six.

Not only did everyone hit but one of our three pinch hitters hit. SHELLEY DUNCAN with a double!

I was pondering Friday night if Brantley's AVG would be up over .300 today, after the weekend. Well the weekend never happened but tonight he got two hits and four RBI, and walked twice, putting his AVG up to .304! Oh and remember how I said he was emulating Grady? He got his fourth homer tonight!

Asdrubal - got his 9th double and stole two bases! He got another RBI and still leads the team with 26!

You know what it means when everyone hits, right? It means that CHOOOOOO has a hit! As a matter of fact he's got TWOOOOO! Almost everything he hit tonight was long, but not quite long enough (before the game, Hammy and Rosie assured us that not much was leaving the park tonight.) He did manage a double, though,

Carlos Santana also hit AND stole a base! That bear is looking into every honey pot this year. He also moved over to play first when they brought Marson in to pinch for LaPorta (don't worry, just some extra playing time for the benchers). Santana also walked three times, which is super awesome for him because if he's not hitting and he's not walking well...you know the rest.

PRONK! Only one hit but he made it count - one of those aforementioned three-run doubles!

Orlando Cabrera was all "This is fun, guys!" and got three hits. And three RBI. I think the thing I miss most about not seeing the games on TV this season is seeing Orlando Cabrera having so much fun playing baseball. Seriously! Although we do get to see him in all those walk-off highlight videos. I think he just has a lot of fun getting hits, too. Anyway, three hits for "O-Cab" que es todos de cinco hits y cuatro carreras por Dos Cabreras! Sorry, Spanish lapse.

Next up, Travis Buck, who is up from Columbus in place of the injured Grady. On one hand...can you imagine what we'd be like if we had Grady up in that shit tonight? On the other hand, I am so very glad we can send our star player away for a time for maximum medical attention and get a premium player like Buck from our reserves. And then that guy comes up and is all three hits! Three runs! One RBI! Hi Cleveland glad I'm not in Oakland!

Matt LaPorta! What got in to that guy tonight? He was getting hot before the "break" and continued on tonight with four hits and 4 RBI. Two doubles! I hope he keeps it up - love seeing production down at the end of the order there.

Jack! Hannahan! Did you vote yet? He got a hit tonight too!

All right so that was our offense. How about our pitching? Well you know, Josh Tomlin - who was was actually about to pitch last night - was all "yeah ok I'll pitch tonight" and he did and he went 6 innings and gave up just five hits and one run and got the W. He only had 81 pitches but why "use up" a starter when you're up 17-1? As Trevor Crowe (@tcrowe4) put it "BREAKING NEWS.... You will Die! You will Pay Taxes! Josh Tomlin will give you 6 Strong Innings!" Yeah man, sounds good to me!

Germano. Durbin. Pestano. 0-0-0. Goodnight!

So anyway that was way fun, huh? Totally different than this walk-off stuff. Still fun to listen to all the way through! I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how we'd score next. And, of course, waiting to see if everyone hits.

What do you think about this....if the Indians had been down 13-1 in the 4th, would you have gone to bed? Would you have called it over? How about 17-1? 19-1? I definitely would have stayed. I don't think 13 is too much for this team if we're facing the right kind of pitchers (as in, not the group we just got done facing). Maybe not 17 or 19, but we'd sure give them a run for their money. Remember Opening Day? We almost did that.

We won, KC lost, Detroit lost, Chicago lost, Minnesota is about to lose. How many games ahead do you need to be to be "running away" with your division??

Tomorrow's sadly our last game against these generous Royals this week. But then, we face the super-generous White Sox! Don't forget, all Central Time this week so see you tomorrow at 8:10 PM!

Radio Chatter:
"That may have been the longest trip to the mound ever."
- Jim Rosenhaus after Tom Hamilton took advantage of some down time to explain how Rosie's induction into the Buffalo Bisons Hall of Fame is starting to affect their jobs

"Not only have the horses left the barn, the barn has burned to the ground."
- Tom Hamilton on the 10-run inning

"You know you've had quite a night offensively when your number eight man in the batting order has been to the plate 6 times. It's like a softball game."
- Tom Hamilton