WINDIANS!!

"BALLGAME! THE INDIANS HAVE DONE IT AND CLEVELAND, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SIX YEARS, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER OCTOBER TO REMEMBER!"
- Tom Hamilton

I Love Baseball So Much Right Now!

I'm trying to embed the Giambi walkoff homer video for you, because it's the only thing you need to know about this game. But for some reason it was taken offline as soon as it was put up. What is this conspiracy?!? I wish it was online...

Did somebody say wish??

Now you've seen it....but you can't appreciate it until you HEAR HAMMY DO IT!!!


Before all of that...Tribe up a measly 3-2 in the 9th. Perez comes in to shut it down and not only does he give up the tying run on a homer to the first batter, but he gives up the go-ahead run later on, on another homer. I MEAN DAMN, CHRIS PEREZ!!!

My thoughts on the Perez situation: I still like him as a personality but he's gone from tolerable to liable. It sucks that our damn team can't seem to string together enough runs to give the guy a huge padding but he's tipping the scales on reliability. Used to be he was reliable enough to get the save but it's going the other way now where he's reliable enough to not be relied upon.

So, that's probably the end of Pure Rage. I've made my peace with it and, well, it was quick.

I've also changed my tune on Ubaldo Jiminez. But you guys knew that - I was digging him by like his 10th appearance. But it took me a long time to love Ubaldo - as long as it took me to dislike Perez! Anyway I was pondering it today and I think he might be the Indians' player of the year. What do you think? Not because he was the best but I think his role was extremely pivotal. Masterson was the best pitcher and Kluber was probably the best surprise but Ubaldo seems to have combined the ace-like tendencies with the surprise of having said tendencies and keeping it up, which was key to giving us a solid second winner in our rotation.

You can argue for Gomes and Raburn to be pivotal new members - or maybe Lou Marson's demise to be our good luck (sorry Sweet Lou!) - but Ubaldo had it all on his shoulders every 5 days. And he did good.

Tonight, though, the most important Indian of 2013 - or maybe ever, I don't know - is Jason Giambi!!! Kind of funny because he was in pinch hitting for Carson, who was our hero a few days ago. And Carson was only in because Bourn got hurt and WAIT BOURN IS HURT?! Sucks...

They keep playing the Giambi homer on the post-game on WTAM and I keep getting distracted. Hard to come up with other stuff to write about - I forget the first 8 1/2 innings!!!

My fav Q of the night: "I made him (Chris Perez) give me a hug because he needed it. He can wipe this away & start fresh tomorrow." - Giambi
— Stephanie Storm (@SStormABJ) September 25, 2013

While this was all happening, don't forget for one minute that Michael Brantley is also AMAZING and is keeping up the 13-game hitting streak I asked for, now with 8 games! And 14 hits in those 8 games. And 9 RBI in those 8 games.

He went 3 for 4 tonight, with a homer. Mister September!!!

21,083 at the park today. My friend and I bought tickets for tomorrow's game some time in April! We always go to the last home game to say good-bye. Now we get to go to say OMGAAAAAAAAWD!!! I'm guessing it'll be a playoff-like atmosphere there tomorrow. How awesome!

I didn't get any Radio Chatter today because I spent a good amount of the game scrubbing my shower. Seriously, my shower was very dirty. Also I was at my friend's for a few minutes, watching the game via Mobile Gameday. There just wasn't a lot of opportunity for me to write stuff down.

But this is all you need from the radio today anyway. Hear it again and again and again!

Who Is Matt Carson?

Matthew "Matt" Reese Carson (born July 1, 1981) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball. He is 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) and weighs 200 pounds (91 kg).

Prior to playing professionally, he attended Yucaipa High School and then Brigham Young University (BYU).

Carson joined the Tribe in spring training but went right to Columbus from Arizona. Carson is 32 and he's been in the minors since 2002,  except for 46 games with Oakland across 2009 and 2010, and 26 games in Minnesota last year. The Indians brought him up in September, along with bringing over Kubel from the D-Backs.

Matt Carson has appeared in 11 games now since September 1, with 8 at-bats and only one start. He has gotten 7 hits in his 8 at-bats, with 3 RBI. Tonight's hit and subsequent RBI were - as far as Cleveland's concerned - his most important of his career!!

Have a look:

How freaking awesome was that? On one hand, you don't expect some perpetual minor leaguer to be the one guy who can get a team of highly-paid professionals a win against the worst team in all of baseball...but, what ever! I will TAKE it! And I will praise Matt Carson! And I will look forward to seeing him through the rest of September and on through October!!!

I was at the game tonight. Veeeeeeerrrrry cool atmosphere! I was perched atop the bleachers, between a group of "dudes" and this old guy. The old guy (totally did not get his name) said he hadn't been to a game since 1995 when he won a playoff lottery. He heard on the radio that tickets were $10, and he doesn't have a computer so he came to the box office to get his ticket earlier that day. I had the radio in one ear but I had a nice time watching the game with him. He was excited - hooting and hollering and waving his arms along with me! He was really having a ball! And just because he hadn't been to a game in so long doesn't mean he wasn't up with the team - he knew his stuff.

Funny that the guy was there with me, really. My own grandpa (that's him at the right [during the 2013 season]) hadn't been to a game in that long either, and he passed away before I could convince him to come to another. And while this guy reminded me of a grandpa he didn't remind me of my grandpa. He actually reminded me of my best friend's grandpa! But it was still nice.

Also when I went to give him high 5's with my big paws, I honestly thought I was going to snap his hands right off his wrists.

Dude said he might come back for more games. How fun!!

Like I said, the crowd was awesome. Lots and lots of cheering and clapping - in all the right places! Not just clapping for clapping's sake, but clapping when something laudable was happening. Or we wanted it to happen. Even John Adams was inspired and threw in some extra drumming while the Tribe was pitching, and when we didn't have runners in scoring position.

Just 12,607 at the game tonight but it sure as heck felt like a full boat! A ton of people left after the 10th inning, though, which I found weird because I assumed everyone who was there tonight was a pretty diehard fan. But, whatever...I don't know how they live their lives!

Ubaldo was just aces again tonight, for the 4th time in a row in September! It was his 6th quality start in a row, today going 7 innings with 1 earned run and striking out NINE. He's only walked 3 batters in his last 4 starts - none of them today.

After that performance, and the team just not being able to score any dang runs, we really needed the bullpen to be on their best behavior. Of course, we saw the best of the bullpen too - Smith and Perez for the 8th and 9th, then Allen for the 10th and Shaw for the 11th. No messing around with Hagadone or Hill, no sir! Smith was flawless. Perez had us hiding behind our hats with the bases loaded and only 1 out, but he ended up striking out the side. Allen and Shaw were great too. Nobody gave up any runs!

The guys looked great in the field today, which is important both because they weren't scoring any runs and they looked awful the last two games. So now at least we know they are serious about defense.

The offense bit was weird because they did get 12 hits and walked 4 times. But hardly anyone was getting to second base! (Ooh la la)

Poor Michael Bourn...used to be if it was coming up in the late innings and Bourn didn't have a hit, I could say "Michael Bourn doesn't ever not get a hit!" and he'd come up with a double or something. Not today - he struck out 3 times and ultimately went 0 for 5.

Swisher was large and in charge today! He went 4 for 4 before they pulled him in a slick move to have some speed on the bases after he got a double in the 8th. Francona said it wasn't too hard of a decision because he got all his hits right-handed and they were done with lefty pitchers. Swish also had a couple nice plays at first as well.

Kipnis finally had a bit of a stir today! He went 2 for 5 and he's the guy that got the RBI that kept us going for 10 innings! He also had a sweet catch, running in to shallow center with his back to the plate and making the play in the 7th. Get hot? Please?

Carlos Santana was trying too hard today for real. He left 3 men on. But he did get a walk, because he is extremely good at walking.

Yan Gomes is just amazing. Utterly unbelievable that he is here with us! Today he caught a guy stealing and also picked off a very fast pinch runner at second. BEHOLD! He's so friggin cool, isn't he? On top of that he went 2 for 5 on the night and was the one who came in to score the winning run. Wanna hear something weird, though? He left 4 men on base! Huh!

OMG what was Asdrubal doing today? He went 2 for 5 and both hits were dribblers down the 3rd base line that were too soft to go foul. Like, he meant to hit them over the fence but the ball hit his bat wrong so they just meandered over to 3rd instead and they were so slow that Asdrubal beat them out. I mean, really! It was pretty weird! He was not really looking good otherwise but hey he got more hits than most guys. Home runs to follow!

Michael Brantley went 1 for 4. I forgot to mention last night, in my haste, that he was keeping up my wish for him to ride out the season with a 13-game hitting streak. Good news - he's up to 4! He did leave a sour taste in my mouth when he tried to steal after his one hit today and failed quite miserably, but you know, he can't carry this team guys!

Poor Mike Aviles...he really really sucks right now. Like 0 for 22 or some nonsense. And the guy is such a team player, like Kipnis. You know it's killing him! He went 0 for 3 today and so did our man Stubbs, who is also taking a turn for the worse. This needs fixing by October!!

Then there was Matt Carson, who you've now heard of. He was in hitting for Stubbs in the 9 position when he changed the world!

Hey, I bought my Goon Squad tee today! They had them at the big Team Shop. I wasn't sure if I wanted a Rally Chicken or a Goon Squad but they made the decision for me by only having one. They had a lot of really great-looking shirts in stock, by the way - not just GVArtwork ones. They had a really nice red Progressive Field shirt but I can't find it online. Didn't catch the brand.

Just to be fair - and just because I friggin' love the local tee shop gear - here's links to Fresh Brewed Tees, CLE Clothing, Homage tees and Eastbay (not local but some nice-looking stuff).

To wrap up - nice night at the park, great weather and great crowd, happy to spend time with an old guy, Ubaldo is the bomb, Yan Gomes right? and now we all know who Matt Carson is!!

Tomorrow is these Astros again and they are going to be gunning for us even harder just because they think they can beat us. Not a chance! Let's just hope we can get to their pitchers, dangit!

It'll be McAllister versus LHP 2.98. Don't be scared! He still plays for the Astros (102 losses thus far). Perhaps it'll be a case of doing well against good guys after sucking against a bad guy. Right?

There's always Matt Carson!

See you there!

Oh, U!

Man, Ubaldo had it going ON tonight! Great time for him to step up and be our main guy while Masterson is hurt down the stretch here. Lots of losses in the wildcard race today so Cleveland is just one game out! Down with Texas!

Ubaldo pitched 8 1/3 innings, gave up just one run (at the end of it, thanks to a reliever), only 6 hits and struck out 8. Remember when he gave up 4 home runs in each of April, May and June? He tweaked it down to 3 in July and only one in August - which helps explain how he's got the league's best ERA since the All Star break. And September? Well so far in three appearances there have been NO home runs and just two earned runs. An entirely different Ubaldo, altogether!

"An entirely different Ubaldo!"

CC Lee was called in for the remainder of the 9th, with 2 on and one out. Ubaldo didn't have a chance to go for the complete-game shutout. He also didn't have a chance to finish the game without his 2 runners scoring, as Lee gave up a single to load them up and then a sac fly for one of Ubaldo's runners to score.

But, as Tom Hamilton said, Francona is going for the playoffs, not a complete-game shutout. So they had to ditch Ubaldo just in case he was about to implode. Fair enough.

The offense was back to pummeling the Sox, which is how it should be. None of this 3-1, close game nonsense! Today it was a solid manly 8-1 with two big home runs and stuff like that.

Bourn, Swisher and Kipnis each got one hit apiece, and Bourn with 2 walks to Swisher's and Kipnis's one each. Bourn and Kipnis are both rocking 5-game hitting streaks, and Swisher is right behind them with 4 games.

Carlos Santana is rocking a NINE game hitting streak with 12 hits, 7 RBI and 8 walks in that time. Wow! Today he kicked it up a notch and got himself 3 hits in 4 at-bats, with a walk, 2 RBI and a run scored. Great time for him to be hot, for sure! And it really works out that we can use him and Gomes simultaneously, with the DH spot and Swisher being expendable at first (gee, thanks Swisher?)

Michael Brantley went 0 for 5 today, after going 0-3 last night. Pray for Mojo :(

OMG ASDRUBAL!! Four home runs in 8 games now. It's pretty amazing! Granted, he is still striking out at very inopportune times *cringe* but you know, we need runs and home runs are runs. Tonight they were 2 runs!

Since we were up 7 runs at the time, they brought in Jose Ramirez to bat for Asdrubal in the 9th. No doubt to see what that kid can do. Well, he can hit a triple! Dude is so fast. I wish they put up a video of it so I can see how fast he is, but no. Lucky for me I saw it in person on Monday but I could watch it all day!

Giambi and Raburn platooning as DH In the 7-spot. Nice move! Giambi had a walk then came in to score. He also had a double until Avisail Garcia leaped up and caught it!

Raburn got another RBI today. Shattered his hitting streak, going 0 for 1, but his RBI streak is still alive. How about that?

15 RBI in 8 games!!

Love that Raburn!

How lucky were we to see Giambi, Raburn and Gomes in one game? So lucky! Gomes went 1 for 4 with a walk, and came in to score. Twelve hits in his last 10 games!

I told you we'd see Lonnie today! Nice platooning with Aviles - Aviles seems to be out of steam, so put in the Chiz Kid and he gives you a 3-run homer and goes 2 for 4!! Now, we just need to perfect our timing of Aviles and Chisenhall for the rest of September. Hopefully Francona is already on it.

One more delicious game against these hapless ChiSox. We've beaten them 11 times in a row and now 14 times this season. If we lose tomorrow it'll just be like...come on!

It's ZMac versus LHP 2.90. Hmm...well, let's hope the bullpen is on their A-game tomorrow, and that everyone available to us bats. We're going to need a lot of help!

No Radio Chatter tonight. I listened to the game but I was in the middle of a big bike race!

A New Excitement!

I was there at the game today, boffins! Aren't you excited for me? I know you are excited that I got to eat free mac & cheese, and a sandwich with "red onion marmalade" on it but the real excitement is that Asdrubal hit another home run! OMG!!

Oh, and Ubaldo had an AWESOME game, and this Jose Ramirez guy provided some excitement, and I got to see my first umpire review, and three home runs! And banana cake dessert pizza!

It was a record low crowd tonight. 9,700. Funny cuz I was there with a group of 4 and I convinced my friends to buy some second-hand tickets for a super low price, and so I was responsible for another 4. I was responsible for like .08% of the crowd. Woohoo!

Also it was Puppypalooza tonight, which makes me so happy to see! I could never take my golden retriever there, she'd just go apeshit. But I was so tickled to see all of the GOOD doggies and all of the dogs playing games and Jake the Diamond Dog playing frisbee and being cute. Yay for Puppypalooza!

Boy, Ubaldo was hot hot hot! Maybe he really liked pitching in the 82% humidity that never seemed to go away? When was the last time we saw him go 7 innings?? (8/29, dumbass) And 10 strikeouts? (Uh, also 8/29) Ok well then...FOUR QUALITY STARTS IN A ROW?!?! Probably not since 2010, I bet.

He looked really great tonight, too. Earvin Santana was pitching really quickly and so was Jiminez. If it wasn't for the relief pitching we probably would have had a 2-hour 15-minute game! You know how many walks he gave up? None! People were chasing the high heat!

Jiminez only gave up 1 run in his 7 innings. He totally took the place for the injured Masterson today, as the ace we can count on. Hooray!

The 8th was pretty lousy. Cody Allen came in and I think his chicken got sent back to his farm, because he was Just Not Good. He gave up a 2-run dinger and only managed to get 1 out before he was sent packing. Zep came in and we had fun discussing his name (it goes from third to first on the defensive chart on the scoreboard!) He did his part and got the second out. Then it was Joe Smith who got the last out via ground out to the pitcher!

Then Chris Perez came in. Not to strains of "Firestarter" which I looooove but instead "Shout" by the Isley Brothers. And, you know, we danced and clapped and stuff. Then they played a few seconds of "Respect Walk" by Pantera which was actually Vinnie's song for a few days there. Anyway...my theory is that the powers-that-be felt the need to distract the crowd and get them dancing and singing instead of booing.

Anyway the 9th inning was intense as hell. A little trivia - even though we scored 4 runs, we never had a runner in scoring position thus John Adams never banged his drum so there was no drumming until 2 outs in the 9th when Adams felt it was really needed because DANG it was a rough 2 outs (by this time there were 2 on). Perez walked the bases loaded (unintentionally, it seemed) and got that final out and ugh...it was too much! Too much, Perez!

People don't like him but I don't know...I like his personality. I think he's in it to win it. I think maybe his ego gets past his skill sometimes but he's had a rough year on and off the field and I wouldn't be upset to see him in 2014. I also would probably get over him quickly if he was sent away. Especially if he was sent to the NL.

Sigh.

Anyway, the Tribe only got 5 hits today! And no walks! Three of the hits were home runs...

OMG ASDRUBAL!!! I was so happy to see it! And my little buddy Silas was also there and he says he loves Asdrubal just like JJ so we had all the good vibes needed to get that ball over the fence. Wahoo!

Then my man Gomes who's got an 8-game hitting streak now. And 6 RBI in that time. Plus he called a stellar game for Ubaldo, and I think he kept Perez from losing it in the 9th. And he threw out 3 Royals at second, except once the ball was dropped so it ended up only being 2 outs. But Yan Gomes is the new Tribe catcher, dangit! (Sorry, Sweet Lou. We'll always remember you.)

Back atcha, champ.

Santana got a questionable homer, but I saw it with my own two eyes, it went in to the Designated Doggy Zone to the left of the foul pole. Mad props to the sound guy at the stadium who first played "Misunderstanding" by Genesis while waiting to hear whether or not the play would be reviewed. Then they played "Tell Me Something Good" by Chaka Khan while we waited for the answer. Nailed it!

Not to be forgotten tonight was the debut of Jose Ramirez as a starter at third. He got the one hit that wasn't a homer, a single in the 3rd. He totally thought he was going to show the world that Jose Ramirez is the fastest man alive, and turn it into a double, but ended up scrambling back to first and nearly getting called out.

But, he still had more to prove! Drew Stubbs was next and he hit a grounder to third. By the time the third baseman picked it up, Ramirez was already around second. I think he stunned Hosmer who threw from first to third to try to get him out, and he would have been out, if not for Hosmer's bad throw. Then whoever was on third had a hard time retrieving the ball, and Ramirez was safe at home (probably also out if dude hadn't missed the pickup.)

Oh good, it's online, because you HAVE to see this ridiculousness.

That was fun as heck! It rivals Eziquel Carrera's debut beating out a drag bunt. Speed kills!

Ramirez ended up going 2 for 3 on the night. Do you love him yet? Being that he's just a kid (21), he was overly excited later in the game and got picked off at first. He also committed a throwing error. He's going to sleep well tonight, though! Such a big day!

That's all for the game. Kind of paltry hitting but I'll take 3 homers to win it any day. I had a super good time at the game!

Want me to talk about food? Ok. I am pissed that I had a really good breakfast and was hardly hungry when we got to the Club. Turns out that on top of the "ballpark fare" they have for free OUTSIDE the club, they also have a swank buffet set up inside. This time it was BBQ pork like last time I was at the Club this year (also for a Royals game, which had the same menu). I didn't do the pork but along with my 2 dogs I had mac & cheese and corn casserole. YUM. Oh man and totally full by then. But I had to try the special "pit beef" sandwich which was quite good but by then it was painful. The special dessert pizza was banana with pound cake, which was good (I'll eat banana anything) except they either season their crust or make dessert pizza on savory pizza pans. Because the crust was all seasoned and kind of awkward tasting.

I only managed 3 cups of Diet Pepsi, and they were small. Shame. I actually had to have a glass of water because it was so stupid humid out. And...ouch. My tummy!

So happy I got to go to the game. I have a feeling my lack of being able to go (lack of funds - this was yet another freebie) to games this year is adding to my frustration with being able to stay positive. Well, plus the way they are playing. But yesterday's game was so crummy that I needed to see some cheer in person. And I got a really good one!

Tomorrow is more KC, with ZMac versus RHP 4.19. No sweat, right? Except lots of sweat - it's supposed to be 93 degrees. HOLY COW!!!

I didn't get Radio Chatter tonight but I actually got some from Sunday's Mets game that I didn't write about, so here, have this.

See you tomorrow!

Radio Chatter:
"Matsuzaka gets carried off the field after having a 1-2-3 inning."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Mets have been swinging and missing ever since they got off the plane on Thursday."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Red Sox could have bought a small country for what they paid for Matsuzaka."
- Tom Hamilton

"You can do a lot of things between pitches with Dice-K. Like write your will."
- Tom Hamilton

Just One Victory

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Start Stopped

Well, Ubaldo had a great game today. And so did Carlos Santana. That was about the long and short of it.

Oh, first, click on this video and let it load in the background while you finish reading it. Yes, it's an MP4, no it's not spam, yes it has sound so don't be scared (pause it and let it load!) Someone made an awesome video about the 2013 Indians and I've watched it like 5 times and it's got me pumped. Of course, it means I was super pumped for this game and subsequently super let down but whatever, I'm a Cleveland fan.

Ubaldo had a quality start, going 6 innings and only giving up 2 earned runs, and struck out 10. Yeah - 10!!! His personal best is 14, and that was way back when when he was Perpetually Good Ubaldo. This time around it took him 114 pitches to get those 10 strikeouts but nonetheless it was impressive. He threw 114 pitches because he gave up 5 hits and 3 walks, and so he also found himself working out of a lot of jams. But that's where the 10 strikeouts came in to play. Unfortunately he just pitched himself out before he could go too long.

Then, something we thankfully haven't seen in quite a while - the bullpen was awful! NOOOOO!!! Both Shaw (first reliever) and Albers (fourth reliever) gave up runs and of course Oh No Not Rich Hill got in on the badness as well, giving up a run himself. Shaw didn't even pitch an out, so Albers ended up going 2 innings in which he gave up 2 hits and a run.

Cody Allen, our precious little Cody Allen, he didn't give up any runs. Although, he only pitched one out and he did give up a hit. What was up with these guys tonight?!

It's not just the bullpen who was having an off day. The lineup eked out 6 hits and they were all lonely hits. Just once in the second inning did the guys string 2 hits together, and the scoring opportunity was helped along by a wild pitch.

Then they had a bunch of 1-2-3 innings, and Asdrubal grounded into a double play, and Bourn was caught stealing and...argh!

Asdrubal did get a hit, though! That's a 5-game streak for him!

Yan Gomes and Mike Aviles both had hits off the bench. Goon Squad!

That's about all there is to it. Tomorrow's another game, at 7:05. It's John Adams' 40th anniversary!!! I kinda sorta wanna go up there, but there are no more cheap seats at the top of the bleachers, it seems. I'm happy that there will be a huge crowd for John Adams day!!

Here's a great article from MLB.com about Adams.

Saturday will be ZMac, who we are totally in to right now, versus RHP 3.94. Zack's got this...not sure about the rest of the dudes, but he's got this!


Don't forget to watch the video you queued up at the beginning of this post! Get pumped and I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Nothing like a marriage proposal and then have Slider grapple with you after you say yes."
- Tom Hamilton

"Boy, he just can't buy a hit lately."
- Tom Hamilton on Asdrubal Cabrera

"It'd probably be easier just to list what few roads are OPEN..."
- Tom Hamilton on local construction alerts

This Is What We Stayed Up For!

NAILED IT!

Finally, a nice game where the Tribe does some pitching and some hitting and roundly beats the opponent!

Ubaldo was the starter and while he was one out away from a quality start, he had one hell of a start which I think, in the rulebooks, is better than a quality start anyway.

He went 5 2/3 innings and only gave up one hit! No kidding! Of course, he hit a guy and walked 5 but those are minor details. In all of those 7 men on base, only one came around to score and he was the only one who even visited third base. In all of that, he got EIGHT strikeouts in just 5 2/3!

Unfortunately it took him 105 pitches to get there, and we needed 4 relievers to finish it off but if they haven't planned for this situation now by August, then they aren't paying good attention.

Rich Hill came in with men on base. Eep! But he did his job and struck out the lefty to end the 6th.

Next was Shaw who faced 4, just walking a guy. Then Joe Smith, who gave up 2 hits but kept it in check and nobody came around to score.

Did you know that Joe Smith is engaged to Allie Laforce? I'm probably the last to know. Although I barely know who she is but I've got my head out of my butt enough to know that she's a local TV news woman who went out to LA to become a national TV news woman. She also was Miss Teen USA which...why didn't I know that? You'd think she'd be a big Cleveland star. I think most 25-45 year old dudes in Cleveland know all of this. She does a radio commercial for some local car place and mentions that she is in LA. Anyway I believe she and Smith got cuddly when she was still in Cleveland and they're still together and now they're engaged. Now you know.

Matt Albers pitched a 1-2-3 9th.

The Tribe got 11 hits and 4 walks today and THIS time all those hits were translated in to runs! Pitchers park - whatever! They scored 7, and coulda scored more if Eric Sogard (SS) wouldn't have had his own 1-2-3 8th inning with his own little highlight reel.

Michael Bourn isn't having any more of this slumping nonsense, so he went 2 for 5 today with his 5th home run! He came in to score twice.

Swisher is also over the nonsense, so he went 2 for 4 with a homer, his coming in the first inning. Later on he got an RBI single with 2 out and 2 on, made it to second on the throw to the plate, then came around to score on Kipnis' subsequent single. So that's 5 hits in Swisher's last 14 at-bats. Let's hope he keeps it up...

Kipnis kept it low key today but he had a huge single in the 9th with 2 men on, and it ended up being a 2-RBI single! That's a 5-game hitting streak and 12 hits in his last 10 games for the Kid!

Michael Brantley is just, like, whatever - 2 more doubles today to go 2 for 3 with a walk. That's 6 hits in the Doctor's last 3 games, and 17 hits in the 17 days of August thus far!! Five of those hits have been doubles and that's his second 2-double game this month. Can he end the season over .300??

DID YOU NOTICE ASDRUBAL TODAY?!?! Not sure what happened but hermano had himself a GAME today at the plate! He went 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI!! Only one LOB today, man! OMG if he is awake for the rest of the season just...look the heck out, American League. Look. The heck. OUT!!

Jason Giambi did not have a nice night in Oakland at all. They were not very welcoming to him, no-siree. But he went out there and batted. And struck out twice. And left 4 guys on base. But whatever, Oakland - we got him now!

The Chiz Kid didn't have so hot of a night. Seems to be the only guy not breaking his slump now. Aviles was brought in to split the at-bats at 2 apiece and he didn't do anything either.

Stubbs, of course, was out there, doin' stuff. He went 2 for 3 and came around to score (Because he's like a bullet train!) but he did get caught stealing, which was his first CS of the year after 13 SB. He also got caught up in a double play/outfield assist situation at third but I don't think there's a column for that, so hush hush!

I sure hope that this is the Indians for the rest of the season. This is the Indians we signed up for this year, that's for sure. Lots of guys with multiple hits tonight, some extra-base hits, some homers. Why has this been so hard to come by?

Tomorrow is our chance to go 7-1 against the A's this year. That'd be cool! It's a 4:05 game so don't let it pass you by. It was supposed to be Kazmir versus Bartolo Colon but the old man has a left groin strain. Also, he is a stupid cheater who takes drugs. Anyway he's being replaced by LHP 4.39 who we should be able to crush. CRUSH!

No Radio Chatter today. Cuz I said so. See you tomorrow!

So, That Happened

I hope Jose Fernandez wins the Cy Young Award. I hope he wins it soon! Because it appears that he is impossibly awesome and the Tribe needs to be able to point to this outing and say "Clearly that kid was impossibly awesome. How were we to win?"

Also, the Tribe only beats good pitchers after they've won the Cy Young. But drafted-out-of-high-school, three-days-over-21, Cuban refugee phenoms? We're just going to sit this one out.

Ubaldo was shaking in his shoes, too. He only lasted 4 innings against the lowest-scoring team in baseball. He gave up 5 runs on 9 hits...but just 2 earned runs. Because Asdrubal had two errors and three of the runs were attributed to those errors.

Asdrubal should be shaking that Fernandez kid's hand after the game. Because there was no way we were going to beat him, and that fact totally gets Asdrubal off the hook.

What possibly could have been distracting him today? ...

Anyway so Ubaldo only went 4, so they had to go digging in the dirt for someone from our bullpen to cover a ton of innings. Never good news. That someone today was Bryan Shaw, who actually did good - 2 innings, no run.

Next was Marc Rzepczynski, which is pronounced "Zep-chin-ski." Silent R, no joke. He just came over from the Cardinals and is our other lefty who is not Rich Hill. Hooray for that guy! But Vinnie had to go to Columbus in exchange for him so grumble grumble for that guy. But you know what? He and Vinnie grew up together and used to play Little League together. Vinnie was the only guy that [heretofore named] Zep knew on the Indians when he came in. Ooops!

But, Vinnie knows what he has to do. He's out there sharpening his skills right now!

Anyway, Zep pitched an uneventful inning. Here's to 40 more!

Matt Albers, who, along with Bryan Shaw, has been the least disappointing addition to the bullpen this year, had an awful awful awful 8th inning. It was awful, guys. It was 5 runs awful! On 7 hits! And NONE of those hits were homers! He had no choice but to finish it out, though - I mean, we weren't coming back from 6-0, or 7-0, or 8-0. 10-0? Well, whatever. Just don't use up any more of the bullpen tonight.

We weren't coming back because we weren't hitting. Fernandez gave up 3 hits and struck out 14. I don't think even Masterson has struck out 14 in a game this season! (13 I think?)

Swisher kept him out of a no-hitter. Asdrubal got a double, which was quite nearly a home run and a home run in any other park. Then Ryan Raburn, who is so good, he's got 11 hits over his last 10 games. Oh yeah and today's hit was off the bench.

That's it, man. The whole story of the day was Fernandez and the sexy, sexy Miami stadium. It was also part of the story was that the Tigers won because Chicago is so crap. Ubaldo and Asdrubal are off the hook, for now. Asdrubal's got to come back tomorrow and totally have an awesome game. People are starting to talk.

Tomorrow is ZMac versus RHP 2.65 and...what? That guy's ERA is even better than Fernandez! The name of the game is going to be bullpen. Hopefully they don't pull that same name out of their hats too.

It's a 7:10 game...see you there!

Radio Chatter: 
"Even a bad offensive club will score if you give them extra outs."
- Tom Hamilton on the error in the first inning

"Nobody's warming in the Indians bullpen - they're all in the pool."
- Tom Hamilton

"Ubaldo Jiminez may be going in to the Indians dugout and telling Tito Francona 'You don't need to get the bullpen busy, you need to find a new shortstop.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"So much for mom, apple pie and baseball in the USA. If you brought your mom to the stadium in Miami she'd probably choke on her apple pie watching the exhibitionists here..."
- Tom Hamilton

"We know one thing for sure - the Miami Marlins aren't sponsored by Disney."
- Tom Hamilton

Two. Hit. Shut. Out.

Wow! So I just got over gushing about Masterson and here I go again - this time in the bag for Ubaldo! I can't say that he has bowled me over at every start this year but he's been consistently "decent" (however, consistently short) and when he "gets it" he really does great and has a spectacular game.

Today was his best game by far - only 2 hits over 8 innings! Whatever struggles he has that keep him from going more than 5 innings, or giving up fewer than 3 runs, were off the table today and it was smooth sailing. After the first, it was smooth sailing. He only got 6 strikeouts but in turn only walked 3. And did I mention it was a two hit shut out? It was!

Texas really helped Ubaldo out by swinging early, making contact and getting themselves out. Which is why Ubaldo needs to throw that delicious-looking fastball down there and let guys swing away. He also got some help in the field today! To which Ubaldo responds:

Vinnie Pestano came out for the 9th inning, which was perfect because he needed the work and we were up 6-0. He looked all right - struck out one, walked one and had a double play so he faced just 3 batters. He did it in 13 pitches, not bad.

A bunch more hits for the Tribe today - 13! I think that's over 10 hits per game for the last 4 or 5 games. Cool!

Michael Bourn is becoming our RBI guy, with 2 more today giving him 10 in his last 4 games. Ten RBI for the leadoff man?? IMHO he's been a consistently good hitter for us this year so I think his recent success is a bit of a tribute to the end of the lineup who obviously must be on base in order for him to knock them in! Bourn's only hit was a 2-run double he hit with 2 men aboard. He's got a 6-game hitting streak! Feels like we're going to make up on what we missed when Bourn had his month off in the beginning of the season.

Swisher had a good day, going 3 for 5, but never came around to score and didn't get any RBI.

Kipnis was back in his groove today, going 2 for 4 with an RBI. He's been on and off lately - getting 11 hits over 10 games, but 4 of those games saw him with no hits. I'm ready for him to be our hero every day now. Come on, Kip!

When it comes to heroes, both Asdrubal and Raburn were shut down today. Sigh. But - You saw Raburn's awesome catch linked up there, right?!

Michael Brantley continues to roll along! He's got a 6-game hitting streak with hits in 26 of the 21 games he's played so far in July. He's got 24 hits in those 21 games, too!

Santana went 2 for 4 today and came around to score both times. He was the DH...which we love, right? Very possibly that contributed to Ubaldo's success today and having him come around to score twice didn't hurt either! He's got 6 hits and 3 walks in his last 4 games. Let him DH more pleeeeease!

Chisenhall is cooling off a bit, after being consistent for a few games. He didn't do anything at the plate today, but then they brought in Aviles and he got himself a 2-run homer. Boom!

Can we gush over Yan Gomes today?

Dude went 3 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI. Plus he caught the game which you know must have been helpful to the cause. One of his hits was a two-out RBI single, and the other was his 8th double of the year. Only 8? Seems like he's hitting a double every time he hits. Hmm....His slugging is .510 but it's actually cooled off a lot from the beginning of the season. No doubt suffering from lack of playing time. More Gomes!!!!

So everything really fell into place today - great pitching, no need for the bullpen, hitting like we know they can. With all this trade deadline stuff being talked about, I don't know why anyone is even talking about Cliff Lee. Unless Cliff Lee is at a point in his career where he is ready to become an every day long reliever or something? Our starters are just fine. Our bullpen is awful. Our bats are just fine. Our bullpen is awful. Whoever can come in and give us a few shutout innings per week, THAT is the guy we need. If we can't get that then the Indians need to just stay with what they've got.

Tomorrow we face the White Sox at home, which is good because the White Sox are still awful. So if we can take 7 games from 2 awful teams it'll still be awesome! Then we go down to Miami to face the last-place Marlins so really it could be 10 "gimme" games and I am fine with that! We're just 2 games out of the wildcard and it's almost August!

It'll be Z-Mac against LHP 4.81. Oh man - it's gonna be sweet!

No radio chatter today because I was in front of my parents' TV. Although I did catch the beginning of the game on the radio, where Tom Hamilton declared both that "a meal that requires no utensils is where it's at" and that he is a farm boy and knows how to chow down on pig. See what you're missing by not watching?

7:05 tomorrow, see you there!

I'm Back! How About You Guys?

And by "you guys" I mean the Cleveland Indians, who went 3-3 while I was gone (around the All Star Game) but only won one since their break. Ack!

Did you watch the All Star Game? How about that Kipnis, huh?! He was so good they made him a knock-off Lego guy! I was thinking about buying one but while a Lego guy of any Tribe player is friggin' awesome...a knock-off Lego guy is so very meh. Actually they made "mini figures" out of a lot of guys, including Bob Feller. Justin Masterson's guy is sort of tan and has a mustache and goatee...Well, one of his guys does. He's got two, and the other has the same face as Ubaldo and Asdrubal. Santana's kind of looks like him.

So where was I? Oh yeah - Jason Kipnis! He was awesome at the ASG (and was sure to hook us up with an Instagram account too so we could enjoy the fun with him. Look, there's Jason's Midwestern Mom!

Then he came back and had a quiet game against the Twins, but then got himself a 2-run homer in each game Saturday and Sunday! Unfortunately he was shut down again today and he's back under .300. But whatever - you can't not love the Kid. He's got 63 more games in which to wow us!

Ubaldo couldn't go the distance today. Glad they took him out at his first sign of trouble. He wasn't exactly cruising through the game, giving up 5 hits in 5 2/3 innings and walking 4, but he kept them from scoring at least. Heck, he even managed to give up ONLY solo home runs!

But, he had 109 pitches after 5 2/3 so it was time to go, and time to bring in CC Lee! I keep trying to tell people "Wow, did you know we had a new guy named CC Lee?!" which brings up more questions about "who? where?" and "Taiwan?" than what I really want as a reaction, which is "Haha it's like he made up his name by cobbling together the names of our two best pitchers from the past 10 years! Good move!" I mean...right?!

Anyway, this guy hasn't sucked so far in the 1 2/3 innings he's pitched. Fewer runs given up than most of our bullpen in 1 2/3 innings. Not sure why they brought up a rightie and not a lefty but hell if he can get the job done he can pitch however he needs.

Oh No Not Rich Hill still sucks big time. He lost the game on Saturday. Are you surprised? He didn't lose the game today but there was no game to lose.

Bryan Shaw Or Matt Albers pitched the 9th and did ok. No runs scored.

Our bats could not get it together today, not even off a dude with a 5+ ERA. I guess the Mariners are all kinds of hot right now, and maybe we're lucky to have only lost by 1, which I guess is due to good pitching.

Francona switched up the lineup a bit because Nick Swisher was feeling a bit wound up or something, so they put him in the 2-hole, where he got 2 hits including the team's only RBI in the form of a solo homer. Hooray for you, bro.

 Bourn was leadoff and he got a hit but nothing came of it. He also got hit by a pitch later in the game, and got himself picked off. Argh! He's up at the top of the league for caught stealing but not at the top for stolen bases. I think he's a great leadoff hitter and great at getting on base, but his average sure does drop if you take away the 6 times he got caught stealing!

He did get an outfield assist, which I'm a sucker for. But still...stop getting caught!

Neither Kipnis nor Cabrera (now 4th) did anything today, which clearly makes for a bad game.

Brantley was back doing his clutch thing again today. Did you see him yesterday?? Bases-loaded triple yo!! With two outs, of course! Today it was just a routine 1-out double, but it was late in the game and I'm still impressed.

Santana also got a double, but that was all she wrote. Giambi and Stubbs both walked.

I guess these Mariners are a force to be reckoned with at the moment, now having won 7 in a row. The Tribe best be hungry for a big win and what would be bigger than stopping a team on a streak?! And maybe starting our own streak in the process?

Tomorrow, in the middle of the night again (10:10 PM) it'll be the triumphant return of Z-Mac, Zach McAllister versus some dude with a 15+ ERA who is coming off elbow issues. It could easily be the end of the streak! You'll have to tune in to see!

Oh, when you do tune in, note that Tom Hamilton is out having knee surgery (which begs the questions 1. What do you need your knee for in radio? and 2. Why can't we have the privilege of hearing a drugged-up Hammy?) Jim Rosenhaus is joined by Jason Stanford who is way more dry than Rosie and will make you think that Rosie is colorful and you're glad to have him.

See you there!

A Good Little Game

And I do mean little! Two hours, 16 minutes - woah! And the Tribe only got 4 hits!

I think the longest parts of the game was when Ubaldo was pitching and facing 4-5 batters per inning. Otherwise the two starters were both tight, and were just cruising (interestingly both have ERAs over 4.5).

Ubaldo finally had a quality start! Not only quality but the team's league-leading 11th shutout! (Well, like, the bullpen helped...) After the game he said "The fastball was good, and the slider was good too. So that was good." Like pitching for him is an out-of-body experience. Whatever, I'll take it! He did get himself into some jams, giving up 5 hits and 2 walks, but man did he ever get himself out of them. It was actually exciting!

The bullpen actually held up their end of the bargain, too. Allen, Smith and Perez gave us 3 innings without giving up any runs! Perez was a little touch-and-go, giving up 2 singles, but he got out of it unscathed and got himself a save!

The Blue Jays' pitcher was surprisingly tough, and our batters were stymied. But you can't keep a good team down, so when they saw an opening they took it. In the 4th he gave up a walk to Asdrubal then the next three dudes - Kipnis (3-game streak!), Swisher and Brantley got singles and suddenly it was 2-0! I say 2-0 because there was one out when I got out of the car and 2 runs when I got back in. Huh!

The only other hit was pretty nice - a double by Stubbs in the 8th, followed by a nice sac bunt by Bourn and then a sac fly by Asdrubal to get him in to score!

Were you wondering about Stubbs' average? It's .249! He's also hit safely in his last 7 games!! Yes, ever since getting hit in the head with a foul ball! I put it out there on Twitter asking if anyone has commented on this but I'm so out of the loop...I probably wouldn't hardly know if this was a top story or something.

It suits me.

Hey don't look now but the White Sox beat the Tigers 11-4. Yeah, the White Sox, man! This is their first of I think, honestly, 19 games to go for the rest of the season. Do the White Sox have Detroit's number, even if they suck otherwise? Wouldn't that be something?!

Nice game today, even if it was low on action (but you "real" fans know that there can be action in lack of action.) Let's see if we can get another series win! Tomorrow will be Masterson versus - Esmil Rogers! RHP 3.84. That should be fun times (Mickey Callaway wasn't Rogers' pitching coach but he was in the system at the same time as Rogers, so perhaps he's got some insight.)

It'll be a 7:05 game - barring rain. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"This is the epitome of a jam."
- Tom Hamilton on Jiminez with runners at the corners and no outs

"When you get in Tony LaRussa's doghouse, there is no out door."
- Tom Hamilton on Colby Rasmus

"If you can have Ubaldo Jiminez pitch six innings every time out, you would sign right up for that."
- Tom Hamilton

"Boy it's amazing how simple this game seems when you have good pitching."
- Tom Hamilton

The Majesty Of Drew Stubbs

Here's an interesting fact: the last time Drew Stubbs had 4 or more RBI in a game was in 2010, on the 4th of July, in Chicago. He actually got 5 that day, on 3 home runs. Pretty cool, huh? Today he "only" had 4 RBI but that's pretty awesome for your #9 guy. He had a 2-run homer and then came back up and hit a 2-run single. This is after being beaned in the hat brim with a foul ball while in the dugout in the first inning. I don't have a video clip or a photo of his injury, but I'll show you a photo re-creation:

Did he get beaned in to being extra awesome today? Was he being extra cautious and alert, and saw the ball better once he got hit? Is July 4th just his lucky day?

You guys know that I really like Drew Stubbs. I've heard people complain about him on the radio, like we should get rid of him because he's not a power hitting right fielder but personally I think he's a solid player, full of speed and gets the bat on the ball enough to be useful in the lineup. Of course he no Choo but Choo wasn't this good when he left us, and we didn't have the budget for Choo and all the other talent. I think he fits in just fine. Maybe today's game made a good case for him as the trade deadline.

Kipnis got a hit today, extending his streak to I dunno, like, a million? Ok maybe more like 15. Damn, dawg! He wasn't in the running for the ASG as of Monday, but my brother was trying to tell me today that he has moved way up. I don't know - is he a well-known name yet? That'd be great if he was! Pretty sure the manager will choose him, and Cano will come out early for resties.

Carlos Santana had a nice day, going 2 for 5 with 2 RBI. Asdrubal had his first game since coming back in which he didn't get a hit. He was the DH today.

Matt Albers didn't give up any runs.

I watched the game on TV today, as my official July 4th celebration. The broadcast went out for a bit in the middle of the 7th. I guess a breaker blew. Yesterday some lights went out. Right now I'm on hold with a guy at my server farm in Kansas, because I can't get to my servers. What the hell is going on in Kansas City??

Coming up now is The Big One! A 4-game series against the Tigers at home. I'm going to be glued to my radio! Mainly because my dog is completely freaked out by fireworks and people seem to be blowing them off 24 hours a day here. But at least I have 4 days of awesome baseball to distract both of us with!

Tomorrow will be Justin Masterson versus RHP 5.21. It's pretty crucial that we win all the games that aren't Max Scherzer games, especially this one against a guy with a crazy ERA.

It'll be at 7:05, I'll see you there!

No Radio Chatter today. No radio!

Don't Trust The Happy, The Happy Are Insane

Argh, Nick Swisher! I had just outed myself as a hayter and what does he do? He goes and wins two games for us! That's the kind of junk that terminally exuberant people do. They're all "U mad, bro?" then go out of their way to do nice stuff for you until there's no way you can possibly be upset. Upset with the world or upset with them.

So yeah, whatever. I can start rooting for him now.

In other news, Ubaldo Jiminez still can't go past 6 innings. I guess we're pitching him now as a "At least there won't be blowouts anymore" starter, but definitely not as a long guy. His line was pretty busy - 5 innings, 9 hits, 3 runs, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts. Pretty nice on the strikeouts for just 5 innings. But he had to throw a lot of pitches (112!) to get those 8 outs and the other 7 outs it took to pitch 5 innings.

Lucky for us there's this dude Joe Martinez who was for some reason called up to do some relief work. Never heard of him. His AAA ERA is 6.23. He does have 56 strikeouts in 86 innings with only 21 walks, so that's pretty nice. Oh and guess what? He's got his first major league win since 2009!

He looks just as surprised as we are!

 Martinez picked up 2 innings and only gave up 2 hits, striking out one. He doesn't throw for speed - seems to top out at 92 and likes some slower stuff. Instead he seems to like to throw them where they can be hit - for outs. Fly ball outs - nothing wrong with that!

Since all of the other dudes were used up in game 2 yesterday, we got back around to Smith and Perez again today. What we got was the Original Recipe Smith and Perez, with Smith having a blank line and Perez as well! Smith got the hold, and Perez got his first save since May 11. Last night I was bragging on Perez's 5th 1-2-3 inning of the year, now he's already making a habit of it!

The Tribe was held to "just" 9 hits today, and 4 walks. They got back to their habit of hitting the long ball, though - that's how we got 3 of our 4 runs!

Asdrubal was back again at #2, and he went 2 for 4 - with a homer! OMG! Only his 6th of the season, but it's still early for him being that he missed so much time. Since he's been back he has a 4-game hitting streak, going 7 for 15 in that time. YOU HEARD ME! He's back and better than ever!

Which is just fantastic because he's followed up by SLG king Jason Kipnis, who got his 4th homer of the month today, and his 24th & 25th RBI. There's a lot of talk this weekend about how well Kipnis does in Chicago, being from there, but actually when we were there earlier this year he went 1 for 7. This time? 6 for 10! (So far!)

Nick Swisher only went 1 for 3....but it was a total clutch "one." It was a clutch "one." It was the winning RBI "one." Well done, you.

Brantley was kind of hung out to dry today. He went 2 for 4 but didn't get an RBI or a run. No one around him to help out! Santana got a nice double but it wasn't in tandem with either of Brantley's hits.

Did you know that Mark Reynolds has a little 3-game hitting streak going? Pretty awesome. He was hitting really consistently while he was homering like crazy earlier in the year. So perhaps this is a bit of a warm-up for him to explode back in to the team's home run guy pretty soon? Or heck, if he just keeps consistently hitting that's cool too.

Chiz, Aviles (pinch hitter) and Stubbs didn't get anything done today. Sucks. I'm expecting more tomorrow!

Today's game was the half-way point of the season (game 81) and tomorrow's game puts us halfway done with the Sox. Bummer, because if we played these guys every weekend we'd be tops in baseball! We've got two more 4-game series with them and a 2-gamer. Weird, huh?

As for 4-game series this year: 2 split, 2 swept, 1 lost. I would not mind sweeping another!

We're 1 game behind Detroit by the way. They are playing the Rays, who are not too shabby. The Tigers are 4-6 in their last 10 while we're 7-3. Anyway, what all this means is...we could be tied for first by the end of Sunday!

It'll be Masterson versus LHP 2.75. I dare say our guys are really going to need to be on top of their game tomorrow - if nothing else, getting through the starter as early as possible. And Masterson's going to have to pitch a classic Masterson, going long with a low score. Totally, totally can happen.

It's at 2:10 - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"He must have forgot. 'Gosh, I thought I was supposed to do something. I guess I was going to tell people what that play was.'"
- Tom Hamilton perplexed on the home plate umpire's super-hesitant strike call

"What is that a 5.5 hour drive? Six hours? Well, for you 5.5."
"For you, 7. [...] Driving like you is like when you go up to the bowling alley and they have those bumpers up so you can't get a gutterball."
"Have we ever not gotten there safely?"
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton on driving to Chicago

"You gotta be careful shaking your head at [home plate umpire] Wally Bell. It's like shaking your head at your dad and the next thing you know, you're over his knee."
- Tom Hamilton

"Wally Bell, with a litle Leslie Nielson action on strike three. All he needs is a little moon dance."
- Tom Hamilton

"He continues to be public enemy number one for the White Sox!"
- Tom Hamilton on Jason Kipnis

"The only thing those guys had going for them is they had long hair and it sort of looked like seagulls."
- Tom Hamilton is totally not a fan of Flock Of Seagulls

"Most of the Indians relievers have an IV stuck in their arm, after yesterday's yeoman duty."
- Tom Hamilton

"Robin Ventura must feel like every time he looks up, Jason Kipnis is at home plate."
- Tom Hamilton

Un-Slumping

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you there!

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

There It Is!

Finally - back to beating good pitchers! Back to cobbling together runs! Back to late-inning magic! Good [mediocre] Ubaldo!

Also, this guy!

It takes a fat guy to one-hand a fly ball with a hot dog in the other hand. I salute you!

Ubaldo only went 5 innings today but only gave up 2 runs, in the 3rd inning. He actually struggled pretty hard in the third - 2 walks and 2 wild pitches turned in to 2 runs. But the 4th was uneventful and he had a 1-2-3 5th, so he did manage to compose himself and come back good. If this is perhaps what his "bad" games look like now, I'll soooooo take it!

Since we were scourged with Hill, Shaw and Albers yesterday, today we were blessed with Hagadone (well, whatever), Allen and Pestano. Hagadone actually controlled himself and did all right in his 1 1/3 innings. Next up was the usually-solid Allen who gave up a hit and then turned it in to a triple with a bad throw. Not so solid, dude! Of course that fella came around to score on a sac fly.


Pestano came in for the 9th and it was a weird one. Two on (boo!) and a guy hits a single. The lead runner misses the "hold" sign and comes racing around third with Santana waiting for him at the plate with the ball. He gets caught in a rundown. The other two runners advance. The guy who goofed dives in to third, at the feet of the other Royal standing there. They tag him out. No wait, he's safe, he's holding on to the bag! They tag the guy standing on third. He's out. The Royal on third tells the guy on the ground to put his hands back on the base before he gets tagged out in a double play. He does. Whew! You gotta see it for yourself. 

Is everybody here?

That play prevented a run and ultimately saved the game for us. Sad that Vinnie had so many dudes on the bag at once but hey - a win's a win!

The Tribe was low on hits again today but unlike some other games during their losing streak, they were at least stacking them up today. Just 6 hits and 4 walks, and only one extra-base hit, but they still managed 4 runs!

Michael Bourn didn't get his hit until his last at-bat in the 8th, but it was a big one! He got a big long single to left to score Raburn, who had walked and was moved over by Stubbs.

Aviles, who was 2 for 4 on the night, with a run scored and an RBI. He got the team's first RBI in the 6th with a single. In the 8th he got on base after Bourn's single, eventually coming in to score the winning run!

With 2 on and 1 out, Jason Kipnis got over his very short stint of being absolutely useless in the clutch, and instead hit a RBI double to tie the game! WA-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Santana was intentionally walked after that, because he is awesome. Michael Brantley, not to go un-noticed, hit himself a sac fly to get the go-ahead run in!

Santana went 1 for 2 with 2 walks (he's tied for 4th in the league for walks, yaknow), and Brantley went 0 for 3 with an RBI.

Drew Stubbs got his hit (1 for 3) in the 6th, stole second base and then came around to score on the aforementioned Aviles single. Run, boy!

So now the team is back in second place and tomorrow they can make it further past the Royals in the standings if they get another win.

Tomorrow is Masterson versus RHP 4.08. Let's hope they keep up this stuff that made them good in the first place - hits when it matters, sticking with it through 9 and good starting pitching. I don't see anything on that list that totally can't happen tomorrow!

See you there!

No Radio Chatter tonight cuz...there just isn't. Although there was some talk about Kipnis not wanting to hug the home plate umpire. But you heard that for yourself, right?

Down With The Sickness

It kind of feels like the team was sick for a while, and now they're getting better and getting on their feet and getting back to their old selves. Right? I told you this wasn't a bad team!

I mean, I'm not going to scream "We're back!" just yet. You know how it is after an illness - one Happy Hour after work and you're down for the rest of the weekend. So let's just watch as the fellas get themselves back in gear, and hope they don't get re-infected on their way.

I couldn't get a read on Ubaldo Jiminez from Tom Hamilton today. Hammy's pretty good at describing whether or not we can trust a starter's outing, but since the team has been doing bad he doesn't seem to have faith in anyone. Well except Kluber last night - Hamilton was pretty convinced by the 6th. He didn't really sell Jiminez tonight, although Jiminez didn't really sell himself. He lasted just 5 innings before leaving with 101 pitches. He just had to work too hard, I guess. He only gave up 1 run and struck out 4, so all in all it was a good performance. Just too short. He got the win, tho!

Ubaldo gave up a walk and a hit in the 6th, so they took him out. Then we had to deal with Hill on the hill (I can't believe I haven't said that yet!) He only had to pitch to Pierzynski and he got AJ to fly out, then they sent him to sit back down. Good riddance.

Then Shaw got the next 2 guys out, and got 2 outs in the 7th. They took him out for Hagadone who got one out. Tired yet? Still two more innings to go!

Smith had a good inning - he took 22 pitches to strike out 3 guys and walk one. Then came Vinnie to work the 9th, just to get some work and in true Tribe Closer fashion he gave up a run because he had a run to give up. Tom Hamilton has been pointing out the last 2 days how you can't trust any sort of lead in the ballpark at Arlington, so he had me nervous when there was a runner on and a run scored with 2 outs in the 9th. I mean, if we can score so many runs after 2 outs and this is a run-producing park, why can't they?? It ended, though. Whew!

The top of the order started really getting their stuff together today. Bourn - a Texas boy - was back today and he started the game off with a single! He didn't make it home that time but he led off the 3rd with a single and got to come home. Later on he walked, so he went 2 for 4 on the night. Juuuuust a hair under .300 at .299!

Kipnis kicked it up a notch finally, after sticking out a 7-game hitting streak now he's putting more hits up in one game, going 3 for 5 tonight with a double and a HOMER! Quite a power day for the Kid! I wouldn't mind to see a big long hitting streak from him, that's for sure. How many games are left in the season? How about a streak that long?! Yeah!

Nick Swisher AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHH!

Michael Brantley was up in cleanup today. The 4th spot is where he's been for the third-most at-bats. First is uh...first with 88 at-bats. Then seventh with 35, and then 4th, 5th and 8th are about the same in the 20s. Versatility! He actually does best in the fifth spot.

Sorry, that was boring. Cousin Michael went 2 for 4 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored! He's got a 3-game hitting streak.

Santana went 1 for 4, with a big RBI double. He has a little 5-game streak going. I guess they are trying to move him around more, not have him catch as much. Oh, what do we do with Carlos? He needs to have multi-hit games tho, that's for sure.

Mike Aviles was in it to win it tonight, going just 1 for 4 but his was a 2-run homer! He did have to give back one of those runs today after he committed  an error that allowed a run to score in the 9th. But that's ok - we don't want him getting TO Asdrubally (albeit Asdrubal sure does have a lot of errors this season....) Him and his buddies also turned two today TWICE!

I guess Drew Stubbs' parents have been in town for this Texas series. He's from Alabama and it's a 2.5 hour drive in to Arlington. Tom Hamilton is a big fan of theirs (probably because he travels to see his son play now too!) Anyway, Stubbs got a hit tonight too (got one last night) but that was about it. Hey - he got on, not his fault the guys couldn't drive him in!

Tomorrow's an off day, then back home to host the Nationals on Friday. The Nats are a .500 club who play better at home than on the road. We've got a team that just won 2 after losing 8, and had BEST be back on a roll! Also - Dollar Dogs and fireworks! w00t!

Friday it'll be our hero Justin Masterson versus LHP 3.59. Are you stoked? It's gonna be fun (thank goodness)!

See you there!

[No Radio Chatter tonight, sorry. I was too busy doing stuff to write stuff down. Oops!]

Is This Real Life?

Ubaldo Jiminez pitched an 8-inning shutout. Vinnie Pestano came in to close and didn't give up anything but a walk. Jason Giambi has his third home run in 3 games.

Everything's coming up Milhouse!





Ubaldo had a lot on his shoulders today after yesterday's blowout of the bullpen. He could have easily crumbled under the pressure but instead he barreled through Tampa Bay like so much Tampa Butter. He held them to only FOUR hits - none for those monster bats Longoria or Loney - and struck out 7. And only one walk, nobody got hit, nobody stole a base - talk about control!

Looking at Jiminez's stats for this year, it seems like the horrible game is the exception and not the rule. Completely backwards from his previous season with the Tribe. Yeah his first 2 games were stinkers and in Detroit last week he lost it, but today was his 10th start and only 3 or 4 of them have been bad. The others were good-to-amazing!

It would appear that Vinnie is back. Some would say that he never left but nobody here is used to him being anywhere near bad so to see him struggle for a bit was to write him off as near death. He closed well enough on Wednesday, giving up a homer on a 4-run lead. Today he held tight on a 5-run lead, giving up just a walk. He got the first 2 guys out quickly and struggled to get that final out but he was finally throwing back up to 93 today (he was just up to 91 on Wednesday). How lucky are we to have this guy around when Perez can't be there? Lucky!

The top of our order was where it was at today, excepting Bourn. It actually was sort of a boring game, being that our runs came on homers and not little hits or anything weird. But hey, a win's a win!

Kipnis went 2 for 4 today with his 11th double. Ramping up with a 2-game hitting streak! Let's hope he's not in a slump so much as a valley. Need this kid producing hits and runs for the team to be good, that's for sure.

OMG ASDRUBAL!!! It's been a loooong time since his last home run - May 6, when he hit two - and today he came through with a 2-run dinger! I guess he's limping around a bit with a bum quadricep but managing. I guess it's not affecting his power! Asdrubal has 12 hits and 5 RBI in his last 10 games! Almost quietly keeping it together while everyone else is trying to figure it out.

Swisher is figuring it out too. In that I think he's on his post-paternity-leave crash but if you can't put the ball in play then put yourself in play with a walk. Today he went 1 for 2 because he walked twice. After one of those walks he came in to score on a homer. Contributing!

So what's the deal with Giambi? Ever since I wished he wasn't terrible (ok, I've been wishing it since April 1 but let's say it was Wednesday) he's hit 3 homers and gotten 7 RBI in his last 3 games. He has struck out 3 times too - which sort of makes me think he's trying too hard to keep it going. I guess he's had some sort of neck trouble that is over now and we can expect to see more good things from him coming up now. Let's hope all of these big talkers know what they are talking about! I'm ready to be Eddie Murray'd again.

The only other guy with a hit today was good 'ol Mike Aviles who is basically playing every day now that Lonnie's out. Not to say it wasn't the plan to have him in this much as a roving replacement, but the opportunities have opened up a little more for him. It always seems to me like he is doing stuff when he's in but really he's only had 6 hits in his last 10 games. But today he went 2 for 3 with a walk AND a stolen base! He's our secret speed demon. Unfortunately he didn't get any RBIs or runs but oh well, we still won.

It'll be great if we can take the series tomorrow. It's looking good with pitching at least, Ubaldo having saved the bullpen for a day. And the fans are coming out so hopefully that gets the guys pumped a bit to get some more runs.

Tomorrow at 1:05 it'll be McAllister versus RHP 5.61 so we definitely have the opportunity for a lot more runs! Here's to a great Sunday - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The Indians hope that it's the good Ubaldo that shows up today."
- Tom Hamilton

"For all of you who say you can golf like Tiger Woods, today you can."
- Tom Hamilton on Woods' 9-hole score of 44

"If you can average 13 pitches per inning, you're going to pitch a complete game."
- Tom Hamilton on Jiminez in the 3rd

"It's never a good sign when the paper boy is wishing you a good morning as you pull in the driveway."
- Tom Hamilton

At Least We've Got Ubaldo?

Never thought I'd be saying that! I don't think we've had a game this season - or any season - where Ubaldo came off like a shining star amongst some crap batting and crap relief.

Was it crap batting or amazing pitching? The other guy didn't walk any of our guys, and struck out 7. I suppose if we're going to say Ubaldo did great with similar stats, then so did Leake. It doesn't get our batters off the hook, though - if they can manage all those Cy Young guys they can manage some dude from Cincinnati!

Ubaldo went 7 1/3 innings before he had thrown enough (108) and was done. In that time he only struck out 6 (I'm getting greedy with my strikeouts, thanks to Justin!) and gave up 2 earned runs. His ERA is actually the third lowest it's been all season already, thanks to the long outing. He is throwing in the low 90s, as prescribed, so that's cool. He didn't hit anyone today but he did have a wild pitch and gave up a home run to the leadoff hitter, Choo, in the first.

Best news - no meltdown!

Jiminez didn't have much help from Santana, who had 2 passed balls (one for Jiminez, one for Hagadone). Good thing Santana is hitting pretty well yet - I think everyone is chomping at the bit to get Gomes in there as our catcher and it seems like the minute Santana does something "off" he gets extra scolded for it. It's a weird spot to be in, though. There are a lot of possibilities as to who can play where and when but I'll be darned if I can tell you what the best one would be!

Hagadone was called up from Columbus today, after just being sent down to Columbus whence I said "Good, he needs to go to Columbus." He was brought up because Perez is momentarily disabled in the arm. Hagadone is not that good, but he's all we got. He started off good with an ERA under 3 all through April and the beginning of May only giving up 2 runs in 10 appearances. Then he gave up 3 runs in 1/3 of an inning. Then he did it again. Then they sent him away but they had to bring him back. Today he was back and he immediately got bitten by this bug where our relievers are giving up home runs.

Our relievers are giving up home runs.

Hagadone gave up a 2-run homer to Joey Votto in the 8th and that was that. Bryan Shaw, who is bug-free, finished off the 8th with no fanfare. What can you do about Hagadone? He's the only guy ready enough in Columbus to come up, I guess. Does he have a sore arm too? Anyone else we can try? Can Bauer do more relief? I'd like to see that.

It was "only" a 2-run deficit going in to the 9th but considering the team's take for the first 8 innings was only 2 runs, it didn't look promising that we could come back on this one. And we didn't. Perhaps if Swisher had let Chapman hit him in the head when Chapman threw at his head in the 9th we'd have had a chance at some game-tying homer. But also we might be down one Nick Swisher and the guy is really growing on me.

Speaking of growing on me - Jason Friggin' Giambi. I hate to see him up anymore, he's like Damon or Thome. Blech. But then every 10th at-bat or so (actually, he's 3/61 so I guess it's almost exactly every 20th at-bat) he hits a homer and it's some game-changing homer (today: game-tying) and I'm all "woohoo! I knew he had it in him!" It'd be so much easier if I didn't have to think about it, you know?

In other news, Kipnis and Asdrubal are keepin' on with their hitting, despite the rest of the team's poor performance. And despite their own "relatively" weak showing. Both went 1 for 4, Asdrubal with a double - extending his hitting streak to a Brantley-like 7 games.

Asdrubal also stole third! It doesn't seem like they are some huge stealing threat (although we have two of the fastest dues in the league) but it's sort of a round-robin of who might be running on you next. The Tribe is 3rd in the league in stolen bases and they've been running a lot more in recent games. Maybe because Bourn is back and Kipnis is getting on base more? The only regulars with no stolen bases are Giambi, Gomes and Chisenhall. Leading the team in SB is Kipnis with 10 but Bourn - who's got 60 fewer at-bats - is catching up fast with 8!

Reynolds got the only other hit, and Santana got the other run via sac fly. The end.

Tomorrow's another day is about all we can say about this, huh? We TOTALLY have to win tomorrow because my Negative Nelly friend said we'd go 1-5 on the road trip. Please please win tomorrow to prove my friend wrong! Also, because I'm tired of losing. Terry Francona is too. There better be some major heart-to-heart at tonight's Skyline Chili eating contest where Tito whips these knuckleheads in to shape and gets them back on the win train.

Tomorrow at 7:05 is McAllister versus RHP 3.17. Guy's given up 15 runs in his last 4 starts. Let's hope they can coax some more out of him tomorrow!

No Radio Chatter today. I was up at dawn (or what seemed like dawn) to go to the local parade and I crashed hard in the middle of the game. I had a good nap, and it would seem I didn't miss much of anything.

But, see you tomorrow!

Now With 100% More Yanimal

Argh! I wrote a whole blog post but it got eaten right at the very last second before I published it! I've never had that happen before - I am very not happy!

But I will give you this:

And I will tell you that I thought if we were going to lose 2 game in a row for the first time since the end of April, I'm proud it came after 5 runs in 5 innings off Verlander. I thought it was sweet how we came back to within 2. I thought it was weird how Bourn Canseco'd that ball over the wall for Miguel Cabrera. I also surprisingly am not too worried about Ubaldo right now, but I am already over David Huff. Asdrubal had 2 doubles and Michael Brantley is batting .311!

Also I will tell you that tomorrow's game is on WKYC at 7:10, from Boston. It's Zach McAllister versus RHP 4.27. No sweat, right?

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Tha last thing Verlander needs is help."
- Tom Hamilton on the strike zone

"When's the last time you saw Torii Hunter not go over a wall?"
- Tom Hamilton

"David Huff better put it on speed dial out there getting ready."
- Tom Hamilton on the demise of Jiminez

"Verlander must be a huge Redwings fan."
- Tom Hamilton on Verlander's 'leg save' in the 3rd

"When you give up 5 runs on 10 hits it also tells you he was making mistakes."
- Tom Hamilton on Verlander

"You have two rain delays, lots of action, and you get strange people dancing on the scoreboard between innings."
- Tom Hamilton

"Well it won't be hard getting out of the parking garage tonight. That's a silver lining."
"I betcha we still have problems!"
"Yeah there will be 15 cars in there and it'll still be bumper-to-bumper."
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus