Fought The Law And The Law Won

Scott Kazmir looked ok. Just one run shy of a quality start (a run that Hagadone gave up for him). I mean the way the whole team is playing, he could have looked worse.

For example he could have looked like Hagadone or Allen who both gave up runs in the 7th inning.What the...?

Vinnie Pestano at least had an uneventful 8th. Kind of creepy how we're not really missing our closer right now, huh? I guess if nothing else, all of this is good for Chris Perez who's not going to lose his job any time soon because there's no chance for anyone to go out there and show everyone they're better at closing than Perez.

Jumping on the mug shot bandwagon yo!

Nobody on the team is hitting over .300 right now. Granted, .300 is a tall order the longer the season wears on but dammit I liked looking at those.

Swisher got a hit today but he's got to be batting at like .280 for me to get over it.

Santana - he made me happy today. Well when he wasn't making me upset, being bad at playing first base. But it was really really cool for him to get a 2-out, bases-loaded double. That was, like, one of the biggest highlights of the past 8 games. Didn't win the game or anything but it was sweet as heck.

Mark Reynolds muffed a play, and made Tom Hamilton super mad. Then later he had a play that made Tom Hamilton sound like he was going to declare Reynolds the best third baseman ever. It was pretty sweet, he was hopping around like a circus flea! No hits for Reynolds, tho.

The Tribe had an awesome and weird double play that did get two outs (as opposed to the previously mentioned Reynolds play that didn't).

Sigh.

Hey, they signed John MacDonald today. Not sure why, since we've got a great utility infielder and some dudes who should come up to play SS while Asdrubal's out, and an every day 2nd baseman but...Johnny Mac! He hasn't played with us since 2004?? Seems like we traded him 3 years ago! His batting average is slightly above average but his fielding is around 100%. Huh.

They're talking on Extra Innings now about whether or not this is a slump or this is a bad team. This is not a bad team. No way is this a bad team. This is a good team playing extremely poorly right now and it's frustrating as heck. Are they going to be playing this poorly all season? They might. Because this is Cleveland, they might.

But hey, at least there's over 3 months of baseball left. Whatever that means, it definitely means we've got a lot more baseball to listen to and really that's what it's all about.

I'm rambling. It's bedtime. Tomorrow is at 8:05 again, Kluber versus LHP 2.82. It's raining cats and dogs outside.

See you there.

Radio Chatter:
"The fastball is still the best pitch there is."
- Tom Hamilton

"Carlos Santana is a great hitter but boy, where do you play him? Really, Santana is a DH."
- Tom Hamilton

"Can you imagine what the inside of those heads smells like in a month or so?"
- Tom Hamilton on the racing Texas icons

"No wonder the Rangers do so well in this ballpark, when Santa Claus is the scorekeeper."
- Tom Hamilton on an error going as a single

"You can't win in this park scoring only 3 runs. Not going to happen. You score 5 runs in this ballpark and you're going to be on the edge of your seat thinking that's enough."
- Tom Hamilton

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

Ridin' The Storm Out

Welp, after yesterday's trouncing of the Red Sox - in the rain - the Indians went through their own trouncing tonight. In the rain.

John Lackey - not a Cy Young Award winner - pitched 7 innings at us, only giving up 2 hits and 1 run. His buddies gave up 2 more hits but that was it on the night. Four hits for us.

Justin Masterson threw 6 innings + 1 batter and gave up 5 runs. His ERA jumped back up over 3. Perhaps he doesn't like the rain? It was weird though because his 2nd inning was bad and then he had three 1-2-3 innings in a row, and then gave up a run in the 6th and then a double in the 7th that came around to score when he was done. So parts of that outing were good but taken as a whole...it was bad.

Rich Hill didn't do anyone any favors by coming in and hitting a guy. Then he let Masterson's baserunner score, along with two of his own. And then more got on and scored. ALL ON SINGLES!! For Pete's sake, Rich Hill - that ain't right!

Matt Albers came in to save Hill from himself, only to let Hill's last two batters score. SERENITY NOW!!

Aaaaah...Vinnie Pestano for the 8th, No hits, no runs, one strikeout. Much better. Too late, of course, but much better than that wild dog and pony show of the 7th!

Asdrubal went 1 for 4, extending his little hitting streak to 4.

Nick Swisher was back today from paternity leave. And as with all returning-from-paternity-leave Indians in the past have done, he did something a little bit spectacular. Sometimes the guys have an all-around great game, sometimes they hit well, Swisher took to playing some good defense. I'm telling you - it's a thing!

Check it out:

• June 6, 2013 - Albers throws a 1-2-3 inning on his return
• July 7 & July 14, 2012 - Shelley Duncan 2-run homers
• June 6, 2012 - Damon robs Fielder of a home run
• Sept 4 2012 - Perez throws a 1-2-3 inning on his return 
• August 3 2011 - Choo gets walk-off 3-run homer

So there you go.

Mark Reynolds kept up his "back" status with a hit today. He's got a 3-game hitting streak going after a 3-game no-hit streak. He got a single, then Brantley got a single, then they double stole (Mark Reynolds!) which completely confused the Red Sox (who said "Mark Reynolds?!") and they threw the ball away allowing Reynolds to score.

Brantley is still crushing your face, tonight going 2 for 4 with a double and that stolen base. Ten hits in his last 6 games. Which I believe are 6 games since his dad visited him in the clubhouse. He must have scared something in to the boy!

That is it for today's game, though. Just those 4 hits from 3 dudes! Not sure what's up. I mean, the weather was bad but it didn't stop them last night and it didn't stop the Red Sox.

Tomorrow is I guess the rubber match, where Sunday might be uh...the extra match? We really need to win it because my friend is predicting a 1-5 road trip and to that I say NONSENSE! It'll be a 1:35 game and from what they're saying it will be raining still. Or maybe not - maybe that's why the game is re-scheduled for the afternoon? My schedule has it at 7:10. But it's definitely 1:35 now.

It'll be Kazmir versus LHP 3.15. Another guy with a name, who is known to be good, so surely we shall beat him senseless! Let's hope Kazmir is on board with all this.

I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"They didn't see Noah's Ark yet so they figured they could start the game."
- Tom Hamilton

"It's always a bad sign when you come to the ballpark and see a St. Bernard wrapped up in a blanket. And his flask is empty."
- Tom Hamilton on the weather

"All I can think of is Nick Nolte and Robert DiNero in Cape Fear. Aren't we near there?"
- Tom Hamilton on the weather

White Knuckles

Here's a song for you for today's game, to listen to during this post. Chicago's own Ok Go with "White Knuckles," which is totally how I was yesterday and today listening to the games! (If you haven't seen the video you'll want to watch it because...dogs)

Masterson was the starter today and I really look forward to his starts now, which is refreshing. I think we looked forward to them last season but in a more of a "maybe it'll be a good one today!" capacity unlike this year where we're just going to see what damage he will do this time!

He actually had a second shaky game but we'll just forget about that lack of decisiveness there and pretend that it was an easily-pitched 2-run game. He did only give up 2 earned runs, after all. He also went 7 innings! And he threw exactly 100 pitches! it definitely didn't feel as smooth as his complete game but the whole thing on paper is stunning. Five strikeouts too, by the way!

Before we saw Vinnie, Masterson had a crazy 7th. He hit a guy so that sucked. And then he walked a guy and that sucked. But that guy got picked off! And then the next guy hit in to a double play! Oooooooh...the Sox just crumbled around him!

Like a cookie!

Vinnie came in and it was ho-hum, classic Vinnie. 1-2-3 inning. Hooray for classic Vinnie!

Perez had a bit of a whacky inning - yes he contributed mightily to the white-knuckleness. He struck the first guy out, no prob. Tom Hamilton was mighty impressed. Then Connor Gallispe, who still is drinking our milkshake, singled. The next dude hit an omg-this-game-is-over near home run foul ball. But just a foul! The next pitch he popped up and was out. Then in a replay of last night, Perez got the final batter to ground out to third but this time Lonnie was there and he threw to Perez's new best friend Mark Reynolds at first. Ballgame!

The team didn't really do much in the hitting arena today, which is why it was a white-knuckler even though Masterson ultimately had it under control. We got 6 hits and 4 walks and only ONE extra-base hit!

Michael Brantley has a 3-game hitting streak (work with me, here) so I guess maybe he's settling in to the leadoff role now. He went 1 for 3 with a walk and came in to score a run.

Kipnis, who usually does awesome in Chicago, did not do awesome tonight. He didn't do anything.

Asdrubal, on the other hand - OMG! He got the winning RBI! RBIs! We were down 1 to 2 in the 8th and had 2 men in scoring position, thanks to Drew Stubbs being fancy-pants on the bases and getting the pitcher to throw the ball away on a pickoff attempt. There were 2 outs and Asdrubal was up. He's the guy you want up in this situation, right? Well like, you want the April 2012 version of Asdrubal up. And he showed up! He took the first pitch and booped it in to center field and our speedy outfielders speedied themselves home and those proved to be the winning runs! ¡Caliente!

Jason Giambi got a single, so that was weird.

Lonnie Chisenhall...is he breaking out? He does have 7 hits in his last 4 games, with 2 doubles and a homer in that time. His average has climbed almost 80 points in that time! He went 2 for 4 tonight - good things happen when Lonnie Hits!

Drew Stubbs also has a 4-game hitting streak and he's also becoming a difference-maker on this team. I've called him mediocre in the past but perhaps I mean more "solid" now. He's making plays in the outfield and is getting on base and now tonight he proved he can make stuff happen with the steal. He's only got 3 but - hey, he leads the team!

Speaking of Drew Stubbs...I totally was so excited about all the events of yesterday's game, and focused on "What would Shelley Duncan think?" that I forgot to add in the part where Drew Stubbs hit a home run in to some guy's box of popcorn and the Astros' outfielder got buttery shrapnel spewed upon him. Observe:

What's weird is there was no reaction from the outfielder concerning the popcorn. Imagine if you went to clean out your gutters and a box of popcorn exploded forth. Wouldn't you do more than turn around and slap your hands and say "Aww, shucks?" No, you'd probably go all "ACK!" and maybe fall off the ladder! Rick Ankiel was seriously, seriously focused on that ball. I wonder if he got back to his spot and was like "Why is there popcorn in my ear?"

So the Tribe eked it out today and Masterson got his 4th win and Vinnie got his 4th hold and Perez got his 3rd save and we're all happy happy happy! You'll see that Meryl Masterson is once again included in tonight's blog, as she helped bring us home a win the last 3 nights. She's doing such a fantastic job!

Hopefully tomorrow at 8:10 Zach McAllister will feel the Meryl Mystery and get himself a win too! He'll be facing LHP 2.55. Everyone will be well-rested at the plate for the game, and just hit the ball all over the place. Right?

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Lonnie Chisenhall hasn't gotten going yet but look out when he does."
- Tom Hamilton

"Right now for the Miami Marlins, they have hope. The hope is that they get a new owner."
- Tom Hamilton on the moving around of the Marlins

"I make enough mistakes without having to tip a few."
- Tom Hamilton on drinking with dinner

"He played here one year and the best news he ever got was that he was traded to the New York Yankees."
- Tom Hamilton on Nick Swisher

"Tyler Flowers runs like a dump truck so that's why Tekotte is in there."
- Tom Hamilton on the pinch runner for the hurt catcher in the 7th

Losing the Battle for the Bottom

It was a fun game and there were 3 extra innings, but the boys couldn't get it done and now we're tied for last place (or 4th place!) with the Twins.

I'm sick and I'm working late and I don't feel like doing this right now so here's the quickest of quick rundowns.

Huff started instead of Jeanmar. He only did marginally better than Jeanmar would have - 3 earned runs in 4 2/3.

After him, the relief started. And we broke some sort of franchise record by using 9 relievers. Kind of sucks that we had to dig that deep in September, against the other worst team in baseball, and still not win, but there you go. Seddon, Herrmann, Allen, Barnes, Pestano, Perez, Smith, Rogers, Maine. Only 7 strikeouts between all of them.

Kipnis and Santana had good nights, each going 2 for 6. Santana had a homer in the 12th and it was too little too late. It made the score 6-5 Minnesota. Tom Hamilton could not have been more unimpressed. It was crazy scary how he called that homer...like if I was his kid I would be hiding under the covers right now waiting for dad to get home and break all my toys.

The Chiz Kid had a big big homer in the 2nd. His 5th in 32 games. Puts him on pace for 25 this year! If he played 162, that is.

Russ Canzler has 15 hits in 15 games this year. Pretty neat.

Matt LaPorta. People get really mad at him. He did this last year too - happy, game-changing stuff followed by a game or two of huge disappointments from his glove or bat. From what they say though, no one is more upset by this trend than Matt LaPorta.

Tomorrow's game is at 7:05, and it's McAllister versus RHP (6.14). This cat has ZERO WINS and 7 losses. OMG we must be winning tomorrow's game!

Also - I am going to batting practice, for the 5th time now. Actually I have anticipated going to batting practice 4 other times, and shown up for batting practice one time, but every time it has been rained out or cancelled. So now I feel like I am a batting practice pro and I go all the time so really no big deal. Of course when I get ON the field I will be nearly peeing myself with anticipation. I'll take my camera, hopefully get some good pics. Also taking some baseball cards and pens. I'm not taking OMG ASDRUBAL that'd be weird.But I hope I meet him! Should I wear my Kipnis t-shirt? Hmm...

Ok everybody dream about sunny skies and my nose clearing up. Won't it be awesome if I give Russ Canzler a cold? Yeah.

Radio Chatter:
"If this was Broadway, his show could close after opening night if he keeps pitching like this."
- Tom Hamilton on PJ Walters

"And the Twins will get another pinch runner. Well, when you have eighty thousand players on the rosters, you can make any kind of move."
- Tom Hamilton

"This is where Carlos Santana needs to realize that less is more. You don't need a home run here, just a routine fly ball will end this game."
- Tom Hamilton

"If you made it to the 10th, first and third with nobody out, and didn't score - then frankly you don't deserve to win."
- Tom Hamilton is talking about the Tribe

"Boy that loss to the Indians on Sunday may haunt Detroit deep into the winter months."
- Tom Hamilton

"No team in the American League gives up more runs on 2 outs than the Cleveland Indians."
- Tom Hamilton

The Devil You Know

What is it that makes it seemingly so easy for the Indians to beat the Tigers this year? On paper they are very good. Their record agrees with the paper. We have losing streaks encompassing some of the worst teams in baseball this year but yet are 8 and 5 over the Tigers so far. Huh.

It's almost like they try that extra bit harder against Detroit, because the fans call for it. Just like the Browns and Steelers. I hope that's not true, though - because they need to be trying that extra bit harder EVERY DAY.

It does seem that they feel the most comfortable against the Tigers. The Tigers are the devil they know.

Corey Kluber got his first win today yay! He also had a quality start! He went 6 and only gave up 2 runs off 6 hits, with 4 strikeouts. He looked so sharp!

Cody Allen, Esmil Rogers and Vinnie Pestano were the lucky three tapped to hold the game. And they did! They gave up one walk and one hit between them. No runs! Only two strikeouts in their 3 innings but whatever. Vinnie was total closer material today, too. He only had a 1-run lead and he did what he usually does in the 8th, and shut them down.

The relievers had some key help from the defense today! Rogers and Pestano at least. Good stuff!

Sad Kipnis no more!

Since we actually had a chance to beat these Tigers (unlike the Rangers), Manny wasn't messing around with the lineup today. No n00bs, just Real Men today. Well and Russ Canzler who might as well be Travis Hafner.

Choo back at leadoff (they had Donald in there when Choo was sitting). He went 1 for 2 with THREE WALKS! Leadoff gold or what?? Thanks to being on base so much, he was able to come around to score one of our 3 runs. Oh and he stole a base too. Fighting!

Kipnis had a grrrrrreat day going 2 for 5 and scampering home on a passed ball to score our first run. And of course the aforementioned 150% effort play! He has hit in the last 3 games (all in September) and has 5 hits in 13 at-bats.

OMG ASDRUBAL!!! Ok not a home run but big big things today for him. He did not swing at crap, or when he did it was to stay alive and foul one off. Well his first at-bat he flew out on the third pitch but then he had a 12-pitch at-bat which resulted in a RBI single. Then his next at-bat he got 5 pitches and a single, then he waited another 5 pitches for a RBI sac fly. He went 2 for 3 today with 2 RBI! Not bad for a dude who hasn't had a hit since last TUESDAY.

Dr. Smooth was on duty, going 1 for 4 today. Canzler also went  1 for 4 so he's got 4 hits in his 12 at-bats as an Indian. Oddly enough, nobody hit for extra bases today. However, we had 4 stolen bases which was a season high for the team, effectively giving us 4 doubles, but leaving the pitcher more rattled. Ha!

Kotchman was the only guy who didn't get a hit today, which is a bummer because I really wanted to add to the collection and Kotchman is so sort-of reliable. Oh well.

Other than Choo it was Zeke, Lillibridge (PH for Hannahan in the 7th) and Sweet Lou who all had stolen bases to go with their singles. I like that Lillibridge, I do. He genuinely seems happy to be an Indian. And he seems way too scrawny to ever have been a Tiger. Just seeing him chatting with Miggy seemed awkward!

We won without Carlos Santana's hot bat. What do you think about that? I imagine he'll be in tomorrow with Lou sitting. Canzler seems to be keeping the heat up during his transition into the bigs. Although I guess it comes down to who catches Masterson better, Santana or Lou? If it's Lou we'll see Santana at first I'm sure.

Who cares - it's baseball and we looked good today and we could look good tomorrow too! It's Justin Masterson versus RHP (4.57). Masterson knows his place against the Tigers, and his place is to at least give us the Tigers this year. So I have a feeling he'll handle it with aplomb and we'll be left shaking our heads saying "Why can't he pitch like this every 5 days??"

Back to normal 7:05 - I'll see you there!

Oh no Radio Chatter today, like I said. I watched the game on TV without the radio as I watched my niece buzz around the house. Afterwards I did this:

Hope this makes up for it!

'Twas a Good Game

If you didn't tune in until the 4th inning, you wouldn't even have known that this game started off in a black hole of first-day jitters. Corey Kluber was hmm....he was miserable. And he made us all miserable. He probably made Josh Tomlin laugh, though.

The Royals, who are suddenly good (within the last 3 days) showed Kluber no mercy scoring 6 runs in the 1st. It started with a home run from the first batter then two singles and a stolen base. Then Kluber got 2 outs but could not get out of it without a walk, a single, a triple, a 3-run homer, another stolen base and a passed ball.

But after that - smooth sailing! Kluber actually struck out 2 guys in the first inning and went on to strike out 2 more and not walk any more in the total 4 1/3 innings he pitched. His start is not much different than Fausto's 2011 start - recall?

It took a village to finish the game, though, as we had to fill up 11 innings with arms. Sipp came in to finish the 5th and complete the 6th, striking out 2 and giving up no hits. His ERA is under 5 now!

Smith rocked the 7th with 1 hit and 1 strikeout, then The Original Vinnie was there for both the 8th and the 9th completely shutting the Royals down, because that's the sort of Vinnie he is. Esmil Rogers was tasked with finishing it off but he couldn't hold it long enough. He gave up a couple of hits in the 10th, and then a hit and a wild pitch and a walk in the 11 put a guy on 3rd for Perez, who gave up a hit and the game was over.

Naturally, Perez avoided both the blown save and the loss. I'm sure that's why he agreed to come in. Heyooo!

Anyway it was definitely lost by our pitchers because our batters came alive today. But all-in-all, excluding the first inning, we had a great game as a team!

But, it's a game of 9 innings - or more. We gotta take that first inning.

The top of our lineup was top-notch today EVEN WITHOUT KIPNIS. And when I say "even without Kipnis" I mean EVEN WITH LILLIBRIDGE! Seriously, 1 through 4 each went 2 for 5. Number 5 got a hit and 6 got 2. Between them they got 6 RBI to tie the game! And - get this! - they only had 4 LOB! WAHOO!

Choo started it off with a single out of the gate. Then he stole second after almost getting picked off first. So then he tried to grab third too and DENIED. You can only imagine the eye rolling by Tom Hamilton as Asdrubal got a single on the next pitch. Choo went on to get another single in the 3rd and come around to score.

Brent Lillibridge was in the 2-hole and you know what? He hasn't been too bad since he got here. He didn't do squat in his first 2 at-bats with us but in the last 3 games he's gone 4 for 12. That's .300. Way better than Johnny Damon was doing after his 5th game with us that's for sure. If Lillibridge can overcome his sub-.200 batting average by keeping up this page, it might be the pickup of the year! Today he went 2 for 5 and came in to score 2 runs. He did strike out twice but so did Choo...

Asdrubal has it turned back on. Six hits in his last 4 games, 2 of them coming tonight. He didn't get any RBI but he did score a run.

Carlos Santana is the name to remember for this week though - 10 hits in his last 10 games, and 10 RBI, 4 homers and 4 walks. Tonight he went 2 for 5 with 4 RBI including a 2-run homer. He also had the most amazing pre-game interview with Jim Rosenhaus. Santana had no idea what Rosie was asking and also had no idea how to express himself in English. But you should know that he is very happy to play and he is very excited to be at this position [catcher]. Whatever - you don't gotta speak the good English to hit like that!

Although to be honest his homer last night and the one tonight were less than spectacular. Both times the poor guy had to stop at second and wait for someone to tell him he could go home, he got a homer. That really will take the wind out of a guy's sails! He's sneaking up on the team home run ladder, though - tied for 3rd with Kipnis at 11. One more makes it a 3-way tie for first. Race, boys - race!

Cousin Michael was representin', cuz you can't really have a well-hit game without him. He went 1 for 4 with a double (him, Choo and KC's Alex Gordon lead the league), an RBI and a run. He's up to .288...think he'll crack .300? A few more points and he'll be the highest on the team. Of course, that is unless all the guys keep hitting like they were hitting tonight. Race some more!

Lopez was getting in on the act as well, going 2 for 4 with a walk. Unfortunately there was no one behind him to hit him in, and no one ahead of him that wasn't already hit in. But he did what he could!

Today was the debut of The Other Vinnie, Vinnie Rottino. He's up from the minors, via the Mets' minors, to fill in for Hafner who's on baby leave. Rottino actually did a thing today! He got an RBI on a sac fly! I thought maybe his average would be .000 but it's .162 - he comes to us with 33 at-bats with the Mets. So no fresh slate for us but at least we've got a guy who's been around a bit.

Speaking of Vinnie, The Original Vinnie had something to say on Twitter tonight:

"Never have I been more proud of my team, could have folded but came back and battled. No one is more aware about the past 6 than us

This isnt a test you can study for or a hobby it is and has been our lives, lives forged with blood, sweat and balls from young ages

Losing sucks and trying harder or wanting it more isnt the answer, sometimes you just cant find it and it takes hell to get it.

Believe it or not our clubhouse is more frustrated than anyone could possibly comprehend without being in it. Gonna quote a favorite of mine

“The night is always darkest just before the dawn.” Take it or leave it, love it or hate it, we battle for you everyday. "
- @VinneP52

And of course a tweet from a loving fan:

"@VinnieP52 you guys are sucking dick get off your twitters and start focusing on winning games man. Tell your owners that they suck too"
- @kidnamed_matty

Vinne's response:

"Even when you come to people in humility they still spit in your face, all it take is one…Peace"
- @VinneP52

Personally, I eat that kind of stuff up - what Vinnie said. As long as guys are playing their hardest, etc etc. I mean - yay! Baseball!  It just blows my mind that people can be all up in the jocks of our super-losing (but loveable) football team and at the same time "demand" something from our baseball team. This is Cleveland, baby - you get nothing!

I'm not sure how I feel about this new one from The Famous Mike Polk Jr. I agree with most of the stuff he says but the whole "we need a winning team in order to come see baseball." Well fuck off with that attitude. You know who packs them in every day? The Royals. The Cubs. The Twins. The Marlins. People need to fucking relax and learn how to enjoy baseball and not be so angry about the record. There is exciting stuff going on with this team almost every day. There are more hours of excitement in a Tribe season than there are minutes existing in a Browns season. No more whining! NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!

Anyway, we've got a good jump on what could be a really great weekend. Our guys love to play and beat these Tigers! They're in it mentally again and they know where to put the bats (HA!) After they roll over Detroit this weekend I hope they come home to a hero's welcome!

Tomorrow is Masterson versus RHP with a high ERA. Masterson may have bombed his last start but he knows how to pitch the Tigers. So be looking for that.

I unfortunately will have to meet you later as I'm going to a show at the HOB but I'll be thinking of you and wishing I were listening along. So albeit late - I will see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"If you don't know the meaning of deja vu, look it up. This is it."
- Tom Hamilton on the bad first inning

"The world lost a pharmacist but gained a major league baseball player."
- Tom Hamilton on Vinnie Rattino

"I'm not trying to be Polyanna here, but you really get the feeling that the Indians are going to make a game of it here."
- Tom Hamilton in the 3rd

"Lopez swings and misses as he tries to hit it to the Harry S. Truman Memorial Library."
- Tom Hamilton

"This is like looking at a NASCAR vehicle."
- Tom Hamilton on the wall at Kauffman Stadium

"The good news is Choo does not play badminton. Why that's an Olympic sport, I do not know."
"Has something to do with picnics doesn't it?"
"If you're bored."
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus need to reel it in

A Special Batting Practice

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chris Perez trade rumor as well. NO.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Too Hard

Jesus, that win was too hard to come by! The way ZacMac pitched and our guys getting on base 16 times it shoulda been cake. There shouldn't have been a scramble to get relievers working and a nail-biting 9th inning. Also shouldn't have been a three-and-a-half-hour game but there it was.

At least it was a win!

Zach McAllister was aces tonight. ACES! You can't go wrong with strong starting pitching, and we've seen a good bit of that lately (Ubaldo nonwithstanding). McAllister went 6 giving up only 3 hits and striking out 5. Just one earned run! He got his 4th win and is now 4-1. Awesome call-up - sorry Jeanmar!

Esmil Rogers, with eyes as wide as saucers, was brought in for the 7th and promptly gave up a homer. Oops! He walked one and then had to be saved by Sipp, who couldn't get the third out, so they both had to be saved by Vinnie. Who rocks your socks and not only finished the 7th but came in for his classic 8th-inning hold.

Perez was not about to let one go, and came in to throw 94 MPH fastballs and 84 MPH sliders. Which one would it be which one would it be? OOOOH sorry you guessed wrong! Yer out! He put his guys down 1-2-3, striking out two and gaining his 26th save. PARTY AT SENOR PURE RAGE'S TONIGHT! (Perez is from the Tampa area and I suspect his dad still lives there.)

CHOOOOOOOOOOOOO had a great night tonight, going 2 for 4 with 2 doubles. One double - the lead off hit in the first - was actually a home run or a triple but it ended up being called a ground rule double. Lame! But he stole 3rd then came down to score on a wild pitch. HA!

Man, I am not going to be so invested in one player anymore. Such soul crushing sadness when your main guy does shit like strike out 4 times in one game and leave 7 on base. Like, I think I have to re-evaluate my life now. What am I doing? How did I get here? Should I invest in new foam board and markers? Because my blue marker broke, you know. So if I'm going to make a new sign it's either got to be non-Tribe colors or I'm going to have to make an investment in another marker.

Life is hard here in Asdrubalville.

But, the JK Kid had a little resurgence tonight, going 2 for 3 with a walk and a RBI. His two hits were doubles as well!

Choo has now 10 stolen bases and 29 doubles, and Kipnis has 10 doubles and 20 stolen bases. Doesn't it seem like Choo should have more stolen bases and Kipnis more doubles? I keep thinking this and they keep having the wrong stats.

Michael Brantley is back to 0 game hitting streak. I thought he might pull it out by walking all FOUR times he was up to bat but no luck. He actually struck out once. Doesn't matter though - going 0 for 1 keeps him up over .300 with .301! Woohoo! He's also hitting cleanup now which is smartness for Acta. There's no rule that says your DH or your top home run guy needs to be 4th! Put in the guy that is hitting!

I kept waiting for ol' Lopez to do something amazing tonight, being that he was up 4 times with 6 guys on base. Nothing. Hafner at least walked twice! But otherwise, nothing from him too. And Kotchman. I thought we could always count on Kotchman? (Well, 23.5% of the time)

Carlos Santana got a hit! But he still NEEDS multi-hit games. We can't do it without that. HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL HIM?!

Johnny Damon, native Floridian, best season of his life 2011 with the Rays, 2 for 3, yadda yadda.

Hey Jack Hannahan! He came in to bat for Damon in the 9th and got a hit! Good on ya!

Not a very exciting performance overall for our boys. Much better in the pitching department than hitting. Manny is tinkering with the lineup a bit, and I trust him to come upon something miraculous to follow up the invention of Choo Leads Off. Brantley Cleanup shows promise but I also like the idea of Shelley Every Day.

Maybe we'll get a taste of Lou tomorrow so he can continue his little hitting streak. Tomorrow it's Tomlin versus a dude we dominated last time around. Both guys have similar stats but if our guys are batting with their thinking caps on they've got a chance to crack him again.

Another 7:10 start - let's hope they get their sea legs by then. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"We want to thank Bartley for being a long-time listener and thank you for sharing that information..."
- Tom Hamilton joking on Bart Swain sending him trivia about having all the teams in the AL over .500 (except Kansas)

"I guess Bobby Valentine is never going to learn to shut his mouth."
- Tom Hamilton on Youk returning to Boston this week

"He completely surprised his first baseman Pena."
- Tom Hamilton on Farnsworth's unexpected (and missed) throw to first in the 6th

"Cabrera has left a small village on base."
- Tom Hamilton

"What the Indians want is a legitimate middle-of-the-order hitter. But I am still waiting for that pony I asked for when I was five years old."
- Tom Hamilton

B-Squad Beauty

Man, I knew today was going to be an awesome game! Just about as much baseball as we had in Saturday and Sunday's games but with our team coming out ahead. Thirteen runs, 21 hits, and guess what? Only 4 of those hits were for extra bases. Wow!

Our B-Squad was out in full force today. Hannahan is out for real now, and it's not his back. So they brought up Lonnie Chisenhall to fill the gap (because Jason Donald is not so good). So once they came to their senses and took Damon out, we only had 4 "original" players in the lineup. In fact, it went so far as to have our C-Squad catcher start today.

But it wasn't bad at all! In fast,  thanks to Aaron Cunningham coming in for Johnny Damon, Everybody Hits today!

Josh Tomlin was back for the first time in 3 weeks and he didn't miss one beat. In three of his six starts, he had given up 4 earned runs (and fewer in the other 3). How many did he give up today? 4. He struck out an average of 4.5 per game in his first six starts. How many did he strike out today? 4. He walked 2 guys in each of his last 3 starts. How many did he walk today? 2. Little guy is totally predictable and compared to some of our other starters, that's a welcome trait!

The bullpen was on it today, too. We were treated to the full "A-Squad" there - Hagadone, Smith, Pestano, Perez. They took care of the final 4 innings for Josh and struck out 4. They did give up 3 hits and 1 run but whatever. Our bats had it goin on.

Perez, who had 25k on their feet today, got so excited he almost did a faceplant to go along with his inverted fist pump. Says @ChrisPerez54 "Word is they caught that sniper that tried to take me out...Great win today..Our offense was great." His alter ego, @PureRage_Perez said "Good thing no one got in the way of that fist pump. Would have caused decapitation."

Perez also said in an after-game interview "With all that crap I've been talking I've got to back it up." Yeah buddy!

So who was in our lineup today? CHOOOO was in our lineup today! Leading the charge of the youngsters by going 1 for 4 with a walk, and of course scoring a run.

Cousin Michael Brantley is now in the 2-spot and he's got a 7-game hitting streak. Did you notice? I'd give him 7 smileys for that but that's pretty lame even for me. We'll give him one and make it out of a seven. :-7 Anyway, he went 1 for 3 with a walk and TWO runs. And a stolen base. And an RBI. This is the Michael Brantley I was looking forward to seeing this year. If he needs to be hidden in the 2-spot to get it done then good, let's put him there.

Shining in the 3-spot is Jason Kipnis who cannot be stopped! Except for when he was stopped last week but now he cannot be stopped! He went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs and a stolen base. Did you realize he leads the team in steals? You'd think it'd be Brantley (8) or Choo (7). Nope, it's Kipnis - who even after a little slump (more like a dip) is also leading in hits, runs, homers and RBI. He's also second to Asdrubal in average and if he keeps it up he'll be over .300 by the end of the week, too. I am fully prepared to worship this man this summer. I might even treat myself to a "We Are All Kipnises" t-shirt. Can we work on the Katniss meme a bit too? No?

Lopez was hitting cleanup today. He was in for Hannahan, who came back for a game, so they moved Lopez to DH. But then Hannahan actually did hurt himself (calf) so Lopez is back at 3rd. Clearly not Supermanahan on the field but passable, but he is excelling at the plate. He's got 11 hits in his last 10 games and went 2 for 4 today! Those 2 hits yielded 3 RBI, even! He did make a baserunning blunder, again, I guess. He tried to extend a hit to a double after hitting it to Alex Gordon, which you don't really do. He's (Gordon) like Choo in that regard. But he did get a RBI before getting out. Then later on he got to first on an error and a run scored so it's all good in the hood for LOPEZ!

Kotchman, who hits fifth, is the only other original or "A-Squad" guy in the final lineup today. And, being that he's old reliable Casey Kotchman, he got a hit today and went 1 for 4. He even went so far as to give us an RBI!

And that is all for guys with major league careers. But even then, heck - Hammy pointed out today that Kipnis doesn't even have 90 MLB games (84) under his belt!

Oh yeah there was Johnny Damon but cooler heads prevailed and Aaron Cunningham with his 40-points-higher .192 average came in to bat in the 7th and got a single.

Batting 7th was your favorite and mine - Lonnie Chisenhall! Chosen-hall? Chisen-halelujah? Chisen-hell-yeah? Three pitches in to his first at-bat and he hits a homer!!!! How cool is that? I actually had been listening to the game with a house full of people and everyone but me stepped outside the moment that it happened. I thought maybe I had imagined it, so I had to text my friend to confirmed. He said it was cool and he was "really pumped" to hear Chisenhall was in the lineup. Yeah me too! He's hitting .324 in the minors and doesn't have any "never been in the Bigs  before" hurdles to get over so let's hope he's IN!

Luke Carlin is our 3rd string catcher. I was really interested in what this guy was all about. Records say he's 31 and has been in the minors since 2002. He has always been with Cleveland and even did a few (6) games with us in 2010. He's also got a mohawk brewin':

Well so far since coming in to last night's game he's gone 3 for 6, or 2 for 4 today, with a run. Better than Lou? Well I don't know about that just yet. Acta says Sweet Lou is back tomorrow - he had to get stitches in his mouth (!!!) after being hit yesterday. But I bet we see some more Luke this summer!

Rounding out the 9 today was Juan Diaz at short. He's no Asdrubal but he's not a complete disappointment like maybe some other acquisitions made this year have been. Diaz was not an acquisition this year but you know what I mean. He in fact came from AA Akron just to cover for Asdrubal! What an honor. He wasn't even hitting that well in Akron, just .232. I wonder who our SS is in Colum...Oh, Jason Donald. Ok.

So I wonder how long these Wunderkinds can keep it up? It's been a fun few games with them doing a great job keeping our minds off the loss of Hafner, Cabrera, Santana and Hannahan. I was pretty spot-on when I mused to my friends last Wednesday at the Tigers' game before Johnny Damon popped out that "there are a hundred kids in the minors right now who could get a hit in this situation but we have to put up with Johnny Damon." How is it, though, that we have 5 kids from the minors - one from AA ball even - actively playing on our team and scoring runs, and we still have Johnny Damon?

I should start a second blog for those thoughts. The Frustrated Tribe.

Anyway, tomorrow is going to be even more awesome because it's Masterson versus some kid making his second start with an ERA of over 13. Everyone that is left is loose and having fun, just getting around the bases and making runs out of whatever they can.

It's a 7:05 start. Can't wait! See you there!

PS: Hope you all did some memorializing on this Memorial Day. Don't forget - 

Radio Chatter:

"So much for pressing. He may have been in spring training, but he looked pretty relaxed right there."
- Tom Hamilton on Lonnie Chisenhall's homer

"Tom Hamilton with the South Pole Elf on this Memorial Day. He's an angry elf."
- Tom Hamilton is making fun of Jim Rosenhaus for some untold reason

"I wonder if the first thing ownership said to Jack Zduriencik is 'Never make another trade with the Cleveland Indians.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the acquisition of Juan Diaz and Ezequiel Carerra from Seattle

"He was not a free agent per se, but the Twins said 'You are now!'"
- Tom Hamilton on Minnesota getting rid of Jose Mijares

"Perez is a strike-throwing machine. It seems like he's never pitching from behing the batter."
- Tom Hamilton

The Justin Is Dead Long Live The Justin!

Ack, what a GAME!! Am I right, boffins? Seriously after getting to bed late last night due to my $5 Pepsi Max and a whole box of late-inning energy and then balancing a nail-biter with actual work at work, I'm about ready for a nap. You too, I bet.

I'll be the first one to admit that I was not confident in our ability to win today. However I was much more confident seeing what we managed to do against Fister. Our hitting was meager but meaningful and our pitching was top-notch. I went from giving them a 40% shot of winning to a 60% chance after last night.

The key of course was Masterson. He's been up and down this year. One run, 6 runs, 2 runs, 8 runs. What was he going to do today, the most important day? Because today was the day we needed a guy to pitch like Derek Lowe, except it couldn't be Derek Lowe.

He did it. He gave us 7 innings with 5 hits and only 1 run. He walked 5 but he struck out 4. He almost made it look easy, I dare say. He had all his stuff with him today, combining with Verlander to make the game just 2 hours 21 minutes. Masterson also did this weird-ass move which resulted in a missed balk call and both the Detroit manager and a coach getting tossed. Ha ha!

Verlander didn't need help from his bullpen, but we had Vinnie and Perez so why not use them? Joe Smith really really wanted to come in but he tried to come before he was invited and had to scurry back to the pen. Pestano handled his old friend Young, Boesch and Avila then Pure Rage got Jhonny, Berry and Dirks for his 16th save and 3rd in 3 days!

The other key to the game was Choo, who after going hitless last night and ending his streak at  9 came in and smacked a homer off Verlander on the 3rd pitch of the game. That was an apology home run, I think. It was 1 of the 2 runs we needed to complete the sweep and it couldn't have come from a better source! He also walked because apparently he is not intimidated by Verlander.

Big smiles today for Michael Brantley who was also not intimidated by Verlander. He went 2 for 3 and stole second, coming around to score the winning run all the way back in the 4th.

The big RBI hitter was none other than LOPEZ! who was also making amends for last night when he got caught stealing (or sleeping) at a crucial point in the game. Not only did Lopez drop one into right field to score Brantley from second, but he also saved us a run by making a good play at the plate. After last night's game and today's game I have decided that the play at the plate is my favorite play of all time! Well other than a in-the-park home run. Is that a play?

Let us not discount hit-getters Kotchman and Marson. Both went 1 for 3. Marson is now hitting an even .100! He's gotten 3 hits this year and 1/3 of them have been of Justin Verlander. Yes!!

Yes!!

No one else hit today and we only got 1 walk. But we only got 1 less hit than last night against someone who isn't Verlander. Total awesome success - Choo homer, Masterson low-scoring win, beat Verlander, beat Tigers, sweep Tigers, 16th save for Perez.

Can't wait for us to take all this and roll over the White Sox, widening our lead atop the Central. There's still more than 24 hours to go, the game is at 8:10.

This has definitely been 3 days of fantastic baseball, I hope you all got to experience it. I'll see you tomorrow!!

Radio Chatter:
"There doesn't seem to be a question of 'Will he get a third no-hitter?' but 'When will it come?'"
- Tom Hamilton on Justin Verlander

"They're not up there because they're left-handers, they're up there because they're going to mash it."
- Tom Hamilton on Detroit's big hitters

"'It's not how good you hit your good shots, it's how good you hit your bad shots.' If this is a bad outing, that shows just how great Justin Verlander is."
- Tom Hamilton

"Verlander right now has that mindset 'You will not touch the baseball.'"
- Tom Hamilton

Pronknasty

Man oh man, what a night. It was one of those nights that things kept going from bad to worse. Later getting out of work than I wanted. Later getting on the road than I wanted. Got nervous about standing in line to redeem my stupid "Perfect 10" vouchers at the ticket office so I thought "I'll stop at the Beachwood Place Indians Team Shop to get my tickets." Except that doesn't exist. I didn't realize until I sat in traffic trying to get off on Cedar. Then it took forever to get to my friend's place on Coventry. Then our other friend was 15 minutes late. Then I kept getting stuck in traffic and couldn't park in my good garage and had to go to another garage for more money, further away. Then we got to the park and stood in line for a half hour and missed the first 4 innings. Then the lines for food were unbelievably crazy, so I went hungry until I paid $10 for a stupid bottle of pop and peanuts. Then a bird pooped on my shirt, my hat, my sign. Then the kids next to us were obnoxious and threw a hot dog at someone.

But by the end of the 6th inning I was fine. A beautiful Pronk homer. Then three innings of amazing pitching and fan supporting, then cap it off with another warm welcome for Perez and by the time I got to the car I could care less that I was starving, had to pee and had a half hour wait to get out of that expensive garage.

It was kind of like going to church, you know? That's the point of both - to uplift. I think even if we'd lost I'd have come out the other end OK.

Also, those obnoxious kids next to us didn't fuck with me. I dunno if they respected someone with a sign, or someone with a swell hat, or someone that looks like they could have pounded them into oblivion. But they had a nice time sort of heckling other folks around us and the usher, but not me. Word.

I'll admit I was pretty worried about facing Doug Fister, and wasn't sure what to expect from McAllister. I was blown away by him in his first start but his second and third starts yielded more runs. We all knew that we couldn't be giving up runs against Fister.

But McAllister didn't disappoint! He matched Fister on innings (6), strikeouts (3) and earned runs (2). He gave up more hits (8 to Fister's 5) but didn't walk ANYONE. He was going in there and pitching at everyone, man.

Nick Hagadone came in to finish the 7th for McAllister, and he got the bases loaded with the game tied and Miguel Cabrera up next. Eep! Not what we expect from New Nick but before he could give up a (rare) run, Joe Smith came in and took care of Miggy with a groundout. Crowd = wild.

Next inning was started by Sipp versus Fielder and Fielder got on with an error. Sipp was pulled right away - Acta was in full-on chess mode. In came VinneP52 who gave up two singles to load the bases. Game still tied. Crowd going bananas. Strikes out Peralta. Now coconuts. Infield dribbler, throw home for an out - best defensive play of the year. Pooping pineapples. Strikes out All-Star catcher pinch hitter Alex Avila on a 3-2 fastball. We were full-on piña colada by then.

Chris Perez came in for the 9th. Someone had a "HEY CP WE ARE HERE" bedsheet banner in the upper deck. Wild crazy applause for 21 pitches, which fueled Pure Rage to strike out two and cap it off with a pop-out to big Miggy.

Awesome, awesome, awesome!

And that was just the pitching!

Choo ended his streak at 9. Oh well, he'll be back tomorrow. I'm sure no one is more disappointed than Choo himself! No chance to steal or anything.

Finally awake tonight was good ol' Jason Kipnis. The JK Kid leads the team in runs, home runs (tied) and RBI. Where you been, bro? We are back to being Kipnisses! Tonight he went 3 for 4 and scored 2 runs. One of those runs was on Hafner's homer, the other was him basically stealing home on a dribbler to the right of the mound, and getting in safely thanks to a craptacular throw by Prince Fielder. Someone called Fielder "Fatty McButterpants" on Twitter or something. I'm a fatty myself and not a fan of the fat-hate but damn...LULZ!

I dragged my OMG ASDRUBAL!!! sign around all over the place tonight and was rewarded with two chances to use it. One for defense and one for an amazing double in the 9th that got Kipnis to 3rd from where he eventually scored. I also rocked the sign when Asdrubal came down to score next on a sac fly from Santana. And I rocked it so my friends could keep me in their sight on the way out.

It may be time for a new sign, tho - this one is bird pooped. Grr...

Did you know that "Pronknasty" is a word? I was alerted to this by the scoreboard. I guess it shows that I've either been ignoring Twitter or not going to games because I'd not heard it. But the scoreboard applied it to Hafner's RBI dribbler. They did not apply it to his homer in the 6th, however. They called that a Tribe Tater. Seriously...it was brought to you by Mr. Potato Head.

I can run with Pronknasty tho. It's "all over" Twitter if you Google it. You should Google it more, and come here.

Brantley got a nice double, and ODDLY nothing came of it. I say ODDLY because we only had 4 LOB today. I'm going to make the call and say that's the lowest LOB ratio we've had all season. Giving Cousin Michael a smiley for that double, by the way.  :)

Jose Lopez (LOPEZ!) is still tearin' it up, extending his hitting streak to 9. He's batting .283 now. I guess Hannahan was ok to play but not to start. I wonder how long we'll have the Lopez? He proved to be fallible today on the bases - getting caught sleeping at first and making a critical out. We'll blame it on over-excitement, and request that he never do that again.

Shelley Duncan came in for Pronk in the 8th. I guess he sort of hurt his leg on his first at-bat. Shelley got caught stealing and I don't know why. Perhaps he thought that since he was brought in to pinch run that suddenly that meant he was a good runner. Considering they didn't bring Donald in I'm guessing they had other plans for Shelley. Plans that didn't include stealing a base.

I am going to take a second to bitch about the Perfect 10 Voucher Pack. I bought 20 of them for the bleachers, for $198. Swell idea and possibly might maybe save me some money if I get sat in some $12 bleacher seats or go to a game where bleacher seats cost more than $10. I'm not pissed that we got bumped from the bleachers and put in the upper deck, because I like the upper deck and we got very nice seats. The thing that sucks about these vouchers is that they're vouchers. I know - duh. That's what they're called. But the sales people get you so psyched up about them that you forget that in exchange for not paying the $5 "printing fee" for tickets online, you have to stand in line to redeem your vouchers. Yes you can redeem them any time before the game at a Team Shop but who the fuck lives near a Team Shop? There ain't one between here and East 9th.

So if you have these vouchers you need to get there early, don't go on a Dollar Dog Night, and don't go when we're playing the Tigers, Yankees or Red Sox. Also go down to the 12 ticket windows past Gate A, that's the quickest line.

Ok end of rant. I've got 16 tickets left. Who wants to go?!

Tomorrow is [scary music]Verlander[/scary music] versus Masterson. What do you think? Is momentum real? Will they let Damon "rest his legs" so Shelley "Two Homers Off Verlander" Duncan can play? The stats say we don't do too well in day games but that includes all those miserable Sundays. Here's a stat: 16 homers in night games, 19 in day games. I just looked up the 2011 Indians stats vs. Verlander...

Noon game tomorrow! Need to CHEER CHEER CHEER! See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"If you're Fielder and you're getting paid 30 million dollars a year, you'd better get that runner to third base somehow."
- Mike Hegan

"In Santana's defence, you can't be pitched to any better than that."
- Mike Hegan on Santana's strikeout

"We drove all the way from Hilton Head just to get a dollar dog. With gas prices today that's about a $120 hot dog."
- Mike Hegan

"Remember when we were talking about that 20-second radio delay? I think we would have needed it to play some of McClendon's conversation."
- Jim Rosenhaus on the ejection of the Tigers' batting coach

"Come on, this might be your only game this year. Get on that soapbox!"
- Jim Rosenhaus urges Mike Hegan to go off about bunting, for old time's sake

Masterson of the Universe

So that game was double the fun, huh? It was two games - the one where Masterson pitched a spectacular 8 innings and was bolstered by 4 runs....and then the other one.

But wow, Justin Masterson! Eight innings, 10 strikeouts, 1 walk, 2 assists and only one earned run. And that was a homer to Jose Bautista who is going to hit a homer off you no matter who you are.

Masterson had a shaky spring (9.something ERA I think) but it just goes to show that you don't listen to the spring stats because they are not real. Whatever little bugs and cobwebs he was getting rid of while he was giving up runs this spring sure did the trick. Dude is now once again our MAN!

Also looking good in that first game were some guys we weren't sure of. First and foremost was Hannahan. Clearly he's the vacuum we want at third but can he hit? Three-run homer says yes. Also, is Michael Brantley back? He got one of tonight's hits so I says yes.

What about Casey Kotchman? (The guy I was about to call "the old man" but uhm he is 4 years younger than me) He did a smidge of situational hitting and got himself an RBI out. But more importantly he was a breath of fresh air for us at first base. He's definitely the guy we signed up for.

Shout out to Shelley Duncan who got a hit and was taken out of the game for Cunningham (who then made some nice and important plays out in left), but now Duncan is hitting .500.

Kipnis did not suck at second. Asdrubal had a couple of "wowzers" today. Watching Hannahan throw to Kotchman is like a thing of beauty. Totally excited for this infield. The weak spot is of course second base but since we got rid of Brandon Phillips all those years ago I think it is our burden to bear. That fella Jose Lopez seems sort of interchangeable with Kipnis at the moment so I hope they give him a go sometime.

Shin-Soo Choo almost got into a fight, which was awesome. It reminds me of the one and only time I saw a live hockey game and Brett Hull of all people started a fight. It was my lucky day! Neither of those fellas are known for their short tempers but GODDAMN DON'T THROW AT MY HEAD! Choo looked a little extra riled up today, running a few times when he shouldn't have. Hopefully he harnesses that energy into some crazy batting and throwing power and leaves the angry at the weight bench. Fighting!

How about that BULLPEN?! Other than that poor soul who now has a 40.5 ERA, and the new guy who got stretched too long at the end, everyone looked dynamite for 6 innings.  They got 6 strikeouts and didn't give up any runs until the unfortunate end. Pestano looked SUPER impressive and Tony Sipp, who faltered at the end of last season, was seriously back on track. Smith worked himself out of some jams and that new fella Jairo Asencio (if that's his real name!) was really not bad at all. A nice addition to the #BullpenMafia I say.

So I'm sure plenty of folks will find a lot to complain about but really, what's there to complain about? Ok maybe a lack of hitting but otherwise what's there to complain about? All right maybe our closer lost his shit but what else is there to complain about? NOTHING! Amazing starting pitching, great bullpen comeback and 2 extra hours of baseball. HURRAY!!

Oh and Jose Valverde, the AL's other awesome closer? He blew a save today too for the first time since 2010. It's not just us!

I will say that I'm glad we have a day off tomorrow to recuperate. All the excitement of opening day PLUS the excitement of 16 innings is just way too much for anyone to handle. Our boys need rest and so do I. So we'll see you Saturday afternoon at 1:05!

Radio Chatter:
"Some fan tried to catch that ball and it landed on his forehead."
"Fans don't have spring training time to get ready."
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus

"Boy if the Indians win and the Tigers lose, the Indians' magic number is..."
"I didn't want to go there but you went there!"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus

"That was Justin Masterson showing the Indians hitters 'I don't know if it was intentional or not, but I'm here to protect you.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"That's how you know it's the Marlins. Do you think Major League Baseball would ever have the Yankees have that schedule?"
- Tom Hamilton on Miami's night game in Miami followed by a day game in Cincinnatti

"I don't think you've ever seen any big-boned yoga instructors."
- Tom Hamilton

Big Big Win!

Ok so we're 1.5 out and now Chicago is 4 out. That's PRETTY COOL, right?!

It's getting pretty intense, tho. Instead of every game being "whee, baseball!" now I'm like "whee baseball and we gotta win!" I almost feel like canceling plans for tomorrow so I can listen to the game that could possibly put us .5 out of first place but really...that would be absurd. I've cleared my calendar for the 2 after that tho, duh.

Anyway - see how it gets with a pennant race? Always looking forward and worrying about the next game. Tragic! What about tonight's game?

Tonight's game was all Masterson! He gave up his 6th home run of the year but it was just a solo shot, and one other run on just 7 hits. Dude finally got his 10th win...sometimes it felt like that would NEVER come. His ERA is 2.71, and that's 4th in the league. NOT BAD, NASTY!

He went 6 innings and then our very awesome lineup of Raffy, Smith, Pestano and Chris Perez came in and were ice cold. Especially Vinnie who struggled and ended up striking out 2, and Chris who got back to shutting them the fuck down with a 1-2-3 9th.

Not everyone hit tonight, and it wasn't close or amazing like I thought it would be. Well 2 guys didn't hit, Hafner and Donald.  Donald came in almost literally in the last minute to replace the scheduled Kipnis. The good news about Kipnis is that it wasn't his oblique injury that sat him down, it was tightness in the hamstring. Anyway, Donald didn't get a hit but hey at least he was there to fill the gap!

...I was just informed that Kipnis is now on the DL. So even tho his hamstring does hurt, so does his oblique. Someone get that kid a banana!

Godspeed, Jason Donald.

Brantley got a double but it didn't go anywhere, and Asdrubal has an 8-game hitting streak! He also walked in a run today which is unusual for a guy who's such a big hitter but he showed some restraint and didn't strike out in the 6th with the bases loaded and the pitcher bouncing the balls to the plate.

Fukudome and Choo are heating up lately, which is great because it took a while for Fukudome to come around and with Choo, it's always iffy when a guy comes off the DL. They combined for the go-ahead run in the 6th when Choo singled and then Fukudome tripled (!) and Choo had a really pro-looking slide at the plate. I mean he didn't stick the landing but to me that just looked like a really effective baseball slide.

LaPorta went deep with a 2-run dinger, what do you think about that? He's only got 10 home runs but it seems like he has more because they all seem to come at an important time or something. Ugh do I have to get out my green visor and magnifying glass?

Ok.

I did some research. LaPorta's homers haven't been that big, score-wise. Just that last one that 3-run walkoff won us the game in KC. And tonight!

LaPorta can stay on my good side. I'm sort of not concerned about him either way. I want him to do well and be a good player for us but I also want him to do well so he can be someone we could trade maybe.

OMG I just read that Valbuena is coming in to replace Kipnis. NOOOOOOOOOO!!! I hope they mean replace him as a bench warmer.

Big big series coming up. Three against the Tigers. But guess what?! NO VERLANDER! It'll be like butter, I swear.

Like I said I'll be gone Friday night but don't be surprised if I come home late at night and listen to the game and regale you with my thoughts afterward.

We won the last 2 series and the team is just primed and ready to win the next. See you when I see you!

PS Scott totally linked to this story yesterday in comments, about Jack Hannahan getting home for his son's birth with the help of the team. You might not have seen it tho. I heard the story the night before, at this link provided by my brother. Totally forgot to share it. Bollocks!

Radio Chatter:
"Prohibition was more popular than Adam Dunn, here in Chicago."
- Tom Hamilton

"Ohman last worked in Tuesday night's game, which really is no big deal because everybody did."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"It's not like they're tearing the cover off the ball, but they've got a 2-run lead."
- Tom Hamilton

"Did you ever think we'd be sitting here today saying 'If Ubaldo Jiminez can throw as well as Masterson, the Indians would be in great shape'?"
- Tom Hamilton

"These days it's not a good idea to go to Chris Perez and say 'Hey how about that Hurricanes football program?'"
- Tom Hamilton

Who's These Wahoos?

Not my Wahoos, that's for sure.

No-hit today. For the first time since Jim Abbot in 1993. Dude no-hit Michael Brantley and Asdrubal Cabrera and Travis Hafner. Unreal!

Also unreal is that there were 5 errors. By 5 different guys! INCLUDING ASDRUBAL!!

I guess that is good for David Huff, who ended up only giving up 1 earned run, keeping his ERA at .71 (for 2 games). That's exactly what we wanted from him, too.

Joe Smith came in and did his stuff, and then Pestano came in and struck out the side! That was pretty awesome to hear, in this otherwise-blah-of-a-game.

Even Chris Perez, who by last night I was totally jonesin' for, sucked a little bit and gave up a run. That's not what we need you to do, dude.

Overall, great pitching in this series, especially from starters. We were outscored only 7-5 over 3 games.

All that nice stuff I said about the defense last night was out the window today. Not sure how the guys are going from bad to good to bad again. We have outfielders in the outfield and everything!

Zeke looked pretty cool today, scurrying around the bases and scoring our only run. Yeah, we scored a run in a no-hitter! So...it's nice to know we can do stuff like that.

Here's a little trivia for you, that Tom Hamilton keeps trotting out: Ervin Santana (the guy who pitched a no-hitter today) had his major-league debut in Progressive Field 6 years ago. The first 4 batters hit for the cycle (a triple, double, single and homer between them).

No baseball tonight, natch, and then we're totally off tomorrow. There's no baseball until Friday and I have a thing to do Friday night so I will be late with my post, if I manage to live that long without baseball!

In the meantime keep an eye out for trade news. We passed up on Beltran today, which I was relieved to hear when I heard that we offered money and "a substantial player." I do not want to lose any substantial players (ok MAYBE...Santana?)

If anyone asks you how to pronounce our shortstop's name between now and Sunday at 4, run the other way! They can't take him if they don't know his name...

See you Friday night!

Radio Chatter:
"Basically the Indians have now bought Verizon Wireless, to save on the cell phone bill."
- Tom Hamilton on all of the phone work for trading

"The Indians still don't have a hit, folks. We're in the 6th inning."
- Tom Hamilton

"Welp, why should today be any different? The first two games have gone right down to the ninth inning. Looks like we're going that way again."
- Tom Hamilton

"It's getting harder and harder not to have Lou Marson catching."
- Tom Hamilton

Columbus Clutch

Ah, missed another compelling game but I didn't miss it as much as I loved seeing "Joe Jack Talcum of the Dead Milkmen" at the Beachland! Besides, if I didn't have a Tribe game to listen to in the morning, I probably would have had a much harder time getting out of bed.

Nice work from Good Fausto here, I mean real nice, especially since that's two games in a row in which he didn't suck. Not only did he not suck but he beat out Dan Haren by not giving up any runs. Yes, he had 7 fewer strikeouts than Haren (3) and went an inning-and-a-third less but dammit - he made it through both the 2nd and 5th innings un-scathed and that is LEGEND...ARY for Fausto!

Joe Smith - lights fucking out. Still with that ERA above 1, but slowly chipping away!

Not sure how it is that Vinnie Pestano gave up a 2-run homer but things happen. I do want you to see his MLB.com homepage picture. Derrr....

Our man Tony Sipp, tho, was lights-fucking-out just like his pal there. So that works.

Not much going on hit-wise today for the boys, as suspected when facing Dan Haren. I was visibly stoked (yeah, visibly - I was hopping up and down in the drivers' seat of my car) when Brantley managed to get a hit and then Asdrubal knocked him in in the first inning. GREAT to get up a run on these guys so early!

Absolutely nothing happened offense-wise for the next 7 innings, which is why that first run was so big.

Defensively, though, there was a big turnaround from last week! Brantley with an outfield assist, Zeke with a beautiful diving catch. Even Pestano with a nice backhanded flip to get an out at first, kind of redeeming himself from that 2-run dinger.

So everyone was playing the game right all the way through, with the defense backing up good pitching and the offense getting in a run early, and wearing out Haren enough to get to the bullpen with a few innings to go.

When I say "everyone" I mean "everyone" because Manny brought all 4 of our benchers out in the 8th and 9th. So he knew we were going to have to scrap to make this work. I was amazed that he pulled Marson for a second until I remembered that you can pull Marson for LaPorta while Santana is in the game and still have first and C covered.

Brantley, in the 2-hole, got his second hit of the night to lead off the 9th. Not bad to have a backup leadoff guy while your real leadoff guy (Carrera) is still finding his way. I'd like to thank Michael Brantley's Mom for stepping up and getting Brantley back healthy with the team! Not only was he healthy enough to get two hits, he also stole second to get in scoring position with no outs. Holla!

Sadly, Asdrubal could not make the magic to win the game as the next batter (it was pretty awesome that at least the radio guys totally were trying to call it that he WOULD end the game right there). But don't forget the magic powers of Travis Hafner and the fact that we love the fuck out of that guy again! His massive double to center brings Brantley in easily and ties the game!

Then we get a walk and a HBP which loads the bases. I was ready for a walk or even a balk to win the game. That shit has happened to us this year!

Of course the guy responsible for all that gets taken out and they bring in a new pitcher. Travis Buck tried to be a hero but failed when We Heart Torii Hunter throws out Orlando at the plate. TENSION!

Then "the Kid" Jason Kipnis (note that by this time, both Lonnie Chisenhall and Ezequiel Carrera are veterans and no longer "kids") is up. Sounds like some movie plot where the manager is all "We'll keep the kid in," even though the kid has had no hits since he's been up in the majors. But the truth of the matter is that there was absolutely no one left on the bench to come in for him so, dude, you're going to have to do something here with 2 out in the 9th, tied and 2 men on. Ok?

No problem! (That's a nice clip because they show the hit twice, once with Hamilton's call)

So that's that. The Tribe seems to have gotten their shit together at least for now, with good pitching, good fielding and hold-on-until-the-bullpen batting. Don't forget it takes good, patient batting to get a starter out of the game with time enough to wear down a bullpen. We had that today.

And maybe a little growing up by some of our boys, too.

Next game is 7:05 tonight against Jared. Weaver. Grrrroooaaan...Perhaps we'll have a little momentum to carry us through a game against a dude with a 1.81 ERA. That's a STARTER with numbers like that. Let's just hope we show tons of patience at the plate and get rid of that guy after 6 or so. It's our only hope.

See you then!

Radio Chatter:
"Tell you what - if you're a good student at Pepperdine, your concentration is off the charts."
"A few distractions out there?"
"The ocean is one...you can figure out the rest! [...] There are a lot of kids who have gone to Pepperdine. They did very well in the 10 years at that school."
- Tom Hamilton and Mike Hegan on Dan Haren's alma mater

"If you're going to beat the Angles, you're going to have to beat them 4-1, 2-1, 3-2. In otherwords, Carmona, Tomlin and Huff are going to have to be sharp."
- Tom Hamilton

"Everyone who's interested is interested in all of the people available."
- Tom Hamilton on pretty much everything we know about the trade deadline

"Well it was over the inside corner, but the coin came up tails so it was called a ball."
- Tom Hamilton is not amused by the home plate umpire

"These kids have probably never seen anybody who can throw this slow and still get you out."
- Mike Hegan on the 3 minor-league players facing Dan Haren

Limping In to the Break

Wow y'all, what a nasty weekend, huh? Especially after all that EXCITEMENT Thursday night with Hafner's grand slam.

I saw the score for Sunday's game before I heard the game. I decided a while back that I didn't need to run around and try to avoid the score. The score doesn't matter - I'll still listen to he game!

So today while I worked from a hotel room in Redmond, WA, I listened to the game. Meh. MEH!

It actually started out pretty great. Bases loaded and only one out. Here's when knowing the final score is 7-1 Toronto sort of puts a damper on the fun. But at least you get to hear the utter disappointment in Tom Hamilton's voice when nobody scores. Amirite?

Carlos Carrasco had his second bad outing in so many starts. Has that ship sailed already? God, I hope not.

We got to see a good chunk of our bullpen (save for Chris Perez) because of the break. Frank Hermann did 2 whole innings with just one hit. Raffy Perez struck out 2 but also gave up 2 runs. Joe Smith is now pitching with a .85 ERA and he's getting more work. Did you see what I did there?

Vinnie Pestano made up for recent transgressions and struck out the goddamn side. 3-up-3-down!

Tony Sipp, who also has some ass-kissing to do, tried to strike out the side but the first guy popped out. Awww!

Wink.

So the bullpen was teh awesomez. Our hitters were not so much. Asdrubal missed his first game of the season! I guess to travel. I wonder how he feels about that...he seemed to be looking for some Iron Man recognition after he hurt his ankle the other day, not wanting to miss the next day.

While Michael Brantley managed to get a hit (but not even close to .300 like I predicted), the Other Cabrera was shut out and so was Hafner.

Actually, those two are the only two who didn't get a hit! But, once again - 13 LOB. Sigh.

Grady and Santana looked ok in the middle of the order there, both with 2 hits each and Grady with our only RBI.

Sweet Lou was moved up to #7 and got himself a double. Valbuena got a hit but it's his first hit but it's his only hit in 8 ABs so far. Those two actually put two hits together, and the rest of their team dropped the ball that inning.

Well, if there was a ball to drop. Carrasco had already left us 5 down by then.

So that's all for the first half. We are .5 game out of first place. But, as Tom Hamilton noted, this time last year we were 15 out. SO QUIT YOUR WHINING! Well he didn't say that last bit but I could feel it in his mind.

The Home Run Derby's about to start and for the first time in 5 years I'm actually in the presence of a TV with ESPN. So I'm getting pumped about the All Star Game. So far I've been watching for a half hour and there's not been one mention of Asdrubal but lots of pictures of cacti.

We'll hear more about Asdrubal tomorrow, when he goes in and kicks the ball's ass.

Hey, maybe I'll write a blog post about the ASG! Won't that be fun? Or maybe not, depends on how much play Asdrubal and Perez get. But, don't forget - 8 PM Eastern on Fox.

If you don't hear from me tomorrow, see you Thursday at 7:05 PM for more BASEBALL!

Radio Chatter:
"There is something about watching the All Star game and seeing your club first in the standings."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Indians have preached and preached both to Carmona and Carrasco - when you're in trouble quit trying to trick hitters."
- Tom Hamilton

"It almost looks like some guys are on the All Star break too soon."
- Tom Hamilton

"John Farrel feels Jose Bautista has done enough damage for the weekend."
- Tom Hamilton on Bautista leaving the game

"He's like Secretariat right now."
- Tom Hamilton on Bautista leading in homers by so many

"A year ago at this time, the Cleveland Indians were 20 games under .500 and 15 games out of first. This has not been a good weekend but look at the first half as a whole."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Indians may be the only playoff contender that doesn't need bullpen help."
- Tom Hamilton