Momentum Halted

After the big hitting in yesterday's game, possibly on momentum from the 9th inning of Friday's game, the Tribe was held to just one run and 6 hits today.

It's kinda crazy that our pitching has been reliable for 3 games now and our hitting has been erratic. Granted, Jake Peavy is pretty good but so is Chris Sale and we beat him up! (And so is David Price and we beat him up too).

Brett Myers was the starter today and he looked great! That's pretty awesome because there was nothing remotely great about his last two starts when he gave up 14 runs off 18 hits in 10 innings. Today he went 6 innings and only gave up 2 runs, which came in the 6th. I still don't know what to make of Myers and I definitely don't trust him yet, but today he gets a big pat on the back!

Bryan Shaw came in again today and he looked good, not giving any hits and striking out two, including Conor Gillaspie who has been drinking our milkshake all weekend.

Vinnie Pestano came in for the 8th and had a very un-Pestano-like outing. He gave up a home run and a single before retiring the side. Oh well, I guess no one can have an 0.00 ERA forever! It's weird because they were touting Brett Myers' heroism the other day for pitching half of a blowout game and saving the bullpen. But then today they were blaming the lack of need for the bullpen this past week for making Vinnie rusty. You know I love our bullpen and think they're worth their weight in gold, but sometimes I get tired of how delicate pitchers can be. Or maybe they're not and the media just likes to make up excuses for bad outings.

Chris Perez came in for the 9th just to get his work and he gave up no hits and struck a guy out. So there you go.

Michael Bourn was the big hitting hero of the game today, knocking a homer off Peavy on the first pitch of the bottom of the first. His would be the only run scored of the day. He is definitely a great replacement for Choo in the lineup, with power and consistency. He might not have the same cannon as Choo, in the field, but he can steal. I mean, like, any day now he can steal a base. Soon?

Bourn went 3 for 4. In the 8th inning he hit one to first base and there was quite a scuffle as Bourn slid in to the base. Reports say he got his hand stepped on and was replaced by Mike Aviles. Let's hope having Monday off and a vat of frozen Neosporin gets Bourn back in the lineup by Tuesday!

Brantley was up in the third spot today, with Asdrubal doing nothing of interest in the 2-hole (although he still is fabuloso in the field!) Kipnis I guess is still healing his shoulder, which is cool because you don't want to rush it and make it some season-long issue. Cousin Michael went 1 for 4 at the plate.

Asdrubal struck out 3 times. I am not going to look it up, but I think he leads the team in strikeouts right now. (Ok I looked it up. He does.) Swisher didn't get anything done today either, and he struck out twice, ending his hitting streak at Progressive Field (20 games since 2008).

Swisher started in right field and Reynolds at first. Reynolds went 1 for 3 and got a pinch runner in Drew Stubbs in the 7th. Then Stubbs went to right field and Swisher to first. That's a lot of interchangeability on this team. Is that good or bad? I mean it's good that dudes can play anywhere but are they just half-assed everywhere then?

Carlos Santana pinch hit for Stubbs in the 9th and almost hit one out! It was foul though and he ended up walking. They're saying Tuesday for catching now. Yan Gomes didn't do anything today at the plate but he did catch a guy stealing. I'm ready for Santana's return.

Jason Giambi was in the lineup today as DH. Not very excited about him being on the team but Tom Hamilton keeps assuring us that he is doing the work of Moses in terms of guiding this young team towards greatness. He parted no seas today, though, going 0 for 4. Man, he's old.

Ryan Raburn was in at second again today. He went 1 for 3 with a single. Only one guy walked today, and that was Santana in the 9th. Huh.

I don't know what to say about this stretch of games so far. The team has been amazing or miserable. The weather has been horrible or non-existant (domed). The opposing pitchers have been the league's best or mediocre. Our pitchers have pitched amazingly well or horribly. As far as I can tell there has been no pattern to how the team is doing.

But, at least it's baseball season, right? (Although it's apparently also basketball season. My WTAM broadcast was abruptly cut off right at 3 PM in order to air the Cavs game. Crummy.)

Monday we've got the day off and Tuesday the Red Sox come to town. Hopefully Francona leads us to a sweep, right? Also hopefully Bourn's hand is fine, Santana's hand is fine and Kipnis's shoulder is fine and everyone decides that now is the time to start hitting. If those things happen then we've got quite a ball game ahead of us!

Slated to pitch Tuesday is Jiminez vs LHP 5.40. You know I don't know what to think about that, so we'll just get excited anyway and I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Ozzie Guillen had the maturity of a 12-year-old."
- Tom Hamilton

"You'll take 6 innings of two-run baseball from Brett Myers any day."
- Tom Hamilton

"If anybody thinks the NFL players are as big, strong and fast as they are because of spinach...then we have a tale for you."
- Tom Hamilton

"If there's a no-hitter going on, usually Tampa Bay is the team getting no-hitted."
- Tom Hamilton

Getting What We Paid For

I'm so tired, friends. I just got home from a lovely wedding and wedding reception that had a really great DJ and I danced and moved in ways that were not meant for me. I should have gone to bed 2 hours ago but I saw the box score from tonight's game and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to hear how we got those nine runs!

Zach McAllister had a great start today! He went 6 1/3 innings only giving up one earned run and striking out 6 (Masterson struck out 7 in his complete game). Do we have a second awesome starter?? I cannot WAIT to see him again to see if this is a new trend!

Bryan Shaw came in for his third try at relief, and he gave up a homer. Not cool! I didn't really cover his last two appearances where he actually did pretty well. His first time up was against Toronto where he gave up one hit in one inning, and then he came in versus Tampa Bay for two innings and also gave up one hit but struck out three. Tonight was his first run given up, so so far not too bad. I got my eye on you, Shaw!

Nick Hagadone was up from Columbus to be dazzling in the 8th. He got three outs on 10 pitches. Next up was Joe Smith for the 9th and you know what Joe Smith did. That's right! Shut 'em down! It'd be pretty sweet if Hagadone is as tight as Smith, Pestano and Perez then we've got a huge, huge bullpen. I'm not sure what Hagadone's status is, though, as Albers is merely on paternity leave.

The Tribe batters seemed to have no problem with near-Cy-Young-Award-winner Chris Sale, who normally totally has our number and shuts us down. Of course this is not the same old Tribe lineup he was able to intimidate in 2012.

He did shut down Bourn and Brantley, which is odd because they're our best hitters, and Brantley usually doesn't have problems hitting lefties. Bourn struck out twice and Brantley reached by getting hit by a pitch.

Asdrubal went 1 for 4 with a walk and came around to score. He's still not warmed up, it'd seem. But any day now.

Kipnis wasn't in today, as he's got some shoulder soreness. Instead Ryan Raburn was playing second base. I didn't know he played second! Raburn also went 1 for 4 with a walk, and he came in to score twice. One of his hits was a double but from how I heard it, it would have been a homer on a warmer day!

Nick Swisher - as advertised! Today I was in a Denny's (the worst Denny's in NE Ohio, I think - on Mentor Ave.) and there was a #33 baseball pillow in the claw arcade machine. I thought that was pretty impressive as far as claw arcade machine stocking goes - that's some dedication to current events!

Anyway Nick Swisher got a two-run homer in the first inning to tie the game. On his way into the dugout he gave a big "O-H"! That'd be pretty cool if he does it every time, so keep an eye out for that - and be sure to "I-O" him! He also got a double and walked, and came around to score both times. Literally.

Even bigger than Swisher, as far as acquisitions go, is Mark F'n Reynolds. He had a GRAND SLAM today in the 5th! He leads the team in homers and RBI and totally does not lead the team in strikeouts. Is he turning the corner?  He's in the top 3 in the league in homers and RBI, too, and not in the top 30 in the league for strikeouts. Since he came via Arizona, I was sternly warned about him by my Diamondback-fan uncle, but he keeps hitting more and striking out less than I'm expecting so I'm pretty cool with him. All right, super cool with him since he got a grand slam. w00t!

After Reynolds hit his grand slam, Chris Sale hit Brantley with a pitch. And the umpire said "tsk, tsk, don't anyone do that again" and went about his business, not throwing anyone out or suggesting any suspension. Huh. I guess it really is a matter of reputation, after all.

Chisenhall was out as well, and I thought he was hurt but he's not on the injury list so maybe I confused him with Kipnis. Anyway, Aviles was in for Chiz at third. He went 1 for 4 and is keeping his average over .250.

Catching tonight was Yan Gomes, who happened to be the catcher for Masterson's awesome game. Hmm....is he an awesome catcher? He's from Brazil, didja know? Today he got his first hit and it was a home run. Gooooone! Gooooooooooooooooooooooomes! I'm kind of interested in checking this guy out a little longer before 'Los and Lou come back. Santana is "possible" for Sunday, though, but Gomes will be our backup if that's the case because Lou isn't "possible" until April 24.

Drew Stubbs had a ho-hum Drew Stubbs kind of game. He went 1 for 3 with a walk and no one was around to bat him in. Oh well.

Super exciting game all around, though! Every game with a grand slam is big fun, don't you think? And we got two other home runs, and our starting pitcher was top-notch? This is what we were all expecting on April 2!

Tomorrow is Brett Myers versus RHP 5.56. Oh man, Brett Myers...He's like Ubaldo, only shorter.

The game's at 1:05 so see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"If you ask him, I'm sure he'll come share that steak dinner with you at Bob Evans."
- Tom Hamilton on Swisher's home run and the "Winner, Winner Steak Dinner" promo

"Some folks still coming in to the ballpark. They're dressed like they're going to go see Santa Claus after the game and tell him what they want for Christmas."
- Tom Hamilton

"Here come those cards and letters! Postmarked Winterhaven."
"Yep, they're getting out their box of crayons..."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton after Hamilton had some digs in on Winterhave, Florida

"Boy, that was no wall-scraper. That was a third of the way up the bleachers."
- Tom Hamilton on Reynolds' grand slam

"The White Sox have raised the white flag [...] So Cabrera will not be taking off [for second base] here. If he does, somebody else will get hit."
- Tom Hamilton

"If the general manager is saying three months, that's not a sprained ankle folks. If it is, Jose Reyes has the slowest healing power in all of sports."
- Tom Hamilton

A Lot With A Little

Justin Masterson is SO AWESOME you guys! How many times did you hear today that he's the only pitcher ever to beat two previous-season Cy Young Award winners in his first two starts? Granted, a lot of things need to be in place to even get that opportunity but heck, he did it. And if he has an awesome season this year and if HE wins the Cy Young Award this year then you will hear it again and again and again.

Yeah, I'm getting ahead of myself. He's 3-0 with a mere 3 starts under his belt. Right now he leads the MLB in innings pitched and wins, and is at the top of the pack in strikeouts. I am going to crow about this a little bit because last year he never put together 3 wins in a row, so this is not the same Masterson as last year. He never hit a groove last year, and this year he might be in one right now and it might last the rest of the season.

I know what you are all about to say. DON'T SAY IT! This is the Positive Tribe and here we let the positive scenarios play out as our future like some sort of baseball drug! Wheeeeeee!

Hmm so what else happened today? Oh yeah - you can't have a Masterson win without some pretty defense, and you get pretty defense with Asdrubal Cabrera behind you! Even in his funny winter hat! What's also funny is that in the video you can't see Swisher's face at the end of the play but you know he was all smiley and saying "Wow. Wow, man! What a great play, Asdrubal!" You know who he's like? He's literally like Rob Lowe's character on Parks and Recreation.

Speaking of Swisher, the only other thing that happened in the game, aside from Masterson throwing a 9-inning shutout with help from Asdrubal, was the Tribe's walk-off win courtesy of Nick Swisher.

Michael Bourn hit a double in the 9th, and Droobs couldn't get him in. Jason Kipnis came up and the White Sox had the same thought we all had - "Jason Kipnis is going to break out any minute now!" (probably Kipnis' thought as well) so they walked him. Nick Swisher was literally our last hope and he came through with a hit into the right field corner! Yay yay yay big hugs all around for Swish!

Man, do you realize we haven't used our bullpen since Monday? Tuesday we had two starters (by the way - Carrasco, 8-game suspension, but he's already in CBus so if and when we call him up THEN he starts his suspension) and the Wednesday and Thursday games were rained out, Friday Masterson pitches a complete game, so the entire bullpen should be good to go to get us through this weekend. Right? Matt Albers is on paternity leave so that leaves us with [some dudes], Smith, Vinnie and Perez. Well-rested Smith, Vinnie and Perez. Should be awesome!

Tomorrow is Zach McAllister versus LHP 1.85. The reality is that our bats look bad, but maybe the last 2 hits of today's game lit some sort of fuse. Zach needs to take it easy, although that's hard to do when you've got a no-run lead. This is baseball, though - you never know what will happen!

I've got a wedding to go to tomorrow and have no idea when I'll be back and if I'll be able to cover the game. Be sure to listen anyway! I'll bring you home a piece of cake.

Radio Chatter:
"Well when you live in your mom's basement, there's not much else to do."
- Tom Hamilton on the encyclopedic knowledge of producer Brian Motsay

"Man, Masterson has just been incredibly accurate tonight."
- Tom Hamilton

"If you're going to get hit tonight, you want to get hit by a curveball or a changeup."
- Tom Hamilton

Carlos Carrasco, Your Reputation Precedes You

Boy what a bummer of a game! A score of 14 to 1? I would wager to guess that not even the Yankees saw this one coming in what is considered by many to be an "off year" for them.

We'd like to blame all this on Carrasco and Myers' pitching but no way...I mean, the 14 runs and 5 home runs were all them, no doubt but it's not like the other side of the equation was the Tribe hitting for 13 runs. They didn't even get 10 hits.

It's pretty weird that the Indians are hitting and scoring in spurts. I don't know how much it has to do with the strength of opposing pitchers (no problem with David Price) or the weakness of our bats. But our bats aren't weak...all the time.

I just don't know.

First off though, Carlos Carrasco is back! In case you forgot, in 2011 he gave up a homer then threw at Billy Butler and was ejected. Then he went on the DL and had surgery so he didn't qualify to serve his suspension until he was healthy. He took those 5 days at the beginning of this season. I'm not exactly sure if he was to be part of the opening rotation or if he just happens to be part of it now because Kazmir is hurt but he is here now.

Except today he gave up a home run then threw at Kevin Youklis, at which point we all went "Heh..." and the umpire said "Yer outta here!" and Terry Francona said "Really?" and the umpire said "SRSLY!"

Carrasco had given up 7 runs by then, in the middle of the 4th inning.

For some reason 4th starter Brett Myers was hanging around the bullpen, sort of suspicious-like. Speculation is that they think he might miss his chance to pitch tomorrow if the weather is bad so they planned to throw him out there in relief anyway, since Carrasco clearly was not having an easy time anyway, and also since we seem to need relievers as our starters are uh...ineffective.

So Myers came in and he gave up 7 more runs. The end. At least we didn't use up any relievers?

Hmm what else happened? Oh yeah - we've got a glut of catchers overnight. Lou Marson must not have felt as good as he let on yesterday and he's on the 15-Day DL. Santana is day-to-day with his thumb contusion. Ryan Raburn I guess is not really our 3rd string catcher, so they brought up Yan Gomes and Omir Santos until further notice. They actually both played today - Gomes can play first base. And we saw a lot of both of them in spring training being that Santana was at the WBC.

Neither of them got a hit.

Drew Stubbs was leadoff tonight, with Michael Bourn having his first night off of the season. Stubbs picked up where Bourn left off and went 2 for 4 with a double!

Asdrubal still isn't doing much but he did pop his second homer off the season off Andy Pettitte! The batting average climbed 30 points!

Chisenhall came in to bat for Asdrubal, which we can do now because of good ol' Mike Aviles who moved from 3rd to SS. The Chiz Kid went 1 for 1 but...yeah.

Swisher was looking good tonight, going 2 for 3. Is this the start of something for the top of the order? That'd be nice - and needed!

No one else hit today except Mike Aviles. So, good job Mike Aviles? He also got an error, though. His second on the year! But I won't mention it since A-Cab got his second of the year yesterday and I failed to mention that.

Tomorrow's another day, y'all. We've still got 154 games left! I have no idea who's starting tomorrow. I guess McAllister against RHP (7.71). Looks like we can score some mad runs off that guy, right? No sweep!

I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Believe it or not it wasn't CB Bucknor who had that blown call last night..."
- Tom Hamilton

"Then again, people who write about football are voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame, so who knows."
- Tom Hamilton on Andy Pettite's chances for the HOF

"Not a good sign when Lyle Overbay is hitting a home run off you, because he's not a home run hitter."
- Tom Hamilton

"Omir Santos must be saying 'I can't believe I'm in Cleveland!' He was signed February 9th to a minor league contract."
- Tom Hamilton

"Welp, these guys in the Yankee gray might not be paid as much as Jeter, Granderson, Teixeira and A-Rod, but they sure are swinging the bats like that quartet."
- Tom Hamilton

Can't Spell Ubaldo Without "U Bad"

Happy Home Opener everyone! Isn't it just awesome to see 42,000 people crammed into the stadium? How about Tom Hamilton in a tuxedo? Was someone you know, who works for Progressive, helping to hold the giant flag? Everybody's dad showed up and they let them pitch! Coverage on WTAM started early and it's the only day of the year when I'll listen to Mike Trivisonno for more than 2 minutes ("Hiroki Huroda? Huh? Is that some kind of beer?" hur dur durrrr), but there was also 92.3 The Fan to listen to and people were also downtown partying with 87.7 FM, too. People posting all over Facebook "Go Tribe!" I left work early! Terry Francona can't find the ballpark! What a day!

The team couldn't keep up with the demand to win but hey, they gave it a go. They weren't shut out like they've been a few times already. They came back from behind, they hit more homers and got some extra bases. Not too bad, really. Just...Ubaldo.

It's hard to deal with Ubaldo Jiminez anymore. I guess you could say the only thing he's consistent at is letting us down. Is it on us to not expect anything out of him and then be pleasantly surprised when he doesn't suck? But how are we supposed to not expect anything out of him when everyone who makes decisions for the team has decided that he's second best only to Justin Masterson? Why do they do this to us?

I think in order to keep this Positive I need to just not say anything about Ubaldo when he pitches other than to report that he pitched. Yeah, that sounds like a good new rule. I'll revisit it in June.

Matt Albers was the long reliever - er, middle reliever? The next guy. He went 1.2 innings and he gave up a home run too. Seeing him on TV it occurred to me that his nickname might be Fat Albers and Google says I'm right. It actually would be funnier if he was Ubaldo-shaped but alas, he's more Wickman. He hasn't impressed me yet but I'm not writing him off completely. He gave up that homer but that was it for runs.

Rich Hill came in for the 7th. Still not familiar with this dude either (he was in during the Toronto series) but of course I picture him as Rich Hall so that's kind of funny.

Not Rich Hill

What's not funny is that he gave up 3 runs. On the plus side, Cody Allen had a great 8th and Chris Perez was about to have a bad 9th but of course he got out of it because he's a stud! I liked the move where Santana muffed a pitch and it bounced over to the Tribe's dugout, with a man on 3rd. Santana was in no shape to run after the ball and Perez had the wherewithal to go fetch it before the dude scored.

Santana seems to be hurt, though. Contusion on his left thumb after he got hit with aforementioned pitch. Marson is back after being hit by a Tampa Bay outfielder, so we'll see how that plays out. Quick - who's our third-string catcher?! Ryan Raburn.

Don't worry Raburn, I got this.

So, pitching was abysmal today. No heroes until we got to the 8th and 9th innings and by then it was too late.

Travis Hafner played today. I was sort of surprised - I kind of figured he'd be a bencher over there or something. But they had a place for him and he went 2 for 3 with 4 RBI. Wut. Well whatever, good for him.

Michael Bourn is still on a roll...dude's got 11 hits in our first 7 games so far! He didn't steal any bases today for the hometown crowd but he had a nice play in the outfield and looked great running to first - he makes it close! Oh yeah and he got a triple off the wall!

I'm super stoked that Asdrubal, Kipnis and Swisher all got hits today at "the big game." Not so much because I see it as an indicator that they're about to break out (although...any day, boys!) but it's just nice to get the "test drivers" who showed up for the game today to see our stars doing stuff. Kipnis got a double! Everyone's batting over .100 now, hurrah!

I was really ready for Michael Brantley to kick some butt today, and he almost did but there was some good defense on the other end. Instead he went 1 for 5 with an RBI. He's still hitting over .300, though. Was hoping he'd rock it in front of his dad!

Harlem Shake Break!

Anyway, Santana did not get any extra bases before he left the game but he DID walk twice, going 1 for 2 on the afternoon. You know what that means right? Our scrappy little catcher is growing up! Now, let's just hope that his third ball-related injury in two days doesn't put him on the DL for very long...

Mark Reynolds was not disappointing today. He actually got a double, drove in a run and scored. He also hit two balls to the wall (heh) and made Tom Hamilton get extremely excited to call a home run. But, left field was where the wind was blowing in so they didn't get up and out. Only one strike out - a good day for Reynolds!

The Chiz Kid did not fare as well, going 0 for 3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Drew Stubbs didn't fare too well either, also going 0 for 3.

Mike Aviles came in to bat for Stubbs in the 8th and hit a homer! Good on ya, Mike Aviles! I really, really want that guy to be good, because I can't even remember the last time we had a quality utility guy. Who was our utility guy before anyway? LaPorta? I'd just be so excited if we can give one infielder off every day and not lose anything in the way of team batting average.

Hitting was somewhat weak today, compared to yesterday, but they stuck it out and managed to score 6 runs. Unfortunately our pitchers were basically tossing the ball over the fence so the bad guys scored 11. I don't think any of us have this team pegged yet so every day is going to be a new experience for a while.

Tomorrow is the Yankees again - the return of Carlos Carrasco versus LHP (1.13). Carrasco wasn't stellar last we saw him in 2011 but he started off ok before he had his surgery so perhaps he's better post-surgery. Also, he tried to take Billy Butler's head off in a grand retaliation and you gotta admit that's pretty awesome. He's got chutzpah, that's for sure. I wonder if Chris Perez wrote him letters while he was in rehab?

Anyway, more Yankee action in the Prog tomorrow at 7:05 (weather permitting) - See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Asdrubal Cabrera has the baseball gods smiling on him."
- Tom Hamilton after Asdrubal's shot in the first

"If he [Santana] gets one in his wheelhouse it'll be 5-3 in a hurry."
- Tom Hamilton

"Is it April 8th or October 8th?"
- Tom Hamilton commenting on the atmosphere downtown

"Ubaldo Jiminez must be in that third base dugout thinking 'the governor just called, I got a reprieve."
- Tom Hamilton after the Tribe tied it up

"It's 4-1 Travis hafner over the Indians."
- Tom Hamilton

"Jay Z Doesn't have it that bad. If someone like Cano leaves him, he still gets to go home to Beyonce every night."
- Tom Hamilton on Robinson Cano's new agent

"The team in Boston is acting like they all just got released from prison now that Bobby Valentine is gone."
- Tom Hamilton

"We've had all 4 seasons here today at Progressive Field."
- Tom Hamilton

"Tune in this season to hear the best of Rosie, now that beers are only four dollars."
- Tom Hamilton

"There's some idiot on the field ... He'll spend the night in jail. Somewhere some mother and father are saying 'Where did we go wrong?'"
- Tom Hamilton

Price Paid

Awesome baseball today, boffins. Just awesome!

If you recall, just three-some hours ago I was pondering what could be the outcome of Justin Masterson (1-7 versus Tampa Bay) against David Price (2012 Cy Young Award winner, never lost against Tribe). And Price against a team that hadn't scored a run since Thursday.

The outcome was made clear fairly quickly and there was never a doubt that not only would Masterson shut down the Rays but also the Indian batters would crush David Price. Huh.

Justin Masterson pitched 7 innings, just under 100 pitches. No runs, two hits, eight strikeouts. He just cruised through the game like he was running a AAA pitching clinic. His ERA is now .69 after 13 innings. So far this is the pitcher everyone has been saying that we needed. Is this real life? Wow, I hope so!

Joe Smith came in for the 8th and kept up what Masterson had started. Vinnie Pestano finished it off and actually struggled a little bit to shut those Rays down. He walked two and gave up a hit to load the bases but he ended up on top.

Before we get in to who hit what today, I'll quickly gloss over who didn't hit - Asdrubal and Swisher. I think that's pretty weird because those are, in my mind, the two team leaders. Let's imagine a scenario where they spent last night staying up late encouraging everyone to do better today. Right?

First up was Michael Bourn, who got his first homer and first stolen base today! A little late on the stolen base, dude, but hopefully the first of dozens! Bourn has been crazy consistent for us as a leadoff guy, much like Choo was at his peak last year. He's gotten nine hits and one walk in six games, including three doubles and that homer. He's only come around to score 3 times but at least he's setting the stage! I'm super excited that he's working as planned, because growing up in an era of Kenny Lofton I really love a good leadoff guy!

Michael Brantley had the day off, since our bench is so deep, and Ryan Raburn was filling in batting third. He went 1 for 4 with a double and a walk, and came around to score twice. Love that Raburn!

Mark Reynolds was the DH today, and today we're not disappointed in Mark Reynolds. In fact, we're impressed! He went 3 for 4 with a walk. He scored 3 runs and got 3 RBI because he hit two home runs and a double! Slugging: .950.

Speaking of slugging, Carlos Santana went 5 for 5 today with 3 RBI and scored 3 runs. He had a homer and two doubles. His average is a Brantley-beating .500 and that's after playing all six games! I never really put much thought into whether or not Santana would be outstanding this year. Decent? Of course that's expected. But if Carlos Santana is going to be markedly better than Victor Martinez this season? That would be amazing. I'm ready for an all-star catcher!

Mike Aviles was in today for Kipnis and he really got himself together, going 2 for 5 with 2 runs and an RBI. Much better than Friday when he really looked like he was struggling at the plate and on the field. This is what we want from a utility man!

Lonnie Chisenhall looked smooth today, going 2 for 5 with a homer off David Price and a double off Fernando Rodney. Rodney sure isn't himself this year, wow. He only gave up 9 runs last year and has given up 3 now this year in two appearances. I'm ready for the Chiz Kid to heat up - this is a good start!

Drew Stubbs was solid again today, this time at the plate. He got our first RBI of the day on a single in the 2nd, and went on to go 2 for 5 for the day. If your #9 guy is going 2 for 5 then it's a good day (of course if #9 gets up 5 times that's a good indicator right there!)

Today the team had five home runs (more than Tampa Bay's total hits), doubles and 17 total hits to score 13 runs. HOW ABOUT THAT?!

Tomorrow is opening day! Are you totally stoked? They'll be starting with the hoopla at 1 PM and pregame at 3. It's on channel 3 so all of us can watch! Ubaldo Jiminez versus RHP 13.05. You like those odds?

So excited - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Baseball is such a goofy game, it probably means that Masterson will throw a no-hitter and David Price won't make it out of the third inning."
- Tom Hamilton before the game

"You could start a brawl if somebody gets hit today."
- Tom Hamilton

"It tells you about Tampa Bay's lineup when your number nine hitter is also the DH."
- Tom Hamilton

"This. Is. Shocking. The Indians have lit up David Price."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"Most people don't like going to the dentist. Ryan Roberts has his own tat machine so he can go poking and prodding whatever he wants all over his body."
- Tom Hamilton

It's a Shame About the Rays

I was searching for something and came across a post from this blog from May 29, 2011 in which I write "Guess the Indians can't figure out the Rays, just like we can't figure out the White Sox. Or maybe it's that those teams have us figured out?" I'll admit - I often forget that the Rays even exist. They don't seem to have forgotten the Indians - even though we're a completely different team than 2011.

Friday I hung out with my aunt & uncle who were in town from Phoenix and we watched the game. Frankly, it was a boring game! The Rays' starter pitched a good one and our guys couldn't hit the ball. Well, Michael Bourn hit the ball and even Jason Kipnis did too. But Bourn had no one to drive him in and Kipnis hit the ball to where dudes were waiting for it.

Mike Aviles started at third on Friday. He missed a lot of spring training due to the World Baseball Classic. But he is a baseball player and he was playing baseball the whole time so it's not like he went from the couch to third base. Aviles looked bad at the plate and worse in the field. I don't have anything against the dude yet, but his job that he was hired for is to be a utility man and to not play every day, so he needs to hurry up and get used to not playing every day. If we're going to have a Sometimes Guy who can't hit we might as well get Shelley Duncan back! So, keep an eye out for Aviles and let's hope he improves as he gets more games under his belt.

Mark Reynolds came to us from Arizona and my uncle couldn't tell me enough about how disappointing he is as a player. I'll be honest, I was very disappointed in him through the middle of the second game (against the Blue Jays) but he hit that game-winning homer and I was all "YAY!" Then the next night he hit a homer too and that was cool! But Reynolds' MO is that he strikes out most of the time until he hits a home run or five. And who doesn't like a home run? I don't know if I have the patience to watch all of those strikeouts inbetween, especially with all of our other guys on base. I'm sort of hoping that he is getting a lot of playing time right now so that the front office can decide sooner than later if he fits on this team. He was our first pickup at the end of the 2012 season, I think (or one of the first) so if he doesn't shape up, he may be the first to go.

I think that's why he's been in instead of Ryan Raburn, who had quite an awesome spring. Raburn was in the game on Saturday in right field and he was not only one of the few guys to get a hit, he also had an outfield assist! I had mentioned to my uncle that we didn't really have a scary arm in our outfield this year now that Choo is gone, but that night (Friday) Brantley had an outfield assist and Saturday Raburn had his. Someone more educated in the field of physics might be able to do the calculations to prove that it is or is not due to their ground speed, but that's my story.

Since Raburn was in the field, Santana was the DH on Saturday with Sweet Lou Marson behind the plate. Lou got absolutely flattened on a play at the plate, with the Rays' center fielder coming down on him in a move that would have gotten 15 yards in football. But Lou hung on to the ball and actually played out the inning before everyone decided that it might be in his best interest to visit the team masseur instead of play the rest of the game.

So Carlos Santana moved from DH to catcher which left the #9 spot open in the lineup and that was filled by the pitcher. First Bauer then Albers and then Aviles at the end. Aviles came in to replace Chisenhall at third but not before reliever Cody Allen replaced him in the lineup. Beautiful-looking box score if you care to look!

If you didn't hear, Trevor Bauer became our fifth starter for one day only after Scott Kazmir went on the DL with a rib muscle strain. Bauer is only slated for this one game as Carlos Carrasco will be back in the rotation now that he's served his suspension. Bauer (also from Arizona) had a rough start, walking the first 4 batters he faced but the kid only gave up 1 run in the first and two more in the 4th before he was done. He walked 7 and only struck out 2, so I'd say he owes a bit to the defense behind him!

Matt Albers came in to relieve Bauer and he kind of sucked. Three hits and 1 run in one inning. There was almost another outfield assist in the series when Bourn caught Escobar trying to stretch a double into a single, but umpire CB Bucknor botched the call, missing the fact that Kipnis clearly tagged Escobar on the foot. Albers gave Bucknor the what-for at the end of the inning (actually he was pretty smart - the guy knew to wait until he was on his way out to get thrown out). I haven't been blown away by his pitching yet but now I know his name, that's for sure.

Cody Allen took the 7th and 8th and gave up two runs. Our bullpen has some holes, friends.

Although we managed 5 hits in the game, they were the definition of "few and far between" so nobody really even got past second base save for a short rally in the third inning where Raburn got to third base.

Even though we came out on the wrong end of the scoreboard both Friday and Saturday, at least Saturday's game had a little excitement. Do you think Nick Swisher will be able to rally the troops to perform better in today's game? Today's game features our #1 guy (1-7 against the Rays) against their #1 guy (2012 Cy Young winner).

I'll see you there - in 5 minutes!

Radio Chatter:
 "Wow. How in the world was that a one-run inning?"
 - Tom Hamilton after the first

 "Any more than 3000 here and it elicits a parade in Saint Pete."
 - Tom Hamilton

 "It's one of those games where you look at the line score and say 'That must be a snoozer' but we've had some action here in the first three innings."
 - Jim Rosenhaus

 "Trevor Bauer trying to make like David Copperfield. Can he elude danger one more time?"
 - Tom Hamilton

 "If Earl Weaver was managing the Indians right now he'd be on his third pack of cigarettes."
 - Tom Hamilton

 "If you would have said that Bauer would make it through five [innings] back in the first...no way."
 - Jim Rosenhaus

 "He is arguing with C.B. 'I got another one wrong' Bucknor. [...] He could go out there with a blindfold, flip a coin and have a good a chance at being right as he would be wrong."
 - Tom Hamilton

 "Raburn, the ball and the wall all seemed to arrive at the same time."
 - Tom Hamilton

 "At some point in life, if you're not good at what you do, you should not have that job."
 - Tom Hamilton on umpire CB Bucknor

 "Tampa Bay must feel like they've had the Indians on the canvas all night, but the Indians keep getting up."
 - Tom Hamilton

 "Boy when did you think we'd ever say this? 'The good news is, the Yankees are coming to town.'"
 - Tom Hamilton