Just A Replay of Yesterday

Except I wasn't there. And Texas ended up using their bullpen for 4 outs.

Otherwise, a shutout for us and two homers by them.

I am pretty sure that the Rangers look how we looked about a month ago. Very sharp, very complete with their lineup and very hard to score runs off of.

Even though I watched the game on TV and just finished listening to the radio archive, I still don't have much to say about it. It really just felt like a replay of yesterday right down to me looking at the crowd thinking about how hot they must feel.

Our pitching was good. Talbot gave a good performance aside from the two homers. We've discussed it here on The Positive Tribe that our pitchers give up two homers at a time. And it was funny. Funny when our offense was getting 5-10 runs a game. Not so funny now!

Smith came in in the 7th after Talbot had left two on and then Smith walked the bases loaded. But he got out of it without giving up a run!

Sipp! Struck out the side! For all of the great pitching we've had this season, I don't know how often we've seen that!

Chris Perez once again gave up a hit before shutting them down in the 9th.

Our defense looked good today (yesterday too). Everett made a few really nice plays at 3rd, which is good because I think he missed a couple last night. Hannahan still out with some muscle soreness. Asdrubal, of course, is awesome. And check out this nice one by LaPorta in the third. He made another nice stop in the third too.

So, our pitching and defense have been up to snuff lately. Our bats are just STYMIED. What up with that? Hopefully we'll get our gears loosened a little bit against Minnesota here before we head off to the Bronx.

Since this post is so short, I'll show you some pictures from last night. The owner of these pictures can step forth and claim them as hers or remain anonymous. I won't take credit for them, though.

Although, I might steal that camera!

 

Radio Chatter:
"I wonder if there's something going on between Santana and Talbot. You don't see Belcher run out like that. I mean, he ran."
- Tom Hamilton with regards to an interesting meeting at the mound

"I bet this pleases the Rangers...CJ Wilson's hobbies include travelling - ok - surfing, and auto racing."
- Tom Hamilton

"I'll say one thing about home plate umpire Tim Timmons. He's been consistent in one area - he's got hitters upset on both ball clubs."
- Tom Hamilton

"Tim Timmons better not need a ride to the airport. Not one of the players would give him one!"
- Tom Hamilton, several innings later

"Boy it's a weekend when the Indians have hit a ball hard, it is right at someone."
- Tom Hamilton

"Nelson Cruz...has had two home runs in this series. What he thinks every time he comes to the plate is 'Let's see how far I can hit this puppy.'"
- Tom Hamilton

Another Nice Start

What an icky game tonight. Not the gameplay, but the weather. It was 54 degrees and rained most of the time. When I saw Choo go for a ball and sort of slosh around in the outfield I thought "No! Don't get wet! You can't work right if you're wet!" Or something. Just didn't seem right, all that rain.

But, they played on. Tomlin was our starter tonight and went all the way into the 8th, only giving up one run. Pretty good for this sort of weather for him to go so far. Here's a stat from the Indians.com wrap-up that I brought up during Tomlin's last start, but has now changed a bit:

"In each of Tomlin's 16 career starts for the Indians -- a franchise that was founded in 1901 -- Tomlin has logged at least five innings for the club. He is the only pitcher in the team's long history to have at least that many frames in each of his first 16 career appearances."

I decided pretty early on that the Royals and the Indians are going to be matched up pretty evenly when it comes to starting pitching and batting, and it will come down to the bullpen. Of course, I meant that our bullpen had the stuff but that wasn't the case tonight. But, at least they got some time in and for all intents and purposes didn't do that bad, so it's ok. And you know what? We STILL have given up the fewest home runs in the AL, by 2.

Grady, Grady! Is the kid back?! Three more hits tonight, hitting .421. How many ABs do you need to be legit? Thirty or so? He's got 18 I think.

Hafner got a hit tonight too, keeping his AVG well over .300. That guy is DEFINITELY back, for sure. Ok maybe not the home-run-hitting Pronk but to be honest we've faced some serious pitching lately.

How about Hannahan there at third in the 9th? Made a nice stop then got the runner out at home, although Aviles sort of tip-toed in. Not like Carlos Santana did in the 8th, when he was out by a mile at home but gave it the ol' college try and barreled in to the catcher to at least try to knock the ball out. It didn't work but at least he tried. And didn't break any bones.

Some crazy stuff going on in the middle of the diamond too. Orlando Cabrera was out and Everett (Everett!) was at 2nd. Nice move, because he's got some stick right now. Lots of guys falling over and stepping on each other out there around second, and Everett got an error. I wonder if the Royals' ground crew isn't quite as good as the Indians'? I'm sure Everett will be happy to have Orlando back tomorrow.

So far we've only had one injury (Mitch Talbot) which is good...and possibly due to Acta not over-playing anyone. I did hold my breath watching the tackling at home and the tumbling at second. Hopefully we don't find out a week from now that somebody's knee is bruised.

I was out at my "Neighborhood Bar and Grille" (ugh) tonight during the game and right afterward people were moaning and groaning about how we lost. Like, angry stuff, too. WTF people? Do you not realize we just lost to the third best team in the AL? It's not like we gave up 7 runs to Seattle and didn't score any ourselves. We lost by one run in the ninth after winning two other games against the team that's on our tail. Oh yeah and we also have a winning percentage over 600 so...boy, are people weird about Cleveland baseball.

If nothing else, it was a good game tonight. It was a tough game and someone had to lose it. Our bullpen can't pitch 0.00 all season. I can see maybe spouting obscenities when your starter gives up 8 or something but all of this bellyaching when your first place team loses a game is shameful.

I guess I'm not quite familiar about what it's like when your team is in first. One thing that I know to be true is that being chased all the time is no fun! Hopefully the Tribe can ease everyone's fragile hearts this weekend when they roll over the Twins and the Royals get served by the Rangers. Then we'll have a nice comfy lead when we meet the Royals AGAIN next week (seriously - did anyone at the MLB Scheduling Committee see this coming?) and then on to squash the Tigers.

More "late" baseball tomorrow, and probably more icky baseball as we go deeper in to the midwestern cold snap.

Hey! Who has off work tomorrow? Me too!

Radio Chatter:
"If you talk to the Royals they are happy as heck that Zach Greinke is gone from Kansas City. He was a bit of a Negative Nellie in the clubhouse..."
- Tom Hamilton

I also heard Hamilton pronounce picnic as "pick-a-nick" which was just darling.

Home Again, Hot Again

Extra nice stuff tonight! The Orioles are the real thing and both our offense and pitching handled them like they were so many Red Sox.

Masterson was HOT HOT HOT, collecting his third win. Seven innings, one run, four hits. Twelve ground outs! Man, do we love good starting pitching or what? Dude's ERA is 1.33. Listening to Bob Frantz here, he tells us that Masterson didn't get his 3rd win until July 1st. SRSLY!

Masterson's mastery was hardly needed today as the offense cut through Zach Britton like butter. That guy had been all Masterson, with a 2-0 record and a .066 ERA. Some really nice situational hitting and running by us to shut all that nonsense down.

Brantley went 2 for 3 with a walk and has a very exciting .333 AVG. He is really making the case for himself to stick around when Grady comes back. All good - just more good bats to keep in the lineup!

Asdrubal went 2 for 4 with FOUR RBI and leads the team, by far, with 14. Probably has a lot to do with Brantley being on base before him! OMG what if Grady was in front of him too?! Let's do that!

Hey guess who got a hit tonight? CHOOOO!! Actually, twooooooo! And one was a big big double, almost a home run. Boy that's nice to see. I wonder how much he loves playing at home? People really came out tonight (er, in comparison. Dollar Dogs, dontchaknow) and there was a lot of "CHOOOO!" to rock the house. His AVG is creeping up there. It's getting there!

Hafner hit one out tonight, and while he's still got fewer than Asdrubal it's still more exciting to see our home run guy hit a home run. It was a friggin' big one too, almost in to the bullpen.

LaPorta and Everett (Everett!) were no slouches today either, with two hits apiece. Everett made a doozy of a play from third on a little infield dribbler to get the out. How do you like Lou Marson? Only 3 games (Santana finally took a breather) but he's hitting .400. Nice to have bats off the bench, huh?

With all these runs tonight it's a good time to bring up a little detail I've been thinking about. At Progressive Field, whenever we score they play a little Super Mario "coin sound" which I think is f'n cool. They also show a graphic of Mario collecting some coins. I don't know how many of you are "NES-aged" but this sort of thing just impresses me, even though it's a little thing. I tried to ask around (read: posted on the non-sports message board I belong to) to ask if any other stadium does this but I only got like 3 replies. So I'm going to claim this for our own. I wonder if anyone has any coin posters or anything, to hold up during the game? Do people even notice this happens? Hmm...maybe I need to have 2 signs. "OMG ASDRUBAL!" and a coin.

I'm going to the game Sunday (YAY!) and I'll be making that Asdrubal sign. I swear. I've been threatening to make one since 2007, when I actually made a little one using the free paper and markers given out at whatever that "fancast" thing was at the stadium when the team was out of town and they showed the game on the big board (man how fun was THAT?! Loved it!) Anyway, I might even go to the craft store and everything. I think I need something permanent like foam board. I also need to use a ruler. I'm the type to end up with a sign like this:

O M G  A S DRUBAL

Heh. Anyway, keep an eye out. They'll put "OMG" on TV right? It's less bad than "WTF?" Blasphemous maybe but ... ASDRUBAL!

Don't forget - 1:05 game tomorrow. We'll see ya!

Radio Chatter:
"Travis Hafner with a deep drive to right center. Can mother nature knock it down? No! Travis Hafner..into the teeth of the wind has his third home run! [...] And Pronk is back!"
- The Poetic Tom Hamilton

Choo's Shoes

Hey! Guess who got a hit tonight? CHOOO!

My niece is so excited that I am so excited that she has learned to say "CHOO!" that I think she thinks that's my name. She sees me and just exclaims "CHOOO!"

I'll take it.

He did get some new shoes, which looked pretty stylin' especially with his fancy blue socks. Looked like he was ready for Dancing With The Stars or something. I will see if I can't find a picture to show you.

Extra innings, eh? Scott Cabrera made a funny. Said that if we went 18 the game would be "BOGO" hahaha! (Buy One Get One (Free))

Asdrubal got a hit. Brantley got THREE hits! I'm also not sure what I think about Adam Everett at third here, because he's looking pretty GOOD at the plate but I'm all about Hannahan! How weird is it for us to have a tough choice at third huh? I'm guessing Everett will just remain our backup, as he does better that way.

Speaking of choices, Brantley's hitting .311 in the one spot after 12 games. So what DO we do when Grady comes back? GOD I wish he would just come back already and we can find out!!

He's slated to join Columbus on the 14th (today). How do you like these notes from last Saturday's game with the Aeros?

"'Today was a big step,' Indians head athletic trainer Lonnie Soloff said. Playing for Double-A Akron, Sizemore went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk as the leadoff man and center fielder."

Nice!

Carlos Carrasco was the starter and while he did give up 3 runs (as many as the Angels' starter) he also went 7 innings. So far we really haven't needed any long or middle relief since the first two games.

Vinnie Pestano came in for relief in the 8th (seeing him pitch back home in Anaheim made his granny cry) pitching a scoreless inning, then my man SIPP! came in for a scoreless 1.2, extending the game in to extra innings.

Chris Perez came in in the 10th to shut 'em down, which he did. But even though there's a night off tomorrow, they didn't let him go more than 20 pitches before they pulled him for Durbin. Durbin? Erm...

Well I guess if Manny Acta is going to be messing with things and looking to see what guys can do, now's the time to do it. Even though the Royals won we're still a half game ahead of them in first so maybe tonight was the night to take some risks.

So check this out...last night I was "watching" the game on Gameday, and today I was following along on my iPod using At Bat 2011, and both nights a thing popped up on my screen letting me catch the live video feed of the game! I know on the Gameday site they let you flip around to different game feeds for a few minutes each (note, I do not subscribe to MLB.tv) but you can never get your home team unless you get this special sneak peak from the MLB. Pretty cool - feels like I won a prize! Even though tonight I was actually sitting in front of a TV watching, I still sat there and watched on my iPod. hehehe

Anyway, I highly recommend checking out the free Gameday site during a game. Perhaps if sitting in front of your computer all night is not your bag, at least keep it in mind during day games for when you're at work.

Ok everyone get some rest tomorrow, because it's gonna be a CRAZY weekend against the 6-4 O's. I might actually try to pay someone to go to a game with me. I shouldn't have to but that's the way it goes.

Radio Chatter:
"What Kendrick got there is called a Little League home run."
- Tom Hamilton in response to Anaheim's Kendrick scoring on an error after hitting a double.