What Was That?

I mean really, Chad Durbin - what was that?

Four runs off three homers in the 8th? That does not a good reliever make! I hope there is some sort of punishment ritual in your little mafia group...

Ubaldo actually wasn't too bad. He did give up 4 but only 1 until the 7th when he gave up 3. They left him in just slightly too long. He did strike out 7. Did you know he averages 9 strikeouts per 9 innings with the Indians? That's pretty awesome - he leads our starters by 2.5. Vinnie Pestano leads the bullpen with 12, if you were wondering.

Our hitting was all over the place today, with no one getting multiple hits but 8 different guys getting at least one.

Asdrubal wasn't in today. He went around telling everyone he was just fine but Manny sat him. They say he'll be in tomorrow, which better be the case because me and OMG are going to the game!

Fukudome was the leadoff tonight with Kipnis following. Both guys got doubles, and Kipnis with an RBI. As you can imagine, they didn't put those doubles TOGETHER so they didn't amount to much. Kipnis also had a base-running error after his double which would have amounted to a run if he had stayed on. Oops!

Santana was third. Have we seen him there yet? Not a bad idea if Asdrubal's out (or slumpy) and Pronk is in. Santana was on when Hafner belted a 2-run dinger (minus Kipnis).

Hafner has 2 homers in his last 2 games and 8 RBI in his last 4 games! Woah! The whole top of the order has been doing pretty well lately. Even with Donald further down the lineup and Asdrubal out, they got all the RBIs tonight.

Nice to see the top of the lineup looking good, with Brantley and Asdrubal gone.

Remember Michael Brantley? He was really good. Like, REALLY good. I can't wait to see him next year...

Donald was down in the 6-spot today. Coming in to the game he had hit 7 in his last 9 at-bats and after tonight it's 8 for the last 12. Wow! He's hitting .311 and I don't think it's a fluke...

Who's going to be the infield next year, then? Because Donald was slated to play 3rd but Hannahan rocked and now Kipnis and Donald are sort of fighting for 2nd. Let's not forget Chisenhall, either. (Valbuena who?) Jim Rosenhaus said "It's a good problem for Manny Acta to have." I agree, I just hope that we can hang on to this depth and make the right choices!

Sweet Lou started and went 1 for 3, and then we got a glimpse of Super Jack pinch hitting. Hi, Jack!

The game could have been a lot better, all-in-all, but we weren't quite hitting Buehrle like we did last time and well...DURBIN!!!

Oh well...going to the game tomorrow where Buehrle is not pitching. Jeanmar (who's been great!) versus Huber. I'll be in the top deck right over the plate. Please oh please oh please don't fall...

Let's hope we can come away with a split. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"He looks like he's chopped some wood in his past."
- Mike Hegan on Jason Kipnis

"It's a good problem for Manny Acta to have - 4 good players for 3 infield positions."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Jason Donald's new role

"Hey may have hit that as high as he did far!"
- Tom Hamilton on Hafner's homer

"Lou Marson put down 5 fingers, which is something I've never seen a catcher have to do."
- Mike Hegan on Jiminez's immense repertoire

"You haven't had that good a year, Alex. No one's trying to hit you."
- Tom Hamilton tells Alex Rios to stop bending out of the way of strikes

"Hope you're enjoying the ambiance of a screechy in-house PA system. Just wanted to give you the ambiance of the ballpark."
- Tom Hamilton

Well, Fukudome

Ha! Too early? Too softball?

Shitty game tonight, Indians. I was stoked to see our new guy tho, Kosuke Fukedome from the Cubs. Here to play right field while Choo is away (Choo says he'll be back August 15!) and while he didn't hit (which was why we got him) at least he played a little right field. Dear God, I hope he doesn't think we play like this every night...

So Carrasco was bad, which is not cool because in June he was our best pitcher. Now he's giving up tons of runs, home runs, and then throwing at Billy Butler's head. Which got him ejected and cleared the benches. But it wasn't very cool of him because...well, Travis Buck and Lonnie Chisenhall can tell you about being hit in the head.


Makes me sad that Carrasco is completely off the rails, because if you recall I was really psyched about him just a month ago. He's gone all Carmona in the head.

Durbin and Hermann had to come in to save him after he gave up 7-yeah-7 runs in 3.1 innings. Then Durbin gave up 1 run and Herman FOUR runs. So that wasn't too good.

Uhm, oh, Chad Durbin threw inside to Melky Cabrera who was crowding the plate (he had hit a grand slam off Carrasco) and then Melky grounded out. Ha ha. Much better than throwing at a guy's head when you're angry at yourself.

Brantley, Asdrubal, Santana and Orlando hit today. Brantley and Santana with doubles even.

Our LOB is out of sight! HAHAHAHA....heh...These pretzels are making me thirsty.

Lou Marson caught tonight. We want to see more of that.

We're still only 2.5 games out of first place, you know. And it's July. So everyone keep moving forward.

We'll see you tomorrow at 7:05, on TV even on WKYC!

Radio Chatter:
"The media thinks that if Boston wants to trade for you, you should automatically go to Boston."
- Tom Hamilton on Hiroki Kuroda turning down Boston's offer

"Fukudome hasn't seen a fastball that slow since he was 12."
- Tom Hamilton

"You gotta make him throw you a strike. He doesn't want to, but you gotta make him."
- Mike Hegan on Royals pitcher Jeff Francis

"If Brantley, Cabrera and Hafner don't hit this team doesn't score any runs."
- Tom Hamilton

Not Shut Out

After not scoring for two games and being completely blown out before that, it was cool to have a game with hits, runs and a close score. Of course, this sort of situation was much cooler earlier in the season where we were bustin' it out in the 8th and 9th inning, but at least there was some Cleveland baseball tonight.

Michael Brantley and Asdrubal Cabrera seriously could not be happier to be back next to each other. They both went 3-for-4 and got all three of tonight's Indians earned runs. Now they totally remind me of Walter and Perry from Home Movies. Michael Brantley belongs at #1 and Asdrubal #2. Orlando at #2...that did not work so well, so end of experiment.

Did you see Asdrubal's home run? Number 12! And then BRANTLEY too!! Brantley has surpassed his 2010 number and Asdrubal has surpassed his 2009 and 2010 combined.


Check out this article by Michael Kramer on The Cleveland Fan, the bit about Orlando Cabrera. Do you think it's time to send our gift horse out to pasture? I would actually like to see one of our farm boys come up and see what's up while the season is still young enough for us to know if they're ready. What's wrong with platooning a young guy with Orlando? He has enough pop left in him to make some cheer-worth appearances but he's leaving a little to be desired at second and lately his bat is doing us no good (although that's not an Orlando-only problem.) Anyway, I wonder why we haven't brought anyone in to dabble at 2nd? Maybe we'll see someone new soon.

Choo got his hit tonight. Not sure how he didn't get his 9th assist tonight but it sure was close. I don't think it was for lack of power on that arm!

Tomlin was the starter and he lost it for himself. I think 6 is a bit much to overcome. Well, for this current team right now. It wasn't a huge loss but it wasn't aces.

Rafael Perez came in and threw TWO scoreless, hitless innings which is pretty impressive for him. Keeping that ERA under 2 still. Durbin came in and shut them down in the 9th. I wonder if Acta throws him out there to bring his ERA down.

So our bats are swinging and our lineup is lining up, and our pitches aren't losing their minds. I'm going to the game tomorrow and so excited to be sitting next to the bullpen. I've never done that in all my years as a fan, not even in Municipal Stadium! I'm starting to explore right field this year...previously I spent a lot of time along the 3rd base line, and in the club seats before that. Right isn't so bad, got some good seat prices out there.

Definitely look for my double-sided "OMG ASDRUBAL!!" foam-board sign!

Oh, and check out this stud muffin we drafted tonight. I hope we see him sometime soon! Ok not too soon because he's a shortstop. If he can play 2nd, sign him up tomorrow!

One more thing - if anyone wants to grab me some Radio Chatter for Tuesday, I'd be eternally grateful!

Radio Chatter:
"Good news, guys! Julie is 24 and still single! But you'd better not dawdle, as pretty as Julie is..."
- Tom Hamilton during the birthday greetings

"If Travis Hafner can hit for the cycle, aaaaanyone can."
- Tom Hamilton on Brantley's performance

"Rosie has reminded me to do a station identification for the first time in about a month. Stephanie Hagel has been barking at us about it for weeks."
- Tom Hamilton

"I tell you what Tom if you saw the way he started you wouldn't think he'd be here in the 8th inning."
- Mike Hegan on Scott Baker's performance

"They've set the table but nobody's clearing it!"
- Mike Hegan on Brantley and Asdrubal's performance

"For the Minnesota Twins, the 8th and 9th innings have become the Bermuda Triangle. It's where victories get lost."
- Tom Hamilton

Can We All Agree Now That Asdrubal is the Best Player On the Team?

I mean seriously, folks - 5 for 5 today with two home runs and 5 RBI? Leads the team with 9 homers and 32 RBI, and leads the league's shortstops in both categories as well. And of course you have this defensive play and this one and this one  and those are just from May.

Here's a lovely article about Asdrubal and his son Meyer, in the form of tonight's wrap-up on Indians.com.

Speaking of Meyer, Asdrubal and his tattoo are responsible for about 75% of the traffic on this blog. Is there anything this dude can't do?!?!

I was at the game today. SO angry that I still haven't made my "OMG ASDRUBAL!" sign yet. Would today have been perfect or what? I wonder how many of you were wondering just that...."did JJ remember to make the 'OMG ASDRUBAL!' sign and bring it along?" No. I didn't. My excuse today was that I was sitting in the middle of a really crowded section and didn't want to piss anyone off. And, I haven't made it yet.

I didn't bring my stupid broom head either, but I did invest in a foam broom from the souvenir shop. Man, I wish it wasn't so TINY. You can't see this thing on television or anything. Sigh. Here's a picture of the broom alongside a long envelope for size perspective.

Despite my lack of sign and stupid tiny foam broom, I did get a chance to explain some baseball to my friend Jess. I tried to explain how there are 2 leagues in the MLB "just like every other sport, you know?" but apparently baseball is the sport she knows the "most" about so she didn't quite get the comparison.

My friend T was also there and it was her first baseball game ever. She lives in Cleveland at the moment but is from Dayton, and had been visiting Dayton this weekend and drove all morning just to join us at the game! And then she cheered for the Tribe! So proud!!! She's about the quietest person I know too, and she was hollerin' right along with me. We agreed that a baseball game is a great outlet for a normally-quiet person. Nobody there knows you and as long as you don't swear, no one's going to complain about your yelling (please don't swear at baseball games, folks. It doesn't become you.)

The heat today was brutal. Just relentless sun. Yes, I am a weather wuss when it comes to going to Tribe games. I prefer not to go when it's freezing or sweltering. Afternoon games are not my favorite. You should SEE my arms...I seem to have missed a few spots with the sunscreen. I did manage to keep my face and ears pretty burn-free, and those are really important areas to keep safe. The hot sun did help clear out our section a bit and allowed us to spread out some. Half of the crowd had a long drive home to Columbus or Cincy and an air-conditioned car was a much better environment than a sweltering 7-2 ballgame.

I got the silliest sunburn. I rolled up my shirt sleeves so the burn ends at my shoulders. I look like I got burnt while getting an x-ray at the dentist's office, wearing that lead smock.

Today there were a bunch of military families at the game, with video greetings from their active-duty soldiers/Marines/sailors on the board. My friends and  I pretty much gave up complaining about the heat after seeing the first greeting. Ugh.

Ok so, game recap. Carrasco pitched 6 innings and was not that impressive. BUT he did only ultimately give up 4 runs and against a normal-caliber pitcher that is small change for the Indians. He also took it like a man and gave us 6 innings, which is how our starters roll now. They also roll by giving up 2 solo homers when they give up homers (like Carrasco did today). In fact, our staff has not given up any 3-run homers or grand slams this year. For his bravery and compliance, Carrasco got the W.

Durbin came in for the 7th and looked fantastic with two strikeouts and a flyout. After the offense gathered up 4 more runs in the bottom of the 7th, Raffi Perez got 3 ground-ball outs in the 8th. Newcomer Josh Judy was rolled out for the 9th (great way to make an easy first appearance!) We were instructed by someone on Twitter that he is to be called "Judge" (as in Judge Judy) so I managed to get a couple of judge jokes out to my emptying section. He looked swell, striking out the first guy he faced. Then he gave up two hits and then was saved by Ezequiel Carrera (a single-inning replacement in center for Brantley) on a super-star catch and got the final guy to fly out.

How are you liking the top of our order? I pointed out their top-of-the-order-ness a few days back but it was a highlight again today. Brantley, Cabrerra and Choo aligned for TEN hits today, two doubles, two homers, two stolen bases and 9 RBI.

Also hitting today were Orlando, Kearns and Hannahan. I knew Kearns couldn't stay under .200 forever! He raised his numbers with a TRIPLE!

Did you notice how most of the hits today went to right field? That's because I was sitting out there I think.

Nice looking defense today. Orlando was really on top of his game after he became a citizen on Thursday and followed that up with American-style lazy-assed errors Friday and Saturday. You saw Carrera's play and Kearns was all "rly!" in the outfield too. I love when guys have to play hard to vie for a job!

As for Reds defense, check this nonsense out. Herb Score always used to say that you'll see something interesting in every game. I would have actually felt a little bad for the Reds if we had won by two. Lucky for all of those goobers involved in that play that we won by 8 instead!

Hey, good news! This game was so delicious that I had to experience it twice. After a lovely dinner with my ladies at Flannagan's and some custard at East Coast in Lyndhurst, I just could not resist hearing what Hammy and Hegan had to say. So, I tended to my sun burn then sat back and listened to the audio archive. So you get a heapin' helpin' of Radio Chatter today, even though I said I wasn't going to have anything.

Did anyone take my advice and eschew television for the radio broadcast today? I hope someone did - it's worth it!

Ok so the next 3 games are against Boston. You remember Boston, right? Last time we saw them we swept them and left them at 0-6. Now all of a sudden they are dancing around 2nd in the AL East. Hmm. Well how about this? When we first saw the White Sox they kicked our ass, and then dropped to 10 games behind us in the standings and still kicked our ass. So standings are apparently meaningless. We just need to kick the Red Sox asses like we did before.

I'm thinking of trying to get someone to go out to the game with me Monday or Tuesday, since I know how awful Boston-fan-heavy these games can be. I think the Indians can benefit from my hollerin'. I think I shall cast that net on Facebook and see if I catch any more fishfans. Or maybe I'll just go by myself. I do have a free ticket voucher that expires at the end of May.

Radio Chatter:
"It looked like a drill that went bad."
- Mike Hegan on the weird double steal/errors in the bottom of the 1st.

"The last time I saw a play like that was at Bleser Park in Avon Lake when [my son] Nick was 8. Little league."
- Tom Hamilton on the weird double steal/errors in the bottom of the 1st.

"Volquez looks like he's wearing a hat that is two sizes too small for his head. Like those kids wore in the Little Rascals. He has to keep tugging and pulling to keep it on. [...] Who the heck is the equipment manager for the Reds? Give the guy a bigger hat!"
- Tom Hamilton

"Michael Brantley has had two hits today that haven't gone 60 feet."
- Tom Hamilton

"Volquez says 'let's go through the signs again' and [Reds catcher] Hernandez says 'you only have 3 pitches.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"The Indians lead it 6-1 and [Reds manager] Dusty Baker is going to the mound to choke Volquez."
- Tom Hamilton

"Another broken belt. I'll have to ask [equipment manager] Tony Amato what the budget for belts is. Asdrubal has exceeded it."
- Tom Hamilton on Asdrubal's second busted belt this weekend

"Oh by the way, on our daily update of oblique injuries, on which we have someone to add every day..."
- Tom Hamilton on the latest injury for the Twins

"When you're getting over 2 baserunners an inning, you're going to score some runs."
- Tom Hamilton's great insight

"First base is open and that didn't look accidental."
- Tom Hamilton on Asdrubal nearly getting hit by a pitch in the 8th

"Brandon has not tortured the Indians this weekend like he normally does."
- Tom Hamilton

"What's really amazing about the Indians on the home portion of this schedule...they've lost four games, they've only lost to two teams [Chicago and Tampa]."
- Tom Hamilton

"Good attempt by Edgar Renteria who five years ago would have made that play."
- Tom Hamilton

"Brandon Phillips...[laughing] he went to tag Orlando Cabrera who had stopped [running to second] and instead they high-fived each other and that completed the tag!"
- Tom Hamilton

"You knew this club was better, but nobody - nobody - foresaw a 29 and 15 record. As Herb used to say, that's why you play the game. Everybody and their brother can make a prediction and 99.9% of the people who make predictions don't have anything at stake so it's easy to predict."
- Tom Hamilton

"Hernandez just kind of lumbering into third [...] Is Ramon Hernandez hurt?"
"I just think Ramon doesn't run too good. He wasn't going to score, Tom. He wasn't going to try down 8 runs."
- Tom Hamilton and Mike Hegan in the 9th

Are We Done With Good Pitching Yet?

Seriously, because I've about had it. But that's not too positive now, is it?

Well, we did get a double, a triple and a homer off one of the best staffs in baseball. We also ALLLLLMOST all got hits, except for LaPorta which is weird because he's been hot.

Ten hits in all, so not bad. Remember that guy I was telling you about, Asdrubal Cabrera? Well now he's tied for #1 in homers on the team with 6. He also leads the team in triples with TWO. I wonder how many dudes haven't even gotten one triple in their whole career? I bet a lot. Well Asdrubal has TWO before June! He also got another RBI (duh).

Shelley Duncan got a hit! He was having a bit of a slump. He's in for Brantley who's in for Sizemore, who is doing just fine thanks.

Hey, Durbin and Smith came in today and neither gave up any runs. Durbin didn't even give up a hit! Nice to see those guys getting more reliable every time they come out.

In fact, Smith did one of those fake-out pickoffs today. AWESOME! Rick at Waiting For Next Year tweeted "More surprising- that the fake to third go to first pick-off move worked, or that the Tribe weren't the ones to fall for it?" HA!

I guess today we had our biggest crowd at home since the opener, just over 18k. One good thing about the unemployment rate in Cleveland, perhaps? However it works, I'm glad it works. I always worry about afternoon games being sparse.

Some of us have to work, tho, like me. So I'll cut this short. See you tomorrow at 7 for hopefully a good old-fashioned Mariner Whoopin'.

Radio Chatter:
"Doug Jones used to do that, former Indians pitcher. Slow, slower and slowest."
- Mike Hegan

Mike Hegan keeps his spring training scorecards handy just in case he needs to reference them during the regular season.

"...in downtown You Gotta Be Sh*ttin' Me..."
- Tom Bodet in a new Motel 6 commercial

"OUT AT SECOND IS CABRERA! How in the world can you get picked off at second down 5 to 3?!"
- Tom Hamilton shares his disappointment with Orlando Cabrera

"...then again, Palmeiro didn't do anything he just took somebody else's vitamin shot. There's a story to that but we all have families to feed."
- Tom Hamilton regarding Rafael Palmeiro's alleged steroids use

"Albert Pujols has made more news for hugging Joe Strauss than for swinging his bat."
- Tom Hamilton regarding recent Albert Pujols news

"As-lando Cabrera has his second double of the day..."
- Tom Hamilton's quick save

Lots of Baseball From The O-Town

Even though we knew it was going to be another low-scorer, there was a surprising amount of excitement from today's game.

The first exciting thing was that it was an afternoon game, and we can all go to bed at a decent time tonight. Yay! Although it turns out that a 3PM game is sort of hard to work with when it comes to walking the dog and eating dinner and going to the park. I kept having to go from radio to Walkman to car stereo to TV to Walkman to car...and I totally missed the last inning. Blah. But, I did catch the TV wrap-up, and most of the exciting plays so it was all good.


Jeanmar Gomez didn't do too bad for his 4th time out. He gave up 6 hits but only one run. It was rather unfortunate that he only went 5.1 innings, tho, as the game went 12 innings and we used six relievers. Smith, R. Perez, Pestano, Sipp, Durbin, C. Perez. Do we have anyone else? I wonder if Masterson will give us 9 tomorrow? He's done everything else....why not?


My two least favorite pitchers, Smith and Durbin (hey, someone's gotta be at the bottom, right?) were mighty impressive today. Did you see Smith's super awesome defensive play? Durbin went for 2 strong innings late in the game (innings 10 and 11) and held tight, which is exactly what we needed. And he got himself a win.


Chris Perez actually got himself jammed up, put some guys on base, gave up some hits, gave up a RUN...and thanks to a couple of insurance runs, it all worked out in the end. And he got his 9th save, putting him in second place in the league behind Mariano Rivera.

Guess who had an awesome night? ASDRUBAL! He went 2 for 5 and got 2 RBI, plus made some sweet plays including a bare-handed grab and putout in the 5th.

You know who had an even more awesome night? LOOOUUUUU Marson! Three hits and an RBI, one of those hits being a TRIPLE, I shit you not. That guy always does something interesting when he gets in a game. I suspect you have no choice but to be memorable if you're a backup catcher.

How 'bout Supermanahan? Got the winning-tying-winning RBI today! Don't forget to vote for Jack!

Orlando Cabrera has an 8-game hitting streak.

Good stuff from the outfield today, too. Brantley had a great back-to-the-plate catch and Choo held a guy at third. Respect!

I'm glad we're done with Oakland. Wish we were done with the west coast but it is not to be. Going to be 3 more hard ones against the Angels, but we came out of this one with a series win. I'm ready to see a team with some bad pitching and have our guys get a bunch of runs again. When are we going to see some shitty pitching again? Anyone know?

Since I wasn't around for most of today's game, I didn't get any good Radio Chatter, sorry. I'll try to have extra good stuff tomorrow.

See you tomorrow for another LATE one!

Truly a Team Effort

Man, don't you wish it was September 1st and not May 1st? We'd need only 30 more days of avoiding injuries, 30 more days of other teams chasing us (heck we may even have clinched by now!), 30 more days to stay over .500, 30 more days to hold on to this energy and excitement. 30 more days until we won the World Series.

Then again, there'd only be 30 more days of regular-season baseball and I'd be pretty sad. Wishing it were September already is sort of like wishing that it was Christmas every day, and we all know how that turns out, so I will just be happy that however this season ends up, there are still 4 more months of baseball to look forward to.

Today was a very special day for me because the game was on WKYC, and this was the first time since Opening Day and the last time until June 10 that I'll get to see a game on my new TV while listening to my radio and reading the Twitter. To me that is almost as good as being at the game, except a lot cheaper and I don't have to beg anyone to join me. And I get to listen to the radio.

I did participate in the Twitter today, although I am not exactly sure how it works. Or rather I know how it works but I don't know the etiquette or what's going on. Super sad for someone who works for The Internet, huh? I am sort of wondering why we're not on IRC instead but uhm, I am showing my age. Turns out some of you have contacted me via Twitter but I didn't know until I got the Twitter app for my iPod Touch and clicked the little "@" icon. So, sorry if you were expecting me to react but I didn't. I will check my uh...not-mailbox more often. However, all of the people I follow are pretty cool to follow during a game, so it definitely adds to the whole TV+Radio+Couch experience. Here's my Twitter page if you'd like to see who I'm following.

Even though I am not a fan of numbers and math, here are some numbers for you:

• The only Indians pitchers to get 5 wins in April have been Bob Lemon, Greg Swindell, Cliff Lee and Justin Masterson. Kid is in good company.
• The Indians have swept 5 of 9 series so far this year. They swept 4 series total last year.
• We have won 13 straight games at Progressive Field, the most since 1996. 
• The last time we started 12-2 at home was 1941 (which is a stat from before we were 13-2 at home, so I'm not sure if it still holds up or what)
• Our pitchers have only given up 18 home runs this year while we have hit 34 (27 of them at home).
• There have been 3 Cabreras starting in each of the last 6 games.
• Carlos Santana may be hitting .191 but he co-leads the team with 17 RBI (along with Dos Cabreras)
• Rafael Perez has a 0.00 ERA still, after 11 innings pitched.
• In the AL, the Indians are:
• 1st in wins
• 1st in runs scored
• 2nd in batting average
• 3rd in home runs
• 3rd in hits
• 3rd in ERA
• 3rd in fewest home runs given
• 4th in fielding %
• Tied for 2nd fewest errors

That's all pretty cool. All that AND we have seen some exciting baseball. Twenty-seven exciting baseball games, to be exact. Today was no exception!

Today, Masterson didn't get his 6th win but he didn't get a loss, and he gave us 7 innings. Plus, he only gave up two runs keeping his ERA at a SUPER IMPRESSIVE 2.25. You know who got the win? Chad Durbin. I'm not Durbin's biggest fan but Nick Camino (@CaminoTribe) pointed out that he's come on with guys on base 3 times this year and did ok. Look at me throwing Twitter names out there. Yeah dawg. Anyway, Durbin did ok and we were able to put him back on the shelf after just one inning.

Chris Perez came in for his 7th save and it actually looked dicey for a second. You know, that old familiar feeling of "I'm sure we'll find a way to blow it." But, I assured my friend that the game would be over by 4:30 so we could get to dinner early, and by golly, I was right! And dinner was good!

There was a little bit of on-the-sly beaning today. Brantley in the 4th, Santiago in the 5th, then the warning to both teams. Then Miguel Cabrera got beaned in the 8th and he was not happy, sort of like a moose getting hit with a rubber bullet, but no one got thrown out because really, we don't need to hit you to prove a point, bro. The animosity was over in the 5th.

Shelley Duncan got hit in the bottom of the 8th, but it was clearly not intentional. Hamilton and Hegan put it out there that it may have been an "Academy Award performance" of being clipped in the hand. Actually, I hope it really did hurt a lot less than he made it out to be, because our Shelley is key to this team right now while Pronk is out. Did you see him truckin' around 3rd and tumbling elbow-first into home to get the go-ahead run? Oh my GOD it was awesome! That takes some dedication to fall over the plate like that and he nailed it for the team. For the city. We should give him a medal, for serious. After being "hit" and then falling down like that I really hope he's good to go next time we need him. We need him all the time!

You know who got 2 hits apiece today? Our 6-7-8 batters (don't worry - so did CHOOOO!) So our 6-7-8 guys (OCab - Brantley - LaPorta) get 6 hits and 5 RBI. Our starter gets 10 ground outs with a 5-4-3 double play. Our second reliever gets the win. Our closer gets a save.  I got to eat at Olive Garden and my friends paid AND drove. IT WAS TRULY A TEAM EFFORT!

We've all got tomorrow off, so get some rest because we're on the west coast until further notice (or next Tuesday). Resist the urge to give a shit about the NBA playoffs this week as that might take time away from following an interesting sport. When someone tries to talk to you about basketball playoffs, look at them as if you are Miguel Cabrera and you just got hit by a pitch and you are highly annoyed. And possibly drunk.

Radio Chatter:
"How many times have we said 'if the Indians could juuuust have a good start to the season...'? I think 18 and 8 is a great start!"
- Tom Hamilton

"I don't know how people can stick their hands out for a ball like that. You might get a free baseball but you'll spend thousands at the orthopedic surgeon to get your fingers re-attached."
- Tom Hamilton regarding a laser Santana foul ball

"A fan in the suites reached out and made a one-handed grab. Everyone is playing defense today at Progressive Field! The good news is that he didn't spill any of his diet Pepsi. The fans below him appreciate it."
- Tom Hamilton

"Will Rhymes gave it a ride, except it was Will Rhymes and not Miguel Cabrera so it's still 5-3."
- Tom Hamilton

Rolling Over the Royals

As I was watching the game tonight (yeah, watching! On TV...) I thought "wow, this was once us. This coulda been us this year, too." I remember just last week when the Royals were a threat to us, with their good pitching, good fielding and good hitting. I said we just needed to win with our bullpen and I was wrong. They got us 2 out of 4 and got pretty close to us in first place.

Just a week later it appears that the Royals are falling apart (I don't follow the Royals well enough to know if this is true) and that's the sort of thing Indians fans are used to with our club. One week we're unstoppable and the next we can't get the bat on the ball, or can't get a guy out. The team that was shaking at the site of us is hitting our starters out of the park and all over the grass.

Instead of us being that team that gets beaten up by surprise, we are that team that comes back from a so-so road trip and whoops on anyone who crosses our threshold.

Last night it was homers and tonight there wasn't a homer in sight (for the Good Guys, at least) but we still managed to score 7 runs and it was beau-ti-ful!

You know who got a hit? EVERYBODY got a hit! Woohoo! I should start a "thing" where maybe I put up an "icon" for every time the entire team hits. That might be fun. Just more things to do...

Shelley Duncan was in for LaPorta at first today instead of Santana, and Marson was catching. Hmmm...did Manny finally decide that Santana wasn't working out as our cleanup guy just now? Just so you know, Duncan batted 4th and Hafner batted 5th. L-O-L GO SHELLY DUNCAN YOU BEAUTIFUL OAF! I shouldn't call him an oaf...Jhonny was an oaf. But look how he wears his batting helmet. I don't know why I think he's like one of the kids from "Ed, Edd and Eddy" (the one with the hat). Actually dude got some AIR tonight over at first, hopping up to rob someone of a single. Yeah buddy!

Once again I'll say how NICE it is to have a productive bench. One guy not doing so well? No prob, we've got a Band-Aid for him.

Smacked a lot of doubles tonight. Not only did Duncan get one but so did Orlando (a 3-run double, at that!), Sizemore and CHOOOO. Man, Sizemore has SEVEN doubles now and only 30-some at bats.

Choo picked up a stolen base and so did our man-of-the-week, Jack Hannahan.

Say, how about that Josh Tomlin? He gave up two solo homers but that wasn't until after we'd scored 6 runs for him in the first. So maybe he was trying out some new special sauce and it didn't work out for him. But no worries - he got win number 4 and broke his own record of being the only pitcher in team history to pitch 5+ innings in his first (now) 17 starts. He also led us to our 9th straight win at home. It's maybe also the 30th day he's gone without washing his socks or something...lots of streaks there.

My brother pointed me to the Facebook page of the "Defend Cleveland Show" which is a sports talk show on WRUW, Monday mornings (more info on the Facebook page!) Anyway, I just Liked them, myself. You should too. Lots of positive stuff to say about the Tribe. Apparently the guy, Mike, works at the Beachland if you'd ever like to avoid a show by talking Cleveland sports.

Anyway, Mike had this to say about Josh Tomlin earlier this month:

"How is it possible to not love and root for Josh Tomlin? He's like a summation of John Hughes-ian characters, it's like he's both Anthony Michael Hall and Emilio Esetevez in "Breakfast Club" Sure, he was the jock, but no one ever thought he was going to win anything since he wasn't the best on the team and was so busy studying from taking all honors classes."

Ha!

Raffi Perez still has an 0.00 ERA. We won't talk about Joe Smith and Chad Durbin because this is a positive blog. Well I will say this - it was nice that we had a 5-run lead so Joe Smith and Chad Durbin could get a chance to pitch. End.

So what do you think about tomorrow? Fausto versus Kyle Davies. Both dudes had bad last outings. Similar ERAs and W/L. I say Tribe, hands down.

OH, speaking of SWEEP...I got an email back from the Indians (promptly, I might add) about brooms at the stadium. They are forbidden but you can bring a broom head or buy a foam broom. So I'm glad I didn't lug a whole broom out there with me. You might want to invest in a foam broom this season, really, because we might be sweeping a lot at home.

Another thing...There are signs on the back of the bathroom stalls sponsored by the Sewer District and they are headlined "Thank You For Your Business" with a cheeky-looking water droplet beneath. Get it? I found it funny every time I visited after drinking my half gallon of Diet Dr Pepper but I kept forgetting to tell people. Now you know.

And, speaking of cheeky...why can't I come up with a good Royals-Royal Wedding joke for tomorrow's headline? Somebody...help!

I didn't hear any WTAM at all tonight so I don't have one bit of Radio Chatter at all. Sorry!

Still on a Roll

Short post tonight, I am dead tired. Gotta get to bed so I can make it to tomorrow's game!

I thought this blog would be a bit of a challenge...well maybe not a challenge because I honestly can find fun and excitement in any game despite the score. But I did think it would be more of a lesson for others not to be so down on the Indians and this young team, and to help disgruntled fans learn to love baseball again.

So far, it's been a breeze. Even the first two games of the season - which we lost - were exciting as heck. We did score 10 runs in the first game, after all! Then again, after my assertions last year that THIS year would be a team to see, I shouldn't be surprised now should I? This blog probably would have been more meaningful last year, at least topic-wise. This year, it seems more like a diary of How My Team Made The Playoffs. So far.

Anyway, you heard it didn't you? Another game with fan-friggin-tastic pitching and even better hitting. Like, guys teeing off as if it were batting practice.

Hey guess who got a hit? A home run, even? CHOOO! That's who. LIKE! You know who else got a home run? Orlando Cabrera. Haven't heard from that cat in a few games but the bitch is back!

Hafner had a superb afternoon, going 3 for 4 with a double. I swear he really digs being at home. Home games must be best for big names like him don't you think?

Everyone got a hit today aside from Brantley, which...whatever. He's still hitting over .300!

Speaking of Brantley, Grady might possibly be back for Sunday's game. He was in the house today. If he makes it into the game, I will be there to welcome him back. Yay me!

Got to see my man SIPP! today with another scoreless 8th. Still rockin' the 0.00 ERA. And you know how many runs Chad Durbin gave up? None.

I bought some foam board and some "poster markers" to make my sign. It was really windy when I left the store with the board in my hand and I thought "wow this is the worst day ever to buy foam board." Now I see that the forecast for tomorrow simply says WINDY (italicized even) so I'm not sure if it's the right day to debut a sign made out of foam board. What if it flies away from me? What if it makes me fall over? Plus, I am too tired to make a sign right now, and I want to do it right. Choices, choices. What if I just bring a broom? (without a handle, of course)

I was only able to listen to the game in the background today, so I don't have any Radio Chatter for you. However, the always astute Scott Cabrera was able to snap this screen shot off the TV today and I will leave you with it, without comment.

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.