Yan Gomes Hit A Home Run

And that's about all that happened in this game...

Well, ok - Gomes also got a double, and extended his hitting streak to 12. He's creeping towards .300, with a batting average of .286. His slugging for August so far is .727. Also:

Jason Kipnis went 3 for 4, which is weird because for most of the game we only had 3 hits total. But the team ended up with 7 hits, of which Kipnis had 3.

The team only scored 3 runs - and 2 of them belonged to Ryan Raburn! Who was in to pinch hit! For Brantley - nooooooooooooooooooo! He was limping a bit, I hear told. Say a little prayer.

Oh, David Murphy was up in the 2-spot, which is still up for grabs. Not a bad place for him, I say. And while he's warm, he'd be wasted down at the end of the lineup when the pitcher's gotta bat. Tonight he got a single. Didn't pay off or anything but he has a 4-game hitting streak and 12 hits in his last 10 games!

Whatever witchery they tried to pull on him last night didn't get Murphy down for long. AMEN!

Danny Salazar gave up two multi-run homers and that sucked and now he's in AAA. And Josh Tomlin is in the 'pen because he's still recuperating from Tommy John surgery. And Carlos Carrasco is probably going to be your next starter.

And the Tribe announced they are going to make a bunch of improvements to Progressive Field! I am down with it! I heard they're going to get rid of the right field upper deck and open up more of the skyline. And I heard Coors Field did something like that and turned the right field area into a party deck, which seems to be a popular way to watch the game nowadays. So that's cool! Anything to bring more fans out!

Tomorrow is the final game against the Reds. Maybe they won't have such a crazy good pitcher for once? Remember, we beat them 7-2 in the first game! It'll be our tiger TJ House versus RHP 3.89. Anything can happen!

No Radio Chatter. But Indians Twitter dude @CleRallyChicken and his wife had a baby during the game and they gave her this tiny foam finger and now I'm smitten.

Here's Chicken Little! Go @Indians! pic.twitter.com/cHPFs8pBqp
— Cody the Chicken (@CLERallyChicken) August 7, 2014

"Even The Sky Is Crying"

Even the sky is crying at this game.
— John J. Adams (@TribeDrummer) August 6, 2014

Cripes! Well you know a game is a real downer if it managed to bum out John Adams!

The box score is sad. The 5 hits we got were sad. The 9 runs we gave up are sad. Our 2 little runs are sad. David Murphy getting tricked in to being out at third was sad. Ending the game on a review was sad. Dammit...John Adams is sad!

But hey - we know how to lose, right? We've lost uhm....half of the games this year. It's just extra sad to win 4 in a row then lose one in a pathetic fashion right before the team goes away for a week. And it's raining.

Josh Tomlin did not have a very last-time-we-saw-Josh-Tomlin night. He only made it 4 innings before we'd seen enough. Five runs scored off 8 hits. He did strike out 5! But it took him 82 pitches to get that far, too. But you got to learn to live with what you got.

So since the Tribe wasn't hitting, it seemed, and the Reds had us by 5 runs by the time Tomlin was out, they just left Carrasco in there as "the second pitcher." It didn't feel like relief really since he was going to be the only one and in there for so long. Just the guy who is going to get us through to the end of this game. 

But hey, I do like that Carrasco can just go in there and be used for 4 innings and nobody cares that he gave up 3 runs because - hey, innings.

Carrasco was sleepy tired by the middle of the 9th, so The Boy Pitcher Kyle Crockett came out to get the last two batters. Cookie had left some men on base, because 4+ innings is a lot. Someone hit a ball off Crockett that confused poor David Murphy and I think some 17 men scored. But then one was out at the plate. Something like that. It was over by then, man.

Michael Brantley (.323) got a hit! It keeps his hitting streak alive at 6 but ends his streak of consecutive multi-hit games. SO WHAT! Totally LOB, though. All by his lonesome. He did get an RBI.

Gomes and Aviles both had doubles, and Gomes' was an RBI double. It was on that play that this shit happened.



 So very Cleveland of us.

David Murphy had a bad game but he did get a hit. Well that's how he got to third, and was tricked. Dirty tricksters.

I wonder if we'll see this any more in other games? Now that we know that the play can't be stopped until it's over or something. Everything I've seen says the umpires were right, it's the rules that are dumb. So yeah...expect the Yankees to be writing that one down.

Let's hope that the next two games, the Tribe is filled with revenge anger! I mean, nobody makes David Murphy look like a boob! He's such a good guy! We will run away with 2!!

It'll be 7:10 tomorrow, with  Danny Salazar facing anyone but Johnny Cueto (bonus - RHP!) Excited to see Salazar again now that we are pretty sure he's a good MLB pitcher. And - REVENGE!!!

I didn't get any Radio Chatter today but I did get some Sunday, forgetting that I don't do blogs on Sunday anymore. So - enjoy!

Radio Chatter:
"The ball is really small today, Rosie."
"There's only one of them out there at a time."
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus on the aftermath of "Hammy Weekend"

"These crazy mascots get together, the gloves come off!"
- Tom Hamilton on the mascot party

"Of course, 101 pitches in Japan would be like, eh, two-thirds of the way home."
- Tom Hamilton

"I'm sure the Yankees would say 'Look, we spoke with God and God said this must change.'"
- Tom Hamilton on when things don't go the Yankees' way

"How did we get here? Most of us by car."
- Tom Hamilton is about to give the recap in the 10th

"That one got him in the right biscuit. The trainer waved him off from the dugout. 'I'm not coming out there for that.'"
- Tom Hamilton

How To Get To Homer. D'oh!

The Tribe keeps the Ohio Cup! We split the season series but the Tribe is ahead 44-41 since 1997 so we win the tie breaker. Uh...cool?

So, I kid you not - the Indians had a boring game today. They only scored in one inning, they didn't hit any home runs, they struck out 10 times. Not even everybody got a hit!

But that 4th inning, man - that was a whole baseball game right there! And in fact the "game" didn't start until after 2 outs in the 4th inning. Just...HOW COOL WAS THAT?!

We'll get to that 4th inning in a second, first let's talk about pitching.

Did you see the pitching box score today? It's a good one:

Scott Kazmir had a "quality plus" start (my term!) giving up just 1 run in 7 innings. As you can see by his ERA, in his three previous starts he gave up 2 runs in 5 innings, 5 runs in 3 innings and 4 runs in 5 innings. He actually had 2 quality starts before that but this is by far his best game, with 7 innings being the longest he's gone all year and only the second time he held the opposition to 1 run.

We've gone through #1 and #2 in our rotation here in 2 days, and they've only given up 2 runs combined. Let's keep this up!

Also did you notice that only TWO guys had to come out in relief? And they gave up a combined NONE runs?? Hagadone had a great outing after a series of 3 craptacular outings (with one fine outing smashed in there). If he's back on some sort of upward swing, this is the beginning!

Albers gave up a run against Cincy the other day, but he held strong here throwing only 12 pitches to get the Reds out 1-2-3 to close out the game.

In addition to the nice pitching, the team had some nice fielding with 2 double plays and a fancy catch in the outfield by Bourn. Surely you know what I'm talking about now when I said I was all bored with Bourn yesterday after just getting 1 hit in the game and not making any cool plays. Today he went 2 for 5 with a double and had a cool play and all is right with the world! He also got 2 RBI because the guys at the bottom of the lineup were hitting too, so things are SUPER right!

Kipnis got in there and contributed today after a crazy-long drought. Ugh, I hate when that kid isn't doing well! I'm seeing a lot more "We Are All Kipnises" shirts at the park this season, so maybe he'll start getting inspired again. He went 1 for 5 with a run scored.

Asdrubal was a key player in the big inning today. He led off and got hit by a pitch. The next two guys got out, but Cabby made it to second and then came around to score when Brantley got a single. Later in the inning he got his team-leading 18th double and his 23rd RBI! He ended up not doing anything else in the game, but really neither did anyone else!

Like Nick Swisher, for example - he actually went 0 for 4. I am starting to think the New Dad High is well past him and he's now on New Dad Crash. Hopefully they give that dude a night off here, I think he needs a nap.

Do you think Carlos Santana got on base today? Of course he got on base today! He went 1 for 4 and came around to score! I won't mention that he struck out 3 times, because this is a classy joint.

Mark Reynolds is holding on by his fingernails on the edge of the Slumpville Cliff. Today he managed just 1 hit and I accidentally just learned that he leads the team in strikeouts. Nooooo! But hey, 1 hit is better than no hits, so at least he's not sliding back down!

Cousin Michael was getting all sorts of things done today. Run, hit, RBI, walk, stolen base. No strikeouts, of course. That sort of line for a game is exactly the sort of line a guy name Dr. Smooth should have. Can you dig it?

Yan Gomes...boy, he really is making a good case for himself to be our new starting catcher. Three for our today - are you kidding me?!

Not kidding! Aaaaaah!

I can't believe he only got 1 RBI on the night. Of course, it was a 2-out RBI (as were all of tonight's RBI). According to Tom Hamilton, 45% of our runs this year have come on 2 outs. That's amazing!

Ryan Raburn is apparently injured. Eep! Says he went out with a leg injury after his RBI double and run scored in the 4th. We don't need our depth to be falling apart here - get better, Raburn!

Here's an interesting fact - Stubbs, Reynolds and Brantley have the most games played at 52. The team has played 53 games. They play more than Asdrubal! That's pretty impressive especially for Reynolds as "the designated hitter." Brantley I can see, because he's hard to replace. Stubbs I guess got to play more since Bourn was out. But it shows how solid they are at the plate if they're always getting called in to bat even when they have the night off. Go Stubbs!

It's pretty weird how boring this wrapup is for such an exciting game. Really the highlight was the pitching! And of course scoring 7 dang runs with 2 outs in the 4th inning! It's always something with these guys, huh?

In other news today, the Facebook page Tom Hamilton Has The Best Homerun Call In All Of Baseball got its stuff taken down by Facebook today as the MLB came a'callin. Argh! It was sort of inevitable considering he got pulled off YouTube before (they just really don't like their stuff being used without that dang written consent), but still it's super sad. The guy that runs it is trying to get said written consent from the MLB so keep your fingers crossed!

In the meantime, if he can't get his videos back he hopes to turn the page in to a Hammy appreciation/discussion page and I hope that everyone who reads here is the sort of person who can get in to a Hammy appreciation/discussion page so hie yourself over there and say things!

Tomorrow the Rays come to town for dollar dogs and fireworks. It's gonna be crazy! Apparently the Rays are super good (albeit in 4th place?) and have won 5 in a row, so the Tribe needs to play spoiler to that mess. But with 20,000+ fans showing up and some juice in our bats the prognosis is good for mowin' em down!

It'll be our main man Corey Kluber tomorrow versus LHP 2.21. A guy with no losses and a low ERA? Sweet! Close enough to a Cy Young winner so bring him on!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Two outs, an 0-2 count - of course they score. It's what they do!"
- Jim Rosenhaus

"The night goes much faster when the Indians are winning."
- Tom Hamilton

"The executives at Fox television would pass out if there was an all-Ohio World Series."
- Tom Hamilton

"To play the game the way Brandon Philips plays it, it's fun."
- Tom Hamilton

Did Somebody Say WISH?

Giambi Jambi

I can't believe no one has made a Giambi Jambi image before (aside from this false start) but here you have it. I made a wish today at the ballpark, that Jason Giambi wouldn't be so terrible, and he granted my wish by getting a huge 3-run homer that ultimately won the game. It was indeed the thing I least expected - my reaction was all:

The secret word is "GONE!"

I'm still not a huge fan of the dude but my friend pointed out that we've got to trust Terry Francona and that's true - he's forgotten more about baseball than I'll ever know. So if Terry Francona puts in Jason Giambi instead of Gomes or Aviles or his mom, then we've got to assume that Jason Giambi is not as bad as I think he is and he can do stuff like what he did tonight all the time.

Tonight's real hero wasn't Giambi though, I don't think. It was Justin Masterson who dug deep and held those hot-hitting Reds to just 1 run in 6 innings. They got the bases loaded in the 6th with no outs and they got NO RUNS off him. That's right! No runs on bases loaded with no outs! All they got from him was a solo homer in the first. Masterson left with 7 strikeouts and just 4 hits. Tom Hamilton wondered if getting out of that inning would be a turning point for the team - perhaps!!

We got to see all the best on the mound today. After Masterson was Cody Allen who had a 1-2-3 inning, striking out 2. Then was Joe Smith, who had to face the middle of that Reds order and did so with aplomb, striking out Votto and then getting a ground out and a fly out after Phillips singled.

Then came Vinnie, who is set up for quite a show now that he's the official temporary closer. Not only does he still sprint out of the pen but they play a video montage of him being awesome and he warms up to Pantera's "Walk" which can only be described as "fuckin' a." It really pumps up the crowd but dang was that a tense 3 outs. Would he be ok? Can he get over 90 MPH? I'll admit that I was watching his warmup intensely and his last two warmup pitches were cr-ap. I think he scared himself, really.

He ended up doing just fine though - and I think sort of surprising himself. Well first he gave up a solo homer which just sucked. But the guy straightened himself up and threw nothing over 91 MPH - twice he threw under 80! - and got the next 3 guys out to end the game. I'm pretty sure all 18,000 of us breathed a collective sigh of relief. Vinnie is back! (or at least good enough)

Gotta work on that propensity for our closers to give up homers but hey if you're going to start somewhere, I'll give a solo homer in a 5-1 game. Work that out for next time though, yeesh.

Our hitters got a lot done today on just 9 hits. And they only had 1 hit going in to the 4th inning. I thought it might be a boring game. I was wrong!

Boy were there a lot of Reds fans there tonight. Every time I sit in decent seats, I am surrounded by fans of the other team. I saw the Reds last year too, right behind the plate, surrounded by Reds fans. I didn't run into many of them when I was up in the mezzanine or in the upper deck! (This is the 4th time I've seen the Reds in Cleveland now). At least Reds fans seem pretty polite. And it's not as offensive to have so many of them there because you figure most of them are actually from Cincy or Columbus - unlike all of those Boston and New York fans who show up from Parma and Ashtabula.

Anyway, the hitters got off to a slow start but they cranked it up in the 4th, ending up with 9 hits.

Michael Bourn wasn't much of a difference-maker today, oddly enough. Yes he went 1 for 4 but it's to the point where I expect a lot more from him. A stolen base, multiple hits, a fantastic play in the field. Don't get me wrong, I am over the moon about this guy being on our team and the year he's having - but that's why I can be disappointed in a 1 for 4 game!

Kipnis is back to being out of it again. He went 0 for 3 with a walk. He was solid in the field, however - no bad throws or missed balls.

Asdrubal was a big difference maker today, though! He went 2 for 4 with one double, and came around to score both times he got on base. Of course, he did strike out  with the bases loaded in the 7th and that about killed me, but I take what I can get.

Some girls sitting next to us admired OMG ASDRUBAL!! today. The one said he was her favorite player. From what I've noticed, it seems like Asdrubal is turning in to a favorite amongst the ladies at The Prog, which is weird because he's a bit durpy looking. Although I don't put it past hardcore lady Tribe fans to swoon over a guy who plays as well as Droobs. You'll overlook inverted teeth for a guy who can turn an un-assisted triple play!

Swisher had a weird night. He committed a fielding error and also came up short while running the bases. But he ended up hitting really well, also going 2 for 4 like Asdrubal, with a run scored and an RBI double.

I've already told you about Giambi. I'm not going to gush too long. I made him a special graphic, all right?! Other than his big homer he also got a double, which would have been an RBI double had Swisher had the hustle. In fact, he almost hit another homer way past the right field pole, but on the wrong side. Oh, he also tried to steal third, got caught and ended the inning. So yeah.

I'm still waiting to be completely impressed by Giambi. I am only now slightly amused.

Carlos Santana was on base again today.

He went 1 for 3 with a single and a walk, but didn't get anywhere with them. He also hit a ball off his knee and it looked terrible. But this kid is made of rock, it seems.

Mark Reynolds has shaved his beard. He also got himself a solo homer in the 3rd to tie the game! He hasn't hit a homer for 10 days, and before that 10 more days. My friend and I are hoping that the beard shaving and homer combo signifies some resurgence of the guy who so impressed us in April. He's off to a good start!

Neither Brantley nor Stubbs got hits tonight, which is surprising because they are solid. Tonight it was all the middle of the order, really. Hopefully the bottom will be on board tomorrow!

I don't have anything interesting to tell you about food or the ballpark today. It was hot and sticky that's for sure. The announcer guy Ryan was wearing this shirt and we were coveting it, but not coveting it $35 worth. I don't think I like section 128, it's pretty hard to see the batter from way down the baseline. But hey, free tickets - they got the job done well enough!

Oh, I do have one interesting thing for you: Somebody must have wished that Trevor Bauer made another rap song, because he did. It's called "From The Gutter to the Grail" and you can listen to it here and read a little about it. I heard some of it at the game - I was all like "What is this?" but I didn't say anything out loud in case I was hearing things again. But it's real and it's stoopid!

Tomorrow is the final game in the Battle of Ohio. It'll be Kazmir versus RHP 3.08, at 7:05. I guess it's a sweep situation so - bring your brooms!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Well Tom, is it time to go to the Herb Score 'You never know what you'll see at a ballgame'?"
"Three doubles and one run scored! [...] When things are going bad, goofy things happen."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton

"When was the last time you saw an inning where the first guy grounded out, and that was the only normal out?"
- Tom Hamilton on the weird bottom of the 5th

"I tell you what - it's not dark out but there must be a full moon."
- Tom Hamilton on the bases-loaded double play in the 6th

"You get the feeling that he's about ready to unload a bomb."
- Tom Hamilton's final words before Giambi's homer

"The Reds' scouting report must be 'Stay away from the fastball with these Indians.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the proliferation of curveballs

"Joe Smith has proven he's not a matchup guy. He'll get right handers out just as well as left handers."
- Tom Hamilton

"I don't know about you but my remote died one night, I had to get out of bed to change the channels. It is not an easy life on the road."
- Tom Hamilton

"Indians fans are not exactly sitting back."
- Tom Hamilton in the 9th after Paul's homer

Ho Hum

The game started off bad, but Zach McAllister reined himself back in. But he didn't last too long so they had to use 5 relievers who gave up 5 runs. Ho hum.

It doesn't quite matter that the bullpen was that bad because the offense was drowned out again. They only got 7 hits and score 2 runs. Not one of their hits was for extra bases, either!

Let's run this down...

Zach McAllister was scary bad in the first inning. He gave up 3 runs and faced 7 batters. But after that, he didn't give up any more runs. He also had a 1-2-3 second inning, going on to strike out 6 and only walk 1. McAllister did end up facing a lot of batters and giving up 7 more hits, and by the middle of the 6th he was already over 100 pitches. His night was done. He could have been worse against this Cincy lineup but I think he did well, excepting the first inning. Once again I'm stunned by the success of the starters over that of the relievers and the batters. Stunned!

Oh, and if you're wondering, McAllister hit Phillips and Barnes hit Choo. Is that the end of that? Bummer!

Rich Hill came in for one batter in the 6th and walked him, which is exactly what he did Saturday against Boston. The hell?

With 2 on and 1 out, Cody Allen came in to finish that pesky 6th inning with 2 on and 1 out. He got a guy to almost bunt into a double play but it didn't happen. Luckily they did get one out and then Allen struck out Joey Votto, which was huge.

Then it was Bryan Shaw's turn, who - I swear - I was just thinking the other day how he was one of the few arms left that didn't suck yet. Damn me and my stupid positive thoughts! Shaw absolutely lost his shit, giving up 4 runs to on 5 hits from 6 batters. He only got one out. His ERA doubled. Holy smokes!!

Then Scott Barnes came in and I was all "oh crap!" and he let one of Shaw's guys score, but got the next 2 batters out.

Matt Albers finished the game and he gave up another run because why not? He did strike out 3. Yay.

Hey, you know who is super good? Michael Bourn is super good! Not only did he go 2 for 4 today, raising his average to .310, but he's also been tearing up center field lately with catches like this one tonight that ended in a slide and saved at least one run from scoring (well probably more because there were no outs!) Nice to see a little flair out there!

Swisher, Santana, Brantley and Stubbs all went 1 for 4 today. Even though it didn't amount to any more than 2 runs, it's still nice to see that guys are not being completely shut out of the hitting game, and are getting singles where home runs would mean the most.

Santana had a pickoff at 2nd, of the infamous Joey Votto.

Brantley had an outfield assist at the plate, one of my favorite plays in baseball (I love outfield assists, I love plays at the plate, so assists to the plate - boffo!)

Stubbs stole a base, allowing him to score on one of Bourn's single.

So good stuff did happen tonight, it was just far outweighed by the bad stuff, and by the stuff that didn't happen at all.

Tomorrow I'll be at the game, courtesy of my friend who won tickets because she is awesome at cornhole. She's in the Cleveland Cornhole League. If you're interested in competitive cornhole with CASH PRIZES, check 'em out! Actually, you probably already saw the piece on them on SportsTime Ohio, you STO slut!

It'll be Justin Masterson versus RHP 3.39. I get to see Masterson for the second time this year - hopefully he has a better outing than last time! What I would really like to see is one of those fancy high-scoring games. This'll be my 6th game of the year - the other games I've been to, other then when they scored 7 (and I missed half of it, chaperoning some kids in the Sandlot), they scored 3, 2, 1 and 0. Bah!

So, let's score some runs, let's get a win, and I'll see you there!!

Radio Chatter:
"Zambrano's either hitting the baseball or hitting teammates."
- Tom Hamilton

"This is one of those games you almost have to be here to believe it."
- Tom Hamilton

"I think Margaret taught him that one, not his dad."
- Tom Hamilton on the Reds' pitcher's slow pitch after commenting on his parents' marriage longevity

"As good as the Reds are, it's tough to fathom how they aren't in first place."
- Tom Hamilton

"The marketing director for LaRosa's pizza has since been fired. [...] The city of Cincinnati as a contingent has gained 10,000 pounds since the promotion began."
- Tom Hamilton on the 10-strikeout free pizza promo in Cincinnati

"With free pizza on the line, anything within a foot of home plate is a strike."
- Tom Hamilton

At Least We've Got Ubaldo?

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

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

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

Best news - no meltdown!

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

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

Our relievers are giving up home runs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But, see you tomorrow!

Pwned!!1!

Justin Masteron pitched today. He pitched today. Justin Masterson pitched the fuck out of the baseball today!!!

Remember how Tomlin pitched yesterday and held the Reds to just one run? Masterson pitched even BETTER than that today. He went a full 9 innings and struck out 9 and gave up just 3 hits (only one of those hits to Votto/Phillips) and ONE RUN. ONE UNEARNED RUN, MOTHERFUCKERS. He was pitching in the high 80s/low 90s all night. His 106th pitch, the last pitch of the game, was a 95 MPH sinker that finished striking out the side!!

And of course, as is Justin's lot, he didn't need to hold the other team to 1 today, because our team decided to give him run support when he least needed it. Irony! (Right?)

We ALMOST had an "Everybody Hits" game but Marson didn't get his. He's back to backup catcher now so he gets a break. What's key is that some guys had a multi-hit game, the bottom of the lineup was looking good, and we're hitting homers again.

Choo went 2 for 4 tonight and of course they were doubles. Since he had a slow start, his slugging % isn't too wild (.430) but he is tied for 1st in the league for doubles! He's getting more awesome in the field, too.

OMG ASDRUBAL!!! #8 tonight, a 3-run bomb. Holy smokes was I not expecting that! I had all but forgotten that Asdrubal was our home run hero last year and had put it on the "fluke" shelf. I have a feeling he's going to be ramping up his homer production now, so keep an eye out. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you'll know every time. Don't forget there's still time to vote for him for the All Star Game!

Kipnis was out today. Did you think we could manage without him? Are you a little surprised we managed 8 runs without our JK Kid? Yeah me too! He was just restin', so we'll see him Friday.

Acta moved Brantley up to the 3rd spot, which is interesting because we need him to help some of those dudes down at the bottom but we also needed someone that could replicate Kipnis. Brantley being Brantley, he got a hit! A 4-game streak now! He ended the night 1 for 5.

Santana went 1 for 5, and had a lucky break on a "throwing error" at 2nd which wasn't actually an error but Bank Error In Your Favor, yaknow? Lopez was batting in the 5-spot for Brantley and playing 2nd for Kipnis. He did ok in his roles and ended up going 1 for 5 as well, with a double.


You know who's got a 6-game hitting streak? With 6 RBI and 4 runs in that time? Casey Kotchman, is who. And he continues to be amazing at the corner as well. Today he went 1 for 4 with 2 runs scored.

I started petitioning Manny Acta for "SHELLEY EVERY DAY" yesterday and today. No luck. Today we had Damon and he went 2 for 2 with 2 RBI and 2 walks and 2 runs. And a homer. Great, I hope Johnny Damon feels good about himself. Somebody proved something. He should go home now.

Lonnie, eh? You like? He was in at 8th tonight and he BROUGHT IT to the bottom of the lineup. Finally! A bases-clearing double with the bases loaded is what he done brought. He ended the night with 3 RBI, giving him 6 RBI in this series.

How awesome is this team going to be with Travis back and Jack every day? We'll be spilling over with hitting!!

I guess tonight's win means that The Battle of Ohio is tied. Gah, now I am looking forward to interleague AGAIN! (I am excited to see the Pirates with my cousin's kids.) I tell you what tho, I am not looking forward to our boys having to play in Houston this weekend. In the middle of the day and shit. It's gonna be awful. I wonder if Hafner were in if they'd even let him play. I bet his contract doesn't allow it.

Speaking of weather - the KSU vs. South Carolina College World Series game is delayed until tomorrow at noon. I wonder if I can find it on the radio anywhere?

So there's 3 more days of interleague for us, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The White Sox are taking care of the Cubs right now, so if that holds we'll be in first still on Friday, but just by 1/2 game. Houston's not that good - not even .500. But they're over .500 at home so we'll see. Our starters are really picking it up right now and our guys are getting in to the multi-hit groove so it's definitely a series we could win. Sweep? Sounds like fun!

Next game is 8:05 on Friday, Ubaldo versus a guy who's got almost the exact same stats (RHP, 6-5, 5ish ERA). Gotta check out those 'Stros before they join our league. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"He may be sprinting to the mound after the third out, ready to work."
- Tim Belcher after the Tribe was up 5-0

"You can't hit that. Well, of course you can't hit that. I mean Willie Harris."
- Tim Belcher doesn't think Rosie can hit a breaking ball

OMG ASDRUBAL!!!

Hold on, gotta peel myself off the ceiling.

"He come with a fastball and I hit the ball hard." Fuck yeah you did, Asdrubal!

[Tape rewinding]

Man, what a SNOOZER today! At least compared to yesterday. Tim Belcher (filling in on the radio) was at least impressed. The most exciting parts of the game pretty much happened in the field. Our defense was pretty rock solid tonight.

Helping out the defense tonight was the rock-solid Tomlin. I shook his hand yesterday, you know. The one he uses to throw them strikes. He had THE POWER today! He went 6 2/3 only giving up 1 run. That's 1 run to this Reds team that has scored 33 runs off our pitchers in the last 4 games against Cleveland. NOT BAD, JOSH TOMLIN! And he only had to strike out 2! He also only walked 2. He held Votto and Phillips to 1 hit each. He tamed the beast!!

He also left the bases loaded in the 7th, but Esmil Rogers came in and threw 98 MPH balls at Mesoraco until he was out.

We were treated to Pestano and Perez for the 8th and 9th, which means the Reds didn't score any. But neither did the Indians so we had to go to 10.

Smith got some guys on base, and Hagadone - who is not awesome anymore right now - threw one in the dirt, and one of Smith's guys scored. They left it at 2-1 Reds.

Check out what I saw while I was on the indians.com schedule page, counting Reds' runs just now:

I think Aroldis Chapman's mom works in the scoring department

Anyway that's not how it ended. As you may have noted, we actually won 3-2 in the 10th. You know who got the win? Hagadone. LULZ.

Choo went 3 for 4 tonight! None of those hits were leadoff homers but you know he got a double, yes he did! And a walk and a run, naturally. He's got 6 hits in his last 3 games! He's also doing the good defense thing.

Asdrubal overcame his bad defensive Sunday and his bad offensive Monday and WON THE FUCKING GAME TODAY!!! OMG!!! Here I'll let Matt Underwood tell you. The guy he hit it off had a 1.06 ERA and he'd only given up 1 other homer this year. To Lopez last week! HAHA! Today a 2-run walkoff homer for Asdrubal! WAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Oh man, ok, there were other guys playing the game today. Ahem. Yeah so Kipnis was shut down again (why does he tease us so?) but he's really turning in to a great second-baseman! Here's an interview with him on the MLB Network. He's got a cool shirt on it says "I play for the American League. We will win." I think he sounds dorkier than a Jason Kipnis should sound. Cool dork!

Santana didn't multi-hit today. He didn't even walk. BUT once again he was in the middle of thing happening, and he's the one who scored the run that tied the game. He was on base with a double! Getting more reliable for sure, but we still really need multi-hit games from him. We know you can do it!

Brantley is on to a 3-game hitting streak now. Are you following? He went 1 for 4 today. He also did this amazing shit in the outfield. Grady who?!?! I am not going to point out the huge difference between yesterday's left fielder and this amazing player.

Kotchman didn't get a homer today. Bummer, right? But he went 2 for 3! And of course he was smokin' at first base. I think every game now he's saving a run for us. And tonight he was the one hitting the run in!

Supermanahan went 1 for 4 tonight, and like everyone else he was dynamite on the field. Ok he had an error. But he also had a double play and a couple put outs!

Really the entire team was fantastic today. I had highlights for almost everyone! Shelley Duncan started in left because the old man is injured. Neither Dunc nor Cunningham did anything at the plate today but they kept left field from being taken over by flies and they didn't embarrass the team one bit. So I say that's much improved over the last two games!

Not sure how the Reds got away without hearing from Lonnie at DH but they did. Don't worry, he's got their number for next time.

Man I can't believe there was a walkoff win tonight. And it was my guy Asdrubal. And it was against Chapman, the closer a 10-year-old had just warned me about. Perfect ending to a fairly crummy day!

Sorry I didn't get any Radio Chatter. Tim Belcher was not as "on" tonight as he was last night. I'm guessing he was too busy admiring the pitching today (as opposed to last night where he was basically cringing the whole time.) He did drop a nugget that his nickname for Cousin Michael is "Favorite Player." He wasn't being cheeky, he actually calls Brantley that, whether or not he IS his favorite player.

Speaking of radio, all the fans at the Tom Hamilton Has The Best Home Run Call In All of Baseball agree that Jim Rosenhaus's call of the walkoff should be posted. I'd say it was Rosie's best yet. Of course it won't make it on the audio promos like Hammy's call of Santana's walkoff grand slam last year...but it was good. I hope it gets posted!

EDIT: Here you go!

One more against these Reds tomorrow at 7:05 and we're done with them until next year. Maybe by then Votto will be hurt and Phillips will be bad. Nuyk nyuk.

By the way, we're killing the Battle of Ohio. Way on top now!

See you there!

The Chiz Kid!

Oh man, oh man, oh man!! I was at the game tonight y'all! I saw all of those 19 runs! I cheered for all of those 13 hits! How lucky am I?!

I was supposed to be at batting practice today and got there in time but it was cancelled due to rain. Bullocks. The good news is that we get to come to a different game and will get free tix. We had nowhere to go but The Winking Lizard, where I drowned my sorrows in 1lb of ground beef. And a salad.

Back at the ballpark by 6 PM where we got to participate in "Photo Day." They have 2 players standing in for photographs with 400 of the first-come-first-serve fans. Our choices today were Tomlin and Cunningham. No offense to Aaron Cunningham but the obvious choice was Tomlin. He is not a tall man. That is to say, he is regular-sized but I guess maybe short for a pitcher. Maybe like 5'10" (stats say 6'1". No.) He was very very cordial. He shook my hand and I introduced myself. I think my friends did too. Then we moved along and paid $20 for a copy of the photo. I thought maybe it'd be free. We were told while in line that it was $5, actually. The young lady who told us this did say she was wrong, as she took my $20. We were slightly perturbed but since there were 4 of us, $5 each wasn't too bad. We're going to do it again.

I had brought along some baseball cards and pens for autographs, and went down to left field to try to get some, but nothing doing. It didn't help that the tarp was on the field until 15 mins before the game. I'll try next time.

By 7:05 the sun was out and the air was dry(er than it had been previously).  Being that we had some law firm's swanky seats, you betcha someone had dried them off for us. I got myself a Diet Doctor Pepper in a souvenir cup. They're doing a new thing now - $6 for one, $8 for one plus one refill, $10 for one plus two refills. That's a savings of $4 on one refill or $8 on two. Not bad! No way I could (should) finish two huge pops on a Monday night but the cups are good all season. So I'll be bringing my cup back for sure!

Derek Lowe was the starter. If you aren't familiar with his shit with Reds' manager Dusty Baker, here's some info. As far as I know there was no problem tonight. I do know nobody got hit by any pitches today even though the same two guys were pitching. They gave up 19 hits between them in just 5 innings so really they probably didn't want to put any guys on base on purpose. Anyway, Lowe wasn't at his best today. He gave up 7 earned runs in 5 innings. But since it was tied up when he left, it didn't seem that bad, yaknow?

We got treated to Smith in the 6th and 7th, who held them to just 1 run. He got 2 outs in the 7th, thanks to Kotchman's unassisted double play. Then he gave up a homer (Progressive Field is just a home run paradise lately) and Manny took him out after 1 2/3 innings for Pestano to come take care of the rest. Vinnie got out of it and then had a 1-2-3 8th, because he is in fact The Man.

VinneP52 - look who just sprinted in!

I feel so lucky cuz I got to see Pestano and Perez tonight. It's a treat to watch them pitch because of the huge energy they bring but also because when they come in you know it's over. Perez had a 2-run lead and you know he was going to give one up and he did. He started off strong but of course Brandon Phillips had to have the last word and he got on, then scored on a single from Bruce. But Perez took care of the next guy who struck out looking. Ballgame!

Crank it, Jerry!

So like I said we had 13 hits tonight and FINALLY we had a bunch of guys with a multi-hit game. Choo knocked the second pitch of the game from Latos out of the park, matching up Votto's homer in the first. He also got an RBI double, going 2 for 5 on the night.

Touch-em-all time for Choo!

Tonight was Asdrubal bobblehead night - they did include the compression sleeve but they left out the huge forearm tattoo - and I wore my custom-made Asdrubal t-shirt (they didn't make Asdrubal t-shirts in 2008!) but nothing brought him luck. He went 0 for 3 with a walk and a run. Oh well - we did really need that run today.

In the hole? Anything? No?

Kipnis was silenced today, which of course is weird. You don't expect the JK Kid to go hitless in a game with 10 runs and 13 hits for the good guys but there it is. He did turn 2 double plays, though!

Lopez was the DH again tonight. Better than nothing, I say. He was wearing a little thin until he got a hit in the 7th. Unfortunately he didn't get any runs or RBI.

Santana was looking more like himself today. He got a key 2 hits. Multi-hit Santana = win!! Those 2 hits turned in to 2 runs. You see how important it is to get on base, 'Los? I think he gets it.

Cousin Michael's back on to a 2-game hitting streak. He went 2 for 3 tonight, both hits being doubles. He had 1 RBI and scored 2 runs. Plus he looked good in the field...well, anyone looks good next to Damon...

Stretch it out Michael and Chiz. You've got a lot of left field to cover.

Johnny Damon...oh my God you guys, I almost cried. Seriously. He is so bad in the field. Just comically bad today. I felt bad for snubbing Cunningham in the Photo Day line because by the 3rd inning I was ready to vote for him for Mayor Of Left Field. Damon did get a hit, a RBI and a run but I am pretty sure he had a hand in about 7 Reds runs scoring. Please, can we be done with this Damon shit now?? Seeing him come to the plate is like seeing the goddamn pitcher come up. There's no room for that in Cleveland.

The other part of the bottom of the order was rockin' tonight, thank Og. Casey Kotchman not only had the aforementioned unassisted double play (easy peasy for the Kotch) but he also banged a 2-run homer in the 4th! I totally called it. It was 5-4 and there was 1 on for us and I was like "You know, he can hit homers. He had 14 in 2011. He needs 7 by the break, just 2 more." BANG! YES I DID!!! You're welcome!! He also got another RBI on a well-placed groundout. Because that's the kind of standup guy Casey Kotchman is!

The big news for the night was Lonnie Chisenhall who went 3 for 4 and was about 2 feet away from going for the cycle. He got the homer and the triple and a single, and in the 8th tried to get that double but didn't. Of course we gave him a standing ovation anyway! He ended up going 3 for 4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs. AWESOME!! This is the guy we went nuts for at his debut. Is he back?? Let's hope!

The beginning of Lonnie's big night!

There were just under 20,000 fans tonight, which I think was pretty good for a night that started with rain. Now, it seemed that about 10,000 of those fans were Cincy fans (indeed half of the fans by me were) but whatever. Money in "our" pockets either way. The guys next to us were trying to be rowdy but were ultimately nice. It didn't hurt that we won!

Some dickhead got thrown out for throwing something on the field in the 6th. I don't know what it was, but it came from waaaay up in the top of the upper deck. A cop went up there and people were quick to point the finger at whoever it was. Ha!

At one point a fan got smoked by a foul ball, and it turned out to be scary. It's scary when they call an usher down. Even scarier when an usher starts waving a yellow card and all the players go wide-eyed. Yikes...I just listened to it on the radio archive and they went off the air for a second while they tended to the fan - that was creepy! But not long after the second cop arrived but even before the EMTs arrived, fans around the injured fan started clapping to let us know she was all right. Whew.

Someone in front of us got hit by a ball when she reached out to catch it. It was an older lady. An older guy down her row slinked over to ask if she was all right, not before picking up the damn ball and quickly giving it to his wife to stow safely in her purse. Jesus, people! That was seriously uncool. The rowdy from Cincy (Kentucky) that was sitting next to us (his name was Lonnie, by the way) bought the lady a margarita. She never did get a ball.

Lots of crazy stuff in the game tonight for sure. All of it exciting and doubly so since we won!

Oh yeah and KSU won tonight too! They eliminated #1 Florida!!!! They're in the top 6 now and they'll be taking on South Carolina Wednesday at 8 PM. People at Progressive Field were pretty excited about this too!

I managed to get some stuff from the radio tonight, just for yous. Tim Belcher was in the booth and he had a lot to say about this game, being that both starting pitchers got smacked around. I didn't listen to 100% of the game but I got some good stuff. I've got to sleep!

Tomorrow is more Reds, Tomlin versus Leake. Pretty even...will our bats show up again?? That'd be fun. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Serves him right that he gave up the game-tying run to Choo, because he started the game with an 80-mile-an-hour curveball."
- Tim Belcher

"He looks like someone stole his dinner or something. He is mad!"
- Jim Rosenhaus on Mat Latos's Media Guide photo

"Progressive Field doing its best Great American Ballpark impression."
- Jim Rosenhaus on the number of homers

"...they craft the memos about proper press box decorum. But Kent State got a huge strikeout with the bases loaded and only one out, and that's an addendum to cheering in the press box where you get a waiver."
- Jim Rosenhaus on upper management cheering in the press box

"Does this look like a tennis match or what?"
- Tim Belcher on the scoring

"Are you sure? It seems like the 15th!"
- Tim Belcher in the 5th

"Count me as one who doesn't like a good-old-fashioned-slugfest."
- Tim Belcher

"That's why you don't make plans for after the game. You never know what kind of game it's going to be."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"A wild one here at Progressive Field."
- Jim Rosenhaus in the 8th. My friend predicted this would be used to describe tonight's game. 

Choo, Cabrera, Santana, Brantley ... Marson!

So let's see...what went wrong here?

Josh Tomlin wasn't all that right today. He gave up 6 runs in 4 innings with 4 of those runs coming on homers. Yes to Votto and Phillips but he coulda just thrown them junk. Even I saw that coming a mile away.Tomlin did get a hit, and now he's batting .400.

The untouchable Scott Barnes was touched so much today they almost called the Special Victims Unit. He gave up 5 runs on 5 hits in 1/3 of an inning. His ERA went from 0 to 10.38. Ha!

Young Esmil Rogers finished off the 5th for him, and took the 6th (long relief!) and "only" gave up 1 run while striking out 2. Jeremy Accardo ended up being our sweetheart of the day going 2 innings and giving up no runs. Well at least they didn't need to burn our "good bullpen" today.

Batting didn't fare much better, except for the cats mentioned at the top. They all actually had a very very nice game. Too bad the other 4 weren't on board.

CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, who has had 3 homers so far this year, got TWO homers today. TWO TODAY!!! He got a lead-off solo homer - which falsely got everyone's hopes up for the rest of the game - and then another solo blast in the 5th. He ended up going 2 for 5 with just the 2 RBI.

Asdrubal, after having 2 not-so-good games (ending his 12-game streak and then just getting 1 hit yesterday) went 3 for 4 today with a walk, showing once again that he gets pumped by great lead-off hitting (Choo!) One of those hits was his 17th double. Sad, sad, sad then that he got neither a run nor an RBI.

Santana did go 1 for 3 with 2 walks, so that's good for him. He also a run and an RBI. I'm just ready to see "usual for him" and not "good for him."

Michael Brantley! Continuing the streak at 21!!! And not just any old hit, a double that eventually turned in to a run. :) :) :)

Everyone else was all blah, including pitchers (Tomlin and Barnes both got hits, whee), Kipnis, Cunningham, Damon...Jesus, I think we cleared the entire bench!

Everyone, that is, except for LOU MARSON!! Dude went 3 for 4 today. Yeah, better than Asdrubal and Choo and everyone else! But no one ahead of him was hitting and the pitchers were behind him so he got no walks and no runs. Bother.

Sad series in Cincy, so I'm ready to get out of there and back here for the baseball team from Pittsburgh. I'm serious guys - they have a baseball team. They'll be here for 3 games. Friday is a right-handed pitcher and the matchup looks pretty even (Masterson). Let's hope Justin's back in form and the batters can get their shit together. I know they've been missing John Adams - how could you not miss that beat? How does he only have > 4000 followers, too? What is wrong with you, Twitterverse?!

Everyone dust themselves off and I'll see you Friday night for some Cleveland-style baseball!

Radio Chatter:
"Mike Leake might be looking for that IV sooner than later."
- Tom Hamilton on Choo hitting a homer off a sick Leake

"We could be looking at a donnybrook today."
- Tom Hamilton thinks it's perfect weather for a lot of homers

"If his career is as promising as they hope it'll be, he'll be the first guy from Punxsutawney to overshadow that goofy groundhog."
- Tom Hamilton on Devin Mesoraco

"Could you imagine the Indians teams of the 90s playing in this ballpark? That'd be a 5 hour game!"
- Tom Hamilton

"I've seen The Godfather 23 times. I know what your dad's capable of."
- Tom Hamilton on Rosie's story about a New Jersey Little League team

"Any time it gets to be 11-3 that's what happens. You say things you shouldn't."
- Tom Hamilton is now going after the French

"You are just leaving a path of destruction in your wake today."
"Hey I'm out of town Saturday..."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton

"Slider and Gapper have been like two kindergartners on recess during this series."
- Tom Hamilton on the Indians and Reds mascots

Brandon Gets the Best of Us

If Torii Hunter is my favorite non-Indian in the AL, then Brandon Phillips is my guy in the NL. Could be that I know what he's up to *touches nose* when he plays against Cleveland, since we let him go all those years ago. Could be that as a former second-baseman myself I just appreciate a great middle man. Could also be that if I'm not able to throw my hands up and say "Well, that Brandon Phillips, you can't beat him!" that I would just curl up and die every time the Reds came around on our schedule.

I did vote for him for the All Star Game, tho. Him and Votto. Wow.

Derek Lowe was the starter today. He wasn't "Wow, Derek Lowe!" tonight but he was better than 2 of his last 3 games. He only gave up 3 in his 6 innings, but he walked a lot (6) which is not what you want to do against a team with a guy hitting .363 (Votto).

Nick Hagadone, however, was absolutely not "Wow, Nick Hagadone!" today. Two hits and two runs in just one inning? I'm afraid I cursed the boy by suggesting him as a Fantasy pickup. My bad, Cleveland. I also apologize for planting grass seed in half my front yard 4 weeks ago - I appear to have caused a bit of a drought.

Esmil Rogers. We just got him from Colorado "for cash" and apparently he needs a little love. Like a malnourished kitten who throws 95 MPH. He got to peek his head out of the cat carrier for the 8th inning today and throw his nastiest stuff at the Reds. It was a good opportunity to put him out there - albeit against a NL team in an NL park so what is the difference? - it was the bottom of their order. He did strike out 2 and throw 96/97 MPH fastballs. Came out unscathed. Can he do that in long relief? Time will tell.

By the way, his minor league team was the Modesto Nuts. Their logo actually makes nuts look tough:

Fuck off with your monocle and top hat.

Today's game was about as blah as yesterday's game, batting-wise. A bunch of guys went 1 for 4. Johnny Damon is turning from useless into a liability. Happy to see Santana hit, and a double at that! The pitcher got a hit. I think all of our pitchers have hit this year, or darn close to it.

And of course the biggest, bestest news of the night is that Michael Brantley is at 20 games now!!! He's been slowed down to just single-hit games but whatever, a streak is a streak. He's still hitting like .350 during it too. I can't quell my smilies anymore so I'll just lay a few out right here :) :) :)

Will give props to LOPEZ! for his late-inning pinch hit home run. That's what I'm talkin' bout, Lopez! Show him why you've got to stick around!

That's pretty much it. We were at least closer today at 3 runs to their 5 but still not good enough for a win. Pitching is coming around but batting needs to tighten up. This music video for Akron's Own The Black Keys "Tighten Up" - in which said band gets beaten up by some children - is better than tonight's baseball game.

Tomorrow is a noonly game versus another right-handed pitcher, Mike Leake. Our guy is Josh Tomlin. Should be good, right? Yeah, that's what I thought before these last two games. Oh well, I like a good noontime romp through the ballpark so happy I will be.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The last thing you want to do is walk Wilson Valdez in front of this guy."
- Tom Hamilton on Valdez's first walk of the season, before Joey Votto

"They were talking in the dugout about Santana's performance at the plate and shaking their heads."
- Tom Hamilton

"You can't teach 95 miles per hour."
- Tom Hamilton on the training of Esmil Rogers

"People were lined up at the press dinner like it was the Last Supper. [...] If you came home from a long day of work and your wife offered you hot dogs and chili, you'd probably go somewhere else."
- Tom Hamilton on the Skyline Chili (and hot dogs) at the press dinner, of course after describing Rosie coming back from dinner covered in chili like a dirty toddler

"Rosie will be delivered by crane to the Indians plane tomorrow."
- Tom Hamilton after going over all of the foods Rosie had tried in Cincy

"It seems like every time we look up, isn't Joey Votto or Jay Bruce swinging the bat?"
- Tom Hamilton on the too-large number of walks

"It's almost like he's on a mission against the tribe."
- Tom Hamilton on Brandon Phillips

"He's an angry elf."
- Tom Hamilton on Asdrubal's hissy fit

"It's like they found a picture and put it on somebody else's body and put an imaginary cap on his head."
- Tom Hamilton on the Reds' scoreboard photo of Johnny Damon

"All he's done is thrown strikes. He's come in and pounded the strike zone with mid-90s sliders."
- Tom Hamilton on Esmil Rogers

"These are Little League numbers. Fifty-five strikeouts in 31 innings. Fifty-five strikeouts!"
- Tom Hamilton on the Reds' closer

"People ask how can Chisenhall swing at that ball in the dirt? Well when it's going 100 miles per hour, you don't have a lot of time to decide."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Cuban Missle is human."
- Tom Hamilton after Lopez hits one off Aroldis Chapman

Unexpected Loss

Boy - when I heard we'd be facing a right-hander tonight, I was relieved. I was like "Yeah! Big hits today!" Then when we got 2 hits and a run in the first inning I was all "You are so right!"

Then that was pretty much it. No more runs, four more hits.

BUT MICHAEL BRANTLEY GOT A HIT!!! Nineteen game hitting streak. NINETEEN! I'm 42% less sad at losing today since Brantley kept his going.

But, Asdrubal lost his (he was at 12) so that makes me 14% more sad. Sigh.

So how did Jeanmar do? While he only pitched 5 innings just like his last 4 outings, he only gave up 2 runs (1 earned) much unlike his last 3 outings in which he gave up 5 and 6 runs in each game. After the 5th, Manny thought he wasn't looking too good so he decided to bring in some relievers.

Bad move. Previously-reliable and now-somtimes-unreliable Joe Smith gave up 1. Sipp only gave up one.  Then Accardo was like "Ima do better than the rest of y'all!" and gave up 3. Ha!

So even though we can't hit lefties, it turns out we can't hit great righties either. That...does not bode well, huh? Also we looked sloppy in the field.

Choo is all "I don't like lefties! They hurt me!" but he didn't do too well against Cueto today. He did go 1 for 4 which we like to see - better than 4 strikeouts or something!

Kipnis didn't have a multi-hit game. Hmm..this guy MUST be pretty tough if Kipnis was held to 1 for 4.

Although, Santana got a hit and so did Jeanmar Gomez. But I'm thinking Cueto was just throwing some junk our of boredom. He did go 9 innings afterall!

Brantley was held to just 1 but oh what a 1 it was!! He then tried to steal a base to cap it off but that plan backfired.

Lonnie Chisenhall had Cueto figured out! Well, 1 out of the 3 times he faced the guy. The other 2 times, Cueto had him figured out and struck him out.

In other news: The Golden Flashes are going to the College World Series!! How cool is that? Suck it, Akron, is how cool that is. They're going to be facing off against all these warm-weather schools (UCLA, Arizona, Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina) and uhmm...Stony Brook. Yeah I dunno - New York. So do indeed relish your time with Hammy this week because if things go according to him he'll be gone from the 16th to the 25th while he watches his son Nick and the Flashes go all the way!

Glad we've got a high note to leave on.

Tomorrow is Derek Lowe against another right hander, with a much higher ERA. So I'm going to set myself up for that one too and say "Yeah! Big hits tomorrow!"

We'll see you tomorrow night and see how that turns out!

Radio Chatter:
"I don't know what 'hermetically' means, it just sounds good."
- Tom Hamilton after mentioning that he and Rosie are in a hermetically sealed bubble to keep from getting sick

"He'll say 'Dad how many hits did you have in the NCAA Super Regional?'"
- Tom Hamilton after mentioning his son wasn't hitting well over the weekend

"Johnny Cueto runs the bases like he's 75 years old, and that may be a disservice to those of you who are actually 75."
- Tom Hamilton

"There's not going to be any suspense in the 9th inning. The Reds have taken all of the drama out of this one."
- Tom Hamilton

"Maybe he'll leave Cueto in so he can get some cheers on the way back to the dugout."
- Tom Hamilton on Dusty Baker visiting the mound to "boo"s in the 9th

You Do It To Yourself

Ooooh, Mitch Talbot. What are we going to do with you? You're no Carlos Carrasco, that's for sure!

Today everyone was saying how bad Talbot usually is in the 1st inning. Then he shocked everyone by having an un-eventful 1st, but sneaking a bad 2nd by us. Then he was just ducky in the 3rd, and then he gave up 3 more runs in the 4th and it was time to go.

Six runs is actually not too many runs for our Indians to overcome, especially in the "hitter's park" that is Great American, but it did prove to be too much for our skeleton crew today.

Josh "Judge" Judy (did you remember that one?) came in to relieve Talbot in the 5th and gave up a homer, but otherwise he did alright for himself. That was his only hit in 2 innings and he struck out one.

Durbin came in for the 7th and Smith finished off the 9th even though Perez was back. Wanna know what Joe Smith's ERA is now? It's .95.

Even though we got ourselves 5 runs, our lineup was sort of unimpressive. I won't mention what Asdrubal and Santana did today.

Hey do you remember when Asdrubal went 5 for 5 when they played the Reds in May? Josh Judy pitched in that game too. Good times!

Three guys who did take the helm today were guys who haven't been doing what we need lately.

Grady Sizemore went the other way with 2 outs in the 6th to score 2 on a single. That is not something we've been experiencing lately, huh?

Hafner, who has only gotten one hit as a pinch hitter so far, got his second pinch hit today AND it was for an RBI! He'll be back in the lineup tomorrow against the Yankees. Hopefully fully-charged and ready to do some Yankee killing!

The big gun for us today was Mr. Shelley Duncan! He impressed the hell out of me early in the season as a rock-solid pinch hitter. Then he cooled off and we sent him down for a bit, due to the upcoming pitching matchups. He had a really shitty June, that's for sure. BUT! Today he got THREE hits and one of them was a 2-run homer! He also scored another run, and didn't strike out once. Geez, did you know he struck out 4 times in San Francisco?

I hope this indicates some good things to come from Shelley, cuz I have a feeling we'll be seeing him a lot more with LaPorta and Choo gone.

Lonnie Chisenhall got a hit today and scored a run, hangin' in there with a .300 average. He also committed his first error in the majors. I wonder if they keep that ball?

Brantley got himself a hit today, scored a run and walked. He's still not at pre-slump levels of reliability but keeping that average above .250 at least.

So All-Star voting is over and the tally is done. And, even though he's currently rehabbing in the minors, Derek Jeter beat out Asdrubal for shortstop. Oh well. Asdrubal IS going and I betcha dollars to donuts he'll get to play and he will do something awesome. I just hope he gets out of his mini batting slump before then!

Chris Perez also made the All Stars! That's pretty cool and I actually am looking forward to watching the game. I'll be on vacation at the time, but I'll be on the west coast so I won't have to stay up too late to watch it. Of course I'll have to tune in ridiculously early but whatever. I'm guessing we won't see Asdrubal until the second half and of course no Perez until the end.

I wonder what a road trip with Asdrubal and Perez is like? Even though his name is Perez he doesn't seem like the sort of guy who knows a lot of Spanish. I haven't heard Asdrubal on too many interviews, I wonder how his English is. Oh, how I wish the Dugout Sports Show was tagging along!

I got a Chris Perez baseball card today, in a pack of 2011 Topps. It looks really nice, almost like a painting. A lot of the pitchers are captured mid-throw and look extremely awkward. Perez looks pretty awesome. And his beard isn't too out of control.

I don't know why getting Indians' cards in my packs excites me so, but it totally does. It also seems like half of the rest of the cards are ex-Indians. I wonder if baseball is half made up of ex-Indians?

So tomorrow starts our return home yay! And a 3-game series against the Yankees boo! But we're coming off a great few games so maybe we'll rock? Yay!

Game starts at 6:35 PM which means I will totally miss it unless my party guests take off early. Fat chance. I'm either going to listen to the game after the party, or catch it during work the next day. Hopefully, that is. If the game ends up anything like the 3 we just played in The Bronx, then I won't waste my time.

Let's go Tribe, beat those Stankees!

Radio Chatter:
"The bats have come alive since they left San Francisco!"
- Tom Hamilton

"There's no question that National League lineups in no way compare to the American League. Part of it is the DH but there's just not good hitting in the National League."
- Tom Hamilton

Helpin' Out

Everybody's helpin' everybody!

First off, Fausto Carmona tried to help himself by getting a hit in the second inning. Except first base was so. far. away. leading to a catastrophic failure of his legs to carry him across the base and falling over like ... well, like I probably would have done being overweight and not having played baseball in 20 years. It was all bad news and Fausto wasn't able to continue on and he left the game to be replaced by JOSH TOMLIN as a PINCH RUNNER!

Fausto did end up leaving us with some good news since he did technically get on base, and the batter after him, Michael Brantley, was all like "Slump? Rly?" and knocked everyone in with a 3-run blast to the Tribe bullpen.

The rest of the game was pretty much like the last time we faced Homer Bailey. We won that game 2-1 off a 2-run homer, albeit in the 7th inning. This time it was 3-1 off a 3-run homer in the 2nd.

Today guys were peppering hits all over the place for a total of 8, but there was only one walk and Bailey sent us packing with 10 strikeouts.

Orlando did continue to be hot, with 2 more hits, raising his average up to .263 which isn't much lower than Brantley's.

Unless there is some sort of miracle, I don't think Brantley's going to reach .300 by the break like I thought he would. Asdrubal looks promising, though!

Back to pitching.

After Tomlin came in to run for Carmona, Frank Hermann came in to pitch. Hermann hasn't seen work in 12 days. I think just yesterday someone mentioned he was our longest-sitting pitcher. But today was his big chance! We really haven't had a need for any sort of long relief, but if there is going to be some long relief, bring out the Harvard Heat [The Professor] [The Pride of Harvard]! Anything less would be uncivilized.

Hermann did great, going 3 long innings and only giving up one hit and striking out two. No meltdowns, no craziness, just good long relief.

But it wasn't too long, because Manny started playing lefty-righty games and alternating pitchers every inning starting in the 6th.

Raffy Perez had a scoreless inning, then Joe Smith came in and LOADED THEM UP! And then shut them down! Heart stopper, Smith! Guess what his ERA is right now? Joe Smith's ERA is .99. Woah!

Tony Sipp got himself into a little jammy-jam, and gave up a homer to Votto, but his friend Chad Durbin made an unusual late-game appearance in the 8th and helped him out by getting the next two guys. Thanks, Chad Durbin!

Chris Perez is still out and we didn't need Josh Judy to come in (oddly enough his first and last appearance was against the Reds in May in Cleveland) and instead Vinne Pestano helped out by MOWING 'EM DOWN with 3 strikeouts in the 9th. Done and done! Overheard on Twitter: "My Closer Vinnie."

Ah, I bet there were big big hugs all around in that exhausted bullpen tonight! Actually, they were all Tweeting props to each other.

Tomorrow is our last interleague game before we can come home and sic Travis Hafner back on the world.

Tomorrow's game is Mitch Talbot versus Mike Leake and neither of them have been so hot lately. But our bats are hot and if they continue to be hot we should be ok. Game starts at 1:05 PM - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"This is why having American League teams have to do this is idiotic. Having the pitchers bat, all that is going to happen is your pitcher gets hurt."
- Tom Hamilton DOES NOT LIKE when AL teams have to bat their pitcher

"In most years in the American league if you have an ERA under 4.0 you're leading the league."
- Tom Hamilton on the Indians' team ERA of 3.65

Happy Nasty

Whew! Justin Masterson got himself some run support. Not just a few runs but EIGHT runs. Masterson hasn't won since APRIL, even though he was only giving up 2 runs per game for most of June.

I forget who else we used to do that to. Westbrook, maybe. Anyone remember?

Anyway, our ace looked ace-y tonight for real. Eight innings, 1 run, 5 strikeouts, 2 double plays. Dude even got a HIT. He got his 6th win, making him 6-6.

Really great that he went 8 innings tonight, since Chris Perez (happy birthday!) is out on bereavement leave until Sunday night (sorry you lost your grammy).

Chad Durbin came in to pitch the 9th, probably just to get some work. He hasn't worked since June 20.

A lot has been said about how cool Masterson has been about this whole "no run support" thing. Everyone has been giving a lot of props to him for being such a nice guy. Manny Acta explained to Jordan Bastian how Jesus kept Nasty from actually getting nasty:

"I think his upbringing has a lot to do with it," Acta said. "He's a Christian man of a lot of faith, one of the best teammates, very positive, low-key, down to earth."

I contend that his beard (and now lack of beard) had something to do with all of it.

I didn't get to give my "OMG ASDRUBAL!!" shout-out on Facebook or Twitter tonight for his 14th home run, because I was out and about. But when I got home and saw the final score I knew it'd be worth my while to check out the archived audio. Totally was!

It was a really well-pitched game by Masterson (duh) and the guys looked good in the field - especially Lonnie Chisenhall at third (shit...we have a backlog of third basemen?!) I wonder how it is that we play so well against the Reds? Did someone convince the team that this Ohio Cup or Battle of Ohio or whatever it is is important or something? If you recall, we scored 19 runs over 3 games in May. Chalk us up for 27 runs in 2011 with two more games to go!

Man, ALMOST everybody hit today and it wasn't even the pitcher who was left out, it was Lou Marson who actually hit in the last 3 games. LOUUUUUUU! You're killing me! He did have a Caught Stealing tonight, for his 17th. He doesn't lead the league but the 3 guys ahead of him have twice as many games as him. So he's pretty awesome behind the plate.

Ok so, like I said, Asdrubal got home run number 14 and RBIs 48 and 49. Would you like to know how many career home runs he had coming in to the 2011 season? I'll tell you. It's 18. Asdrubal is hitting .500 against the Reds.

Right after that, as in the next batter, Carlos Santana smacked one out too. He's only got 12 homers - doesn't it seem like he's had more? Ah, I see. He got a whole ONE in May, so his April and June made him on track for more than we've actually seen.

Speaking of seeing things, check out the guy at :18 in this clip of Santana's home run. There's some Santana doppelgänger out there and he's a fan!


Oh! Grady also got a home run today, and a double, hitting 5th. Un-slumped? I guess - he's hit in his last 4 games. And what of Brantley? Another hit tonight but jury's still out on that. It doesn't seem like he is even eligible for a slump this season, really - but I suppose we'd rather he be in a slump than all of a sudden actually bad.

Time will tell!

Travis Buck...he had two hits tonight and two RBI. Hitting really well over the past 10 days. Now "day to day" with a hurt leg. That's all I got to say about that.

You know who's hot, even though he's back in the midwestern humidity? Orlando! I saw the nickname "Grandbrera" for him on Twitter the other day. Uncle got himself 2 more hits today and turned them into 2 runs scored. Would you like to see the Dos Cabreras secret handshake? Here you go, scroll over to :29. Actually you can watch the whole thing because it's Asdrubal going deep, and then some douchebag in pinstriped shorts and a white belt throwing the ball back, too. You rock on with your bad self, angry Cincinnatian.

Really fun game tonight. Totally worth me staying up until almost 3 AM to take it all in.

Tomorrow's game is at 4:10 PM and it's on FOX, just like last Saturday. I think I could get used to this sort of schedule on the weekends. Although I do love my Sunday afternoon TV games too. More broadcast baseball, please!

See you tomorrow!

Radio Chatter:
"You come to this balllpark and you'd better score runs. You're not going to see many 1-0 games in this ballpark."
- Tom Hamilton

"Justin Masteron has a lead!"
- Tom Hamilton, after just 2 innings

"Can you imagine Brett Favre uncorking a throw from short?"
- Tom Hamilton talking about Favre's amature baseball career

"Dusty [Baker] thought 'if that idiot on the radio thought of it, why didn't I think of it two innings ago?'"
- Tom Hamilton noticing that the Reds got someone warming up as soon as he mentioned it

"Does anybody ever get hurt when they're in a slump?"
- Tom Hamilton on the exit of the hot-hitting Travis Buck

"Boy, it's hard to think of a third baseman right now who has a stronger throwing arm than Lonnie Chisenhall."
- Tom Hamilton

"If the Indians are in town, Brandon Phillips is going to have a big weekend. He just absolutely TORTURES the Indians. It's almost as if he wants to make sure the Indians never forget they let him get away."
- Tom Hamilton

"We're going to get to see the Cuban Missle, Aroldis Chapman. He can throw 100 miles an hour, but there's a chance he'll also throw it up here to our broadcast booth."
- Tom Hamilton Aroldis Chapman's control

"Two hours for Rowland, but an hour and twenty minutes for Rosie."
"You gotta make up your mind. I've been accused of driving slowly before, too."
- Tom Hamilton on driving from Cincinnatti to Indianapolis

"All Drew Stubbs is trying to do right now is padding his stolen base total. You know what's going to happen to Drew Stubbs this weekend? He's going to get drilled."
- Tom Hamilton does not like you trying to steal when we've given up trying to throw you out

"What the remaining Reds fans are saying now is that the fireworks better be phenomenal. Because the game got ugly quick for Reds fans."
- 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