Welcome to Winning!

Carrasco's transformation last year was storybook. Cuz I'm sure we've all heard "stories" about how pitchers - or any player, really - starts doing bad and they promise to "work hard" and come back, better than ever. But no one ever does. They just take their millions and melt into obscurity.

Last year, Carrasco got seriously bad. And really it was all mental. So they put him in the bullpen and made him work for his starting spot. And they made him fix his head. I've heard Carrasco talk a few times this spring about how he is spending time in the bullpen watching how other guys (Kluber) pitch and trying to emulate them. Like, don't give up 4 runs just because you give up a double - that sort of zen you can learn from a Cy Young winner.

Anyway his comeback in 2014 was real, and it must have continued to impress because today he was signed on until 2020! Cleveland fans, can you even wrap your mind around the fact that we have TWO pitchers locked up, one of them being a Cy Young Award winner? And Michael Brantley. And Jason Kipnis. And Carlos Santana. Locked up, man! They will still be here next year, and the next and some of them even longer.

Everyone was super excited to see how our new purchase would look tonight. He didn't disappoint! In fact he did BETTER than Kluber, striking out 10 (Kluber: 7) and not giving up any runs. He only threw 88 pitches but he's not ready for a full slate just yet - he missed the end of Spring while on paternity leave. Carrasco's "game score" was a 76 to Kluber's 69.

Since Carrasco was out after 6 1/3, it was time to test out the bullpen. First up was good ol' Nick Hagadone who was haga-done (overplayed?) after two batters. A walk and a single. Next!

Secret weapon Marc Rzepczynski (copy-paste) showed everyone how it's done by throwing one pitch and getting a double play to end the inning. Scrabble-ca-dabra!

I guess everyone was worried about Bryan Shaw, because he had a shitty spring (16 hits and 12 runs in 8.2 innings. Damn, brah!) But how can you compare the dry heat of Arizona to the most humid city in America?? Shaw cut through that moisture with a knife and threw himself a 12-pitch inning with one walk, no hits and no runs. He's back, man!

Oh if you thought Carrasco and Shaw were impressive, wait til I tell you about Cody Allen! Dude threw 9 pitches for 3 outs and 2 strikeouts. Fast-fast-slow, fast-fast-slow, slow-slow-BALLGAME. Geez-o-pete, Cody Allen! If you are starting off like that I can't wait to see the rest of your season! Save #1 on the books.

The batters weren't as impressive as the pitchers, even though they were facing an old man RHP. But they still got the win and managed to go YARD twice!

Michael Bourn finally got a hit, in his final at-bat. He really impressed me after his return last season and he SUPER impressed me during the spring, so I am chompin' at the bit for him to start hitting regular-like. He did try to bunt today to get on base but it was slightly under-hit. Otherwise, he'd be making my heart jump with 2 hits instead of 1.

Jose Ramirez was batting second today. Michael Brantley is out with a sore back (NO!! N.O.) so they are messing with the lineup already. JoRa did nothing at the plate but he was fancy in the field.

Omg omg omg omg KIPNIS!! Two hits today, man!! He was shut out yesterday, and didn't have any sort of amazing spring, so it's a bit of a nail-biter to see how his season is going to go. Two hits is the bomb-diggity. Can't wait to see more!

Today was Carlos Santana's birthday, and dude ALWAYS seems to do well on his birthday. Weird thing, that! He didn't disappoint, and went YARD today to score the Tribe's first run of the season with a solo blast. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter - right after the game he was thanking fans for birthday wishes, being excited about the win and praising Tribe pitching:

Props to our pitchers tonight. How good was Carrasco wow !!! 💪@Indians
— Carlos Santana MLB (@TheRealSlamtana) April 9, 2015

Carlos Santana, while wearing bright blue-sequin Gucci shoes, said he tries to hit a HR on his birthday every year. And he usually does.
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) April 9, 2015

Moss, Gomes and Chisenhall had 5 strikeouts between them. Blerg. On a happy note - Lonnie had an error at third but it was not officially ruled an error so the Tribe remains error-free through two. Holla!

David Murphy, being that he is such a swell guy, got a hit because he is the designated hitter and it would be impolite not to. Tom Hamilton was saying how Murphy's dad was at the game and he is an even more swell guy.

Handsome Mike Aviles!!!!! How about that guy huh? Not only was he a trooper and played left field (he's really an infielder) but he got TWO hits - including a homer! What?? Aviles on track for big numbers this year maybe?? He is definitely breaking some Minor-League hearts right now with his amazing versatility and ability to bang hits off the bench. And randomly in the 9-hole to boot. What would we be without Handsome Mike?!

Lots of good stuff stirring today, ready to break out on to the surface at any time. Pitching has been scary good - like a dream almost! Bats just need to catch up and be where they are on paper. We know these guys got it in them!

Tomorrow is a 2:10 game so don't forget! It'll be the Boy Bauer versus an RHP. Funny thing the guy's name is Asher Wojciechowski which blows my mind because I have a friend with a crazy long Polish last name and she named her son Asher. So there exists not one Asher-Polishinski but TWO! God bless America!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Chris Carter, who has the range of the Statue of Liberty, has a freak reach at first to rob Brandon Moss of a hit."
- Tom Hamilton

"I tell you what...Jose Ramirez is making you forget how hard some of these plays really are."
- Tom Hamilton


"For all you children who wonder what Santa Claus does in April...he is the official scorekeeper for the Houston Astros."
- Tom Hamilton on Rasmus getting a hit off an error

A Good Day For Flying

Hey! I'm back! For now, at least. Still dealing with a sick dog and a sick me but this is the first time in a while that I've found myself awake after a game in a few weeks.

Plus - how exciting was this game?!?! And it wasn't even because of Kluber or Chisenhall!

Trevor Bauer OWNED IT today. He owned it because several of his pitches bounced in front of the plate, but he still went 7 innings. He still threw 112 pitches. He still didn't give up any home runs and the FOUR hits he did give up were just singles! It took a long time - he only struck out 6 - but he did it! Bauer Outage!

Bryan Shaw came in for a beautiful 8th - no hits, no runs, one strikeout - and then Cody Allen came in for an even more-perfect save (TWO strikeouts)! Allen has 10 saves now, one more than John Axford. Still not our "closer" I guess but who CARES?? What's in a name? All it means is that fewer people pick him up to be their Fantasy closer.

So, since we been gone, Michael Bourn is hurt again. His hamstring disengaged again or something, and he's out for a while. Suuuuucks, because he was doing really great! And also because Nyjer Morgan is still only halfway through his stint on the 60-day DL.

Now Brantley is in center (uh, no problem) and Murphy et al are in right. They picked up a dude named Dickerson from Pittsburgh for left. No opinion on him yet, although I think his coming in somehow lost us Kottaras and that's not cool. This Dickerson guy owes us some homers!

Jason Kipnis is the leadoff man now and he's feelin' it. Or he's feelin' Jason Kipnis Bobblehead night.

20,000 "Yankee fans" are not feeling it.

He went 2 for 4 tonight in that top spot, and stole TWO bases. He's been pretty steady in the last 10 games - going up and down as the rest of the team does. But it seemed especially potent tonight!

Asdrubal...I guess he was wearing a Brazil soccer jersey today. Is that how the World Cup works? Once your team (Venezuela) is out, you pick your next fave? Brazil didn't work out too well for him, either. Also, he went 0-fer tonight. Sigh. He's been like Kipnis, keeping his average tight over the last 10 games but not hitting when the rest of the team isn't either.

Michael Brantley (.328) is getting there! And by "there" I mean the elusive .330 that I keep imagining him having! Of course, no one will know of this except for me and my dog and the 4 people who may have read about it here, but it's our goal! Today's key term is "five-tool player" as Brantley hit for power (his 14th home run) and had the speed to get two doubles, and leads the league in outfield assists (didn't get one today but this weekend he did), is great at chasing down balls and oh yeah - .328. He also looks good in a fedora.

How about Carlos Santana, huh? He's steady over .200. Maybe not as much over .200 as we'd like but he's back to hitting regularly and for power. He's got a lot of ground to make up! Speaking of ground have you seen him on the field lately? He's been at first a bit and he had one HECK of a game the other night, flinging himself around and making important plays. They say it's because he did so much third base work that with the bigger glove at first and stuff, it's easier. He only went 1 for 4 tonight and did strike out twice but still I'm glad he's with us!

Lonnie Baseball has cooled off a bit but he is still our every-day dude and I'm LOVIN it! The average is coming down down down after being up in the stratosphere, but as he gets closer to qualifying (maybe this week?) he is still way up there. HE has the elusive .330! Let's hope it doesn't slide too much further down, though - today he was 1 for 3 with a walk. He also made his 12th error which....yeep!

Murphy went 1 for 4, and that Dickerson dude went 1 for 3 and has a .400 batting average so far.

Gomes made his 11th error, which sucks because after an atrocious start he has been rock-solid on the field lately. I just tried to give you some cool stats after reading BaseballReference.com but I am way too lame for them. His fielding % is .985. Sounds good right? But I guess it can't be too good if you have 11 errors. And there are like 15 columns of other stats. He's got a 37% caught stealing % so that's not too bad. It's towards the top in the league, I believe.

So this pitcher they faced tonight, Tanaka, was 10-0 against teams he'd faced for the first time. Now he's 10-1. He also had not given up more than 4 earned runs in a game this year. Now he's given up 5. Dude came in with a 2.27 ERA and now it's 2.51. BOOM!! Tribe still likes those good pitchers! (Except when they totally, totally don't).

I guess tomorrow is Derek Jeter day at the Prog. That really upsets me so I won't talk about it. However, I guess Key Bank is giving everyone K signs to remind everyone to #VoteKluber. Did you vote? They need one more guy for each ASG squad, and Kluber is on their list of possibilities. You can go here and vote a bazillion times. You can also text "A2" to 89269 to vote for the Klubot. And on Thursday, between 10 AM and 4 PM, you can Tweet the hell out of #VoteKluber for a final push!

The Rockies are asking that since you are there and since it's easy, would you please #VoteMorneau too? They came up with the clever #ClevelandRox hashtag, which I do like. I've been voting for Morneau by default (I'm not text voting, just voting online) so the Rockies sent me a coupon good for 33% off tickets to some upcoming Rockies/Twins game in Minnesota. Cool?

If you #VoteKluber at least 28 times on the MLB site, you get entered into some contest and can meet Klubes so that's cool. Right?

Speaking of Twitter, in my blog absence I've been doing a lot more tweeting and following people on Twitter. I finally got myself a good list of people I like to follow during games - a fun group! And a lot more followers, since the Indians have re-tweeted me a few times. If you like my blog and do the Twitter, come follow me (@positivetribe) and check out all the people I follow during games. I do some photos and say some fun stuff. Always positive! (There's a NegativeTribe out there now....mhmm)

So yeah, tomorrow, 7:05 again at Progressive Field. It'll be game 3 of 4 against those dudes. It'll be Tomlin and his hair against a newcomer named McCarthy. RHP! Let's hope for lots of runs!

No Radio Chatter tonight. Give me a break! Check out this awesome Facebook post, though:

Post by Tom Hamilton has the Best Home Run call in all of Baseball.

Have You Met Handsome Mike?

Mike Aviles is a great Indians player, and we're lucky to have him. No joke! I saw him before the 2013 season at the Fan Fest and he was as happy to be an Indian and excited to play baseball as Jason Kipnis. He was super serious about his job, too, not like Nick Swisher who thinks his job is just to hop up and down and spit out nonsense platitudes. Aviles is a hard-core baseball player. He's not just our backup infielder now, he's our backup everything including outfield. Right now he's our backup Kipnis!

Via Facebook/GV Artwork

Rewind, though, to Danny Salazar. I don't know why but I heard a lot of Danny hate today. How do you hate this guy? I mean he's no ace but he's like what, 20 years old? He's not perfect but he looked better than Masterson at some points this year!

Salazar did just fine, and although he gave up TWO runs instead of the usual ONE run that starters have been allowed this year, he still had a quality start. Very nice line with 6 1/3 innings and 7 strikeouts. One of his 3 runs was let across by a reliever, so there's that. While he did give up 3 doubles, there were no home runs and just one walk. Danny Salazar, you are safe and make it to the next round!

Bryan Shaw looked a little rickety today - he gave up 2 hits and let Salazar's runner score. He's pitched a lot lately, so he's probably out for a bit now.

Cody Allen doe - wow! Twenty strikeouts in 13 innings. He got 2 more today. I can't tell you how fast he was pitching because the Indians' web site is broken, but Tom Hamilton says it was darn fast. "What a find he was," said Hamilton. No kidding!

John Axford was just...ugh. Why? He finished all right, yes, but with 26 pitches and a double. Ugh.

Hey how about that Indians defense today?? Yes yes, Yan Gones had ANOTHER error but Nyjer Morgan was leaping around the field, pulling down balls. Brantley with the outfield assist. Carlos Santana - the worst hitter on the team - was on FIRE at third, even going in to the stands to snag a foul. And even Handsome Mike got dirty flying after a shot down the middle, and taking it to the bag himself.

So proud! So pants!

 While the defense was a million times better than usual, the offense was fair-to-middlin. They got 9 hits but only between 5 guys. The guys who were hitting were hot stuff!

Morgan went 1 for 3. Not sure why he's not stealing much yet. I think he keeps turning the pitcher's head with those pants. Check out his post-game interview - love that laugh!

Brantley (.276) is sticking with the 3-spot, and he went 2 for 4 with a biiiiig 2-RBI double in the 3rd. His slide in to 2nd was challenged - just like his outfield assist to 2nd was challenged - but no matter what the ruling was (he was safe) it still scored 2.

Carlos Santana...what do...I mean how....when is.... sigh....He went 0 for 4 tonight with 2 strikeouts.

Asdrubal was hitting 6th and even though all you're going to hear about for the next week is his error YESTERDAY, at least TODAY he went 2 for 4 with a big ol' DOUBLE in the 9th with the score tied, and he made it over to 3rd on a bunt then came home to score when Handsome Mike hit him in to win the game!


The Chiz Kid was not at his best at the plate today, and Gomes was not the best behind the plate but he did get another homer which is why we love him so. Is this the apex of his paternity comeback or is there more? Maybe an errorless game AND a homer?

That leaves us with our man Mike Aviles, from the beginning of this post. You've heard of his defense, and you've heard that he won the game. But don't forget his double and his other single and his run scored. Or his .302 batting average. He'll be in for a while as Kipnis is on that 15-day DL for like 12 more days. And we should all be thankful that he is here for us.

Aviles is sexy and he knows it.

Ok so I spent all day today thinking it was Thursday. I got ready to post my brother's "happy birthday" Facebook post. I turned on the radio at noon, looking for the game. I was ready to go for my Thursday swim. I even was surprised to see the garbage trucks go by a day late. Anyway that's why I told you that today's game was at noon.

But since nobody is paying attention, nobody was mis-directed. Well done! TOMORROW'S game is at noon though so don't be late!

It'll be Masterson versus the RHP 6.09 I promised for today's game. No rubber match, since this series has expanded to 4. But it'll be a good game for us to win anyway!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"When you walk the number nine hitter, who is batting .109, it's a disaster in the making."
- Tom Hamilton

"Well [umpire] Doug Eddings is not getting invited to the Twins team party if they are having one tonight."
- Tom Hamilton doesn't think the Twins like the calls

"The life of a closer is like being one of they flying Wallendas without a net."
- Tom Hamilton gives an excuse

"It's not his fault. The baseball gods will find that player..."
- Tom Hamilton on rookie shortstop Escobar missing a catch while playing in left field

Everybody, Take a Seat

Kipnis is on the bench with a muscle strain. Now Bourn is on the bench with his hamstring acting up again. Giambi is just like...old? Gomes and wife had their baby yesterday so he's having a sit-down too. After a long cold April you wonder how we made it through with no injuries but all of a sudden they are not only having to make replacements mid-game, but they did some shuffling around of the roster. Josh Tomlin is IN, speedy little Jose Ramirez is IN, Elliot Johnson is OUT and hey! It's Nick Hagadone!

The guys who did manage to play today had an all-right game. "All right" because while they won it wasn't too convincing of a win. Two un-earned runs off 5 hits, and 2 errors in the field. Luckilly, the White Sox matched us error-for-error. They had some super-nice plays to match ours, too!

Justin Masterson was on the hill as it happens, as he is not a stranger to lack of run support. Dude finally had himself a second long game, going 7 1/3 innings. That's the second time in a row he's gone that long, and he hadn't gotten too many innings in his other games this year. "Only" 6 strikeouts - and I say "only" because I know he's got the power to get more. But only 4 hits and 1 strike so I'd say that was classic "ace" stuff. Real Masty!

Cody Allen gave up a hit. Whaat? Tom Hamilton called him "The best set-up man." Awww...Vinnie :( But yep, Cody Allen got the second out in the 8th with a man on second, then there was the question of whether to walk Abreu to face Dunn or what. Cody Allen answered that with a resounding STRIKE OUT. BOOM!

Did you know that the rally chicken is back? Well maybe not THE rally chicken but A rally chicken made a visit. In fact, TWO of them did.

Original recipe, from 2013

Extra crispy (from Friday)

Being that Abreu was done with, Axford came in for a very closer-like 9th inning, getting them out 1-2-3. Did you see the guys' bowling team picture from Monday?

Masterson, Allen, Outman and Axford. Ooh la la!

So who hit today? Only 5 guys, no multi-hit for anyone, and only one extra base. But you know what? NO STRIKEOUTS, MAN! How often does that happen?

That's super positive, even if the guys are bangin' the ball around like they did yesterday.

Bourn got a hit in his 2 at-bats, before he left with a sore hamstring. That means 16 hits in 16 games for him so far this year! I worry about that hamstring, though...that's an important part of a baseball player and all, especially an outfielder, a leadoff man and the guy who should be leading the team in steals. Mike Aviles came in to replace him, because he's a stud and can play ANYWHERE.

Stupid Swisher didn't get a hit today, but he was getting stuff done. Grumble. He got a walk, and later got a sac fly for a run. And he also had an un-assisted double play at first where he caught the ball with bases loaded and one out, then got to the bag before the dude who took off for second could return. Good but, whatever.

Brantley (.271) was shuffled up to the third slot today, because he can hit from anywhere. And he did, going 1 for 4.

Santana didn't hit today, and he didn't walk either. Neither did David Murphy but he had a sweet catch in the outfield. And Santana caught a guy stealing! Huh!

The Chiz Kid was at #5 today. How awesome is Brantley-Santana-Chisenhall if they are all hitting??? Brantley is usually hitting, Chiz is always hitting and Santana is hitting right now so uh well like, forget about today's game but think of how awesome it COULD be!! All of those doubles and homers...my goodness.

Chisenhall started off the second with a double, then had some good baserunning to get himself to third on a flyout, and had no trouble scoring on an error at third. He's always makin' stuff happen!

Asdrubal is keeping up, not being too bad or too good, going 1 for 2 today. He's at least staying out of the .100s with a .226 average.

Do you remember Jose Ramirez? He came up last year for a bit, and did a lot of running out hits and stuff. He's coming from Columbus with a .319 average, 17 RBI and 8 steals. I think he's gonna be fun! Today he went 1 for 3 with a bunt that he totally turned in to a single. Right?!

I'll be at the game tomorrow, but without OMG ASDRUBAL!!! because I never made a new one and uhm...well, it's not time yet? I need some kind of revolving sign, so I can cheer for all of the guys. All of them but Swisher ha ha!

First game of the year, because I'm totally not going to sit out there when it's cold. Or too hot, really. Ooooh I'm gonna bring my broom!

Sad 'ol broom.

Tomorrow is 1:05, with the return of Kluber versus RHP 4.05. Easy peasy, right?

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Like the IRS, they pop up out of nowhere."
- Tom Hamilton's take on recurring hamstring injuries

"Take the glove, take the ball, let's just hope it all stays in there."
- Tom Hamilton on Abreu's play at first

"Hot dog wrappers flying everywhere. The top of an Orel Hershiser bobble head just went floating by."
- Tom Hamilton

Squirrel!

Ha! I love that dog! And you know that's what you were thinking when you heard there was a squirrel in the game, right?

Another quality start for Zach McAllister! And it was a super good outing for him until it wasn't, but after he gave up some runs he came back and finished up like a man. And didn't give up any more, yo. McAllister threw 4 scoreless innings, then in the 5th stuff got away from him. He ended up giving up 2 earned runs as well as an un-earned run - on an error by him! He came back for a scoreless 6th and actually started the 7th, but he walked the first batter and was at 98 pitches so that was that.

On comes the wicked bullpen - Zep, Allen and Axford. They are so awesome they are boring! Zep's ERA is now back down, at 1.00. Cody Allen is still at 0.00. STILL! He's only 5th in the league, though, if you can believe it. There are 4 guys with more innings than him who are still rockin' the goose eggs.

Axford showed up and had a nice, clean 1-2-3 inning. Aaaah. He got his 7th save too!

Speaking of zeroes, Jason Giambi was back today! He didn't get anything done. But they were saying on the radio about how different MLB and minor league pitching is. "G" (what an annoying nickname) has been working the pitching machine hard in the batting cages, but it still doesn't get him there I guess. Regardless of his quiet bat, does having him in the dugout make for a multiple home-run game? Hmm?

Giambi is actually the only dude who didn't hit today! The Tribe got 11 hits, which is good because they got no walks. It translated into 4 runs and a tidy little 6 LOB.

Bourn is still struggling. One for 4, with 2 strikeouts. Yeesh. Swisher went 2 for 4 with his 3rd double.

Kipnis went 2 for 4 but he got 2 RBI! That's because his 2 hits were a double and his first homer!

Yaaaaay!

They finally moved the Chiz Kid up to the 4 spot today. Winning? Yes. He also went 2 for 4, including his 6th double. Except no one was able to bat him in so that sucked. But seeing him continuing to produce (.455) at a different spot in the lineup is pretty awesome. Now, committing 2 errors in one game is not awesome but he has only had a few games at third this year so let's hope he got that out of his system.

Holy cow, Michael Brantley (.282)! All of a sudden hitting for power! He got his 4th home run of the year tonight (top of the league has 6), and his 17th and 18th RBI (tied for second in the league). Last year he only had 10 homers, yaknow. He says this is the first time he didn't have to do rehab in the offseason, so he is just healthy as a horse. All of that, and he also looks good in a fedora.

An approximation of Michael Brantley in a fedora.

Asdrubal is still hangin' in there. He went 1 for 4 with no strikeouts. He also was tight in the field, which he sort of had a problem with last year.

Murphy and Gomes both went 1 for 3 today. No errors for Gomes! The team as a whole was also low on strikeouts, so that's good. Stay agressive, boys!

Even though they got all those hits, the game was won by Kipnis and Brantley's homers. The team still needs to put together more hits. Oddly enough they were pretty soft on the starter, regarding pitch count, when yesterday they really ground the guy down. Maybe that's just a Santana thing? They let Guthrie get out of the first inning on 6 pitches!

But, we'll take wins any way we can get them. And it did feel like the team turned a corner tonight, batting-wise. Not a 90-degree corner but a slight curve to the right. They're not getting worse, that's for sure.

Tomorrow is another day of Royals (royals) at 7:05. It'll be Salazar versus RHP 2.00. Salazar needs to be steppin' up. Use it or lose it, Danny! He's got a 7.71 ERA with no quality starts in 3 games. Let's see that change!

I don't have any Radio Chatter today, even with the squirrel thing. I'm tellin ya, Hammy and Rosie aren't that into it yet! It's all business right now it seems. Maybe after 2 wins in a row, they'll be more loose tomorrow.

Returning From Kazmir

You know it is just a crummy, crummy game when there is bases loaded and Yan Gomes comes up to the plate and he strikes out swinging. Cuz if Yan Gomes can't save us, man, when who can? Who can?

Man I gotta dig deep to get my Positive socks on the right feet today...

So I guess the deal with Scott Kazmir is that he pitched fewer than 20 innings in 2011, then 60-some innings of non-MLB ball in 2013, and now at 114 MLB innings in 2013 he is "out of gas." Now, I'm just as impressed with his work this year as everyone else is but of all the people paid all the money to run this team did nobody see this coming? That one of our starters would probably be useless by August? I mean maybe they just got caught up in the excitement that was Kazmir and nobody thought he'd last past May as a starter anyway but it seems like someone dropped the ball in this situation.

Or maybe the fault lies with Ubaldo Jiminez, who was supposed to pitch more innings than he did in order to save the bullpen for Kazmir but Ubaldo suddenly has a 45-year-old arm and can't go too long anymore either.

Anyway - Scott Kazmir was impressing us just a few weeks ago with 3 quality starts in a row, totaling 21 innings and just 2 earned runs, now has given up 10 earned runs in just 8 innings over 2 games with 8 days of rest inbetween. Ugh.

 The good news is that Cody Allen is still pretty good and is hopefully going to end the season with an ERA close to 2. He came in for 1 2/3 innings and didn't give up a hit.

Next was Zep to face the lefty and took care of it. Then he came in for the 8th and let some stuff get away from him so then he went out with some baserunners on and one scored due to a damn error by Dick Swisher, and apparently Bryan Shaw was so upset by this turn of events that he gave up a hit that turned in to an un-earned run.

But whatever - the Tribe didn't make up the 2 runs to tie the A's earned run totals so we shouldn't worry too much about making up for their un-earned runs, either.

Scoring was kind of like Friday's game, with a bunch of hits but not enough runs to show for it. And more fancy/lucky plays by A's players. I checked it out and the A's fielding is right in the middle of the pack (along with the Tribe's) so I'm not sure where all this luck is coming from. Familiarity with the field, I guess.

Bourn had the day off so our man Drew Stubbs lead off, and even though he didn't get a hit and went 0 for 5, he got on base twice! First was on a fielder's choice, where he was able to steal second. Then he got on on a throwing error and ended up scoring. I totally stole this idea from Twitter, but I'm going to use it here. Feel free to steal my Stubb-as-Flash meme!

Swisher, however, is keeping it up now with a 4-game hitting streak. His was just 1 for 4 today but with only one strikeout at least.

Kipnis is rockin' a 6-game hitting streak, going 2 for 4 today with a big RBI single to give him 3 RBI over the last 2 games. Can't stop, won't stop! The Kid also got his 22nd stolen base!

Santana followed up that RBI single with a big RBI double of his own and ended up going 2 for 4 on the night. He's getting a little more reliable lately too!

You know what Ryan Raburn did today? Home run. BOOM! Two in two days! Dude's slugging percentage (.574) is 5th in the league for guys with 50+ games, behind only Crash Davis, Miggy, Ortiz and some dude on Texas with only 50 games played. So yeah, Ryan Raburn is THAT GOOD!

Wait, what? I just told you how good he was!

Speaking of good - be still my beating heart, Asdrubal Cabrera!!!! Praying to Pete that two 2-hit games in a row is not an anomaly and is Asdrubal turning the corner and playing the rest of the season strong! Now, he did strike out the other 2 times at the plate and left 2 men on base but hey, how many RBI did you get today, buddy??

Brantley had himself a sac bunt and a walk today, so no more hitting streak. But going 0 for 2 didn't do too much to hurt his climb to .300!!

Aviles was in the ol' reliable spot at 9th and did a Stubbs-ish job, getting at least a hit, thankyouverymuch.

Still with all that hitting they only managed 3 runs. What's up with that?

More west coast baseball this week, so pack a snack! It'll be the Tribe at the Angels starting Monday at 10:05. It'll be Danny Salazar versus RHP 3.49. Oh, crumbs...another guy who can't pitch too many innings. Well let's hope his 5 innings are stellar!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"We saw the remnants of that fire last night on the way out. I'd say it was well done."
- Jim Rosenhaus on the parking lot fire from the night before

"They are the most dedicated and enthusiastic fans in baseball. And I've got to believe that ALL of them have designated drivers..."
- Tom Hamilton on the Bleacher Creatures

"...headed over to Alcatraz, to see where some of [Jim Rosenhaus'] relatives have spent some time."
- Tom Hamilton

A Good Little Game

And I do mean little! Two hours, 16 minutes - woah! And the Tribe only got 4 hits!

I think the longest parts of the game was when Ubaldo was pitching and facing 4-5 batters per inning. Otherwise the two starters were both tight, and were just cruising (interestingly both have ERAs over 4.5).

Ubaldo finally had a quality start! Not only quality but the team's league-leading 11th shutout! (Well, like, the bullpen helped...) After the game he said "The fastball was good, and the slider was good too. So that was good." Like pitching for him is an out-of-body experience. Whatever, I'll take it! He did get himself into some jams, giving up 5 hits and 2 walks, but man did he ever get himself out of them. It was actually exciting!

The bullpen actually held up their end of the bargain, too. Allen, Smith and Perez gave us 3 innings without giving up any runs! Perez was a little touch-and-go, giving up 2 singles, but he got out of it unscathed and got himself a save!

The Blue Jays' pitcher was surprisingly tough, and our batters were stymied. But you can't keep a good team down, so when they saw an opening they took it. In the 4th he gave up a walk to Asdrubal then the next three dudes - Kipnis (3-game streak!), Swisher and Brantley got singles and suddenly it was 2-0! I say 2-0 because there was one out when I got out of the car and 2 runs when I got back in. Huh!

The only other hit was pretty nice - a double by Stubbs in the 8th, followed by a nice sac bunt by Bourn and then a sac fly by Asdrubal to get him in to score!

Were you wondering about Stubbs' average? It's .249! He's also hit safely in his last 7 games!! Yes, ever since getting hit in the head with a foul ball! I put it out there on Twitter asking if anyone has commented on this but I'm so out of the loop...I probably wouldn't hardly know if this was a top story or something.

It suits me.

Hey don't look now but the White Sox beat the Tigers 11-4. Yeah, the White Sox, man! This is their first of I think, honestly, 19 games to go for the rest of the season. Do the White Sox have Detroit's number, even if they suck otherwise? Wouldn't that be something?!

Nice game today, even if it was low on action (but you "real" fans know that there can be action in lack of action.) Let's see if we can get another series win! Tomorrow will be Masterson versus - Esmil Rogers! RHP 3.84. That should be fun times (Mickey Callaway wasn't Rogers' pitching coach but he was in the system at the same time as Rogers, so perhaps he's got some insight.)

It'll be a 7:05 game - barring rain. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"This is the epitome of a jam."
- Tom Hamilton on Jiminez with runners at the corners and no outs

"When you get in Tony LaRussa's doghouse, there is no out door."
- Tom Hamilton on Colby Rasmus

"If you can have Ubaldo Jiminez pitch six innings every time out, you would sign right up for that."
- Tom Hamilton

"Boy it's amazing how simple this game seems when you have good pitching."
- Tom Hamilton

But Then Nothing Happened

I made a pledge not to talk about Ubaldo anymore in my posts, lest I lose the whole "positive" angle thing I've got going here. So the first two innings are moot.

Cody Allen had been rotting away in Columbus but he got to come up, and thank goodness he did because he was quite useful today! He did give up 3 of the other guy's runs, but his line looks clean. Three innings, four hits, no runs and SIX strikeouts! Everyone was kind of adjusting their ties and saying "we have no long relief" but it looks like Allen is willing and able to fill that role. Well, maybe not LONG relief - I guess that may have been 5 innings instead of 3? I don't even know - you ball players and your jive! But Allen had a great showing, hopefully he keeps it up.

In fact the entire bullpen was great and didn't give up any runs. They combined for 15 strikeouts! Nick Hagadone took over the 6th and 7th and was lights-out, giving him an ERA of 0.00 over two games now. Rich Hill and Bryan Shaw struck out six more to finish off the game.

Everyone is now adjusting their ties and bemoaning the "overuse" of our bullpen today, after such a long rest (??) but geez....four guys over 7 1/3 innings. What would Bob Feller say? (Oh, something you wouldn't want to repeat to your mother, that's for sure.)

But then, nothing happened.

Terry Francona pointed out that our team really fought back after the second inning debacle. And they did! They had the bases loaded with one out! Then the bases loaded with Mark Reynolds up! Terry noted that that was great, even though nothing happened.

I think we should call that The Cleveland Gut Punch.

Anyhow, we only got 6 hits today but we also got 6 walks. They were patient, they were scrappin, they almost got it done. There were also some really good plays on Boston's part *shakes fist*

Michael Bourn got a bunch of stitches in his hand. Pants! Drew Stubbs led off and he's not half bad. He's only half of Bourn tho, going 1 for 3 with 2 walks. Bourn would have gone 2 for 3, sucka! But Stubbs was on base a heck of a lot and that's all we ask. His friends never hit him in, though.

Asdrubal got a hit! It was only one hit, and he paired it with a strikeout, but hey man it's better than 2 strikeouts and no hits, right?

Kipnis is still out and I think they are just playing it safe with him. Why play Kipnis when it's Ubaldo on the mound, eh? Eh?

Santana was back today. They sent Santos down. Santana didn't come back with the same punch he left with but oh well. He went 0 for 4.

Good ol' Swisher was out there getting it done today, tho. He went 1 for 3 with a walk. No one on our team got any extra bases tonight but here's a fun fact: No one on Boston got a home run! Woah!

Mark Reynolds did not get us the grand slam we wanted. HOWEVER, in defense of Mark Reynolds, he did not strike out today. He walked twice, like a grown up and a good role model for Santana.

Cousin Michael is still hot hot hot! Not sure how his average dropped below .300 but .282 will do. Today he went 2 for 4 with no strikeouts. Unfortunately he was not up at the right times for anyone to capitalize on those hits. Love how he's staying hot even when the team is ice cold!

Mike Aviles is still grinding it out, too. He's at second base still. He went 0 for 3 but he did get a sac fly and got one of our two RBIs on the night.

Lonnie Chisenhall, on the other hand, is still stuck in the very rut that Asdrubal is in. This is no good because I told everyone he's the guy to watch this year. Get going, Chiz!

Ryan Raburn took over as the solid 9th batter, instead of Stubbs who was playing the exciting first batter today. He went 1 for 2 with a walk before being taken out for Cord Phelps. Hey Cord Phelps! Cord didn't get any hits.

It was just a rough game today. We did ALMOST so well against the top team in the AL East. In fact if it weren't for 1 2/3 innings of nameless baseball, we would have won. But, we didn't.

Tomorrow I'm going to the game and I'm PUMPED!! I was not looking forward to going to a cold, rainy game surrounded by a bunch of faux-Boston-fans but now I'm excited to be 1 of 10,000 fans in attendance. There will be Perez and there will be screaming. And I will be next to the bullpen so everyone will friggin hear me. EVERYONE!!

I was wondering if I should bring a whistle but I bet that is probably not a good idea. I wish I had a cowbell, I'd bring that. I might actually waltz into the Team Shop and get me some sort of clapping device. I'll be able to afford it because hot dogs are cheap. BAM!

Hmm there might be no Perez tomorrow because Justin's already up again! Huh! He's facing RHP 6.75. No contest, right?

Can't wait - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Send that script to Hollywood and they'd say 'We're not going to use it.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the unbelieveably true story of Daniel Nava

"Unfortunately for Ubaldo Jiminez, this inning represents all of the struggles he's had in the past."
- Tom Hamilton on the 2nd inning

"'Crisp' wouldn't be the best adjective to describe today's pitching performances by Jiminez and Doubront."
- Tom Hamilton

"Homeplate umpire Lance Diaz must be mumbling to himself 'Can anyone here throw strikes tonight?'"
- Tom Hamilton

"It's like an epidemic tonight. The virus is called 'Lack Of Command.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"The only guys playing tonight are the pitcher and the catcher."
- Tom Hamilton

"John Adams is now pounding on his forehead."
- Tom Hamilton

Goodbye, Awful August!

Did we really have a chance today? I mean the Rangers are batting .278 as a team, and that's only because their catcher is only batting .209. Get rid of him and it's .289. They have 156 homers, we have 116. Their pitching isn't that amazing but what they lack in run preventing they make up for in run getting.

The Rangers average over 5 runs per game (the Indians, somehow, a smidge over 4) and Ubaldo held them to just 4, albeit in 5 2/3 innings. So, yay? He struck out 7. Also the team wasn't exactly sharp behind him, even though they didn't get any official errors. It was a little whacky out there. All-in-all, Ubaldo had a decent outing. Not the kind of outing you expect from someone who's super awesome (the guy we thought we were buying) but a good outing if you're going to take into consideration how he has pitched this year.

Esmil Rogers struck out 3 again, over 1 2/3 innings. He struck out 4 his last game, in 2 innings. Good with the strikeouts, pretty decent on keeping runs from scoring. Not today, of course. Today he gave up 1 run. But at least it wasn't the winning run.  He also made Nelson Cruz throw a little temper tantrum. It must suck to be the lowest-average guy even when your average is .262.

Cody Allen pitched 2 innings. Two whole innings, no runs. We'd better be signing that kid up for a few years. Not being facetious - he does 1 and 2 innings with no runs all the time. KEEPER!

Hits were few and far between today, so it was pretty miraculous that we managed to score THREE WHOLE RUNS! Only 5 hits for 3 guys. We did walk 4 times, though.

Choo was back in the leadoff, and apparently this mental break of not having to kill the ball, just hit it, put him back in his happy place. Because he went 2 for 4 with his 36th double! Absolutely nothing came of that, though - no runs, no RBI.

The order then went Kipnis, Cabrera and Brantley. None of those guys hit but they all walked once. Asdrubal came around to score!

Not sure what got in to Santana but he was swingin' away tonight and also went 2 for 4 with a double! He got an RBI and he came around to score. These things happened in two different innings, even!

And still here and still making things happen is Casey Kotchman! He got a 2-run homer in the 9th! It was the most excited I've heard Tom Hamilton in a long while. Because who doesn't love it when Casey Kotchman is good at the plate?!

So that was it, yo. No more hits down the line, no more runs. Hannahan walked once and was replaced by Lillibridge. Zeke played center as Brantley was DH, and Zeke didn't look so hot. Donald had a nice sliding catch in left but still...did we need to get rid of Shelley?

More Rangers tomorrow at 7:05, and it's the return of Jeanmar Gomez! If he could keep the Rangers in check (uh...) then we might have a chance against RHP (4.95). But there's a reason we sent Jeanmar down in the first place so don't hold your breath.

I'll be at the Nerf War with my sweet modded Nerf Big Bad Bow (explanation) so I don't know when I'll get to the game. But you know I'll get to it...see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"They'll always be second place behind those clowns across the parking lot."
- Tom Hamilton on the Rangers versus the Cowboys

"[Josh] Hamilton doesn't think much when he's up at the plate. He's up there with one thought in mind - see the ball, crush the ball."
- Tom Hamilton

"Sometimes 110 pitches seems easy. On a night like tonight it feels like 150."
- Tom Hamilton

"Even with two strikes...Carlos Santana seeing if there is a chance he could hit that ball to Pepper Pike. And he didn't."
- Tom Hamilton

"This is not the time of the year to be playing the Texas Rangers."
- Tom Hamilton

"Now that's a strikeout to remember!"
- Tom Hamilton on Nelson Cruz throwing a hissy fit after being struck out

"Wouldn't that be something if the Yankees didn't make the playoffs? Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus. [...] Two-hundred-ten million just doesn't buy you what it used to."
- Tom Hamilton

Blargh

Well if you noticed - and you probably didn't - I didn't cover the game from Wednesday afternoon. I listened to it, and I actually watched the second half on TV, but afterwards I just sort of ate some ice cream and took a nap and watched Real Housewives. It was that kind of day.

Wednesday was our 8th loss in a row. It wasn't a blowout, it wasn't even that bad. Zach McAllister had a non-bad game even.  It just wasn't good enough.

Today's game wasn't a blowout either, and it wasn't that bad. It just also wasn't good enough.

Kluber did well for himself, going 5 innings and only giving up 1 run. He did his worst in the first (like usual) but it was only 1-run bad - not like, say, 10-run bad. He struck out SIX! That's the most strikeouts any Tribe pitcher has had in quite a while!

Sipp was in for the 6th and he wasn't bad, either!

One guy had a bad inning and it was - get ready for it - Cody Allen! No shit, Mr. 12 Scoreless Innings had his first run scored on him, and then another (as it was a 2-run homer) and that was it, we lost the game.

Esmil Rogers and Chris Perez pitched the 8th and 9th well. Cody Allen!! Can you believe it?!

Only 6 hits and 2 walks today.

OMG ASDRUBAL!!! #14 for the man! He likes to hit them at home I think. Ok maybe not - I just looked it up he's 8 at home and 6 away. He DOES like to hit them rightie, though. He's hit 11 right and only 3 left. He went 1 for 3 today.

Our man Santana had a 2-hit game, as instructed. But the lack of Kipnising and Chooing and even Asdrubaling meant nothing came of his 2 hits.

We did have guys on 2nd (Brantley, 1 for 3) and 3rd (Santana) with no outs in the 9th, only down by 2. And well, take it away Negative Tribe "Fan":

Typical Indians! Two on and nobody out and goddamn LaPorta is up and of course that dumbass strikes out. Then they put in Ezequiel Carrera to pinch hit like he's going to do anything but all he can do is pop out. I don't know why the hell they walked that old man Kotchman, like he was going to hurt them, but they did. Probably because they knew Hannahan was going to ground out and that's exactly what happened. Go Browns!

So that's how the ninth inning went. At least there were fireworks after, right? And 28,000 people got to see THE NEW YORK YANKEES!!

There's no Radio Chatter tonight because for one, I was busy doing chores during the game (the volleyball net doesn't put itself up), and also watching the Browns game during the game (I can't get enough of Bernie Kosar. Seriously.) Also since we were playing CC and the Yankees, there was very little talk about the Indians and very much gushing about CC - who threw at Asdrubal (and missed) because Kluber beaned Jeter in the head earlier - and what an amazing teammate he is. And Derek Jeter, the best ambassador for baseball and a first-ballot HOF shoo-in. And Nick Swisher who doesn't stop smiling. Start spreadin' the news! Somebody got treated to a steak dinner with CC on the off day...

Anyway, so no Radio Chatter today. Not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow because I'm throwing a going-away-party and then taking the away-ee to the airport the next day and I'm thinking maybe from 7 PM tomorrow to 7PM Sunday might all be a blur. We'll see if I get Saturday and Sunday's games in or not.

You probably won't notice, as you've probably moved on, which is OK just as long as you're not bitching about it.

Tomorrow is Justin Masterson versus RHP (2.96). Great googly moogly...that doesn't sound too good. All we can hope for is that Justin throws a gem, and everyone enjoys the special Saturday night fireworks.

See you...sometime!

I Swear I Recognize Your Breath...

The return-slash-debut of Roberto Hernandez! Man tonight's game was like having your wedding interrupted by grandma falling and breaking her hip. Falling on the cake and breaking her hip.

Things were going smooth for Hernandez until the team went all McAllister Meltdown Flashback and stopped catching the ball behind him (just like they did on the 6th against the Twins). Is this some sort of trial by fire?

In the end, Hernandez only gave up 5 earned runs out of 8. He did end up going 6 full innings total after the 5-run 2nd. The two homers he gave up were solo shots...although I wonder what would have happened if Pujols was in tonight? Yeah they got 8 runs without him. Hernandez didn't strike out any but he didn't walk any. He did hit Torii Hunter.

Oh and Torii hunter hit the home plate umpire in the face with his spike. Ouch ouch ouch!

I think the jury's still out on Hernandez. Hopefully next time he'll be more relaxed and we can see what he's really got and oh yeah, no more errors.

Coming in for the 7th was Rogers, who had a blank line. Then Cody Allen came in and had his worst inning ever - giving up a single then two walks. But I'll be darned if that Cody Allen didn't manage to get out of it without giving up a run, giving him 11 1/3 scoreless innings in his Major League career!

So today it wasn't the top or the bottom of the order doing poorly - rather, the middle was shut down. Santana, Brantley, Kotchman, Lillibridge all with goose-eggs. And Lillibridge with the two errors, holy shit! I like his hitting and it looks like he can play second and third and hang out in the outfield, but no more practice at short. All Star shortstops or go home!

Kipnis started off the game with a single but then got thrown out. Trying too hard? He did get a walk and then came in to score a run.

Asdrubal was hot at the plate, going 2 for 4 with an RBI double. I tell you what, though - Tom Hamilton was already so dismayed by then that I had to switch over to Gameday to make sure we actually just scored and to see how. I've never heard him so flat! Asdrubal's got 12 hits in his last 10 games. He was DHing tonight to get some rest, for what it's worth. I am hoping he decides to rest no more after what went down on the field tonight.

Here's a stat for you - Choo hasn't had any home runs against the Angels in his career. I couldn't tell why that was even a stat but from the looks of it, that was the only AL team off which he's never homered. And tonight it was a 3-run blast! When was the last time we had a big-run homer like that? July? It was his only hit for the night but it was his first RBI in almost 10 days!

Trip, skip and jump down to the bottom of the order where Jack Hannahan still resides when not holding down the bench. Hey Supermanahan! He went 1 for 3 tonight and he was on base for Choo's homer. Kipnis was actually the other guy, not Carrera.

Carrera was on base in the 6th when Asdrubal got his double. Zeke was about to test the arm of Torii [blush] but everyone's a little more cautious about him now that they know he'll cut a bitch (if a bitch happens to put their face where his spikes are. And then he'll ask if a bitch is ok.) So Zeke was wisely safe at first and was able to fly home when Asdrubal sent one out to Torii too.

And that was it, man. Asdrubal's RBI double and Choo's homer and the top and bottom of the order being on base made it a SOMEWHAT respectable loss. We can blame some of the numbers on the new old guy pitcher and then some on Santana and Lillibridge's errors, and those guys didn't even HIT. Psssh.

Oh if you're wondering, we've still got 8 in the pen. Accardo is gone, Seddon is full-time relief and Tomlin is on the DL because it turns out his elbow has been hurt for a long time. Yargh. Although....although, our pen is looking pretty nice right now. I'd like to see more of Herrmann to see what he's got in him. I don't see why we can't stay with 8. Who do you think should go if we do trim back?

 Tomorrow is an OFF DAY!! WOOHOO! Gonna catch up on some TV, some sleep, some house work. Gonna be ready to face those A's on Friday at 10:05. It'll be McAllister versus LHP (3.91) whose unbiased scouting report basically says he's shitty right now. Yay!

Everyone get a little rest and do your vacuuming, and I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The Angels either have the Indians' signs, or they guessed right."
- Tom Hamilton on the CS of Kipnis in the first

"At this stage, with Hernandez, the Indians aren't looking for a talk show host..."
- Tom Hamilton on the quietness of Hernandez

"Albert Pujols is getting the night off, and Roberto Hernandez should send a thank-you gift to manager Mike Socia."
- Tom Hamilton

"For you Tony we'll put a little spaghetti sauce on them."
- Tom Hamilton has weird feelings about Italian people (and what they like on hot dogs)

"The Indians have been a bad baseball team since the All Star break, and they're playing like it tonight."
- Tom Hamilton in the second

"His chances of getting Mike Trout were about the same as me sprouting wings and flying to San Francisco."
- Tom Hamilton on Santana's bad pickoff attempt in the second

"Some guys are just not middle-of-the-order RBI guys."
- Tom Hamilton on Choo

"If you gave that shopping list to Santa, he'd send you a note back from the North Pole saying 'hey kid, lower your expectations, that's a lot of toys!'"
- Tom Hamilton on Acta's wish list for 2013

"When Darth Vader is your agent, then you're going to test the market."
- Tom Hamilton on Scott Boras

"This is going to be six weeks of some torturous baseball if the Indians can't turn around their rotation."
- Tom Hamilton

It Is Now the 80s and Frankie Says Relax

I was at the game tonight. At around the 7 inning mark I was standing there watching people stream out of the stadium from my perch at the very top of the bleachers. John Adams was banging away on his drum, for no particular reason as no one was in scoring position and nothing exciting was about to happen. I was clapping loudly and cheering for whomever was up. A cold calm came over me when I, at that moment, realized that we were not going to the playoffs. There was no pressure to win anymore. I was just there to enjoy baseball on a Monday night. The weather was beautiful, I had my humongous Diet Dr Pepper. Perhaps someone might throw a t-shirt at me. I could scream all I wanted and clap all I wanted and we'd still be singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" at the half.

I turned to my friends and told them that this is exactly how the 80s were. It's how it was for all Tribe fans in the 80s but especially kids because we didn't know of playoffs or trade deadlines or wild cards. We just got taken to the stadium - the big, empty stadium - on beautiful summer days, and we had pop and hot dogs and yelled and cheered and John Adams was there and we would all sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."

So that is where we are right now, guys. It's the 80s again and those of us who care can  just go watch some baseball and yell and scream and drink our big pops. And some people who don't care can still come and tsk in disgust and leave early, or bring your kids because what do they know? The weather is nice again, too.

Ok I'm done waxing poetic about Indians baseball. Let's go over some good stuff that happened in this game.

For one thing, Zach McAllister only gave up 2 earned runs. I am not kidding - since the 3rd out was an error (throwing error in Kipnis, who hasn't had an error in 56 games) none of the rest of the inning counted against him. NONE. So he gave up 2 home runs according to his ERA, which remains under 4. He also struck out 3 in his 1 2/3 innings. Huh.

Josh Tomlin pitched 3 1/3 and until he left, he had only given up 1 run. But he left with 2 guys on base and Sipp came in and gave up a homer so Tomlin got 2 of those runs and Sipp got the other.

Cody Allen has now pitched 9 innings and has given up 1 hit and 0 runs. His ERA is 0.00. Still.

Esmil Rogers didn't want to be left out so he gave up 1 run in the 8th. Argh. Smith came in to finish it and was good and Smithy and didn't give up any more.

Kipnis felt my good vibes today, I know it! He got on in the first by beating out an error, and then came around to score. In the 6th he had a nice single, once again by running hard, and came around to score again! Of course, he had a throwing error that resulted in 7 runs but that's an issue for some other blog.

I did get to wield OMG ASDRUBAL!!! tonight, as he also got a hit in that first inning. He ultimately went 1 for 3 and was pulled in late innings for Hannahan. But actually it was Lillibridge who batted for him but he played left. Hannahan came to bat for Brantley and Carrera went to center. You wouldn't believe how confusing this all was when you're in the few seats in the stadium that have zero view of the scoreboard.

Choo, Brantley and Duncan each got one hit. Brantley still leads the team in average and is tied with Choo again for the league's second place in doubles with 33!

In between all them was Santana who got his 12th homer! He's tied with Asdrubal for 2nd on the team (Choo 13) and is 2nd in RBI behind Kipnis. He might be quietly coming up behind everyone in stats, but not sure if that average is really going to go anywhere. It's been in the 230's since the end of July.

Lopez had a decent night, going 2 for 4 and looking sort of OK at 3rd. He's actually doing pretty well average-wise - he's at .249 right now. If he can be a 250s hitter for us I think we'll have gotten our money's worth (I think he's playing for a free uniform?)

Oh hey, only 6 LOB today! We also didn't get shut out! And the weather - I swear, this was the best weather of the summer. I didn't have to wear a hat to keep my hair off my neck and in fact I didn't break a sweat at the game. At the same time I was comfortable in a t-shirt, shorts and sandals! It made me forget how much I hate summer weather!

Tomorrow is Kluber versus RHP. That game can't be any worse than this game and surely it can't be worse than Kluber's last game - right? I think I might go to the game if the weather stays good. It was fun, I swear! Plus, like I said, there's just no pressure any more. It's just about baseball.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"If you're getting outscored 26-6 in the first two innings, and you've got an offense that is middle-of-the-pack at best - not built to be a high-scoring offense - it's pretty easy to see why this losing streak has gotten to the point that it has."
- Tom Hamilton

"If we all thought yesterday was rock bottom after that stunning setback in Detroit, what in the world do we make of this second inning?"
- Tom Hamilton

"...I'm sure he'll agree that if the Indians hit 2 grand slams this inning, he'll give away a whole fleet of Nissan Rogues."
- Tom Hamilton in the 3rd

"If you're wondering who the third voice is on our broadcast tonight, it's home plate umpire Jim Joyce who barks out the balls and strikes as loud as they come."
- Tom Hamilton

"This might be the nicest night of the summer."
- Tom Hamilton may be right

"If you are left handed, you want to face the Indians."
- Tom Hamilton

"You really can't play any worse than the Indians have played in this 10-game stretch."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Twins hierarchy has forgotten more baseball than I'll ever know, but how in the world did Nishioka get called up from Rochester?"
- Tom Hamilton

Damon Designated for Assignment

I knew that would make you smile! And we all sure could use a smile right now. Forgetting the miserable loss today, the news of today is that we are free FREEEEEEEEEEEE of Johnny Damon!

What sort of sucks about the situation is that in the "Ask The Manager" show on WTAM today, Manny Acta indicated that not only was Damon bad but since he was bad he was absolutely no help in the clubhouse. So he was even more of a waste of money than I thought he was. What a dingleberry.

So Damon's gone and our old pal Zeke is back. Ezequiel Carrera was in playing left today - why it wasn't Shelley I DON'T KNOW. I don't think I'll ever understand the Indians' left field. I guess it's not for me to know.

In case you were wondering, Chris Seddon (who has some Major League games under his belt) is coming up to replace Lowe on Sunday. He's 4-0 in July. Ace!

Ok so speaking of our ace...Justin Masterson did not do it today. He gave up 7 over 4 innings. He actually struck out 4 over those innings but that was inbetween 10 hits and 4 walks. I dunno what to say about that. What can you say?

Accardo did his thing, and by that I mean he gave up 3 runs in middle relief. Shoulda been Rogers but he was used yesterday. Accardo pitched the 6th and 7th and gave up 6 hits and struck out none.

Cody Allen! Now there's a pitcher! He's throwing 0.00 over 5 appearances. Tonight he took the 8th and 9th with no hits, no runs, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. Secret weapon?!

Bad pitching but also our old friend Useless Hitting is back as well. Yesterday's stellar 4 LOB was obliterated by today's 8 LOB and 10 strikeouts. Pants!

Acta mixed it up today and put Kipnis in the leadoff spot. Not a bad move, since he wasn't getting Choo in while at 2 or 3, and Choo wasn't hitting the non-existant 8 and 9 guys in. It also took some pressure off Kipnis (they say that Pestano is his best friend on the team and he was all "Kipnis sucks hitting 3rd and is very sad" or something) and if he got on someone was behind him to hit him in. This worked in theory as he went 2 for 5 with a double, and it's the first time he's had a multi-hit game since July 23. He even happened to get an RBI because the #9 guy happened to go 2 for 4 as well.

But that was it. Choo left 4 on base and Cabrera 3. Oh, both got hits of course (yay!) but just...no one was synched up to score runs.

Santana was nearly shut down but he did manage to get his walk on. He did strike out twice which is actually unusual for him.

Brantley went 1 for 3 and his average stays locked in at .288.

Lopez and Hannahan both went 1 for 4, but both also struck out once. And neither got a run or a RBI. Hannahan did have a fancy play, worthy of Jack Hannahan!

Zeke, Zeke, Zeke...he did go 2 for 4 and scored a run. He didn't leave anyone on base or anything. He didn't even technically score an error. But boy did he look like shit out in left. He delayed the first inning getting sunglasses and then lost a ball in the sun in the 2nd. He did a "No you got it!" in the 6th. But then he threw a guy out at the plate! Seems like hitting-wise he's a step up from Damon (for now) but defense-wise it was a lateral move.

I don't know what to tell you boffins. Just keep on going, because it's still summer and we've still got baseball. Things have been shaken up with FIVE new faces in the clubhouse (Zeke, New Vinnie (Rottino), Lillibridge, Kluber and the upcoming Seddon) and Johnny Damon is gone. Don't forget your curiosity about what Roberto Hernandez will do.

I met a British guy today who says he likes baseball, he recognizes Chief Wahoo, and is going to try to hit up the team shop tomorrow. He also says that cricket is shit. I suggested he take home some Stadium Mustard. If you're curious, check out Richard Walters. Maybe he'll have some special contingency of fans in Cleveland.

Tomorrow is Ubaldo versus RHP. Hopefully everyone is all settled down and ready to play some ball. Like really, for real this time guys.

I know I'll be tuning in at 7:05. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"This guy, with men in scoring position, is like a mountain lion when he sees an antelope."
- Tom Hamilton on Miguel Cabrera

"This is a losing streak that's not going to end until the Indians get a starting pitcher that steps up and says 'Enough.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"At some point you would think a Tribe pitcher would get tired of getting their brains beaten in and move a hitter's feet."
- Tom Hamilton thinks guys are getting too comfortable in the box

"If everybody has his attitude and how he plays the game, the Indians would be in first place. We need about 12 more Kipnises."
- Tom Hamilton

"I tell you what - Ezequiel Carrera supposed to help the Indians? He is having an awful night in left field..."
- Tom Hamilton is not amused

"The Indians LOOK like a team that got to bed at 4 o'clock in the morning."
- Tom Hamilton said the team got in at 4 AM

"Not much you can say right now except 'You're going to be out here for a while,' not going to blow up our bullpen because this game is over."
- Tom Hamilton on Scott Radinsky visiting Accardo on the mound

"This is like a softball game. Austin Jackson has hit in 5 of the 6 innings."
- Tom Hamilton

"Fans here are just waiting around for the fireworks now. They know the outcome of this game."
- Tom Hamilton

"At some point an Indian's pitcher is going to say 'You're up 8 runs and you're trying to hit a ball to Toledo? Hit this!'"
- Tom Hamilton really wants someone to get beaned (Rick Sutcliffe wouldn't put up with this)

"That's now the new signal for a foul ball. We don't point fair or foul we just raise our hands up and go 'howdy!'"
- Tom Hamilton doesn't like the way the ump calls foul balls

"Can you imagine Larry Bird and Magic Johnson saying 'Let's become teammates - we're not good enough on our own.'?"
- Tom Hamilton thinks the NBA has changed

Painful

Ack! We weren't supposed to lose this bad on the second day. That hurts, but what hurts worse is my favorite guy had 2 errors resulting in at least one unearned run, if not maybe two. And we lost by two.

For what it's worth, Manny Acta is on the radio right now saying that one of Asdrubal's errors wasn't an error and the guy was out, and Jack Hannahan didn't ground out he fouled a ball off his foot. Manny Acta is the first guy to tell you when the team sucks, I take his word for it when he says it's not our fault. After that he says our pitching sucks. Ha!

Derek Lowe did not have his best outing tonight, no sir. He gave up 4 runs in 6 innings, with 8 hits and 3 walks. Huh only 3 walks? Seemed he walked half the guys he faced! He got himself into some jams but also got out of them...just not as fully and completely as Ubaldo seems to be able to do.

The bullpen was actually worthy tonight! Esmil Rogers came in for the 7th and had to throw 25 pitches to get out of it, but he gave up no hits and no runs. Then Cody Allen, the new guy, walked one but got the rest. They brought him in for the 8th to face Miguel Cabrera! And he struck him out! They collected Allen's heart from in front of the mound and put in Sipp to get the next two. He walked Fielder and struck out the next two. Nice!

None of our lineup had a particularly big night. Well except Choo. Choo went 1 for 2 with 2 walks. His only hit was a double giving him 31 on the year, squarely in second place for doubles.

Asdrubal at least got a hit, but he left 3 on. Kipnis didn't hit but he walked.

Brantley also got 1 hit and left 3 on. And all of his outs were huge heartbreakers because they went very far in to right field but never over that damn fence, with all those dudes on base. His one hit was a ground-rule double so technically it went over the damn fence. It just needed help from the ground. He stole 3rd base on indifference and I sort of think the Tigers were like "eh, they never get anyone in from third. Let him go." Sigh.

Hafner, omg...he was a true DH tonight. He struck out 3 times before hitting a homer, but it was a solo homer. Too little too late.

Damon was on from a walk when Casey Kotchman hit his 10th homer of the year. Not only does that put him 4th on the team in homers (and only 2 behind Cabrera and Choo with 12 each) but it ties his 2011 home run total and puts him only 4 under his career-high 14! How does he do it? Nobody expects the Casey Kotchman!

That's all she wrote. The game wasn't as awesome as it could have been. Maybe it would have been more awesome without Asdrubal's errors and a little bias from the umpires. I coulda said it was a valiant effort. But no it was clearly a loss. A painful one.

Tomorrow is Josh Tomlin versus Justin Verlander. If he can give up 8 runs to the National League, we can get some runs for ourselves! Tomlin just has to pitch his mustachioed heart out.

Another 7:05 game and another game on WKYC - See you real soon!

Radio Chatter:
"So the taxpayers built Miami their beautiful new ballpark, and almost right on cue the Marlins are about to blow it up."
- Tom Hamilton is troubled by what goes on in Miami

"Boy the Indians have been begging for trouble tonight, haven't they?"

- Tom Hamilton on the Tribe having two on when Miggy is up

"That has to be the biggest time waster of all time."

- Tom Hamilton on fantasy football

"Verlander can make a guy look like he's swinging a hot dog at the plate some nights."

- Tom Hamilton tying together Verlander and Dollar Dog Night

"It's hard when you're out at first base to raise that right arm. I can see that. ... Just retire."

- Tom Hamilton on umpire Tim McClelland