Kluber Continues to Dominate!

... And his team continues to disappoint.

Errors and strikeouts, ya'll. Remember how the Tribe used to do to Justin Masterson? No run support. It's happening again.

But at least we got some free baseball? (aka "extra innings")

Kluber cruised through 8 innings, striking out 8 and giving up 2 runs on 3 hits. He actually had a perfect game going in to the 6th, when Tom Hamilton was all "PERFECT GAME!" and just like last time, the perfect game and no hitter were immediately squashed by the whoever at the plate. The 6th started with a single, then a wild pitch (!) and then a guy scored, and there was a bad throw so a guy moved to second. Then a fielder's choice, and a bunt, and another wild pitch (!!!!!) which was a strike-out but the guy on third scored and then they intentionally walked a guy and then GIDP.

Yes, Kluber was still in! He threw 2 wild pitches in one inning, and only 3 last year.

Kluber righted himself by coming back for a 1-2-3 7th inning. Then he hit a guy in the 8th which is weird. He finished the 8th with just 96 pitches! Kluber's "game score" was 75, versus the other starter's 55. I forget what the "game score" is already but Kluber is 20 better!

But, you know, 2 runs. Two measley runs. Couldn't come back from that, apparently. Not even over the sad-sack Twins.

It's not as if Michael Brantley didn't try, though!! He was back for only the 2nd time this year and he got right back on his hit horse, going 2 for 5 with 2 singles and of course no strikeouts.

Lonnie Chisenhall continues to hit lefties, going 2 for 4 tonight. He's got 5 hits in his last 3 games! His hotness was recognized with an intentional walk in the 11th inning. Respect!

Mike Aviles came in in the 9th and got a double! And Carlos Santana stole a base (after walking, of course).

The big news from the bench tonight is that Brandon Moss got a homer! Hey hey! The guy we hired to hit homers is doing it! And now I get to use my swell graphic:

Here's to many more where that came from! And perhaps a few smaller hits inbetween?

Tomorrow is another day, thank goodness. It'll be at 2:10 with Danny Salazar on the mound versus an RHP who already has 2 losses under his belt. YESSSSS! Even if Salazar suffers a shaky start and the bullpen continues to be questionable, hopefully the offense can pick up the slack and cover everything with some BIG HITTING. Can't wait - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Once it leaves your bat there's nothing you can do about it. Murphy did his job - he smoked it."
- Tom Hamilton

"If I'm Corey Kluber I'm saying 'I'm looking for a strikeout to end this inning.'"
- Tom Hamilton in the 6th

"When he's done playing, no school will make him a principal."
- Tom Hamilton on Adrian Peterson

"You gotta be able to do a better job than that."
- Tom Hamilton on Bourn bunting

"It's as if they're looking for anything but a fastball."
- Tom Hamilton on the Indians watching strike 3 go by

The Legend of #Jerry Sands

Wow, it was a long one tonight! In fact, today's 4:16 game was three minutes shy of the longest 9-inning game ever played at Progressive Field. The Tribe didn't win but the length can be attributed to them never giving up!

Kluber was our man today, which is exciting every time it happens! Wooohoo! Kluber day! He had one heck of a rough day, though. Only gave up 2 runs but the first run was a homer by the leadoff man. Owch... The next run was also in the first inning, goshdarn Victor Martinez hit into a double play and yet STILL managed to get an RBI. Being that he's Kluber, he got himself a reboot between innings and came back to go run-free through the 7th! Klube had 10 strikeouts today, which is more than he had his first game. Excelling already! They let him come in for the 7th (with a 1-run lead!) and ultimately throw 107 pitches. He got the first guy to strike out and that was it for Kluber, leaving with still a chance to get the win.

Except, the best bullpen in baseball was doing their impression of the worst bullpen in baseball, I think. Something went horribly wrong because it took 6 of them to give up 7 runs and ruin everyone's night. Zep - who came in that first night in Houston to throw one pitch and end the inning with a double play - came in tonight and did't even get one out before leaving the game with 2 earned runs under his belt.

Shaw gave up 3 hits and a run, and then Atchison finally stopped the bleeding to finish up the 7th.

Anthony Swarzak made up for his bad outing by having a good outing, leaving things exactly as he found them (no hits, no walks, no runs).

The Tribe had it all tied up going in to the 9th (woohoo!) when Cody Allen came in and just fucked everything. That's what happened, he fucked everything. Three runs. His ERA is now 21.60. So he's got to live with that.

The Boy Pitcher Kyle Crockett, who had heretofore been squeaky clean, also came in and gave up a run because all the older boys were doing it.

Tigers won it 9-6, that was the final of the game. Remember Kluber left when it was 3-2 Tribe.

Michael Brantley was out today, which makes everyone sad. Especially Michael Brantley. But we also want him to be as healthy as possible for as many games as possible so we'll all bite the proverbial bullet for now and see what these other guys can do without him.

They did manage to score 6 runs! And they came back from losing twice! And mostly it was due to Jerry Sands!

Jerry Whonow? Jerry Sands, you guys!

Jerry Sands came to us from Tampa Bay where he was recovering from wrist surgery. He only averaged .190 with them in 2014 and then .268 with the Durham Bulls. Then we brought him here and he had a great spring with 2 homers and 7 RBI, batting .304. Everyone wanted to see him in the lineup (right handed bat!) and since we were facing a lefty today well there Jerry was.

I mean - THERE JERRY WAS!!!

Jerry Sands went 3 for 4 today in his debut with the Indians, knocking in 4 runs and bringing the Tribe ahead of the Tigers once and then tied with the Tigers his second time.

Cleveland is currently in love with Jerry Sands (he plays right field, by the way) and even Progressive Field was getting in to it by leading the chants of "JER-RY! JER-RY!" Aren't we all so lucky his name isn't "Ron"?

Other batters to contribute today were Mike Aviles - who went 1 for 4 with a hit and a walk. He came around to score both times. Jason Kipnis who totally, totally is back, went 2 for 5 today to extend his hitting streak to 5 games. Also those two guys teamed up in the 9th inning with 2 outs to score a run. Cuz they got HEART!

Carlos Santana went 1 for 3 because he walked twice. Oddly enough he doesn't lead the league in walks yet (he has 6 to Ryan Hanigan's (BOS) 7) but he has walked in every game but one so he'll be at the top in no time!

Yan Gomes. Caught another guy stealing today. Then he got hurt while doin' his job in the 9th. And I don't mean protecting the plate I just mean keeping his foot on the plate while a guy comes running in. The guy was out, for what it's worth. But now Yan is scheduled for surgery on Monday. YUCK!!

Hooray for Roberto Perez and his decent start but Yan will be SORELY missed. And we might need to get rid of #Jerry to bring up a backup catcher!!! NOOOOO!!

Tomorrow is the last time we see those Tigers until...the end of the month. Whomp whomp. Tomorrow we really got to show them what we're made of. I wonder who will come up for Gomes?

It'll be TJ House's first start versus a LHP who also has no games yet this year. Let's see how our lefty does against this crazy Tiger lineup. Don't forget that Victor got hurt during this game, so he might be out too.

It's a 1:10 start - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"That banned substance is not in something you buy at GNC."
- Tom Hamilton on how a player wonders how an illegal drug got in his system

"Most people didn't know who Jerry Sands was prior to yesterday's introductions. He could be the city's favorite son with one swing of the bat."
- Tom Hamilton

"Twitter aught to have a new name, call it 'Apology'. Every time someone says anything, the next day they issue an apology."
- Tom Hamilton

"Only in baseball can these scripts be written."
- Tom Hamilton on Jerry Sands

That Old Feelin'

Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh. Opening Day! Ok, The Day After The Cubs Get Their Opening Day, or something. But Indians' Opening Day, nonetheless!

Indians Twitter was rearin' to go all day long. My switch flipped around 11 this morning and I kept tabbing through work, Tribe articles and stats, and Twitter. I even made a GIF and got favorited by the Tribe:

Me after 5 PM today.

I had to figure out where to sit. What to eat. How to deal with my dogs (the last 5 years I had a senior golden retriever. Now I have two teenage mutts who insist that I remain engaged with them!) Radio or TV or TV with the radio? (That.) Apparently I could have even chosen between STO and ESPN. I went with STO and WTAM.

After all that waiting and all that planning it was...a pitcher's duel! And of course being the first day there's a good chance you'll have that (unless you're the 2010 Indians vs. White Sox). So the name of the game became "What what Kluber do."

I know some people just laugh in the face of superstition but I swear - Kluber was pitching a no-hitter right up until the moment when Tom Hamilton remarked that Kluber was pitching a no-hitter and "Bob Feller is smiling down right now. Of course Feller is the only pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter on opening day." RIGHT then there was a hit. Now, do you believe in superstition?

It's funny though, because Hamilton always does that. He could give a crap about the superstition and is always the first to mention a no-hitter or perfect game. That guy!

So Klubes did go 7 1/3 today, striking out 7. He took a minute to heat up - no strikeouts until the 6th batter. But him and Keuchel were neck-and-neck throughout.

A new stat has popped up on the Box Score for the game - pitchers' Game Score.That is:

Game Score is a metric devised by Bill James to determine the strength of a pitcher in any particular baseball game. To determine a starting pitcher's game score:

•     Start with 50 points.
•     Add one point for each out recorded, so three points for every complete inning  pitched.
•     Add two points for each inning completed after the fourth.
•     Add one point for each strikeout.
•     Subtract two points for each hit allowed.
•     Subtract four points for each earned run allowed.
•     Subtract two points for each unearned run allowed.
•     Subtract one point for each walk.

Kluber's was 69, and Keuchel 72. The highest yet has been 105 and the max possible is 114. So uh...now you know. I wonder if this will come up anywhere but my blog?

Kluber did look good, though. Strong, focused, strike-y. It felt odd that the few hits he gave up really got away from him and he ended up losing the game 2-0.

No errors from the defense though! Starting off right!

Some guys who had great springs didn't start off so great (Bourn? Man, what happened??) but at least Lonnie Can! The Chiz Kid got the team's first hit of the season with a sharp one to left. He also got a walk, so he went 1for 2 on the day.

I'll give you una conjetura who got the one of the team's other walks....Si! Si! Carlos Santana, got himself on base. Like a boss! He also got a hit, as did Yan Gomes. Brandon Moss got the other walk.

It looked to me like there were a lot of cobwebs and dust to be shaken off during this game. Facing a pitcher as tight as Keuchel didn't help but we've got so many "veterans" right now compared to other seasons that you hate to see the first game go poorly. Especially against the Astros!

But tomorrow Wednesday is another game and we've got another pitcher to keep things locked down while our offense finds itself.

Taking the mount Wednesday at 8:10 is Carlos "Cookie" Carrasco who says he's been mimicking Kluber and apparently doing a good enough job of it to shoot up to second in the rotation. I am looking forward to seeing if he is as good as he thinks he is! He'll be going against an RHP, thank goodness. Our left-leaning lineup can get embarrassingly predictable at times. Get ready for some bats! See you there!

Radio Chatter:

"Luis Valbuena is batting third and somewhere Bruce Drennan's head is exploding."
- Tom Hamilton on the former Indian

"The only Brave that Jon Hart hasn't traded away is Chief Noc-a-homa."
- Tom Hamilton

"How nice. The Astros PR people have given Rosie and I Houston Astros' magnetic schedules."
"Gonna hang that on your fridge?"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus

"Off day tomorrow, for no earthly reason. Not with a retractable roof."
- Tom Hamilton

Satisfying Conclusion

Whew! A little reprieve with good baseball to finish out the weekend. How refreshing!

The Tribe followed a crummy 4-game losing streak that included bad pitching, bad fielding and bad hitting with two games that had none of that mess. It stands to reason that they would rise up behind Kluber but they also had it all locked up for our new after-Kluber starter - Carlos Carrasco!

In his last appearance, Carrasco went 4 innings after Tomlin's bad start and he gave up 3 earned runs on 6 hits. Today he buckled down and managed 5 AWESOME innings, only giving up 2 hits, no runs, no walks and striking out 4! We'll see how this pans out going forward, and if he can start giving some length but the initial trial looks promising. If you can, try to find some interviews with this guy. He seems to be a very hard worker, very eager to learn and to fix problems, and very much a team player. Also, he beaned one of the Royals in retaliation that one time, and got a 5-day suspension. Go Cookie!

No errors today or yesterday! Except we did lose David Murphy to injury at one point. And Nick Swisher, so...

Everyone seems very excited about Jose Ramirez's fielding at shortstop. I can't imagine that everyone has plain forgotten Asdrubal's majesty out there, for at least 4 or 5 years. I'm hoping they are just happy to see some talent out there after Asdrubal's talent wore out. I'm sort of guessing we won't see Omar-/Asdrubal-level talent until Lindor is here, but Ramirez does have plenty big shoes to fill...and a plenty big role to keep to himself as long as possible!

Jason Kipnis has found IT and now is as good a time as any! While he was shut out on Saturday, today he went 3 for 5 giving him 13 hits in his last 10 games. He also stole another base today and hustled home all 3 times he got on!

Jose Ramirez had himself a game yesterday, hitting in the #8 spot. He basically won the game for the Tribe, getting his first major league home run! He went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI - which is 2/3 of the total score. He also stole a base! Today he was up in the #2 spot and managed to go 1 for 3, but it was more of a defensive show for him today than yesterday.

Brantley (.324) had a game to match Ramirez yesterday! Or, er, was it the other way around? He also went 3 for 4 and also got a homer! His 17th, of course - not his first. Today he was "on rest" as DH (because this lineup cannot function without him) and went 1 for 3, but managed 2 RBI thanks to a sac fly. He also was intentionally walked, because they're not completely stupid in New York.

Carlos Santana was shut out yesterday and today. Rut ro...

Goooooomes! No homer for him today but he did go 2 for 3 with 2 RBI today! That's half the team's RBI! Unfortunately, his hitting streak ended at 13 yesterday. I am not positive but I think that's either the team's best this year or tied with it. But he was back on the hit horse today!

Chisenhall didn't hit today, but he did yesterday. And is still hovering around .300 at .292. Please, Lonnie, PLEEEEEASE get it figured out again!

Hey, welcome Zach Walters and Tyler Holt! Can't wait to make pictures for you!

Tyler Holt!

It excites me that you're here because Swisher is gone, but also I'm happy to see as soon as possible if our trades had any merit. Immediate payoff, please!

Speaking of immediate payoff, Chris Dickerson! Well uh, no exclamation point. After his hot start with us, he's fair-to-middlin' now, batting just .243 with only 4 hits in his last 10 games. Nevertheless, he is a handsome man.

Raburn came in for Swisher yesterday and will continue to act as right fielder, I guess, until Swisher gets back. It pains me to say it but his average is below Swisher's. However, he does have half the at-bats of Swisher so he's got that to cling on to. He can only get better from here!

Now that I look at it, we've got a pretty beat-up lineup. Lots of shuffling and substituting. We need Kipnis, Brantley, Santana and Gomes to SHINE right now and hope that everyone follows suit around them. If Chisenhall can also get on that track then this team is not going to be easy to beat! They need to get their heads together before we face Baltimore next weekend. Scary!

Ok so Monday is an off day (it's also Jack's birthday!) and after that there will be a 2-game series at home versus the DBacks. Which I think I might actually attend....hmm...

Tuesday will be House versus RHP 4.09. Definitely need to take advantage of these 2 games and the miserable year the DBacks are having. So - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"I've never seen an umpire look up at the scoreboard operator with such disdain!"
- Tom Hamilton

"Not many cab drivers are sitting in those seats."
- Tom Hamilton on the atmosphere in New Yankee Stadium where lower seats are so expensive

"I bet someone in the marketing department is like 'Uh oh...well we've got to give away these suckers.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the non-Yankee-blue cowboy hat giveaway

"It's amazing how much better your club looks when you get good starting pitching."
- Tom Hamilton

New Day For Tribe Pitching

If there's one thing Clevelanders love, it's people who love Cleveland. Especially our sports stars. Bernie Kosar, Josh Cribbs, Joe Haden, Victor Martinez, Terry Francona, Jason Kipnis, Carlos Baerga, Omar Vizquel. There's no reason as a sports fan to love Nick Swisher, but as a Clevelander he sure knows how to push all one's buttons so he gets his own section.

By all accounts, Justin Masterson loves Cleveland.  As we all sat crying along with Victor as he was shipped off to Not Our Team, the Indians were lucky to get in return a new city champion in the baseball park. A new guy that, as it turned out, wanted to be here and wanted to do well. A guy to carry us and impress us and for us to show off on Opening Day. A big man with an even bigger heart who, along with his wife Meryl, wanted to make a difference off the field too. And he was a hell of a pitcher.

The loss of Masty is a big one, but we all know it makes sense baseball-wise. It's not like the loss of Bartolo or Lee or Victor. The person leaving makes it harder than the loss of Ubaldo or Choo. But right now, if you take out the personal part of it, it's no worse than losing Ubaldo.

One hopes he doesn't turn in to Ubaldo. It would be amazing for him it ended up being like the loss of Scott Kazmir and he went on to have a great career, going out on top. What better team to go to than the Cardinals? A good solid team, maybe where he's not the leader and just one of five. I'm also glad he went to the NL and hope he stays there so he can't go all Victor on us.

I hope it goes well for him. He went well for us.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

In an interesting turn of events, within hours of losing our former ace, Corey Kluber secured his spot on our roster as "new ace." He killed it last week in his 2-hit, 9-inning game. Today the ante was upped, to see if he could finish the game and pull one out against The Ace, Felix Hernandez.

He did it. He totally did it.

First of all, the game lasted 2:10 because not only was Klubes mowing them down, but so was Felix. His line looked pretty humdrum next to Kluber's, though. with his 7 innings pitched and 2 earned runs. Here's what Kluber did:

I guess he only threw 16 balls, while Hernandez threw 37. He didn't walk anyone, ya see. And while they were the first to get on base, nothing came of it. He actually had some DEFENSE today, with two stellar double plays, which is how he managed to just see 28 batters.

The last time I saw a game like this? When Justin Masterson threw a complete game shutout in game one of a doubleheader in May of 2013. I was there for that one! It was boring as heck cuz the Tribe won with 1 run. But...it would seem the torch has been passed.

Other than defense, the rest of the team did actually come through to put the Tribe over the edge and secure the W for Kluber that goes along with a game like this. Amazing they did it against King Felix but there you have it.

It was just Chiz, Gomes and Swisher who got hits. And of course, Santana walked. He walked to start the 5th, Lonnie doubled and Mike Sarbaugh pulled up some Old Baseball Wisdom and kept Santana at third instead of sending him. Swisher got on by the grace of God, or Robinson Cano, but due to the nature of the play, Santana was unable to score. Bases loaded, no one out.

Things got a little mucky for Murphy who was up next, and Santana ended up being out at home. But Yan Gomes is still quietly making a huge impact in this lineup, now with a hitting streak of 6 games. Today he got that crucial Brantley-like double with the bases loaded and 2 men scored. That's 9 RBI for Yan in his last 10 games, and 14 hits in that time.

That was the only scoring in the game, by the way! Just those two paragraphs!

The team was wearing their socks pulled up over their calves, in tribute to Masterson. Very classy. It was a bittersweet victory today, I'm glad they won it for Masterson. In a very Kluber way.

Next is....sigh, there's more baseball after the trade deadline? Ok, well tomorrow we all move along and hope that McAllister is inspired to throw a good one against RHP 3.04. Pull up those socks and let's get another win, boys!

No Radio Chatter today. I was all over the place during the game.

But they did say that Terry Francona said he'd pay to watch this game. Tom Hamilton said he'd probably get 6 hot dogs too. Well!

The Long Con

Corey Kluber had one heck of a game tonight. Unfortunately he got screwed out of the win by his teammates. Because they couldn't hit, and they committed an error, and they lost the game.

Kluber pitched NINE innings. All nine of them. Nine innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks. Like the Doors had no bass, Corey Kluber had NO WALKS. He had a perfect game going in to the 7th, and only used 107 pitched through 9. Two hits, one run. For July he had 4 games, 23 innings, 1.47 ERA.  BOW TO KLUBER!

There were still 5 more innings to go after that, because however good Kluber was pitching, the team was behind him not hitting.

So there was Shaw, Atchison, Zep an Axford. They were reliably reliable, including Zep. And by that I mean he is starting to reliably be bad. What's up with that? Tonight he gave up the winning single by leaving a man on base for Axford to deal with and then lose later on when Aoki hit a single to left. Did you follow that? Blah blah - 5 innings later, the Royals won.

Not much to say today about our offense except for CARLOS SANTANA. On base, like a boss!

Somebody tweeted my "Like a Boss!" picture today and it got 8 favorites and 10 retweets and I was sad cuz no attribution for me. My own mistake - sometimes I make these pics so fast I forget to stamp 'em!

But anyway back to baseball.

Carlos Santana had 2 hits and 2 walks tonight, and came in to score the only run! How about that! See you just can never give up on this guy (Swisher, yes you can.)

Gomes is the man who stepped up and made it a tie ballgame in the NINTH after the Royals got their first run right before that in the 8th. Wahoo! Free baseball! Gomes actually ended up striking out 4 times and leaving 4 on base. Whomp whomp.

Brantley was completely shut down but since he's had so many at-bats, having an 0-6 game only puts him one point (.316) behind Chisenhall (.317) who managed to hit 2.

David Murphy and Jose Ramirez also got hits tonight, but nothing came of them.

I'm not going to talk about Ryan Raburn's play in left field, because I feel like the anger is over-the-top. I mean I guess if you were already ready to get rid of him before tonight, ok it's some nice "SEE??" fodder for you. But he's only got ONE error, and Gomes has 12. So....? Also, I don't see why everyone is so shocked that a guy can bounce a ball like that. Pitchers do it all the time and they only have to throw it 60 feet 6 inches.

Anyway, tomorrow Kansas City is putting up a RHP for us, so they can stop mocking our lineup. Let's hope everyone's not all stiff and sore from all that whiffing tonight.

It'll be 8:10. No cheap Papa John's for us. I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"They're thinking they don't want to be the guy to mess this up."
- Tom Hamilton on defense during a perfect game

"This isn't a case of two offenses not performing. This is a case of two pitchers performing brilliantly."
- Tom Hamilton

"If they leave Duffy in and Gomes hits a home run, they'll barbecue Ned Yost. If they bring the right hander in and he doesn't get it done, they'll do the same thing."
- Tom Hamilton

"This Indians defense is numbing in how they can beat themselves time and again."
- Tom Hamilton

"When I said one swing of the bat would win this game, that wasn’t what we were envisioning."
- Tom Hamilton

"If Kluber loses this game 1-0, that's a felony."
- Tom Hamilton

"I wanted to come out here and comment on your blue eyes. They are vivid."
- Tom Hamilton imagining what Ned Yost is saying to the umpire

"I know it's easy to sit up here and say 'You gotta get a bunt down' but you know what? You gotta get a bunt down."
- Tom Hamilton

"That's how the game has changed. There was a time when if you couldn't get a bunt down you'd be practicing that bunt the next day in triple-A."
- Tom Hamilton

The Chris Dickerson Show With Special Guest Carlos Santana

Chris Dickerson is the real deal. It's like he's so appreciative of being picked up by a new team that he can't help but be awesome. Yes he failed to hit on Friday but he more than made up for it by getting the only two runs of the first 8 innings of the second game by way of the home run. Two home runs!

That was the second game, of course on my mind at the moment. But let's roll it back to the first game...

The first game was like smooth sailing, being that Kluber had the ball for the good guys and some kid throwing his first MLB game had the ball for the other guys. Yeah, there was a few innings wasted while they figured the kid out but during that time Kluber was just like "PITCH. PITCH. PITCH." And then when the Tribe finally managed to score in the 5th he just kept going.

And before you knew it, it was the 9th inning and he had thrown 114 pitches, struck out 10, walked just 1 and given up just 2 runs. There were 2 outs, and in deference to the run he just gave up and then the man on second from a double, Klubot was turned off for the night. Bryan Shaw came in to get that last guy. That was the ballgame.

Ok, maybe there was more to the ballgame, like chasing that new kid off the mound after 5 innings and 3 earned runs. Then hitting their bullpen for 3 more. And not even seeing Albequerque!

While the homer carried Friday's game and Saturday night's game, the afternoon game was about 10 singles and 5 walks. The 5th inning saw 5 hits and 3 runs!

Kipnis kept it up, going 2 for 5 with 2 more RBI. And even Asdrubal did things, going 1 for 5 and thus giving him 12 hits in his last 10 games. Yes, 9 strikeouts, yes yes. But he has 2 RBI in 2 games!

Brantley (.327) got the game's first hit and that was all for him. Just 1 for 5 in this game. Santana - who I didn't even realize was back to being slumpy (but Hammy and Rosie can't stop talking about it) at least got on base with 2 walks. Chiz upped his league-leading road average by getting TWO more hits in the afternoon game, plus a walk and a run scored.

Gomes and Swisher both had doubles. Gomes had an awesome game going 3 for 4, and since David Murphy went 2 for 2, Gomes came around to score 3 times!

Raburn was in the 9-hole, but that didn't go as well as we thought. He came up at 0 for 4.

So this afternoon's game was kind of a walk in the park, lead by Corey Kluber. I just got an awesome mental image of all that.

The night game was Zach McAllister stretching his legs before getting on the bus to Columbus, versus Cy Young Award Winner Max Scherzer. Not so much a walk in the park.

McAllister was like Bauer on Friday, in that at one point he looked awful and it seemed like we couldn't possibly win the game if he threw one pitch more...then he went on to pitch 3 1/3 more innings and only gave up 1 run in total, on 3 hits with 6 strikeouts. Oh. Well - good job, ZMac!

Axford was next and he provided some un-needed intensity with a wild pitch. But then the next two guys struck out and it was over for another day.

Atchison was next and somehow he gave up a run! It was the go-ahead run so that wasn't cool. But there was still time left and we were facing the Tiger bullpen so really it was ok. Carlos Carrasco came out in the 8th to swiftly handle Miggy, Victor and the New Martinez and he was great! Strikeout, groundout, groundout. Atta boy, Cookie! I told you that guy is a team player.

Offense wasn't nearly as exciting in this game as it was in the first game. The Tribe only got 8 hits and 6 walks, which seems like a lot but they didn't all come together until the 9th. Before that, it was just 2 runs in 8 innings.

Kipnis kept his stuff up by going 0 for 2 - with THREE WALKS. He came in to score once. Asdrubal was out, so Aviles was the shortstop and second batter. He got a sneaky little bunt hit in the 3rd but nothing came of it.

Michael Brantley (.329) could only muster 2 for 4 with one double this evening. That gives him 7 hits and 3 runs scored during this series so far. Damn!

Carlos Santana, who had been getting ragged on all day by the radio guys, came up in the 9th with the bases loaded and got a 3-run double. I don't know what it is about that guy, but he keeps coming back to impress us! I know that I don't give two shits when Nick Swisher does the exact same thing (suddenly does something good to counter-act his awful average) but Nick Swisher is a $15mm pair of new sneakers and Santana we got at the thrift store 5 years ago and damn is he comfortable.

Anyway, I still love Carlos Santana. Even though he's frustrating. It seems like he's always the dumbass kid who occasionally does something magical and right.

Chisenhall quietly ended a 6-game hitting streak by going 0-4 this evening. But he and Brantley are still 4 and 5 on the batting chart.

Swisher still plays for the team, and Murphy went back to doing nothing. Poor Murph.

Roberto Perez was in the lineup, as promised. In only his second game with us, he hit a double! They put Asdrubal in to pinch run for him. I wonder what's up with that? Don't you think a 26-year-old should be able to run even if he's a catcher? But whatever, that's what they did. And he came around to score on Santana's game-winning double. Yee-haw! I wonder how much we'll see him? Maybe just once a week?

Oh yeah so....Chris Dickerson! Here he is, by the way:

And as an Indian:

So yeah, he didn't hit yesterday and he was out for the first game today, but then he made up for all of that this evening by going yard TWICE. You know who didn't get any home runs today? All of the Tigers! Not in either game. Not Miggy, not Victor, not New Martinez, not even little Rajai Davis who got his first of 2 homers of this year off the Tribe.

Things must not have been right at Comerica for a home run today. Except for Chris Dickerson. Chris Dickerson who got two. We love you, man!

How cool is it that we came back from the break winning 3 straight against Detroit? The team is 3 games over .500. They're in second place, 4.5 games back. They're 1.5 games out of the Wild Card.

I guess we'll see Sunday when Tomlin takes on LHP 4.00. We're on the road against a lefty, where we perform better both at home and against righties.

If we can pull it out tomorrow, then it's the real deal. However it gets done, too. Real deal. If it's the real deal then get ready for a HECK of a second half!!!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"He's gotta realize there are 18 guys playing this game, not just him."
- Tom Hamilton on Miggy

"That would have been a home run in any park but here and Yellowstone."
- Tom Hamilton

"Both baserunners move up on a wild pitch. That might be an understatement."
- Jim Rosenhaus thinks it was a crazy weird wild pitch

"One good month out of four isn't what you can have."
- Tom Hamilton on Carlos Santana

"To decipher those boos...they're simply saying 'Rent, Joe. Don't buy.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the Detroit crowd's feelings about Joe Nathan

Exhale

A little deflation after last night's big big win, but at least the Tribe didn't walk out of there empty-handed. They managed to get 5 runs off the tired starter and the reliever, but that wasn't enough to overcome the poor performance by Corey Kluber (I KNOW!!!!)

Klubot was out of juice today, for the second game in a row. The last game was a "gimme" since it was a rain delay. Not sure what his deal was today. Well I mean, 3 of his runs were un-earned so that's what that deal was. But 3 other runs in his 5 innings were all on him. Two of the runs were from the longball. He did strike out 5, but he still wasn't the dominant KLUBOT we've seen up to now. Maybe he was just too wound up! Ha!

Carrasco came in to do some more long relief and I think it really suits him. Just one hit in 1 2/3 innings. No strikeouts or anything but the name of the game is no runs.

Hagadone made another appearance and it didn't go so well for him. He came in and gave up a hit, then got the final out of an inning. Then he came in for the next inning and gave up a dang homer. Argh! Atchison came in for some batters, and he gave up a hit too before getting an out. Outman was next and - BOOM! Moustakas with a 2-run homer.

Yeah that is just a bad day all around when your starter isn't too hot, then your relievers give up runS. Multiple. And then your infield gives up 3 runs on an error.

The 17 runs got to them. They thought they were untouchable.

As for the offense...they were pretty abysmal all night, until the 8th and 9th.

Michael Bourn got his 1 hit tonight, for the 4th night in a row. Not really hot anymore but definitely, far from cold.

Asdrubal is back in the doghouse with everyone for his huge run-costing error today (his 11th!) And Lindor is just down the road, basking in the love of Rubber Ducks fans. Asdrubal did go 1 for 4 tonight with an RBI sac fly, so he had that going for him. But it wasn't 3 runs, and that's the price they had on his head.

Brantley (.307) was hit by a pitch twice! DO NOT BREAK BRANTLEY!! What the heck, KC? Anyway, so he went 1 for 3 with a double.

How 'bout that Kipnis?? He's got a 7-game hitting streak, with 11 hits and 7 RBI in that time. To add to last night's 4 RBI, he got 2 more tonight on a 2-out, 2-on double in the 8th - the team's first runs of the game! He came around to score, too. Scrappy!

Santana strung together 2 hits himself today. How do we feel about that?? He does have 6 hits and 4 walks in the 5 games he's been back so that's pretty good. Going to get hot going in to the break? Let's hope!

Yan Gomes went 0 for 4 tonight. Him and Cabrera are pretty neck-and-neck in their lack of consistency. But neither of them are having super long dry spells anymore.

The Chiz Kid Lonnie Baseball was once again on his game today, even though it took until the 7th. Everyone was like "Yay! He is as good as we think!!" when he got a double. And then he got a single in the 9th and it was party time again! All hail Lonnie Baseball!

My lame attempt to liken him to Johnny Football (and this weekend's TMZ pics of him floating on an inflatable swan)

Once we knew Lonnie was safe and still hitting, and the Tribe wasn't going to go home run-less, the rest of the game was much easier to digest. Raburn went 1 for 4 and Murphy went 1 for 3 with an RBI double. Not enough, but still - 50% off pizza!

Tomorrow is already shaping up to be better because there's a RHP on the mound. It'll be Trevor Bauer versus RHP 3.41. Beatable! Let's hope Bauer is feeling better than the rest of the bullpen right now, and we get the series split!

It'll be at 2:10 in the afternoon - don't forget! See you there!

Sorry no Radio Chatter tonight. I kept being away at critical funny moments.

How Bout Them Apples?!

I think I mentioned on Tuesday that I was a little bummed that the game was so short (2.5 hrs), so I got my comeuppance today with an extra 3 innings and an extra 90 minutes. And a win! And a walkoff! And Asdrubal! And a sweep!

Quick recap:
+ 5th #WalkOff
+ 3rd series sweep
+ 6 straight
+ 9 straight @ home
+ At .500 for 1st time since 4/24
+ 3.5 GB of DET

#WalkOff
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) June 5, 2014

Right?! Also don't forget we swept the Red Sox who are just a bunch of stupid rich dummies and their fans are all morons. Especially the ones from Cleveland. Harumph!

Eleven more hits for the team today, and 14 more strikeouts!! You know who the worst pitcher of the game was? Corey Kluber! And he wasn't really all that bad - he didn't give up any runs until the 6th when he gave up a 2-run homer to Ortiz. Everyone gives up 2-run homers to Ortiz, all the time. He didn't make it out of the 7th, though, when he gave up 2 more runs on a little small ball by Boston. Hey, he's human. It was late and wet!

The relievers cruised through 5 more innings, giving up just 2 hits and striking out 10!  Nick Hagadone was back for 2/3 of an inning to face Ortiz. No prob! He got Poopi to ground out and then the next guy struck out. Nice, Nick! Cody Allen didn't have to pitch, finally. Bryan Shaw struck out 2 in the 10th. And you know who got the win? Carlos Carrasco! He threw both the 11th AND the 12th, with 4 strikeouts! Secret late-inning long reliever!

Also, John Axford pitched 2 outs, getting 2 strikeouts. But in the middle of the game. Nice.

It took Michael Bourn for-ever to get a hit, but he doesn't not hit anymore so he got his in the 12th inning to continue his hitting streak at 8. Whew!

Asdrubal had a night tonight!! Back up the upswing! He got a single in the first, stole second and then came around to score the first run. Then he had a bit of a lull for 10 innings, but in the 12th there was THIS!!!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!

Brantley (.308) had some kind of night tonight, going 3 for 5 with an RBI and  run scored. Two! Hitting streak at two! Also, he is an amazing outfielder.

Jason Kipnis went 1 for 4 with an RBI single, plus a walk and a run scored. He also did this fancy-pants play in which he totally impressed himself - and us!

Lonnie Chisenhall switched up his game today and got a bunt single. Then he successfully bunted again later. The first bunt, at least, led to a run in the next at-bat! No stats for moxy, I'm afraid.

David Murphy got dat run doe! In fact he got 2 runs on his single after Chiz's bunt single. Made it work out for the kid - what a good guy!

Man, Jason Giambi had a double with a head-first slide. And there's no video of it!! Unfortunately when that happens, no more Jason Giambi. For the game, at least - I hope he didn't hurt himself too!

Mike Aviles went 1 for 5, with his hit coming in the 12th. He scored the winning run!

Everyone is very very lucky to have a day off tomorrow, from the players down to the fans. And especially John Adams who must be exhausted after this homestand! He said on Twitter that his day started at 3 AM and might as well end at 3 AM. That guy is the BEST!!

Friday we're back to business at 8:05 in Texas against Choo and the Rangers. The pitching will be a little tricky with Bauer versus RHP 2.08 but you never know what can happen. I'm not nervous - cuz I know Trevor Bauer isn't nervous.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Jhonny Peralta was doing really well for Detroit until he got caught taking the wrong vitamin."
- Tom Hamilton

"Ortiz is just now getting to home plate, and going through his usual histrionics."
- Tom Hamilton

"That's Padre baseball...catch the fever!"
- Tom Hamilton on the Padres winning a game with one hit

"The more beers you had, the more you thought you were good at everything."
- Tom Hamilton on whether or not he was good at dancing the hustle

"Late in games, walks are mortal sins."
- Tom Hamilton

"The fans that didn't have 33 dollar dogs are on their feet."
- Tom Hamilton

"Ross is going to have to hit a home run to get Ortiz in from first. Not a triple."
- Tom Hamilton

"Forget the weather. It's dark out, it'll be sunny in the morning and it'll be warmer tomorrow than it is right now."
- Tom Hamilton gives the weather report

All Caught Up!

I don't know what happened but I kept running in to roadblocks from being able to listen to Friday's and Saturday's game. I mean, I know what happened - I was out - but what happened that suddenly made me so popular?

Friday was Eddie Izzard at the Palace and man - if you haven't been out to Playhouse Square lately, go there! You can actually get dinner beforehand and drinks after at a variety of places. And there's an outdoor chandelier!

I tried to listen to Friday's game on Saturday but I got halfway through and it was time for Saturday's game. Then I fell asleep. Then I went to my friend's birthday cookout. Life is so complicated!

But I did get Saturday's game listened to, and half of Friday's and it's pretty cool - they didn't need me to win!

Friday was Kluber's game, and anyone can tell you that he doesn't need any help. He keeps slowly and quietly matching and breaking pitching records. According to Jordan Bastian:

Kluber's name now resides alongside some of the all-time great arms in Cleveland's long and storied history. With his 12 strikeouts on Friday, Kluber joined Dennis Eckersley (1976), Bob Feller (eight times), Sam McDowell (eight times) and Herb Score (1956) as the only pitchers over the past 100 years to strike out at least 60 batters in a single calendar month.

So there's that - 12 strikeouts, and a record alongside 4 of the biggest names in Tribe pitching history. How's that make you feel, Klube?

He pitched 7 1/3 on Friday so he just needed a little tidying afterwards from Zep (1 strikeout) and Cody Allen (2 strikeouts). They made it look easy!

Saturday was Trevor Bauer and he is proving to be the real deal now. He had a quality start with 6 innings, 2 earned runs and 8 strikeouts.

The Indians struck out the Rockies 26 times on Friday and Saturday, while the Rockies only struck out the Indians 10 times. Are the Rockies a high strike-out team? Actually, no - they are last in the NL for strikeouts (meaning they have the fewest). The Indians are third last in the AL for strikeouts, but 28th overall. Now you know.

Anyway, so, Scott Atchison - something happened cuz he gave up a homer then 2 guys got on so he left with 1/3 of an inning and 1 run scored. But then Josh Outman came in and on one pitch gave up a 3-run homer so Atchison got 2 more runs tacked on and Outman one. They had to bring in Bryan Shaw to save that mess, and then also pitch the 8th. And he did and it was good.

Cody Allen was all fancy closer today, coming in with just a 1-run lead. He walked one guy but the other 3 went quietly. Ballgame!

The offense was back to doing their thing, getting 21 hits and 12 runs (half price pizza RIGHT NOW!! And tomorrow) in these two games! After going a bunch of games without extra-base hits, the team had 3 doubles and a homer Friday night, and 2 more homers on Saturday! Even with all of those hits, neither game was an "everybody hits" game. Ha!

Michael Bourn had ended his little hitting streak the other day in Chicago, but he's back hitting again and put up 3 hits in these 2 games. He's got 16 hits over his last 10 games, in fact! No stolen bases, but he is hitting .288 so that's cool. Stay healthy, man!

OMG ASDRUBAL!!! I think I have missed all but one of Asdrubal's homers this year. Weird, right? I mean, he only has 4....but still, I think I missed 3 of them. Friday he got a 2-run jobby, and went 1 for 4 on the night. He's batting second right now, for what it's worth. Also coming out of a bit of a slump - we hope! Saturday he got a hit also, but he had 4 LOB...which sadly is what he's known for these days.

Michael Brantley (.303) is also getting in to the record books, by having the longest home hitting streak at Progressive/Jacobs field. His ended at 19 (he didn't get a hit Saturday) after breaking the 18-game record held by Kenny Lofton and Robby Alomar. The Municipal Stadium record is a bit higher, at 27 and the team record (I suspect spanning a couple stadiums) is 30. He got his 12th double on Friday and that was his only hit. He did come around to score twice!

Jason Kipnis is back in the lineup, batting 4th and he wasted no time getting hits, going 2 for 4! No runs or RBI but what are you gonna do? He came in to pinch hit on Saturday, got a walk and hustled in to score the winning run in the 8th!

Raburn was DH on Saturday and he is not doing well at all. Oh Raburn...we all have so much hope for you!

Gomes was moved up to 5th on Saturday, after an unproductive Friday, and he went 2 for 4 with a run scored!

Lonnie Chisenhall...

...Yes, him. He is just f'n amazing! He went 2 for 4 with a double (his team-leading 15th) and 2 RBI. Then Saturday he went 2 for 3 with a homer (his 3rd of the season and 3rd in 10 games), 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Saturday he was batting 8th because, why not? Why not score a ton of runs at the end of the lineup?! Oh yeah and he got his homer off a lefty today. He has only had like 14 at-bats against lefties this year but he's batting over .500 against him.

Lonnie every day, y'all!! People like to point out that he's not the best 3rd baseman, but neither is Santana and he is hitting like .200 higher Santana. And if we look at errors this year, Nick Swisher is not the best 1st baseman and Asdrubal is not the best shortstop but there they are. Every day. EVERY DAY!!!

Jesus Aguilar has been playing 1st while Swisher is out being old. Aguilar is humongous which is what you like in a first baseman (at least that's why they told me I was on first). He's still getting his shit together when it comes to the plate, but he's not much worse than Swisher right now. A few points worse, but I think the more he plays and the more he sees MLB pitching he'll fit in fine. He didn't get a hit Friday, but Saturday he went 1 for 2 before getting Kipnis as a PH.

David Murphy, good guy that he is, got hits both Friday and Saturday including a double. He came in to score both nights!

Mike Aviles didn't play Friday but Saturday he was back to being awesome! He seems kind of streaky - kind of like Matt LaPorta (which you will have from a bench player). But unlike LaPorta he is definitely more "on" than "off." In Saturday's game he got a 3-run homer in the 2nd, got a single in the 6th, and it was Aviles who got the winning RBI in the 8th when he got a single through the right side to score Lonnie from second. Viva Aviles!

All of Saturday's 7 runs came from the guys batting 8th and 9th. Cool!

Sunday is going to be a 1:05 start, Tomlin versus RHP 5.20. Wow, the scales are tipped HEAVILY in our favor on this one - now let's just hope that the whole team is on board with keeping up this hitting.

See you there!

Sorry for the slim pickin's on the Radio Chatter. I didn't hear anything that great! But the one quote I got was pretty good, I thought.

Radio Chatter:
"Something's gotta give this weekend. Will it be the Indians' strikeout staff or will it be the Rockies offense putting the ball in play?"
- Tom Hamilton

Only In Dreams

Pretty nice when you fall asleep to the sounds of baseball, dream about scoring a bunch of runs, and wake up and your team is in the lead 5-0. It was pretty quiet when I fell asleep, but being that Ubaldo Jiminez was pitching I should have known I would be rocked awake by offense. Thanks, Ubaldo!

It really was Cory Kluber that lulled me to sleep, though. Strikeout, groundout, strikeout, flyout. An occasional hit here and there. The same old thing for 7 innings straight! He struck out 9 and only gave up 5 hits - just ONE of them for extra bases, a double in the 4th. People are totally throwing around the word "ace" today. He leads the MLB in strikeouts. HE DOES! (For now, by 1)

I wonder how many fantasy teams he is on. I bet, like, 2.

It did take 103 pitches for Kluber to get through all those innings, so he had to have some help to finish. John Axford managed to keep the shutout going, but not before giving up 2 hits. Axford! Good ol' reliable Zep was there for the 9th, with a 9-run lead, and gave up one hit but no runs. Shutout!

Batting was interesting today. They got 9 runs on just 11 hits. Not everybody got a hit today (David Murphy is VERY sad about this.) They only got 3 extra-base-hits. But still 9 runs to 0 runs - see above!

Bourn, Bourn, Bourn! Two more hits today! 8-game hitting streak, with 15 hits in that time. He walked again, too. Came around to score once.

Aviles is still in the second spot while Asdrubal is out. Better than yesterday's o-fer, today he got a run, a hit and an RBI.

Michael Brantley (.303) is still killin' it! Ten-game hitting streak. Today he pulled a Lonnie and got HBP with bases loaded to score a run (So Ubaldo!)  He got a single and a walk, with a run and RBI. And a stolen base. Oh, and he totally had another outfield assist! Because Brantley.

Even more exciting than Brantley right now (srsly) is Lonnie Baseball! He got 2 more hits today and is batting .382. He got his 14th double, which is pretty great for just over 100 plate appearances. He's got a 7 game hitting streak, with 12 hits in those 7 games. Shouldn't this guy play every day? Shouldn't he??! Worked out just fine today with Santana at first and Lon at third...

Is Raburn heating up? He's got 8 hits in his last 10 games so that seems pretty good. He's been playing a lot more lately, with these long-ass games. Also with Giambi playing. And not playing haha Today he went 1 for 5 with 2 RBI, which came off his double. He also hit into a double play with scored a guy but I guess that's not an RBI.

[Grrr...Nick Camino just read a tweet of mine on the radio and I think also said something about me (because it took a long time between start and finish) but I didn't hear what he said because my brother was talking to me. Interacting in person is awful.]

I don't even know what to say about Carlos Santana. I think every time we're all at the end of our rope with him, he gets something done. He had that game-winner the other day, and then he didn't do anything the next day and it was TOO MUCH! But now today he got a 2-run homer. He also walked 3 times and came around to score again. Right?

Gomes went 2 for 3 today with a walk and a run scored. No errors. He's batting .280!

Justin Sellers is still here at short. Tom Hamilton was saying that he's a really reliable fielder, so that's cool. Cuz I wasn't sure what his deal was, and why he is up here. He's doing ok at the plate, maybe kind of like Aviles was when he was just getting into being on the team. Today he went 1 for 3 with a run scored. Pretty Aviles, right?

Tomorrow is Trevor Bauer day! A 1:35 start, the 4th game in the series, in Baltimore. He'll be facing RHP 4.35 which is just about what Ubaldo is so...should be a super fun game again, right?

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Carlos Santana is an enigma. Sometimes he looks like he has never played defense in his life."
- Tom Hamilton on a good play by Santana

"Lonnie Chisenhall is making the case here that he should play every day."
- Tom Hamilton is astute

"The Indians will send the biggest baby gift you've ever seen, just get that guy out if the lineup."
- Tom Hamilton on Chris Davis's potential paternity leave

"Well today everybody can sit back, relax and enjoy a blowout."
- Tom Hamilton

Where You Been?

Where have I been? Cleaning up. Napping. Hustlin'. I didn't make it to the game Friday as my date couldn't find a babysitter so we hung out at home instead. When I turned on the radio as I left to go get warmer clothes, and found the game to be 11-1, I was glad I stayed in the suburbs. And then Saturday's game was a bummer, and Sunday's game was a "OMG not this again!" super bummer....eh, I just couldn't muster up the positive for last weekend.

I'm starting this blog post today (Monday) before the end of the game, because whether or not the Tribe wins, it's a good game. It's even (literally - it's 4-4 now, and figuratively). Pitching is tight against this gigantic lineup. Our offense is good. No errors. It's good baseball.

This is the team I expect to see on the field every day. Not the one that won 15-4 the other day, nor the one that lost 13-3. I can write a positive blog post about a team that loses 5-4 or wins 5-4. I can write a positive post about 15 hits and no errors. I can write one about 2-1!

Don't think that if I don't write a post I'm not listening to the game. I'm always listening to the game.

While I was listening just now, Michael Brantley won the game with a 10th inning, 2-out walkoff homer. That's why you always keep listening!

Michael Brantley ended it but it wasn't just him who won it. Corey Kluber, for instance, had another amazing game. He was all over these Tigers, with 8 strikeouts over 7 innings of work. Just 3 earned runs, and a solo homer by Victor Martinez. *genuflect* He only threw 94 pitches and I'm sure he wanted to come out for 8 but you don't want to short out your Klubot. No sir.

Next was Bryan Shaw who got the hold, and Cody Allen who...blew a save? You take that back, official scorer! Cody Allen does not blow saves! Well, he did give up a homer to a dude who was pinch hitting and got his first major league homer. But somehow...this is not Cody Allen's fault!

Scott "Groundskeeper" Atchison came in and on 8 pitches 1-2-3'd Miggy, Victor and Don Kelly...

This Don Kelly

... so while we're all congratulating Kluber and Brantley, don't you forget old Scott Atchison!

Almost everybody hit today, except for Santana in the 5-hole and Aviles at the end. But Santana did get on base with a walk (like a boss).

Michael Bourn got a hit tonight, and while he went 1 for 6, his one hit was significant - he's got an abysmal record versus lefties and pitcher Drew Smyly has an amazing one. Bourn got just the 3rd hit off Smyly by a lefty this year. The second was earlier in the game, Michael Brantley, natch. Otherwise, Bourn had a sort of crappy night, striking out twice.

Asdrubal was back batting second, like he was in 2011 and 2012. It looked good on him! He went 2 for 6 with his 12th double, and came in to score on a wild pitch.

Michael Brantley (.292) is amazing. He's just so awesome. Don't you love him? He got that homer, and also had a double and a walk. And he looks good in a fedora.

Oh man, he is so so good. So good.

In Francona's shaken-up lineup (finally!) Raburn is the cleanup hitter. As good as anyone, I say! In fact, better than Santana as he went 2 for 3, with 2 hits, 2 walks and a run scored. Not some big power night for him at all when was the last time Santana did that with any consistency?

Santana was 5th, by the way. With his walk. He left 7 men on base.

Yan Gomes had a heck of a night! He went 3 for 4 with a walk. Dayum! And no errors, to boot.

Nick Swisher is still on this team. Bumped down to 7th.

Jesus Aguilar!!!!! Finally, what we've all heard about from the minors has blown through to the majors! Okay, okay. He just went 1 for 3 but he had 2 RBI, with a single and a sac fly. But more importantly, did you know he was humongous? I saw him in the video of the end-of-the-game handshake and he is, like, Miggy-sized! 6'3", 250 lbs. Wow, I hope we're grooming him for DH!

Note he is further from the camera than Francona!

Lonnie Baseball came in to pinch for him in the 9th and he kept the game alive with a hit. Unfortunately, Mike Aviles left the game tied in the 9th with a GIDP. The reign of Handsome Mike is over. For now.

Real pitching, real hitting, real fielding. I love it! They only won by 1 but the goal here is to #BeatDetroit, right? And to just keep playing good baseball!

So this is one game that could be a turning point. We've got to hope that it's the case!

Tomorrow's game is going to be AWESOME because it'll be Trevor Bauer versus Justin Verlander. Are you excited about Johnny Football? Wait til you see Trevor Baseball! I bet that guy is drinking SO MUCH Red Bull tomorrow trying to get PUMPED for this game. Go get 'em, BauerOutage!!

See you there! (After my niece's preschool graduation, I guess. That is a thing.)

Sorry no Radio Chatter. I wasn't into writing down stuff today. Hammy did call Twitter "The work of the devil" and said that Rosie was a "Tweeter." Haha! Anyway, here are links for your ears:

Hamilton's call of the walkoff homer.

Talkin' prom on Saturday.

Scott Kazmir gets ejected on Saturday and Tom Hamilton loses his mind. 

So much thanks to John at Tom Hamilton Has The Best Home Run Call In All Of Baseball because he is a total mensch. He brings the world as much Hammy as possible.

See Any Good Baseball Today?

Wooooooooah! Look at all those numbers! "Crooked numbers" as they say. Woooooah!

Today we'll go over the game in order of awesome. Starting with:

Corey Kluber! The Klubot! Totally stoked to have gone 7 innings, only giving up 2 runs and getting a huge win. Nine strikeouts and just 4 hits for the fourth-highest scoring team in the league!

Yeah you are!

Now for the hit parade!

David Murphy: Came back from wherever his head was and not only got 5 hits today (praise the Lord!), and not only were 3 of those hits doubles, but he also got 5 RBI! It's not too terribly strange for Murph to get that many hits in a game (May 19 and May 30, 2013) but he didn't get 5 RBI in any game in the past 4 years that I can see. He only got 15 total in 2012! Now, let's just hope that this is the start of something awesome - again - for our new friend David Murphy.

Lonnie Baseball: Be still my beating heart! The Chiz Kid's first 5-hit game. And to be honest it nearly was a 6-hit game had that outfielder not made a good guess as to where to position himself. One of Lonnie's hits was a double (his 9th) and curiously, he only had one RBI and no runs scored.

Yanimal: Yan Gomes "only" got 2 hits tonight but his final hit was just a thing of beauty. With the Tribe already up 12-2, he let loose with a big bomb out to right field for THREE runs to make it 15-2! Also - No errors!

OMG ASDRUBAL!!!: Everyone was riled up about him GIDP with the bases loaded in the third, but hey - how many hits do you have this year? And he stole a base and there was a review that stood, then 2 seconds later he was out at third. Again - how many have you stole?? He did end up going 3 for 5 with a walk. He got his 10th double. He came around to score 3 times. He got an RBI. His average went up 13 points and is now 60 points higher than Dick Swisher. So nonny nonny to you!!

Handsome Mike: Actually not as on fire as he's been lately ("Mister May" so to say) but of course he contributed tonight! He went 2 for 6 with both a run scored and an RBI. Unfortunately for Lonnie and his 5 hits, Aviles left 7 men on base. Yeowch!

The Other Michael: Bourn - still hangin' tough out there. Still not bench-able. Today he went 2 for 6 with a run scored and an RBI. It's sort of miraculous that 5 games on the turf seems to have taken out both Brantley and Morgan (back and knee - we'll know more tomorrow) but the guy with the bad hamstring - who is doing a lot of running due to hits - is still standing upright. Not only that but he totally chugged it out for a triple, his 4th so far this year! Hope he stays healthy (and learns to hit better against lefties) because he is IT for now!

Carlos: Heck yeah, Carlos Santana got a hit today! And remember all that stuff I said about catchers yesterday? And how he didn't score from second yesterday? Well today he totally scored from second AND he also stole a base. Shut me up!

Brantley/Morgan/Ramirez: Brantley's out with some back trouble. Precautionary. Morgan came in for him and banged his knee on a play and left the field today wearing a soft cast. Jose Ramirez came in to play second and they sent Handsome Mike out to left to cover all the injuries. And Jose Ramirez got an RBI single! He also came around to score twice. Ole!

Nick Swisher: Can go suck an egg.

I can't wait to go see those Jays one more time! Their bullpen seems to be pretty tapped, with 3 guys going longer than an inning each. Then there was the fun times of a position player coming in to pitch (and Lonnie getting a hit off him!)

Tomorrow will be another 7:07 start with another fair-to-middlin' starter for the opposition. LHP 4.63. The guy's last start only went 2 innings so we might wear him down early. Good times!

Now, let's hope Cousin Michael is there to join us. Say a little prayer and see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"...Rosie walked in with one of those holster sets...from Toy Story..."
- Tom Hamilton telling some weird story about Rosie and the engineer and Buzz Lightyear

"If you thought the strike zone was small before, Esmil Rogers, he has now got a thimble-sized home plate to throw to."
- Tom Hamilton

"On the wrap-up show we'll share with you the game highlights. That should take you to morning rush-hour."
- Tom Hamilton

"This looks like a Little League scorecard."
- Tom Hamilton

Life's A Happy Song

Life's a Happy Song on Disney Video
With someone to pitch strikes and someone to bash the ball over the fence and also just get the ball in play with RISP, you know?! That doesn't rhyme at all but when you match our now-dominant starting rotation with some guys whose bats are hot, it sure makes things look like sunshine and happiness on the road ahead. You know, when you have your pals to back you up and stuff. If you're not backing up the Klubot, your heart is not really in it.

Tribe's won FOUR in a row! Wahooooo!

Corey Kluber gave up 9 hits. What?? Wow....9 hits! But 9 strikeouts, NO walks and just 2 earned runs! It was big big big that Kluber didn't allow but 2 runs to cross because it took until the 6th inning for the Tribe to score. Leave it to Kluber to carry the team on his back for 6 innings. He can handle it!

Zep and Shaw came in for the remainder of the 7th and the 8th, doing what they do best. Which is not letting anyone score. One hit and 2 strikeouts between them.

John Axford, I am very done with. He gave up 2 hits and 2 walks and a run. Then he loaded the bases and the winning run came up to the plate with 2 outs. And I still feel very wobbly from this experience. I hate the idea of making light of PTSD, so I need a different term for how I feel about unreliable closers. Or rather, a term for how we feel when things are the same-ol-same-ol as they have been in the recent past for Cleveland fans.

Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus are SO over Axford. I've never heard them be so down on an Indians player as they were today with Axford. And also Carlos Santana. I think being in Florida makes people do and say things more freely. But when Hammy gives up on you...woah man, you are way doing it wrong.

Cody Allen came in to get the third out in the 9th to end the game. Because you can ALWAYS count on Cody Allen! End of story.

So Michael Bourn got a triple today. That's pretty cool. But he also went 1 for 5, striking out 3 times. It's really hard to watch that sort of thing when you know Nyjer Morgan is 30 feet away...

Swisher actually went 2 for 5 today. So yay for him. I just had an idea, though....Aviles at first when Kipnis comes back. Do you love it?!

Michael Brantley (.286) actually only went 1 for 5 today but check it out, fools: 1) He doesn't get paid $15mm a year and 2) His one hit was a HOME RUN, man! It was his 7th of the year and 31st RBI and he didn't hit that level until July in 2013. Go on with your bad self!

Carlos Santana walked twice, and came in to score once. Classic 2014 Santana....but how long do we have to put up with him at clean-up? Tom Hamilton was just murderous on him today!

David Murphy did nothing today. Nothing. What's up with that?

On the other hand...OMG ASDRUBAL!!!! You shoulda seen how the Twitter was burning up with praise for our Cabby! Tom Hamilton was blown away by his turnaround! @sportsyelling was confused at all the good! Everyone was putting up stats about how good Asdrubal has been lately! He hit his second home run in 2 games (third of the year) and got the team's first run in the 6th. He went 3 for 4 today with no strikeouts, giving him NINE hits in his last 3 games. He raised his average from .205 on the 6th to .254 today. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!!!

Now, please, MLBJesus, let this be the new trend and not just a temporary breaking of a season-long slump. Amen.

Yan Gomes, who has yet to thrill me with his post-paternity-leave explosion, at least has a 3-game hitting streak and today he went 2 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored. Oh, and he caught a guy stealing and once again didn't throw it in to the outfield! Maybe this weekend he'll show off his dad muscles. His folks were there watching the game tonight. Adorbs.

Lonnie Baseball was just 1 for 3 today but once again making things happen - he got hit by a pitch. Never a dull moment!

Holy cats - MIKE AVILES!! He is hanging tough with Asdrubal and Brantley and getting all of the excitement for this team! Jason Kipnis is actually afraid for his job! (Although I know Aviles can play first or third if needed....) Tonight he had just one hit and it was the big hit that I don't think ANYONE has been able to get so far this year. That is, the game-winning homer that brought in all of the RISP. He had struck out his first 2 times up but after Brantley homered in the inning and Gomes got his RBI single, Aviles LAUNCHED one to give us 3 more runs, making the score 6-2. BOOM!

After all that, the Tribe still left 10 guys on base. Imagine if they were hitting with men on. I guess baby steps...now at least they're hitting at all? Can't believe we won 4 in a row, though!

Tomorrow is an evening game, at 7:10. ZMac versus LHP 4.35. Their pitcher looks just no good, so it's going to be hard for the team to avoid hitting him. How about ZMac with a complete game now? Sounds like fun!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Tampa doesn't have a weather issue, they just have a lack of fans interested in coming to see the team play."
- Tom Hamilton

"Odorizzi is going to make sure that the folks selling beer here at Tropicana Field are going to have a long time to sell it. [...] He lulls everybody to sleep, including his defense."
- Tom Hamilton

"Holy cow! How do you get that hot in two games? Asdrubal Cabrera is scorching!"
- Tom Hamilton

"It's like he's made up his mind to swing the bat when the ball is halfway to the plate."
- Tom Hamilton on Carlos Santana

"It doesn't matter how you get that run in from third, as long as you get it in."
- Tom Hamilton

"The way he's swinging that bat, he's never leaving this lineup!"
- Tom Hamilton on Mike Aviles

"I told you it was a goofy night, folks! You can't have Tom Jones and 80-yr-old men dancing!"
- Tom Hamilton on the between-inning entertainment

"Wow. Wow wow wow."
- Tom Hamilton on Axford's performance in the 9th

"The Indians are going to feel like they plowed the back 40 the way this game is going."
- Tom Hamilton is tired and wants to go home

"Bottom line this game should not have come down to this in the 9th inning."
- Tom Hamilton

"They were cruising until John Axford literally had this Tropicana roof fall in on him."
- Tom Hamilton employs hyperbole

"If this whole year is going to be like this, none of us is going to have a heartbeat by October."
- Tom Hamilton

Get Us To The Greek!

Two records set today and I was there! Wahoo! Bummer of an ending but hey *I* had my rally cap on so there is no pinning this crap ending on me!

The first record set was by Corey Kluber, who struck out 7 batters in a row. Do you know who has not done that? "Bob Feller has not done that?" you're surely thinking. No, as a matter of fact - he never did. His record was 6, and it was tied by Bartolo Colon and I think Mitch Talbot. Corey Kluber just went out and pitched 8 innings on a Sunday in May and he just broke a Bob Feller record. Huh.

Aside from striking out 7 in a row, he threw 17 strikeouts. He struck out each Sox at least once. He also had two fielding outs, and gave up just 2 walks. Oh, there was a home run but our guys were actually able to overcome that deficit today, no problemo.

Kluber was just badass, but unfortunately the White Sox were a bit patient and he had 110 pitches after the 8th so we were all pretty sure he wouldn't come out for the 9th. But yaaay! Standing ovation for the KLUBE!!!

Next was John Axford who doesn't just come out to his crowd-sourced song "Working Man." His ego is so big he needs two songs! So first was the theme from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly with some piercing eyeballs on the scoreboard, then came Rush. Wow, with an entrance like that you must be hot stuff!

Or not. So the game was lost. Funny thing...did you know that Chris Perez blew a save last night for Los Angeles, too? It's catching!

I love me some good closer action, don't get me wrong. But I think the real deal is that most closers are all talk and very little show. Eastbound and Down is a documentary.

But hey! Speaking of entrance music, Nyjer Morgan had some crazy marching music or something for his plate music. And I was intrigued by it AND I had this spiffy new app from the MLB called "At The Ballpark" which was supposed to tell me plate music. It didn't have Morgan's. It also said that ice cream was at section 115. It wasn't. Good thing this app is free!

Even though we love Bourn because 1) He's the second highest-paid player on the team and 2) He hits like Nyjer Morgan, we are happy to have ol' Nyjer! For some reason he fell over when running to first after bunting in his second at-bat. Tom Hamilton said "He got hit by a sniper!" Hammy was cracking up, Sandy Alomar was cracking up. We all had a good crack-up. Michael Bourn is good but when is the last time he cracked you up??

Morgan also ended up with 2 hits today, including a double. A speed double!

All right...Nick Swisher. In the 8th inning, there were 2 men on (1st and 3rd) and Nick Swisher hit a sharp liner to second base. The second baseman (or shortstop?) seemed to catch the ball but he dropped it. He then threw Nick Swisher out at first because Nick Swisher had not run through the bag. Nick Swisher slowed up and possibly stopped when he thought the ball was caught. I saw it, my best friend saw it, everyone in our section (oddly, near Bro-hio) saw it. We all booed. Tom Hamilton didn't see it and I guess nobody from the media saw it because I have not heard ANYONE mention it. If Nick Swisher would have run, as you are taught in day 3 of tee-ball, then he would have been safe and Kottaras would have scored and it would have been 4-1 and the game would have been tied at the end of 9.

That dickhead should totally be fined for that sort of thing and the media should be all up in his stuff, but no. Nobody saw it but us, I guess.

Michael Brantley (.268) went 1 for 5. Seemed like he got more than that but nope, just that 1. And Carlos Santana is back to not hitting again. But the hope was alive and well at Progressive Field! We all thought they could do it! But no.

Lonnie Chisenhall, on the other hand - He can TOTALLY do it. He can do everything! Well maybe not play the field, I don't know. How many times have we seen him out there anyway? (Actually he's had as many AB from 3B as he has from DH. My bad.) I guess maybe he can't hit against lefties but according to his splits he's batting 1.000 against them this year. Maybe that'll be his next hurdle? Today his deal was getting singles and stealing bases. Three of the former and 2 of the latter, and one handsome RBI!

Stud.

Being that Lonnie kept keeping innings alive, the next batter - Asdrubal Cabrera - had a lot riding on his at-bats. Unfortunately, he knew this all too well and struck out 3 times in 4 at-bats.

David Murphy did all right, going 1 for 3 with a walk. No one to bat him in, though.

Jose Ramirez hit the ball high and far today. Unfortunately he is not a power hitter and it was just shaggin' flys out there for the White Sox. He made contact 4 times but none of them were good for getting on base.

So enters George Kottaras. I'd heard this morning that Kottaras was called up to play for Gomes' paternity leave but I didn't know why. I know we've got Luke Carlin and Tony Wolters rolling around in our Can 'O Catchers but I didn't remember any Kottaras. He got up in the 3rd inning and when no one was looking, he hit a home run! Woohoo!!!

My friend and I were like "his family must be proud! In his first Major-League at-bat!" And then he came up again in the 4th and he hit ANOTHER homer to the same spot! Woohoo!!! Who is this guy? Is this a record for a guy's first Major League appearance?

Well yes and no. Yes it's a record but it's not his first MLB appearance. I finally looked it up and remembered when I knew him from. Kottaras is "the other Greek" from Kansas City. For some reason I was outlining Greek players last year for my friend who is Very Greek and she was extremely disinterested but I was like "There are two Greeks on the Royals! Opa!" I also was joking about how they sucked against us, which they happened to do last time we saw them.

The record was an Indians record for getting 2 homers in one's first time in an Indians uniform. Never happened before. The last guy to do it for any team was Giambi's brother for the Phillies some years ago (2002?)

They didn't even have a picture of Kottaras to put up on the scoreboard. My friend and I think that the graphics & technology people are off on weekends. They also had Jose Ramirez's number wrong, and no one reported Nyjer Morgan's plate music. But looking at Kottaras's page on the MLB site...they have him in a Cubs uniform but don't even have him listed on the Cubs for one minute!

Is George Kottaras just a dream?

Anyway, he caught a good game if Kluber's performance means anything. And he got those 2 home runs, and a walk, and would have scored if Nick Swisher didn't have his head so far up his own butt. Kottaras did give up a stolen base but it was a close one, and he didn't throw it in to center field or anything.

The Kottaras experiment has been fun! I wonder if we'll ever see him again?

Oh hey....the Tribe threw a total of 15 strikeouts today. Are you familiar with the Circle K strikeout board at Progressive Field? There are only 14 slots for strikeouts. In case you were wondering, they put up a "14" in place of the first K and start over again. Now you know!

I don't have too much else to share about my trip to the field this time. Not much has changed. Well...they seemed to have more hand-dipped flavors at Pierre's and they also have this "flavor blast" thing where you can have them add a line of flavor to your soft serve. That's pretty nice - I got peanut butter with my vanilla. It's like those super new Coke machines they have at Five Guys and any fancy burger place like the Twinsburg Burger King. Mike mine a "blue goo," please!

Also I asked for an all-beef hot dog but ended up with sausage instead. I don't know if I got away with something good or if I got ripped off. Those all-beefs are expensive but I assume sausages are too! Good thing I like mustard and ketchup on mine.

The weather was so perfect today. Warm in the sun. Good thing our seats were in the sun! Getting good weather in the spring for a baseball game is like winning a little lottery, isn't it?

That's all for the White Sox series, which we at least won. Up next are the Twins, who are doing far too well in the division for the Twins and need to be knocked down a peg or three. It'll be our hero ZMac against RHP 4.34. If the Tribe scores 4.34 runs, we'll be good!

No Radio Chatter today - I was at the game! Tomorrow is 7:05 - see you there!