Stranded

Wow! Fourteen innings of non-playoff end-of-September baseball. RIVETING! Hahaha!

Actually it worked out great for me because I had a ton of housecleaning to do and got a late start so I was able to clean along to the second half of the OSU game (also riveting!) then 5 hours of baseball. My house is super clean!

Oh man so our pitching was bad then good, then our hitting was bad then good then bad again. The best part of this game was our bullpen's 10 scoreless innings. The worst part was either Jeanmar Gomez, or Casey Kotchman.

Normally I'm a fan of Casey. I don't expect much of him at the plate, just that he is an awesome first baseman. And I think he saves as many runs at first as he doesn't get at the plate. But lordy lordy...tonight, he was the last out in 3 extra innings. He went 0 for 4. It was just sad. Mostly because I wanted Casey Kotchman to be the hero (Hooray!) but also because 3 times we almost won it but didn't.

Overall I'm pleased with the game, though. Weird I know because we lost and also failed to score a ton of times. They left 20 guys stranded tonight! But it was a pretty exciting game all told, and by this point is anyone surprised when the team strands a lot of runners? So it's not like suddenly I should be mad about that tendency. I made peace with it sometime around the end of July!

So after 3 glorious David Huff starts in place of Jeanmar Gomez, Jeanmar popped up again this time in place of ... Jiminez? I don't even know who. Someone has a sore ankle that's not Hernandez. Anyway our next best guy is apparently Jeanmar Gomez who did the same crap he was doing before he was sent down, and the same as before he was replaced by Huff. Same ol' Jeanmar! Three innings and 6 runs, all of them coming in one inning with 2 outs. Ho hum.

As I said though our bullpen was dynamite. Seven guys combined for 10 scoreless innings with only 2 hits! The first was Chris Seddon who pitched 3 scoreless innings giving up just one hit. I generally like that guy - he can be trusted. After that with one inning each was Good Tony Sipp, Frank Herrmann, Esmil Rogers (who apparently has a wonky delivery that got him warned by the umpire), Vinny Pestano and Cody Allen. Scott Barnes threw 2. And then since we couldn't use Perez again, I guess, we had no one left but Scott Maine who inevitably gave up the winning run in the 14th. Erk.

Pretty nice show by those guys, otherwise. They've all been known to blow stuff up lately, even Vinnie. To go 10 like that with no runs is pretty special!

In 14 innings, it was still not a day when everybody hit. Even though they got 12 walks, not even everybody got on base! See the aforementioned Kotchman and the kid he replaced, Canzler - they combined for 7 plate appearances and goose eggs across the board.

Choo had 8 at-bats tonight! He actually didn't have that great of a night, comparatively - he went 2 for 7 with a walk. He got 2 RBI yes but he also left EIGHT on base since Asdrubal, Brantley (late additions) and Zeke were all getting on base before him.

Kipnis was back in the 2-spot and he had a chance to do it big a couple times but instead he walked 3 times and got no hits. Sad that he didn't get to be the hero but definitely mature when he takes his time and gets the walk instead of swinging at garbage! Broke his hitting streak, though.

Santana did the same - went 0 for 5 with 3 walks - and showed some restraint himself, getting those walks at times when we could have really used a hit.

Lonnie Chisenhall had his second 3-hit game in a row! Today he was 3 for 7 with a walk and since he was on base so much he got a run and a RBI. One of his hits was a double. There was an article on the Tribe's front page today about how he's opted not to play winter ball and is just going to relax. Now we know his motives for wanting to come back from his injury so early - get out of winter ball! I say the Chiz totally deserves it and I HOPE he's part of our starting roster next spring!

Hafner, Donald and Cord Phelps teamed up in the 6 slot for a total of 1 walk, 1 HBP and 2 runs. Meh.

 Brent Lillibridge actually had a great night tonight going 2 for 3 like he did yesterday. And also no errors! It's been a banner series for Brent - his average is up over .200! (Seriously though I like the dude for some reason. I just think he's an awful shortstop.)

Asdrubal came in as our secret weapon in the 8th. Mystery Cabrera! No one was really sure if he'd be able to come in but not only did he come in he got a clutch double in the 9th to tie the game on 2 RBI!! AWESOME! He didn't do anything the rest of the game, though. Well except not have an error, that's pretty good.

Thomas Neal was in and he got a hit. So that's pretty cool. Even cooler was when he was taken out for Mystery Brantley who came in after Mystery Cabrera and went 2 for 3 with a walk and a run scored!

Surprise!

Zeke was 9th again and is still impressive. Today he went 2 for 5 with 2 walks. One of his hits was a double. That gives him a 7-game hitting streak with 12 hits in those games! Unfortunately no one was hitting ahead of him or behind him so he didn't score any runs or get any RBI today. Shoot.

I hope everyone enjoyed the game - especially the 17k who were there and ESPECIALLY the ones who stayed! Lots of good cheering and it sort of seemed like people showed up to see Sandy. Maybe? They did give him a standing ovation when he came out to argue/discuss a call. Stay fiesty!

Tomorrow is McAllister versus RHP (5.43). No problem, right? Dude's got 15 losses! Everyone might be tired for the 1:05 start after playing extra innings tonight but at least both teams are in the same boat (although we did use 2 more players than them).

Tomorrow's the day they choose the Hargrove Suite winner. Hope it's me!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"David must be having a good year too, based on the picture of his homecoming date."
- Tom Hamilton on the one of one of the execs

"At your homecoming you had to dance with a broom."
"Now, don't talk about the St. Elizabeth's girls like that!"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus

"He and Carlos Santana, it's like the first day of kindergarden, like they're meeting each other for the first time, the way they're going through the signs down there."
- Tom Hamilton on Jeanmar Gomez

"They are like your labrador rolling over to have you scratch his belly."
"They're no longer a schnauzer, nipping at your pant leg?"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus on the collapse of the Red Sox

"If they don't know who they're listening to by now, to heck with them."
- Tom Hamilton doesn't want to break for a station ID this late in the game

Still In Texas...

Hey, the 2013 schedule is up! You'll be pleased to know that next year we're not stuck playing the Rangers in September. In fact we're slated to play the Astros and the Twins. Yay! Who knows what baseball will be like next year, though. I for one am excited to find out.

But first - the rest of this year!

Jeanmar Gomez...let's be done with him now. He was slightly impressive at the beginning of the year but quickly lost his luster. Tonight he went 4 innings and gave up 5 earned runs with 3 of them coming via the homer. He only struck out 1.

David Huff came in for relief and we hope to see him in 5 days starting instead of Gomez, don't we? He threw 2 2/3 and struck out 4 with no runs scored. Esmil Rogers came in for that final out and he got it via the strikeout.

Chris Perez! Forgot about him! He came in for the 8th and gave up his requisite 1 hit and that was the end of that. Do you think he could get 5 more saves in 18 more games? I am guessing probably not...

The lineup was a little "older" today (no Neal, no Phelps) and 8 out of 9 dudes got on base, but they had a hard time converting hits into runs. What else is new, eh?

Choo is still on an on-base tear. His average is up to .281 now after going 2 for 4 tonight. He's got 11 hits and 9 walks in September!

Kipnis, on the other hand, not so much. The JK Kid did nothing but strike out tonight.

Santana finally did something, getting his first hit since his 3-hit run on Sunday. He went 1 for 3 tonight with a run and an RBI!

Cousin Michael trudges along. I am repeating myself but he got another hit tonight - 9 hits and 5 walks in 10 games in September. His average is .284. Still not the .330 I had promised when Grady got back but Grady ain't back so we've got forever!

Russ Canzler had a bad night for Russ Canzler. He didn't get a hit although at least he got on base with a walk. No errors either so better than last night.

Where we don't have Canzler, we have The Chiz! Lonnie was in today at third which implies no errors at third. Also he went 1 for 4. No extra bases or runs or RBI or anything but hey, no one else got extra bases either.

Casey Kotchman was up again today in another crucial spot for the Tribe and he delivered again! He got another RBI today. It wasn't a beautiful 2-RBI single with bases loaded - more like a fielder's choice infield hit that almost was a double play but whatever. He did it!

Brent Lillibridge had a bad night. At least he didn't screw up at short. But he went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and 4 left on base. He could not handle the heat today that's for sure.

Zeke had a good night, though! He went 1 for 3 with a run scored and a stolen base! He's not a super top-notch performer just yet - he's not reliable. But he's kept his average up over .250 and hasn't been completely inconsequential to the team. You can tell they are working on his batting and trying to get him to forget his few fat hits earlier in the season and just concentrate on getting on base.

Tomorrow is ONE MORE DAY against the Rangers. It sort of sucks listening to games I know we can't win. But then again I listen to games on the archive that I know we actually haven't won so who am I to complain?

It's Zach McAllister versus LHP (4.59) and I am pretty sure we don't have the ability to win tomorrow. Then again, I gotta tune in to see if I am wrong!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"He made the Indians look foolish."
- Tom Hamilton after the top of the first

"For the Indians, they'd better get great pitching because they aren't going to win a slugfest against this ballclub."
- Tom Hamilton

"You could hear the baseball screaming 'ouch' from up here."
- Tom Hamilton after Beltre's homer in the first

"Nelson Cruz is in a slump but does it matter?"
- Tom Hamilton

"Literally Madonna would love Dallas - the Material Girl in a material city. [...] There's a reason the television show is called 'Dallas' and not 'Fort Worth.'"
- Tom Hamilton is filling the air

"Nobody tried to catch it in the upper deck - they ran away from it, it was a missle!"
- Tom Hamilton on Josh Hamilton's homer

"Let's break for a station ID. Or maybe not...I don't think the FCC is listening."
- Tom Hamilton is getting restless

"So, Santa Claus makes a stop in Arlington on September 12."
- Tom Hamilton after Kipnis' error is called a triple for David Murphy

"The only way the Indians can beat Texas is if Texas has a bad night."
- Tom Hamilton

Epic First

Wow, 4 runs in the first inning and they were all scored by the Indians! And not in answer to 4 runs by the other team!

WINNING! Yeah, the Tribe is 1-0 in September. We can rejoice for a few, minutes, I'm down with that!

Jeanmar wasn't too bad if you consider giving up fewer than 4 runs in 5 innings not bad for an Indians pitcher (I do.)  But he did give up 2 homers in those 5 2/3 innings, and he gave up 10 homers in the 15 other games he pitched this season, so I would say he's got a problem with giving up homers. THEN AGAIN...if a dude who has a problem giving up homers only gives up 2 homers to the Texas Rangers, who am I to complain? We'll give Jeanmar the nod as being welcome back to try to wow us again. And good thing I approve because he's already scheduled to cover for Hernandez's next start.

Joe Smith came in to finish the 6th and then the entire 7th. And it was good.

Just so you know, Chris Perez isn't missing or dead or in trouble. He was out because his wife had a baby girl today (Saturday) and he was on paternity leave. It has been pretty well-known over the past year or so when a guy was on paternity leave so I don't know why everyone was kept in the dark about Perez, but there it was.

Being that Perez was away, Acta had to switch up his setup-closer strategy. Sucks, because when was the last time we were ahead by 1 in the 8th and needed the services of PestanoPerez? It's been a while!

So they had Esmil Rogers come in for the 8th (not Cody Allen?) and he gave up a hit but got 2 out, including Josh Hamilton. Then it was time for Vinnie to mop up, which he did, holding Beltre to just a single and then getting Nelson Cruz to fly out.

The 9th inning seemed to take forever for Vinnie. He threw 24 pitches. But he is not known as a 1-2-3 guy so he took it in stride and got 2 ground outs and a strikeout around the one single he gave up.

Great team effort from the staff to hold on to this one! I mean, this is the friggin Rangers! I mentioned yesterday they average 5 runs per game so holding them to 3 is great!

The offense...I dunno. They seemed kind of lucky today. Lucky that the pitchers were all over it, because while they put on a great show in the first inning with 4 hits and a walk, over the next 8 innings they managed only 3 more hits and no walks, no hit-by-pitches even.

They did manage to finish the game in 2 hours and 38 minutes!

Choo is still in the leadoff spot and he's sort of making Kipnis look like a fool right now - his 2 games back now he's gone 4 for 7 with a walk. Obviously that lineup spot was meant to be for Choo and it couldn't turn Kipnis around like it did him. On his hit in the 5th, Choo stole 2nd but nothing came of it. Ho-hum.

Kipnis was hitting second, though, and he did get a double and score a run, The whole top of the order was where it was at, today, which isn't too bad. You of course want your top of the order to be the better half as that's where you put your good guys! Lately it's been sparse - a mix of top and bottom - or even just the bottom.

Carlos Santana was moved up to the third spot (Asdrubal is out while they bring new guys in, and also I think he's got a wrist thing going on) and why not? He has been hotter than Asdrubal but not as hot as Brantley so that's a good place for him. And he delivered today with a 2-run single in the first after Choo's walk and Kipnis's double. That was it, though - he went 1 for 4 on the night. But he has gotten 3 RBI over his last 2 games!

Brantley also went 1 for 4, with a single in the epic first inning, and he came around to score.

Big Russ Canzler was DH today. He's pretty much Hafner-sized. He proved himself by going 2 for 4, also getting a hit in said epic first and also coming around to score!

After that, tho, that's it. Kotchman and Hannahan DID manage to get sac flies to score Brantley and Canzler in that first inning, so they played a role. But that's it. Only 3 other hits and no more runs.

Tomorrow has got to be better at the plate. Hoping that a Sunday game at home after beating the best team in the league will be a nice shot in the arm. Also I think we'll see another new guy as well as Canzler. It could be epic again!

Tomorrow is McAllister versus LHP (4.90). I don't know what to think anymore, really, so I'll just say the game is at 1:05 and I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The month of August was historical for the Indians, and not in the way you want it to be."
- Tom Hamilton

"If Beltre doesn't get it, it's a hit."
- Tom Hamilton on Beltre's error

"When you have lost 6 in a row and 15 out of 16, you're going to manage a little differently."
- Tom Hamilton on Acta bringing in Smith

Outpitched

That's pretty much it. Yeah, Gomez gave up a ton of runs and Accardo tacked on more but even if our pitchers only gave up 2 runs we still would have lost. This kid who pitched for Houston smoked us in a 1-run 6-hit complete game. Although I still contend our batting wasn't up to snuff yesterday either, against a RHP. We almost had no chance against a feisty LHP.

I listened to the game on the audio archive today and it was sort of sad to hear the guys talking so highly about how well Gomez was doing early in the game, myself knowing that there'd be an implosion in the 5th. I think it's time to switch it up and say Jeanmar's had too many chances to prove himself. Yeah he's had a couple of good games here and there but he's 4-7 and has given up 42 runs in 14 games. He looks especially bad today after Tomlin, Masterson and Jiminez looked SO good the lest 3 games.

Also, all our other starters were hitting an Jeanmar didn't get a hit today.

The Twitterverse already has a nickname picked out for Zach McAllister - EZ Mac. I like him, let's bring him.

On the flipside, Tony Sipp surprised everyone by going 1 2/3 and not giving up any runs, or any hits for that matter and actually striking out 2. Keep it up Tony or we're going to Jeanmar your ass.

Jeremy Accardo - 3 runs. Unreliable. He's either giving up no runs or 3 runs. What gives?

Since we were severely outpitched, there isn't much to say on the offensive side except maybe OMG ASDRUBAL!!! Three homers in 4 games!!  He's only 2 away from Kipnis who leads the team and is the only guy in double digits. Love it when Asdrubal's hot! Definitely definitely vying for your vote in the All Star Game! Hey, if you vote 25 times, they'll email you a coupon for half-off tickets for a bunch of games. Limited games and limited seating of course but if you're watching your pennies - cheap tix!

Can't forget Choo, though. He got another goddamn double today! He is tied for first in the league with Kinsler (23) and leads Gonzalez, Gordon, Ortiz and Cano. w00t!

Kipnis is back to being awesome again. He's as unpredictable as Accardo but I guess when you're 1 of 9 you can hide it. He went 3 for 4 today after going 0 for his last 12. *BOGGLE* Is that an inexperience thing? Whatever, tho - I'm still a Kipnises. Poor guy tripped over first base on a single and looked super embarrassed about it. He also spent all 3 of his on-bases not coming home, because no one hit after him.

Well of course Brantley hit after Kipnis, once. He went 1 for 3 and has a 6-game hitting streak. He's had 68 hits in his last 51 games. He's hitting .333 in June. HE ROCKS YOUR FACE!!!

Our top 4 guys (minus the variable "cleanup hitter") - Choo, Cabrera, Kipnis and Brantley - are hitting .284 right now. They are slowly climbing up to complete awesomeness. O, IF ONLY ... the rest of the lineup was sorted out (and by the rest I mean Santana and hurry-up-already-Hafner). And if we had SHELLEY EVERY DAY.

Do we need Kevin Youkilis? He's a rightie. But his average is only .243 versus left and .219 versus right. He's got a .225 overall average with a measly 4 homers and 7 doubles.

Hafner left the game at .246 but he's a lefty hitting .185 versus lefties. Youk would be playing 1st or 3rd, I suspect, not DH. Kotchman and Hannahan are both batting under .200 against lefties. Santana is slightly better at .206. Our third best lefty hitter is Marson, at .273 (after crazy-awesome Asdrubal and Brantley). But he doesn't get to play because of Santana. IT'S ALL MADDENING!


Clearly Youk is still a baseball player, unlike Johnny Damon, but he's still Boston's leftover old man trash (he's 43 days older than me). And he has crazy stupid facial hair.

I don't know why people are talking about Carlos Lee for us. He's even older (between Youk and Damon) and hits .146 versus lefties. No shit. He is batting .299 overall because he hits righties .340. So the last guy we need is Carlos Lee.

If you didn't know, we are last in ALL OF BASEBALL versus lefties at .216.

So I don't know...243 versus lefties is not bad, if that's the best we can get. It would put him 4th on the team versus left. But ugh, Boston. Isn't there someone in our minors who can hit lefties?? Didn't anyone plan for this?

I think instead of signing Youk we need a mandatory 4-day "how to hit lefties" clinic over the All Star break. Asdrubal and his .325 average versus lefties won't be available at that time, but Brantley and his .291 can tell the guys the secret to being smooth.

I'm not wanting to shake stuff up right now. I think we've got a lot of good stuff going on. Except for Johnny Damon - he was an awful, awful acquisition and he has done nothing but hurt the lineup. And the defense. And caused us to do a lot of shit to accommodate him and keep some good players from having a chance to develop.

AAAAAANNNNYYYWAY....tomorrow's the rubber match against Houston at 2:05 and it's on WKYC, yay! Too bad I won't get to see the seriously awesome starbursty Astros throwback uniforms that they wore Friday. Don't lie - that uniform the first thing you think of when you think of Nolan Ryan! Well maybe now you modern kids think of him this way:

[From the Pop Culture Has AIDS blog]

But the alternateens among us think of this when we think of Nolan Ryan. Or the Astros. Or "weird baseball uniforms":

[From the Hipster or Athlete blog]

Anyway, the Astros have nothing to do with Nolan Ryan any more, except for next year when his Rangers give them a sad welcome in to the American League.

Sorry for veering so far off topic but I TOTALLY LOVE THOSE UNIFORMS! Why can't our marketing department do something stupid like faddish disco uniforms to get fans in the seats, instead of insisting we sign Johnny Damon?

OK FINE. Baseball tomorrow, 2:05. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Keuchel could have easily thrown it away, or hit him in the coconut."
- Tom Hamilton on a nearly missed move to first

"This just came out of the blue. He retired 12 in a row then started giving up rockets."
- Tom Hamilton on Jeanmar Gomez

"The Indians are making some awfully soft outs here today."
- Tom Hamilton has identified the problem

"You ever weed-whack your weeds with one of those weed-whackers? That's what it looked like with Rosie going through his 14th cup from the frozen soft serve yogurt machine. [...] They've re-named it Rosie's Rustic Inn. A lof of folks have tried to get to that machine with no luck. Rosie's had that baby locked up."
"If I had 13 cups you had 20 then."
"You know, I was eating fruit. Your fruit came in the form of carmel, chocolate, sprinkles..."
- How Tom Hamilton opened the bottom of the 6th

"I bet this marriage isn't going to see the end of 2016. This is the best they could do?"
- Tom Hamilton harping on a bride and groom at the ballpark

"You've probably never heard of Keuchel before [...] but after today the Indians will never forget him."
- Tom Hamilton

"What's interesting now is that Shelley Duncan isn't playing, even against left-handed pitching."
- YES THAT IS INTERESTING TOM HAMILTON!

"Boy it's easy to play GM from the broadcast booth isn't it?"
- Tom Hamilton ponders signing Youk

"9-1, 8-1, 10-1 - whatever it is, it's not pretty."
- Tom Hamilton can't figure out the score

"If Choo tried to score, we'd be in the wrap-up show."
- Tom Hamilton on not testing Bogusevic's arm

We Won Over Pittsburgh

I went to the game today with my cousin from the Pittsburgh area and his family. He's got 3 kids, a girl and 2 boys. The oldest boy is 10 and he's a pretty good Pirates fan and "good at baseball" in general. I just love going to games with other fans - and baseball fans are so rare around here it's even a fun time when the other fan roots for the other team!

There were a lot of Pirates fans there, especially in our section behind the visitor's dugout. I'm guessing a lot of Pennsylvanians hooked up with StubHub and got the best seats they could, considering they were coming all this way. We got our seats courtesy of a local food vendor that had passed them along to our oldest cousin who works in the Cleveland restaurant industry. We got 4 seats from them and bought 2 more in the next row from StubHub. The seats we had were 7-10 and the ones in front of us 5-6. When we got there I asked the folks in 7-10 in front of us if they wouldn't mind moving down in to 5-6 so my family could have 9-10. They generously obliged us. Score!


At first my cousin's kid thought he might get some flak for wearing Pirate gear in Cleveland. I said no, people here generally do not care about Pirate baseball or NL baseball for that matter. He was a little perplexed as to what he might do with his giveaway Santana jersey but "lucky" for us we didn't arrive in time to have to deal with it.

Once he settled in and realized that his family wasn't alone in their Pirate love, he tried a little trash talk. But mom shut him down. We had to explain that it's totally ok to cheer for your team in the opponent's park but it's kind of rude to bash the opponent in their park. This is baseball - let's all just get along!

The Pirates noticed the family sitting there, all decked out in their black and gold, as they came in from warm-up. One of the guys took off his "Prostate cancer awareness" blue wrist band (for Father's Day) and threw it to my buddy. He said "I'll never take this off, ever!" I saw him lift it up and scratch his wrist at one point...I wonder if he'll tell his mom if weird fungus starts growing underneath?

Also, the Pirates noticed my cousin's wife, who is a very good looking mother of three. Better than most of us know women from Pittsburgh to look. We are pretty sure she could have gotten some phone numbers and room keys along with the wrist band.

Jeanmar Gomez wasn't the most impressive today. He actually was really tight for the first 3 innings, not giving any runs up. Then in the 4th he gave up a 3-run homer to Alvarez (who had 2 the night before). I missed the kids' reaction because I was off getting my lunch. But the guy in front of me in the line said "Shit!" a lot. Those 3 runs were un-earned, however, because there was an error which should have been the 3rd out. In the 5th inning, Jeanmar gave up a homer, a walk, a double and an intentional walk. Then more shenanigans, and Gomez was replaced with Rogers.

Backwards from Gomez, Rogers started off bad then tightened up. He gave up a 3-run homer - 1 of those runs belonging to Gomez, the other un-earned and the other belonging to Rogers himself. After that, he only gave up one more hit and hit a guy in the foot. He ended up going 2 2/3 and throwing some smoke, which is what they want him for.

Jeremy Accardo took care of the 8th and 9th and struck out 3, not giving up any runs. But by then...well, the Tribe's not scoring 9 runs any time soon it seems.

But the kids were super impressed. They loved seeing the slumping Alvarez hit two homers. They loved seeing their Pirates - who I guess are pretty much on par with the Tribe this year - score 9. The kids really, really loved Progressive Field. I think they also really, really liked the idea of the DH.


When it came to our team...I tried to get the kid to try a little "Choo!" himself but he just wouldn't do it. His younger brother came up with the idea to yell for their reliever, "Huuuuuuuuughes." Not bad! They were not really big Choo fans, especially after he got a 2-run double in the 4th, putting the Tribe back on top 4-3.

I wore my "We Are All Kipneses" t-shirt for the first time, and the family was pretty impressed by the man. My shirtness didn't disappoint and he ended up going 3 for 5 with a homer in the 1st and a stolen base in the 3rd. He also looked sweet in the field. My new buddy said - and I am not making this up - that maybe we'll see him in the All Star Game. YES, MAYBE!!

I told them that Asdrubal was my favorite player, not actually Kipnis (tomorrow I wear Asdrubal's shirt. It's only right on Asdrubal Bobblehead Day). They weren't as impressed by Asdrubal, who made 3 errors today which resulted in 4 un-earned runs. WTF? He did, however, go 2 for 5 at the plate and now he's hitting .303.

Little guy was also impressed by Brantley. I guess he hadn't seen Saturday's game when the streak ended, but he told me that Friday he was excited and "thought he could have a go at DiMaggio's record." He also thinks it's amazing that we have an ex-player named Lemon. Brantley started back at 1 today, by the way. Let's see how far he goes!

Supermanahan was back getting it done today, his second game back after coming off the DL. He looked nice in the field (well, of course!) and went 1 for 4 at the plate. They liked his nickname, especially because their closer is Hanrahan. But I guess they call that guy Hammerhan. Good, no confusion!

I tried to trash talk Damon in a sort of dignified way. In a way that would not upset children. I pointed out that he is as old as their DAD! (my cousin) Then Damon went ahead and went 2 for 4 with a stolen base! He also hit a foul ball that grazed the top of my cousin's head and smacked the seat where a fellow child Pirate fan had been sitting before he went for snacks. Some guy a couple row up got it. When the toddler who'd been sitting nearby returned to his seat (Cleveland toddler, not the Pirate snacker), the guy who got the ball gave it to the toddler. This greatly impressed my kid and he told the other Pirate fans as soon as they got back.

Anyway Damon ended up scoring two. Meh.

We were sitting right next to 1st base, and I guess the kid plays 1st base because his mom told him to watch how Kotchman does it. I said "that guy is one of the best first basemen in the league so if you're going to watch a first baseman you're lucky!" Kotch also went 1 for 4 with an RBI.

Lou Marson went 1 for 2 with 2 walks. The kids sort of took to him, maybe because they spent so much time building up ire for their non-existent Santana jerseys. Santana didn't even play, by the way. I think they dug that the 9th batter could hit and wasn't just the pitcher or a pinch hitter. Hear that, National League?

Between each inning, my cousin's boys and the two Pittsburgh boys sitting behind us went up to the dugout to beg for balls. One of the boys finally got one - a Cleveland kid from the first row had gotten TWO thrown to him from the Pirates (??) and the Pittsburgh dad asked the Cleveland dad if his kid could have the second one. Once again, the Pittsburgh fan was obliged by the Cleveland fan.

My cousin's younger son was sort of sad because his brother got the wrist band and those other kids got a ball. The other Pittsburgh kids told him he'd get the next one, and sure enough they were able to snag another ball and gave it to my cousin's kid.

But now there was one Pittsburgh kid left out! So my cousin's oldest kid went up to the dugout after the game and got them to throw him a ball. He was absolutely stoked to run over to the other, younger Pittsburgh fan and give him the last ball. Love all around! Turns out Pittsburgh fans aren't really that bad. In the summer.

While we were leaving, my cousin's older kid told me "I'll remember this my whole life!" and "This was the best game I've ever been to!" Even my cousin's pre-teen, non-baseball-fan daughter told me she liked our stadium a lot, more than Pittsburgh. The littlest guy was just all smiles. They said I totally need to come see a game with them in Pittsburgh next year. Great - now I don't want interleague to end!

So despite our loss, there was a lot of winning going on today in Cleveland. You really can't go wrong with kids at a baseball game. The kids definitely were won over by Cleveland and how nice everyone is, how nice our stadium is and for the most part how good our baseball team is.

Oh yeah - the kid was also impressed that I went to 11 games last year, and it was my third (!!) game this year. He suggested I might be their MVP fan. I said no that's probably [Patron Saint of this blog] John Adams (who impressed the kids with his drum, of course!) I also told them about the guy who's bringing his baby daughter to every game this year.  He said I was still probably a runner-up. Yeah, buddy!

No Radio Chatter today, sorry. I need to go shower up (lordy was it STICKY out today!) and get rested for tomorrow's game, where I'll be watching batting practice from on the field, having my photo taken with a player, and viewing the game from behind the plate. With my Asdrubal bobblehead, of course.

I'll see you there!

Unexpected Loss

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cousin Michael Goes Yard

Exciting game tonight! A little too much excitement on the Detroit side for my taste, but in the end the Good Guys triumphed - in no small part thanks to Michael Brantley!

Jeanmar only went 5 innings and he gave up 6 runs. But he got the win. he had a lot of help from the rest of the team both defensively and offensively that's for sure. It was like Justin Masterson's dream game! This was probably payback for Jeanmar "taking car of" the Royals earlier and then taking one horrible outing for the team back in early May.

Also paying tribute to Jeanmar tonight was the bullpen, who were PERFECT over 4 innings (except for a triple which wasn't Perez's fault, it was more Choo's fault.) This included Tony Sipp of all people! Sipp, Smith, Pestano and Perez. A lot hung on Sipp doing well and this time he DID. He gave up nothing and struck out one. Then it was no surprise what Smith et al were going to do. Vinnie leads the league in holds and Perez leads in saves. Mafia!

Two big things happened on the offensive side today: guys who should have had a multi-hit game had a multi-hit game and we got some home runs. Oh yeah, and our LOB was a low 5!

Choo went 3 for 5!!! He's one of the guys we need to get those multi-hit games. Of course one of his hits was a double, and he came in to score all 3 times!

Asdrubal is heating back up! He's got an 8-game hitting streak. Today he went 2 for 5 with a run and an RBI. He's another guy we need to have a multi-hit game. Of course, they all should. But I think he and Choo set the pace. By the way, Asdrubal was dazzling on the field tonight. So don't forget to vote for him for the All Star Game.

Kipnis finally had a hit after 2 games without one! He went 1 for 4 with a walk, a run and an RBI.

Santana still hasn't figured it out yet. He was back behind the plate today. He hasn't hit since May 22, then his last game was the 25th, and he hasn't hit in the 2 games he's been back. HOWEVER he did get on today due to an error so at least he put the ball in play and hustled. Better than a strikeout. In fact, he didn't strike out at all today and only once yesterday. More progress!

MICHAEL BRANTLEY HAS A 14 GAME HITTING STREAK! AND THEN HE HIT HIS FIRST HOME RUN!! He is HOT STUFF, I tell you what! He's creeping up on Asdrubal with a .282 average (Asdrubal .297) He got 3 RBI out of that homer, giving him 14 RBI over his 14-game streak. Uh-huh.

Ok so Johnny Damon is back from paternity leave. He's got new twin baby girls. Remember when Choo came back from paternity leave and was crazy good for a minute? That's what Johnny did today. He took away a home run from Prince Fielder, went 1 for 2 at the plate, walked twice, stole a base and got 2 RBI. So, well done New Damons 4 and 5, you have inspired a very old man to play baseball well.

Casey Kotchman! HE got a homer tonight, yes he did! My friends would like me to submit "The Krotch" as a nickname for him. But uhm...I don't think I agree. Does he even need a nickname? I bet you usually forget he's on the team. Until someone muffs a ball at first 'cuz he's not in, that is. He had at least one good dig-out today, and was part of a few nice plays from Asdrubal. Long live KOTCHman!

Awww, Matt LaPorta and Lonnie Chisenhall did nothing today. Not cool, fellas. Kind of amazing we did so well without the DH and the "hot new guy" doing anything but nobody expects the Brantley or Kotchman!

We'd better complete the sweep tomorrow. How fucking AWESOME would that be? There's no Verlander in sight so we've got a huge possibility of going 6-0 against the Tigers this year. *BOGGLE*

Questions for tomorrow: Is Derek Lowe firmly back on track? Since Damon had twins, will he be good two days in a row? Can Brantley make it 15 games? Will LaPorta and Lonnie do anything worth mentioning? Is Kipnis going to start being on a tear soon? Can we go 6-0 against the Tigers? If Chicago loses tonight and tomorrow, will be alone in first place? (Math!)

Such an exciting game tomorrow, I might burst! Seriously, how can people say baseball is boring?

So I'll see you then, at 1:05. Don't forget to take your radio to work!

Radio Chatter:
"It's almost as if the Indians are putting on a defensive clinic to show the Tigers what can happen when you have bad defence like they did in the first inning."
- Tom Hamilton

"Wow. If Jim Leyland was provoked last night what is there going to be to yell about tonight?"
- Tom Hamilton

"Holsday is going 'I'm just up from Toledo, I don't know if I should go talk to this big league pitcher .'"
- Tom Hamilton on the Tigers' rookie catcher

"It has to be raining somewhere, just looking at the clouds. It's like a scene from Ghostbusters."
- Tom Hamilton

"They're having fun out there tonight, aren't they?"
"Isn't it amazing what winning does?"
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton

"The Big Potato. Isn't that what they were calling him last year?"
"To his face?"
"Probably not."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton on Jose Valverde

Runnin' on Empty

Our old nemesis LOB was hovering over us today like noontime shadows in the outfield. We had 10 hits and 4 walks with 10 left on base.

And, to add insult to injury, our friend and reliable pitcher Jeanmar Gomez had a bad outing giving up 5 earned runs in just 5 innings.

Scott Barnes was called up from Columbus and wowed everyone by striking out his first guy. Then he walked two! Nooooo! He settled down and took care of the rest of the 6th inning, tho.

Sipp came in as we held our breath but he didn't do any damage. Just took over the 7th inning, gave up 1 hit and no runs. He even had a pickoff! Whew. But you know who DID give up runs? Vinnie Pestano! How weird! He walked 2 and gave up a hit and a run! For some reason the guy can't be lights out unless he's getting a hold. This wasn't a hold situation, since we were losing.

Choo, Kipnis and Cabrera (back at short!) all went 1 for 4 today with 1 walk each. Choo had himself an RBI. Kipnis stole his 10th and 11th bases right there in the 2nd inning! Really, who knew that kid was a runner? So frustrating that he couldn't come around to score...

Lopez is wearing out his welcome a little bit here. He went 1 for 5, and didn't fare so well with the bases loaded and 1 out on the 9th. He could have been today's hero but he was most decidedly not anyone's hero.

Speaking of heroes, Shelley Duncan tried to be one today and was thrown out. He got a little fire going and took an extra base on a fielding error in the 5th, moved to 3rd on a single by Brantley and then when they caught Brantley in a run-down at first he tried to sneak home and was caught. That right there is frustrating.

Duncan did, however, end up going 1 for 3 today and scoring a run.

Michael Brantley is all alone being on fire in the bottom half of this lineup. He extended his streak to NINE today! Whoop whoop, nine smiley! :-9 He didn't get just ONE hit today but TWO, and scored a run!

Oddly enough, Damon got 2 hits and a walk today against his "old" team. I think he's played for every team in the AL.

The man who is making a difference is Casey Kotchman who went 1 for 4 today with an RBI! The only guy who didn't get a hit was Luke Carlin. But like last night, he managed to get on base anyway, this time as part of a fielder's choice. Then he came around to score!

Today had all the potential for and all the promise of a win, but nothing but the heartache of a loss. And LOBs.

Hopefully a night and a day off will give them a little respite and they can stop being whiny bitches and start winning games again! Chicago is going to run away with all the goodies if we don't do a little bit of winning in the very near future.

I think they all should have about 6 hours of mandatory hitting-against-lefties batting practice between now and Friday night, don't you think? They can't run their way to wins...looks like right now they're running themselves OUT of wins.

Day off tomorrow then we're back at home with Ye Olde Derek Lowe facing Ye Olde Carl Pavano. I don't even know what to say about that game, it could be awesome it could be a mess. BUT YOU GOTTA WATCH TO FIND OUT! I might go to that game. Watch me!

All right, see you Friday!

Radio Chatter:
"...like a wide receiver making a post pattern, made the over-the-shoulder catch to retire Cabrera."
- Tom Hamilton on Eric Hosmer catching a pop foul

"That's one of those plays when you're a manager you're going 'No no no!'"
- Tom Hamilton on Shelley Duncan's taking of 3rd base

"I wonder if these Kansas City catchers have a bonus clause? Between Quinteras and Pena they spend as much time on the mound as behind the plate."
- Tom Hamilton

"A mistake here and the Royals are going to have a happy plane ride home."
- Tom Hamilton on Barnes pitching to Francoeur with the bases loaded

"You could land the Royals' team plane in right center."
- Tom Hamilton on the shift for Kotchman

"Let's see if the Indians have another rabbit they can pull out of their hat. In this series they haven't been able to find the hat, much less the rabbit."
- Tom Hamilton

"Can you imagine, Milton Bradley? He would have taken the 20 pizzas and smashed the fans in the face with them."
- Tom Hamilton on Jeff Francoeur buying pizzas for bleacher fans

B-Squad Bomb

I don't know why I was nervous about this game. I was sort of not feeling it, back in the corner of my brain. Then my friend told me he knew we were going to blow it, like at 4:30. I tried to convince him otherwise but my arguments were weak. "Kipnis is great in Chicago!" "Shelley Duncan!" "Rookie pitcher!" I didn't even remember to mention Jeanmar. But no Hafner, no Hannahan, no Brantley.

Really, I think it's those black uniforms.

Jeanmar wasn't too bad. Until he was. He gave up 3 runs pretty quick and held tight until the 6th where he gave up 3 more. That was the bad part. Asencio followed suit with 3 runs of his own and while Accardo didn't give up any runs, he sort of didn't look too good walking 2 and giving up a hit.

Kind of seems like we were hosed after 3 fantastic days of bullpen. That same goodness wasn't going to happen today for a 4th day so we had to settle for the B-Squad of the bullpen. I don't think Jeanmar is a B-Squad pitcher. He's been pretty solid. It just always seems to be his turn on crap days.

Our lineup was light, as I said, missing Hafner (crunched-up leg after hitting a ball off it), Hannahan (ready to play but not really?) and Brantley (I don't know why). In were Damon, Duncan AND Cunningham.

Eventually that list would include Lou Marson (Santana tweaked something while catching) and oddly enough, Juan Diaz who replaced Asdrubal during the 8th when he hurt something. Odd because Diaz was just called up today and McAllister sent down.

So our final lineup was Choo, Kipnis, Diaz, Marson, Lopez, Duncan, Damon, Kotchman and Cunningham. Ha!

Choo was ON again today! He went 2 for 3 with a walk and those 2 hits being doubles. He came around to score twice! That's 15 hits in his last 10 games. Can we say "Genius move, putting Choo at leadoff!" enough?

As I predicted, Kipnis was hot again in Chicago. He went 2 for 3 with a walk, also, after going hitless yesterday.

Asdrubal went 1 for 3 and his average stays over .300 - for now. It's "down" to .301. But he did get one of the RBIs tonight. Santana got another of the RBIs on a fielder's choice.

Shelley Duncan! I also predicted good things from him! Of course, too little too late but he got his 4th homer in the 9th. It was a little highlight I'll take home with me, thanks.

Damon did a thing. He also struck out twice.

Kotchman, surprisingly, did nothing.

That's pretty much it! Also of note is that Tom Hamilton's son is in the NCAA baseball championships with Kent State, so Hammy's been out for 2 games now. The first game was Jim Rosenhaus and Mike Hegan, which was cool. But you could tell Hegan wasn't up for a second game so today was Rosie with ex-pitcher and Fantasy Camp good guy Scott Bailes. He wasn't as awful as I thought he would be but he (and anyone) is miles away from Hammy so it was just surreal. I think this is what most people have to sit through when they listen to baseball on the radio, excepting maybe Dodger fans. Just two dudes who are not Tom Hamilton or Vin Scully. Weird.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day. A 4:05 game and I don't know why. That's 3:05 Chicago time. A bunch of games are at 4:05 actually. It's going to eat up most of your day, just you watch.

I'll be listening, tho. Our hero Derek Lowe versus Jake Peavy. Those guys are set but who knows who will show up to bat for us? We've got to win at least one to keep a solid hold on first place and tomorrow is our best chance.

See you there!

Radio (And TV) Chatter:
"He got to Charlotte and they said 'Keep going, you're pitching in the big leagues, pal.'"
- Jim Rosenhaus on Jose Quintana

"Catchers don't like that. They like goign station to station, not this back and forth."
- Scott Bailes on Pierzynski taking off on every pitch of a full count

"Thank you to Shelley Duncan for providing us with our McDonald's I'm Lovin' It play of the game. We were running out of time."
- Matt Underwood

Jeanmar Catches the Marlins

Did you see that? Did you see the pitching today? It was so awesome and I couldn't be more excited about Jeanmar Gomez!

Jeanmar tossed a 3-hit shutout and went 6 2/3 innings. He struck out 4 and only walked 2. He did hit a guy but so did the opposing pitcher Anibal Sanchez (who's got a better ERA). Jeanmar was just on FIRE.

Also on FIRE is our bullpen! Today we got treated to "the original mafia" Smith, Pestano and Chris Perez. Smith handled the 7th, Pestano struck out one and sent down the rest in the 8th and Chris Perez STRUCK OUT THE SIDE with high-90s fastballs. He threw 10 pitches and 9 of them were strikes. I'm not sure but it sounded like Tom Hamilton was nearly crying with joy.

Afterwards, for some reason Perez freaked out a bit at the fans. Apparently he threw 9 strikes because he's pissed that people are booing him. So yeah, I'm torn - people shouldn't boo him (HE IS THE BEST!) but well if that is what unleashes the Rage then maybe we all need to make signs that say "BOO!"

I guess he's also pissed that no one comes to the games and that's why the team doesn't do well. Erm...sounds like a chicken/egg thing to me pal. But whatever - he's allowed to be frustrated. Heck I'm frustrated about the fans. Do you know how hard it is to find fans around here to talk about baseball with? Why do you think I talk to The Internet about it every night? I'm also frustrated that it's cold and that makes me not want to go to games. I'm also frustrated that I live a half hour away from the ballpark and frustrated that I can't afford season tickets but if I could WHO WOULD GO WITH ME ANYWAY?!

Perez is still ok with me. I like that he says what he's thinking. I don't like that he might be thinking he doesn't like Cleveland but whatever is going on HE STRUCK OUT THE SIDE. He also is second in the league in saves. He also sports one of the few beards I can deal with.

I still like Chris Perez. I hope you do too.

It's a good thing our pitchers were so dazzling tonight because our batters were a bit stifled by the Marlins' staff.

Although CHOOOOOOOOO extended his streak to 7 and went 2 for 4 tonight! While he was on base he did some fancy baserunning, possibly helping Shelley Duncan to score.

Wut wut Asdrubal with his 5th home run! OMG! Neatly placed in to the visitor's bullpen in the 4th to get our first run. He didn't do anything else but that average remains above .300.

Santana went 1 for 4. My man LOPEZ went 1 for 3 and since he is still working his way up the AB column, his average goes up leaps and bounds every time he gets a hit. Today he's already at .233! And he's got a 6-game hitting streak!

Kotchman! Still chipping away at being a guy who hits. He went 1 for 3 today as well. I guess Pujols must have gotten a couple hits because he's pulled away from Kotchman's .211 with his own .216.

Hey, Shelley Duncan! Love that he was in today and he got a hit. Because I hate being all excited to see him and then nothing happens. He signed my ball, you know. And today not only did he get a hit he also scored on a sac fly by Jason Kipnis. I think he signed my ball too!

Tomorrow is going to be another low-scoring one I feel. Our MMFIC Derek Lowe is going to be facing a guy who just pitched a 2-run game. But his ERA is over 5 so maybe other teams have weird inconsistent pitchers like we do too, and this guy will give up like 8 or something.

It's on WKYC so I might watch it. Or I might have to go work on that bathroom again. We're in the home stretch now - painting! I know you're on the edge of your seats waiting for it to get done...

Anyway, lazy Sunday game tomorrow. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Angel Hernandez is the home plate umpire, and nobody has a shorter fuse than him, so you gotta be careful."
- Tom Hamilton

"I wonder if Choo was doing that to try to draw the throw so they wouldn't try to get Shelley Duncan at home plate."
- Tom Hamilton on our second run

"The people that talk about it and write about it, they aren't coming either. And the ones that do come they certainlly aren't paying to sit in 40 degree weather. When the weather warms up, the fans will come. It's not rocket science, folks."
- Tom Hamilton on the lack of fans

"At this point in the afternoon with the shadows, you may as well close your eyes and swing."
- Tom Hamilton

"This is how you want to face Hanley Ramirez - with the bases empty."
- Tom Hamilton

Biting Off What We Can Choo

Jeanmar Gomez! Sweet dependable Jeanmar Gomez! He is getting to be everyone's favorite starter. He was able to stop the bleeding after the Boston series and help ease us in to victory against the Twins. I say "ease" because it wasn't a blowout either way, but he left us with just one run on the board - not earned by him - and 7 innings gone. He only struck out 2 but caused 11 ground outs. And he didn't even get the win.

You're welcome.

Not sure what was up with the bullpen today, but they were lucky to get out alive. Pestano gave up a walk then a RBI double, and then his double came around to score when Hagadone was brought in. He gave up a homer then a walk. All of a sudden we're able to stack up our relievers like so much Pez and they're being eaten up! I wonder if part of the problem is that I deemed Hagadone worthy of your Fantasy Baseball team. Oops. Joe Smith came in and untangled that mess for the W, and Perez came in for a quick and easy 9th to strike out one for his 12th save.

The top of the lineup was gelling today. Damon was sat out and they put our man CHOO up top. He's been walking and getting hits - plenty of doubles but not homers - so Acta decide that he'd make a good #1 guy. I guess after last night's game, Choo admitted that he was doing poorly against lefties because he's afraid of getting hit again. Not so much because it hurts, I imagine, but because he gets hit on the hand and that can ruin his season and maybe his career AND THEN HE HAS TO JOIN THE ARMY! Of course, now every bullpen in the AL has a little "throw inside" Post-It Tab on Choo's page. Poor fella - bares his soul now he's going to get beaned in the butt. Oh and guess who got hit today? By a rightie, noless.

Anyway, other than getting hit Choo went 1 for 4 and got the game-winning RBI! Who here didn't have their own private "CHOOOO!" from their chair when that happened? You know what I'm talking about! If not, here you go, you can Choo to the replay!

Kipnis went 1 for 5 and scored a run. Not very impressive for him as of late BUT he is working a 5-game streak so that's cool.

Asdrubal went 1 for 3 with a double and a walk. He is actually slightly slumping. Like just for a few games. Average is dwindling down to .313 o noes!

Pronk did some good tonight. With a runner on 3rd he grounded out to the right side to get an RBI. He also got a double and a walk. Santana also got a hit and a walk and a sacrifice RBI. That's a step in the right direction for both those guys - if you can't be the big hero, just do something that matters.

Michael Brantley was silenced tonight after being pretty much the only guy to have a good Boston series. Middle of the order, not sure what's up. Did you know he's hitting .260 versus both righties and lefties?

Hey guess who was up today? LOPEZ! I'm guessing maybe because Wheeler was let go? They brought up an infielder to give Hannahan a day off or something. Yeah he played third and yeah he got a hit! He went 1 for 4 and scored a run!

Tonight's BIG BAT goes to Casey Kotchman who got a homer! That guy is just full of surprises. Hitting just shy of .200, nobody expects a 2-run dinger from Kotchman but there it was (his 3rd of the season). He actually went 2 for 4, which is maybe even more unexpected. Keep swingin' for the fences, Casey!

The victory tonight hopefully can help wash away the bad taste of the Boston series (would you believe...we're still in 1st place by 2 games?) and put us back on the path of being a good-hitting and good-pitching team. We've got a nice easy week - Twins, Mariners, Marlins - so by the time we meet up with Detroit next week maybe we can be like 5 games ahead.

Tomorrow is a 1:05 game, don't forget! Our favorite, Derek Lowe, versus Jason Marquis who has a 6.26 ERA. I am ready for some good hitting and a nice solid win.

See you then!

Radio Chatter:
"The Twins have four players with no home runs. So you can just say 'Here's a fastball, try to hit it.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"That's like going to prom and telling your date you have a canker sore. You're going to get a heck of a handshake at the end of the night. 'Thanks for the corsage, loser, now go home.'"
- Tom Hamilton on Choo admitting he is afraid of being hit by left handed pitchers

"You can't be losing to the worst team in baseball that has a record of 10 and 24."
- Tom Hamilton

Your Friend, Jeanmar

So here's the deal with this game tonight. First of Jake Peavy is pretty awesome (how do we keep seeing awesome pitchers?) and last time we saw him he threw a 3-hit shut out against us.

Jeanmar Gomez is also pretty awesome, but in a different way. He gave up 2 runs in the first inning and kept going. Then he gave up 6 more in the fourth inning and STILL kept going. Because by that point, with the way Peavy was pitching, we were going to be winning this game. So we needed a guy to pitch a bunch of innings and save our bullpen for our trip to Boston. So Jeanmar Gomez said "Si" and gave us 6 2/3 and doubled his ERA.

Don't forget he's also the guy who beaned a Royal batter in retaliation and got thrown out and served a suspension and everything. He's like your best little buddy in the bullpen.

Sort of like Jeanmar

Jairo Asencio came in to finish it off tonight and he was lights out for 2 1/3 innings. That's a relief. PUN!

How ever good Peavy was, we still tagged him for 7 hits and a walk. They just weren't...grouped. What do you expect with no Hannahan?

Asdrubal got a hit tonight going 1 for 4 with his 10th double and keeping his average sky-high at .337. Hafner got a hit AND a walk (grrr...cold weather? Is this going to be a real thing?) but he's still technically "struggling at the plate" I think.

Santana got a hit and Choo is silently getting back to his real self with 7 hits in his last 7 games. Plus he's still pretty awesome in the field. Between him and Kotchman the right side is locked down!

Speaking of CASEY KOTCHMAN how about that guy, huh?? Dude's got 9 hits in his last 10 games, tonight going 2 for 3 with a walk. His average is JUST SHY OF .200! Seriously - 10 days ago he was just shy of .150. If HE turns around then really Casey Kotchman is the total package.

Jason Donald got a hit, but also got an error. Meh that guy. I mean I guess I can't give him too much shit because Hannahan has played most of the season so he's not getting much work at third but...meh that guy.

That's really all there was to this game. Good on Jeanmar, Kotchman hits. End.

Looking forward to the Boston series tomorrow just because I'm ready to see some new teams. And Boston's just not that formidable anymore, so it's always nice to just roll over those chumps. It'll be some sort of "Return of Johnny Damon" thing too I bet. Huh huh.

A little later, at 7:10 PM. Big Derek Lowe! See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"He said he can roll out of bed on Christmas morning and throw strikes. That's how ready this guy is."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Jake Peavy

"Manny Acta says 'I hate to do this to Jeanmar Gomez but tonight he's got to take one for the team...'"
- Tom Hamilton

"Meanwhile Peavy has turned the clock back to 2007."
- Tom Hamilton

"Oh for the love of Pete, throw the ball! Peavy is up 8-0 and playing games with Santana."
- Tom Hamilton

"You have a 7-run lead. If Robin Ventura can't trust you in this situation, he can't trust you in any other situation."
- Tom Hamilton

Best #1 A+ Win

What an amazing win. We didn't just win by one. Our pitchers didn't give up a ton of runs that we had to overcome. We didn't merely have a big inning. There was some great defense. Guys had multi-hits. We beat one of the best teams in baseball. It was hands down our best win of the season.

Starting off with starter Jeanmar Gomez. He's our little secret, for sure. He doesn't quite have Lowe's ERA (his 2.80 versus 2.27) but he's got the second lowest WHIP (walks + hits / innings pitched) on the team with .99, trailing only Vinnie Pestano. Dude is cool as a cucumber out there, too. He walked one tonight. ONE! Only 90 pitches in 7 innings. Only 3 runs given up to a team averaging over 5 runs per game.

Acta pulled him out right on time, no reason to stretch him out when we've got the Bullpen Mafia heating up behind him. Pestano cruised through the 8th and Chris Perez made his 3rd appearance in 3 days to get his 10th save. Does he lead the league in saves?

You know it!

Ok so Johnny Damon. You know I'm not a fan. I'm not gonna roll over and Damon-worship right now but uhm...Ol' Beardy sure did have a hell of an impact on this game. In the third he botched a catch in the outfield, yielding a double. But he had a chat about it with old pal Shelley Duncan - the dude he's sort of here to replace - and they were cool. Not only is Damon learning from Duncan but apparently Choo is getting some pointers from the man as well. He credits his homer (more on that in a bit) to some hints from Johnny. I'll take that, for sure...but then Damon also had a 2-run triple in the 7th, sealing our fate.

I am happy. That Johnny Damon. Is here. So far.

Anyway, Kipnis is still red fucking hot. He's on an 8-game hitting streak and today went 2 for 4 with his third double of the season. His average is now .301! He also stole a base and leads the team with 6!

Not to be left out, Asdrubal went 1 for 3 today and got hit by a pitch. HIS average is .303! He tried to steal a base too but uh...it didn't go so good for him.

Hafner, surprisingly, did not get a hit today. Not surprisingly, he got an RBI on a sac fly.

Carlos Santana had a multi-hit game, just like I told him he should do. Or maybe Johnny Damon told him? He went 2 for 4, bringing his average up over .250. He did well behind the plate and had his 3rd strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play this week!

The BIG story of the night was CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! He had two great plays in the field - one to end the first and one to end the game. Oh yeah and he got his FIRST home run of the season! FINALLY!!! Is he seeing the light? Turning a corner? Peeking out of his shell? Taking the gauze from his eyes? Whatever happened tonight I hope it's the start of something big. Cuz we can't wiiiiiiin if winning is without Chooooooooo.... (did you like that?)

Michael Brantley was there at the baseball game and he got a hit. Casey Kotchman was also there but he did not get a hit. He did get a walk.

Jack Hannahan is still tearing shit up. He'd only had one home run so far this year, and he was up with nobody on base, so you don't expect much from that situation because everybody knows Jack Hannahan is the guy who gets RBIs and nothing more. Well he hit a really long ball to right and the ball bounced around for a bit and he stopped on third. Then Johnny Damon (of course) said from the on-deck circle "Hey we should ask for a review of that" and Manny Acta said "Si" and the umps said "ok" and after a minute the umps said "home run" and Jack Hannahan said

Sweet, another way to get RBIs!

So yeah, according to how Tom Hamilton described it, Johnny Damon's heads-up job of not just sauntering in to the batter's box, thus rendering the hit un-reviewable got us a run there.

We'll welcome you back tomorrow, Mr. Damon.

Just an amazing win tonight and I couldn't be more stoked. We did EVERYTHING right and EVERYONE pitched in.

Can we do it tomorrow? I hope so. I'll be there helping out by screaming my bananas off in some lawyer's fancy diamond box seats. It's also Chris Perez jersey day, which I didn't even know when I accepted the invite to the game. I hope my friend and I get there in plenty of time to snag ours, as there are only 15k. There were 16k fans there tonight for fireworks. I think with the promotion and it being a Saturday and the weather being nice the place is gonna be PACKED!

Or not. It doesn't matter as long as Johnny Damon is there. Woo-wooo!

See you LATE (again) tomorrow night!

Radio Chatter:
"That's like the most beautiful person in the world being worried about one small freckle on their little toe."
- Tom Hamilton on the idea of Texas looking for more hitting

"It's worth it because the Indians only have to go to that furnace in Arlington, Texas just once not twice."
- Tom Hamilton is not a fan of Arlington, Texas

"So you don't think Shelley greeted him on the top step and said 'I would have caught that!'?"
- Tom Hamilton on Duncan giving fielding pointers to Damon after he muffed a ball

"He won't turn and say anything, he'll just do a little gardening with his feet."
- Tom Hamilton on Hafner getting a questionable call

"The Indians can't play a team like Texas, make a bunch of mistakes and expect to win. They've got to bring their A-game every night."
- Tom Hamilton

"Here comes Ron Washington, a day late and a dollar short."
- Tom Hamilton on Washington's trip to the mound after Damon's 2-RBI triple

"If you hold the Texas lineup to 3 runs in 7 innings of work, you have done your job."
- Tom Hamilton on Jeanmar Gomez

"The Rangers hitters are good enough, they don't need 4 strikes. Or 5."
- Tom Hamilton on a questionable call

Kipnis > Katniss

Tonight I'm excited about Jason Kipnis, and I'm excited that I'm excited about him. Because, to be honest with you all here, I had some major doubts about him. Even as I was pondering tonight's game during the day (cuz what else do you do before a game?) my mind was specifically singling him out as a glaring weak spot in the lineup.

He actually was fairly decent last year in the 38 games he played. He got some big homers for us. His first hit was a game-winning RBI (that was him, right?) He was pretty endearing, we just didn't see him enough. His spring this year was fine too and he hit .273, one point higher than his 2011 average.

He just started so slow this year, and being "new" and unproven made me not so sure if he could recover from it. And then getting wrapped up in all of this crazy hitting going on, and then having him AND Kotchman in the lineup hitting under .200 (Kotchman is so good at first, he gets a batting pass) it was just too much for me.

Yesterday he sort of endeared me because he had that head-first slide in to home, albeit a risky endeavor, and that won the game. But still he had no hits in the game (he was hit by a pitch).

Well tonight I get to eat my hat because Jason Kipnis went 4 for 5, got a triple, got 3 RBI and both tied and won the game. His average shot up to .226 from yesterday's .167. One game does not a sure thing make, but bring me some excitement and I will be your cheering section. See what it did for Jason Donald? I no longer make fun of his greasy hair.

Well done, Jason Kipnis! Meme time!

Jeanmar Gomez started tonight and he looked pretty decent. Right now he's our team sweetie since the other guys have all had bad outings while his ERA is under 2. He did only go 5 1/3 innings and I'm not sure why because the situation where they took him out was a guy on third with one out. Someone was probably going to give up a run in that situation and indeed Wheeler did. Gomez struck out three and only had one earned run.

Aside from Tomlin's one-run beauty on Thursday, Gomez's start tonight was the second best of the road trip.

Tony Sipp came in after Wheeler and had a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout. Woohoo! Jim Rosenhaus declared him "back." Don't get too excited Rosie (I'm pretty excited, Rosie!)

Vinne Pestano gave up a hit but otherwise lights out. Asencio ended up getting two guys on base, which was no good (even though we were up by 4) so they had to bring in Chris Perez who just eats up those one-batter saves like so much Big League Chew. Did he get his batter to pop up? Yes he did. Ballgame!

Since Michael Brantley has started hitting again he has gotten a hit in 7 straight games. But he and Santana are only getting one hit  a game. So you can't really count on either of those guys to get the big hit right now - you can only hope that this at-bat is the time they get their one hit (and there's a 2/10 chance they will). So while they SEEM they're on a roll, we could really stand to have those guys shoot for multi-hit games.

I don't know the mechanics of being able to get one hit but not another. Travis Hafner sure has it figured out, tho. And to a lesser extent, Choo. Although Choo has either been feast (2 hits! doubles, walks) or famine. But at least he's stealing.

Hafner had two more tonight. He is the honest-to-God real deal I'd say. Two more singles at that, and a walk of course. His batting average is a 9th-in-the-league .350 and it's real.

Also real is SUPERMANAHAN. My goodness, where did all of this awesome come from? I mean, we knew he was awesome because he had the "vacuum at third base" thing going on but now he's hitting too? He was always given a pass (should we call Kotchman's pass the Hannahan pass?) and now the pass is REVOKED. Tonight he got 2 more hits (including a double) and dude is hitting .342 which is just behind Hafner at 10th in the league!

I think I know what Shelley Duncan's problem is right now. His dad, Dave Duncan, is hanging around. Not only that but all his dad's buddies as Oakland is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the winning of the 1972 World Series. I guess now's a good a time as ever since both Duncan's dad and Mike Hegan were on that team, so more guys will show up to the festivities because of their ties with the Indians. HA!

Yeahbut anyway, Shelley's dipping a little bit. Not knocking my socks off. Also not helping is the fact that his wife is pregnant with twins so that's gotta be nerve wracking. I wonder when she's due? Because if he finds pregnancy nerve wracking wait until she's calling him on a road trip with two screaming kids in the background. Oy.

Jason Donald is trying his goddamn hardest and I'm still on board. DID YOU HEAR ME JASON DONALD?! We're good! He went 2 for 4 tonight and stole a base, consequently scoring 2 runs. It will be almost sad to see him go when Asdrubal returns but not really. Although I suppose if I'm going to be making fun of anyone's hair ... eep...

Tomorrow is a 4:05 start brought to you by Justin Masterson, who hopefully doesn't suck anymore. I think we still need to bring our bats up to speed just a tiny bit. More guys with multi-hit games. Keep walking, that's good. But stop wasting walks by doing nothing with the bases loaded.

Perhaps our guys are slightly distracted by the vuvuzela in the crowd that just. won't. stop. No idea why Tom Hamilton hasn't complained about it. It's driving me nuts!

Anyway, see you tomorrow!

Radio Chatter:
"There was a warning for the Bay Area today. The warning was 'It's hot.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"Is he testing karma here with his dad and the 72 world series champs here?"
- Tom Hamilton with Shelley Duncan at the plate

"Our engineer Mike can't get a date with the inhouse host. So as a consolation he is eating two of these two-foot-long hotdogs."
- Tom Hamilton on the continuing story of "Mad" Mike and the scoreboard girl

"Boy how many times in spring training did they tell you that Kipnis is a catalyst for this team?"
- Jim Rosenhaus

"You think some of these kids who have the surgery then pitch 95 miles and hour think that Tommy John must have thrown pretty hard."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"Gomes held up. For some reason he thought Choo was Spider Man and could get that ball 14 feet up the wall."
- Tom Hamilton

Thugs and Thumps

What's with all the hitting and the fighting, boys? On the one hand it makes me feel bad, like as a team we're like a frustrated pre-teen and are acting out because it's the only way we know how. On the other hand - I love a good fight. Apparently, so does Jack Hannahan!

Not cool when we lose our pitcher (who we shouldn't have lost) and our prize third-baseman due to fighting. Lucky for us we had another starter sitting around needing to have some work today in his schedule anyway. Luck o' the Irish, eh Jack?!

Jeanmar Gomez was doing ok, whatever, when he left. He did his thing tho and hit a guy after Choo got hit in the third (he was sent over the edge because the pitcher was the same who broke his hand thus breaking his season in 2011). There's some confusion over whether or not the benches were warned but Gomez was ejected the second he hit Moustakas in the back to lead off the bottom of the 3rd. Tom Hamilton is all pro-beaning now so high-fives all around for Gomez. Acta got tossed too and we got to see Sandy Alomar's managerial skills!

Josh Tomlin was just hanging around in the bullpen, tending to his facial hair, when they were called to finish the 3rd and do some long relief. But he didn't do too good. Neither did his un-facial-haired buddies that relieved after him. It took the scruffy Asencio and the "Brawny" Chris Perez to close it out and hold down the fort while the hitters tried their best to overcome extra innings. Again.

I was all excited yesterday for our stunning hitting but I knew it could possibly be a fluke. Also while it was exciting it was really just one inning. Today we added on to that idea by having not only one exciting scoring inning, but three more innings in which we scored.

All in all we got 14 hits, 11 runs, 6 walks, 2 homers, a triple and 4 doubles. Everybody hit tonight! THAT is some exciting baseball! Now, the Royals might have a rickety starting rotation and a too-big outfield but whatever it took for us to get some juice in our bats, now was the time for it to come.

Michael Brantley got a hit tonight, adding on to his out-of-slumpness from yesterday. He got himself a triple! This of course excited/ignited Asdrubal who promptly smacked Brantley in, starting off a 5-run streak for us in the 3rd. Asdrubal went on to get 2 more hits and raised his batting average back to "OMG!" levels.

Choo actually had a rough night, with being hit and then the fight. He was being "not Choo'd but boo'd" during his at-bats. But guess who won the game with his first hit of the night, a 2-run double in the 10th? Well it was CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Santana was nice and patient at the plate today. He ended up going 2 for 4 with 2 walks and 2 RBI.

Duncan - hitting over .300 - was platooned with Cunningham. Shelley went 1 for 3. Cunningham struck out.  So there's that.

This is awful (for me) but I couldn't help but think of this Kids in the Hall sketch any time Lopez was up to bat tonight. Which is strange because 1) Lopez is a very common name in baseball with 5 current players 2) I didn't think of this a month ago when we got the guy. But you should watch the sketch and then we can start "a thing" and maybe it will be funny. Or if nothing else you'll at least share my pain. LOPEZ!

Get it? The sketch actually goes on longer, in 4 parts. Anyway, our Jose Lopez did more of what we brought him along to do and that is to hit. He's appeared twice and gotten two hits. LOPEZ!

You know who hit homers today? It was not Asdrubal or Santana. It was Kotchman and Kipnis. And you know who stole a base? Kotchman. I think Kotchman is going to be our new Casey Blake. Except good in the field. People who casually follow the Tribe will be all "Who is that guy? I like him" and we'll all nod in agreement.

Kipnis and Donald both got 2 hits tonight (as I mentioned, Kipnis homered) which is good because they always are cringe-y parts of the lineup for me. But on a day when Everybody Hits and Jack Hannahan is in the penalty box, well Everybody must include those boys.

Today's game was fun. I mean every game is fun when you're delusional like me but it was nice that our bats can now counter-act our bipolar bullpen. It was good hitting too, extra bases and stuff.

One thing we haven't mentioned but Acta has hit upon is even though the team is (was) not getting hits, we do lead the league in walks right now. So there is patience and choosiness. Now it's just a matter of properly executing a swing when the right pitch comes down the pike.

Tomorrow is 2:10 and once again on WKYC. Cool! I wonder who will get beaned? I wonder how big on an inning we can have? I hope Travis Hafner plays and I hope Brantley stays "hot"! Whatever happens I'm pretty sure it'll be another fun one. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The Giants weren't going to trade you Tim Lincecum or Matt Cain. They'd give you Barry Zito but nobody wants him."
- Tom Hamilton

"I'm sure the relief pitchers are 'Oh for the love of pete...' [...] They are walking back like Sean Penn in Dead Man Walking."
- Tom Hamilton after the bench-clearing fight in the 3rd

"Little Timmy Collins is up throwing. I say 'little' because he's little."
- Tom Hamilton

"My lord is there a full moon tonight or what?"
- Tom Hamilton

"He's in agony but... Suck it up let's go. The Royals have had plenty of drama tonight but haven't paid the price."
- Tom Hamilton

"CASEY KOTCHMAN has a stolen base for the Indians! Something you would not have bet the mortgage on."
- Tom Hamilton

"The way this game is going, expect the unexpected. It's been a wacky wacky night."
- Tom Hammilton

"[The Royals] have played shallow all night long and they have gotten burned all night long."
- Tom Hamilton

"Suddenly Kauffman Stadium sounds like a Sunday morning cathedral."
- Tom Hamilton after Choo's tie-breaking double

"Boy Jason Donald has put the drama back onto the throw from third."
- Tom Hamilton

Frozen Behind

We got some good hitting today! Most runs thus far! Hafner and Duncan went deep!

But, our starter didn't fare too well. And, surprisingly, neither did our relievers. And neither did our defense! Weird!

Before we get into the details, thought - major kudos to the 9000 fans who were out there today. There was still about an inch of snow on the ground here at game time. I can't imagine standing on concrete next to Lake Erie was any fun. So MAD PROPS TO YOU, FROZEN FANS!!!

Our starter was Masterson (yay!) but he gave up 3 earned runs in just 5 innings (boo). There were also 2 un-earned runs, all by the 5th inning (boo). At least Masterson's loss today was an effort between him and the team and not just another case of the team letting him down (yay?)

Jeanmar Gomez, who was slated to start yesterday but got snowed out, did a stint in the 7th and 8th and struck out 3 with no hits and no runs. Ascensio, who had a bad outing last time, settled in today and had a scoreless 9th so that was also nice. Not sure why we didn't see our bullpen aces (Pestano, Smith and Sipp) considering there's a day of rest between games but perhaps you just don't use those guys when the score is 10-4.

Asdrubal, Hafner, Shelley and Hannahan all had multi-hit games. Hafner with a "forget about it!" homer and a RBI-double. He also got on base but was out but it wasn't an error or something. I don't know, I couldn't follow. All I saw is that his average went down and he was safe on first. Duncan got his first homer, which surprised me. Not that he got a homer but that it was his first. Honestly I thought he had like 6 by now! Asdrubal kept it in the park but he got a double via nice heart and hustle and a dropped ball in the outfield. Hannahan got 2 singles which, so far, never happens to anyone on this team.

All those hits plus one for Kotchman...but our old nemesis was back. Team LOB. It's so nice to get 10 hits and 6 walks (yeah six!) but not if you're going to just leave all those dudes hangin'. While I love the home run (and who doesn't?) I think what I dislike more than I love the home run is the disappointment in Hamilton's voice after 2 guys get on and neither of them scores.

Amazing how unpredictable baseball is, huh? We all thought Masterson would have no problem today but he did. But we hit better than ever so we could have helped him a lot. But our been-good bullpen also faltered.

Well I guess the one predictable thing did happen - ONE guy from our bullpen had a bad time of it, and that's what did it for us, along with LOB.

Maybe this game will prove to be a turning point, though. The lineup warming up. Just need Choo and Brantley to hit their strides and we've really got a formidable bunch and Jason Kipnis. I wasn't too worried when Grady got hurt because I predicted by the time he got back Brantley would be hitting .435. I might be a little bit off if he doesn't get hot soon!

In closing - yay for Carlos Santana being signed for FIVE years! I was not a huge fan of Santana's until midway through last season when he got into his groove. This year he started good out of the gate, including behind the plate which continued to be a weak spot for him all of last season. Now he is showing a lot of progress and a lot of enthusiasm and I am really proud to have him in our uniform for the next 5 years (if it goes that way).

I wish Asdrubal got signed for 5 but I think he sees a greatness in himself that may not be suited for Cleveland. Unless he sees a greatness in Cleveland and stays here forever. I am very very glad we've got him wrapped up for 2 more years though - I would be crushed if there were any speculation on him leaving this soon.

Rest up tomorrow and let's hope that "high 78°" is an accurate forecast for Kansas City on Friday. Something needs to heat these boys up!

Have a good night off - I'll be hanging with Parliament and Kid Cudi at the Q tomorrow night. Cleveland rocks!

Radio Chatter:
"For Hafner this is a warm spring day in North Dakota, so he's out there in short sleeves."
- Tom Hamilton

"You gotta give credit to the people who showed up here today. This is miserable out here."
- Tom Hamilton

"Konerko - as it seems always against the Indians - had a big day."
- Tom Hamilton

Everybody Hits!

I'm serious! Against a team that has beaten up on us for our last 8 meetings and each one of our guys ended up getting a hit tonight. Not only just the 9 but also pinch hitter Cord Phelps. In fact if their lineup wasn't so mind-blowingly awesome right now, we would have totally had a chance to win it!


In fact, had Gomez not given up 4 runs worth of homers - victory would have been ours!

Jeanmar Gomez really got schooled tonight, which is good for a young guy to experience. Perhaps a better experience if he did not give up 8 runs in 4 2/3 but ... he did strike out 5.

Durbin finished off the 5th and gave up a 9th run, then Hagadone and Putnam got some man-work done out there and had 2 scoreless innings between them. They have fresh arms for sure but all of the new guys seem to be shaping up all right. The three relievers struck out 5 together, so that's cool.

Fukudome lead off again and he went 1 for 5. He was red hot for a minute there but has been "slumping" lately. Kipnis and Santana also went 1 for 5.

Oh yeah, even though we went through a good portion of Detroit's bullpen - as a team they struck us out 13 times. Ouch!

Thome had a hot night tonight. Yeah he did! He ended up going 2 for 3 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. Guess how many strikeouts? NONE STRIKEOUTS! And as I said above, his replacement legs Cord Phelps got himself a last-minute double and a RUN too.

Nice job, 4-hole!

Shelley Duncan had an RBI double, so now he's got 22 hits and 23 RBI in the month of September. That's in just 25 games. HOLY CRAP SHELLEY DUNCAN!

I know, right?!

He also got on base due to a fielding error AND had a sweet catch in the 6th. It pains me that it's not a highlight clip, though, because Tom Hamilton made it sound great.

Lonnie Chisenhall is workin' it some more, playing for that job no doubt. He went 2 for 5 with an RBI and a run giving him 11 hits in his last 10 games.

Jason Donald is also singing for his supper with another hit tonight, a sweet 2-run single in the 6th. Can hit in the clutch? Do it!

Zeke and Sweet Lou were also-rans tonight in the race for Everybody Hits! but dangit, they did their parts and got their hits. Lou also went the extra mile and caught a guy stealing.

Stayin' in the game, fan!

So let's see...not winning tonight means we won't end up over .500. Winning tomorrow means we'll be at .500. If we lose and Chicago wins we'll be tied for second.

A win would be really awesome tomorrow night. As it would EVERY night but especially tomorrow. Last game, a couple things at stake.

Zach McAllister, no pressure. Hahahaha....I hope we get to see Pure Rage tomorrow. And of course Joe Smith. I think they should each pitch 3 innings what do you think? Yeah!

Last game, folks. 7:05, pending the weather. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The Indians have NO...absolutely NO answer for Miguel Cabrera."
- Tom Hamilton

"Right now, Bob Feller in his heyday might have problems with this Tiger lineup the way they're hitting."
- Tom Hamilton

"That is a home run in any other park in all of baseball. American League, National League...that was 420 feet!"
- Mike Hegan on Santana's long fly out in the 4th

"Thirty-one thousand sitting back wishing tomorrow were Friday and the Tigers were at home."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Indians ought to seriously consider walking him every time. Even if the bases are loaded."
- Tom Hamilton after Miguel Cabrera's homer in the 6th