Domestic Bliss

Our first win at home this year! It came sort of non-descript on a Wednesday noon game, but whatever. People missed work ("I wouldn't say I've been *missing* it, Bob.") to see this game so it's pretty great that they got their money's worth!

Trevor Bauer was going all Feller today, extending his no-hit streak to 9 innings between his last game and this one. The first inning he threw 10 pitches! It wasn't until the 4th that a Sox got a hit. Bauer ended up going 6 strong innings (103 pitches) with just 4 hits, 2 earned runs and 8 strikeouts! Bauer leads the league in strikeouts right now with 19. Scott Kazmir is second!! Corey Kluber is knocking on the door in third, though.

The bullpen was golf-clap lovely today.

Atchison, Zep, Shaw and Allen finished the last 3 innings with no runs given up and only 2 hits between all of them. Ok, Shaw left a little to be desired and Allen almost let some slip but the golf clap is for NO RUNS!

This is how games should go: Quality start, no-run relief, and 5+ runs to get us both a win and 50% off Papa John's.

Our right-handed lineup is starting to tingle a little bit, overcoming the message that they might be the b-team but the rest of baseball is going to force them in to a-level hitting by throwing lefties at us all the time!

Sands is still on fire, with another 2 hits today! He's gotten 7 hits in his first 4 games as an Indian - with no games left un-hit! His average is .412. How long can he keep it up??

Chisenhall had his best game of the season so far, going 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI. I do believe he's batting 1.000 in his career against John Danks!

People are starting to hush their mouths about Ryan Raburn, who is getting back in to Goon Squad form - he's got a 3-game hit streak going with 4 hits in those games. No RBI for him today but he did come in to score!

It's weird how Carlos Santana is still batting under .300. He's got 8 hits and 7 walks in his 7 games. He's also been robbed of a few great hits, including today! But then he turned around and robbed Abreau right back. Looking good at first!

Speaking of first base, Bourn got a bunt single today. Nice to see him try that out and have it work! That could work for one hit per game for him if he needs it. Nice to see him being aggressive!

We're still missing Brantley and Gomes, and some guys who could be better bats aren't cutting it (Ramirez, Perez) but if they all keep chipping away at pitchers they can add up some runs as a team. Chicago is a good team to practice on and even better will be Minnesota!

No game tomorrow (Thurs) which sucks. We just had a day off! Friday will be a real treat in Minnesota with Kluber going against a RHP with a 7.36 ERA. Looking good for the good guys! It'll be an 8:10 game so bring your pillow. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"I'm not even gonna say what the official score is because nobody up here can believe it anyway."
- Tom Hamilton after an er- no, a base hit.

"Santana says to Abreau 'You rob me, I rob you!'"
- Tom Hamilton

"Finding a competent official scorekeeper in Cleveland must be like searching for a dinosaur."
- Tom Hamilton

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