Double Headscratcher

We took the series, so that's cool. The Tribe has won 2 of their 3 series. Keep winning series and you'll be in dang good shape!

Starting pitching looked sharp these two games but...what of batting? Twelve hits in 17 innings? Grumble. I don't have very fond memories of when the Tribe previously had problems matching their batting with their pitching, where we'd lose games with tiny little scores.

But, we split the series. And we did see some good things. So let's revisit them!

- Zach McAllister did exactly what was needed and went 7.2 innings in the first game. That just gives Francona a million options for whatever the second game brings, so it was pretty big! He looked pretty tough too - he gave up 5 hits with no walks, and fanned 7. So far he's our best starter! Also good to see that our pitchers are improving with every outing - ok, even though there's only been 2 outings each.

- Trevor Bauer was hella good too. Since he's our 6th guy, numbers 1-5 are going to have to work hard to keep their jobs! He had a capital-Q Quality Start today, throwing 6 shutout innings and striking out 8. He kept up good velocity while occasionally taking off 20 MPH to throw a curveball. Yoink!

- Oh man, could our bullpen be any better right now?? They've put in a lot of work, collectively, and 5 of the guys still have an 0.00 ERA. The only ones with ERAs are Axford, Wood and Pestano. Oh...Pestano got sent down. So uh, I guess that means we have 6 guys with a 0.00 ERA, as CC Lee is here now with a clean slate. It'll be fun to watch them compete to hold on to those goose eggs!

- Kipnis goin' DEEEEEEEEEEEEP! That homer put number 22 at a .222 batting average and gives him 6 RBI over his last 4 games. Up through the first game he hadn't struck out in a while, but he didn't fare as well in the second game today. Tired boy.

- Asdrubal finally got a couple dang hits, albeit in that second game where no one else was hitting. He also got back to sharply hitting balls to where guys were playing in the field, which sounds crummy but everyone prefers that to him striking out or grounding in to a double play. Cuz one of these times he's going to hit it sharply to where some guy is playing but not paying attention!

- Ryan Raburn got 3 hits over the 2 games! One of them was a double, too. Total Goon Squad day for him. Man, he's so good...

He's so good that _____ __________ is in town to make a sports movie about him!

- New York totally got a review wrong. Here's the play and Tom Hamilton's call. This isn't a good thing that happened today but it was interesting and controversial. Also it happened in the first inning and people booed the umpire the rest of the game!

There were a lot of crummy things in the box scores today. A lot of head slappers. But since this is The Positive Tribe I won't be covering any of them. Makes my night easier!

We've got 3 coming up against the White Sox and hopefully they're the same White Sox from 2013 because we only lost 2 games to them last year. That's right - we haven't dropped a game to Chicago since April 24, 2013. We won three 4-game series against them last year too. It was just magic.

So let's hope that an extra hour of time moving over to the Central gives the Tribe plenty of time to shake the dust out of their undies and get ready to be a dominant baseball team again. The pitchers are ready - let's get them bats going!

It'll be an 8:10 game,  with Salazar facing LHP 3.86. Get ready, Chicago - we're back!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The catcher came to the mound, and the infielders said 'Hey we're lonely, we want to join the conversation.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"They won't complain about cool nights anymore at PetCo Park."
- Tom Hamilton

"I wonder what they saw in New York that we didn't see here. Maybe they don't have HD."
- Tom Hamilton, on the review in the first inning

"Seth Smith never saw a snap in football, but when Eli Manning is ahead of you, welp..."
- Tom Hamilton

Welcome, Padres!

Wow, those Padres look bad. I'm not even sure if the Tribe looked good today, cuz the Padres look bad. We more errors than they did (3) but somehow they still look worse!

The Indians have extra incentive to whack these Padres in the knees, too:

What's worse than starting the season 2-4? Going to Cleveland in April. Preview of @Padres at @Indians. #OnFriar http://t.co/AsytNRCLs8
— #NBC7 San Diego (@nbcsandiego) April 7, 2014

Well, all right, San Diego!There weren't too many stand-outs when it came to retorts, but it almost was too lame for a response.

Corey Kluber was the starter, and he had a quality start! Even though he gave up 9 hits he still struck out 8, and only gave up 3 runs. That guy's a total hardass, you know? He's totally going to work out this season, I think. And if every game he gets better then this is a perfect follow-up to his last start!

Nice work by the bullpen today, to keep the momentum going. Zep, Outman and Allen had more scoreless work. Two innings, 3 hits and 3 strikeouts between them.

Vinnie, though...omg, Vinnie. Vinneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. What is wrong?? What can we do? How can we help? Anything for you, VinnieP52!!!

Due to a bad outing by Pestano and a second error by Nick Swisher, John Axford actually came in for a save. Huh. The winning song is "Working Man" by Rush, which is a cool song but kind of lame compared to his other choices in the vote. But it's not too bad if you consider that Axford is Canadian. He got the final out to get us out of the 9th and win the game.

Today's offense was all brought to you by the top and bottom of the order. Not even Michael Brantley (.321) got a hit. NOT EVEN MICHAEL BRANTLEY!!!

Nyjer Morgan is totally locked in now. Bourn must be shakin' in his boots. Morgan went 3 for 5 today with 2 RBI. He also got around to stealing a base for the first time this season. He's batting .389! That's pretty legit...

Swisher through Cabrera didn't do much of anything, although Swish and Kipnis both got RBIs on non-hits - the Tribe scored 3 in the 3rd with no hits. They had 2 walks, an error, a force out and a sac fly.

Chisenhall is still wowing everyone by hangin' in there at .400. He only got one hit today, a single, but that's more hits than the guy making $14 million a year! (His average is twice Swisher's, too)

Yan Gomes had another error today! Wow....But, whatever - he went 2 for 3 with a walk, and his hit was a double. He actually doesn't lead the team in slugging - that stat belongs to...

David Murphy! Murphy came off Sunday's awesome 4-hit game (attributed to having a great batting practice) and went 2 for 3 today with 4 RBI! He got his first homer today, a nice 3-run shot. Apparently he's good for 10-15 a year. Wow, David Murphy - welcome!

David Murphy has two daughters and one son.

Kind of a weird game today, since the production was so lop-sided. But it was nice to hear a bunch of runs! Also nice not to be behind the whole time. Vinnie's appearance was scary, but it was good to see Kluber take charge. Also good to see that Murphy might be the real deal.

Tomorrow should be cool - two games, starting at noon. ALL DAY BASEBALL! I hope it's a lot more exciting than when I went to the doubleheader last year. The Tribe scored 1 run in 18 innings. Granted, Masterson had an awesome complete game in the first game but you really had to be a baseball fan to appreciate that day!

We've got Morgan and Murphy to look forward to. Lonnie is looking to extend a 5-game hitting streak, and Brantley is looking to re-start one of his own. We should see Gomes and Santana both behind the plate, also some Aviles and Raburn and - oh yeah - Trevor Bauer!

Starts at noon - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Can't bunt on your birthday, can you? Gotta hit it in to Pronkville!"
- Tom Hamilton's hope for Santana

"Nyjer Morgan is saying to Terry Francona 'Hey when Michael Bourn comes back, I still want to be here!'"
- Tom Hamilton

"You go from [San Diego to] Miami to Cleveland - How'd you like to pack for that trip?"
- Tom Hamilton

"Tonight, though, he actually proved human - he gave up a hit."
- Tom Hamilton on Mark Rzepczynski

"I gotta keep showing the Tribe Nation what Tony Plush can do!"
- Nyjer Morgan