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!
Showing posts with label Pirates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pirates. Show all posts
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Ten Good Things About Today's Game
Lots of sad stuff happened in today's game. Brantley's streak ended, Hagadone melted down, we lost, Johnny Damon played, Tom Hamilton wasn't there.
But we're going to have to forage ahead and think about what good happened today. Because we seriously need a pick-me-up for Cousin Michael.
1. OMG ASDRUBAL!!! He got his 6th home run today, right out of the gate in the first inning!!! It was super awesome because it was at home, and he hasn't had one since May 19, almost a month. THEN he ended up going 2 for 3 with a walk and now his average is over .300 again at .301. He's totally ready for Asdrubal Bobblehead day on Monday (the bobblehead made a video for you) and he's also ready for the All Star Game. Don't forget!
2. Kipnis went 2 for 4 and is batting .278. He also stole a base! He's tied for 5th in the league in stolen bases. Did you get your We Are All Kipnises t-shirt? I got mine and it's all washed and ready to go. I think I'll wear it Sunday and not Monday - Monday is Asdrubal day. But you can still vote for Kipnis too!
3. Casey Kotchman! He got his 5th home run today, baby! Albert Pujols has finally pulled away from him average-wise (Pujols .260, Kotchman .220) but the big man's not too far ahead homer-wise with 9. Casey's career high was 14 in 2008, and he's not really on pace for that. But he's closer to hitting 10 which is what he did in 2011 when he hit .306. Wow those stats are all awesome and totally useless. I should be in politics!
4. Lonnie Chisenhall got a hit! A hit isn't going to get you very far in a 9-2 game, but Chisenhall came in with a bang and quickly fizzled. He had a homer in his first game then 3 hits on June 1 and since then, pretty much nothing. However he's had 4 hits over his last 4 starts. So is he becoming more confident and settled? Well, hopefully 1-hit games lead to 2-hit games and we can put him in at DH when Jack is full-time (right now Jack is every-other-day) and stop this nonsense with Damon.
5. We only had 3 strikeouts today, and 5 walks. Having only 3 strikeouts isn't a huge thing but did you know we're 2nd to last in the league in strikeouts? That's one of those categories where being last is good. We're also 2nd from the top in walks (you want to be at the top). We're also near the top in the category called "Number of Pitches." They've tracked the number of pitches thrown against us in total. Apparently we make the other guys work! Carlos Santana didn't get a hit today but he got a walk and NO strikeouts so that's pretty good.
6. Joe Smith still has it. Everyone else aside from Masters of the Universe Pestano and Perez might be wishy-washy right now but he's been pretty lights-out in June. Even today going an unusually-long-for-him 1 2/3 innings he didn't give up a run and only gave up one hit. So even if the previously-amazing Hagadone had his worst game yet today, and Sipp gave up 1 in just 1/3, at least Smith was right there in between, being good.
7. Mike Hargrove was on the radio today. Tom Hamilton is at the College World Series for the weekend, so today they roped Grover in to it. Hargrove has some radio experience, in the form of Drug Mart and Our Lady of the Wayside ads. His voice is the opposite of booming, that's for sure. While a game without Hammy still falls sort of flat, Hargrove would be a welcome addition of sweet southern cool to Hammy's Midwestern School Of Booming Radio Voice and Rosie's No-Nonsense Rustbelt Matte Finish. The nice thing about Hargrove is that he's got the player experience of Hegan plus manager experience plus he's a current insider on the team (he's employed by the Indians in some capacity.) So every so often he gets pretty close to dropping super-secret info. The nice thing about having him and Rosie together is that Rosie is a pretty great news guy and he can get good info out of Grover. Plus, he's got a nickname. Anyway, I hope to hear more of Grover on the radio!
8. While reading the news about today's game, I read this piece on Chris Perez's dad, which is a nice piece for Father's Day. It reminded me that I've always wondered what Perez's dad looks like, being that Perez looks like the whitest white guy ever to come from Florida with the name Perez. I'm thinking it's the beard, tho. Anyway, there's no pic of his dad in the linked piece, but there's one from last year from the All Star Game of Chris and his dad. On an article from Perez's baseball academy's site. Perez's dad has the hair going on, and yeah he looks a lot more Latino than his son. So that answers that. I also kind of love that pic because that's two guys right there from Florida and they're pimping the Tribe and FUCK FLORIDA!! (Although they're from the Tampa area, so aren't Marlins or Heat fans but still...FUCK FLORIDA!!)
9. "Hafner to begin running next week." Wow really? He had knee surgery on May 31 and by the 4th week in June he's running? Cleveland medicine rules! They say he might be back by the end of the month but definitely back by after the break. Sounds totally cool to be. Heal up, Pronk. Then come back and bash!
10. There were 30,000 fans at today's game and near 32,000 at yesterday's game. Now of course a good chunk of them are Pirates fans (heck I am bringing 5 of my own tomorrow) but asses in the seats is asses in the seats. Sometimes cheers are cheers. Tomorrow I think it's gonna be pretty crazy, it being Kids Fun Day and Santana Jersey Day. I got a little base tan from today's Color Run (plus I am still slightly green) but I think our seats are in the shade pretty well anyway. How is that a good thing about today's game? Well I'm excited, that's how. Plus it's a rubber match...so I don't have to bring my stupid foam broom. And I can talk trash with my cousin since it'll be the deciding game as to which city has the better baseball club. Huzzah!
So there you go, 10 decent things. Do you feel better now? We'll include a smiley for Michael Brantley, because he needs it. :)
I didn't get any Radio Chatter today because I was exhausted from the Color Run. I didn't even run, but I walked. And before I walked I stood in the sun for a half hour. So I spent most of the game going in and out of consciousness and missing all of the juicy tidbits. Sorry. We'll see what I feel like doing tomorrow after the game, see if you get some Chatter or not. If I get at least 2 comments asking for it, I'll do it for sure!
Tomorrow's at 1:05, Jeanmar versus a guy who is really a reliever and can't throw too many per game. So that could be good if he's had enough this season and we catch him in a melt down. Look for me, I'll be the one in the red Kipnis t-shirt with the green elbows. See you there!
But we're going to have to forage ahead and think about what good happened today. Because we seriously need a pick-me-up for Cousin Michael.
1. OMG ASDRUBAL!!! He got his 6th home run today, right out of the gate in the first inning!!! It was super awesome because it was at home, and he hasn't had one since May 19, almost a month. THEN he ended up going 2 for 3 with a walk and now his average is over .300 again at .301. He's totally ready for Asdrubal Bobblehead day on Monday (the bobblehead made a video for you) and he's also ready for the All Star Game. Don't forget!
2. Kipnis went 2 for 4 and is batting .278. He also stole a base! He's tied for 5th in the league in stolen bases. Did you get your We Are All Kipnises t-shirt? I got mine and it's all washed and ready to go. I think I'll wear it Sunday and not Monday - Monday is Asdrubal day. But you can still vote for Kipnis too!
3. Casey Kotchman! He got his 5th home run today, baby! Albert Pujols has finally pulled away from him average-wise (Pujols .260, Kotchman .220) but the big man's not too far ahead homer-wise with 9. Casey's career high was 14 in 2008, and he's not really on pace for that. But he's closer to hitting 10 which is what he did in 2011 when he hit .306. Wow those stats are all awesome and totally useless. I should be in politics!
4. Lonnie Chisenhall got a hit! A hit isn't going to get you very far in a 9-2 game, but Chisenhall came in with a bang and quickly fizzled. He had a homer in his first game then 3 hits on June 1 and since then, pretty much nothing. However he's had 4 hits over his last 4 starts. So is he becoming more confident and settled? Well, hopefully 1-hit games lead to 2-hit games and we can put him in at DH when Jack is full-time (right now Jack is every-other-day) and stop this nonsense with Damon.
5. We only had 3 strikeouts today, and 5 walks. Having only 3 strikeouts isn't a huge thing but did you know we're 2nd to last in the league in strikeouts? That's one of those categories where being last is good. We're also 2nd from the top in walks (you want to be at the top). We're also near the top in the category called "Number of Pitches." They've tracked the number of pitches thrown against us in total. Apparently we make the other guys work! Carlos Santana didn't get a hit today but he got a walk and NO strikeouts so that's pretty good.
6. Joe Smith still has it. Everyone else aside from Masters of the Universe Pestano and Perez might be wishy-washy right now but he's been pretty lights-out in June. Even today going an unusually-long-for-him 1 2/3 innings he didn't give up a run and only gave up one hit. So even if the previously-amazing Hagadone had his worst game yet today, and Sipp gave up 1 in just 1/3, at least Smith was right there in between, being good.
7. Mike Hargrove was on the radio today. Tom Hamilton is at the College World Series for the weekend, so today they roped Grover in to it. Hargrove has some radio experience, in the form of Drug Mart and Our Lady of the Wayside ads. His voice is the opposite of booming, that's for sure. While a game without Hammy still falls sort of flat, Hargrove would be a welcome addition of sweet southern cool to Hammy's Midwestern School Of Booming Radio Voice and Rosie's No-Nonsense Rustbelt Matte Finish. The nice thing about Hargrove is that he's got the player experience of Hegan plus manager experience plus he's a current insider on the team (he's employed by the Indians in some capacity.) So every so often he gets pretty close to dropping super-secret info. The nice thing about having him and Rosie together is that Rosie is a pretty great news guy and he can get good info out of Grover. Plus, he's got a nickname. Anyway, I hope to hear more of Grover on the radio!
8. While reading the news about today's game, I read this piece on Chris Perez's dad, which is a nice piece for Father's Day. It reminded me that I've always wondered what Perez's dad looks like, being that Perez looks like the whitest white guy ever to come from Florida with the name Perez. I'm thinking it's the beard, tho. Anyway, there's no pic of his dad in the linked piece, but there's one from last year from the All Star Game of Chris and his dad. On an article from Perez's baseball academy's site. Perez's dad has the hair going on, and yeah he looks a lot more Latino than his son. So that answers that. I also kind of love that pic because that's two guys right there from Florida and they're pimping the Tribe and FUCK FLORIDA!! (Although they're from the Tampa area, so aren't Marlins or Heat fans but still...FUCK FLORIDA!!)
9. "Hafner to begin running next week." Wow really? He had knee surgery on May 31 and by the 4th week in June he's running? Cleveland medicine rules! They say he might be back by the end of the month but definitely back by after the break. Sounds totally cool to be. Heal up, Pronk. Then come back and bash!
10. There were 30,000 fans at today's game and near 32,000 at yesterday's game. Now of course a good chunk of them are Pirates fans (heck I am bringing 5 of my own tomorrow) but asses in the seats is asses in the seats. Sometimes cheers are cheers. Tomorrow I think it's gonna be pretty crazy, it being Kids Fun Day and Santana Jersey Day. I got a little base tan from today's Color Run (plus I am still slightly green) but I think our seats are in the shade pretty well anyway. How is that a good thing about today's game? Well I'm excited, that's how. Plus it's a rubber match...so I don't have to bring my stupid foam broom. And I can talk trash with my cousin since it'll be the deciding game as to which city has the better baseball club. Huzzah!
So there you go, 10 decent things. Do you feel better now? We'll include a smiley for Michael Brantley, because he needs it. :)
I didn't get any Radio Chatter today because I was exhausted from the Color Run. I didn't even run, but I walked. And before I walked I stood in the sun for a half hour. So I spent most of the game going in and out of consciousness and missing all of the juicy tidbits. Sorry. We'll see what I feel like doing tomorrow after the game, see if you get some Chatter or not. If I get at least 2 comments asking for it, I'll do it for sure!
Tomorrow's at 1:05, Jeanmar versus a guy who is really a reliever and can't throw too many per game. So that could be good if he's had enough this season and we catch him in a melt down. Look for me, I'll be the one in the red Kipnis t-shirt with the green elbows. See you there!
Friday, June 15, 2012
Brantley, Brantley, Brantley, Brantley!
DUDE!!! Michael Brantley has a 22 game hitting streak!!! How crazy was that 8th inning? Did you think he'd get to bat one last time? I was going to be CRUSHED if he didn't get up again...and it was up to *groan* Carlos Santana to get us to Brantley. And he DID it!! He patienced his way to a walk! What excitement...WHAT EXCITEMENT!!
Wooh!
How about that Justin Masterson? You heard me! How about him?! Two games in a row!! That's just a miracle for our guys right now. A 7-inning shutout for him and he actually got the win this time. He struck out 9 and only gave up 4 hits and 3 walks. Please oh please let this be how he is from now on!!
I was driving around the other day, I think listening to the beginning of a game in my car, and I was thinking "I miss Chris Perez." I don't know what brought that on. I think maybe because when you see Chris Perez you know it's a win, or it's close. Now I don't mind not seeing him because we're up by 7 but uhm...that's not who we are this year. Plus when you see Perez it means you get to see Vinnie too. We haven't seen either of them for 5 days now. What a treat to see them tonight!
Oh, they went 2 innings with 1 hit and 1 strikeout between them. No runs, natch. BALLGAME!
Neither Choo nor Cabrera got hits today, but they both got on with walks (Choo 1, Cabrera 2) and both turned them in to 1 run apiece. Asdrubal did a nice piece of running in the 3rd and legged it in from 1st on a shot to left field of all places! That's some heads-up running!
Kipnis didn't do anything tonight, bat-wise, but I am so in love with this play here. All Star Game. Time's running out, yo!
Santana was Classic Santana today, making shit happen. First it was a double in the 3rd that brought home a run. Then he threw a guy out in the 5th. And then the best thing of all (well I guess his original game-winning RBI was the best thing...) was the aforementioned walk to get Brantley his final at-bat. What a shot in the arm he was today!!!
Michael Brantley got his hit and it's so awesome I could just die. Why don't we have clever Brantley t-shirts? There's like 5 clever Cleveland t-shirt outlets around here. We can have OKCLE on short notice, we can have something about Brantley. Get on it!
Johnny Damon played in Cleveland today and he got a hit.
Casey Kotchman, being reliable! After a day of rest, he went 2 for 3. In fact he was the only guy on the team that got multiple hits! What would a game be like with Kotchman, Santana AND Marson be like? Crazy exciting, I bet!
Hey! Lonnie Chisenhall settled in a bit and went 1 for 2. They took him out for Lopez in the 7th, which is reasonable. Didn't work out but I can see it.
Wasn't it nice to NOT see a pitcher batting 9th? Good God, I hate pitchers batting...
Supermanahan! He was back starting at 3rd today! I was trepidations about his return because most guys can't just pop back in and get in to a groove and produce right off the DL. And he didn't. But the great thing is that we didn't need his bat today so he's one day closer to being the old Jack Hannahan and I can hang with that!
Tomorrow's going to be interesting. We have the new-and-improved Ubaldo versus AJ Burnett, who's having a good year but we've had a good history against him. I think if Santana has a good game and Jack gets something to drop we should be good, bat-wise. Ubaldo needs to keep his part of the deal. It's also a 4:05 game, so that's interesting.
Sorry about no Radio Chatter tonight. I missed the first half of the game due to a marching band coming through my neighborhood (seriously). Nothing great really happened in the second half. I feel bad because Hammy's going to be out in Omaha now for the College World Series so we'll be missing his chatter for a few days. But I can't stay up late and re-listen for you cuz I've got to get up early for the Color Run! If you're going, keep an eye out for me - I'll be the fat one in all white!
So don't forget - 4:05. See you there!
Wooh!
How about that Justin Masterson? You heard me! How about him?! Two games in a row!! That's just a miracle for our guys right now. A 7-inning shutout for him and he actually got the win this time. He struck out 9 and only gave up 4 hits and 3 walks. Please oh please let this be how he is from now on!!
I was driving around the other day, I think listening to the beginning of a game in my car, and I was thinking "I miss Chris Perez." I don't know what brought that on. I think maybe because when you see Chris Perez you know it's a win, or it's close. Now I don't mind not seeing him because we're up by 7 but uhm...that's not who we are this year. Plus when you see Perez it means you get to see Vinnie too. We haven't seen either of them for 5 days now. What a treat to see them tonight!
Oh, they went 2 innings with 1 hit and 1 strikeout between them. No runs, natch. BALLGAME!
Neither Choo nor Cabrera got hits today, but they both got on with walks (Choo 1, Cabrera 2) and both turned them in to 1 run apiece. Asdrubal did a nice piece of running in the 3rd and legged it in from 1st on a shot to left field of all places! That's some heads-up running!
Kipnis didn't do anything tonight, bat-wise, but I am so in love with this play here. All Star Game. Time's running out, yo!
Santana was Classic Santana today, making shit happen. First it was a double in the 3rd that brought home a run. Then he threw a guy out in the 5th. And then the best thing of all (well I guess his original game-winning RBI was the best thing...) was the aforementioned walk to get Brantley his final at-bat. What a shot in the arm he was today!!!
Michael Brantley got his hit and it's so awesome I could just die. Why don't we have clever Brantley t-shirts? There's like 5 clever Cleveland t-shirt outlets around here. We can have OKCLE on short notice, we can have something about Brantley. Get on it!
Johnny Damon played in Cleveland today and he got a hit.
Casey Kotchman, being reliable! After a day of rest, he went 2 for 3. In fact he was the only guy on the team that got multiple hits! What would a game be like with Kotchman, Santana AND Marson be like? Crazy exciting, I bet!
Hey! Lonnie Chisenhall settled in a bit and went 1 for 2. They took him out for Lopez in the 7th, which is reasonable. Didn't work out but I can see it.
Wasn't it nice to NOT see a pitcher batting 9th? Good God, I hate pitchers batting...
Supermanahan! He was back starting at 3rd today! I was trepidations about his return because most guys can't just pop back in and get in to a groove and produce right off the DL. And he didn't. But the great thing is that we didn't need his bat today so he's one day closer to being the old Jack Hannahan and I can hang with that!
Tomorrow's going to be interesting. We have the new-and-improved Ubaldo versus AJ Burnett, who's having a good year but we've had a good history against him. I think if Santana has a good game and Jack gets something to drop we should be good, bat-wise. Ubaldo needs to keep his part of the deal. It's also a 4:05 game, so that's interesting.
Sorry about no Radio Chatter tonight. I missed the first half of the game due to a marching band coming through my neighborhood (seriously). Nothing great really happened in the second half. I feel bad because Hammy's going to be out in Omaha now for the College World Series so we'll be missing his chatter for a few days. But I can't stay up late and re-listen for you cuz I've got to get up early for the Color Run! If you're going, keep an eye out for me - I'll be the fat one in all white!
So don't forget - 4:05. See you there!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
C is for Cord
Hmm, could this be a trend? Cabrera, Cabrera, Choo, Carlos, Carrera, Chris, Carrasco and now Cord? Good thing I got my representative hat:
Sounds like all those fellas belong in Cleveland!
I'm getting ahead of myself here.
Father's day! I spent most of the day watching the game with my mom. But to be fair it was because I was cooking in honor of dad. Dad did not feel the need to watch the game - he prefers to get the Good News as filtered through me. Props to Dad for molding his wife into someone who at least lets you tune the TV to the game instead of something lame.
I was also impressed that when she saw STO was showing golf crap an hour before the game mom asked "Is there a rain delay?" noting that she has noticed over the years that if there is golf on the television it is most likely due to a rain delay.
Oh! Guess what! Goddamn Masterson shaved his goddamn beard. He didn't get the W but he had his 3rd 2-run game in a row and he didn't get the loss. He no longer looks like he pitches for the hipster bar league sponsored by PBR.
Besides that good news, he struck out 5 and went 5 innings.
Then the relievers came in and they were probably planned to go one inning each and close it out, except then it rained for 2 hours and then the game went in to extra innings. So there was Chris Perez in the 9th, after nice single-inning performances by Durbin, Raffy and Pestano. We go in to 10 and one thinks "well uhm, what comes after Chris Perez anyway?" sort of like "who works that extra hour at the 24-hour convenience store during the end of Daylight Savings Time?"
Well the answer is Joe Smith and then Tony Sipp, duh. After that would have been Hermann and then perhaps your mom (actually, it could have totally been Choo.) Glad we didn't have to find out!
Our middle of the lineup was kickin' it out today. Eight hits, two walks and HBP for 4-5-6-7!
Choo was totally ON IT today. He went 3 for 5 and stole a base (and eh, got caught stealing...) His hits looked great, too. He's batting .244 which is his highest since June 3.
If you're wondering how Choo felt about the firing of John Nunnally, quoth Nick Camino (@CaminoTribe):
Also ON IT was Carlos Santana (who, if you noticed, was playing first just like we like it.) His 9th home run, his 13th double, two walks, two runs scored, one RBI, even saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp and it read "Santana's a pimp."
What's up with Choo and Santana? Do you think having Hafner at #4 just keeps all pressure off them? Does he whisper some secrets about the opposing pitcher to them after he bats? Whatever it is that's into them right now...Like!
Aaaaaanyway...also getting a double and a homer tonight was the FNG Cord Phelps, who we will start comparing to Ezequiel Carrera but just for a minute, and maybe that was only me. Phelps has been struggling at the plate, no doubt. Even though he was hitting .295 I think when we plucked him out of the minors, this is still the big leagues. But he got his first double so that was cool.
Then he was up in the 11th and there were 2 men on. Santana had been walked to get to Phelps (followed by Marson - wouldn't you?) So there's a RISP in the form of Choo and we're running out of pitchers and it's been almost 5.5 hours since we started an it's muggy and hot and CAN'T WE JUST SWEEP THE PIRATES ALREADY?! Cuz I brought my broom, dammit!
If Tom Hamilton was calling today's game, which he wasn't, I don't know if he would have trotted out the old "Can the Indians re-create that same magic here at Progressive Field?" from the last few times we had a close-at-the-end situation. If you recall the Indians were all about wins at the last-at-bat and walkoff wins earlier in the season. Hammy has tried to evoke those sorts of wins lately but nothing comes of them. Would he have done it again, probably the third time in the past week or so?
It would have been epic to hear what might have happened between Hammy and Cord Phelp's bat tonight. But I will take the win and the sweep over the lack of epic radio call. I will concede to the television call.
Oh, yeah, this would have also been cool to hear Hammy call. Oh hai. I am in ur infieldz, vacuuming up ur baseballz wit mah bare hands. This may be the play of the year, I dunno. I don't know if it's better than his behind-the-back flip or what. I don't care. People will still call him "ass-dribble" and vote for Derek Jeter. Gah. But you know where it's at, right?
Wow, check out this awesome Asdrubal 2011 highlight reel that MLB just put up. It randomly showed up in my browser. I watched it twice.
I didn't really want to be a scoreboard watcher after we dipped down into 2nd place, but...the Tigers lost 2 our of 3 against the Rockies so now we're a whole game ahead of them, alone in first place. Now we get to play the Rockies.
Three more days of Hafner until we're in Other Timezone and Other League Hell, so be sure to tune in faithfully. Speaking of faithfully, I guess this weekend was our first 100,000+ fan weekend since September 2008! So, good job, Cleveland! I'm glad you're all done crying over basketball enough to come watch some awesome baseball.
I didn't catch any radio tonight but there was some good stuff on Twitter with regards to Phelps, Cabrera and even Perez, so I'll totally steal all that right now and present it to you. Enjoy!
Sounds like all those fellas belong in Cleveland!
I'm getting ahead of myself here.
Father's day! I spent most of the day watching the game with my mom. But to be fair it was because I was cooking in honor of dad. Dad did not feel the need to watch the game - he prefers to get the Good News as filtered through me. Props to Dad for molding his wife into someone who at least lets you tune the TV to the game instead of something lame.
I was also impressed that when she saw STO was showing golf crap an hour before the game mom asked "Is there a rain delay?" noting that she has noticed over the years that if there is golf on the television it is most likely due to a rain delay.
Oh! Guess what! Goddamn Masterson shaved his goddamn beard. He didn't get the W but he had his 3rd 2-run game in a row and he didn't get the loss. He no longer looks like he pitches for the hipster bar league sponsored by PBR.
Besides that good news, he struck out 5 and went 5 innings.
Then the relievers came in and they were probably planned to go one inning each and close it out, except then it rained for 2 hours and then the game went in to extra innings. So there was Chris Perez in the 9th, after nice single-inning performances by Durbin, Raffy and Pestano. We go in to 10 and one thinks "well uhm, what comes after Chris Perez anyway?" sort of like "who works that extra hour at the 24-hour convenience store during the end of Daylight Savings Time?"
Well the answer is Joe Smith and then Tony Sipp, duh. After that would have been Hermann and then perhaps your mom (actually, it could have totally been Choo.) Glad we didn't have to find out!
Our middle of the lineup was kickin' it out today. Eight hits, two walks and HBP for 4-5-6-7!
Choo was totally ON IT today. He went 3 for 5 and stole a base (and eh, got caught stealing...) His hits looked great, too. He's batting .244 which is his highest since June 3.
If you're wondering how Choo felt about the firing of John Nunnally, quoth Nick Camino (@CaminoTribe):
Shin-Soo Choo told reporters: "We're still in first place. Why is he fired? I am very disappointed because he helped me a lot."
Also ON IT was Carlos Santana (who, if you noticed, was playing first just like we like it.) His 9th home run, his 13th double, two walks, two runs scored, one RBI, even saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp and it read "Santana's a pimp."
What's up with Choo and Santana? Do you think having Hafner at #4 just keeps all pressure off them? Does he whisper some secrets about the opposing pitcher to them after he bats? Whatever it is that's into them right now...Like!
Aaaaaanyway...also getting a double and a homer tonight was the FNG Cord Phelps, who we will start comparing to Ezequiel Carrera but just for a minute, and maybe that was only me. Phelps has been struggling at the plate, no doubt. Even though he was hitting .295 I think when we plucked him out of the minors, this is still the big leagues. But he got his first double so that was cool.
Then he was up in the 11th and there were 2 men on. Santana had been walked to get to Phelps (followed by Marson - wouldn't you?) So there's a RISP in the form of Choo and we're running out of pitchers and it's been almost 5.5 hours since we started an it's muggy and hot and CAN'T WE JUST SWEEP THE PIRATES ALREADY?! Cuz I brought my broom, dammit!
If Tom Hamilton was calling today's game, which he wasn't, I don't know if he would have trotted out the old "Can the Indians re-create that same magic here at Progressive Field?" from the last few times we had a close-at-the-end situation. If you recall the Indians were all about wins at the last-at-bat and walkoff wins earlier in the season. Hammy has tried to evoke those sorts of wins lately but nothing comes of them. Would he have done it again, probably the third time in the past week or so?
It would have been epic to hear what might have happened between Hammy and Cord Phelp's bat tonight. But I will take the win and the sweep over the lack of epic radio call. I will concede to the television call.
Oh, yeah, this would have also been cool to hear Hammy call. Oh hai. I am in ur infieldz, vacuuming up ur baseballz wit mah bare hands. This may be the play of the year, I dunno. I don't know if it's better than his behind-the-back flip or what. I don't care. People will still call him "ass-dribble" and vote for Derek Jeter. Gah. But you know where it's at, right?
Wow, check out this awesome Asdrubal 2011 highlight reel that MLB just put up. It randomly showed up in my browser. I watched it twice.
I didn't really want to be a scoreboard watcher after we dipped down into 2nd place, but...the Tigers lost 2 our of 3 against the Rockies so now we're a whole game ahead of them, alone in first place. Now we get to play the Rockies.
Three more days of Hafner until we're in Other Timezone and Other League Hell, so be sure to tune in faithfully. Speaking of faithfully, I guess this weekend was our first 100,000+ fan weekend since September 2008! So, good job, Cleveland! I'm glad you're all done crying over basketball enough to come watch some awesome baseball.
I didn't catch any radio tonight but there was some good stuff on Twitter with regards to Phelps, Cabrera and even Perez, so I'll totally steal all that right now and present it to you. Enjoy!
Twitter Patter:
"The more Phelps does things like that, the more likely he gets a multiyear deal and my dream of an 'Extension Cord' headline comes true."
- @castrovince (Anthony Castrovince)
"Cord Phelps .. Absolutely awesome!!! Cbus fans know him well! Way to go buddy! #Indians #neveradoubt"
- @JLEWFifty (Jensen Lewis)
"Pestano, joking about Asdrubal's web gem: 'You know they don't give out gold hand awards. They're called Gold Gloves.'"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
"Last Indian who’s first career homer was a walk-off was Ben Francisco on 6/29/2007 vs Tampa Bay"
- @tribeinsider (Cleveland Indians)
"Talk about a team effort and a guy finally getting rewarded for putting together great at bats all day, grats to Cord great moment for him"
- @VinnieP52 (Vinnie Pestano)
"Santana, on Asdrubal's gem: 'I wasn't surprised. For me, that's just normal for him.'"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
"Masterson, on Asdrubal's play: 'Everyone was going crazy. We reminded him that he did have a glove. That's incredible.'"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
"Smith also on mound for Asdrubal's barehand, behind-the-back flip in Chicago. Said Smith: 'He came in and said, 'I looove when you pitch.''"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
"Indians manager Manny Acta, on Asdrubal's gem: 'Oh my God. Half of the dugout was yelling, 'Best play ever! [...] Some guys were like, 'Slow down. We've some other ones. Ozzie Smith and all that.' It was unbelievable.'"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
"Any congratulatory tweets for Phelps let me know I will pass them on, and no he did not have choc milk in cinnamon toast crunch today."
- @VinnieP52 (Vinnie Pestano)
"In case you didn't know @ChrisPerez54 purposely loads the bases from time to time just so he can crush other teams souls. #LetTheRageBegin"
- @ClevStrikesBack (ClevelandStrikesBack)
"Wow. Nice catch. Plays were on 5/19 & 6/19. Smith on mound for both. RT @wellthatsdumb: Cant wait see what he'll do next month on the 19th"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
"The more Phelps does things like that, the more likely he gets a multiyear deal and my dream of an 'Extension Cord' headline comes true."
- @castrovince (Anthony Castrovince)
"Cord Phelps .. Absolutely awesome!!! Cbus fans know him well! Way to go buddy! #Indians #neveradoubt"
- @JLEWFifty (Jensen Lewis)
"Pestano, joking about Asdrubal's web gem: 'You know they don't give out gold hand awards. They're called Gold Gloves.'"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
"Last Indian who’s first career homer was a walk-off was Ben Francisco on 6/29/2007 vs Tampa Bay"
- @tribeinsider (Cleveland Indians)
"Talk about a team effort and a guy finally getting rewarded for putting together great at bats all day, grats to Cord great moment for him"
- @VinnieP52 (Vinnie Pestano)
"Santana, on Asdrubal's gem: 'I wasn't surprised. For me, that's just normal for him.'"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
"Masterson, on Asdrubal's play: 'Everyone was going crazy. We reminded him that he did have a glove. That's incredible.'"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
"Smith also on mound for Asdrubal's barehand, behind-the-back flip in Chicago. Said Smith: 'He came in and said, 'I looove when you pitch.''"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
"Indians manager Manny Acta, on Asdrubal's gem: 'Oh my God. Half of the dugout was yelling, 'Best play ever! [...] Some guys were like, 'Slow down. We've some other ones. Ozzie Smith and all that.' It was unbelievable.'"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
"Any congratulatory tweets for Phelps let me know I will pass them on, and no he did not have choc milk in cinnamon toast crunch today."
- @VinnieP52 (Vinnie Pestano)
"In case you didn't know @ChrisPerez54 purposely loads the bases from time to time just so he can crush other teams souls. #LetTheRageBegin"
- @ClevStrikesBack (ClevelandStrikesBack)
"Wow. Nice catch. Plays were on 5/19 & 6/19. Smith on mound for both. RT @wellthatsdumb: Cant wait see what he'll do next month on the 19th"
- @MLBastian (Jordan Bastian)
 | |
| Getty Images |
Saturday, June 18, 2011
C is for Cookie
Carlos "Cookie" Carrasco is on FIRE lately! Only gave up 1 run in his last 3 starts (tonight). He crept up on a no-no into the 6th inning, with only one walk. Until he gave up a hit in the 6th, he had pitched 21.1 scoreless innings in a row. I don't know what's gotten into this kid (he's 24) but DAMN! Anyone picking him up for fantasy? He's 6-1 over his last 7.
In case you were wondering who Carlos Carrasco is, let me introduce you:
Awesome relief pitching, as usual. Joe Smith is still rockin' the under-2.0 ERA (1.29). Our man Sipp! gets his second closing opportunity in as many nights, again giving up none. Both guys struck out 2!
Hafner didn't play tonight, and Grady was at DH. But we still looked fine without Pronk, which is great. Means he's not carrying us yet making us stronger.
Grady rocked out tonight with a double and a triple. The triple was due to some great baserunning on a looked-like-a-homer ball. If Manny RamÃrez had hit a ball like that he may have been thrown out at first.
Asdrubal, gettin on base, stealin' bases, scoring runs, batting .301.
CHOOOOO 1 for 2, with 2 walks. Walking a lot lately which means that he's really focused at the plate. He had 10 walks and 28 strikeouts in May, but with June more than halfway over he's already got 7 walks and only 12 strikeouts. Tonight he went the other way for his hit, got an RBI and got his 10th stolen base as well. Nice stuff!
Carlos Santana did not get a hit tonight BUT...he got a sac fly for an RBI. He hasn't had one of those since May. Brantley also got himself a SF-RBI.
Orlando Cabrera is making a case for himself. He did sort of miss a ball to give the Pirates their first hit in the 6th, but then he came back and hit his 3rd homer of the year. Hrm.
Austin Kearns is doing better in an occasional role. He had a hard time getting started off the bench, but he's hit in 3 out of his 5 games here in June. Tonight he went 2 for 4 and scored a run.
Sweet Lou Marson was behind the plate again tonight, which my friend C agrees with me is the right place for him. Now that LaPorta is out for a bit (owie in the ankle with video *shudder*) we should see more Carlos at first. And we get Buck back too. Man I hate to lose LaPorta but I do like those players in those places...but, speedy recovery to Matt - he wasn't having too bad of a month.
Great great team effort again tonight, just like we've gotten used to. Solid starting pitching, shutout relief, small ball offense.
Hafner's back in tomorrow night. I'm excited to see the lineup! I might watch the game on tv with my dad if that's ok with everyone. No Radio Chatter, then. But that's ok as it's a little tiring this weekend without Tom Hamilton.
It's a 1:05 game tomorrow, bring your broom! Heck I might bring my broom to my dad's, just cuz I paid for it and stuff.
See you then!
In case you were wondering who Carlos Carrasco is, let me introduce you:
 |
| MLB.com |
Awesome relief pitching, as usual. Joe Smith is still rockin' the under-2.0 ERA (1.29). Our man Sipp! gets his second closing opportunity in as many nights, again giving up none. Both guys struck out 2!
Hafner didn't play tonight, and Grady was at DH. But we still looked fine without Pronk, which is great. Means he's not carrying us yet making us stronger.
Grady rocked out tonight with a double and a triple. The triple was due to some great baserunning on a looked-like-a-homer ball. If Manny RamÃrez had hit a ball like that he may have been thrown out at first.
Asdrubal, gettin on base, stealin' bases, scoring runs, batting .301.
CHOOOOO 1 for 2, with 2 walks. Walking a lot lately which means that he's really focused at the plate. He had 10 walks and 28 strikeouts in May, but with June more than halfway over he's already got 7 walks and only 12 strikeouts. Tonight he went the other way for his hit, got an RBI and got his 10th stolen base as well. Nice stuff!
Carlos Santana did not get a hit tonight BUT...he got a sac fly for an RBI. He hasn't had one of those since May. Brantley also got himself a SF-RBI.
Orlando Cabrera is making a case for himself. He did sort of miss a ball to give the Pirates their first hit in the 6th, but then he came back and hit his 3rd homer of the year. Hrm.
Austin Kearns is doing better in an occasional role. He had a hard time getting started off the bench, but he's hit in 3 out of his 5 games here in June. Tonight he went 2 for 4 and scored a run.
Sweet Lou Marson was behind the plate again tonight, which my friend C agrees with me is the right place for him. Now that LaPorta is out for a bit (owie in the ankle with video *shudder*) we should see more Carlos at first. And we get Buck back too. Man I hate to lose LaPorta but I do like those players in those places...but, speedy recovery to Matt - he wasn't having too bad of a month.
Great great team effort again tonight, just like we've gotten used to. Solid starting pitching, shutout relief, small ball offense.
Hafner's back in tomorrow night. I'm excited to see the lineup! I might watch the game on tv with my dad if that's ok with everyone. No Radio Chatter, then. But that's ok as it's a little tiring this weekend without Tom Hamilton.
It's a 1:05 game tomorrow, bring your broom! Heck I might bring my broom to my dad's, just cuz I paid for it and stuff.
See you then!
Radio Chatter:
"The final count was over 60,000 dogs last night. [...] Sales of antacid in the Cleveland area were high today."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Friday's Dollar Dog Night
"Hammy is our big toe."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Tom Hamilton's absence
"Nobody can hit that breaking ball, Mike."
"Not just this ball club, nobody period."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Mike Hegan on Carrasco's breaking ball
"How many hitters would have watched it and not gotten to 3rd base?"
- Jim Rosenhaus on Grady's home-run-turned-triple
"The final count was over 60,000 dogs last night. [...] Sales of antacid in the Cleveland area were high today."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Friday's Dollar Dog Night
"Hammy is our big toe."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Tom Hamilton's absence
"Nobody can hit that breaking ball, Mike."
"Not just this ball club, nobody period."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Mike Hegan on Carrasco's breaking ball
"How many hitters would have watched it and not gotten to 3rd base?"
- Jim Rosenhaus on Grady's home-run-turned-triple
Friday, June 17, 2011
When Pronk is Pronky...
And Santana is Supernatural, and Asdrubal is Drooby, and Choo is Choosy, and Grady is Speedy and our pitchers are on their games...well that is 2011 Indians Baseball and that is what we had tonight.
It probably also helps when 38,548 fans + Carlos Baerga are in the stands.
Josh Tomlin has given up 6 runs in each of his last 3 starts. Tonight? One. It was a legit run, after a double. No errors, no homers. Followed up with an inning-ending double play. He went 6.2 innings and struck out 5. Those are the stats he was throwing up all through April and May, before those last 3 starts. You like?
Pestano comes in to face 4, strikes out 2 and grounds out 2. Our man Sipp shows up in the 9th (no Rage?) and faces 3... "And that's your ballgame, folks!" says Jim Rosenhaus, who is filling in for the vacationing Tom Hamilton.
But, we weren't worried about our #BullpenMafia.
We HAVE been worried about Carlos Santana, who got bumped down to 8th tonight. Perhaps the presence of some other big-hitting occasional first-baseman lit a fire under his ass or something, because he got a solo homer. And then a single and another single, that time for an RBI.
That other big-hitting occasional first-baseman I mentioned is Travis Hafner who was batting DH in the 4-spot today for the first time in a month. His first 2 at-bats were ground outs. Sigh. Then a walk. Whee? Then there was this in the 8th which was awesome and looked like a home run, if nothing else his swing was classic Pronk so you should totally watch it.That scored one, then Cord Phelps showed up to pinch run, and he scored so that was just awesome.
I will not fail to mention Asdrubal, who got a double early on, then got a single in that awesome 8th and came around to score.
Choo walked twice - nice! And had an assist at 2nd, which is his 10th assist this season (14 last season) and he's 2 ahead of all other outfielders right now.
Grady looked good walking in the 1-spot, and even better out in centerfield. I hear he made a great Grady-ish catch in the 9th but MLB.com doesn't feel it clip-worthy, so I'll just have to take Rosenhaus's word for it. (Update: They posted a clip as I was finishing up writing. It WAS a great catch!)
Hannahan switch from 3rd to 1st after LaPorta got hurt (sprained ankle, no break, so far so good) and he did all right there. Not sure why they didn't bring in Sweet Lou and put Santana at 1st...but I'm sure Manny knows.
So we seemed to have all of our pieces and parts tonight. Pitching, batting, fielding, Baerga. Is this all due to Pronk's return? I guess I don't care what it's due to. LOVE IT! So nice to see the huge crowd there, which I hope is duplicated all weekend.
Oh yeah and beating Pittsburgh? Priceless (to which Pittsburghians say "Youns still follow baseball?")
Tomorrow night is our new favorite starter, Carlos "Cookie" Carrasco against a guy who's "record continues to be deceiving because of a lack of run support and blown saves." Hmm...so, we can pitch like that. Can we beat that?
See you then!
It probably also helps when 38,548 fans + Carlos Baerga are in the stands.
Josh Tomlin has given up 6 runs in each of his last 3 starts. Tonight? One. It was a legit run, after a double. No errors, no homers. Followed up with an inning-ending double play. He went 6.2 innings and struck out 5. Those are the stats he was throwing up all through April and May, before those last 3 starts. You like?
Pestano comes in to face 4, strikes out 2 and grounds out 2. Our man Sipp shows up in the 9th (no Rage?) and faces 3... "And that's your ballgame, folks!" says Jim Rosenhaus, who is filling in for the vacationing Tom Hamilton.
But, we weren't worried about our #BullpenMafia.
We HAVE been worried about Carlos Santana, who got bumped down to 8th tonight. Perhaps the presence of some other big-hitting occasional first-baseman lit a fire under his ass or something, because he got a solo homer. And then a single and another single, that time for an RBI.
That other big-hitting occasional first-baseman I mentioned is Travis Hafner who was batting DH in the 4-spot today for the first time in a month. His first 2 at-bats were ground outs. Sigh. Then a walk. Whee? Then there was this in the 8th which was awesome and looked like a home run, if nothing else his swing was classic Pronk so you should totally watch it.That scored one, then Cord Phelps showed up to pinch run, and he scored so that was just awesome.
I will not fail to mention Asdrubal, who got a double early on, then got a single in that awesome 8th and came around to score.
Choo walked twice - nice! And had an assist at 2nd, which is his 10th assist this season (14 last season) and he's 2 ahead of all other outfielders right now.
Grady looked good walking in the 1-spot, and even better out in centerfield. I hear he made a great Grady-ish catch in the 9th but MLB.com doesn't feel it clip-worthy, so I'll just have to take Rosenhaus's word for it. (Update: They posted a clip as I was finishing up writing. It WAS a great catch!)
Hannahan switch from 3rd to 1st after LaPorta got hurt (sprained ankle, no break, so far so good) and he did all right there. Not sure why they didn't bring in Sweet Lou and put Santana at 1st...but I'm sure Manny knows.
So we seemed to have all of our pieces and parts tonight. Pitching, batting, fielding, Baerga. Is this all due to Pronk's return? I guess I don't care what it's due to. LOVE IT! So nice to see the huge crowd there, which I hope is duplicated all weekend.
Oh yeah and beating Pittsburgh? Priceless (to which Pittsburghians say "Youns still follow baseball?")
Tomorrow night is our new favorite starter, Carlos "Cookie" Carrasco against a guy who's "record continues to be deceiving because of a lack of run support and blown saves." Hmm...so, we can pitch like that. Can we beat that?
See you then!
Radio Chatter:
"The Indians as a team hitting .500 with the bases loaded."
- Jim Rosenhaus
"I called it the Yake. Yacobs field, that's how I remember it."
- Carlos Baerga
"He has my name so that is why he had to hit a home run today."
- Carlos Baerga on Carlos Santana's home run
"Michael Brantley...stay with it! He's hitting it as hard as he can but has nothing to show for it so far."
- Jim Rosenhaus
"I used to have to write in 'Mike Hegan' 300 times each season."
"I got 301 votes. Three-hundred from you and one from my wife."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Mike Hegan on All-Star voting
"Wood putting the drama back in to the intentional walk."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Tim Wood's sort of wild intentional balls
"All the ingredients that made this team so successful earlier in the season were on display tonight."
- Jim Rosenhaus
"The Indians as a team hitting .500 with the bases loaded."
- Jim Rosenhaus
"I called it the Yake. Yacobs field, that's how I remember it."
- Carlos Baerga
"He has my name so that is why he had to hit a home run today."
- Carlos Baerga on Carlos Santana's home run
"Michael Brantley...stay with it! He's hitting it as hard as he can but has nothing to show for it so far."
- Jim Rosenhaus
"I used to have to write in 'Mike Hegan' 300 times each season."
"I got 301 votes. Three-hundred from you and one from my wife."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Mike Hegan on All-Star voting
"Wood putting the drama back in to the intentional walk."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Tim Wood's sort of wild intentional balls
"All the ingredients that made this team so successful earlier in the season were on display tonight."
- Jim Rosenhaus
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