He's Gone

Well, Asdrubal's gone. He got traded to the Nationals for an infielder named Zach Walters.

Asdrubal Cabrera sitting outside #Indians clubhouse after being traded to #Nationals. #MLB pic.twitter.com/SrwFVgpjmL
— Brian Dulik (@BrianDulik) July 31, 2014

I was upset with the loss of Masterson, as a Tribe fan. As the self-proclaimed #1 fan of Asdrubal, I'm pretty crushed.

But, my Tribe-fan-ness overcomes my Asdrubal-fan-ness and realizes that while he was full of the razzle-dazzle early on, he was streaky. And this year he was downright frustrating. In fact, he was bad. Even when he wasn't hitting, I still loved him as a SS. But 14 errors this year at SS and a lot of bad hitting?

Let me put it this way...I am most saddened by the circumstances that led to this being the reality. I wish Asdrubal well - I hope he finds his spark again and amazes a new set of fans.

Officially retired.

So after Asdrubal was traded away, there was a baseball game.

Zach McAllister was the starter. He's still not really that great. Pretty lucky that Kluber went the whole way last night because ZMac only managed 3 1/3 innings today and to try to win this series, Tito threw 6 more guys out there after him.

McAllister gave up 4 runs in his 3 1/3 innings and struck out none. Geez! Everyone but Carrasco and Allen showed up after that, and everyone did well with strikeouts here and there a couple hits. Until we were tied, and Bryan Shaw gave up a walk then a homer. What?? Does Bryan Shaw do that??

I guess he does now.

The offense made up one run, and got a hit in the 9th that looked promising...but it didn't happen.

It was nice to see the team batting and scoring behind their struggling starter, though! You don't HAVE to have 5 perfect starters if your offense can overcome any crap with runs. They almost did today but it just wasn't enough.

Kipnis had a rare great night tonight! He went 2 for 5 with a double and a 2-run homer! Cool! Kid has not been "on it" at all lately. Maybe this is a turn-around?

Jose Ramirez is taking over at short and in the 2nd spot in the order. He's definitely fast, that's for sure. Although he could steal on occasion, Asdrubal was never known for his speed. In the 7th inning, he got a single then scampered to 2nd on a passed ball. Then his speed let him score from second on a single by Santana. It'll be interesting to see what kind of difference his speed makes!

After being silenced this series so far, Michael Brantley (.316) had a nice night, going 2 for 3 with 2 hits and 2 walks. I'd say "of course he got a double" but in fact he got a triple! And an RBI, of course. Start of a new streak, we hope?

And, holy hot Carlos Santana! Before tonight he'd only gotten 1 hit in the series, then tonight he got 2 hits and 2 RBI! And what's kinda cool is that he didn't get any extra bases, and one of his RBI was a sac fly. Shows he's well-rounded, right?

Ugh, Lonnie Chisenhall. We are all waiting for your return, son. We're here.

After a pretty crummy June where he hit only .185, David Murphy is back "for sure" finishing off July with .280 worth of hitting under his belt. Tonight he went 2 for 4, but unfortunately had no one to hit in and no one to hit him in. Bummer!

Gomes cooled off a smidge and only went 1 for 4 himself. Dickerson left the game at some point, after a crazy throw. I don't remember the official line on his injury but dang - it is getting lethal out there in the Tribe outfield!

Good thing we have Aviles, who can and will play anywhere. He went 0 for 3 with a walk and a run scored. Because he's always in on things!

Crummy kind of game today. I was glad to see at least a couple Twerps sad to see Cabby go and hoping the team would win one for him. Didn't happen, though. It was a good start, but they just couldn't pull it out this time.

Tomorrow is Tom Hamilton's 25th anniversary celebration! Not sure if I'll be able to catch any of that. Well maybe they'll throw it up on line at some point.

The Tribe will be hosting the Rangers at 7:05. It'll be Salazar versus a RHP so new that his ERA is 1.50. The Mighty Rangers are awful this year, by the way. They are just under .400. They are worse than the Astros, who are just over .400.

So, maybe we can have a fun blowout win on Tom Hamilton day. See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"If he's in long relief for the post season, Kate Upton will dump him like yesterday's garbage."
- Tom Hamilton on Kate Upton

New Day For Tribe Pitching

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

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

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

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

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

So long and thanks for all the fish!

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

He did it. He totally did it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THIS Is What You Do With 11 Hits

Ok, actually 13 hits but I'm pretty sure we had it won by 11 hits, unlike last night where we got 11 hits and no win to show for it. All right - today we had it won after THREE hits but the Mariners are a team chasing a win streak so we had to get 10 more hits and 7 more runs to make sure it stuck.

Turns out that Scott Kazmir was totally on top of his game today and the Mariners weren't going anywhere near a 9-game win streak. One hit, two walks and 7 strike outs for the Mariners against Kazmir in 8 innings. Holy smokes!!! That is Masterson-level awesomeness right there! So he's given up 3 hits and 0 runs in his last 14 innings (two starts). If it wasn't for the two errors behind him, perhaps he would have been able to go through to the 9th and have a complete game. As it were, he was out after 103 pitches.

Vinnie Pestano needed some work and he got plenty of work throwing 29 pitches. I was astonished that he didn't give up any runs, even though he had 9 runs to play with! He did get the bases loaded by walking two after a single. How many people were thinking "Well, we came back from 14-2 one time so...."? I knew you were!

But, Vinnie took care of it and all was well in Tribetown.

I don't get to put up an Everybody Hits badge because - can  you believe it? - Jason Kipnis didn't get a hit! 

Michael Bourn, however, he got himself the biggest of the hits. A Grand Slam Home Run! (capitalized!) I bet it even surprised him, like Jason Giambi stealing third or something. Seems like a day off sure did that cat some good, as he went 2 for 4 today with a walk and ended up with 4 RBI.

Also racking up the RBI was Asdrubal. OMG!!!! He got his 8th homer today, a 2-run dinger. That's his second homer this month! He's got 4 hits in his last 2 games (he also had an RBI double in the first inning) - does he like being the cleanup hitter? That'd be pretty spectacular if he ended the year as our go-to guy for the 4th spot, racking up the RBIs and stuff.

Santana had a touch of hotness today, after not doing much of anything after a little hot streak in the beginning of July. Streak much, dude? Gotta love him, though. Check out this neat article about him in TribeVibe. He's got sisters so that's why his hair is so pretty!

Aviles was in left field today because, eh, why not? He did just fine. No errors so he's doing better than a lot of the rest of the team. Heyoo! Him and Reynolds bot got in to the hit game today with 1 apiece. Let's hope Reynolds hitting in 2 games is the start of something bigger.

So I read on Twitter (Paul Hoynes) that Terry Francona said Yan Gomes was going to be our everyday catcher. I am all for that, man. I know Santana worked hard to become a catcher but you can't let a gem like Gomes sit and waste away. There's nobody special at 1st or DH right now so let Santana bat every day and backup catch and let's see more YANIMAL!!!

Gomes went 2 for 4 today with a double and a run scored. He's 4 for 8 in his last 2 games, and has 11 hits in his last 10 games. He is really not getting nearly enough playing time - those 10 games stretch from 6/26 to 7/24.

Stubbs got a hit and a walk today, and managed to make his way home safely this time. He's also safely back at .240 after his brush with something better, in .250-land. But before you try to knock our Stubbs, note that he's 28 points higher than Reynolds and exactly the same as Swisher. Uh huh.

The whole lineup really made it count today, and it was ROTFL funny because all they needed this time was one stinkin' run. But oh well - at least we not only stopped the Mariners' run but STOMPED them on our way out the door!

Thursday is an off day and they're back in town Friday to take on the Rangers. Let's hope all our starters are totally inspired by Scott Kazmir and his recent awesomeness, and really hold those Rangers down. And maybe hold our bullpen down too. Let's see those bats stay hot!

Friday at 7:05 it'll be Kluber versus LHP 3.40. Kluber is super hot right now too, so let's hope he stays that way. I guess he had some sort of minor hip injury after his last start but he's all better now.

Have a good day off! See you Friday! And Tom Hamilton, too!

The One That Got Away

I don't know how this one got away from us today. We got 11 hits for Pete's sake! Almost everyone got a hit except Santana.

Zach McAllister technically looked good, but he had to throw so many pitches. Mostly because the team had 3 errors behind him so ZMac had to throw three extra outs. He ended up giving up 4 runs on 8 hits over 5 innings. He did strike out 5, though...but he threw 109 pitches which I'm sure was making the entire staff cringe. I think if he has better defense in his next game he'll do just fine.

Albers and Allen came in for the next 3 innings (2 for Albers) and actually did well. Albers had a 1-2-3 6th and then gave up a hit in the 7th, only to follow it up with a double play. Cody Allen, who is really looking tight lately, had a 1-2-3 9th.

Still, it wasn't enough. Frustrating as heck!

Kipnis had a double in the first, and Asdrubal followed up with an RBI single. In the second, the Chiz Kid got on with a single and then Yanimal ripped a homer to left. Awesome! His first homer since June 5 and only his second hit since June 30. Although he hasn't played much otherwise.

They got hits in every inning but the 4th and the 8th but didn't score again. Neither did the Mariners but they were up by 1 for the rest of the game, thanks to those errors early on.

In the 9th the Tribe had their thing going on by starting out with 2 singles by Reynolds and Chisenball! They had an ace up their sleeve with the speedy Drew Stubbs who came in to pinch run for Reynolds. I didn't realize that Aviles was so fast, but he must be because they took out Chisenhall to put him in. It was a great set up - two crazy fast runners at the corners and nobody out!

But somehow something went wrong. Super wrong. Suddenly there was only one guy on base and two outs! A weird double play caught Aviles at second and got Stubbs in a rundown between third and home...which he lost. Then Michael Bourn struck out, game over. MOTHER....

Seems like everything is going the Mariners' way right now. It's almost like the ball was pre-disposed to bounce away from our defense tonight! It's an afternoon game tomorrow...I hope those dudes have time to get out to the park and practice catching the ball for an hour or two. I mean, seriously...

Tomorrow, at 3 PM, it'll be both the Indians versus themselves as well as Kazmir versus LHP 4.28 (nearly identical to Kazmir's ERA).

Afternoon in to evening...interesting! I'll see you there!

I'm Back! How About You Guys?

And by "you guys" I mean the Cleveland Indians, who went 3-3 while I was gone (around the All Star Game) but only won one since their break. Ack!

Did you watch the All Star Game? How about that Kipnis, huh?! He was so good they made him a knock-off Lego guy! I was thinking about buying one but while a Lego guy of any Tribe player is friggin' awesome...a knock-off Lego guy is so very meh. Actually they made "mini figures" out of a lot of guys, including Bob Feller. Justin Masterson's guy is sort of tan and has a mustache and goatee...Well, one of his guys does. He's got two, and the other has the same face as Ubaldo and Asdrubal. Santana's kind of looks like him.

So where was I? Oh yeah - Jason Kipnis! He was awesome at the ASG (and was sure to hook us up with an Instagram account too so we could enjoy the fun with him. Look, there's Jason's Midwestern Mom!

Then he came back and had a quiet game against the Twins, but then got himself a 2-run homer in each game Saturday and Sunday! Unfortunately he was shut down again today and he's back under .300. But whatever - you can't not love the Kid. He's got 63 more games in which to wow us!

Ubaldo couldn't go the distance today. Glad they took him out at his first sign of trouble. He wasn't exactly cruising through the game, giving up 5 hits in 5 2/3 innings and walking 4, but he kept them from scoring at least. Heck, he even managed to give up ONLY solo home runs!

But, he had 109 pitches after 5 2/3 so it was time to go, and time to bring in CC Lee! I keep trying to tell people "Wow, did you know we had a new guy named CC Lee?!" which brings up more questions about "who? where?" and "Taiwan?" than what I really want as a reaction, which is "Haha it's like he made up his name by cobbling together the names of our two best pitchers from the past 10 years! Good move!" I mean...right?!

Anyway, this guy hasn't sucked so far in the 1 2/3 innings he's pitched. Fewer runs given up than most of our bullpen in 1 2/3 innings. Not sure why they brought up a rightie and not a lefty but hell if he can get the job done he can pitch however he needs.

Oh No Not Rich Hill still sucks big time. He lost the game on Saturday. Are you surprised? He didn't lose the game today but there was no game to lose.

Bryan Shaw Or Matt Albers pitched the 9th and did ok. No runs scored.

Our bats could not get it together today, not even off a dude with a 5+ ERA. I guess the Mariners are all kinds of hot right now, and maybe we're lucky to have only lost by 1, which I guess is due to good pitching.

Francona switched up the lineup a bit because Nick Swisher was feeling a bit wound up or something, so they put him in the 2-hole, where he got 2 hits including the team's only RBI in the form of a solo homer. Hooray for you, bro.

 Bourn was leadoff and he got a hit but nothing came of it. He also got hit by a pitch later in the game, and got himself picked off. Argh! He's up at the top of the league for caught stealing but not at the top for stolen bases. I think he's a great leadoff hitter and great at getting on base, but his average sure does drop if you take away the 6 times he got caught stealing!

He did get an outfield assist, which I'm a sucker for. But still...stop getting caught!

Neither Kipnis nor Cabrera (now 4th) did anything today, which clearly makes for a bad game.

Brantley was back doing his clutch thing again today. Did you see him yesterday?? Bases-loaded triple yo!! With two outs, of course! Today it was just a routine 1-out double, but it was late in the game and I'm still impressed.

Santana also got a double, but that was all she wrote. Giambi and Stubbs both walked.

I guess these Mariners are a force to be reckoned with at the moment, now having won 7 in a row. The Tribe best be hungry for a big win and what would be bigger than stopping a team on a streak?! And maybe starting our own streak in the process?

Tomorrow, in the middle of the night again (10:10 PM) it'll be the triumphant return of Z-Mac, Zach McAllister versus some dude with a 15+ ERA who is coming off elbow issues. It could easily be the end of the streak! You'll have to tune in to see!

Oh, when you do tune in, note that Tom Hamilton is out having knee surgery (which begs the questions 1. What do you need your knee for in radio? and 2. Why can't we have the privilege of hearing a drugged-up Hammy?) Jim Rosenhaus is joined by Jason Stanford who is way more dry than Rosie and will make you think that Rosie is colorful and you're glad to have him.

See you there!

As Crazy A Ballgame As You'll Ever See

Oh man, I hope you saw/heard this game today. And if you didn't, I implore you to find a way to listen to it after work because it was all kinds of awesome! Heck even if we wouldn't have won it would have been a good one, just with the back-and-forth of the score, the weird ways in which the Tribe got ahead, back-to-back jacks, guys caught stealing, Kipnis up in the air, 2-out RBI, blown saves, more blown saves and a walk-off home run. DAMN!

Check out Tom Hamilton Has The Best Home Run Call In All of Baseball for some clips from the radio, and then here's the MLB video page for the game. Check it out, I'm serious!

Today our pitching wasn't very good but our batters came through like gangbusters to erase every misstep the pitchers threw. This is pretty much how we were expecting our whole season to go! This spring the consensus was that pitching was going to stink and we'd only pull it out of our guys could hit like we think they can. I'm glad that turned out to not be true because while today's game was totally fun, the see-saw battle of bad pitching and good batting is exhausting!

Scott Kazmir just  didn't have good stuff today. I was going to say he didn't have "his" stuff today but according to his record, he doesn't really have much stuff. Today's game wasn't much different from his first start this season. Today he went 3 innings and gave up 5. On April 20 he went 3 1/3 and gave up 6. His last outing he gave up 4 in 5 innings. I wouldn't say he's progressing.

BUT! Someone on that coaching staff got Masterson to turn back around, and someone got Ubaldo to pitch up to his potential so I have hope that Kazmir can be helped. Of course it's up to him. Let's have 5 hot starters, real soon Scott!

Matt Albers and Bryan Shaw were a good complement to Kazmir, as they were able to go a long 4 innings between them only giving up 2 hits (and striking out 5). Much better than Kazmir's 7 hits in 3 innings.

So then we had Vinnie, Perez and Smith. Sounds awesome, right? Except Vinnie gave up the tying run on a solo homer. *gasp* And then Perez gave up the go-ahead run on a solo homer *GASP!* And then Smith had to come in for the 10th with the score tied and gave up THE GO AHEAD RUN ON A HOMER!!! WHAAAAAAT??

I don't even know what to say about that mess, except I hope they all are assigned their own pink backpacks for a week. Cuz those guys today were very, very bad. Tsk.

Batting was interesting today. They scored 10 runs, and it was a free-for-all as to who was going to get a hit. Was it Bourn? Nope! Asdrubal? Argh. Santana? Once. Let's see what everyone did!

Bourn went 0 for 4 but he did walk once and then came around to score. He also reached on a throwing error and I think when he was on base he made Iwakuma pretty nervous! No stolen bases for Bourn today but you can bet he had good baserunning.

Kipnis is still absolutely on fire! Today he went 2 for 4 with a run and a walk. That's 15 hits in his last 10 games, 8 hits in this series, 4 runs scored in this series and a 5-game hitting streak!

Asdrubal didn't get a hit, but he did get the bat on the ball and grounded in to a fielder's choice to score Bourn at one point, so at least it wasn't all bad.

Swisher got a little surge today. Lately he's been having single-hit or no-hit games, but it was nice to see him ramp it up a tiny bit in a game where we needed lots of baserunners. He went 2 for 4 with a double, and came around to score once.

Santana wasn't the big bopper  by any means today. He only went 1 for 5 but the one hit was his 13th double. He also came in to score a run after that. In the 9th he hit a line drive that the Mariners' first baseman snagged but then the pitcher pitched. Haha pothead joke! Santana being safe allowed the tying run to score. Wow!

Man, none of those guys got anywhere near 10 RBI! How did we score all them other runs??

Well first there's Michael Brantley, who continued his hot streak from yesterday (his dad really straightened him out, I guess?) He went 2 for 4 with a walk, came around to score twice and also had a RBI! Brantley's RBI came in the third on a single to right.

So now we get to the big RBI guys for today! First off is Ryan Raburn, He's So Good!

...He's so good he even made Mickey Brantley smile!

Ryan Raburn got a big long homer today, a good way up the bleachers (not Reynolds-far but pretty close!) He was only 1 for 3 on the day but that was a 3-run blast, yo!

Our man Drew Stubbs came in to pinch hit for Raburn in the 8th and popped out. In the 10th, Stubbs got on base while trying to bunt Brantley over. Mariner error - everyone is safe!

And then, Yan Gomes was up. Gomes had already hit a homer in the 2nd inning - a solo shot to follow up Raburn's. He was up with the score 8-7, the Mariners over the Tribe in the 10th, after the Tribe had lost the lead like 4 times already. Brantley was on second, Stubbs on first and there were NO outs since Stubbs had done such a dandy job getting to first and moving the runner over. Gomes could have bunted or hit a sac fly or something. Acho que não! Gomes got himself a 3-run homer instead to win the game by 2 runs. BOOM!


There you have it! I can't believe we had such a crazy see-saw game against these Mariners. I LOVE it, though! What fun, huh? If we can pull this sort of thing off regularly this year, we're on our way to someplace important.

Tomorrow we face dem Tigers, who are presently 2.5 games behind us. I say BRING 'EM ON!! It'll be Kluber versus RHP 3.98. I don't know how it's going to end up but I can guarantee you it's going to be hella fun.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Seems like every day a different player is taking the baton and running with it."
- Tom Hamilton

"Pitching coach Carl Willis and a Japanese translator out to the mound...to see if Iwakuma has a stiff neck, because he got yanked on those last two."
- Tom Hamilton on the back-to-back jacks

"I understand the interpretor for Iwakuma, but who is going to translate the backwoods Carolina drawl of Carl Willis for the interpreter?"
- Tom Hamilton

"I believe Tom mentioned the word donnybrook before? A barn burner? We may be heading that way."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"The speed makes everybody jumpy on this infield."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"Whoever goes down there, and comes out of Arlington and says 'Man that was fun'?"
- Tom Hamilton

"About the last guy in the ballpark that you thought would take you deep is Endy Chavez."
- Tom Hamilton

"This is about as crazy a ballgame as you'll ever see."
- Tom Hamilton

"Eric Wedge is probably wondering what else can he see in a place he used to call home."
- Tom Hamilton is talking just to talk at this point

King Justin

What is UP with this, guys? All of this shellacking of Cy Young Award winners? How cool is this?! Today they threw Felix Hernandez at us and we threw 6 runs back at them! And for good measure, we had Justin Masterson up there throwing nothing but strikes and only allowing 3 hits. When the Tribe scored 2 runs in the first inning, I had a feeling that that'd be all we needed to get this game won. I was right!

Masterson is absolutely beautiful right now. He hasn't allowed any runs in 18 innings over 3 games. He's struck out 71 in 70 innings (3rd in the league for total strikeouts, first for innings pitched). And FINALLY the guy is getting run support! I mean, what can you say about this guy other than he is pitching better than all of the Cy Young Award winners in the league? Truly a thing to behold.

Rich Hill came in again, for the third day in a row, to start the 8th. He was fine - he walked a guy and struck a guy out. Then they gave us Joe Smith! Yay! Smith finished the 8th then came in for the 9th, and gave us a truly Perez-like performance: walk, strikeout, popout, hit. Ballgame!

The top of the lineup had all of the action today, aside from Mike Aviles who threw up some assists.

Bourn had his third great game in a row, despite reports that his hand isn't 100% healed yet. Today he went 2 for 4 and scored 2 runs, giving him 7 hits and 3 runs scored in this 3-game series thus far. Wow! He didn't steal any bases today but he stretched a single out to a double and also came around to score afterwards, daring the outfielder to try to make a play at the plate. Since Bourn is so speedy the guy totally did not make a play at the plate, and it gave the other runner a chance to get to second.

Kipnis was also 2 for 4 and came in to score a run. He's got a 4-game hitting streak but he's also been hot in this series with 6 hits and 3 runs scored! He also got a double!

Michael Brantley was the story of the game today (aside from King Justin) and guess who was in town to cheer him on?

I expect good things, son!

His dad! An ex-Mariner, even! So after no hits in the last 2 games (yesterday he sat out), Brantley opened up for 2 hits, 2 runs and FOUR RBI today! One of them RBI was a 3-run dinger! It was just his second homer of the year and of course it came on 2 outs (that's what - 12 2-out runs in this series now?)

I can dig it!

Swisher got a double today, but the rest of the middle of the order was silent. Jason Giambi did walk twice, though.

Aviles got in to the act, going 2 for 4 with a run scored. He got a double in the 4th, then Drew Stubbs came up and hit one between the plate and the mound. Stubbs was out at first but in the meantime Mike Aviles was racing around third and scoring. Cue the Puerto Rican parade music! Bonus points if you can spot the Indians hat in the video!

So today's win makes us 17-4 in the last 21 games. It puts our winning percentage at .595. It puts us TWO games ahead of the Tigers in first place.

Is this real life?

Tomorrow we get to face these Mariners again! Hooray for the Mariners! And lucky for us (?) the pitcher is one of those near-Cy-Young-Award-winners which means there's a pretty good chance he'll be trounced. If we win tomorrow that'd be two 4-game sweeps in a row for us. I can't wait to hear all the historical stats on that!!

It'll be Scott Kazmir versus RHP 1.84. Oooooh...Well, let's see here - we have a smaller batting average versus righties, as a team, but 12 more homers and 29 more RBI. I think this team can manage.

Don't forget it's a 12:05 start! I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"If you ever get a rental car and the wipers work, or are relatively new, then you've hit the lottery."
- Tom Hamilton

"You wonder if he's just another product of Yankee hype."
- Tom Hamilton on Jesus Montero, who sucks

"If it wasn't an orange barrel, it was a skinny person you were trying to avoid today."
- Tom Hamilton on the construction and marathon downtown

"What you need to know as a pitcher is that your catcher will give you effort."
- Tom Hamilton on Jesus Montero

"Masterson, when he's pitching like he is today and like he did against New York, you wonder how anyone can hit him ever."
- Tom Hamilton

Pluggin' Away

What a cool game today! Why was it cool? Chris Perez giving up the tying run in the 9th was far from cool, but the Tribe coming back to win it - with ease - was awesome! I love how even though the last play was close, it was inevitable that the good guys were going to win this one. Bases loaded and nobody out? The Mariners were DOOMED!

Plus there were a lot of hits in this game. Thirteen hits for the Tribe! Amazingly, the only guy who didn't get a hit was Santana (or Brantley, his pinch hitter). He's only not been on base in like 4 other games this year! Only one of our 5 runs today came from a home run, so it was a fun game of hits and runs. Old school!

Zach McAllister was the man today and he racked up another quality start, going 7 1/3 and only giving up 2 runs. Six of his 8 starts this year have been quality starts! If you recall in the beginning of the season a quality start wasn't that exciting because it meant there were up to 3 runs given up already and it was a monumental task for this lineup to overcome that deficit. Now the quality start is a point of pride again, even if the guy gives up 3, because it's apparently no problem for our offense! McAllister only struck out 1 in his 7 1/3 innings but also only walked one. The Mariners were just swinging away!

Rich Hill came in for the 8th and fared better than he did yesterday when he gave up a run on 2 hits and a walk. Today he did give up a hit but that was all.

Enter Chris Perez. Exit two home runs! The hell?? I know Perez will give up a run if he has a 2-run-plus lead to work with but - wow! He left with the score tied and get this - he still got the W! Hahaha! I thought after he got the first 2 guys out swiftly that maybe we were done with the theatrics from Perez and we could say he was all warmed up and settled in after missing so much Spring. Guess not! I can't wait until he becomes the solid saver we know and love.

Speaking of the Chris Perez we love, there were only 17.5k fans at the game today. On a giveaway day, in 77 degree weather, with the team winning like nobody's business. That's kind of crazy!

Michael Bourn went 2 for 5 today, so that busts my theory that he's flailing against lefties. He stole two bases too! Sweet. He's gone 5 for 10 in his last 2 games.

Jason Kipnis is still a shining star! Today he went 2 for 5 with an RBI, stole a base and came home to score the winning run. And how did that look?

He didn't mess up his helmet or anything this time! Kipnis has a 3-game hitting streak going. Not too exciting, until you consider that he's gotten 8 hits in those 3 games!

Asdrubal was in on the action big time today! He went 3 for 5 with a double and a run scored. He's got 12 doubles now and is tied with Santana for the team lead.

Swisher went 1 for 3 today, walking twice.

Mark Reynolds blasted himself back into relevance today after being kind of quiet for a bit here. He got his 12th homer, which ties him for first in the league (3 ways). He also got 3 RBI on the day - including the winning one - giving him 37 and putting him 3rd in the league. Other than the homer and the game-winning fielder's choice, his other hit was an RBI single which people who knew him as a ballplayer previously would never believe he could do. Well, believe it, Arizona - Reynolds gets hits all over the place now!

Mike Aviles was in left field today, because apparently he can and will play everywhere! Tom Hamilton said that Aviles was excited to play for Francona because when they were in Boston together, Francona let him make his outfield debut in a nationally-televised game against the Yankees. Obviously he didn't blow it up so Tito stuck him out there again today, to give Brantley a break. He ended up at 3rd, because he can. He also ended up going 2 for 4 on the day with a run scored after he hit a double!

Yan Gomes was in at catcher today. It's been a surprisingly long time - 5 days! Of course he got a hit today and scored a run, extending his little hitting streak to 4. He also threw out a guy stealing! I wonder if we'll see him tomorrow, too?

Drew Stubbs was holding down the end of the lineup today (or was he setting up the top of the lineup?) and went 0 for 2 with a walk and a sac bunt. Sad that he didn't get a hit out of that bunt but I'm sure he made it darn close!

Tomorrow is gonna be awesome, as we're taking on our 7th Cy Young Award winning pitcher of the year - Felix Hernandez! It'll be Justin Masterson versus the RHP 1.53. I hope our bats are ready and not in "Sunday" mode. Let's get it done!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The next Dollar Dog night isn't until May 31. It'll take Sugardale that long to recover."
- Tom Hamilton

"One would suggest he wear the sunglasses because the 'block C' doesn't need them."
- Tom Hamilton on Santana wearing his sunglasses on his hat

"If you're a left hander and you're 4'8" they say you're stocky. If you're a right hander and you're 5'9" they say you'll never make it."
- Tom Hamilton

"One thing you know about an Eric Wedge ballclub - they will fight you until the 27th out."
- Tom Hamilton

Walkoff Wahoo!

Know what was the coolest moment of the game for me today? Well, the second coolest, I guess. It was in the 9th when the game was tied and Tom Hamilton said that coming up this inning were Swisher, Santana and Giambi. Just hearing those names I was like "Wow, we have such a good lineup!" Of course, it was funny because those guys were out 1-2-3. But then the bottom of the order came up and it was just as exciting! And they're the ones who won the game!

My point is that I'm excited about this lineup, one to nine. It's so awesome to have confidence in everyone, having seen them all come through in the clutch. There's no one that's a total disappointment this year anymore. That team we were all dreaming about in February? It's here.

Even better - it has pitching to match!! A bonus that none of us were thinking about in February!

I think I'm ready to talk about Ubaldo. I think he has pitched his way back in to the hearts of Tribe fans, after repeatedly throwing fastballs at our guts for a season and a half. In his first 4 starts this year, he pitched 17 innings and gave up 18 runs. Since then, in his last 4 starts, it's been 24 2/3 innings and 5 runs. What a turnaround! The key, they say, is that he's given up trying to throw heat all the time and is focusing on throwing strikes. Turns out that totally works! We've totally got a #2 guy and are finally getting our money's worth. I'm going to say it: It seems like we no longer have to worry about Ubaldo! Today he gave up just 2 runs in 5 innings (the second run was the result of someone else's homer...) and struck out 9!

Rich Hill came in for the 6th after Ubaldo started and had given up a single. Hill gave up a homer and now the score was tied. Before the inning was over he gave up a double. When he came back for the 7th he gave up a walk before being pulled. Not sure what's up with Hill - other than a terrible showing against New York early in April, he's been pretty lights-out. But he has given up 3 runs in his last 4 appearances.

I'm kind of having trouble following (caring about?) our new relievers. Hill, Shaw, Albers, even Allen. And what of Barnes and Huff? And I only notice Hagadone now that he suddenly sucks. They'll just never be as exciting as Smith, Pestano and Perez. Although I'm ready for them to prove otherwise!

Cody Allen came in to finish the 7th, and then Bryan Shaw showed up and then it was the 9th inning, still tied. Time for Perez!

Chris Perez had a 1-2-3 inning. Can you believe it? In 14 appearances there's only been 3 so far (counting tonight) where no one got on base when Perez pitched. Don't get me wrong - he's getting the job done! But it was very nice to be spared any theatrics tonight and just have him get in and get out. It did suck that he couldn't finish the game, due to the tie. Nothing better than seeing Perez's game-ending fist-pump!

Everyone was mentioning today how Perez pretty much didn't have a Spring, which is true. He was out with some sort of arm sadness. So, maybe tonight he was showing that he was done warming up and from here on out it's PURE RAGE!

Hey! Guess who was back? It's VinnieP52! He had like one night in Akron and was ready enough to throw tonight. Not bad - he was ready enough to not be worried about a tie game in the 10th. Yeah buddy! He had a perfectly Perez inning - threw 17 pitches, one walk, one strikeout and 2 outs in play. Woulda been cool to see him get the final out, too. I bet his fist pump is exuberant!

Did you know...Seattle out-hit the Tribe today 10-7? It's true. Also, only 4 of our guys got hits!

Michael Bourn was back in his spot tonight, and he went 3 for 5! Say what?! Yeah so he's oddly streaky right now. He'll get 3 hits, 0 hits, 2 hits, 0 hits, 1 hit, 3 hits...According to his splits, he's hitting nearly .100 points higher versus righties than lefties. I am too lazy to look up who was pitching those multi-hit games versus who was pitching the no-hit games for Bourn. But tonight's pitcher was a rightie so there you go.

Bourn still hasn't gotten on his stolen base horse, but his speed did play a role tonight when he beat out a soft ground ball to second with two outs to keep the game alive and be on base for The JK Kid.

Here I Am!

 Kipnis had some sort of a night tonight! He went 2 for 4 on the night, with a walk. He also got on base on a fielder's choice, then tried to steal second. He went in head first and toppled the Mariners' second baseman by smashing into his shin with his head like some kind of Koopa Troopa. He went down for a minute, to collect his thoughts, but apparently came out just fine. In the 10th inning, with the game tied and 2 out and 2 on, he blipped one over the right field fence and that was the end of that!

You gotta listen to Hammy's call because it's full of awesome, and so is the video of Kip being super excited. I've watched this vid 5 times tonight and I'll probably watch it tomorrow too. Because HOW COOL IS THIS?! How do you think Tom Hamilton does that sweet fadeout when he calls a homer? He no doubt does it so that his voice melts in to the crowd noise. But do you think he just moves his head away from the microphone, leaning back in his chair and smacking himself in the head like the rest of us do? Or does he have an engineer fade him out? Anyway, it's a thing of beauty...


Asdrubal and Swisher didn't do anything at the plate tonight, but you know...some other time. Swish did have literally one of his niftiest plays of the year!

Santana isn't in the top 10 for batting average anymore, but damn dude - he's still getting on base! From my count he's been on base in 30 of his 35 games this year. Tonight he went 1 for 3 with a walk, and his 12th double of the year. He's still hitting .320, and leads the team in everything but homers and RBI. Oh, and not strikeouts, either!

Jason Giambi went 0 for 2 but he got a sac fly. He's got 6 RBI in his last 6 games!

Drew Stubbs, man...you really should like this guy more. Casey Blake, right?! Well Casey Blake who can run like the wind. He's another reason we won this game, along with Kipnis and Bourn. First of all, he got his 3rd home run of the year in the 5th inning! Then in the 10th he walked and stole a base, making it possible for him to stay on base (and go to third) when Bourn beat out that soft infield grounder. Stubbs was on base and scored the winning run when Kipnis knocked it out. Teamwork!!

I was betting on 30,000 in the stands today and I wasn't disappointed! There were 34k there for Dollar Dog Night and the first fireworks night. I will admit that I am relieved that there was an exciting conclusion to the game and we remained tied for first place at the end of it. Hopefully that's 34,000 people who will return for another game this year!

According to the radio, there were 65,000 hot dogs consumed tonight. Go Cleveland!

Tomorrow is an afternoon game, don't forget! At 1:05 it's Zach McAllister versus LHP 5.51. Everyone pay attention to see how Bourn hits. And...5.51? Pffft!

Gonna be fun, see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"It's almost as if Mariner hitters are guessing anything but a fastball."
- Tom Hamilton

"He would have had to be Spider Man to keep that one from getting away."
- Tom Hamilton on K-Shop chasing a wild pitch

"How many gallons of Ballpark Mustard do you think they go through on a night like tonight?"
"How many gallons of Pepto Bismol do families go through around midnight tonight?"
- Jim Rosenhaus and Tom Hamilton on dollar dog night

"This is not a typical May 17th crowd."
- Tom Hamilton

"Carlos Santana trying to reach Euclid with that swing."
- Tom Hamilton

Mind Numbing

That's how Tom Hamilton describes this losing streak. "Not mind-boggling, mind numbing."

Nothing ruins your night like Tom Hamilton moaning about a baseball game. Once he's off the wagon, it's all downhill from there.

Roberto Hernandez did VERY well tonight. He went 6 innings and gave up 4 earned runs, but he left the game with only 2 earned runs. The next 2 were given up on a homer courtesy of Esmil Rogers when he was brought in to relieve Hernandez...who only had 72 pitches. I don't get that decision at all. Hernandez had only given up 3 hits and 2 walks.

Rogers didn't give up any more than his 3-run homer. Seddon came in for the 8th and he did all right.

Some dudes had a multi-hit game today. Off Felix Hernandez even. For some reason the ballpark was fulled up with 39,000 fans expecting another perfect game or something. Didn't happen. Didn't even get a shutout.

Jason Kipnis ruined that excitement right off the bat by getting a leadoff single. He got another single later on to go 2 for 4. Two 2-hit games in a row for him!

Asdrubal didn't hit at all tonight but damn...I mean dayum he was close to a 3-run homer in the 8th. It was so convincing that even Tom Hamilton remembered to be excited about it! But it was not to be.

Choo went 1 for 4. Him and Asdrubal are volleying back and forth for 2nd place average (Brantley is pretty untouchable at this point!) He's hitting .284 and Asdrubal's down to .281.

Santana went 2 for 4 with a run scored, giving him a 5-game hitting streak! His average is up over .240 again, so that's cool. Brantley went 1 for 4, following Santana's single in the 7th. Santana came around to score on KOTCHMAN's single after that! Team!

Felix Hernandez then threw the ball in to center field, trying to ... pick... off... someone? Brantley got down to third, at which time the suicide squeeze was called and Brent Lillibridge (and the Lord) utterly and totally messed that up and no one scored. Whoops!

Carrera got himself a walk, so that was cool. Need him to be on base all the time!

That's all she wrote. We lost for the 7th time in a row. Last late-night game of the year woohoo!

Check out this article about umpire Jim Joyce saving someone's life with CPR at a game last night. Seriously, check it out. If you don't recall he's the dude who miss-called that perfect game for Galarraga in 2010. Karma just came and smacked that guy in the butt I think, and he is fully redeemed times 10.

There ya go, now you are happy about baseball again! Yay!

Tomorrow is 3:40, which means 12:40 in Seattle. Huh, ok. I'm actually going to miss the game at gametime due to a doctor appointment and family time. But you know I'm good for it!

It's Zach McAllister versus RHP (3.79). No problem, right?

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"If he doesn't make that adjustment, helllooooo Columbus."
- Tom Hamilton on Carrera not getting on base

"...gotta give that dollar back to Tom."
- Jim Rosenhaus calls himself out on saying Fausto Carmona

"This has been refreshing. This is just a classic baseball game."
- Tom Hamilton

"Worst case scenario - throw the bat at the ball and foul it off."
- Tom Hamilton on what Lillibridge could have done

"Jesus Montero hit a home run that nearly knocked over the front row of the upper deck."
- Tom Hamilton

"This is mind numbing. Not mind boggling, mind numbing."
- Tom Hamilton

"If you wonder why the movie was called 'Sleepless in Seattle' it had nothing to do with Tom Hanks thinking about Meg Ryan. It was because he drank too much coffee."
- Tom Hamilton

"There are more coffee shops in this town than there are drug stores and denture makers in Winterhaven."
- Tom Hamilton

"Gosh, so impressed by these fans until just moments ago."
- Tom Hamilton seriously hates the wave

Aquatic Maintenance Uniforms

Man, I'm tired. I'm not tired of baseball or anything. I'm just really tired as of this moment and ready for bed - even though I took a little nap after work and didn't do anything exciting enough to make one tired. I even had an extra Pepsi MAX for lunch. MAX!

I almost got woken up at the end of this one, but poor ol' Sad Jason Kipnis couldn't capitalize on one out and bases loaded in the 9th.

Don't be too sad, bro - most of the other guys on the team would choke in that situation too.

Ubaldo was the starter and he was markedly better than Bad Ubaldo but not exactly Good Ubaldo. He went 5 2/3 and only gave up 3 earned runs, but it was in the form of two 2-out homers. Basically everyone hung on to the edge of their seats waiting for things to get much, much worse but thankfully they never did. He did strike out 8.

Joe Smith came in to finish up the 6th and suddenly Joe Smith isn't consistently good and in fact he is consistently not so good having given up 3 runs in his last 2 OUTS of work. Yeah man, just 2 outs, 3 runs. He gave up 1 tonight but granted it was after getting the last out of the 6th and then walking a guy in the 7th who then came in thanks to a homer from a guy Sipp pitched to. You follow? Well follow this - Smith got the loss.

Sipp finished that inning with no more runs and started the 8th. He pitched one out then they brought in Cody Allen who still fucking rocks, and he still gave up zero runs and is a total stud!

Quick thing about Chris Perez - he got into a shouting/swearing match with an Oakland fan which didn't seem cool. But today we find out that the fan had been heckling him for 4 years and Perez was trying to avoid the guy but it didn't happen. His nickname is Pure Rage, anyway. So, after a morning of being slightly disappointed with Perez I am now back on his side. I mean, heckling the Indians closer...in Oakland...for FOUR years? Who does that?!?! Probably the same dickhead who puffs away at a vuvuzuela at all the A's games.

Send him a positive tweet if you think he's cool. I did.

Sad Kipnis shouldn't be too sad - he DID start the game off with a homer! And he went 2 for 5 on the night with 2 RBI. His first multi-hit game since August 3 and his first multi-RBI game since July 18! Boy do I hope it's an upswing for the Kid...

Asdrubal is back in his upswing, after being shut out last night he went 2 for 4 tonight. He's gone 2 for 4 in 4 of his last 5 games!

Oh, but it's apparently lonely at the top as Choo was shut out again and Santana only managed a hit and a walk, again. His hit was a double and everything but he is just not getting any RBIs lately. Is it Choo? Is it Asdrubal? I guess he does need someone to hit in and stuff.

Brantley didn't get a hit today but he did walk, so he went 0 for 3. Phil Dawson got himself a Fresh Brewed Tee today. Surely Brantley is the Tribe's version of Dawson (however short-lived his tenure thus far) - his tee must be on the horizon!

Casey Kotchman went 1 for 3 with a walk today. Yeah buddy!

Zeke got on base in the 5th with a bunt, then came around to score. Just like we planned! But later in the 9th, he got an almost-home-run-BROKEN-BAT-double off the wall! Off the wall! They don't want him swingin' for power, though. How do you even deal with that? He has power, except when he doesn't. No reason to swing for the fences when you can guide it 20 feet down the line and easily reach first. But...broken bat double off the wall! Bother...

Jason Donald's hitting streak ended. Sucks.

So after all that, I'm pretty tired. I think I'm coming down with a case of last-minute allergies, now that we suddenly have rain and grass. Only one more late night game then we're done with that for the SEASON! Tomorrow we're back in Seattle versus...uhm...well it's Hernandez versus Hernandez. We're gonna need a bigger boat.

I highly recommend tuning in on the radio tomorrow night if you can. It's the last night game of a long west coast trip and maybe, I'm thinking, it just might be a blowout. Hammy and Rosie were starting to lose their noodles today, it can only get worse tomorrow. So put on the radio behind the TV, I think you'll end up hearing something good.

It's at 10:05 - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"You never know what you're going to get with Ubaldo Jiminez. Lately, a lot of those chocolates have no filling."
- Tom Hamilton channels Forrest Gump

"John Rocker [...] was getting heckled by a group of fans during warm-up, and he threw a cup of lemonade at them. Only it wasn't lemonade. [...] John Rocker is undoubtedly the biggest idiot in baseball."
- Tom Hamilton

"That's not going from the frying pan to the fire. That's going from the frying pan to the furnace."
- Tom Hamilton on the Indians facing Felix Hernandez tomorrow

"Ed Hickox must feel like one of those ducks at the county fair that everybody is shooting at to try to win a prize, and nobody is missing."
- Tom Hamilton on the home plate umpire getting hit a lot

LOPEZ!

I've been waiting for Jose Lopez to do something spectacular for over 5 months now so I could use that title. What's even better, last night I was listening to the game with my friend and I said "LOPEZ!" and he said "LOPEZ!" and we both knew what it meant. It means this!

Sorry I didn't get the blog posted right after the game but it was a really long game (4 hours) and you know how work gets to be around 4, you gotta do stuff like WORK and you can't just blog away. So I finished that work thing, and watched some more of the ditch project (seriously it takes FOREVER to fill in a ditch, it seems) and now I'm here.

Were you surprised like I was with the way this game started out? It kinda seemed like how the game should have gone YESTERDAY with Felix Hernandez shutting us out and Ubaldo giving up 3 runs in 5 innings. Instead it was some dude named Hector Nosei keeping us quiet and Zach McAllister looking not perfect (but still better than Ubaldo on a bad day).

McAllister made it 4 good innings only giving up one run. In the 5th he started looking shaky 5th when he walked 2, struck out 2 then "gave up a run" on a passed ball. The 6th was not pretty and he gave up a run and left a guy on base, who Asencio managed to let score. So he ended up giving up 4 runs in 5 2/3 innings, pretty much like Tomlin (but maybe fewer innings). He did strike out 6, and I think last time he struck out 8 so that's pretty wicked.

After the 6th we still had 5 more innings to go so everyone in the bullpen had to come out and play. First was Hagadone who recovered just fine from his last outing and struck out 2 in 1 1/3. Jeremy Accardo was next to finish the 8th and he is still perfect. He even struck out one.

Tony Sipp came in and had a 1-2-3 9th and then had his third strikeout in the 10th. Chris Perez put 2 on and I listened through my fingers as he got the last 2 outs. We needed someone to pitch the 11th and it was either Smith or Pestano and I would trust both of those guys to do it. But Smith gave up the go-ahead run in the 11th and it was all scary until...

Back to the beginning, where Choo started off the game with a double. Yay! But then he ended up going 1 for 6 with 3 strikeouts and that was not so nice. Kipnis didn't fare so well either but at least he got 2 walks and scored a run. But that still adds up to 0 for 4.

Asdrubal, however, since he's a motherfuckin maniac, he went 2 for 6 today with 2 RBI. One in the 7th as our first run and then the tying run in the 11th!! Oh man how it's nice to see someone do something clutch! (With Hannahan on the bench) His average is .326 right now by the way. It's so real I can touch it from here!

Hafner went 1 for 4 and it was just a single and that's ok, because as long as he's getting on base he's still our man. Sadly, he got hit by a pitch (I forget - the leg? The arm?) and while he finished the inning he didn't come back up for his next at-bat. Aaron Cunningham, a Seattlite, did his job in the 11th and walked. Good job! Hafner's status is still up in the air...we'll know tomorrow.

Lopes was the title of today's post but Santana was I guess the hero of the game. Well maybe Brandon League was! Santana was already 1 for 4 with 2 walks by the 11th when Seattle closer League walked two, gave up the tying RBI to Asdrubal and walked Cunningham to make the bases loaded with one out. What usually happens here is a strikeout. What often happens here is a pop out or grounding in to a double play. What never happens here - but what happened today - was Santana got a HIT and the game was won!!! Tom Hamilton said "Santana listened to his hitting coach and didn't try to do too much." YES!

Whew. I have to catch my breath. There is still happiness yet! We have to get to LOPEZ!

Michael Brantley was on a happiness break. More from him tomorrow.

Johnny Damon was in this game.

Casey Kotchman! Who knew his time was now? A total vacuum at the corner and now he's batting over .200? Today he went 2 for 4 with a double, a walk and scored 2 runs. That's a lot of numbers for Kotchman!

Finally we get to the #9 guy, LOPEZ! He's been playing for Hannahan at 3rd and maybe he's not the best 3rd baseman (he had an error today - fewer than Jack!) but Seattle used to be his team so I'm guessing he was pretty stoked when he TIED THE GAME WITH A 3-RUN HOMER! So stoked, he stopped at first not sure if it went out or not. He also walked and came in to score another run. Did you know Lopez already has 2 homers in just 23 at-bats? I'll repeat myself for like the 5th time...I am so glad we have him and have a chance to use him since we must!

Lots of heroes today on what started out looking pretty grim. It was great to have a really climactic game like that. One of those 2011-type wins!

Tomorrow the Marlins roll in to town, hopefully with their showgirls and maybe everyone will meet at the casino afterwards and spend a boatload of money. People travel from Miami to Cleveland to go to a casino, right?

A 7:05 start tomorrow, but I'll be missing it in favor of eating at Yours Truly and seeing The Avengers because that is a totally Cleveland thing to do, isn't it? MOVIES SHOT IN CLEVELAND MAKE BILLIONS!

So after The Avengers, I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Itchy trigger finger down there? [...] Sometimes it's the thought that counts."
- Jim Rosenhaus on a mis-cue of the home run siren

"A day of futility for these two offenses."
- Tom Hamilton

"Whatever it is, Chris Perez has trouble in non-save situations. But every manager in baseball uses their closer in this situation."
- Tom Hamilton

Goin' All Cromwell Up In Here!

Did anyone expect the game to go this way today? Yeah our team's been good but not GREAT. Especially not at home. Felix Hernandez has been GREAT against us. Ubaldo has been up and down. Heck, after the first half of the first inning did you expect the rest of the game to go as well as it did? I was still fuming about Ubaldo throwing 25 pitches and giving up  two hits and a run in the top of the first we were accidentally scoring 4 in the bottom!

To be honest I was also pretty crabby in the third when Ubaldo walked 2 and gave up a homer in the third. And in the 5th when he gave up more hits. But inbetween all that he had three 1-2-3 innings. But I just can't trust Ubaldo anymore. Which way is he going? How is he going to do today? I just don't know! 

Turns out he did just fine and I needed to chillax. He went 6 innings, gave up 3 runs on 5 hits and struck out 4. Sounds good to me. Sounds Tomlin-esque. That's all we should be asking of him now. Just as long as he goes 6 and doesn't give up more than 4, we can live with it. He's no Derek Lowe but while our team is hitting if he pitches like that it'll be ok.

Jeremy Accardo came in from CBus and made his debut. What a debut! He went 1-2-3, striking out the first guy then getting the next two to ground and pop out. Come back soon!

Sipp and Asencio came in for the 8th and 9th, each facing 3 batters. Exactly what you want from your bullpen!!

If the pitching wasn't good enough for you, the hitting was outstanding! The top of the order was just gonzo with the top 4 guys going 9 for 19 (.473) and scoring 7 of our 9 runs.

Choo has been hot shit since Acta moved him up to the first slot. He's gotten 6 hits in the 3 games he's been first. Of course this was all against righties but if he's gonna start to be on a roll this is a fine way to start. He went 3 for 5 and of course he got a double because that is what Choo does! He also came in to score 2 runs.

Kipnis was back in form tonight after being a little ho-hum in Minnesota. He went 2 for 5 with an RBI, his first RBI for a week. He's hitting a very respectable .275!

Droobs was all in today going 2 for 4 and being hit by a pitch (his 3rd already this season). He's working his way between 10th and 20th in the league for average with .325. He made an awesome run in the first when he and Santana scored on a couple of mis-throws. It was very exciting!

PRONK! Oh man how much do you love a Hafner home run? Always so big, always so majestic. Always so needed. He's been making contact with the ball a lot and doing some sac-flying, but he was 0-24 with runners in scoring position coming in to today (well, his last 24 chances). Today he grounded out for an RBI but then he doubled in a run and got his solo homer in the 6th. COOL!! A real treat for all the fans that made it out there tonight in the cold.

Santana was part of that neato play in the first, running his ass off and scoring. Basically he scored from first. I would never put it on Santana to be "heads up" but he totally was right there. He ended up going 1 for 3 with a walk, 2 runs and an RBI. He's had 7 walks, 10 hits and 8 RBI in his last 10 games, now with a respectable 4-game hitting streak. Can he keep it up?

I've tried for a season and a third now not to use smilies in my blog posts but seeing Michael Brantley hitting more just makes me smile from ear to ear. JUST LIKE THIS :) :) :) Tonight he went 2 for 3 with a double, single and a walk. He's got 14 hits in his last 10 games and actually just this one walk. If we've got Choo covering the top spot and Brantley is feeling good in the middle then I am fine with him in the middle (even though I love him first). Cuz I love Choo first right now and I love Brantley batting!

Johnny Damon was in this game and he managed to walk twice then he did this dumbass thing and it looks like he also shaved off his beard.

My friend pointed out today that Kotchman and Albert Pujols have been batting about the same this year, with Kotchman sometimes higher than Pujols. Kotchman went 0 for 3 tonight so he's down under .200 again BUT...he's got 1.5 times the home runs as Pujols (er, 3 to his 2). HA!

Plus, Kotchman rocks your socks at first.

Hey, LOPEZ! Playing some short-stop-via-3rd-base today. He also went 1 for 3 and walked. He's had 7 hits in the 9 games he's appeared in. I of course want Jack Hannahan un-hurt and playing here right now (man, he would have gotten a few RBIs today I bet) but I still like me some Lopez.

So 14 hits, 6 walks and 9 runs today. THAT is how we shoulda played in Boston. But we didn't. Instead they brought it home so everyone here could have fun and see the glory!! Super fun game!

I don't have any Radio Chatter for tonight because I spent the evening watching some guys dig out my ditch with a backhoe. It was really mesmerizing, and it lasted almost the whole game. They also picked up this cement culvert with the backhoe, and there was a dump truck involved. Wicked awesome. Alas, I couldn't stop to write anything down so you'll just have to wonder if Hammy and Rosie said anything worth remembering. If you want to hear something good then be sure to look on Tom Hamilton Has The Best Home Run Call In All Of Baseball for a recap of the PRONK!

Oh and if you don't get today's title - which I think is wicked clever - check out this primer from Monty Python. (He got rid of the king, yo)

Tomorrow is a NOON game with our new friend Zach McAllister versus some guy who's got a 8.27 ERA on the road. Bat bat bat! It's gonna be fun AND there will be more digging in my front yard. Dig it!

See you there!

Before the King

We only had to face Felix Hernandez once last year. I remember thinking how lucky it was for us, because we only were statistically going to lose once. We did end up splitting the season with Seattle (although we won 4 of the first 5) but yeah - Hernandez got us in August.

We almost had a "Everybody Strikes Out" game today but Santana and Hafner kept it real. Good thing too because I totally don't have a graphic for that!

Josh Tomlin and his facial hair were RIGHT THERE with Hernandez, though. Kid looked great - especially after the not-so-greatness of our last three starters. Plus Tomlin's own long relief on Saturday when he gave up 4 runs.

None of that nonsense for Tomlin today. Just one earned run and 7 strikeouts in 8 innings. MASTERFUL. I don't know if he was working off Hernandez or what but he was right there with King Felix, giving up the same number of hits even. If we ever needed super solid starting pitching today was the day.

Chris Perez came in in the 9th and did what he is lauded for doing. Nailed it! Great to look at that box score and see just two names in the pitchers column.

Manny Acta just called Tomlin "my little cowboy" in the post-game interview. True story.

Josh Tomlin

The bats were obviously pretty silent tonight, what with the 13 strikeouts. But they did manage to eke out a few hits. MAYBE IT WAS BECAUSE MICHAEL BRANTLEY WAS IN THE LINEUP?!

Brantley got a hit, and Santana got a double. Travis Hafner not only did not strike out but dude got TWO hits! Love love lovin' seeing him on his game. I hope he goes home at night in a Pope-Mobile and then sleeps in a box so there is no possibility of odd injury for him.

Shelley Duncan did not get a hit and I am sort of crushed. Because he coulda been The Hero yesterday and wasn't, and the same went for today. So he is awesome just not "clutch." (Although I've heart that "clutch" is a myth. You're either going to hit or not.)

Jack Hannahan was instead the hero, and he makes a good one. He got a bases-loaded single in the 9th to get the tie run and the go-ahead run in. It was fucking fantastic, I tell you. We had 7 innings of "zzzzzz" then one inning of intense baseball, When that didn't go so well it looked as if we'd not have another chance at intensity but I was wrong. Admit it - you were wrong too! (Actually Tom Hamilton was wrong as well.)

Luckilly Hannahan got us what we needed and we didn't need anymore, because Jason Donald fucked up in the 9th and didn't get a bunt down for the insurance run. Instead he struck out FOR THE THIRD TIME. Not sure how he managed to get a hit inbetween all that mess but he did. I almost would make fun of his greasy hair and weird smile but he did this little bit of infield shiny-ness so he is safe another day.

By the way, watch that video and tell me how AWESOME Kotchman is!

Tomorrow we go down to play the A's, for whom Bartolo Colon threw 38 consecutive strikes on Wednesday. Yeep...glad we won't be facing him! Our starter will be Ubaldo, and he will not suck. See you then!

Radio Chatter:
"It's 'Earl Campbell who?' now thanks to Josh Tomlin."
- Tom Hamilton on the "other" famous guy from Tyler, Texas

"He's a guy like Justin Verlander, he's got a chance to throw a no-hitter every time he walks to the mound."
- Tom Hamilton on Hernandez

"The Indians have a chance. This may be the only chance they have tonight."
- Tom Hamilton when we had 2 on and 1 out in the 8th

Sparkless

The #1 problem with today's game was the lack of our #1 guy, Michael Brantley. He is our leadoff guy, he is the spark. We weren't hitting as a team until Brantley was hitting. He's been starting us off and keeping us going.

No Brantley, no hits.

He was out today, I presume, because we were facing a left-handed pitcher. I looked and his stats aren't that terribly lopsided righty vs lefty so WTF?

Oh well. The Seattle pitcher was good, we'll say.

Derek Lowe wasn't good. Doesn't matter cuz a better hitting lineup would have had no problem with his 4 runs. Not sure what's going on with our starters - Lowe was our dude for a minute there. Let's hope they straighten themselves out. Perhaps more facial hair!

Nick Hagadone, tho - how about that kid? He's lovin' being back in Seattle I guess. He pitched one inning and struck out two, no hits. Two great outings in a row, right off the plane!

Asencio and Wheeler pitched before and after Hagadone. They must have been the only guys awake in the bullpen tonight. They actually did just fine - no hits for anyone.

Jason Donald made a nice play in the field today. So I will continue to refrain from making fun of his greasy hair and goofy smile.

Our hitting was sad today, if I didn't make that clear before. Aaron Cunningham got an almost-home-run so that was cool. It was a nice big double off the wall. So nice there was even a replay and an argument!

Turns out it wasn't a homer but Kipnis came two batters later and hit Cunningham in. How's that for "who now?" baseball?

Choo and Hafner walked around a Santana single in the 5th, to load the bases. Then Shelley Duncan was up and I was all "WATCH OUT! SHELLEY DUNCAN WILL RIP YOUR FACE OFF!" and then he didn't. So I am pretty super sad about that because Shelley Duncan doesn't just do nothing like that. He usually gets stuff done!

Well, I am so tired from last night and having to get up early today that it was sort of nice to have a low-key game. You always want to come out the other end with a win but it seems like both me and the nine were all on auto-pilot tonight.

Hammy and Rosie were pretty giggly tonight, which is weird because they tend to save that for late-season west coast games or broadcasts that go past 1 AM. Hammy was riffin' on the Fish Market, giving the business to one of their techs and  pondering the mechanics of Japanese baseball. Thank God for those guys, right?

Let's hope for the better lineup tomorrow and some more of those super bats we've come to love.

Another late one, 10:10 tomorrow - see you there!!!

Radio Chatter:
"He is now batting .636 against the Cleveland Indians. It may be a small sample but to the Indians, it's enough."
- Tom Hamilton on Kyle Seager (before he hit a double)

"Come on Shelley, when I give you that kind of a send up that ball should end up in Tacoma."
- Tom Hamilton after waxing poetic on Shelley Duncan and Microsoft, and Shelley flied out

"Remember, on this road trip - the Indians with 19 two-out runs."
- Tom Hamilton when the Indians had bases loaded with 2 outs in the 6th

"Still no word on Roberto Hernandez [Fausto Carmona]. No point in asking anymore. [...] If anybody tells you they know, they don't know."
- Tom Hamilton

"Boy all these guys look the same with their swings. Suziki, Kawasaki, Fukudome. I wonder if anyone from Japan swings away from their heels."
- Tom Hamilton

For You, Justin

Hey did you notice I updated the Everybody Hits box, like a few hours ago? Because everyone had a hit by the 7th inning. And it turned out to be the game-winner, too!

Crazy game tonight. West coast night games always seem crazy, just listening to baseball at midnight. The craziest part was that Justin Masterson sucked. No wait - the craziest part was that Justin Masterson sucked and we still won!

Masterson was fine for the first two innings. He had nine pitches in the first. In the third he walked a guy then gave up a homer and never seemed to recover. In the 4th he gave up 6 runs. Yeah - Justin Masterson gave up 6 runs! He walked a run in, he hit a guy to get a run in. Fucking crazy...but, hey, he's good. We know he's good. He'll get good again. He was amazing in his last game and the rest of the team lost it for him so we owe him one.

In comes Nick Hagadone for relief. Why he wasn't already up here before today, I do not know (but I'm sure people who know things knew why). I thought he was great last year. They opted to bring him up from the minors when Asdrubal had to cut out on a 6-day bereavement leave (his abeulo died. That's Venezuelan for grandpa). SMART move by whoever made that move and I was already applauding it before Masterson had his meltdown. Our bullpen is not "the bullpen" yet and a good fresh arm was just what it needed.

Anyway so Hagadone - who is from Seattle - no not acquired from the Mariners, I mean he grew up there - got off a plane just today and is back pitching in the big leagues. He pitched an inning and a third and struck out two. In that third of an inning the bases were juiced and he got out of it. Welcome back!

They had to employ the rest of the bullpen for 4 innings, which is not how we wanted to start this trip, but they did good pitching about 20 each and not giving up any runs. Chris Perez tho, man...he got himself into one hell of a pickle. Of course it was partly to blame on a grounder off Jason Donald's face but a closer shouldn't have to worry about guys on 3rd base. Yeesh!

So yeah the boys were back hitting like madmen again today. Brantley once again got on base out of the gate and was like "let's go everybody!" He was so excited he stole a base and was able to score off that move on a single from Hafner. Hafner once again hitting singles and making them COUNT! He went 2 for 5 tonight, keeping that average up over .300.

So it was scary and sad when Masterson gave up two in the third and then six in the fourth. We came up in the fifth down seven runs. Mother! That is not a deficit the first-week-of-baseball Indians could overcome. Now, it's sort of no problem for the against-the-Royals Indians to handle but as you could tell from the distinct lack of barbeque smell in the air, we were not in Kansas City anymore.

Turns out the guys brought their bats to Seattle. Even without Asdrubal and having both Donald and Kipnis in the lineup they still got it done.

Casey Kotchman did not have a home run nor did he steal a base today. Ah well, perhaps only on weekends.

Carlos Santana, on the other hand, DID have a home run. A big, beautiful 3-run home run that brought us within ONE run of the Mariners and all but erased Justin's shitty start.

After careful contemplation, Duncan walked and Supermanahan got him to third with a double (yes, good, do not send Duncan in that situation). Then Jason DONALD of all people came up and did the right thing by hitting a sac fly and got Shelley Duncan in and the game was tied.

Later on, Travis Hafner had another productive single. After careful contemplation, Shelley Duncan walked again. Tom Hamilton would later go on to say that his fielding is just fine, maybe even great. TOM HAMILTON KNOWS THE SCORE.

Hannahan and Kotchman failed to do anything, but then came Jason Donald and we all said "erp, Jason Doald." Then he proceeded to get a single and hit in the go-ahead run after graciously hitting in the tying run just innings earlier!

I will now cease mentioning his greasy hair and goofy smile because he did that. And he did not completely suck at short. But he does have weird greasy hair. And look at this shit:

Otherwise, we love you Jason Donald!

So there was that and it was only the 7th inning when that happened and we had to wait aaaaaaallll the way until the 9th inning and through 3 relievers and until 1:30 to finally hear that sweet sweet "BALLGAME!" meaning "you can go to bed happy tonight."

Tomorrow is Lowe which means good things for us because so far we have proven that he can pitch and the team can hit so it's a match made in heaven, like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. I predict another 8-inning game for the old man. We're also already slipping super way behind in home runs so we need like...4 home runs tomorrow. Maybe Jason Donald will hit one!

Good night and good job to all of you who stayed up. See you later today!

Radio Chatter:
"Kevin Milwood - you can tell he's 37 years old. The fast ball is 88, 89 miles per hour."
- Tom Hamilton

"You have to earn your home runs here. There are no cheapies."
- Tom Hamilton

"We hear some boo-birds among the paying customers here."
- Jim Rosenhaus

"He's come to the right city. They just open up a vein and pour the coffee in you in this city."
- Tom Hamilton on Nick Hagadone's rush trip to Seattle

"[Seattle catcher] Montero looks like Rosie in the kitchen when his wife flips him a red hot potato from the oven."
"How do you know what we do for evening entertainment?"
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus

Wet and Wonderful

So I was at that game tonight. Me and 15k (yeah right...more like 3k) of my closest, wettest friends.

I came about my tickets in an awkward way (won them in an auction, supposed to have seen batting practice, didn't want to come at 1:30, batting practice some other time...) so it didn't occur to me just where my seats would be until I got there and just 10 feet in front of me were Shelley Duncan and Asdrubal Cabrera (and, like, Grady Sizemore and Lonnie Chisenhall. Whatever...)

Oh, how I longed for a Sharpie. How I longed for a ball. My Asdrubal sign. A "Batter's Up" magazine. Anything! But alas, I was ill-prepared. I simply shouted "SHELLEY DUNCAN YOU ROCK!!!" He didn't hear me tho. Or maybe he did but he was getting ready for the game as he ran by. Then, I had the privilege of being close enough to tell him how much he rocked between every inning. I know he cares. In the 5th or 6th inning, some kids in the bleachers were like "HEY SHELLEY DUNCAN" between pitches and he turned around to wave. What a guy!

Hey kids!

I think they purposely pump up the audio in the stadium between innings so you can't harass the players as they run to the dugout. What do you think?

Side note - not only were there like 3000 people at this game but also John Adams was NOT THERE. I can't believe I was at a game he wasn't at. I can't believe he skipped a game! My uncle and I decided he must have come to the original PPD game and thus counts that as being "at" the game and today he was at home, enjoying the game on television. At least we hope that's how it went down because that would be the best. John Adams just not showing up is unacceptable. And the Patron Saint Of This Blog would never do such a thing!

Anyway so yeah - I was in the 4th row, right behind the tarp. It rained the entire time I was there. I was with my uncle from Phoenix. I told him that tonight's game would be unlike any he would ever go to in Phoenix - cold and wet. I didn't disappoint!

We spent most of the game keeping our eyes on the ball, being terrified that we might get hit by a foul ball. But then we hoped one would bounce in one of the 200 empty seats around us and land softly in our laps. Neither thing happened.

So David Huff...well, he's taken a permanent detour to Sucksville it would seem. The dream is over, I think. Nine runs in 2 2/3 innings?

Ok, 4 un-earned runs. But still, 5 runs? Bro. It was wet yes but...

Although Durbin couldn't get his shit together, either. Two more runs from him. One from Hermann. Good job Hagadone, at least.

Lonnie Chisenhall was working hard today. I know he was cuz I was RIGHT BEHIND HIM. He caught a couple of foul balls JUST NEXT TO ME. Awesome!

But he had an error. His 10th of the year in just 53 games. Tsk tsk.

Batting was pretty fun tonight! (apparently, for Seattle too...)

Jason Donald was hitting 2nd and playing 2nd today, and he went 3 for 4! He came in to score twice, too.

Of course, since the guy in front of Asdrubal was kicking ass, so was ASDRUBAL himself! And I didn't have my sign...ARGH! It was just too wet. I want to use the sign for seasons to come so I wasn't ready to sacrifice it to the weather.

Some enterprising fans out in center field had laminated signs. GO YOU GUYS!!!

Speaking of Asdrubal, another reader has come out of the woodwork and left a comment! Holla Libby! She's another huge Asdrubal fan so she understands the EXCITEMENT of Indians baseball!

Anyway so Asdrubal...hit for the near cycle (who knows...had the game not been truncated...) with a single, homer and double. That's 3 more RBI for him. If you aren't following along (WHY AREN'T YOU FOLLOWING ALONG?!) that's 7 hits and 4 RBI for him in his last 2 games. Asdrubal is going out with a BANG!

Oh and BTW... OMG ASDRUBAL!!! Homer #23!! Once again I was not stationed to announce this on Facebook or Twitter. My friend Doug, who I don't think actually follows baseball in any meaningful way, posted "OMG Asdrubal # Whatever!!!! (btw, it was # 23)." on his Facebook wall. This is much better than a few weeks ago when he randomly posted "OMG ASDRUBAL #88!" on his wall on a day there wasn't even a game. Much improved, Doug.

So anyway, not to be outdone, Carlos Santana got himself a homer too, right after Asdrubal's homer. Almost in the same spot, too! No complaints here. Also, he NOW holds the record for the most switch-hitting home runs by an Indians player, 26. Before I said he held it (he was tied) and I wasn't sure if it was just Indians or what. Just Indians.

Hafner and Sizemore both went 1 for 3, which is nice to see in person. You know, cuz they're like team mascots so it's nice when they do stuff. We also want them to leave the season reminding us that they're healthy and 2012 is their YEAR, BABY! Or at least that the value of my autographed Sizemore bat won't go down too much.

That's about all that happened in the baseball game, other than my uncle and his buddy leaving me "for a beer" and me sitting by myself in the rain for 2 innings (all the people in my section left) and singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" by myself. It was all right. I had an Emergency Rain Poncho.

Then all of a sudden a large group of young men came dashing towards me and hopping up into the seats. I mean, on to the tarp. Just like the SWAT team in The Blues Bothers. The lead groundsman was like "go, go, go!" and they rolled the tarp out.

That sort of sucked because really, it wasn't raining much. Then this girl who had more makeup than sense bounded down the stairs and asked me what was going on. I had to explain rain delays. Then she asked if I knew how long it would be. I told her until it stopped raining. Then she started yelling at the grounds crew "Hey, hey Indians!...Do you know any of their names?" "Well, no, they're not the Indians..."

That was weird. Later, she got one of the bullpen crew to come over and chat with her, because she is blond and she was there.

Anyway before I departed, a mess of beard and hair and batting-practice-hat came strolling past me and I was like "HI CHRIS PEREZ!" and this time he turned and waved and smiled! THANK YOU CHRIS PEREZ!

Lou Marson must have talked some sense into him.

So that was my time at the game tonight. Pretty eventful considering it only lasted 7 innings and we lost by 6 runs. But we GOT 6 runs so that was awesome and Chris Perez said "Hi" to me so whatever else happened, I'm oblivious.

I had to leave work early today to go to the game, and apparently right after I left the network went down for 2 or 3 hours and I totally missed it all. This may have truly been the best game of the year!

I've got a pounding headache so no Radio Chatter tonight. I gotta go to bed, I can't listen to the game.

TOMORROW we've got a super treat - a double-header! 1:05 and 7:05 versus the White Sox. So much baseball in so little time!

See you there!