Michael Brantley is So Awesome!

I didn't get to hear today's game live, but I did catch the audio archive after it was over. I couldn't avoid seeing the score, and it's always a little extra sad listening to a loss after-the-fact. Especially after last night, Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus were so upbeat and hopeful at the beginning of the game but I knew that all their hope was mis-placed. Ouch.

Bauer was supposed to pitch today but he had food poisoning and couldn't make it. Conspiracy? PROBABLY. They ended up having to put TJ House in and that kid ain't ready for anything, let alone the Tigers, so he only made it 3 innings, giving up 3 runs.

Also part of the dastardly plan was to use up our bullpen, which also happened. McAllister, Swarzak, Hagadone, Shaw. Although props to those guys because they went 5 innings with only one run scored, off McAllister. They - and House - actually managed to get 10 strikeouts, keeping up the team's excellent record thus far. Not bad against the Tigers, really, considering how the Tigers played us earlier this year. But still - it was no Bauer!

The Tribe didn't win because the lineup went back to being shit today so I ain't even gonna say. Except...

Holy schnikes, Michael Brantley is HOT! Today he went 4 for 4 with a double, and the team's only RBI. That is 7 for 8 in these 2 games against the Tigers, and his average jumped up to .359!!!

WHAT A STUD!

And he also looks good in a hat!

So, whatever. Totally not House's fault because once again the starter could have given up one run and still the Tribe wouldn't have won. Lame!

On to tomorrow. Yeesh. It'll be Carrasco versus LHP 3.74. LHP, huh? Everyone be sure to go to church!

See you there!

Dat Shaun Marcum, Doe!

Oh my goodness TJ House you were super bad today! Wanna know what his ERA is right now? It's 40.50. Forty point five! All we can do is laugh about it because I'm sure Tiger Junior has done enough crying for us all. Poor fella went 1 1/3 innings giving up 6 runs on just 6 hits.Dude.

Austin Adams and Shaun Marcum sped to Cleveland today from the Clippers' hotel in Indiana to fill in for the over-used bullpen and it was a darn good thing because no way were any of our existing guys going to have enough juice left over to cover the 7 2/3 innings House left on the table.

It was a great call because Adams and Marcum did awesome! Especially Marcum who cruised through the final 5!

Austin Adams did give up a homer to Miguel Cabrera but who hasn't? Kluber can't do anything with Miggy either so oh well. And it was a solo lead-off homer so Adams was ok. He went 2 2/3 innings only giving up one more hit and a walk. Just that one run.

Shaun Marcum! He came to us from the Mets after having that surgery where they take out one of your ribs to stop some constant pain and numbness ("thoracic outlet syndrome.") We've heard of other pitchers having this I think. He must be completely healed tho because for 5 innings he totally quieted the hottest bats in baseball. He gave up 3 hits and 3 walks, but just one run - a solo homer to a guy who already had 2 others. He struck out 4. And you know what? He's 33 years old! BOOM! Also, he once pitched an entire inning with a dragonfly on his hat. He also has hit a grand slam. Shaun Marcum rarely pitches over 90 MPH.

I for one am quite intrigued by this Shaun Marcum, and interested as to where he fits in with our bullpen. We might need more long guys than previously assumed. Marcum is the man!

Our offense was not given much of a chance by our pitching (or our defense - another error today). But they did keep trying to come back. They scored in the first, third and eighth. Unfortunately, they never scored enough to overcome House's deficit, let alone the other two runs that got tacked on.

TIGERS!! Grr.

Bourn got his first stolen base today! It came in the first inning after getting on base with a single then moving over on a FC. He stole third and on the next hit he was able to come home. Cool! Unfortunately that's all she wrote for Bourn for today.

Kipnis continues to keep his streak alive, now at 5 games! He's hitting .308. He got a single in the 5th...unfortunately, after striking out his first two at-bats.

I think Carlos Santana almost hits a home run every game. Does it feel that way to you? Today he didn't walk at all but got on twice via two singles. One of them was an RBI single, and on the other he ended up coming around to score! He's got a VERY solid .333 average.

What was our new hero Jerry Sands up to today? Well, he wasn't playing at Sands-ian levels today but he did eke out a hit in the 5th. He was the last man up to bat for the Tribe today too, so at least he brought the excitement! But it proved to be too much and he struck out. Ballgame :(

Hey, Brandon Moss is finally unwinding himself! He managed to get his second hit today (a double) and then walked twice, resulting in not one but TWO runs scored. Teammate!

You know who was the offensive hero today? It would be none other than Ryan Raburn. People have been throwing a lot of shade at Raburn on Twitter lately, and he might not last long. Maybe not. But today he had a good game, going 2 for 4 with a double, 2 RBI and a run scored! He hasn't been the sort to have these sorts of days consistently, but he is a right-handed bat so at least he's around when we need him. And every so often he has a day like this.

Chisenhall is still in the basement. Yeep! Average of only .167, just 3 hits in 18 at-bats. No errors yet but he did get help from a scorekeeper in Houston. Lonnie got a hit and a sac fly RBI. He also got hit by a pitch. Rudi Stein award for him today!

Roberto Perez had a sac fly RBI and a throwing error today. Yan Gomes is out 6-8 weeks. I'm not sure but I think Perez is up to the task of everyday catcher - just need him to settle in to it. Soon.

Monday is an off day and I think we all need it. Already! Missing a day doesn't mean missing a pitcher, it just means we get to see Carrasco on extra rest. Yessssss! We'll be facing a LHP with an ERA of 9 on Tuesday so I am excited to see a nice lopsided game in the Tribe's favor. Right?!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"You just don't replace a guy like Yan Gomes."
- Tom Hamilton

"CB Bucknor puts the silver dollar back in his pocket. It came up heads."
- Tom Hamilton on a bad call

"The strike zone is so big today that the new Corner Bar is going to be out of beer by the 5th inning!"
- Tom Hamilton

"So all you single ladies...if you want Brian to put a ring on it..."
- Tom Hamilton trying to get a birthday date for engineer Brian Motsay

"It is truly a choice between which poison you find least debilitating."
- Tom Hamilton on walking Cabrera to get to Martinez

"The guy behind the plate today has been brutal. But I tell you what he has been consistent. He does not have a favorite."
"Perez caught that in the dirt!"
"He'll probably get a raise after that."
- Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus

Hold Steady

Anthony Castrovince wrote a good article about feelings behind the Thome statue. He pretty much nails how I feel about the issue, so I'll just let you read it. Since I'm the Positive Tribe I'm not going to rain on today's parade with my feelings. And it doesn't matter anyway.

I will say that it's always nice to see a big crowd at the stadium, and always nice to see Indians fans cheer on Indians - old and new. So if nothing else, it was very nice to see all of the excitement for Thome today.

And then a win! They did a big win last night for Hammy day, a respectable win tonight for Thome day. Wonder what will happen tomorrow on Slider's birthday??

TJ House was our man today. Man - can you believe how young our rotation is? Or maybe not young, but green? It's almost amazing we've got this many wins, considering how much these kids don't get picked up by the offense. Hats off to the rotation!

Anyway, House did have his struggles today. He only lasted 5 innings because it took him that long to throw 97 pitches. But he struck out SEVEN in that time! Lookout!! No runs allowed by House, with just 3 hits and 2 walks. When he wasn't striking them out, he was getting ground outs.

Up next was Old Mat Atchison. According to Jim Rosenhaus he is a-ok with the ribbing he gets about his age. Some of the players have been Tweeting "Atchison is so old..." stuff lately and I guess he gets it in the dugout. Tonight everyone was like "WOW look at him go!" when he chased down Elvis Andrus during a rundown between third and home. After the game Francona quipped that Atchison might not be able to walk in the morning. Zing! Well, Atch got the win, you whippersnappers. He also stuck around for 1 2/3 innings.

Shaw had a 1-2-3 groundout inning in the 8th, and then Cody Allen came in to "close." But not officially still? I dunno, he's our closer. I think after making a big deal out of Perez and Axford, everyone is afraid to mentally knock a guy down by calling him a closer! Anyway, it was a little shaky going at the end there with a walk and a single. But In Cody We Trust. The game remained a shutout!

Good thing, too. Because the Tribe had a heck of a time figuring out this Mikolas fella who came in to the game with an 8+ ERA. He lasted 7 innings and struck out 6 Indians, only giving up 5 hits. But thankfully they put a couple of those hits together and scored 2 runs. With the good work of House and the 'pen, that was all they needed!

Kipnis is still making a go of it, now with hits in 3 games in a row. He even came around to score!

Michael Brantley (.322) is sloooowly creeping back up to my magic .330! He's hit in 3 games now, as well. Even though Kipnis has a respectable 4 hits in those 3 games, Brantley has SEVEN. Because, Brantley. Shameful he didn't get an RBI or score, or get any extra bases. But he'll keep grinding out those hits.

Santana went 0 for 2. Hey, turn that frown upside-down! Cuz you know what that means? Two walks, yo! On base, like a boss!

Chiz and Swisher both got 2-out RBI singles in the 6th, which is all there was of scoring today. Good to know that the team still has that 2-out run scoring ability. Nice to see it BEFORE the 7th inning, too.

Also, Chiz back on the hit-horse. Do you think we'll ever have a statue of him? I just advised my brother to pick up Lonnie for his fantasy team because I have an inkling that he'll be on an upswing the rest of the year. I hope I'm right!

Tomorrow is a 1:05 game, and it's Slider's birthday! I hope he has a bunch of mascot friends there. I always find that amusing. I like the Phanatic and Mr. Met. I noted last year that the Padres sent over some actual Catholic-looking guy and not the Chicken. What's up with that??

It'll be Bauer tomorrow versus RHP 2.90. Hmm, scary. But today we only scored 2 against a guy with an 8+ ERA so maybe tomorrow we'll bust it open against this guy? Stranger things have happened.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"It's like somebody there ticked off God."
"Or someone is there with a doll wearing a Texas jersey, sticking pins in it."
- Mike Hargrove and Jim Rosenhaus on Texas' fall from the top

"I'm glad they didn't ask me to talk, cuz I have a lot of stories."
- Mike Hargrove on the Tom Hamilton anniversary presentation

"If I really said how I feel, we'd both be fined by the FCC and we'd be doing something else."
- Mike Hargrove on Thome hayters

"I feel bad about this but my first thought was 'He'd better be dead.'"
- Mike Hargrove on Slider falling off the wall and interrupting play in the 1995 ALCS

"That's worth the ticket right there."
- Mike Hargrove on the interesting Thome-statue-related play by Mustard during the Hot Dog Derby

Left Hand of DOOM!

Nooo! Not only did the Indians lose to the worst team around but it was also our rock-solid reliever Bryan Shaw who gave up the winning run. Tragic!

TJ House was today's starter and he didn't seem nearly as tight as he did in some of his other appearances. Maybe he's a little off-kilter from going to and from Columbus a few times? House only managed 5 innings and gave up 3 runs. Six hits and 3 walks. He left after 89 pitches. He didn't look awful but he just didn't seem as mature as before.

CC Lee, who's been back recently, only got one out in the 6th while giving up 2 hits. Nick Hagadone magically appeared and swiftly got the next 2 outs! Then we were contractually obliged to let John Axford pitch, but he actually had a 1-2-3 inning so that was surprising cool.

Bryan Shaw pitched the 8th and you already know what happened. The game was tied. He got just his second loss of the year.

But still....the pitchers should be able to get by on giving up 4 runs, right? No - left. HA! The Tribe just can't hit lefties!

They fielded a motley crew today after that long weekend series, with Mike Aviles in center while Brantley rested. Gomes was the DH so Roberto Perez was in as catcher. Murphy had the day off too with Swisher in right, and Santana at first. Then Asdrubal was having back problems so they took him out and put in Dickerson. He went to center and the Aviles experiment was over. He did manage to make one great play while he was out there!

The Tribe had 8 hits today. One hit for everyone except doo doo doo doo....Swisher, that's right. But one hit per guy doesn't do it. Neither does 8 strikeouts.

Chris Dickerson came in for Asdrubal in the 3rd, came right out and hit an RBI single! He's got 11 hits and 4 RBI now with just 10 games as an Indian. What a gem! He also fit right in by striking out with RISP. Sigh.

Gomes was randomly batting third, and he had a big RBI double in the 5th after Dickerson walked. He's been quietly heating up lately! Ten hits in his last 7 games. And 5 RBI, too.

Michael Brantley (.328) is amazing and  came in to pinch hit in the 8th and got a double. Then Roberto Perez, who doesn't yet qualify as "amazing" but in fact is "promising," came up to bat and got an RBI single. Nice, kid!

Michael Brantley, as it turns out, does not seem to have much of a sense of humor. Paul Hoynes reported today that Aviles put up an "inspirational poster" of himself in Brantley's locker. And Chisenhall challenged Brantley to a bet as to who would end the season with the better average, and Brantley was all "I don't look at numbers." Yeesh, ok. Then again, carrying the entire weight of a team on one's shoulders does make one a little smarmy. Especially when the rest of the team is clearly underperforming.

Lonnie Baseball did get a hit, by the way. But now he's .003 behind Brantley.

So while it actually was the perfect time to throw some of our other players out there in the starting lineup, and give random pitchers some work, it all came down to no one being able to hit the lefty. It was the 45th game in which the Tribe has scored 3 runs or fewer - and this was the 99th game!

Looks like we've really got a good chance to win this series, though - they've run out of lefties! The next two games will be against RHP with ERA over 4. We like those kinds of pitchers, no doubt.

Tomorrow is another 8:10 start, so you've got an extra hour to mow the lawn.

Sorry no Radio Chatter tonight - I swear, Tom Hamilton was so not in to this game. He was expecting a blowout after that great Detroit series and instead got a dud. He actually gave the game to the Twins by the end of the 7th.

We'll try it again tomorrow. See you there!

New Guys! Old Guys! Everybody Looks Good!

Whew! What a day! I literally spent 5 hours glued to Twitter tweeting about Corey Kluber. My bad, if anyone was offended by that. I at least tried to be fun. I am pretty sure my 270 followers are just looking for Tribe tweets so hopefully I was safe spamming about the Tribe.

Klubes totally didn't win, either. They kept saying he was in first place but I think by the end of it he was in second place. And that didn't even matter because he was 4th overall.

But, in the wake of all of this LeBron talk and constant yammering about Not Baseball, it was fun to turn our attentions to baseball for a whole day. Especially when, soon, we'll be 4 days without it. (In Cleveland. Of course we can watch the ASG and whatnot)

Everyone was blown away by the hands-on tweeting of starter TJ House, who spent a couple hours re-tweeting #VoteKluber tweets, and doing some of his own. I mean, Vinnie Pestano was in there with us too but it was super special to have House reaching out to fans like that on the day he was slated to start! Of course we were also worried that maybe he was going to affect his performance but really what you want out of your sports teams is reaching out to the fans, right? It's why we haven't run Swisher out of town yet.

Anyway, TJ House didn't fare as well on the mound as he did on Twitter. Whoops! He only lasted 4 2/3 innings. Not so much because he gave up 3 runs but because he threw 94 pitches in that time and despite his manly beard he is only a sprout. He gave up 8 hits and 2 walks, and found himself having to work out of a lot of jams. Still dig him, though. Not like he imploded or anything!

Here's his #VoteKluber Vine (with a little Vinnie Bomb):


It took 5 relievers to finish out the game, which is pretty rough because they had the extra innings yesterday. But they were pretty solid giving up just 3 hits between them and no runs. Back to no runs for that bullpen yaaaaaas!

Vinnie got to come in early instead of late, so that was nice. Little Kyle Crockett was in there too. Carrasco, Atchison and Hagadone followed. Hagadone had a nice 9th. After giving up a single the boys had a sweet double play behind him, and that final out was a strikeout whose final pitch seemed to go 4 different directions before landing in the catcher's glove. BALLGAME!

The offense kept trying to get going all through the game, but nothing happened for keeps until the 7th inning. They did get 5 hits and 3 walks in those first 6 innings but nothing came of it. Once again, not stringing things together.

However, in that 7th inning it was one string after another!

Kipnis was HAWT again today, this time going 3 for 4 with 2 more steals and 2 runs scored. That's 7 hits for him in the 3 games since Jason Kipnis Bobblehead Day! Also 5 stolen bases, woah. Seems like he's very focused/determined to start stealing more now. Dirtbag!

Asdrubal had a night!! He got 3 hits last night but tonight he got three RBI as in a 3-RBI triple! He also walked, got a single and came in to score a run. Only 2 LOB for him tonight. The people are singing his praises once again!

Michael Brantley (.327) is just amazing and we love him. He went 2 for 4 tonight, extending his hitting streak to 7. He's got 17 hits in the last 10 games, and has only had one 0-for game in the month of July. Also, he is featured in a science book:

Not really Brantley but....right??

Santana was almost left out of things today but in the 8th he let loose with a 2-run homer! That's 8 hits for his last 8 games, as well as 4 total RBI. Not really out there with a huge average like we like to see but boy isn't it nice to have him reliable again? Instead of reliably unreliable.

The Chiz Kid is kind of limping along lately, huh? His average has dipped 20 points in 10 games. Tonight he went 1 for 4 with a walk. HOWEVER - he finally is qualified! This means he's had at least 3.1 plate appearances for every game the team has played. With at least 4 or 5 PA each game he should be able to keep ahead of the qualification even if he has one day off a week.

Since he's qualified, he and Brantley are now both in the top 10 in the league for batting average. I saw a quick graphic today saying that it's the first time two Indians since blah blah blah but I totally didn't catch the statistic! If anyone knows, let me know! But check out this list of the top 10. Those are some BIG NAMES!! And our boys right in the middle. So proud!

Poor David Murphy. The Lord did not want him hitting again today. He was the only Indian not to hit. But he did make a topical Kluber Vine:



So check it out - Chris Dickerson is on his 4th game with us and he went 3 for 4 tonight, giving him a total of 7 hits in 4 games! Woah nelly! It seems like we got ourselves another "washed up" gem from the minors! He had some kind of injury that sent him there and he just never came back to the Pirates, until they traded him to us for cash. And geez - SO FAR SO GOOD!!! We seriously have a glut of outfielders this year. Blessed!

Speaking of blessed, today was the first Major League game for catcher Roberto Perez. He's come up through our minors system, from Kinston to Akron to Columbus where he's been hitting .305. According to Jim Rosenhaus, they swapped out George Kottaras for him because he's much better at throwing guys out. Ah well, Kottaras, we hardly knew ye.

Here's Perez:

He's from Puerto Rico. He doesn't really look like a Roberto, does he? Looks more like a Robby. In fact he looks a lot like the one kid I grew up with named Robby. A bit of a badass in him for sure. Exhibit B:

Superman shirt pic.twitter.com/MDT2OTFD0A
— Roberto Perez (@robebo23) April 7, 2014

But whatever he goes by,  hopefully it's always followed by "Cleveland Indians"! Perez not only got his first hit tonight, he also got his first home run! He's only got 8 in the minors so it's not like he's a big hitter but right now he is! Unfortunately for him, I guess, his homer was the result of a review and a reversal. So all he got was a call of an RBI double from Tom Hamilton, and then several minutes later "It's a home run!" (Which interrupted Rosie and caught me by surprise!) He'll have to have an asterisk next to it in his mind - first home run, first home run with proper radio call.

If he does well and Santana keeps doing well at first, well then we might have things all figured out for the Indians! With as little Swisher as possible!

So, split series with Yankees! Still a little bit under .500 but I think we're primed and ready to face those White Sox (stupid Chris Sale and his stupid Twitter fans!) and end up in a good spot going in to the ASG.

Tomorrow is a 7:05 game with everyone's favorite person at the moment, Corey Kluber, versus RHP 4.31. Wow, it could be another blowout! Would be great if Klubes could give us a 7- or 8-inning start (or 9, NOT PICKY) and save that bullpen that's seen a lot of innings these past couple days. He owes us all now!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Tito says players don't seem to be so strong anymore..."
- Tom Hamilton on Tito's interpretation of the inconsistent play in the MLB lately

"When was the last time you saw a major league pitcher catch a popup? Usually the infielders are in there screaming 'get out of the way!' But Pestano says 'Hey, I'm an athlete.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"Are you here all week? Should we tip our waitstaff on our way out?"
- Jim Rosenhaus thinks Tom Hamilton is a real comedian

"That's one of those games - you didn't get beat, you lost it."
- Tom Hamilton on Wednesday's game

"Boy that was like he took an uppercut from Mike Tyson."
- Tom Hamilton on the umpire being hit in the 8th

"Joe Girardi is saying to Miller 'Well, you're going to have to take one for the team.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the Yankees leaving their reliever in

BIGGER IN TEXAS!

YES! Yes, Lonnie Baseball! You dance the night away, son!

I'll just gloss over the pitching because the batting was where it was at tonight. TJ House only lasted  1/3 innings and that kind of sucked because there are still 6 games to go on this road trip, but when they took him out it was still close enough to matter. And he was at 82 pitches anyway. Everyone Else came in to pitch and only one guy gave up a run - Carrasco. Even John Axford kept his nose clean over TWO innings. So that was cool. Sorry, TJ House - still more growing up to do I guess.

So, see any good offense lately??

Tonight, Michael Bourn and David Murphy were the LEAST impressive hitters on the team. When that happens, that is one crazy night!

So Bourn and Murphy both went 1 for 5 with a run scored. Bourn got a walk and Murphy a double. Neither of them stole a base.

Asdrubal, Brantley (.307) and Kipnis all got 3 hits. Droobs came in to score 3 times with some aggressive base running and a double. Brantley  went 3 for 3 because he walked twice. His other hits were singles - and a solo homer! He came in to score 5 times. All of those runs scored can be explained by Kipnis having 3 hits and 4 RBIs! He is BACK!!

George Kottaras was randomly in the game today and totally randomly hit ANOTHER home run! His stats as an Indian thus far are 8 at-bats, 4 RBI and 3 home runs. Opa!!

Kipnis' 4 RBI and Brantley going 3 for 3 and Kottaras' third home run in his 5th at-bat are pretty special stats, and any one of those in one game would have made for some pretty happy fans and a great baseball game. In fact, all of the runs scored today without the help of Lonnie Chisenhall would have been just enough runs to pull out a win over the Rangers tonight, even with House's unfortunate start.

But Lonnie Baseball still put on one HECK of a show!!!

He went 5 for 5 tonight, with THREE HOME RUNS. THREE HOME RUNS YOU GUYS. Last person to do that for the Tribe was Choo back in 2010. And he also got a double. And a single. All of that brought in 9 runs!! Oddly enough he only crossed the plate 3 times, thanks to himself. But they can't all be Lonnies, 1-9.

He's a great Lonnie-lovin' post that the TribeVibe blog folks threw together with the highlights of Lonnie's game, and also info on how his stats fit in with Indians and MLB history.

I once went to a Tribe/Reds game in Cleveland, in 2012 I think, and sat behind the plate next to this group from Cincinnati. The one kid was a real mouth, but he absolutely loved Lonnie Chisenhall. He said he just had to - his name was Lonnie too! At one point, Chiz got hurt (hit by pitch?) and Lonnie Soloff came to check him out. Three Lonnies in one 30' radius. It was unreal!

I have a ball with Lonnie Chisenhall's autograph on it. It looks like "Lon Chill." Ha!

In case you were wondering....Chiz is at 2.81 plate appearances per game right now, where he needs to be at 3.1 to become a qualifier. He does lead the league amongst players with 150+ plate appearances, but the "going rate" right now is more like 200 PAs. But soon....soon the rest of the world will know of our Lonnie. Just a few more games

I think I'm done gushing about Lonnie - for now! I hope that sports radio stops talking about Johnny Football and his swan for 2 seconds and gives some air time to talk of Lonnie Baseball tomorrow.

Isn't this precious?

Keep playin' that one-up game, boys!

The final score was 17-7, by the way. 50% off Papa John's on Tuesday. It only took them 18 hits to get those 17 runs!

Tomorrow the team waves good bye to Texas and happily trots over to Kansas City where they hope to clobber many more baseballs. It'll be an 8:10 start again, still in the Central Time Zone. Kluber versus a LHP who has nearly the same ERA as him. It can be done, you know. And even if they can't score 17 runs again, well, this is the Klubot we're talking about here. Consider it done.

Sorry no Radio Chatter today. Hammy did call George Kottaras "Babe Kottaras" after he hit his homer. And his home run calls are all epic (you know where to find them, tomorrow). And he did say that Lonnie never had a day this good even in Little League. And when the Texas pitcher got taken out after giving up 8 runs he quoted Rocky "Cut me, Mick!" But I didn't write anything down. I'm getting ready for a garage sale. Boy is that a lot of work!

Anyway, 8:10, Kansas City - see you there!

Everything is Cookin'

There it is! Good starting, good relieving, good hitting! It's all in place today, boys!

TJ House was our man this evening, in his second start. He alllllmost went 6 innings but for David Ortiz. Nice move by Francona to bring in Zep for the tired kid. House struck out 4 in his 5 2/3 inning. He did give up 6 hits and 4 walks, but it only ended up counting for 2 runs. TJ House is good at his job. We need pitches, innings, a warm body, someone with the guts to go up there and do it. Maybe he's not a 7-inning guy (yet) but he's getting the job done as described!

Oh, but he did do this for an out:

.@THouse25 busts out the glove flip: http://t.co/Kwuu18JWU8 pic.twitter.com/lXVBY8Ce6q
— MLB (@MLB) June 4, 2014

Scott Atchison had a lousy outing. He gave up the tying run on 2 hits and a walk. I don't feel like giving too much shit to our bullpen anymore, though. They all seem like they all pitch every day.

Atchison only lasted 1/3 so we got...Nick Hagadone! Hey bro! He ended up pitching 1 1/3 innings and 3 of his 4 outs were strikeouts! He had a pretty consistent low-90s speed and the super slow slider. Looked good to me!

Cody Allen was the lynchpin here. The Tribe was only up by 2 when he took the ball in the 8th, and they had him come back out for the 9th, instead of, say, John Axford. Even though Allen has worked 5 times in the last 7 days. Wooh, they got some confidence in him! He had to face Ortiz! But Allen handled it in awesome fashion and not only got Ortiz but he had a 1-2-3 inning, once again getting Grady Sizemore for the final out!

The offense was back to double-digit hits today. Once again, low on the extra-base hits but they did get 10 singles and a double!

The first inning saw them get 5 hits in a row and score 3 times! Talk about momentum! Ryan Raburn was half of the momentum killer when he GIDP...but at least he knocked a run in. He ended up with no hits all night. Woe is Raburn!

The only way to describe Michael Bourn right now is ON FIRE!!! Today he was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI - the two winning RBI on a double - and he came in to score a run. He's batting .299 now, with 14 hits in his last 10 games. He's just amazingly reliable right now. I checked his stats and he was actually hitting like this at this time last year. I think we're all impressed anew!

Asdrubal was a boring 1 for 4. But, hey - his one was for an RBI so that's pretty great. Happy to see him not be that first inning rally killer!

Michael Brantley (.301) had an RBI single in the first inning to lead off the scoring, and came around to score as well. Starting a new hitting streak at 1!

Kipnis had a nice night, still batting 4th. He went 2 for 4, and while he didn't make it in to score on that first inning (or on his other hit) he did steal another base. Nobody's really running away (ha!) with the stolen bases this year, so Aviles and Kipnis are tied for 2nd with 6 and Brantley is in the lead with 8.

Lonnie Chisenhall...

...did about the same thing he did last night, which is bloop a single into left with the bases loaded for an RBI. Like it's scripted! He ended up going 2 for 4. Jordan Bastian said on Twitter tonight that Lonnie is 26 plate appearances away from qualifying (erm...which may string out as more games are played because you need 3.1 per game). That is going to take forever! LONNIE EVERY DAY!

David Murphy has a 7-game hitting streak! With 9 hits in those 7 games. Today he was 1 for 3, but didn't get an RBI or a run. Still, a nice guy.

Gomes has been up and down like Asdrubal is. Today he was up and went 2 for 4, with a run scored.

Mike Aviles had a bad sac bunt that ended up getting the runner out at third, instead of him out at first. Luckilly it wasn't both? He then came around to score. That was about it for him tonight.

Boy, do I love beating the Red Sox! Almost as much as beating the Tigers! It's because there's so many dorks cheering for the Sox at games at Progressive Field. Well, suck it, dorks! We've won the series and are gunning for the sweep!

Tomorrow is another 7:05 game, with Corey Kluber taking on WHO FRIGGIN CARES?! Yeah, it'll be awesome. Another RHP really, so look out.

It's JOHNNY MANZIEL day, everyone. AND Dollar Dogs! So much sausage!

Sorry no Radio Chatter tonight. Just one of those nights.

Swept

Ack! I have been slacking on writing blog posts lately. My excuse is the holiday weekend, and then a game that went to 1:30 AM. I listened to them all - I even collected Radio Chatter from the rain delay game! But no way was I ready to sit down and write about the game when my bed has been so darn comfy lately.

TJ House - whose name stands for "Tiger Junior" and I love it! - was today's starter and he was a real whip! The qualitiest of quality starts, with 6 1/3 innings, just 5 hits, one run and 8 strikeouts. This was just his second Major League start!

Hahaha - I just realized I don't even know our rotation anymore. Let's see...Masterson, Bauer, Kluber, Tomlin, House? Or some configuration of those 5. Seems kind of weird that Masterson is right now the weakest of that bunch but so it goes. Will be interesting to see who is still here in August!

Scott Atchison came in to finish the 7th and he was fine. One hit, that's all. Cody Allen came in for the 8th and he just looked like he was having a bad time. He walked two and gave up a run! I can't believe his ERA is 3.38 right now...he's the one who was lights-out at the beginning of the beginning of this season! Bryan Shaw came in for the last out in the 8th, but then gave up the winning run in the 9th. An un-earned run on an error, though. Uh...yay?

Offense was craptacular today, as it was all series. They only scored 2 runs.

One run was a big homer by Jason Giambi, though! Someone pointed out on Twitter that he's got 2 homers in 20 ABs and Robinson Cano has 2 in 200. Nice! They intentionally walked him later in the game, which is awesome. They totally remember last year. Josh Tomlin pinch ran for him!

Michael Bourn got his 1,000th hit! He also got an outfield assist, which I heart. Not at the plate but still, love those plays!

Michael Brantley (.310). I mean...the town is burning down around you and you are just out there hitting, hitting, hitting! And coming around to score. You are amazing, Michael Brantley, and now I am going to go vote vote vote!!

Yan Gomes was the big hero who got the super clutch single with Brantley at second to tie the game with 2 outs on the 9th. Wahoo! He went 1 for 4, and so did David Murphy.

Jesus Aguilar started today, and he went 1 for 3. Then they took him out for Aviles and Aviles had an error. Back to 0 on the "days without errors" count.

Bad hitting. More errors. The pitching was ok - not so much the relief pitching but still they only gave up TWO RUNS which our offense could not overcome.

Yeesh.

Off day tomorrow, then back home on Friday versus the Rockies. It'll be Kluber versus RHP 3.61, start time 7:05. So we got the pitching locked up....let's hope those bats show up too!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"You hate to say it already in the first inning that you're in a Danger Zone. But Justin Masterson is in a Danger Zone."
- Tom Hamilton

"This is Robin Ventura's worst nightmare. A rain delay with one of the league's best starters."
- Tom Hamilton

"This grounds crew works less than Nick Camino."
- Tom Hamilton

"The Indians, and the rest of the Central Division, are lucky that the Tigers have forgotten how to pitch."
- Tom Hamilton

"Maybe they have a clause in their contract that they don't work after midnight."
- Jim Rosenhaus on why one grounds crew guy was dispatched, without a rake, to dry off the mound

-------------

"When it comes to this ballpark, Kipnis is better than Babe Ruth."
- Tom Hamilton

"A happy fan. He doesn't have any teeth left but he has a new bat."
- Tom Hamilton on a bat in the stands

You'll Have That...

It was a bit of a gap game today, wouldn't you say? I think the main point of the game was to use as few pitchers as possible, and winning was secondary. They did a good job with the main goal but they fell short of the secondary. Ah well.

TJ House was our man today. He was a high school pickup for the Tribe in 2008, and he entered our minor league system in 2012. This year in Columbus he's pitched 41 innings in 7 games, with a 2.40 ERA and only one home run given up. With the shelling of the bullpen and the extra use of starters over the last couple days, he was our best hope. House didn't have a quality start but he did give us 6 innings! And the Tribe was only down by 1 when he left! House gave up 2 homers - but at least he gave them up to homer-hitting guys. RBI, too. He gave up the homers to Nelson Cruz who has 15 homers and 43 RBI, and Chris Davis who oddly only has 7 homers and 25 RBI. Davis pegged House for 4 RBI on the night. I probably would have given some up to Chris Davis, too.

Mark Lowe, who came in for a minute the other day (from Tampa Bay, remember?), came in for the 7th and his outing didn't go well at all. He wanted it to go well - Lowe intentionally walked Chris Davis. He had a throwing error on a hit to the mound that should have gone for a double play but instead went to visit the center field grass. That play scored a run, and so did the next 2 plays. And Asdrubal wasn't even in the game! Oh Mark Lowe....what you gonna do?

Carlos Carrasco came in for a 1-2-3 8th inning. Huh! But it was too late by then.

The Tribe only managed 4 runs on 7 hits today but I think their offense looked much more like post-Tigers offense than pre-Tigers aka Oakland offense. You know exactly what I mean. Hits and runs - wow!

Michael Bourn keeps getting hotter. Today he switched it up a bit by going 1 for 2 with 2 walks! Tom Hamilton says that when he walks that means he is most comfortable at the plate. Good deal. He went on to steal his 4th base, too. Unfortunately, no one was able to bat him in.

Mike Aviles didn't have any sort of a night tonight, not even HBP or nothin'.

Michael Brantley (.302) of course got a hit tonight! Don't be ridiculous! That's a 9-game hitting streak for him with 15 hits over those 9 games. He also came in to score a run!

Lonnie Baseball is just ... blowing up. Dud is BLOWING UP. Today he went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored! That's a 6-game hitting streak for him with TEN hits in that time. Oh my gaaaawd why doesn't he play every day?? Didja vote? Didja write him in? Well why not now??

David Murphy, despite being an awfully good guy, was not very good at the plate today. He went 0 for 4. But he didn't strike out or anything - nothing untowards like that!

Carlos Santana went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored tonight. His hit was a double! Erm...comeback? Someone asked Tito after the game what he thought about Carlos's performance and he was like "Well he hit the winning runs yesterday didn't he?" Well yeah, Tito but how about all those at-bats where nothing happens? Weird answer.

Jason Giambi....I wish he still had it in him...

Wish? Did somebody say "wish"?

Oh, he does, baby! In his second game back from his second stint on the DL, in his second at-bat - BOOM! A 3-run homer! So very exciting that he can still do that, you think? I really hope he can do this a few more times this season, or at least hit with some regularity. I wish, I wish...

Yan Gomes was shut down tonight too! Argh!

Justin Sellers was in at short today while Asdrubal rests a sort knee and foot. Not sure what he did to his foot but he did take a ball to the knee. MRI test went well so that's good - just gotta get over a bruised knee. In the meantime, we've got the tattooed lady at short (actually, I'm just being flip - I LOVE tattoos and I think Sellers is fine). Not exactly sure what makes Sellers stand out to come up and play over other guys in Columbus. His average was just .227. Maybe that he's had some MLB experience (with the Dodgers)? He seems fine, though. He got a hit today, going 1 for 4. He also was in the middle of both of the Tribe's double plays. I'd like to be able to watch him play with his tattoos hanging out there! Alas, I just have to wait for him to be around long enough for Tom Hamilton to start getting really offended and talking about them every time he's at bat.

Speaking of Tom Hamilton, sorry for the chincy Radio Chatter today. There was a lot of talk about the 13 weddings in their Baltimore hotel today, and how Hammy and Rosie were going to crash them. Hammy had at least 4 picked out based on the menu. Good fun - sorry if you missed it!

Tomorrow is a 12:35 start. Interesting. GUESS WHO'S PITCHING for the O's??? It's Ubaldo! He's a RHP 4.50 by the way. Our guy is the Klubot, so we've got this on lockdown. LOCKDOWN, MAN!

Should be fun - see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Boy it's like it's contagious. Whoever joins the Indians, they can't play defense."
- Tom Hamilton after Lowe's error