Home Opener For The People

It's actually going to be a short blog post today, because there is just TOO MUCH to day about the Home Opener but no doubt you've all been ingesting Tribe-ness all day long and there is nothing left for me to add.

The Home Opener - even more than Opening Day - is SUCH a joyful, Tribe-ful day in Cleveland that it hardly needs any extra rah-rah that this blog can bring. It's like the one day when we're all on board with The Positive Tribe!

Everyone was friggin excited about the ballpark changes and from what I saw they looked great! It's a little bittersweet but I am actually quite happy about losing 6,000 seats. That's 6,000 less empty seats on cold, cold days. And even though I'm not a drinker the new bar looks so cool! And all the people are really enjoying it and that's what I like. The Kids Club changes got thumbs-up on Twitter, too. More bodies in the stadium! How about that crazy bullpen setup, too? And the view between E. 9 and the stadium? I am not quite sure how that looks from E. 9 yet but it looks pretty from home plate!

If you haven't had a chance to look at pictures be sure to hop on Twitter, or go to Cleveland.com or maybe Scene or something and check out all the fun everyone had at the ballpark today.

Usually I don't go to games until like, May (cuz I hate being cold) but I am officially itching to get there sooner, now. I'm comin' home!

Oh one thing that sucks is that apparently Progressive Field WiFi is only for Verizon customers now. Suuuuuuuucks! I am a Verizon wireless customer actually but I don't have a smartphone plan through them. So whether or not I can get on to the network and tweet from the park remains to be seen. One of the best new additions to the park is gone already!

So, the game. You win some, you lose some. Today we lost some. Some sloppy defense and not-our-best pitching came to light and the score ended up being 8 to 4, Detroit. Yowza.

Zach McAllister gave up 13 hits and 5 runs over 4 innings of work. That's more hits and runs than the entire staff gave up the first 3 games, isn't it? So maybe he needs more time to warm up than the first 3 guys. Those 3 guys are in fact insane - perhaps ZMac is too human.

Crockett still rocked it, so did Shaw and Atchison. Anthony Swarzak is still with us. Did you know? He gave up a run. Zep gave up two un-earned runs. Nick Hagadone was tacked on at the end there. So uh maybe we won't see him for the rest of the series?

Bourn got more hits! Two per game average - what do you think? Can he keep it up? Sadly, he got caught stealing after his first hit. Oops...

Kipnis is still hitting. Just one today but he came in to score. He just needs to keep hitting consistently and he'll fill our role as "keystone" nicely.

Brantley is back! From his back. I hope he didn't over-play, but he said "Every home opener is important to me" awwwww. He went 1 for 4.

Santana, man that guy is on a tear so far. He hit a homer that was ruled a double then reviewed as a double but it was a homer that someone touched before it was a homer. Dangit. Still he went 2 for 3 with another walk  and 2 RBI. Oso!

Brandon Moss got his first hit! He's got a ways to go, yet.

Gomes got another putout so that's cool. But Miggy stole third on him so that's not so cool.

Tribe had their first error, by the way. Zep air-mailed one to first. Like, super bad. And 2 runs scored. But 1 error in 4 games is better than last year already!

So that was that. Yes we lost the home opener but there's a lot more baseball to be had. And everyone had a great day ANYWAY! Right?

Tomorrow is Kluber versus Detroit's #1 guy, also a LHP. I'll admit that doesn't sound too good for us. But things change after the hoopla of the Home Opener - let's see if today's game gives them a charge for tomorrow. Don't forget, it's a 4:10 game.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:

"The way it's flying it might need somebody to take it home."

- Tom Hamilton on a wayward pigeon on the field

"Anyone else would have had a 5 year contract extension."

- Tom Hamilton on Cespedas coming off a "bad" year

"If the play is overturned Greg will get a bonus, be able to get that Big Mac meal super sized."

- Tom Hamilton on the video review crew guy

"The replay official will be visiting the optometrist tomorrow in New York City. Hope they're open on Saturday."

- Tom Hamilton on what he believes to be the wrong call

"The Tigers must get down on their knees every night. How they got out from under that Prince Fielder contract and got Ian Kinsler....unbelieveable."

- Tom Hamilton

"I have no idea why I brought that up"

- Tom Hamilton pondering why he is pondering the size of the flags

"Dale Scott has a dinner reservation at 8. He's not missing that baby."

- Tom Hamilton on calling a strike on a check swing

"Jobs chamberlain pitching like he gets paid by the minute."

- Tom Hamilton

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 Ways to Lose

Well, you gotta give it to 'em - they found a new way to lose today. So we can't go saying it's just the offense or just the defense or just the starters or relievers. They have ALL been bad over these past 4 games!

Today it was the starter, Zach McAllister. He had a 5-run lead and - get this - he lost it. Lost it ALL! He had 4 earned runs in 4 innings. The fifth run came thanks to leaving a runner on base in the 5th for reliever Hagadone, who gave up a homer to this Billy Butler character who has had 2 of his season' s 5 homers in the last 2 games.

SONOFA.....

Atchison, Zep and Allen came in to finish and they did their part by not giving up any runs.

You know, come to think of it, the offense was bad again today. They exploded for 5 runs early on, and ended up with 12 hits on the night. But they only got 4 hits after that 5-run second inning!

Carlos Santana had ANOTHER homer! He had 6 in April/May but has 11 in June/July so far. And once again, it wasn't just that. He went 2 for 4 with a walk and his 16th double. He in no way leads the team in doubles but he leads the MAJORS in walks! Cool! He's got a 6-game hitting streak too, with 12 hits and 6 RBI in that time. And 3 homers, as you noticed.

Michael Brantley (.316) finally got two hits in a game today, for the first time in a week. He got his team-leading 26th double for an RBI, as well as a single. Let's hope he gets better from here!

Kipnis had a good night too, by the way. He had a two-RBI double in that 2nd inning, and came around to score. Kid's been streaky - this was his first hit in the series.

Gomes and Murphy again, you guys! Gomes got another 2 hits, giving him 13 in his last 10 games. Murphy's got himself a 5-game streak going on, with 7 hits in those games as well as a walk tonight. Both guys did come around to score - in that second inning.

Mike Aviles was added to the lineup about 15 minutes before the game today, because Lonnie Baseball has the blahs or something. Handsome Mike seems to do well under pressure because he went 2 for 4 tonight and looked good in the field! It was Aviles who got the 2-out scoring going in that second inning, after Santana had started it off with a homer. Aviles hit an RBI single, and then came around to score with David Murphy on Kipnis' double in the next at-bat.

Super fun times there in the second inning, and Tom Hamilton even had the game won by the third. But McAllister just dropped the ball (PUN INTENDED) and the bats never came back even though the Royals had the same guy throwing for 4 more innings. That was it. That wasn't so fun.

Welp, one more against these Royals tomorrow and then the road trip is OVER! It'll be Danny Salazar versus...oh no. Well it's a LHP but he's got a 5.80 ERA and also Brantley is hitting over .500 lifetime against him so that's good!

Stranger things have happened! See you there!

No Radio Chatter today. I kept missing the good

The Chris Dickerson Show With Special Guest Carlos Santana

Chris Dickerson is the real deal. It's like he's so appreciative of being picked up by a new team that he can't help but be awesome. Yes he failed to hit on Friday but he more than made up for it by getting the only two runs of the first 8 innings of the second game by way of the home run. Two home runs!

That was the second game, of course on my mind at the moment. But let's roll it back to the first game...

The first game was like smooth sailing, being that Kluber had the ball for the good guys and some kid throwing his first MLB game had the ball for the other guys. Yeah, there was a few innings wasted while they figured the kid out but during that time Kluber was just like "PITCH. PITCH. PITCH." And then when the Tribe finally managed to score in the 5th he just kept going.

And before you knew it, it was the 9th inning and he had thrown 114 pitches, struck out 10, walked just 1 and given up just 2 runs. There were 2 outs, and in deference to the run he just gave up and then the man on second from a double, Klubot was turned off for the night. Bryan Shaw came in to get that last guy. That was the ballgame.

Ok, maybe there was more to the ballgame, like chasing that new kid off the mound after 5 innings and 3 earned runs. Then hitting their bullpen for 3 more. And not even seeing Albequerque!

While the homer carried Friday's game and Saturday night's game, the afternoon game was about 10 singles and 5 walks. The 5th inning saw 5 hits and 3 runs!

Kipnis kept it up, going 2 for 5 with 2 more RBI. And even Asdrubal did things, going 1 for 5 and thus giving him 12 hits in his last 10 games. Yes, 9 strikeouts, yes yes. But he has 2 RBI in 2 games!

Brantley (.327) got the game's first hit and that was all for him. Just 1 for 5 in this game. Santana - who I didn't even realize was back to being slumpy (but Hammy and Rosie can't stop talking about it) at least got on base with 2 walks. Chiz upped his league-leading road average by getting TWO more hits in the afternoon game, plus a walk and a run scored.

Gomes and Swisher both had doubles. Gomes had an awesome game going 3 for 4, and since David Murphy went 2 for 2, Gomes came around to score 3 times!

Raburn was in the 9-hole, but that didn't go as well as we thought. He came up at 0 for 4.

So this afternoon's game was kind of a walk in the park, lead by Corey Kluber. I just got an awesome mental image of all that.

The night game was Zach McAllister stretching his legs before getting on the bus to Columbus, versus Cy Young Award Winner Max Scherzer. Not so much a walk in the park.

McAllister was like Bauer on Friday, in that at one point he looked awful and it seemed like we couldn't possibly win the game if he threw one pitch more...then he went on to pitch 3 1/3 more innings and only gave up 1 run in total, on 3 hits with 6 strikeouts. Oh. Well - good job, ZMac!

Axford was next and he provided some un-needed intensity with a wild pitch. But then the next two guys struck out and it was over for another day.

Atchison was next and somehow he gave up a run! It was the go-ahead run so that wasn't cool. But there was still time left and we were facing the Tiger bullpen so really it was ok. Carlos Carrasco came out in the 8th to swiftly handle Miggy, Victor and the New Martinez and he was great! Strikeout, groundout, groundout. Atta boy, Cookie! I told you that guy is a team player.

Offense wasn't nearly as exciting in this game as it was in the first game. The Tribe only got 8 hits and 6 walks, which seems like a lot but they didn't all come together until the 9th. Before that, it was just 2 runs in 8 innings.

Kipnis kept his stuff up by going 0 for 2 - with THREE WALKS. He came in to score once. Asdrubal was out, so Aviles was the shortstop and second batter. He got a sneaky little bunt hit in the 3rd but nothing came of it.

Michael Brantley (.329) could only muster 2 for 4 with one double this evening. That gives him 7 hits and 3 runs scored during this series so far. Damn!

Carlos Santana, who had been getting ragged on all day by the radio guys, came up in the 9th with the bases loaded and got a 3-run double. I don't know what it is about that guy, but he keeps coming back to impress us! I know that I don't give two shits when Nick Swisher does the exact same thing (suddenly does something good to counter-act his awful average) but Nick Swisher is a $15mm pair of new sneakers and Santana we got at the thrift store 5 years ago and damn is he comfortable.

Anyway, I still love Carlos Santana. Even though he's frustrating. It seems like he's always the dumbass kid who occasionally does something magical and right.

Chisenhall quietly ended a 6-game hitting streak by going 0-4 this evening. But he and Brantley are still 4 and 5 on the batting chart.

Swisher still plays for the team, and Murphy went back to doing nothing. Poor Murph.

Roberto Perez was in the lineup, as promised. In only his second game with us, he hit a double! They put Asdrubal in to pinch run for him. I wonder what's up with that? Don't you think a 26-year-old should be able to run even if he's a catcher? But whatever, that's what they did. And he came around to score on Santana's game-winning double. Yee-haw! I wonder how much we'll see him? Maybe just once a week?

Oh yeah so....Chris Dickerson! Here he is, by the way:

And as an Indian:

So yeah, he didn't hit yesterday and he was out for the first game today, but then he made up for all of that this evening by going yard TWICE. You know who didn't get any home runs today? All of the Tigers! Not in either game. Not Miggy, not Victor, not New Martinez, not even little Rajai Davis who got his first of 2 homers of this year off the Tribe.

Things must not have been right at Comerica for a home run today. Except for Chris Dickerson. Chris Dickerson who got two. We love you, man!

How cool is it that we came back from the break winning 3 straight against Detroit? The team is 3 games over .500. They're in second place, 4.5 games back. They're 1.5 games out of the Wild Card.

I guess we'll see Sunday when Tomlin takes on LHP 4.00. We're on the road against a lefty, where we perform better both at home and against righties.

If we can pull it out tomorrow, then it's the real deal. However it gets done, too. Real deal. If it's the real deal then get ready for a HECK of a second half!!!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"He's gotta realize there are 18 guys playing this game, not just him."
- Tom Hamilton on Miggy

"That would have been a home run in any park but here and Yellowstone."
- Tom Hamilton

"Both baserunners move up on a wild pitch. That might be an understatement."
- Jim Rosenhaus thinks it was a crazy weird wild pitch

"One good month out of four isn't what you can have."
- Tom Hamilton on Carlos Santana

"To decipher those boos...they're simply saying 'Rent, Joe. Don't buy.'"
- Tom Hamilton on the Detroit crowd's feelings about Joe Nathan

Best. Game. Ever.

Man, I was lamenting the lack of baseball last weekend and for the last three days the Tribe has been BRINGING it! And today, they served up 5 hours of epic, epic baseball! Even if they lost it woulda been epic but to end with a walkoff balk? UNBELIEVEABLE!!!

Good evening, sir...

Sad Albequerque

There was so much game today. So much. All the pitchers. All the hitters. Errors, stolen bases, guys thrown out at the plate, guys thrown out of the game, two Cabreras, two Martinezes, three starting pitchers and a guy who pitched relief for himself.

I almost am hesitant to recap this game because 1) I hope you read about it online and see it on TV and watch some videos 2) I hope you listened to/watched it anyway or maybe want to check out the replay tomorrow 3) It's so crazy, how could I possibly do it justice?!?

There were definitely low spots to this game. Two errors and a base-running mishap were big, plus a bad start from Zach McAllister. He's sort of falling down that same rabbit hole that Carrasco was, where he's putting together strings of bad starts. Except unlike Carrasco, he started off awesome. Is he hurt? I kind of hope he is...? Because you don't want him just turning bad overnight.

So after ZMac gave up 4 earned runs in 2 innings (plus one homer to start off the 3rd), he was done. Glad Francona got him out of there early. There was no time for playing around today! No one probably realized that there'd be 11 more innings to go, so relief became crazy important.

Atchison did as Atchison does and went 2 very strong innings with no runs scored. He actually didn't have to face the cream of their lineup but even the low guys on this team are all up over .230. Someone posted this amazing photo meme to Twitter and I love it:

@CLERallyChicken @Indians pic.twitter.com/4qUoAh8Hhe
— Nathan Edwards (@NateEddy4) May 21, 2014

Scott Atchison is old. Get it? Hilarious!

Zep was next and HE had to face the cream and it did not go so well for him. He gave up 2 runs and didn't make it out of the inning. Carlos Carrasco had to bail him out. Embarrassing! Cookie actually did ok and pitched 2 whole innings. He also frustrated Miguel Cabrera enough to get him to get ejected. Heynow! It was a lovely ejection. I love ejections. Here's the video - the Detroit announcers are like "Tim Timmons was quick to pull the trigger" and then a minute later "this is the third time he's been ejected at the plate" so....really, guys?

Next was Axford, who really fucking sucks. Two more runs. Although one was an un-earned run on an error but we'll blame that shit on him anyway. So he was no help in the length department, going only 1 out.

Next, Josh Outman. Fine. One full inning, no hits, no runs, no strikes, no balls. Huh!

Next was this guy:

No kidding! He was there for a Major League game! And he totally got 5 outs, including Don Kelly and Victor Martinez. Oh, his name is Kyle Crockett. Really awesome to see him blow through like that today - especially since the older, veteran, millionaire Axford couldn't get two outs.

Bryan Shaw, who was throwing his third game in a row, came out just to finish the 10th inning. Francona was out of pitchers, as Allen was just off the table and he was the last one. Who was next? Tomorrow's starter, Josh Tomlin! And his hair!

Tomlin threw THREE innings and basically pitched like he would have pitched tomorrow. Two hits, one earned run and SIX strikeouts. Yeeehaw! Don't mess with Texas!

After all that it was Tomlin who got the win, cuz it was still tied up when he came in and it was very un-tied by the time he left. So now the bullpen is SPENT and our starter for tomorrow is used up. Will be interesting to see what they do. I would figure they bring in the next starter but I am not in charge of such things. I'm sure there's a lot of gum-chewing going on right now in deep discussions about this.

So, that was just the pitching!

Would you believe....that not everyone got a hit today? I'll give you a guess as to who fell short. No, not Dick Swisher but really good guess. Carlos Santana, that's right! But did he walk? Of course.

Michael Bourn is going up up up again, today upping his total to 3 hits (last night, 2) with his 5th double of the year and 2 runs scored.

Asdrubal was kind of cooled off in the second spot, just going 1 for 6. He also got HBP in the knee, and I don't know how or why but he stayed in the game. I guess because he knew Yan Gomes was not going to be able to come in to play short for him. Plus it was the 13th inning so who wouldn't want to be on base when the winning run scored? And like, SCORE THE WINNING RUN? On a balk!

Michael Brantley (.302) is a god among men and I think we should all start sending him notes every day about how much we love having him in Cleveland. Why isn't he on Twitter? Why must we be forced to send him weird notes on paper? That's weird. Brantley went 4 for 7 today and got 3 RBI, including the tying RBI. He also stole 2 bases because, dangit, nobody else was. And 2 of his RBI came with 2 outs. So, get your purple pens out and start telling him how awesome you think that is!!

David Murphy being a good guy is a meme now, or at least a trending Twitter hashtag. Check it out, there are some very clever photo memes being made! Today, Murphy and the Lord teamed up together go to 2 for 6 but most importantly they had 4 RBI. Including a 2-run homer in the 9th to tie the game. A.MEN.

Nick Swisher is still on our team. He had a walk and then got a pinch runner in Justin "SellBlock" Sellers.This guy:

California love

Jason Giambi got his first hit of the season! He also walked. Somehow, this didn't translate in to any RBI or runs scored but it's nothing but up from here. Uh...I hope. He woulda been up during the balk but they had Raburn pinch run for him, so it was Raburn who "won" the game!

You've already heard the sad, sad tale of C-los, batting 7th.

The Chiz Kid played at third and first today. He moved to first after Swisher came out for pinch runner Sellers, who plays second. Aviles went from second to third. Easy peasy. More Lonnie at first, please!

Lon went 2 for 5 today with a walk, and his 11th double on the season. He got an RBI and came in to score 2 runs. He did have an error (tied for 5 with Santana) and a base-running blunder but fuck it. Dude is hitting .367. Nick Swisher has 6 errors and he does nothing to contribute at the plate. Bah.

Handome Mike had a Handsome game today, himself. he went 3 for 6, also with a double, and also with an RBI and 2 runs scored. He did a really nice job hustling to score the tying run on Brantley's single in the 13th. Aviles is everything!

Man that was so much awesome baseball, I never want it to stop. It's like a rebirth, with all the fun on Twitter and talking to the non-usuals about what a great game it was and watching highlights and seeing all the memes and stuff. Is this the start of something good?

My brother posited "What happened with the Tribe?" and my answer was they FINALLY happened! It's not too weird that they played like this today (except McAllister) - the weird part is that they HAVEN'T played like this all season! And not just today but all 3 games here. This is totally the team I was bragging on the day before the season started, and the team I was sure would be knocking on Detroit's door all season. What changed to bring this out in them? Was it the lineup changes? The personnel changes? The return of Giambi? Quicker Columbus trigger fingers?

Whatever it is, we must see it carry over to the Baltimore series. It's imperative. And if it does - it's FINALLY going to be an awesome season for us!

Tomorrow they face Baltimore in Baltimore. It'll be a MYSTERY PITCHER (since Tomlin pitched today) versus LHP 3.69. O noes! LHP! It will be a fine test indeed.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Of all people that you can't give a 4-run lead to, it's Max Scherzer."
- Tom Hamilton

"Max Scherzer is probably saying [to his pitching coach] 'Why don't you talk to my defense and ask them to catch a fly ball?'"
- Tom Hamilton

"This Tiger club with their offense, they are never out of a ballgame."
- Tom Hamilton

"Carlos Santana must feel like a pinata when he's catching. I've never seen someone take so many foul tips."
- Tom Hamilton

"It's almost like Scherzer started the game then Scherzer came in for long relief."
- Tom Hamilton

"If you're just joining us...yikes, you've missed a lot."
- Tom Hamilton

"Martinez knew it was strike three. The only person who didn't was [umpire] Tim Timmons."
- Tom Hamilton

"Knowing Josh Tomlin, he probably went up to Terry Francona and said 'Hey, put me in there.'"
- Tom Hamilton

"They heard Miquel Cabrera probably say some things they probably should not repeat."
- Tom Hamilton on what the kids at the field for Weather Day may have learned instead

"We enjoyed lunch with you, now we enjoy supper."
- Tom Hamilton

"HOW ABOUT THAT!! We now. have seen. Everything!! A walkoff balk! Unbelieveable!"
- Tom Hamilton

 

Momentary Lapse of Awesome

All that excitement from yesterday - great starting pitching, great hitting - came to a screeching halt in today's game. The starter didn't make it out of the 5th and the team only got 3 hits and one run in total. Two of the hits and the run didn't come until the 9th!

ZMac just didn't have a good outing. He gave up 5 earned runs. Ok, that happens. The offense should be able to pick you up on those days. They didn't. And the bullpen should be able to save things for you. They couldn't.

Lee came in for long relief halfway through the fifth, and did go 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Then Josh Outman appeared and strangely gave up 2 more runs! Carlos Carrasco finished out the game for an inning and 2/3 and didn't give up any runs. Cool.

John Axford is done closing for now, by the way. Whew! It'll be closing by committee which is totally fine by me. Mariano is gone and there won't be another.

Nobody was hitting. Just Ryan Raburn who got a double. A few guys got on with walks, and nobody hit them in. Unreal.
 
Michael Brantley (.287) did get a single in the 9th. And Lonnie Baseball came in to not only pinch hit for Swisher but also play first base (YES!) and he got a hit too.
 
Asdrubal's fire was temporarily snuffed out today.  Hoping it returns in full tomorrow.

That's it. No more to say about this game. We'll see you tomorrow at 1:40 for the absolutely exciting return return of Josh Tomlin! He'll face RHP 4.91.

I was totally running all over today during the game so I didn't get any Radio Chatter. I was lucky enough to hear most of the game! But I'm sorry I missed getting you some quotes because Tom Hamilton just does not ever have anything good to say about Florida and it is hilarious. Today he was telling people not to come to Tropicana Field if they like to visit ballparks, because it sucks. He says that since there's no basketball team in the area, they crank the music as loud as they can to create a basketball-like atmosphere where you can't talk to your neighbor. Also he had a long rant about the DJ Kitty hat for tonight's giveaway (which drew 29,000 fans) and yesterday he ranted about DJ Kitty himself. I think he hates Florida more than he hates Minnesota!

What's so bad about a DJ Kitty hat, man??

After All That...

Blowing Timmy out of the game, one hit over 4 innings for McAllister, being up by 3 runs into the 5th, and after all that - a big ol loss.

More problems with leaving runners on base and not getting those guys home. Lots more problems with the fact that our cleanup hitter is batting .128.

McAllister totally had it going on....until he didn't. He didn't even make it a quality start. He was out after 5 innings, after giving up 4 runs in that 5th inning on 4 hits and a walk. He had an error on a pickoff, though - that didn't seem to do him well.

Of course, with our lineup, a guy should be able to have an off day. ZMac gets an off day being that he's so far been our best pitcher. But they had 9 hits and left 9 on base. That does not get anyone anywhere.

ZMac got his first hit, though! They kept the ball for him.

And Kluber came in to run for Giambi in the 9th! Cool!

Michael Bourn looked good coming out of the gate. He stretched his hit into a double, then tagged up and took third when Swisher hit a fly ball to short left because the left fielder wasn't paying attention. Right after that, Kipnis hit Bourn in for the team's first run.

Swisher got 2 doubles today, so now he's hitting about 50 points under what we're paying him for.

Kipnis had a nice game, getting 2 of the team's 3 RBI. He seems to be warming back up.

Brantley and Cabrera were shut down today. Asdrubal's back to his old trick of hitting stuff hard, right to guys. Brantley is "down" to .273.

Lonnie Chisenhall came in to pinch hit today. He wasn't able to make a difference.

That's it, though. Really nothing to write home about vis this game. Let's hope they get their stuff together tomorrow at the plate, and don't drop an entire series out there on the west coast. Ugh!

Tomorrow will be another 4:05 game with Salazar facing an equally-struggling RHP (7.71). So there's definitely a chance we could have a fun afternoon. So, see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"The last time he weighed 245 was junior prom."
- Tom Hamilton on Sandoval's published vitals

"If it were Christmas right now and you could ask for something from Santa, the Indians would be looking for a big bat in the middle of the lineup."
- Tom Hamilton

Squirrel!

Ha! I love that dog! And you know that's what you were thinking when you heard there was a squirrel in the game, right?

Another quality start for Zach McAllister! And it was a super good outing for him until it wasn't, but after he gave up some runs he came back and finished up like a man. And didn't give up any more, yo. McAllister threw 4 scoreless innings, then in the 5th stuff got away from him. He ended up giving up 2 earned runs as well as an un-earned run - on an error by him! He came back for a scoreless 6th and actually started the 7th, but he walked the first batter and was at 98 pitches so that was that.

On comes the wicked bullpen - Zep, Allen and Axford. They are so awesome they are boring! Zep's ERA is now back down, at 1.00. Cody Allen is still at 0.00. STILL! He's only 5th in the league, though, if you can believe it. There are 4 guys with more innings than him who are still rockin' the goose eggs.

Axford showed up and had a nice, clean 1-2-3 inning. Aaaah. He got his 7th save too!

Speaking of zeroes, Jason Giambi was back today! He didn't get anything done. But they were saying on the radio about how different MLB and minor league pitching is. "G" (what an annoying nickname) has been working the pitching machine hard in the batting cages, but it still doesn't get him there I guess. Regardless of his quiet bat, does having him in the dugout make for a multiple home-run game? Hmm?

Giambi is actually the only dude who didn't hit today! The Tribe got 11 hits, which is good because they got no walks. It translated into 4 runs and a tidy little 6 LOB.

Bourn is still struggling. One for 4, with 2 strikeouts. Yeesh. Swisher went 2 for 4 with his 3rd double.

Kipnis went 2 for 4 but he got 2 RBI! That's because his 2 hits were a double and his first homer!

Yaaaaay!

They finally moved the Chiz Kid up to the 4 spot today. Winning? Yes. He also went 2 for 4, including his 6th double. Except no one was able to bat him in so that sucked. But seeing him continuing to produce (.455) at a different spot in the lineup is pretty awesome. Now, committing 2 errors in one game is not awesome but he has only had a few games at third this year so let's hope he got that out of his system.

Holy cow, Michael Brantley (.282)! All of a sudden hitting for power! He got his 4th home run of the year tonight (top of the league has 6), and his 17th and 18th RBI (tied for second in the league). Last year he only had 10 homers, yaknow. He says this is the first time he didn't have to do rehab in the offseason, so he is just healthy as a horse. All of that, and he also looks good in a fedora.

An approximation of Michael Brantley in a fedora.

Asdrubal is still hangin' in there. He went 1 for 4 with no strikeouts. He also was tight in the field, which he sort of had a problem with last year.

Murphy and Gomes both went 1 for 3 today. No errors for Gomes! The team as a whole was also low on strikeouts, so that's good. Stay agressive, boys!

Even though they got all those hits, the game was won by Kipnis and Brantley's homers. The team still needs to put together more hits. Oddly enough they were pretty soft on the starter, regarding pitch count, when yesterday they really ground the guy down. Maybe that's just a Santana thing? They let Guthrie get out of the first inning on 6 pitches!

But, we'll take wins any way we can get them. And it did feel like the team turned a corner tonight, batting-wise. Not a 90-degree corner but a slight curve to the right. They're not getting worse, that's for sure.

Tomorrow is another day of Royals (royals) at 7:05. It'll be Salazar versus RHP 2.00. Salazar needs to be steppin' up. Use it or lose it, Danny! He's got a 7.71 ERA with no quality starts in 3 games. Let's see that change!

I don't have any Radio Chatter today, even with the squirrel thing. I'm tellin ya, Hammy and Rosie aren't that into it yet! It's all business right now it seems. Maybe after 2 wins in a row, they'll be more loose tomorrow.

Tigers On Ice

Wow, I am super happy that the Tribe beat the Tigers today! They are the toughest team we've played thus far and we came out ahead!

Maybe, maaaaaaybe there was some help from the weather but hey, Zach McAllister pitched in the same conditions as Sanchez and he did just fine.

Except for strikeouts (ZMac = 4, Sanchez = 8) McAllister did better in every way than Sanchez! He went 6 innings to Sanchez's 5, 1 run given up to Sanchez's 3, only 2 walks to Sanchez's 4. Good stuff, guy! That's two W's for him already and two quality starts. I think our pitching is getting better every rotation don't you think?

Bullpen is staying solid, too. They shut down the Tigers in the 7th, 8th and 9th. First Bryan Shaw, then Cody Allen (who is keeping his 0.00 still!) and then John Axford with his 5th save. Axford's 9th was a bit Perez-y with a double, then an error to put the guy on third. But Axford got out of it like 2012 Perez, with a strikeout and a groundout.

Good thing the pitching was so nifty, because the offense is still not so good! They ended up with just 5 hits, and their 3 runs came on 3 hits (and 4 walks).

Michael Bourn was back today, and Nyjer Morgan was in Columbus. Everyone was really sad about it. Michael Bourn didn't make a good case for himself, going 0 for 4 with a walk and 2 strikeouts.

WTG!

Then down the line, goose egg, goose egg, goose egg for everyone. Even Brantley (.275)! Santana didn't even get a walk. He did get an RBI by grounding in to a bases-loaded, no-outs double play in the first. See above.

Asdrubal had a night! Compared to the other guys, at least. A walk and a single.

Of course, not as much of a night as Lonnie and Yan!

I've got a theory that dudes do really well right off of paternity leave. Lonnie was in at third today and got himself a double and a single, going 2 for 4 on a night where everyone else was doing nothing! He's batting .421...only 18 at-bats but, woah.

He's still no Yan Gomes, though. A two-run triple and a single! It's really nice when a gamble pays off, isn't it? Although betting on Yan Gomes to be awesome every day wasn't really too much of a wild bet, but so far so good.

The Tribe definitely "found a way to win" today, even if it was winning by the Tigers sucking. By July we won't even remember how we came to win the first one - as long as there are many more!

Tomorrow is a 1:05 game so don't forget. Actually, the site says 1:08, no foolin. Anyway, around 1 tune in to hear Salazar throw against some RHP with a 2.57 ERA. Let's hope the batters are more inspired this time, maybe?

Sorry no Radio Chatter today. But, here's a collage of pictures of my dog. She is 12 today!

Double Headscratcher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you there!

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

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

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

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

Oh, THIS Again...

Both of the Indians' wins this year so far have come in the 9th inning. Are we going to do this again?! I guess I kind of like it, if it's going to be "our thing." It shows that the team has a lot of "stick-to-it-tive-ness." I also would like some early-inning blowouts but it's early yet. And I'll always take any kind of win.

Oh man, long day of baseball, right? Except for a half hour gym break I've been baseballin' for 11 hours now. I've been trying to listen to more sports talk radio and since there was the double header today, they were actually talking baseball today instead of Browns.

All that baseball and it kind of sucks that today's first game was such a dud. I can handle a loss but such a booooring loss after a boooooring win on Monday? And it broke our 11-game regular-season winning streak (started in 2013).

The best thing about the first game was that Kipnis had relaxed and instead of 3 strikeouts he got 2 hits and NO strikeouts! Atta boy!

Aviles was in there for the first (and second) game, and he got a double alongside Kipnis. In the two games they had Asdrubal, Aviles and Kipnis rotating around DH and the middle infield and I really like that that's an option. No need to wear out either guy but then no need to bench them, since right now we don't have a DH. Giambi better watch out if the three guys keep hitting - this might be a permanent thing!

Game 1 also featured an extremely competent play by Santana at third - and also our first review! The MLB is happy with their decision to do reviews - I can tell because they added a little "Review" graphic to their video highlights. The call stood, by the way. The Santana-to-Gomes putout stood. But everyone was like "OMG THAT TOOK FOREVER!" and it kind of did. There was a review in the second game too (srsly?) and it took just a moment and that got a golf clap from Tom Hamilton, who waits for no man.

Nothing much else happened in that game other than Kluber and Pestano both being awful, and I don't want to talk about it. Being that this is The Positive Tribe and not Comprehensive Indians News, I don't have to!

The pitching was way better in game 2 but the offense was still plagued by LOB. Left. On. Base. Everyone was left on base! Same problems haunting us.

Starting with the pitching...Zach McAllister was our man for the night game and he wasn't very sharp. He only made it through four innings and gave up 3 runs. He did strike out four so that's a thing.

The arm of the night was Mark Rzepczynski (heretofore known as "Zep") who threw a long 2 1/3 innings and gave up nothing but a walk. Very nice piece of long relief! They had brought CC Lee all the way from Columbus as our 26th man ... I guess assuming the starters wouldn't last long? But I suppose they didn't assume the middle relievers would go so long!

After Zep were Shaw, Allen and Axford. No runs were given up aside from an un-earned run during Shaw's turn. Allen ended up with the W so he's actually got two Ws and Axford got the S and he's got 2 of those! Axford shortened his stint today after Monday's 28-pitch close. Today he managed it in just 12.

Let me tell you about Nyjer Morgan. Reading about his past, I think there are a lot of things to say about Nyjer Morgan. However, it seems that Tom Hamilton does not want to talk about any of those things - so for the last 3 games we've not heard much about Nyjer Morgan other than he was a young hockey star from California. That is odd because he is from California, and he's black, and it turns out he is a good baseball player. Well, he is a paid baseball player - all he's done so far is walk and get a sac fly for us. I wonder how long Hamilton will stick with this story?

Ryan Raburn - now THERE'S a baseball player! In true Goon Squad style he came in in the 6th to replace the un-productive Morgan, led off the 9th with a single and game in to score the tying run! As expected!

Kipnis was the DH for this game, and even though he didn't get a hit he was there being Kipnis, making stuff happen. In the 7th he walked and stole a base, and came around to score the tying run. In the 9th he got on via a force out, stole second to eliminate the double play, then came around to score the go-ahead run. All of this without a hit!

Santana was in a groove this evening. Either he was fueled by his nifty 3rd base work in the early game or he was happy to be back behind the plate. Whatever the case, he went 2 for 3 with 2 walks and a run. When Santana hits, the Tribe wins!

Michael Brantley (.364) didn't get a hit until the 9th, and he actually left 4 men on base. HOWEVER, being that he's Michael Brantley of COURSE he ended up getting a hit! And to the A's dismay, he was the man at the plate in the 9th with the bases loaded, only one out and the Tribe down a run. Statistics show that Michael Brantley was going to get a hit and statistics were on the money. Cousin Michael got his hit and the tying run and the go-ahead run and a little more of my devotion!

After leading off the first game, Asdrubal was down in the 7-hole for the night game. He was actually reliable today, and I don't mean reliably striking out when the game was on the line. He got hit by a pitch and intentionally walked so he was totally IN it, man. He got a hit, too, and came around to score.

David Murphy, who I totally still know nothing about, got his second hit in two games which was an RBI single for an insurance run in the 9th. Let's find a picture of David Murphy, so we can become better acquainted.

Hmm...I still don't feel like I know you. But now I know you played for the Rangers.

Here's a guy we all know - Mike Aviles! Raburn's fellow Goon Squad guy was doing second base this game, and he did all the goons proud! 'Cuz he is the first Indian to get a homer today, in that big cavernous Oakland Coliseum. Neat! He also stole a base, and he also was in the middle of two defensive double plays. You gotta love that guy!

The Chiz Kid, Lonnie Chisenhall, made his debut at third today while Santana was catching (boy, is this team stacked right for double headers or what?) He went 1 for 2 and then was pulled for Elliot Johnson because I don't know why.  Johnson didn't do anything but strike out.

So that was that. The box scores said it was 6:35 worth of baseball, with dinner inbetween. Tom Hamilton wants you to know that a long plane ride from Oakland to Cleveland is WAY better when you're 2-1 and not 1-2. He repeated it three times.

Tomorrow is going to suck because one, I have lost several hours of sleep this week and two - no baseball! That's two days of no baseball after waiting so long for baseball then having some baseball and...grr. But Friday is going to be AWESOME!!! Barring the rain.

Can't wait - SEE YOU THERE!!!

Radio Chatter:
"The Bash Brothers...should have been known as the Syringe Brothers..."
- Tom Hamilton

"The video board here in Oakland, you can't see anything anyway. It's a Philco video board from 1955. They use stick figures for the players."
- Tom Hamilton

"The way Scott Kazmir looks now, this game's over."
- Tom Hamilton in the 6th

"Derek Norris, running the bases like Chuck Norris."
- Tom Hamilton apparently thinks Chuck Norris would be caught in a rundown

"Let's see...Josh Lindbloom made 14 pitches to get 4 outs, Zach McAllister made 36 pitches to get 3 outs."
- Tom Hamilton

"Boy that long plane ride would look a lot better with a split, wouldn't it?"
- Tom Hamilton

Michael Says Relax

Whew! I am so tired right now - I feel like *I* just played 9! It is sooooo much harder being a fan of a contending-for-wildcard team than anything else. Most of the rest of the fans in baseball are sleeping like babies right now, their teams having clinched a playoff spot. And the seven people who root for the Rays (yeah, not even all their parents!) have been falling asleep to the 11 o'clock news. It's basically just the Tribe and the Rangers fans who are on the edge of their seats, watching this rediculousness that is the race for the wildcard for the race for the playoffs.

Yay?
 
Michael Brantley is just a MONSTER. Well, not a monster. Look at those eyes!

But when he's at the plate he's just showing no mercy to that baseball!! Not only a 10-game hitting streak but 19 hits in those games, with 9 RBI over his last 5.

WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM??

I was sort of joking when I posited that Brantley should hit .300 after this streak...but his average has actually gone up 15 points since the beginning of the streak and he's at .289. How high can it go? I did the math...if he goes 15 for 15 in his next 3 games (might happen if he hits lead-off!) he'll hit .308. If he only gets 12 at-bats, he only needs to get 9 hits to bat .300. Turns out it's pretty do-able for him!

In short, Michael Brantley is amazing.

Speaking of guys creeping up on .300, Yanimal woke up today!

He was shut down yesterday but Gomes went head-to-head with Brantley, also getting 3 hits and 2 RBI! He got a big stinkin' 2-run homer. Can't stop won't stop!

What else is going on with the Goon Squad? Ryan Raburn gets to play because Bourn is hurt, so of course he's hitting too. Raburn went 2 for 4 today before once again being pulled for Carson - talk about can't stop won't stop (Raburn's injury!) He's actually been shut down in his last two appearances so let's hope if he's in it for the next three he's "all in" - Raburn style.

Kipnis got his 35th double, so Santana went and got his 36th!

All of this awesomeness added up to 6 runs. Man, I am still having a hard time shaking off this near-loss!!

The pitching situation was another throw-everyone-at-them situation. Not sure why they are putting everyone out there with 3 more crucial games to go. Do any of our starters go long anymore? No...so why are they burning out arms?

So it was ZMac with 6 of his friends to follow. McAllister only went 4 1/3 innings, then they did some matchups. Shaw was pretty tough going 1 2/3 and getting the win. Zep gave up a run, Allen and Albers did fine. Chris Perez. Joe Smith got the save.

I'm tired just writing that down.

Ok so MOVING ON....let's move on...

Tomorrow, again at 8:10. Kluber versus LHP 6.05. Cool! We've got this one, right? Let's hope Klube has a ton of innings in that Alabama arm of his. Maybe something along the lines of 8 innings?

Get some rest...I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Ice fishing is right around the corner."
- Tom Hamilton on Minnesota

"If we have four teams tied for the wildcard, well then we'll ask you to go back to college to figure this all out..."
- Tom Hamilton after explaining wilcard scenarios

"Dreams sometimes do become reality."
- Tom Hamilton on the moves made last offseason

"You knew [Brian] Hoyer was a very intelligent man the day he proposed to his wife, who is from Avon Lake."
- Tom Hamilton

"There's enough electricity in this ballpark...to power a 25-watt bulb."
- Tom Hamilton

"Dennis Eckersley was one of the greatest relievers of all time and I don't remember this kind of...oh yeah, he played for Oakland."
- Tom Hamilton on the exit of Rivera and the hoopla involved

"This just doesn't seem possible."
- Tom Hamilton in the 9th

It's Tribe Time...NOW!

Once again it wasn't a pretty win - they still couldn't get those runners home, even with the gift of 3 errors AND they only had to play 6 1/2 innings before the torrential downpour. But by the end of the day, there is this:

There you have it! What we've been waiting for all this time! It's definitely ours to lose. Gotta keep winning, winning, winning and maybe a few of those other jerks can keep losing and the 2013 MLB Playoffs are OURS!

Quick game tonight, due to rain. It was only 6 1/2 innings, which made it official. Exactly official, in fact - like the sky knew when it was ok to open up!

Zach McAllister was already replaced by then, twice. He only managed 5 innings and 76 pitches before it was time for backup. Zep took care of the first bit of the 6th then Shaw finished it up and took on the 7th. They did well, and even McAllister was doing all right with just 4 hits and 1 run. Maybe Francona's on a "if you got 'em, use 'em" tear with the bullpen?

The offense only managed 4 hits and their 2 runs - they won 2-1 - were both un-earned due to the aforementioned 3 errors. Asdrubal got on base again by sheer luck, just like last night!

Brantley's hitting streak stayed alive! He's on his way to tabling out the season!

Santana's hitting streak had already come to an end a couple days prior but he was back behind the plate tonight, and started on a new streak, no doubt.

Hey Raburn! Good to see you - and your hit!

Good ol' Mike Aviles. Handsome Mike. I tell you what - that kid left 4 men on again tonight. He's really been racking up the bodies. But you know what? He got his first hit in 20 at-bats and it was a double and there was no one else on but dangit - perhaps this is Aviles turning a corner?! Let's get this done, mi primo!

Hopefully the boys had a nice relaxing night playing GTA 5 before turning in early (they all sleep in bunk beds underneath center field, right?) and are totally fired up to beat these Astros to a pulp tomorrow! On Nick Swisher Fireworks Night! (And by "fired up" I mean sort of embarrassed that this stupid Houston team is holding them down so hard.)

Tomorrow is a 6:05 start - don't forget! It'll be Kazmir versus RHP 5.54. Are you kidding me?! There was 17k at the stadium tonight for Dollar Dog night. Let's see you break 25k tomorrow for fireworks and the Black Keys!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"If you think this is an adventure, wait til Sunday."
- Tom Hamilton on the umpiring crew (Sunday must be Bucknor behind the plate)

"When we board that plan for Minneapolis Wednesday night, nobody knows where that plane is going 4 days later."
- Tom Hamilton is getting excited

Raburn RAEG!!!

Up, down. Good, bad. How do I feel about this team here? They sure aren't helping their case with games like this!

Poor pitching, and batting that leaves a lot to be desired. WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS ...

I MEAN, REALLY!!

Got these guys getting on base and no Raburn to get them in. And no Raburn to come around to score when these guys got hits. Not cool man, not cool.

Let's see...Zach McAllister had a not-so-good game. Four runs in 5 innings. Then all sorts of random guys came out to try their hand at not giving up runs, and for the most part they failed.

Nick Hagadone and CC Lee came in and each gave up a run. Zep and this young fella named Blake Wood came in and at least gave up no more runs but a total of 6 was plenty for the Royals to get what they came for. Blast!

The guys got a ton of hits today! So why didn't they score a ton of runs? They didn't even have a ton of LOB! I don't know, I don't know!! No walks? Is that why? That can't be why.

Bourn had a monster double in the 8th inning, which is nice because he was 0 for his last a lot. Although it kinda sorta was catchable, but Alex Gordon wasn't feeling it. Also, it only scored 2 instead of 1 because seriously Jose Ramirez is possibly the fastest Indian EVER and he jetted in from first.

Wow, that is so un-positive of me!

Anyway, Swisher and Kipnis both went 1 for 4, and Santana and Brantley each went TWO for 4. All of them singles but, whatever - that's 7 hits for the top of the order. Only 3 RBI for them, and that's all.

Asdrubal got another hit tonight so that's less than bad. Him and Kipnis are really freaking me out with the strikeouts lately, tho. They left 6 men on base between them!

Jason Kubel didn't do anything, which is I think what we're supposed to expect of him? Interesting that our two better-hitting right fielders were benched for the entirety of the game.

Lonnie Chisenhall, on the other hand, had a brilliant night going 3 for 3 with a double! Amazing! But you know what? No runs and no RBI (well, Ramirez came in to run for him and got that run in) The 9th spot was a black hole for him today.

Tomorrow is a noontime affair with Scott Kazmir facing RHP 3.43. It's going to be hot as the dickens again tomorrow, too. I can't believe more people came out for this absolute scorcher of a night than they did last night. And how hot will it be at noon tomorrow? DANG!

Anyway, pray for Raburn.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"They haven't tried to run tonight, not after Yan Gomes played sniper last night."
- Tom Hamilton

"Teachers don't mind when you miss days in September."
- Tom Hamilton on Wednesday's noon game

It Was All For The Chicken

So there was a chicken hanging out in the outfield before the game tonight.

TribeVibe

I am not kidding. It was either the chicken or Ryan Raburn that brought back the Tribe We Know And Love today. Or maybe Raburn brought the chicken?

Here's a video of it. And here's some Twitter quotes about said chicken:

Francona: "I'm pretty OK with, as long as we win, whatever it takes. But I don't know about farm animals."
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 5, 2013

Joe Smith on if #rallychicken finishes season: "I'm not sure if he can fly. I’m not sure how that goes with livestock on planes." #indians
— PatMcManamon (@PatMcManamon) September 5, 2013

Raburn, on chicken: "He was in here after the game. Everybody had to give him high-fives. If we keep rolling he's going to be here a while."
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 5, 2013

Indians' Cody Allen, who initially balked at questions about the chicken: "We scored six runs today. The chicken might be here tomorrow."
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 5, 2013

#Indians manager Terry Francona & numerous players want P.E.T.A. to know the chicken is in good hands. Definitely eating & living well.
— Nick Camino (@CaminoTribe) September 5, 2013

So that was fun, huh? No doubt there was some Jobu-style batmagic going on tonight. FOR THE CHICKEN!!!

First off, pitching. ZMac was not at his best tonight. No no no no. He went only 4 2/3 innings before it was shutters for him. He was fine in the first 3 innings, not giving up any runs. He hit a guy and gave up a double. In the 4th it was just a solo homer, but, hey - a guy can give up one run! But in the 5th there was a double, a walk and a 3-run-dinger by Not Chris Davis, and that's just unacceptable right now. Smooth move by Tito to sit him down! He did strike out 6 before he sat, so that was nice.

Even nicer was that Shaw, Allen, Smith and Perez teamed up to finish the thing giving up just ONE hit between them in 4 innings! They didn't give up any walks and they struck out 5! Perez was back to his 1-2-3 inning stuff, even. Whew!

Michael Bourn had a rough night at the plate, striking out 3 times. But the 1 time he did get on base he came around to score - and had a sweet play to end the game. That's what we got him for!

Kipnis was back on track today with his first multi-hit game since August 24. He went2 for 3 with a walk, and came around to score twice. Multi-hit Kipnis - that is what we need!

Santana walked and came around to score. Not so much a big stick today but being on base - that is what it takes.

Yan Gomes was up in the Brantley spot tonight while Brantley takes a breather, and he continued on his streak of awesomeness, getting 2 more RBI today to tack on to the 2 from yesterday! He comes up in the first inning with bases loaded and is all like "BAM! RBI SINGLE!"

Then later on he's up with 2 guys on and is all "BAM! RBI DOUBLE!" He hit another single too, and came in to score during that awesome 4-run first inning. All hail Yanimal! (Or Gomer. Or Gomey. Gomey? Come on, lame!)

Asdrubal had a rough night but he did walk once and then came around to score.

Ryan Raburn, back in action! He's so good...

...He's so good that people like to see him twerk it! All night long!

Dude returned with a bang, getting a 2-run double in that first inning on his first plate appearance since August 18. In fact, he's keeping up a 3-run hitting streak since the 17th now!

Matt Carson game in to relieve Raburn in the 6th, and what do you know? He got a single.

¡Hola, Mike Aviles! Remember how I was saying yesterday how cool it was that Gomes and Aviles have 70 of the team's RBI? Well now they have 73! Aviles got himself an RBI single in that fabulous first, and later on hit a double. He went 2 for 4 on the night!

Our man Stubbs didn't fare well tonight, and his ~.240 is slipping down to .235. Maybe he is afraid of chickens?

Clearly I was excited by this game today. This is the team I wanted to root for all year. Now the thing is to keep it up for the rest of the month and THEN we'll have a chance at greatness! Nice to pick up 2 whole games on the O's that's for sure. Speaking of picking up games did you see what Boston did to Detroit tonight?

This.

I never want to find myself rooting for the Red Sox but...daaaaayum!

Tomorrow is a day off and then Friday the Mets come to town. Hooray for the mediocre Mets! Hopefully we see Dice-K and since he's been giving his secrets away in CBus all summer, we'll know exactly how to hit him and score many many runs!

The matchup Friday is Kazmir versus RHP 3.36. The only real question to ponder, though - will the chicken be there?

Let us pray.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Mike Aviles is often like a 3-year-old kid with a bag of candy. He is always in perpetual motion."
- Tom Hamilton

"Anything close, Chris Davis gets the call. It's like he's George Brett all of a sudden."
- Tom Hamilton

Happy John Adams Day!!

The Indians creamed the Twins today and that is absolutely how John Adams Appreciation Day should go, no doubt. It would have been an total shame to do it any other way.

Today was the 40th anniversary of Adams' first game at the field with his drum. Here's a cool story from the Indians' site, an interview with Glenn Moore at Cleveland.com and a photo slideshow of some fan photos, with nice comments in the comment area, also at Cleveland.com. My favorite pic in the slideshow is Adams (a fat Adams!) with Sister Mary Assumpta and Son Of Gouhl. So Cleveland!

(Side note...Sister Mary Assumpta is no longer a nun. WAT HATH GOD WROUGHT?!)

It was also Nick Swisher jersey day, and the people seem to like Nick Swisher - over 26k came for his jersey today (or they came for U2 fireworks!) Funnily enough, I also received a reply from the Indians today from when I bitched at them about making the site background just Tito & Swisher. They were polite. I'm still sore about it but I said what I had to say, and the season's near over, so oh well.

Zach McAllister was the starter today, and he had his third great start in a row! A quality start (what I like to call quality plus!) with 7 1/3 innings and just 2 runs on 4 hits. He struck out 5 and only walked 2!

Since ZMac did such a nice job, we only needed 1 2/3 innings of bullpen. Bryan Shaw and Mark Rzepczynski were faced with the task of not blowing it for John Adams. It was a big test - and they did well!

Shaw came in for the rest of the 8th, after McAllister surprised us both by coming out for the 8th and giving off a leadoff home run. Shaw got a strikeout and a lineout and that was that.

Zep was up for the 9th (although it would have been a fun night to have Perez), and he got the first two outs, which brought the crowd to their feet. Then...that awkward moment when everyone is up on their feet cheering for the third out and you give up a double...

But, he made up for it striking out the next batter. Ballgame!

The Tribe got 7 runs off just 9 hits and 3 walks today. Pretty impressive! Three doubles and 2 homers is the key. They each were at the plate 4 times too - the last batter was Drew Stubbs. I wonder how often that happens? (I tweeted the question to Jim Rosenhaus. Let's see if someone at WTAM can figure it out!)

The only guy who didn't get on base today is Yan Gomes. Can you believe it?!

Bourn got on with a walk, then came around to score from first on a double. It was Nick Swisher's 2-RBI double in face. He had a slow start to Swisher jersey day, but his double with the Brothers Speed on the bases made him a pretty popular guy today! He's got 11 hits in his last 10 games, so let's hope he keeps this up for the next month. And then some.

Kipnis has gone like 0 for his last 20, give or take. Yeesh! But today the Kid broke out and went 2 for 4, not only with a single that allowed him to score in the first on a homer, but with a 2-run homer of his own in the third!! Ok kid - this is the beginning of something big!

Speaking of something big...apparently Carlos Santana is a bit of a saint. Before the game he met with this kid named Niko, who said he was Santana's #1 fan and Niko asked for a homer. That's pretty special to be Santana's #1 fan...I think it's way more lonesome than being Asdrubal's #1 fan. Anyway, the Indians posted this at about 5:30, so it's no fake:

This is Niko, who calls himself Carlos Santana's No. 1 fan. He told Carlos he wants him to hit a home run today! pic.twitter.com/HtYrt3k3Ho
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) August 24, 2013

Then of course, later on:

Just talked with Niko, the youngster from earlier who requested Carlos' homer. He also asked Kip to hit one ... and he did. #HireThatMan
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) August 25, 2013

And after the game:

Carlos Santana, re: his homer for #Niko: "They told me I was their favorite player, and I promised to hit a home run for him."
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) August 25, 2013

I love this stuff!!!!

Michael Brantley has been just as cold as Kipnis (just as all the other guys were finally getting their acts together) but he came through with an RBI single in what was the big 5th inning. Start of a new streak, no doubt!

Speaking of streaks...Asdruuuubal, six games! He's gotten doubles in 3 of those 6 games, including tonight. OMG!

Chisenhall has been quiet for the last 2 games but today he also got a double. No RBI or runs for him but every little bit helps, even if it just means getting a hit to break out of a slump to be ready for the next game!

Drew Stubbs was a major player today, getting 2 hits and coming around to score twice.  He stole second and "unfortunately" it ultimately didn't matter because he got hit in by a homer. Although I like to think having guys on 2nd and 3rd rattles the pitcher. They did that the other day, too. Later on he came in to score on that Swisher double, and it was cool because his speedy friend Bourn was right on his heels. See this insightful graphic I made:

It's not that impressive until you consider that Stubbs is dang fast. No one else could ever be on that boy's heels!

Fun friggin' times tonight, and I hope tomorrow afternoon is just as cool. We need the team to hit like that every night, and let the pitchers do what they'll do. With 7 runs to cushion them, they can be awesome or awesomely bad and the team record doesn't have to struggle because of it!

Tomorrow at 1:05 is Scott Kazmir versus RHP 5.19. Whoop! That's a nice fat ERA! Kazmir has been struggling lately so the bats have to show up. It could all very well fall in place tomorrow...

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Shortstop Pedro Florimon says 'I will, I will, I will!' and he does catch it."
- Tom Hamilton

"This is a completely different ballclub when Kipnis and Brantley are hitting."
- Tom Hamilton

"I grew up on a dairy farm...and not once did I see mom and dad strap monkeys to our dogs to get the cows into the barn."
- Tom Hamilton on minor league entertainment

"Does anybody in baseball now have a bullpen that doesn't feature 5 or 6 guys throwing in the mid-90s?"
- Tom Hamilton

"Tito Francona ought to be named the American League player of the year for what he's done with this club."
- Tom Hamilton