There It Is!

Finally - back to beating good pitchers! Back to cobbling together runs! Back to late-inning magic! Good [mediocre] Ubaldo!

Also, this guy!

It takes a fat guy to one-hand a fly ball with a hot dog in the other hand. I salute you!

Ubaldo only went 5 innings today but only gave up 2 runs, in the 3rd inning. He actually struggled pretty hard in the third - 2 walks and 2 wild pitches turned in to 2 runs. But the 4th was uneventful and he had a 1-2-3 5th, so he did manage to compose himself and come back good. If this is perhaps what his "bad" games look like now, I'll soooooo take it!

Since we were scourged with Hill, Shaw and Albers yesterday, today we were blessed with Hagadone (well, whatever), Allen and Pestano. Hagadone actually controlled himself and did all right in his 1 1/3 innings. Next up was the usually-solid Allen who gave up a hit and then turned it in to a triple with a bad throw. Not so solid, dude! Of course that fella came around to score on a sac fly.


Pestano came in for the 9th and it was a weird one. Two on (boo!) and a guy hits a single. The lead runner misses the "hold" sign and comes racing around third with Santana waiting for him at the plate with the ball. He gets caught in a rundown. The other two runners advance. The guy who goofed dives in to third, at the feet of the other Royal standing there. They tag him out. No wait, he's safe, he's holding on to the bag! They tag the guy standing on third. He's out. The Royal on third tells the guy on the ground to put his hands back on the base before he gets tagged out in a double play. He does. Whew! You gotta see it for yourself. 

Is everybody here?

That play prevented a run and ultimately saved the game for us. Sad that Vinnie had so many dudes on the bag at once but hey - a win's a win!

The Tribe was low on hits again today but unlike some other games during their losing streak, they were at least stacking them up today. Just 6 hits and 4 walks, and only one extra-base hit, but they still managed 4 runs!

Michael Bourn didn't get his hit until his last at-bat in the 8th, but it was a big one! He got a big long single to left to score Raburn, who had walked and was moved over by Stubbs.

Aviles, who was 2 for 4 on the night, with a run scored and an RBI. He got the team's first RBI in the 6th with a single. In the 8th he got on base after Bourn's single, eventually coming in to score the winning run!

With 2 on and 1 out, Jason Kipnis got over his very short stint of being absolutely useless in the clutch, and instead hit a RBI double to tie the game! WA-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Santana was intentionally walked after that, because he is awesome. Michael Brantley, not to go un-noticed, hit himself a sac fly to get the go-ahead run in!

Santana went 1 for 2 with 2 walks (he's tied for 4th in the league for walks, yaknow), and Brantley went 0 for 3 with an RBI.

Drew Stubbs got his hit (1 for 3) in the 6th, stole second base and then came around to score on the aforementioned Aviles single. Run, boy!

So now the team is back in second place and tomorrow they can make it further past the Royals in the standings if they get another win.

Tomorrow is Masterson versus RHP 4.08. Let's hope they keep up this stuff that made them good in the first place - hits when it matters, sticking with it through 9 and good starting pitching. I don't see anything on that list that totally can't happen tomorrow!

See you there!

No Radio Chatter tonight cuz...there just isn't. Although there was some talk about Kipnis not wanting to hug the home plate umpire. But you heard that for yourself, right?

Bullpen Woes

It was a rough, rough battle. The guy who came out on top was Carlos Carrasco. Unfortunately the rest of his team - especially the bullpen - totally brought him crashing down.

Carrasco was done with his suspension (did you miss him?) and his main issue was being afraid to pitch inside. You gotta pitch inside if you're going to pitch more than an inning. Otherwise, everyone would get bored. Oh, and get hits too. Could he do it? He also had a problem with being easily flustered. Could he get out of jams?

Yes and yes!

Carrasco ended up going 7 1/3 innings with just 4 hits and ONE walk. Not sure why they pulled him after just 90 pitches - either they thought he'd lose his cool, or they're taking it easy since he technically was on the DL - but they did pull him with a runner on. And then Carrasco ended up having an earned run because some doofus from the bullpen gave up a double. Boo!

But Carrasco really looked good and confident, which is in line with how he was throwing in the minors before he came back up. He almost halved his ERA with this outing. He gave up just as many hits and earned runs as superstar pitcher James Shields, who didn't make it as many innings as Carrasco did.

I really look forward to Carrasco proving himself again (and again!) After Kluber's and Masterson's performances lately - wow, we could have a pretty scary rotation!

Except we've got dudes like Bryan Shaw and Rich Hill, who have not been consistent for us. Well Shaw has been inconsistent (usually good but losing his stuff lately). Hill has been evenly bad all season. It's a crying shame that you can't use Allen, Smith and Pestano every day!

Shaw came in and gave up that double that scored Carrasco's guy, tying the game at 1. Then he came in for the 9th and got 2 guys on base. So Rich Hill came in. I swear, that must have been the only guy remotely available for miles around, because...Rich Hill? Not the guy you want with 2 on and no outs and tied at one. David Lough hit a bunt to the mound and Rich Hill fell over trying to get it. Bases loaded. Yeah.

Then Matt Albers came in, and he's all right I guess. Better than Hill, that's for sure. He's only given up 2 runs in his last 10 appearances. Today, though, he threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded and scored one of Hill's guys. Aye caramba!

Even though our guys only mustered to score 1 run today, and left a whole heap of guys on base, it's still a game that was lost by the bullpen. There were two tough starters and an even tougher KC bullpen. It was our bullpen's game to give up - and they did.

Bourn managed to get a hit today - a big double off the wall in the 9th. He also walked twice - but oddly enough did not steal anything.

Aviles was up batting second today (I thought Francona was a guy who never messed with lineups?) and he got a hit. However, moving to third must have blown Kipnis' mind because not only did he end his hitting streak today (stopped at 10) but he choked and died with runners in scoring position - twice! And left 7 guys on base. Holy COW!!! The Kid sure has taken a huge fall.

Maybe it's got something to do with this weird article from the Akron Beacon Journal today. Is it just me or is that a poorly-written article? Perhaps I've forgotten how to read.

Kipnis is lucky we can blame the loss on the bullpen, otherwise it'd be all on his shoulders!

Santana was lookin' good, though. He got his second home run in 3 games, and it was the team's only run scored! Not for lack of trying but it was the only one.

A little glimmer of hope today from Mark Reynolds? He went 2 for 4 - and stole a base! And as usual, we say it's always nice when Reynolds gets little hits. That means he's not swinging for the fences every time, and can help out the team by just being on base.

The Tribe's in 3rd place now but whatever, it is STILL still only June. Although I heard today that Max Scherzer won his 10th game and Chris Davis hit his howevermany-th home run. Yeesh.

Tomorrow is more of the same, with Ubaldo facing RHP 2.74. Can Ubaldo go the distance, to keep us from having to see the bullpen at all? Is that asking too much? I'm not sure what's going on with this team anymore so something like that could totally happen, much to our surprise!

No Radio Chatter tonight, again. Wow, I'm slipping. But I'm trying to earn money so I'm doing all sort of hustling on the side while I listen to the game. No time to stop and write stuff down!

You'll just have to tune in to hear stuff yourself! ;)

The Quiet Assassin

What is UP, Corey Kluber?! I've seen some good pitching performances so far this summer (Masterson's game against the Yankees in the first game of the double header comes to mind), and I've seen some complete games but I don't know if I've seen a performance this year as....courageous? ...as Kluber's outing today!

Hey Washington...

First off the guy was facing Stephen Strasburg who is like the only guy to play for the Nationals that anyone outside of "the corridor" knows. He's their ace, and he pitched like one today, only giving up 1 hit to our lineup in 5 innings (he's just back from the DL).

Well, Kluber went 8 innings and while he gave up 7 hits, he struck out 8 (twice as many as Strasburg) and walked NONE. Strasburg gave up a run and 4 walks to our guys.

It's not like Kluber was mowing them down, either - and thus comes the courageous part. Only half of his innings went 1-2-3 (where he did, in fact, mow down EIGHT guys).

In the 6th he had 2 on with no out, and nearly at 100 pitches. He got out of that.

In the 7th he had the bases loaded with no outs and already past 100 pitches and he got out of that!! Wow - one of the best moments of the 2013 season thus far!

The boys made three double plays behind him, but also made two errors (Johnny Mac...ouch!) There actually would have been FOUR double plays if one hadn't been botched. Kluber pitched right through that nonsense.

Speaking of the guys behind him - they took out Swisher due to his sore arm or whatever, put Reynolds at first and John McDonald at third, just like I said they should. This didn't turn out so well, performance-wise but let's give these guys a minute to settle in at their new corners. 'n stuff.

Swisher is handing out more BROHIO shirts. Not to us, though. Just to the people in the expensive seats that have waiters (seriously, those seats have waiters. And padding.)

It was so awesome to see Kluber come out in the 8th, with 102 pitches already. You just don't see that too much anymore!  Here's a nice video wrap-up of his day.

Kluber's last outing was also 8 innings, and over 100 pitches (104). This time he had more strikeouts, fewer walks and no runs.

We got the minor-league Kluber for Jake Westbrook. You like?

Vinnie came in for the 9th and he looked kind of stressed out, but he got it done on just 11 pitches, 1 walk and no hits. Let's hope this is one of many nice closes for him!

On the other side of things today, Strasburg had our guys handcuffed too but we chased him out after 5.

Kipnis kept up his hitting streak and is now at 10 games, with 16 hits and 8 RBI. Today he went 1 for 1, because he walked twice and also had what was basically the game-clenching sac fly. He also scored what was the game-winning run after a walk, a steal and advancement on a throwing error. The Kid is making stuff happen - big time!!

Yan Gomes got a hit today and he got his first career stolen base! Hey!

In case anybody is confused that SB next to my name it actually means stolen base, it's not a typo.
— Yan Gomes (@Yan_AGomes) June 17, 2013

Santana's RBI single was for his 30th RBI, and Kipnis's sac fly was for his 34th RBI.

Michael Bourn is the other guy who got a hit, and it was a double!

Really great outing today in front of a fair number of fans - 21k. A little low for Father's Day, or so I thought, but maybe everyone was staying home to watch the game with their dad like I was? No Radio Chatter today - I was watching on TV. But kudos to the TV broadcasters for today's blog title!

I can hardly wait til tomorrow, now! I love looking forward to great baseball!

Tomorrow we start a series against the Royals, who are sneaking up behind us in the standings. It'll be Carlos "Cookie" Carrasco versus RHP 2.79. Let's hope Carrasco is over his nerves and can pitch inside again. Maybe he'll pick up some momentum from his bullpen brethern's great starts as of late. It's crucial that something good happens, though - we're just a half game ahead of the Royals.

Can't wait! See you there!

You Gotta Admit - It Was Fun!

Games like tonight's game were why this blog was started. It's the sort of game that you can't look at the final score to know if it was a good day or not. You have to look at the big picture, the things that got us to the final score.

Yes, pitching was unfortunate today, to say the least. Middle relief was ok. Fielding left us a little sad but how exciting was it to come back from a 5-0 deficit to get the lead?! All of it on 2 outs, mind you. Oh yeah and we got 2 homers and 6 runs off a dude who has an ERA around 2.

One thing we can all say tonight - at least we're not Alex Cobb.

Scott Kazmir wasn't too good today. Definitely his worst game of the season - 2 2/3 innings with 5 runs - but he had a similarly bad one a month ago too. Inbetween he had an 8-inning, 1-run game so...what's up? He wasn't getting hit left and right tonight. He only gave up 4 hits for those 5 runs! But that was 3 homers alongside 4 walks so....control problems much?

The middle relievers did well tonight. Albers came in to finish off the third once someone decided that whatever was going on was silly. He struck out the last batter, and then had a boring 4th inning despite Aviles committing an error.

Bryan Shaw came in to finish the 5th for Albers and got a double play. He had an uneventful 6th...once again, despite Mike Aviles committing another error. WTF, Aviles??

Cody Allen pitched the 7th with no homers and no errors. Wahoo!

Then the sad part happened. Joe Smith gave up a homer. JOE SMITH!! He's still pitching under 2.0 (1.48) but it was his 3rd homer given up this season - second this month! He gave it up to a dude who was pinch hitting, has a sub-.200 average and only one other homer this year. Ouch!

Continuing the sadness was when Vinnie came in for the 9th and also gave up a homer. It was to a dude with a dang mullet who had no other homers in the MLB. It was the go-ahead homer, that came after Swisher and Kipnis committed an error on the 3rd out. Oh-Em-Gee is all I got to say about that. Well, I will also say :(

There actually were some nice plays in the field today. Brantley beat out the speedy Bourn to snag one in center. Swisher had a good stretch at first for a critical out. Unfortunately there was no going over the wall to bring back home runs, and that's what we needed most!

Bourn went 0 for 5 which totally blows because Aviles was before him and he was hot stuff (at the plate, at least). He almost won the game. Tom Hamilton thought he won the game. He didn't win the game. That sucked.

Kipnis, on the other hand, is still red hot, baby! Kid's got a 9-game hitting streak now with 15 hits in those games. Two hits for him tonight with an RBI, a run and a walk. Oh man what I wouldn't give for Asdrubal to be on his heels right now...but, reports say it'll be soon enough!

Swisher got an RBI tonight but still fuck 'em. Not enough. Why did Kipnis get caught stealing and picked off today? Cuz he knows Swisher isn't going to move him up. Looks like Swish is hurt now too, which might be good. Let the old man sit while the quieter old man, John McDonald, plays third and Reynolds or Santana plays first. Good grief.

He did give a bunch of people the coveted Brohio shirts. Still not for sale, but at least these people don't hate him too much:

Cousin Michael had a huuuuuuuuuuuuge hit today, a 2-out, 2-run double in the 5th that was the tying and go-ahead run. Sweet!

Don't you forget about me.

Santana and Reynolds went deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! Santana hasn't hit one since May 22 and Reynolds not since the 29th. Back-to-back, too, just like the good old days (May). Three strikeouts between them though, tsk!

Fun fact: Reynolds played college ball in Virginia with Ryan Zimmerman, who also homered tonight. Dude's got a measly 8 to Reynolds' 14, though.

Despite his 2 fielding errors (which ended up not being quite as critical as Swisher's error), Aviles was making a difference at the plate today. He went 3 for 4 and came in to score twice. Two of those hits were doubles!

So all in all, despite the disappointments, there was a lot of excitement here. How often has the team climbed back from a huge deficit in the past 2 or 3 weeks? Not often at all. This game would have been a lot less disappointing to everyone if it came at the end of the 8-game losing streak. Everyone would be all "Showed a lot of promise! Now next time we're going to win for real!" Instead since it came after 3 wins, it was more of a letdown.

I think it was a great game for anyone who went to the game today, though! Lots of excitement, a Kipnis jersey (sadly, only for 1/3 of the crowd), awesome weather and fireworks! Shout out to dedicated reader @RobFelt and my friend Dan and his fam who got to go. I was happy at home with my TV and radio, though! I got to see a terrific mullet up close.

Tomorrow is Kluber versus RHP 2.54. Kluber's coming off a good game while the opposing pitcher is coming off the DL, so that's pretty cool. The weather might be wonky so be prepared for a possible long day. It's Father's Day, tho, so you'll have an excuse to spend extra time with your dad, enjoying the Rain Delay memories with Bob DiBiasio. Or golf highlights.

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Wait til you get to be our age. You go to brush your teeth and your teeth hurt. Oh, to be 29 again!"
- Tom Hamilton on Kazmir complaining about aches with age 

"Tonight they've been like a possum, they only come out at night. Meaning they only come out with two outs."

- Tom Hamilton reaching for a metaphor

"I wish baseball would come up with a team error."

- Tom Hamilton after Swisher's missed ball error in the 9th

So Nice, I Listened Twice!

I was hanging with my nieces today during the game instead of sitting here glued to my screen, watching Gameday between reading Buzzfeed pictorials (my favorites are animals and retros!) But my brother was kind enough to let me carry around his iPad with AtBat on it, like a radio. Kind of funny because at the moment I don't have a portable radio at home per se - I have my radio plugged in to avoid having to buy batteries. So being able to bring the radio with me around the house was all kinds of neat. It's like I was visiting from 1937!

My younger niece doesn't talk yet but she kept pointing to the iPod and saying "ball?" Heck yeah little girl - that's the ballgame! My brother gave the older one a blow-up light sabre, which she sort of managed to use as a light sabre, but really she wanted me to play baseball with her. The younger one thought we were playing rugby and ran off with the ball. Fun times!

Anyway so I listened to the game with one ear and heard the finale during post-bedtime adult time but I was so happy that it was a nice winning game with some hits and good pitching that I decided to listen to the whole thing again when I got home. Ballgame!

Re-listening to the game was kind of funny because it slowly dawned on me that not much really happened and it really was a pitcher's duel. There were a few tense moments with bases loaded for both teams, but that was about it! Although, it was a nice time listening to the build-up to the final run. And, I had bought snacks.

Masterson threw 10 strikeouts today, which is 2 fewer than his record of 12. He's still looking good! And this time his line is showing it, unlike his last outing where he looked good, technically, but still gave up 4 runs. He went 7 innings today and only gave up 1 run, on a bases-loaded wild pitch. Our starting pitchers have really been tight over these last 3 wins, which is exactly what the doctor ordered for a team that is trying their darndest to hit their way out of this wet paper bag we call a slump.

Masterson was lucky to be followed up by Cody Allen and Joe Smith, two of the most sure relievers we've got. They threw 25 pitches between them over 2 innings, with 3 strikeouts. It would have been an absolute f'n shame if someone had come in and gave up a homer after Masterson's performance - so kudos to the big guys for doing exactly what we needed!

The Tribe only got 7 hits and 4 walks. They loaded the bases in the 6th on 3 walks - and nothing happened! Then they did it again in the 8th, this time with singles - and still nothing happened! The big downer in both of those bases-loaded situations was Mark Reynolds. Remember that guy who was hitting 460' homers and leading the league? He's not quite leading the league in strikeouts yet but he sure is leading the team. Sigh. Let's hope that he follows his teammates up out of this FUNK and we can get back to laughing at the teams that gave up on Reynolds because he struck out too damn much.

The big winners tonight were: Ryan Raburn, Jason Kipnis and Drew Stubbs.

Ryan Raburn got himself a solo homer today to tie the game! Did you know that he's got 3 homers in his last 5 games? And 5 RBI too.

By the way, I just realized I have no idea what Ryan Raburn looks like. LMGTFM....

From espn.go.com

There you go. He looks like Typical White Baseball Player #3271. Although from this angle he looks more..."specific." Kind of like my friend Chuck D. (not that Chuck D., I mean Typical White Guy #93, Chuck):

The guys tried their hands at getting runners on the bases one more time in the 9th, with the score tied at 1 (thanks to Raburn!) Still doin' fine at number nine was Drew Stubbs, who extended his little hitting streak to 3 games with a single. He's got 9 hits in his last 10 games, yaknow. Next up was Bourn, who got a single and Stubbs was off running on the pitch so he made it to third. And you know, with those two on base, it's just off to the races time.

Jason Kipnis was up with 2 on and 1 out. Unlike all of the Reynoldses before him, he would not be defeated! He had already had two hits on the night, by the way - a double and a single. That gives him an 8-game hitting streak with 13 hits over those games! Thirteen! He's also got 6 RBI over those 8 games now too, because he hit a grounder that the first baseman was lucky to snag and then throw home.

Except it looks like he didn't expect Stubbs to be flying home. His throw looked a little soft. Stubbs said post-game that he was just going to go on anything because whatever happened, Bourn would be on 3rd behind him so we'd have another shot (Bourn had stolen 2nd, by the way). Anyway, the first baseman threw to Kurt Suzuki at home, who is merely fulfilling the position of "catcher" in a literal sense in that he is there to catch the ball and no more. Suzuki couldn't tag Stubbs and...ballgame!



That was the Tribe's 6th walkoff win of the year! Not only am I excited that they won - now 3 in a row, AND finally got a win off Gio Gonzalez - but I'm extra excited that there were over 30,000 in attendance to watch it. And they got fireworks and dollar dogs. Hopefully now those people will be as myopic about baseball as Clevelanders tend to be and come back thinking "Hey, they are winners! Let's go to another game!"

Tomorrow is more fireworks and Kipnis jersey day. What a run-up for the Kid! Let's hope he makes it 9 games in a row, and maybe something in the way of the cycle, huh? The game is going to be on Fox (national TV? Not sure, actually...) so the whole world (or at least the non-cable-having part of the broadcast area) will be able to see all of the Kipnis love in the stands.

It's a 7:15 game with Scott Kazmir (solid!) facing RHP 2.00. Ooooh....we like a guy who's good, right? 

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"Third base coach Brad Mills...if he gets any further away from the action, he'll have to buy a ticket."
- Tom Hamilton

"You kind of figured it would be that kind of a game tonight."
- Tom Hamilton on Masterson versus Gonzalez

"One mistake could decide this game tonight."
- Tom Hamilton

"He would not do well playing poker."
- Tom Hamilton on Gio Gonzalez

"...he was much more selective. Now it looks like he's trying to hit every pitch ten miles, and has really expanded his strike zone."
- Tom Hamilton on the changes in Reynolds

Down With The Sickness

It kind of feels like the team was sick for a while, and now they're getting better and getting on their feet and getting back to their old selves. Right? I told you this wasn't a bad team!

I mean, I'm not going to scream "We're back!" just yet. You know how it is after an illness - one Happy Hour after work and you're down for the rest of the weekend. So let's just watch as the fellas get themselves back in gear, and hope they don't get re-infected on their way.

I couldn't get a read on Ubaldo Jiminez from Tom Hamilton today. Hammy's pretty good at describing whether or not we can trust a starter's outing, but since the team has been doing bad he doesn't seem to have faith in anyone. Well except Kluber last night - Hamilton was pretty convinced by the 6th. He didn't really sell Jiminez tonight, although Jiminez didn't really sell himself. He lasted just 5 innings before leaving with 101 pitches. He just had to work too hard, I guess. He only gave up 1 run and struck out 4, so all in all it was a good performance. Just too short. He got the win, tho!

Ubaldo gave up a walk and a hit in the 6th, so they took him out. Then we had to deal with Hill on the hill (I can't believe I haven't said that yet!) He only had to pitch to Pierzynski and he got AJ to fly out, then they sent him to sit back down. Good riddance.

Then Shaw got the next 2 guys out, and got 2 outs in the 7th. They took him out for Hagadone who got one out. Tired yet? Still two more innings to go!

Smith had a good inning - he took 22 pitches to strike out 3 guys and walk one. Then came Vinnie to work the 9th, just to get some work and in true Tribe Closer fashion he gave up a run because he had a run to give up. Tom Hamilton has been pointing out the last 2 days how you can't trust any sort of lead in the ballpark at Arlington, so he had me nervous when there was a runner on and a run scored with 2 outs in the 9th. I mean, if we can score so many runs after 2 outs and this is a run-producing park, why can't they?? It ended, though. Whew!

The top of the order started really getting their stuff together today. Bourn - a Texas boy - was back today and he started the game off with a single! He didn't make it home that time but he led off the 3rd with a single and got to come home. Later on he walked, so he went 2 for 4 on the night. Juuuuust a hair under .300 at .299!

Kipnis kicked it up a notch finally, after sticking out a 7-game hitting streak now he's putting more hits up in one game, going 3 for 5 tonight with a double and a HOMER! Quite a power day for the Kid! I wouldn't mind to see a big long hitting streak from him, that's for sure. How many games are left in the season? How about a streak that long?! Yeah!

Nick Swisher AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHH!

Michael Brantley was up in cleanup today. The 4th spot is where he's been for the third-most at-bats. First is uh...first with 88 at-bats. Then seventh with 35, and then 4th, 5th and 8th are about the same in the 20s. Versatility! He actually does best in the fifth spot.

Sorry, that was boring. Cousin Michael went 2 for 4 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored! He's got a 3-game hitting streak.

Santana went 1 for 4, with a big RBI double. He has a little 5-game streak going. I guess they are trying to move him around more, not have him catch as much. Oh, what do we do with Carlos? He needs to have multi-hit games tho, that's for sure.

Mike Aviles was in it to win it tonight, going just 1 for 4 but his was a 2-run homer! He did have to give back one of those runs today after he committed  an error that allowed a run to score in the 9th. But that's ok - we don't want him getting TO Asdrubally (albeit Asdrubal sure does have a lot of errors this season....) Him and his buddies also turned two today TWICE!

I guess Drew Stubbs' parents have been in town for this Texas series. He's from Alabama and it's a 2.5 hour drive in to Arlington. Tom Hamilton is a big fan of theirs (probably because he travels to see his son play now too!) Anyway, Stubbs got a hit tonight too (got one last night) but that was about it. Hey - he got on, not his fault the guys couldn't drive him in!

Tomorrow's an off day, then back home to host the Nationals on Friday. The Nats are a .500 club who play better at home than on the road. We've got a team that just won 2 after losing 8, and had BEST be back on a roll! Also - Dollar Dogs and fireworks! w00t!

Friday it'll be our hero Justin Masterson versus LHP 3.59. Are you stoked? It's gonna be fun (thank goodness)!

See you there!

[No Radio Chatter tonight, sorry. I was too busy doing stuff to write stuff down. Oops!]

"We Played A Nice Ballgame Today"

Everybody hits today!! Yaaaay!

Not only did Corey Kluber melt some faces off with his pitching performance tonight, the Tribe was also out there HITTING the ball! Hitting it to where Rangers were not! Waaaahoo!

So Kluber pitched 7 innings of shutout baseball and didn't give up a run until there were 2 outs in the 8th. He only threw 3 strikeouts, most of his outs were pop-ups. Whatever works, bro! Pretty amazing outing from the kid considering his last outing was sort of awful, and the one before that was aborted by rain. Nice to see our starters keep it together while the team burns down around them.

Did you know the Indians lead the league in throwing shutouts at 8? Wow, me neither. Forgot we were good for a while there!

Joe Smith came in for the 9th and he gave up a home run! No kidding! I was complaining about our starters giving up homers in the beginning of the season and now our relievers are catching up. Eek? As groups, they're both at about 1 homer per 7 innings pitched. Tonight was Smith's second homer in 21 innings (Perez has 4 in 16 - wow!) Then he couldn't get it over the plate on the next guy. But after a quick visit from Mickey Callaway, he got the next two guys out and that was the game!

Speaking of coaches...do you know anything about hitting coach Ty Van Burkleo? No? Neither did I. Turns out the guy has had 38 major league at bats, but played in Japan for 3 years, one of which he was player of the year. He coached for the Angels, A's and Mariners. Not sure why he was brought here by Terry Francona but here he is. Francona must really see something in this guy.

Aside from all that, there's this article that explains how Van Burkleo built his family a 5000-square-foot cabin in the wood. He and his wife raise a 6 year old with Downs syndrome and autism. He once owned a pizza restaurant and he knows how to surf. I wonder how the hell this guy likes Cleveland, you know?

If anyone can light a fire under the asses of this super-talented lineup, I suspect it would be Wild Man Van Burkleo!

Bourn had the day off, but you know if he was in he woulda been out there doing some good. Instead Drew Stubbs (of Texas, by God) was our leadoff man. He only went 1 for 5 but his one hit was a big one - a 2-RBI single! Never give up, Drew Stubbs!

Jason Kipnis went 1 for 3 with a walk. He's got a 6-game hitting streak. Huh! I had no idea anyone had gotten any hits over the past 6 games but there you have it - Kipnis. He also stole a base and is up to 14 now, tied for 4th in the league. Also huh!

Nick Swisher and his stupid face got another hit today. That's 3 hits in the last 3 games. Well...yeah. Ok. Also, 11 strikeouts in his last 9 games so - DO BETTER, SWISHER!

Our man Ryan Raburn was back in for the 4th game in a row, hitting cleanup today. He is the only guy to get extra bases, with a double to lead off the 4th. Then he came around to score the game's first run.

Mark Reynolds broke a long hitless streak and went 2 for 4 today with an RBI. Perhaps he's all pumped now that he's playing some pretty good 3rd base? Him and Brantley went halfsies on this awesome, awesome play - an outfield assist!

Brantley has 6 outfield assists now. Or maybe 7, I'm not sure how their stats are set up. Anyway, he's either tied for 2nd or 3rd in the league. Cool!

Once we were up 5-1, they brought in John McDonald for the 9th to play 3rd. Very interesting to see how he'll fit in here, in play. He said he's excited to teach young kids about baseball - with Giambi and Swisher and now McDonald giving out lessons, I hope the young guys don't start getting a chip on their shoulders about always being the young guys!

Did you know Brantley hasn't been hitting much lately? Yuck. He did steal a base, though. He actually stole it twice because he was successful but Gomes hit a foul ball, so he had to go back to first. But he stole the base again, this time for real. Today Brantley went 1 for 3. Santana went 1 for 3. Gomes also went 1 for 3, and apparently all of his outs were big strong hits. Of course - he is Gooooooooomes!

Aviles was the only guy left to hit in the 9-hole today. He's actually doing kind of well, with 11 hits in his last 10 games. Today he went 2 for 4 and stole a base as well. We all run off AJ Pierzynski! (And then he hits a homer off us)

So is this the first game of many? Are we crawling up from the pits of hell in to a respectable baseball season? What do you think Terry Francona told them to finally get them up and out? I think he told them that Cleveland's median income is $25,000 a year and they make $73.7 million a year so maybe they need to get their heads out of their butts and realize they are millionaires playing a child's game and it is time to play good! JUST PLAY GOOD!

Terry Francona said in his press conference today that "We played a nice ballgame today" so maybe that's all he asked of them. Just play a nice goddamn ballgame. Or something.

Tomorrow is our last night in Texas before a day off. It's another 8:05 game, where we roll out Ubaldo to face RHP 3.92. The team has 47 homers off RHP versus just 28 off lefties. Maybe next it's time for one of THOSE kinds of games...

I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
 "He gets an A for hustle but an F for baserunning."
- Tom Hamilton on Santana's out in the first

"Chris Spielman was a great football player. Brian Bosworth pretended he was a football player."
- Tom Hamilton

"Garcia was like in a little league game. I'm just going to run until somebody tags me out! Ron Washington has strapped Garcia to the bat rack."
- Tom Hamilton

"Corey Kluber is a strike pitching machine today."
- Tom Hamilton