A Quest Called Tribe

I guess that Manny Acta must read the blog.  Tonight, with the tying run on base, Acta chose to bring in Raffy Perez to face Tsyoshi Nishioka.  What did we learn yesterday?  Nishioka hits .171 against lefties.  What happened?  Raef threw 3 pitches.  Nishioka swung three times and made exactly no contact before slinking back to the bench.  I do not have many positive comments to make on Manny these days, but I will say that he is not a big enough dolt to make the same mistake in consecutive games.

How about a little love for Josh Tomlin?  Dude went out and tossed another beauty.  Tomlin (12-5, 3.97) was masterful in allowing just three baserunners through the first six before Matt LaPorta's dumb ass (we shall get to that) and a healthy respect for Jim Thome ushered him from the mound.  Still, Josh lowered the fifth best WHIP in the AL to 1.038.  I, unrepentantly, love watching Josh Tomlin pitch.  Command seems to have returned to his cutter (15 of 24 first pitch strikes) and he has shown a noticeable progression back to form over his last three starts.  While I would have left him in today, I begrudge Acta nothing for making a move rather than just watching.  By the way, Tomlin has now pitched 5+ innings in his first 36 career starts (different than the appearances record that he continues to extend), one shy of the MLB record held by former Indian John Farrell.

So, we know LaPorta is an imbecile.  Even so, each day brings a new opportunity for Matty to show what a bag of mulch he truly is.  Today, after misplaying Justin Morneau's smash to begin the 7th, LaPorta took a Sunday stroll down the first base line, allowing Morneau to reach second, the first Twin to do so all night.  And then, of course, Morneau would score Minnesota's only run.  I will call it now.  Matt LaPorta is a colossal bust.  I no longer hold any hope for his eventual success.  He is the object of my ire and, by far, the most aggravating Indian.

I complain quite a bit, so I will leave with what I dug the most about tonight's game -

- Asdrubal Cabrera cracking his 20th career home run (accounting for all 3 Tribe runs), after belting just 18 in his career prior to 2011.

- Jason Donald.  His fire.  His attitude.  His hustle.  And the way he stays right on the ball before lasering a line drive.

- Captain Jack's phenomenal play to begin the 4th.

- 1-2-3 from Chris Perez to Jimmy Thome.  Nice.


Here's to sweeping our first series since Pittsburgh in mid-June. (Hey, I was there!)

Cheers.