A Quest Called Tribe

The Tribe wasted a gem tonight.  Props to Josh Tomlin.  Boos to Chris Perez.  Maybe the offense could score more than 2 runs.  There's nothing else to say and I don't want talk about.  Watch the "highlights" and move on.

Cheers.

P.S.  Thank goodness that Carlos Santana did not injure himself on this play.

I Always Thought That It Would Be Manny

Word now is that the cup is in about 10 separate pieces.

Suicide Squeeze - Eye Of the Cardinal ('92 Upper Deck)

A Quest Called Tribe

I think I hear a chicken.  Luke Hochevar sure did.  Perfect for the first five innings, Hochevar pulled his best Jeremy Sowers impression and imploded in the sixth.  After retiring 31 straight over two starts, the former #1 overall pick balked twice among five 6th inning hits (we can add balking in a run from third to list of baseball plays that I have seen for the first time this season), helping the Tribe to score four runs and take a lead that they would not relinquish.

Justin Masterson (4-0, 1.71 ERA) didn't bring his A game either.  Battling for command all night, Masterson walked two in the first and gave up three hits, but escaped allowing just two runs.  Justin continued to gut it out through six innings, eventually walking five and striking out 3, but did not allow another run.  His ability to compete despite the absence of the pinpoint control that showed in his first three starts is the most telling of anything the big righty has accomplished this season.  Assuming that the erraticness is not a regression, it is tremendous to know that Bat Masterson can keep the Indians in the game even when he has an off night.

The lineup produced up and down tonight, so I'm going to give my gold star to my boy Jack Hannahan.  Hannahan (.240) stroked a two run double in the 7th that provided key insurance as Tony Sipp decided to forget how to get people out in the 9th.  Jack is 7-for-12 with both of his home runs off of left handers this season.  He's as confused as the rest of us, but I'll take it.  After the production tonight, the Tribe features seven players with 9 RBI or more.  That's what I call a team effort.

Also, Vinnie Pestano is nasty.

Coming off of another quality start we need to put Jeanmar Gomez's performance last night into better perspective.  Let us compare to a man with whom he was in direct competition with during spring camp.  Through three starts (all wins), Josh Tomlin has surrendered six runs and 15 hits in just shy of 20 innings.  Yesterday, Gomez gave up nine hits and four runs in four innings.  Jaysus.  Tomlin refined a cutter during the off-season that some credit with his success thus far.  To reiterate, this is the sort of repertoire addition that Gomez would need to be successful at the MLB level.

Lastly, let's talk about defense.  Everyone has their favorite defensive statistic and I an no different.  My stat du jour is called Total Defense, abbreviated Rtot by BaseballRefernce.com (explanation here).  Basically the metric compiles data to estimate the average fielder at each position and then compares each individual thereto.  The value can be positive or negative depending on whether the defense is above or below average.  Thus, the league average is always zero.  Given all of that, just understand that big positive numbers are good, big negative numbers are bad, and numbers close to zero are average.  The Indians' total defense in 2011 is 24.  The number itself is irrelevant, but the fact that it is nearly double their closest competition (the Brewers at 13), speaks to the stellar level of play that Tribe has exhibited while in the field.

Despite the glowing review above, opponents are now 8-for-8 in stolen bases against the Indians.  After Tuesday night's five swipe explosion from the Royals, it is high time for Sandy Alomar to give the young guns some serious direction.  It is unacceptable to give the bad guys extra runners in scoring position, especially since the rest of this team is so darn productive.

Cheers.

Clip Joint Comeback

On a team littered with top prospects (Lonnie Chisenhall, Jason Kipnis) and major league ready talent (Luis Valbuena, Jason Donald), three less heralded guys led the charge tonight.  After Alex White (7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 7 K, 2.00 ERA) spotted Louisville two runs in the fourth, the Clippers tied it up on solo blasts from Chad Huffman (.195) and Luke Carlin (.379).  Carlin's third hit of the night was an RBI double to give Columbus a 3-2 lead in the 8th.  In the ongoing closer experiment, Josh Judy (4.26) blew his second save opportunity and allowed the Bats to equalize again in the 9th.  One more no-name solved that in the bottom half when Jerad Head (.389) laced his third single of the game to bring home the winner in walk-off fashion.

The Clips were in the whole because Louisville started former 22 game winner Dontrelle Willis.  Willis, who has battled anxiety and inconsistency over the past three season, came into the contest having not allowed a run in his first two starts, both wins.  His scoreless streak continued through the first five frames before Huffman's dinger and a walk to Kipnis chased D-Train from the game.  His ERA ballooned to 0.53.  I had the opportunity to meet Dontrelle after the game.  He was friendly, polite and very accommodating to all the fans.  It was a pleasant surprise from a man I had heard to be a bit of a pill.  D-Train is all aces in my book.

Columbus closes out their series with Louisville tomorrow at 6:35p.  Zach McAllister is scheduled to face rehabbing Red Johnny Cueto.  I plan to be there.

Other Minor Points of Interest --

Down at AA, Austin Adams was a tough luck loser for the Aeros.  Adams (2.30) tossed four and two thirds surrendering four hits, 2 walks and an unearned run while striking out 7.  Akron fell to Bowie 3-0.  Jordan Henry was out of the lineup for the second consecutive game.  No word on an injury.

Also, the Aeros sent Brett Brach back to Kinston following Tuesday's impressive spot start.  Left-hander TJ McFarland was added and will make his first start on Thursday.

In Eastlake, the Captains split a double dip with the Lansing Lugnuts.  2010 4th round pick Kyle Blair (3.21) earned his first professional win in the front end.  Blair allowed just a solo home run and four singles over six innings.  He struck out four.  Cole Cook, last year's 5th rounder, pitched just as well in the nightcap, but came up empty.  Cook (3.21), still looking for his first pro W, gave up 3 hits, a walk and a unearned run.  Cole stuck around for five innings and fanned four.

Good stuff comin' as the Myrtle Beach Fighting Tyler Tufts open a four game set at Kinston tomorrow.

Cheers.

Pretty Girl 04.21.11 - Perrey Reeves

This is why Entourage is wonderful.  They took the bitchy wife from Old School and they made her hotter than a sweat lodge on the sun.