A Quest Called Tribe

 Where to begin... where to begin?

I'm not saying that he rode the short bus, but to call Matt LaPorta a mongoloid would be an insult to mongoloids everywhere.  Now, do not get me wrong, the kid can play defense and he is showing some liveliness as the plate.  Still, whenever he is called upon to use some baseball smarts, he comes up lacking.  Why, why oh why, would you turn to look at the other runner?  Throw the GD ball to O-Cab and let him make the decision with everything in front of him.  I almost punched out my flat screen.

On top of the ire inspired in me, the play totally took Carlos Carrasco (5.18) out of the game.  It was not as if Carrasco was mowing the Rangers down beforehand and he completely fell apart afterward.  This came to a head when he could not even bring himself to shout "Hold the ball!" to Carlos Santana.  God damn it.  I am not a Carrasco fan.  In fact, at this juncture, I am calling for his demotion.  I will not argue with his stuff, although he did not register a strike out tonight, but the guy simply does not know how to pitch.  Too many missed spots.  Too much pitch repetition.  The third time through the lineup Texas was 5-for-7.  If you cannot think ahead and set up hitters for the next at-bat while continuing to retire them, then you belong in the bullpen.  Send Carlos down.  Even his best day is sloppy.  Recall Zach McAllister.  He has earned it.

The Tribe has now played 54 games to a 33-21 record.  Over the first 28 games (19-9) they committed 13 errors in the 26 games since (14-12) the team has made 20.  For all of the talk of starting pitching or batter regression, the major difference has been in the field.  If the Indians cannot recover defensively they will have to hope that 15ish games over .500 (that's 90-72) is good enough to take the division.

All that being said, it certainly does not help when your 1-thru-3 hitters bat 1-for-14 (4 K) and the oppenents 6-thru-9 produce 8-for-14 with 5 runs scored and 3 RBI.

Time to buck up again and take the series.

Seriously, send Carrasco down.  Now.

Cheers.

Mark Me Down For Two

Recently a buddy of mine suggested that Peyton Hillis' victory in the Madden 2012 cover bracket would force the company to re-evaluate the process in coming seasons.  He found it ridiculous that a man with less than one good season should be the cover boy.  Now I do find some logic in that, but in the mean time, I am going to dig the vibe of a Browns player on the cover.  I am sure that many of my fellow Browns fans will do the same.  For a city that hasn't posted a a national victory in half a century, we need whatever we can get.  If you take a step back and realize that Madden cover is not an actual award, surrounded by legacy and prestige, it is pretty damn cool that Hillis won the 64 nan battle royale.  And EA, if you're listening, I will buy two - one to play and one to have the man sign for posterity.

Also, the video is awesome.

Cheers.

A Quest Called Tribe (Pure Rage Talkin' Boobies Video Edition)

What I meant to type was "Title Is Way Too Friggin' Long Edition!"  No joke, Chris likes to talk.

Bored At the Clip Joint

Lonnie Chisenhall

Let it be known that I am writing this part last as I am sick of describing Corey Kluber's crummy starts.  He allowed four runs in six innings, which is pretty much par for the course for a man with a 6.32 ERA.  Enough about him.

Actually, little else of interest happened.  Lonnie Chisenhall broke out of a 1-for-20 slump with a single and a triple.  Wes Hodges launched a 3-run dinger to briefly tie the game before Joe Martinez got his hands on it.  The Clippers top two (Ezequiel Carrera and Cord Phelps) combined to go 0-for-9 with 3 K's.

They have been on the road for way too long.  I will try to be more enthusiastic tomorrow.

Jeanmar Gomez gets the nod at 7:05p on Thursday.


Other Minor Points of Interest --

Adam Miller's second AA appearance was not quite as successful as his first.  After the Aeros rallied with seven 7th inning runs, Miller (13.50), who has tossed a clean 6th, allowed the first five to reach following the stretch on four singles and hit batsman.  He was saddled with the final three earned and the loss to even his record at 1-1.

Chun Chen (.285) was an integral part of the comeback, launching his 7th home run in the 7-run 7th.  Seven.  Chun added an RBI double in the second.  He leads the team with 28 RBI on the season.

Well, his mates did not provide him with even a single run of support, yet Wednesday's outing can be considered a complete success for Drew Pomeranz.  Throwing for the first time in a fortnight due to lingering hamstring tightness, Pom (1.85) shutout the Wilmington Blue Rocks for five frames, tallying 3 hits allowed, a walk and four punch outs.  Since it is so much fun to look at Drew's season numbers - .190 OBA, 1.05 WHIP, 11.95 K/9, 1 HR allowed in 43.2 IP.  Now we know why Pomeranz has fallen behind Alex White's blueprint and remained at Kinston into June.  Assuming he has no further injury setbacks, he should be promoted before the All-Star break.

On a perfect day at the plate for Anthony Gallas (3-for-3, 2B, HR, BB, 2 RBI), Michael Goodnight (2.37) raised his record over .500 (4-3) with five scoreless innings.  Goodnight (still love that name) allowed 3 hits and four walks, while fanning 8.  He has posted a 1.14 ERA over his past four starts and lowered his OBA to .173 while Gallas pushed his OPS to 1.017.

Pride of Nordonia, Tyler Tufts (2.16) pitched a scoreless 7th inning (H, K), preserving Frisco's 5-4 lead and earning his first AA hold of 2011.  Oooh, a hold.  Sexy.

Cheers.

A Quest Called Tribe

Matty was a little off on this swing.

The Tribe was outscored 9-1 by the Blue Jays from the 5th inning on.  Josh Tomlin exited having allowed six runs over six innings.  Only Frank Herrmann and Vinnie Pestano (Nasty!) were able to pitch clean innings out of the 'pen.  The Jays crushed back-to-back-to-back triples in the 5th (the first time since the '81 Expos) and their 7-8-9 hitters delivered a combined six hits, four runs scored and five RBI.  Sheesh.

Good thing this all happened following the Indians taking a 12-0 lead and knocking Kyle Drabek out after he allowed six of the first 8 men he faced to reach base.   Did you know that 18 of Grady Sizmore's (2-for-5, 3 RBI) 25 hits have been for extra bases?  How about that Asdrubal Cabrera (4-for-6, 3 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI) now has 18 multi-hit games this season and the Tribe has won 15 of those?  Or that they are 6-1 when Matt LaPorta (3-for-5, 2 R, 3 RBI) homers?  I mean, everyone is aware that, despite his .224 average, Carlos Santana (3 BB, 2 R) is 3rd in the league with 38 free passes, right?  Well, ya do now.  Get on the ball, kids!

It's so easy to joke when your team is winning again.  After all of the turmoil, the Indians head home for a four game set with Texas having completed a 3-3 road swing.  That is what we call a successful trip.  As the talking heads mentioned, everybody else has to play catch-up now.

One thing that is for sure is that Adam Everett has to go.  No disrespect to the man on the day that he knocked in his first run of the season (Is it June?), but he made an error at second and looked downright foolish on at least one other play.  His fielding percentages at second and third both now hover right around .900.  Not good.  I know that fielding percentage is not an accurate gauge of defensive ability.  Still, when coupled with the good ol' "eye test," it goes leagues further.  Super 2 worries are gone.  Let us see Cord Phelps.  In fact, I am going to start banging my mug on the table and chanting.  Where is my tankard of mead?

Before I hit the old dusty trail, I will make a pitch to you.  During STO's broadcast of the game tonight, there was a little pop-up advertisement urging us all to vote AzCab for All-Star.  Great idea.  Better idea?  We should also vote for Jason Donald.  How awesome would it be if someone both without an MLB game played in 2011 and currently residing on the minor league disabled list got voted in?  Maybe the league would refine its method of selection to the ballot.  You can actually vote 25 times per e-mail address.  I have like 10, so I can punch out that little paper circle 250 times.  That is, at least, 250 votes for JD.  We need a lot more.

Cheers.

Pretty Girl 06.02.11 - Vanessa Marcil

Put your thumb and forefinger an inch apart.  That's how tall Vanessa is.  Cool that she's hot enough to pull it off.