Hurricane Clip Joint

A day after the Clippers became the first AAA squad to reach 40 wins in 2011, the skies cracked opened and delay #41 at least another 24 hours.  I have never been out in, nay never seen live, weather such as what touched downtown Columbus last night.  After a 90 degree pre-game, clouds rolled in, the temperature dropped and the contest was eventually delayed in the third when the rains came.  Initially, the drops fell straight down, then, about 15 minutes in, the winds arrived.  Within about 5 minutes I was ensconced in what I have to image the gulf coast has nightmares of.  The rain was flying horizontally, swirling.  I was in an L-shaped hallway leading to a men's room and the precipitation found its way around two right angles to speckle me as I watched.  Wowza.

Suffice if to say, the Clippers did not complete their game last night.  That is quite as shame as the boys has put a five spot on the board in the first and Zach McAllister was in line for win #8 when mother nature intervened.  A couple of quick notes about the game that may never count for anything.  Lonnie Chisenhall laced an RBI double to bring home Columbus' first run.  He made an outstanding adjustment during the at-bat, having smoked the previous pitch down the right field line foul before straightening out the double into the corner.  The Chiz Kid is always more impressive in person than he is on paper.  Luis Valbuena, the hottest hitter in all of chistendom, had not yet extended his 19 game hit streak and looked to be pressing just a bit.  Luis took an awful cut on a 2-1 pitch during an AB that ended in a strikeout for him and the play on the field for everyone.  Shelley Duncan, who had walked in 3 of his first 8 PA's, added another 2 bases on balls, but, again, all of this is pending for the moment.

Should the Buffalo area remain calm, the Bisons host our Clippers at 7:05p with Corey Kluber scheduled to pitch.

Other Minor Points of Interest --

CC Lee completed his 5th straight scoreless outing for the Aeros yesterday.  A hit and a pair of walks accompanied two more punch outs for the 24 year old right hander.  Lee (1-1, 2.57) has thrown 8.1 innings over the stretch, surrendering just 3 hits and 3 walks while fanning 12.  His K/9 is a brilliant 12.60 on the season.

There has been a lot of chatter recently about Akron righty reliever Matt Langwell, who picked up his 3rd save of the season last night.  Lagwell (2-1, 1.27) was an 11th round pick in 2008 out of Rice and has not been score upon his last 10.1 innings.  Over the past three seasons (one each at Low-A, High-A, and AA) his ERA is an even 2.00, his OBA .217, his WHIP 1.05 and his K/9 a flat 9.00 (or one an inning).  He has been described as "still under the radar," but with a real opportunity to contribute as a big league middle reliever.  I will be digging to get a bit more information of the kid.

Rob Bryson took a 10th inning loss for the Lake County Captains.  Bryson (0-1, 3.38) put the game winning run into scoring position via a walk and a hit batter, then allowed a two-out walk-off single.  Control is not a huge concern for 23-year old RHP and more focus should be on keeping healthy a player who has missed significant time in each of the past four season.

Cheers.

Satire Of Satire

How deep does it go?  If Lonely Island mocks society and Julian Smith mocks Lonely Island, then someone will mock Julian Smith and when will it end?  Surely Julian could cash a bigger check voicing Batman for cartoons.  At least the bag pipes are cool.

A Quest Called Tribe

I did not watch it as I was too busy with the deluge at Huntington Park.

I can only consider myself lucky.

At least the boys hit, that is a damn good sign.  Unfortunately our 3-8 ace could not find the strike zone long enough (45 of 93 pitches for strikes) to get anybody out.  If I saw Fausto Carmona on the street and he was like 8 inches shorter, I would kick him straight in the nuts and ask him what the fudge he thinks that he is doing.  Come on man!  Is it too much to ask your "best" pitcher to keep the team in the game.  Maybe po Fausto got a little too much sand in his vagina.  Whatever the excuse is, I do not want to hear it.  Someone needs to slap the man in the face and tell him that he needs to pitch to his ability.  If he cannot, the Tribe should trade him some bubble gum and a good tarp.  Sheesh.


The sad bit is that Carmona looks like Cy friggin' Young compared to Chad Durbin.  Can anyone out there muster an argument as to why this man is still sucking the life out of a roster spot?  Oh, I know that he is our huge free agent signing, but, for pete's sake, if we cannot eat the $800K then the Indians should just shut down operations now and see if Brad Paisley can play every GD weekend.  ERA: 6.67.  Awful!  WHIP: 1.78.  Awful!  OBA: .321.  Good god man, how do you even accept the ball and go back to the mound?  Have some self respect.  You want more?  Over his last four outings, and remember that includes a duo of scoreless appearances in garbage time, his ERA is 17.18, his OBA is .474 and his WHIP is 3.54.  3.54?!  Durbin is putting three and a half guys on base every inning.  Oh, and Durbin has now surrendered 20 earned runs this season.  The sum total of Chris Perez, Tony Sipp, Joe Smith, Rafael Perez and Vinnie Pestano is 24.  I am unsure that release is enough.  We might need to shoot him and throw him into a wood chipper. 

Not to worry, Mitch Talbot is throwing tomorrow.  He is the stopper.

Cheers.

Pretty Girl 06.11.11 - Brenda Strong

I dunno about the other roles, but Sally Sasser and Sue Ellen Mischke are the cat's meow.  And she's 5'11.5".  Dude.