The Clip Joint

While the parent club has played just 4 contests since Thursday, the AAA Clippers have logged seven games in the season's first week.  Tonight, they snuck by Indianapolis 5-4 in 12 innings to run their record to an IL best 6-1.  Zach McAllister (2.25 ERA), the Clips opening day starter and de facto ace, went six strong (6 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) despite some shoddy defense.  The bullpen was even better.  Hector Ambriz (0.00) and Jeremy Accardo posted identical lines (2 IP, H, 3 K) in taking the team to the 10th and CC Lee (4.50) brought the team home with 2 scoreless frames (2 H, K) to close it out.

At the plate some things are going just as expected.  Matt LaPorta (.346) is dominating AAA pitching for (what is it?) the 4th straight season.  Matty launched his 3rd long ball (5 RBI) and is rolling along with an 1.139 OPS.  Lonnie Chisenhall (.333) has continued to show that he is, indeed, the Indians' 3rd bagger of the future.  Today, he smacked 3 hits, including his 2nd home run, and has a .985 OPS.  Perhaps most impressively, he has struck out just twice in 25 PAs.  To me, personally, the fact that Ryan Spilborghs has struggled to a .176 start (with a whopping 10 Ks in 17 trips) is no shock as I feel like he just, you know, sucks.

On the other hand, there have been surprises as well.  Russ Canzler (.143, .393 OPS), despite his walk-off hit tonight, has been unable to maintain the success that he found in the desert.  Ezequiel Carrera (.179) has been anemic at the top of the order.  He took an 0-for-6 collar tonight and has struck out 7 times without walking once.  Of the pleasant variety, Trevor Crowe (.429) is off to a blazing start and stroked his first homer tonight.  His OPS is a surreal 1.243, he's swiped a pair of bags and has gone down on strikes just once in 17 PAs.

We'll get caught up a bit more each day.  Tomorrow, I'll be at the game when Kevin Slowey makes his 2nd start after a dominant (7 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 6 K) in his Clippers debut.  There might be some pics if I get ultra motivated.