Tagged: Cliff Lee
Changes
So I lied last time. I did not stay back. I have been awfully busy and it has been hard to get back into the habit of writing entries. I promise I will try to do better.
Since I’ve been gone Grady has had two surgeries that will keep him out for the rest of the season. Personally I think this should have happened a long time ago because I don’t know what good it was doing to have him keep playing. I know it was not hurtung but it was not necessarily helping. Ocassionally it may have helped the Indians win a game or two but I do not think anyone thought that the Indians had a chance at the playoffs even in July.
Which brings us to July and the month of trades. The Cliff Lee trade was tough and I was sad but the Victor Martinez was awful. I was in a baseball depression for probably about a month. Sometimes I still have relapses and seeing him in a Red Sox uniform is still tough. I think the last series between the Red Sox and Indians will be very difficult for me to watch. I would not rule out tears. However I love Justin Masterson. He may not have been very impressive in a few of his starts but I have seen some real potential and he is a great guy off the field.
New in my life: I have decided to stay an Early Childhood Education major. I know some of you were excited about hearing college students shout “Melissa” at college football games but I went to what I thought would be my last ever education class and remembered why I loved Early Childhoos so much. So I am back on track to be a kindergarten/first grade teacher in the inner city. Right now I would like that city to be Cleveland but I would not mind back home in St. Louis or maybe Boston. But even though I don’t like the cold I have decided that I could not live in the south, I think I fit in more in the north. I still love the south though, I just think I will be ready for all four seasons again when I graduate.
Here’s a video for everyone’s enjoyment about my second favorite team and secodn favorite player:
It may be raining, but there’s a rainbow above you…
So it’s been awhile. I apologize. I’ve been pretty busy with work and the online class I’m taking this summer.
The Indians have been taking me on an emotional roller coaster again. They lost the series in Minnesota and then won the series in Chicago complete with a three-hit complete game shutout from Carl Pavano. Pavano has been amazing recently and I love it.
Fausto Carmona, however, has not been amazing unless you mean amazingly bad. He has been sent to rookie ball in Arizona after the Minnesota series to work things out down there. I really hope he figures it out and makes it back up sometime. I do not think we will be seeing him in the near future, or even this season, however.
Another starter who has been getting better and better every start is David Huff who is up in the Majors for the first time in his career and just got his first Major League victory on Sunday.
The bullpen is still concerning me. They have managed to get out of bad situations with minimal damage recently but for the most part they have put themselves in those situations. It is so bad that when we are leading 8-4 and Kerry Wood walks someone with two outs I assume that the other team just won the game.
Next up the Indians have the Royals who are in the midst of a bit of a free fall. The Royals have lost nine of their last ten and are now only a half game ahead of the Indians in the standings. Whoever loses this series is in last place in the AL Central. This is a key series for the Tribe. I am to the point where if they lose this series I may say the season’s over for them. They need to beat the struggling Royals. A sweep would be great but I’ll take two out of three. The pitching matchup for tonight is Bannister and Lee. If Cliff can pitch like he has been recently and the offense can score runs for him like last time we should win this game. However the offense seems to not care that much when Cliff pitches and decide that he can win even if they do not score. They have been scoring a little more recently so hopefully they can keep that up. Wednesday’s matchup is Meche versus Pavano. As I said Carl has been pitching very well recently and he leads the team in wins with six. Again we should probably win this game on paper but as everyone knows things do not always turn out that way especially for the Indians. Thursday is when Carmona’s spot in the rotation would come up normally but because of the offday mlb.com is saying that Sowers is the likely pitcher for Thursday night’s game against Grienke. Grienke was far from impressive his last outing but maybe that was just a fluke. If it was the Indians need to do their best to work Grienke hard. Sowers has been much better recently and hopefully he can continue that. He does not have an easy opponent to try to continue that with though. Overall this series is very interesting and very important for both teams.
Every word you say, say something sweet…
The Indians stomped the Twins last night. Amazingly the Indians scored runs behind Cliff Lee. Not just some runs though: ten runs. TEN RUNS. They only needed two. Then Kerry Wood would have gotten a rare save opportunity but, hey, we won and everyone else in teh AL Central lost. It was good day for the Tribe. Also Asdrubal Cabrera’s shoulder injury is not as bad as originally thought and he will probably be back in 2-4 weeks. A very good day for the Tribe.
Also Cliff Lee and Carlos Gomez got into it again. Early in the game Carlos Gomez bunted with two strikes and it went foul so he was out. This was a stupid move on his part and he looked a little bit like a fool and a bit cocky too. Cliff Lee did not like this move so later when Gomez flew out he said something to him. Rick Manning and Jim Rosenhaus (filling in for Matt Underwood, more on that later) thought he said something like “Should have bunted.” Carlos Gomez did not like that so he charged the mound when Cliff Lee’s back was turned (low) and Victor martinez, being awesome as usual, ran interference. The benches semi-cleared shortly and it seemed over.
The next inning Ryan Garko was hit by a pitch in the first at bat. I do not think this was intentional. Then one batter later Kelly Shoppach gets hit. Still not intentional in my opinion. The umpire agreed with me and did not issue any warnings or anything. Later Kelly Shoppach was hit again. I still do not think this was intentional I just like the fact that we have something we are good at. We are now leading the Majors in hit by pitches at 39. Kelly Shoppach leads the league with ten. We call him the Ball Magnet.
Matt Underwood, the Indians play-by-play announcer is back in Cleveland with his mom who is very ill. So please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.
Is your muffin buttered?
Are you ready for this? I don’t think you are. I am about to go into full rant mode. This means you will have to really try to find sense in the next paragraph or so. Here we go. (To be clear I am in no way yelling at A-Cab or Cliff Lee.)
What the heck Indians? You call yourselves a baseball team? What baseball teams have you been watching? The Nationals? Even they are better than us (the records may not show that but who would argue?). Seriously Cliff gives you another phenomenal start and again you blow it. What does the poor guy have to do to get a win? Let me tell you what real baseball teams do not do. 1) They do not condone giving up when you are down nine runs. 2) They do not tackle catchers, we are not playing football. Please Luis, do not channel Chris Duncan, that is not okay. 3) They do not give up three run leads in the bottom of the ninth by giving up two consecutive home runs and then an RBI triple and then a sac fly. That is NOT how you win baseball games.
Next, Grady. What is wrong with you? Something is wrong with you. Believe me I know. I watch you and analyze you much more than anyone else ever. You are not right. You are broken and someone needs to fix you. You better not be hurt. The more I see this season the more I think you are. You better not be lying to me. I would not be able to take it. Because I am fairly sure that would mean you have been lying to me for like two months. Not cool. Reasons Grady may be hurt: 1) He is failing. 2) The Indians suspiciously gave him essentially three days off by making him the DH. Since when has Grady needed three days off? He never used to need ANY days off. What is wrong? DO NOT LIE TO ME INDIANS! I CANNOT TAKE IT IF YOU LIE TO ME! YOU ALREADY KILL ME EVERY NIGHT DO NOT BE LYING TO ME TOO! 3) Oh yeah, he is failing.
Please, please, please, please fix this Indians Your fans are begging you and I would hope you are begging yourselves.
I hope that was not too incredibly irrational and that you got something out of that. Just that I am very frustrated.
Picture:
My Life Would Suck Without You
Dear Indians,
Nice try. You stayed with arguably the best team in baseball at the moment for 8 innings. You stole 2 bases. Thanks Grady. You listened. Grady made an awesome play in the outfield and then a not so awesome one but he tried. Mark DeRosa got an RBI at a very important time and then Jhonny and Ben Francisco crushed my heart that had already been ripped out by Kerry Wood. Thanks guys. Tonight let’s put it back in.
My heart has been through a lot this weekend. On Sunday it was stolen by my second favorite lead off guy in baseball who ironically you will be seeing in center field tonight. Then yesterday Grady took it back and then for good measure was awesome last night and showed me he really cares.
I unfortunately can only say the same for a few of you: Victor, A-Cab, Eric Wedge, and Cliff. Please guys show me you care tonight. Give Anthony some run support. Which means, as scary and impossible as it may seem, you are going to have to hit with runners in scoring position. Boston pitching is not going to let you rely on home runs to score runs so you are going to have to take advantage of any opportunities you are given tonight.
But as frustrating as you are “we belong together… you got a piece of me, and honestly, my life would suck without you.” And guys, “I know that I’ve got issues but you’re pretty messed up too… [but] I’m nothing without you.” And even though “being with you is so dysfunctional, I really shouldn’t miss you, but I can’t let you go… because we belong together… and honestly my life would suck without you.”
Love,
Melissa, your forever devoted fan
PS Kelly Clarkson may have helped me out some…
Dear Indians,
Hey Indians I know looks can be deceiving but I know I saw a lot in you. Of all the girls tossing pillows at the TV set; I’ll be the one watching even when your down by 10 (or more). Hey Indians, boy you might have me believing you could maybe win it all this year. I can’t help it if you play like all stars, can’t help it if I wanna watch you every day and night. Come feel this magic I’ve been feeling since I first saw you, can’t help it there’s no one else, I can’t help myself. Hey Indians I’ve been holding back my feelings so I’ve got some things to say to you. I’d seen it all so I thought that I’d never see nobody fail the way you do. The way you hit (or not), the way you run, the way you play the game, you’re frustrating, even bad sometimes and it’s gotta change. Hey Indians people may be leaving but I think I’ll stick around awhile. Because I can’t help it if when you play like a bad team I still wanna watch watch every day and night. Come feel this magic I’ve been feeling since the season began, I can’t help it if there’s no one else. I can’t help myself. They’re turning the lights on, you’re ready to play, why won’t you try tonight? I’ve waited so long now so come out and try now and shine, shine, shine. Hey Indians, I can give 50 reasons why you should listen to me. Now all those other teams They may be wonderful but would I write a song for them? I can’t help if you play like all stars, can’t help it if I wanna watch you every day and night. Come feel this magic I’ve first saw you, can’t help it if there’s no one else. I can’t help myself.
Love,
Melissa
PS Taylor Swift helped out a lot on this one.
I hope they watch or say something like this in the locker room before the game tonight:
You know with all the cheesy cliche statements too. I think that is the only thing that will help them at this point.
My Boys Spoil Yankee Stadium Opener
UPDATE:
My next entry will be my 100th entry. I refuse to write my 100th entry until the Indians win (or in the event of a strategically placed off day, like Monday. Don’t worry this won’t be never-ending.). So anything I have to say I will add to this entry.
The Indians lost today but it was a well-fought battle. The Bronx Bombers were out in full force hitting five solo home runs to win the game 6-5. Some poor umpiring at the plate and an error by Vinnie Chulk contributed to the loss today. To be far the umpire was inconsistent with both teams but it seemed to affect the Indians a little more. I was pretty happy with this game despite the loss because the Indians battled hard and showed they can fight back from behind, something we had yet to see this year.
Fun fact: The first person to hit a grand slam in the old Yankee Stadium: Tris Speaker, Cleveland Indians’ center fielder. Good job Grady. Channel Tris.
Interesting News: A crazy preacher man has been terrorizing the Clemson campus recently. He stands in police barricades and tells Clemson students how we are all going to Hell because we wear flip-flops and things like that. It is ridiculous. He claims he has never sinned which is a sin right there because it is a lie. I feel truly sorry for this man and I hope he gets the professional help he needs. Here is a YouTue video of him. I didn’t watch it through because it makes me sad. It may get explicit because he really upsets people. One girl left crying yesterday. It is horrible.
First run scored in New Yankee Stadium History: Ben Francisco
First RBI in New Yankee Stadium History: Kelly Shoppach
First Grand Slam in New Yankee Stadium History: GRADY SIZEMORE
First Winning Pitcher in New Yankee Stadium History: Cliff Lee
First Victory in New Yankee Stadium History: CLEVELAND INDIANS
Final score of the first game in New Yankee Stadium History: 10-2, Cleveland
Question: Who won the last ever playoff game in the old Yankee Stadium?
Answer: Cleveland Indians
Question: Who has handed the Yankees their three worst losses in franchise history?
Answer: Cleveland Indians
I am so happy right now. The Indians beat the Yankees and start their first winning streak of the season. Granted it’s only two games but it’s all we’ve got so let me savor it.
I forgive Grady for starting slow. I forgive Cliff Lee for being terrible in his first two starts. I forgive Kelly Shoppach for striking out so much. I forgive Trevor Crowe for taking nine at bats before getting his first Major League hit (I actually forgave him a long time ago, but since we’re forgiving…). I even, barely, forgive Rafael Betancourt for loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth today. I forgive Eric Wedge for failing in Aprils in general. None of that matters right now because in the words of Gus Sinsky in For Love of the Game, “We don’t [stink] right now. Right now we’re the best team in baseball.” Okay maybe not the best but at least the happiest.
This game really was a good game. For the first six innings it was a straight pitchers duel. CC left with one out in the top of the sixth with both teams locked in a 1-1 tie. In the bottom of the sixth Cliff pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Then in the seventh those of you who like a lot of offense would get your wish. The Indians rock the Yankees’ bullpen for nine runs including a bases loaded walk drawn by my project Trevor Crowe and of course a Grand Slam by Grady Sizemore immediately after. Victor Martinez, not to be done, followed one hitter later with another home run. After the seventh the Indians bullpen gave up only one more run despite their best efforts to give up more. This game had a little bit of everything.
The stadium looks beautiful. I was a little disappointed in the Yankees fans who left after the seventh. It’s Opening Day of your $1.5 billion stadium and you have box seats and you are going to leave? I don’t care how bad your team is losing, you stay.
Okay Grady let’s see about 37 more of those home run smiles this year. Then how about 39 more stolen base smirks.
See you tomorrow New York.
Pictures:
My Favorite Indians
I have nothing of any importance to say today. I am feeling like the Indians are apparently feeling now at the end of Spring Training; a little lethargic and apathetic. That does not mean I do not care about YOU, I just have no motivation. So here is a list of my favorite Indians of all time. The of all time is used loosely because I actually do not know that many Indians not playing now so it is mostly favorite Indians playing right now.
Cliff Lee
Aren’t they a cute family? I love the little girl, Maci, with the bow!
Rick Vaughn
Yes he so counts!
Rick Manning
haha Look at his hair! Awesome.
Jake Taylor
We already discussed this: he counts! There apparently are no good pictures of him. Which is sad.
Asdrubal Cabrera
Oh Cabby.
Trevor Crowe (my project)
I hope he blows the Indians away and permanently replaces David Dellucci. Dellucci is a nice guy but Trevor is just a better fit for playing on this team. And maybe I have not all the way forgiven him for the alligator stunt earlier.
Mark DeRosa
Apparently all you have to do to become one of my favorite players is be amazing in the WBC, be hilarious, and say that Grady is the best leadoff man in the game.
And of course…
just one more… humor me.
Um… Probably my favorite Grday picture ever. If you can rock the backwards baseball hat, you’ve got me.
Pictures:
5)http://letsgotribe.mlblogs.com/photos/uncategorized/825f1fad73c44513ba416382ebade5da_1.jpg
6) Cleveland Plain Dealer
