Tonight was all about Masterson. It is not as if Bat has suddenly found utter and complete command of his pitches, just look at the sequence in the 7th when he hit Josh Harrison and then wild pitched two runners into scoring position. Still, he seems so have settled into a groove similar to his performance of 2011. Over his last 6 starts, Justin's 3.2 BB/9 bear a much closer resemblance to his 2.7 of last year than the 4.8 in his first 8. Likewise his ERA has dropped with his bases on balls, 2.92 vs 5.40. Masterson has so many moving parts that he constantly has to make adjustments as his mechanics fluctuate. You can see that in the game against Kansas City where he overcompensated and threw 78 of 111 pitches for strikes without walking a soul. Instead, he surrendered 7 earned on 9 hits in 6 innings. Bat has to be a bit wild in order to be effective. Tonight, 70 of his 109 deliveries were strikes and he walked 3 in his 7 frames. He also fanned 9 and allowed just 4 hits. Justin is never going to be a low WHIP kind of guy. Even last season with his 3.21 ERA, his WHIP was a middling 1.28. There is no doubt that Masterson's lanky 6'6" frame and his long delivery don't engender repeatability but, in order to help this team, he is going to have to keep adapting and stay one step ahead of the opposition.
One player who has done just that is Michael Brantley. Michael took it down to the wire, but extended his hitting streak to 22 games tonight with an 8th inning RBI single. To every sack of garbage who was on his case in early May when he was hitting in the .230s, the Indians deserve more intelligent fans than the lot of you. Seriously, if you were one of those guys, put down the X-Box controller, the Bud Light and the Doritos and try to educate yourself a little bit about the game. You are the reason that I cannot stand to listen to sports call in shows. Sorry. Back to Brantley, the 22 game streak in the longest since Casey Blake's 26 in 2007 and within sight of Sandy Alomar's franchise record 30 gamer of 1997. In fact, Brantley has now had two 19+ hit streaks in his short tenure with the Tribe, making him just the second Indian (Julio Franco) since 1921 (when records of such things began to be kept) to have a pair in his Indians career. Maybe pocket the Red Man and chew on that, you hicks. Since May 9th, Michael is batting .331 with 21 RBI and 7 steals in 32 games. Oh right, some of you are still jonesing for Grady Sizemore's winning smile in centerfield. Forget. About. It. Sizemore is never coming back. Sure, he might get a few more token AB's with the team, but it will be like watching Johnny Damon, a broken down shell of man in a baseball uniform. Brantley, if he ever actually had any work to do, has transformed himself into a more than adequate Major Leaguer in center, making all of the banal plays and a few of the fantastic. If you know what's good for you, you'll start thinking with your heads instead of your McDeath addled hearts.
I'll let Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez close things out here. Since May 5th, the opposition is batting .114 (5-for-44) against Vinnie and Pestano has punched out 16 in 13 innings. CP nailed down his league leading 21st save to close out the Bucos, his 21st in a row. I was pretty rough on Perez after he blew the save on Opening Day, but Chris seems to have channeled his rage and even shed a few LB's. While he's still not what I would call a lock down closer, you have to give him credit for the work that he has done in 2012.
Roll Tribe.
Cheers.
P.s. Jack Hannahan is back (0-3, 0-for-his-last-15 overall, maybe a couple of additional rehab games would have been useful?) and Scott Barnes is on his way to Georgia to join the Clippers. Called it.
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