A Quest Called Tribe

Jerad Head made his major league debut on Sunday.  In his very first AB he was credited with a base hit.  Very much like the Indians' season, it was mostly a Pyrrhic victory.  Just as the Tribe's 30-15 start and .500 record mean virtually nothing as they will almost surely miss the post-season, Head's 75 foot dribbled counts as a single, but in no way assures that he can hit big league pitching.  I guess it is kind of cool that Jerad (a 28 year old former undrafted free agent) will go down in the annals with at least one hit.

Space was made for Head on the 40-man roster by transferring Michael Brantley to the 60-day DL, his season is over.  Nick Hagadone was sent back to Columbus, without making an appearance, to open an active roster spot.  Not to worry, Nick will be back in September.  Brantley has dealt with what has now been revealed as a broken hamate bone for several weeks.  The injury is such that it does not inhibit movement, but causes an enormous amount of pain.  With Shin-Soo Choo out for several days with his core issues, the decision was made for Michael to get surgery.  Thereby, the Indians were able to add Head without having to DFA a player.  Recovery time for hamate surgery is 6-9 weeks, so Brantley could be back for the World Series.  ;-j

Strangely, having abandoned all hope of the Tribe overtaking the Tigers, the pain of Sunday's loss was not nearly as acute as the first 64 of 2011.  Well documented is my intense hatred of losing.  Losing, nothing but losing, for as long as I can freakin' remember.  While the defeat still stings, viewing it solely as an L and not as the daily indication that life is pain, sort of takes the venom out of the snake bite.  Although there are plenty of building blocks for next season (especially if Tim Belcher can rebuild Ubaldo Jimenez's delivery), 2012 is a year away and I need a GD win.

Here's to remembering how to hit with runners in scoring position.

Cheers.