Texas: Messed With

I suppose I might believe in this team just a bit.  That, of course, will be a real bad thing come August when they forget how to hit, pitch, field and feed themselves.  Right now, though, the Tribe has taken the series opener from the best team in the American League and they looked damn good doing it.  That's 13 of 19 if you're counting, too bad those dream team Tigers (who most agreed would beat the '27 Yankees in 6 games) needed a walk-off from Johnny Peralta to get past the ChiSox.

How's about we give out some accolades?  Jason Kipnis is hitting .444 (20-45) with 9 RBI and 4 stolen bases in his last 12 games.  His three triples lead the league.  I had just recently been considering how a batter might try to hit triples.  Many batsmen have dramatic upper cuts designed to produce home runs, but the triple is a much more nuanced occurrence.  As was exemplified in the ball that Kipnis scorched in the 3rd inning on Thursday, the play of the outfielder has a dramatic impact on the result of the play.  Still, Kip embodies 3 qualities that make those triples quite a bit more likely: (1) he hits the ball real GD hard, giving the outfielder the illusion that he can make the play when he cannot, (2) while he does have some speed, more importantly he runs the bases aggressively, as most hitters would have stopped at second on the play yesterday, (3) and this is the big one, he plays the game with reckless abandon.  Jason is not going to get out-hustled or out-hearted on any play.  He's a ballplayer's ballplayer whose intangibles elevate him far above his talent level.  It's difficult to find anything to dislike about Jason Kipnis.

Hey, Johnny Damon hit a triple, too!  Jack Hannahan is back over three hundred and, thanks to the gods of replay, has added a second home run to his resume.  Jeanmar Gomez kept his WHIP under one by holding the league's best offense (5.3 RPG) in check for seven innings.  Scott Radinsky stated that it has been the emergence of an effective slider, to compliment his fastball/change-up mix, that has made the difference for Gomez.  After a rough start, the bullpen (with the notable exception of Durbinite Dan Wheeler) has returned to form and posted a 2.36 ERA over it's last 49.2 innings.  Even Chris Perez has saved 10 straight since his Opening Day debacle.  Perhaps most impressive of all has been Carlos Santana's emergence as a defensive weapon.  Big Smooth has tossed out 5 of 12 runners (42%), developing a little bit of fist pumping flair on the way.  Josh Hamilton was out by a ma-hile.  If you have a chance check out the video of the two round-the-horn double plays and Shin-Soo Choo's grab to end the game.  Pitching and defense, baby.  To quote Lou Graham, "It's all starting to come together."

For those of you calling for Matt LaPorta over Casey Kotchman, Shelley Duncan would likely be cut first and no move will be made before the end of the month.  For those of you calling for Jeremy Accardo or Chris Ray over Wheeler, yell louder, we need to get that bum out of town.  For those of you calling for Trevor Crowe over Aaron Cunningham, who the hell cares.

The Tribe had better win tonight, because they will have no chance in an Ubaldo/Yu Darvish Match-up.

Cheers.