A) I don’t think I want to know what that clubhouse carpet smells like today.
B) I wonder how many of the boys showed up today with aching heads – in addition to whatever else was a bit sore.
C) I really feel bad for poor Nick Blackburn because the guys in the field behind him?? definitely a day game roster and I’m sure they were all partying just as hard as the regular starters (if not harder given that they are on average younger) and it’s a LOT of BRIGHT sun out there today.
STILL, given all that? what a beautiful day for baseball in MN and the Team and fans alike have a lot to celebrate today. I hope Kris is taking pics and notes and such and can give us a personal account tomorrow.. *hope*
| Cleveland | @ | Minnesota |
| Brantley, CF | Span, CF | |
| Sutton, SS | Casilla, A, SS | |
| Choo, RF | Kubel, DH | |
| Hafner, DH | Valencia, 3B | |
| Duncan, S, LF | Morales, J, 1B | |
| Nix, J, 3B | Tolbert, 2B | |
| LaPorta, 1B | Revere, LF | |
| Valbuena, 2B | Repko, RF | |
| Gimenez, C | Butera, C | |
| Carrasco, C, P | Blackburn, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Cleveland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | x | 5 | 10 | 0 |
This was a game played on pure adrenaline. Yes, it was all the young guys who probably bounce back faster than the more regular guys but still, they all seemed almost hyper-active today – which caused both great plays and some bonehead ones. But they were obviously having fun and brought the bats and finally got around to giving Blackburn’s STELLAR outting some run support.
Blackburn earned his 10th win of the season plus had some great fielding plays to top off fantastic pitching. For holding his ground and having a great start even though everyone was probably holding their heads after partying last night, I’ve gone all out and granted him a baked alaska! Enjoy!
And Jose Morales finally got a start at 1B!!! And he did a REALLY good job! I’m sure he was very nervous but he held his ground, kept his head on his shoulders AND brought his bat to work today! He drove in 3 runs and finally is settled as Cuddyer’s back up at 1B just in case. And yay for Cuddy getting a day off. For such a great effort, Morales gets a Dairy Queen ice cream cake!
Plus, just because the “B” lineup did such a good job of not letting this be a giveaway game because the day and situation, they get an all-you-can eat ice cream sundae buffet. Enjoy boys!
But today’s BOD, by vote of the chat, was Alexi Casilla. He led the team with energy level for sure and provided a LOT of instigation to keep the boys all moving. He went 3/4 with 2 Runs and a super hot Triple! good job kid!
I think that the fact that the Indians got beat by the Twins’ “Hangover Squad” says a lot about the poor offense and defense of the Tribe and the depth of the Twins’ roster.
I agree, shannon.
I read in one of the Strib articles that Gardy didn’t react well to a question before the game that referred to the lineup as a “spring training lineup”. He said something along the lines of, “this is a Major League lineup, this is a Major League game, and I expect these players to go out there and win a ballgame.” Good for him! That’s exactly what those “kids” need to know is expected of them.
But yeah, it reminded me a bit of the spring training lineups I watched in Ft Myers, too. 🙂 In fact, not only a spring training lineup, but a ROAD GAME spring training lineup, where a team usually only forces a couple of its millionaire regulars to ride a bus for an hour or two to an another team’s training site.
actually, that comment from Gardy came in the POST-game interview and yeah, he even qualified it with “I don’t want to be a jerk but.. ” and made sure to be very clear that whether they are starters or not and how long they have been up here is immaterial – they are professional ballplayers and they played like it. It was a very neat moment for the guys and just about everyone felt appropriately reminded to give credit where credit was due. It was cool.