A-Rod's Hitless Night keeps him at 599, Yankees win 3-2 at Progressive

Three* years ago from yesterday, the Indians traded Ben Broussard for Shin Soo Choo.. a great day in Tribe history.  The Yankees came to town for a 4 game series last night, and everyone wanted to know if Rodriguez would send his 600th homerun out at Progressive Field.

Derek Jeter started off the game with an out, confirming my belief that he is the most overrated player in baseball.  Swisher might be the only player that I have any respect for on the Yankees, and he flies out as Westbrook cruised through the 1st inning. 

You have to question Manny Acta's decision to bat Michael Brantley leadoff, I mean he's batting .157 on the season.. personally I'd sit him on the bench.  Regardless, Cabrera walks and then Shoo hits a screamer right to Teixeira, who steps on 1st and doubles up Cabrera.  Lucky break for the Yankees.

Travis Hafner keeps his ridiculous hot-streak going and absolutely demolishes a pitch over the right field wall.  That was his 5th straight hit in as many plate appearanaces.  LaPorta struck out after though, what's new.  The Indians took a 1-0 lead into the 3rd inning. 

Jake Westbrook was looking as good as he ever has, and he kept sitting down Yankees hitters.  After 3 innings against baseball's best offensive lineup, the Yankees had exactly 0 hits.  The Tribe unfortunately went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 3rd, I blame Michael Brantley. 

Swisher got the Yankees first hit, a monstrous jack to right field;  He even posed for a second to watch it go out.  I wasn't mad about it, Swisher is the man.  Teixeira walked, and then Alex Rodriguez came up to the plate for his second appearance.  Alex hit a ball into left field that was sinking fast, and Trevor Crowe either caught the ball or it short-hopped into his glove, either way Rodriguez was called out.  Teixeira gets doubled up, and Joe Girardi came out to argue but to no avail.  It was a pretty close call but it goes the way of the Indians. 

Fast-forward to the Top of the 5th when the speedy Curtis Granderson tried to get to 2nd off a hit to the right field wall.  Choo threw a laser directly to Asdrubal at 2nd and he's called out.  Replay showed Granderson was actually safe on the play but the Tribe catches another break.  Asdrubal did catch some spikes on the play but it appeared he would be alright.

At this point the Indians only hit so far was Travis' home-run, but that quickly changed when Jhonny Peralta ended the nonsense by doubling to right field.  LaPorta stepped up to the plate and surprise.. another strike-out.  Trevor Crowe grounds to 2nd and Peralta's leadoff double goes to waste. 

My personal highlight of the Yankees batting in the 6th inning was Derek Jeter striking out.  It is quite a beautiful site; Jeter and A-Rod combined to go 0-8 on the day.  Westbrook was still extra crispy and was working fast.  Jake struck out Swisher after that, Westbrook had 5 strike-outs.  Yankees go 1-2-3 again. 

Yet again in the Top of the 7th, another leadoff double for the Indians came from Jason Donald.  Our first 3 hits were all of the extra-base variety.  Unfortunately poor base-running lead Donald into a rundown after he tried to go to 3rd on a grounder to the pitcher.  I blame Brantley for not hitting it out of the infield. 

After that, it was about time for the Choo-Choo train to make an appearance.  Like clockwork, Shin-Soo doubled and Brantley scored all the way from 1st.  The Indians took a 2-1 lead, and all is well at Progressive.  Stat of the day:  Shin Soo ranks 5th in the American League in On-Base Percentage. 

After Pronk struck out in the bottom of the 7th, LaPorta finally got a hit to left field.  But time after time, we didn't capitalize having runners in scoring position.  The Yankees came up to bat and Westbrook made one critical error serving a pitch up to Granderson. 

Curtis certainly made him pay, obliterating a pitch to deep right field.  Yankees take a 3-2 on the game-changing 421 foot home run.  This has been a common theme for the Indians as of late:  Play well for most of the game but make one big mistake in the form of a multi-run HR.  Westbrook was visibly upset and justifiably so, he had been pitching a gem.  Jeter ended the inning with a grounder to Asdrubal.. Why do people think this guy is good?

The Indians bats stayed quiet for the rest of the night and the Yankees held on to win 3-2.  Westbrook was not about to allow Rodriguez to get #600 off of him last night.  He might have a better shot tonight, when the Tribe sends out Josh Tomlin for his major-league debut.  It's also A-Rod's birthday tonight, so maybe it will happen for him.  Let's say he does hit 600 tonight, how much will that ball go for?  Cleveland's economy could certainly use the boost.  CC Sabathia will be pitching for the Yankees, fans here still have respect for him.  Should be an interesting night, Tomlin will certainly have his hands full with the Yankees lineup.  It's time for the Tribe to start a new winning streak right about now.

The Tampa Bay Rays start a different kind of streak in Cleveland

The night after they ended their 18 game losing streak in Cleveland, the Tampa Bay Rays felt entitled to take another one before they left town.  Justin Masterson vs. Wade Davis was the match-up.  The Tribe came out strong.  Mastterson cruised through the 1st, and the Indians took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice by Carlos Santana.  However, similar to the night before, the Rays would answer quickly. 

Reed Brignac stepped up to the plate with two on, and 2 outs.  Masterson threw the one pitch he regrets and Brignac made him pay, hitting a 3-run homer.  The Indians showed some of their new-found resiliency, and got one of those runs back in their half of the inning, make it 3-2 Tampa.

Sanatan reaches 2nd in the bottom of the 3rd, but Matt LaPorta strikes out to end the inning.  LaPorta did not have his best day, at least offensively.

A leadoff walk to start to the 4th inning did not end up helping Masterson.  After a single past the outstretched arm of Nix put runners on 1st and 3rd, LaPorta made his one good play of the day.  For an inexperienced 1st baseman, Matt made a heads-up move when the ball was hit to him, looking the runner back at 3rd and still turning the double play.  At that point in the game that was a huge play, because the Rays didn't end up scoring in the inning and the Tribe was still within one run.

Hafner stepped up to the plate in the 4th and crushed a nice double to the gap in left field, and Nix gets hit by a pitch vegas-style.. right in the kneecap.  After a textbook sacrifice by Trevor Crowe that moved Hafner and Nix to 2nd and 3rd respectively, Andy Marte couldn't hold up on a check swing and strikes out.  Michael Brantley does what he usually does and makes another out, and we squandered one of our many chances to put some runs on the board.

Bartlett started things off for the Rays in the 5th by hitting a routine grounder to Marte who came up with an ugly error, allowing Bartlett to reach 1st safely.  That would come back to haunt us after he stole 2nd soon thereafter, and reached 3rd on a groundout.  Carl Crawford did what Marte should have done the inning before, and hits a ball deep to left that serves as a sacrifice to get Bartlett home, making it 4-2 Rays.  Epic fail by Andy on multiple fronts. 

The Indians went in order and then in the top of the 6th the Rays followed suit; Masterson started to work quickly and looked like he had settled down.  Yet again, Travis "Pronk" Hafner tried to keep us in the game by getting his 3rd straight hit, making him 3-3 on the day so far.  Other than Pronk, the Tribe's bats were unusually quiet, and we headed to the 7th still down 2 runs.

Fast-forward to 2 down in the bottom of the 7th, where Brantley and Cabrera advanced to 2nd and 3rd after a Choo groundout.  After a questionable first pitch strike, Santana sent a rocket in between 1st and 2nd base but got robbed by Brignac.  6 outs left for the Tribe batsmen, and it's still 4-2 Tampa. 

Tony Sipp picked off Evan Longoria (who has a pretty legit Mullet going) to end the top of the 8th, and we're thinking it's time to get at least one of those runs back.  Travis Hafner must have been seeing the ball well, because he hit his 4th hit of the game right after LaPorta predictably flied out.  Nix followed Travis by flying out as well, but Crowe got a 2-out hit up the middle of the infield to keep the inning alive.  Manny Acta decided to pinch-hit Shelley Duncan for Marte, good move.  Considering that Duncan has the highest batting average for pinch hitter appearances this season at a .417 clip, there was still some hope left at Progressive.

Unfortunately, Duncan popped up to right field, and it's all but over.  Choo made it interesting by knocking a 2-out double in the bottom of the 9th, and yet again the game was up to the bat of Carlos Santana.  With one deceiving crack of the bat it looked like he maybe had tied it up, but his drive to center field was not deep enough.  The Indians left 8 runners stranded which would explain why we're now on a 2-game losing streak.

The New York Yankees come to town tonight for a 4-game series; Westbrook will take on Javier Vasquez in the series opener.  The real story of this series is clearly Alex Rodriguez, who is sitting on 599 career home runs.  Alex suffered a hand injury last night after being hit by a pitch, and it's unclear if he will even play tonight.  If he does, will A-Rod become only the 6th player ever to hit 600 home runs, and will he do it at Progressive Field?  Does it even matter, considering he's a self-confessed steroid user?  Is Derek Jeter the single most overrated player in the League?  Likely.  Did I mention I hate the Yankees?