Running Diary of Indians and Blue Jays

Game 2: Cleveland Indians vs Toronto Blue Jays

 

 

 

 

            Back in the Man Cave once again tonight ready for some baseball action. Tonight the Toronto Blue Jays open up at home against the Cleveland Indians. Both teams have rosters that look totally different than last year and both teams have improved tremendously. Should be a good pitching matchup as R.A. Dickey and his knuckleball face off against Justin Masterson and his sinker. Let’s get underway.

 

- We’re joined by Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler in the booth. Will be a much different announcing feel tonight as Martinez is one of the better play by play guys in the game and Tabler, while not providing any Earth shattering analysis, doesn’t say anything to make himself look bad or foolish.

- Catch 22 with Terry Francona this season as its great having him back in the dugout but means we lose him in the booth on Sunday Nights. As far as analysts and color guys go, he was at, if not near, the top of the charts.

- In the other dugout John Gibbons and his new hair style make him look like Vigo the Carpathian and yes I just made that reference. If Dr. Janosz comes out at any point to talk to Dickey the Blue Jays will become my new favorite team.

- Cleveland doesn’t score in the top of the 1^st but makes Dickey work, throwing 22 pitches.

- In the bottom of the 1^st Jose Reyes starts his Blue Jays career with a 4 pitch walk.

- Melky Cabrera comes up and we get some hometown spin on him. Buck Martinez informs us Melky started later in his career with going to all fields and shortening his swing with 2 strikes…he also started using performance enhancing drugs later in his career too Buck.

-Jose Bautista comes up and Joey Bats rockets one down the third base line that caroms off the wall so hard he’s held to a single.

- Masterson is struggling with his command as he hits Edwin Encarnacion with a pitch.

- Adam Lind comes up and we’re informed he’s 10 for 15 in his career on Opening Day. That is an absurd stat especially since he may be 0 for the rest of his career.

- Masterson gets out of the inning but needs 21 pitches to do so.

- Indians are being extremely patient.

- Arencibia through 1 1/3 has been charged with 3 passed balls. He needs to work on catching the knuckleball or Henry Blanco will be Dickey’s permanent catcher real quick.

- Indians strike first as Lonnie Chisenhall grounds out and drives in a run. If Arencibia doesn’t allow the passed ball it’s a tailor made double play and the Jays are out of it.

- Drew Stubbs is up next and hits an RBI single to make it 2-0.

- The Jays get out of the inning and threaten in their half but Reyes grounds out to end the inning. They’ve left 4 men on base.

- Next inning Melky Cabrera leads off and reached 2^nd on an error by Drew Stubbs with no one out.

- Back to back walks from Masterson loads the bases for Toronto, still no one out.

- Indians turn a fantastic double play as Asdrubal Cabrera dives to snag it. One run scores.

- Next inning Michael Bourn hits a leadoff single followed by an Asdrubal Cabrera 2 run home run that had no business leaving the park off the bat. That ball CARRIED and the look on Dickey’s face was priceless.

- Not much else follows as Cleveland fails to threaten and the Indians combine to retire 19 straight Jays.

- Bottom 9 Chris Perez comes in and other than a double to Arencibia to break up the hitless streak gets the Jays to end the game. It’s his 100^th save as an Indian.

 

The Indians have reason to be hopeful from a pitching standpoint as their bullpen was fantastic tonight and their defense was also great, making a lot of nice plays to kill any hopes of the Jays. Masterson pitched well but really had to work to get outs. His sinker was hit or miss tonight for the most part but it didn’t really cost the team. Toronto struggled out of the gate but the patience they showed is a positive sign. A lot of contact made that unfortunately went right to a fielder. Game 2 is in the books and Game 3 tomorrow night will see the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim taking on the Cincinnati Reds. Hopefully it won’t go 13 innings like their first game.

Running Diary of M's at A's

Game 1: Seattle Mariners vs Oakland Athletics

 

            Coming to you live from Changing Speeds Headquarters a.k.a. the Man Cave, we have our first running diary of the week, the Opening Night matchup between the Mariners and Athletics. The pitching matchup tonight is Felix Hernandez against Brett Anderson, which should be a good one. This may not be a running diary like many of you are used to, but will be my thoughts, observations, and comments on events of the night as it progressed. Seattle comes in winners of six straight opening games, and on the other side of the spectrum, Oakland is losers of eight straight. Will things hold true to form tonight or will something give and trends get bucked?

-We start our coverage with highlights from the spectacular season of the AL West Champion A’s and the unveiling of their Division Winner banner in right field. Glen Kuiper and Ray Fosse, or as I like to call him, Captain Obvious, are in the booth and excited for the start of the season. Surprisingly Fosse hasn’t pointed out the start of the season means its Game 1.

-Brett Anderson comes out firing, striking out the side on 13 pitches. King Felix tells Anderson anything you can do I can do better as he gets out of the inning after only 7 pitches.

-Noticed while Josh Reddick was up in the bottom of the 1^st that his beard has reached mythical proportions. Not really sure how he and Daniel Bryan could be having a beard war as Reddick is far and away winning.

-Eric Sogard makes a great diving play and flips to 2^nd to get the force out but that’s all they would get. Sogard made one hell of a play there.

- Brett Anderson escapes a 1^st and 2^nd 1 out jam with a double play.

- Here we have our first Captain Obvious statement of the night as Fosse alerts us that Spring Training numbers don’t carry over into the start of the season and everyone starts at .000. Thanks for showing up Ray.

-Thru 2 innings King Felix is dealing and only at 19 pitches.

-Brendan Ryan comes up to bat and this guy may be the greatest example of offensive inefficiency and defensive superiority. Arguably the best defensive shortstop in all of baseball, and arguably the worst offensive shortstop in all of baseball.

-We’re treated to a stat that tells us Brett Anderson is the 1^st A’s pitcher ever to strikeout the first 4 batters on Opening Day. Anderson is a good pitcher and has gotten himself into better shape, hopefully he can reap the rewards of that accomplishment.

-Sogard follows up the great diving play from earlier with a booted ball for an error but a double play follows that so no harm done.

-Want to take a moment and point out that the crowd at the O.co Coliseum is loud and raucous tonight. It’s great to see but hopefully they can sustain these crowds throughout the year and this isn’t just because of Opening Day.

-It may be a new season but the Bernie has returned to Oakland. The fans won’t let the dance die and I for one applaud that decision as Weekend at Bernie’s is a phenomenal movie. The sequel however, we will never talk about.

-Captain Obvious returns telling us that Suzuki on the Yankees is Ichiro and not Kurt, while talking about the lineup fielded by the Bronx Bombers yesterday.

-John Jaso collects the first hit for the A’s in the bottom of the 4^th with a double into the gap.

-Brendan Ryan makes a great play deep in the hole to get Yoenis Cespedes and save a run for the M’s.

-Mariners come up in the top of the 5^th and get an opportunity to strike as they have 2^nd and 3^rd with 1 out for Franklin Gutierrez. He singles to center scoring both runners, putting the M’s up 2-0.

-King Felix is at 46 pitches and is dominating the A’s right now.

Captain Obvious returns once again, I was hoping he went to bed for the night. Showing a graphic for the most innings pitched in the last 3 seasons, we see the top 5 pitchers are King Felix, Justin Verlander, James Shields, CC Sabathia, and Clayton Kershaw. Upon seeing this graphic Fosse alerts us that these 5 guys are good. I was unaware so thanks for sharing Ray.

-Brett Anderson is finished after 7 innings. He pitched well but got no run support. Totaled 108 pitches on the night.

-Brendan Ryan makes his 2^nd phenomenal play of the night sliding in the Sahara Desert of foul territory to make the catch and end the inning.

-Chris Resop comes in for Oakland and gets 3 quick outs. Despite not hitting well and getting dominated Oakland isn’t out of this game.

-King Felix gets 2 quick outs in the bottom of the 8^th but follows up with a double and walk. Here comes Eric Wedge who looks like he wants to challenge Ron Gardenhire in the look like an old Scott Steiner contest. Felix is done after 109 pitches.

-Charlie Furbush comes in and surrenders a walk to load the bases for pinch hitter Derek Norris. Scott Steiner makes another change bringing in Stephen Pryor. The crowd is reaching playoff level decibels hoping for a big hit here. It’s not to be as Norris grounds out to end the rally.

-Jerry Blevins comes in for Oakland and gets the M’s in order. The A’s are down to their last shot but with the way things have gone tonight this one is probably over.

-Tom Wilhelmsen comes in and gets the save. No threat by the A’s at all and that’s our ballgame. Both streaks continue and we were treated to a dominant performance by one of the best in the game. Can’t ask for anymore on Opening Day.

To continue the theme of Opening Week running diaries I will be tuning into the Cleveland Indians at the Toronto Blue Jays tonight and will have that write-up online around the same time tomorrow.