28 /37

that is the total number of runs, followed by the total number of hits for the indians vs royals game tonight. this is why i do not give up on the indians. it's been a shit-ty season. they won't be in the palyoffs. their record probably will be below .500 for the seaon. tonight they are down 10-1, at the end of the first inning! to lowly (to be nice) KC!! in KC!!! yet they kept chipping away. they got to 10-9 in the sixth, then the royals score 3. seemed like the end of the rally. game over man. then came the ninth. oh, the beautiful ninth. we scored 4 runs to tie the game. the tying run is batted in via a two out triple. after KC goes down meekly 1-2-3, the tribe scores 2 in the tenth. a rookie, ryan garko, had an RBI double in the ninth, and a two out RBI single in the tenth that plated the winning run. in the first inning, garko had an error at that made 7 of the 10 runs KC scored in that inning unearned. D'OH! redemption from the rook, gotta love it!

watching the game, i had 2 (major) thoughts.
the first was a flashback to one of the greatest comebacks ever. i game i was at in cleveland. we were down 12-0 at the end of the third, to a good seattle team, on sunday, aug 5, 2001. my buddies and i left, just as cleveland scored 2 runs in the fourth. we didn't have to work monday, so we went to the bars in the flats to party it up. we got hotel rooms as we usually would, so no one had to drive the hour trip home at 2 in the AM. the bars there were sorta dead, being a sunday and all. so we sit down at the bar and watch the rest of game. it is 14-2 at the end of the sixth. yeah (sarcasm)! then we score 3 in the seventh, 4 in the eighth, and yes, 5 in the ninth to tie it up. the place is now going crazy. most of the patrons were like us, they had previously been in the stadium watching the game, now are here at the bar, because we had all given up. fools, fools i say. cleveland scored a run in the 11th, on a walk off single, to win the game! how about that! as howie c would exclaim. i made a momento of the game. i framed the ticket and scorecard. i surrounded them with newspaper clips of write ups and the box score. to me, this represents never giving up hope. coming back and succeeding despite seemingly unsormountable odds and discouragingly bad circumstances. and i was there to be a part of it, even if i did leave. tonight's win was almost as impressive as that august night's game back in 2001.

the second thought: TRADE VICTOR MARTINEZ FOR A TOP NOTCH ESTABLISHED YOUNG CLOSER. i know, this may at first seem ridiculous (to an indians fan). but think about it. cleveland will NOT succeed in our tuff division without a closer. we have no one ready in the minors. this has been proven this year, and further validated after the trade of wicky. we need a good closer, one who will be around for awhile. top notch young closer are not common, therfore are not cheap. why shell out big bucks on a free agent? we tried this past winter, and were unsuccessful. victor can hit. his bat would be a major upgrade to any line up. he puts up awesome numbers, for a catcher. as a first baseman, he does not have the power most firstbasemen possess. he is not good at throwing out runners. this has badly hurt us this year. a single is almost a guaranteed double when he is behind the plate. teams run at will off victor. plus, despite his hitting talent, he has NO speed. he leads the majors (i believe) in grounding into double plays. he bats in front of travis hafner. as another slow dude, who is one of the best hitters in the majors, i would walk pronk (as hafner is called) in any critical AB, pitch to victor and hope for the rally ending DP. this happened tonight, but victor did come thru with an RBI double in the ninth. regardless, victor is very young, very talented at hitting, and signed long term fairly cheaply. his trade value is tremendous. probably enough to get us what we desperately need, a young top notch closer. kelly shoppach is good enough to be the starting catcher. he has some power, and can throw runnners out. our offense is good enough overall that we can afford to give up some hitting to become better defensively, and fill our gaping hole at the mucho critical position of closer. plus, now garko has a regular position at first. do it. do it now! TRADE VICTOR MARTINEZ. sorry dude, but it just makes too much sense.

ok, i must hit the sack. i didn't get to work till 7:00AM. i just could NOT get out of bed this AM. i did not check my e-mails today. a first, i belive. usually when i get on the 'puter, i check my e-mails. not tonight though. i hate getting onto patterns.

OUT