Lazy Sunday from the Buddy Rice Fan Club

I’d like to thank Bud Selig and the folks at FOX and MLB for putting the Tribe-Tigers on 15% of the TV’s in America yesterday so I was forced to watch the Cubs-Dodgers (with a huge Cubs fan, who even admitted that he’d rather see the Sabathia-Verlander match-up) in Milwaukee, then switch over to ESPN during the Indy 500 Parade at a Memorial Day Party to see if the Indians could hang on to another win against the Motor City Kitties via the screen crawl at the bottom of the set.

As the score became final, that glorious “F” followed the score on the crawl and the obligatory fist-pumping and yelling ensued. Apparently Indy driver Buddy Rice appeared on the screen for the first time as the one-man celebration was going on, causing a party-goer to sidle up to me and ask if I was a big Buddy Rice fan. Rather than suffer the mockery that would come with admitting that I had just spent 25 minutes watching a crawl on the bottom of the screen, I professed my adoration for Buddy Rice. As the conversation turned to some, apparently smoking hot, Venezuelan female driver, my thoughts turned to a possible series sweep with El Diablo taking the hill.

For the uninformed a Faustian agreement is a deal with the Devil, so I’m hoping that this El Diablo thing catches on for Carmona’s starts - to the point that we can all go David Puddy and paint our faces to “support the team”, yelling into station wagons filled with priests?

Remembering Torii Hunter’s comments after Carmona’s dominance of the Twins (not the “hung-over” comment, the one where he said that RH hitters are lucky to break a bat and get a cheap hit against Carmona’s filth) has confidence high for the Sunday night game on the WWL tonight against a Detroit lineup that is heavy in RH lumber.

Regardless, with the unpleasant taste of the Royals series out of my mouth and the fact that the Indians have started this HUGE 10-game stretch against the AL’s best (7 vs. DET, 3 vs. BOS) with a 2-0 record leads us into a very happy, but quick, Lazy Sunday:

Terry Pluto offers a very good explanation of the Andy Marte call-up.

Paul Hoynes correctly identifies the bullpen as the spot that needs an upgrade in his mailbag and updates the status of Cliff Politte.

Newsday discusses the Rangers’ impending fire sale and lists Cleveland as a possible destination for Eric Gagne. Personally, I’d rather take Otsuka (and his 1.02 ERA) unless Gagne can show that he can stay off the DL for an extended period of time.

Finally, news from the opponents’ camp as Ken Rosenthal comes through with an interesting piece on Justin Verlander and how the Tigers are trying to prevent the innings pitched in 2006 from having the Mark Prior/Kerry Wood effect on his career.

Break out the brooms tonight, Friends of the Feather!
Go Cavs!
And…um…go Buddy Rice?