Lazy Sunday with a Pad of Butter

Because we’re on a roll…get it?
OK, enough Stu Scott, right?
Sorry, I’m having trouble containing myself after witnessing two victories over the Bronx Bombers in two nights, with seats for yesterday’s game basically IN the visitors’ dugout…but more on that later.
Let’s take a quick trip around a Lazy Sunday:

Baseball Prospectus is impressed with Cliff Lee’s start, and with pretty good reason. A person who would know tells me that Lee is throwing essentially fastball after fastball (Pluto says it’s 80% of the time), but is throwing it to the catcher’s mitt with alarming ease. For Lee’s next start, watch where the catcher’s mitt starts when Lee goes into the windup and observe how frequently Vic or ShopVac move even an inch…assuming, of course, that Warren Spahn keeps taking the ball for Cliff Lee’s starts.

Pluto also mentions that Sabathia’s mechanics were off and that hitters were able to pick up when his breaking ball was coming because of the delivery. Makes sense to me now as an explanation as to why he wasn’t throwing his breaking ball if he thought people knew it was coming, leading to the trickle-down effect of batters being able to sit there on his fastball and wait to square one up.

Shelly Ocker comes through with something rational and logical today, which makes me wonder if Pluto’s ghostwriting for him. Seriously, though, Ocker has a decent piece on how the Indians’ have taken advantage of revenue opportunities in a mid-sized market to retain their own players and stick to “The Plan”.

It seems that the two injured Tribe pitchers are taking longer than expected to recover. For one of them, I would like to see him back ASAP. For the other, I’m OK with him taking as long as he needs…then waiting 60 days. You can probably figure out which is which.

Speaking of Westbrook, he’s scheduled to appear on a streaming radio show online called “Country Fastball” at 6 PM tonight. Not sure if his injury will be covered, but most Cleveland sports events should be done by then, so it might be worth a listen.

In case you missed it, Atom Miller returned to the Bisons’ rotation in sparkling fashion last week. Truthfully, I could see Miller as a dark-horse candidate to take the next start after Laffey’s on Monday that’s not handled by C.C., Fausto, Lee, and Byrd. The Indians will have a lot of roster shuffling to do, and throwing the big RH in an MLB game may be in the cards for the Tribe. He, like Laffey and Sowers, is on the 40-man, so his option is already being used this year. Let’s see what the kid can do while Jake’s on the mend…why not? It certainly would be interesting to see him against some MLB hitters.

Finally for the LS, what does Pronk mean? Watch away…

Now, back to yesterday, when the DiaBride and I were lucky enough to take in the Victor-y from a dugout suite. To give you an idea of how close these are (and I had only been in one during a Ballpark Tour), check this:


You’re actually closer to the plate than the pitcher’s mound is…no zoom on these pics.
THAT is insanity.

Our seats were essentially behind where the Yankees’ on-deck circle was (which is about 10 feet closer to home than the actual “on-deck circle”), allowing us to be privy to Jeter telling A-Rod (standing on the top step) that Sowers was throwing a cutter in the 1st inning, and to hear every word uttered by the ballplayers as they stood on-deck. The highlight of the Yankees being on-deck in front of us? When Jeets and A-Snob had to move out of the “dirt” track as they waited to lead off an inning for the…Hot Dog Derby. The expression on their faces and the way they sllloooowwwllly moved out of the way of the approaching hot dogs made me hate them more.


We had a great view of the maelstrom that erupted when the ump blew the call at 2B, from Wedge flying out of the dugout as soon as the ump signaled an out, to the Atomic Wedgie running by a screaming Joel Skinner as Wedge waved Skins off, as if to say “I’ve got this”, to Wedge’s eventual glorious ejection.


The highlight, though obviously, came from Grady running right into our kitchen as he scored the go-ahead run and the ensuing celebration on the field.








Today is a perfect time for C.C. to re-establish himself as the de facto aCCe of this team and ensure a series sweep from the Spankees.
Hey, Hey, Hey, Let’s Go Tribe!