Thursday, September 15, 2005

Jelly on a Roll

Wednesday night's game at the Jake was the closest to playoff baseball that I've experienced since the late 90's. From Jake's no-no until the 6th to Bell-i-YARD going deep in typical Jelly fashion (a swing-out-of-your-shoes effort that he admired as it went deep in the SRO area in left), to Wickman's exciting 9th.

Best scene of the night:
A fan in the right field seats catches the HR that Sticky gave up in the 9th. The fans start chanting, "Throw it back, throw it back". Realizing that throwing a ball onto the field gets you ejected from the Jake, I find the usher to see if she's telling the guy not to. But, she's cheering and pumping her fist to throw it back like everyone else. As the ball flew over Blake's head onto the field, I saw her look up towards the concourse (presumably to another usher), shrug her shoulders, mouth the words "no way", and sit down to watch the final two outs.

The atmosphere was electric, giving high-fives to anyone around you, on your feet for the last 3 innings, giving standing O's to anyone - Belliard, Westbrook after his 5th inning of no-hit ball, Wickman coming out of the pen, Broussard during his PH at-bat in recognition of his two bombs on Tuesday. Even the grounds crew got one for clearing the field after a monsoon reminiscient of the Steve Miller Band Concert in 1992 at Blossom...if you were there, you know what I'm talking about.

21,000+ was pretty loud last night, though I think most of them are the same people who have been there all year, who know and enjoy baseball, and are taking great enjoyment out of seeing a talented team mature in an exciting playoff race. This is going to be a great couple of weeks here, right up to and including the final showdown with the White Sox.

Speaking of the Pale Hose, they dropped a game to KC today, meaning that the Tribe is 4.5 games back in the Central. Ozzie Guillen called out another one of his players, Damaso Marte, for a "questionable injury". The White Sox may be coming apart before our very eyes.

As I looked at the standings this morning, the Tribe has the 4th best record in all of baseball! Then I check out the official site, where this quote appears:

"If we don't sign Jim Thome, it'll erode a significant core [of the fan base], and we need to sign Jim Thome for performance and for that core. But I think the only thing that'll bring fans back to the three million range is for us to build a winning team again. That's what we have to do." -- GM Mark Shapiro, in 2002

Mission accomplished, on your end, Mark. Now it's on the fans to realize it.


Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle said on PTI yesterday that he thought the Yankees would win the Wild Card, but Indians' fans shouldn't fret because the Tribe will be good for at least the next 10 years. Actually Rich, I think we'll take our cake and eat it too this year.

Just got the new SI (with Aaron Brooks on the cover) and there's a 3 page article about the Indians. A great shot of Super Sizemore, Jhon, Coco, The Stick, and Pronk (shown here) starts the article off and, surprisingly for the national media, it almost presupposes that the Tribe will make the playoffs. If you don't subscribe to SI, it's worth the time and newstand price.

We're talkin' baseball...Indians baseball...TALKIN' TRIBE!!!

8 comments:

Cy Slapnicka said...

That picture rocks! I ordered my t-shirt jersey with Grady's number on it today. Since SuperSizemore is too many letters to order through mlb.com, I'm going to have that done after I get it. I cannot wait. Its not very often a brand new t-shirt immediately moves into the leadoff spot in my t-shirt batting order, however this is gonna be a special one. At this time I'd like to publicly thank my Euclid Tavern shirt for many years of faithful duty. Its been there through my proud and not-so-proud moments and never judged me. For that, I thank you.

As for catching a game, I will be in town for the Sox series and hope to make all three games. I have a far fetched but what I feel a great idea: SRO tickets with a few people, one dressed as the Coco puffs bird, one dressed as Shrek (Pronk), a honey bear as jhonny, and a supersize fry as Grady. obviously appropriate names and numbers would be necessary. WHO'S WITH ME?!?!? i have issues. these are the types of things i spend my day thinking about.

t-bone said...

Cy - I wore my SS 24 shirt to Monday and Tuesdays games, and will wear it all weekend.

All - my brother picked a hell of a weekend to get married (last reg season series against the Sox. I may buy tix to Sunday's game and haul it up from New Philly, although i'm sure i wont be in any condition to drive, even the morning after.

Also, can we all get in a fantasy baseball league together next year? Ever since the Lakewood League went extinct, good leagues are few and far between and i could use another good one, to go with the 2 others i'm in...

t-bone said...

I dont want to get over excied here, but lets look at the overall AL standings and who has what left on the schedule, knowing that us and the Yanks are hot as hell.

AL STANDINGS:

CHI 88-57
BOS 85-61, 3.5 GB
CLE 84-62, 4.5 GB
NYY 83-62, 5 GB
OAK 81-65, 7.5 GB
LAA 81-65, 7.5 GB

REMAINING SCHEDULES:
CHICAGO: 3 vs. CLE, 4 vs. MIN, 4 @ DET, 3 @ CLE, 1 makeup @ BOS if necessary

BOSTON: 3 vs BOS, 3 @ TB, 3 @ BAL, 4 vs. TOR, 3 vs. NYY, 1 vs. CHI if necessary

CLEVELAND: 3 vs. KC, 3 @ CHI, 4 @ KC, 3 vs. TB, 3 vs. CHI

NEW YORK: 3 @ TOR, 4 vs BAL, 3 vs. TOR, 3 @ BOS

OAKLAND: 3 @ BOS, 3 vs MIN, 3 vs TEX, 4 vs LAA, 3 @ SEA

ANAHEIM(I refuse to call them Los Angeles): 3 vs DET, 3 vs TEX, 3 vs TB, 4 @ OAK, 3 @ TEX


Assuming we keep up our play of late, I like our chances...

t-bone said...

as i'm watching grady and coco hosting TWIB, i see Tribe is at 2 in espn.com's power rankings... jackpot

t-bone said...

anyone else have the gamecenter open on the min/chi game on espn.com right now? no, me neither. sox just loaded bases with no outs and nathan comes in to relieve santana.... oh, the suspense!

t-bone said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rockdawg said...

There is nothing better than flipping through the channels and randomly catching the Indians on ESPN through the Dish. Are Belliard's lippers getting larger and larger as the season goes on? The other day I swear his bottom lip was hanging down by his chest.

Cy Slapnicka said...

5-0 top of 2...

Boom boom boom boom
I'm gonna shoot you right down,
right offa your feet
Take you home with me,
put you in my house
Boom boom boom boom
A-haw haw haw haw
Hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm
Hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm