Thanks Rusty; it seemed unlikely Dbacks would give Sipp away.

As for the Route to Victory, Baron, we know that this team is capable of beating anyone (other than Detroit) when they are on a roll,and capable of losing to anyone (other than Chicago) when they are on a slide. IT should be interesting and fun and at times frustrating, but that's what a pennant chase is about.

A big surprise like Mark Reynolds hits in September like he did in April could be enough to put us over the top but the pitching will continue as always to be key. Maybe Danny Salazar will be the horse we ride, gently, to the playoffs?

Jhonny Peralta got a 50 game suspension.

gaylord perry wrote:Jhonny Peralta got a 50 game suspension.

And another Detroit player Marie Shapsonetti once had under their organizational control went 3 for 4 to beat those stooges Shapiro and Antonetti in current charge of Cleveland Indians Fandom tonight.

Victor Martinez, for the Cleveland paying attention impaired.

We all know that possible roids have been a player to evaluate baseball player performance factor for more than a decade, and then some.

Shapsonetti, of course know not when to "hold them, or to fold them."

Shaps and Marie Antoinetti are still trying to figure out how to handicap "the roids factor" to win games for "their fans."

Nod to Hafner and Peralta.

42%+ of the seats in Cleveland tonight were empty, at least according to my latest ESPN box score. In the FIRST GAME of a HUGE series.

Rusty has always been forward and effusing in his Man Love of Mark Shapiro and touting Shaps as one of the most sought after "execs" in MLB.

Excuse me.

A barely half full stadium on a sleepy Monday night with school still out and the local Cleveland Fans do not "come down" in Shaps Speak ("Masty on the bump on the mound") to buy walk up tix in the first game of a pennant race thriller??

For the record, when I and all my baseball fans friends went to see "The Indians" in the days of Dennis Eckersley and George Hendricks, we "went up" to Cleveland to buy walk up tix.

ShapsAntonetti are carpetbagger EAST COAST "effete snob" losers living off the blood of remaining Cleveland Fans who are not all that bright (most here excluded).

Tribe is now 4 out.

We were only 1 1/2 out at the All Star Break.

Now we are only 4 out.

Yes, I typed "We".

I still care.

By the way, our $25 million guys for next season personally chosen by Shaps and Marie Antoinetti for 2014......Swisher and Cabrera for the paying attention impaired....went a combined 0-6 in tonight's sad Cleveland Indians loss to lower their combined 2013 averages even further below the abysmal .245 mark.

Indians Fever.

Catch It!

Rusty has always been forward and effusing in his Man Love of Mark Shapiro and touting Shaps as one of the most sought after "execs" in MLB.

Excuse me.

Antonetti is the leader for GM of the year. Just saying.......

Not enough fans in the stadium...... Not Antonetti's fault.

You... a non Cleveland Indians fan should not even be posting here after a big game.

Not enough fans in the stadium...... Not Antonetti's fault.

It really is a shame to see 24,000 for a game that big last night. But Cleveland is no longer a great baseball city. And, of course, no longer the same size city.

I just enjoy it for what it is. The Browns moved, anyone can move.....

And I agree Antonetti has done a really good job as GM, by the way.

I do wish he had picked up a reliever. But I have no way of knowing what the market was out there.

So I refrain making a judgement without adequate information.

TFIR wrote:

Not enough fans in the stadium...... Not Antonetti's fault.

It really is a shame to see 24,000 for a game that big last night. But Cleveland is no longer a great baseball city. And, of course, no longer the same size city.

I just enjoy it for what it is. The Browns moved, anyone can move.....

It is a shame, but really, despite the myth of "Diehard Cleveland Fans", it's not odd.

The abberation is the 8-10 year period after the opening of Jacobs Field. Which happened to fall during a perfect storm.
#1 the Indians were shit hot.
#2 the Browns left town
#3 with the resurgence of the downtown area of the mid 90's it was en vogue to go to Indians games
#4 the economy as a whole was better.

In the 20 years since Jacobs Field opened, 8 of them had us in the top 5 attendance. 8 have been in the bottom 10, and 2 fell somewhere in the middle.

In the 20 years before Jacobs Field opened, they were never above the bottom 10 with the peak year being an average of 18k for the 1986 season.

I remember going to games at the old stadium and it seemed like there was NOBODY there.

I may well be the youngest poster here, but I would think you would have to go back to when there were World Series Trophies being won.....and there were much fewer entertainment venues.....to see greater attendance figures.

I think a lot of the griping comes from the fact that I'm pretty sure all of us here are in no position to just roll up to the park and buy tickets any givin night of the week to watch them, and were each of us in that position to be able to catch one of these games we would. But we cant.

I find it harder and harder to find baseball fans of any teams anymore, with the execption of your Die Hard Yankee and Boston fans, and the occasional Philly fan, none of whom can name 5 players of the starting lineup or 3 of the starting pitchers. It's long and boring. Nobody really cares until the playoffs. And even then interest is waning.

Fact is, Cleveland is not a baseball town, it was only the sexy eye candy to have on your arm while the real woman ran away to Baltimore. Then, when she got wrinkles and saggy tits, dumped her when the real woman came back to town (and even she was just a shade of what she used to be.)

It's sad, but really most people are not going to waste their money going to see them. I'd be willing to bet that if you asked 100 people what a "Pennant Race" was, you'd be lucky to get 25% who know what it is, and the majority of those who do know will be old enough to remember the last time the Indians were in a Pennant Race before 1995. I'm not.

It's easier to turn on the TV and watch it while doing something else and only pay attention if the announcers get loud than to put up with the hassle and expense of going downtown to the game.

Gonna take a couple deep playoff runs to make downtown party like its 1995.

As if things weren't bad enough...

Indians place RHP Corey Kluber on the 15-day disabled list with sprained middle finger
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer

on August 06, 2013 at 6:42 PM, updated August 06, 2013 at 7:04 PM


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The fickle middle finger of fate has struck the Indians again.

Corey Kluber, after pitching 7 1/3 scoreless innings against Detroit on Monday, was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a sprained right middle finger. Right-hander Matt Langwell was recalled from Class AAA Columbus.

Kluber is the second Indians' pitcher this season to suffer this type of injury. Zach McAllister recently spent six weeks on the DL with a middle finger sprain. McAllister injured his finger throwing his curveball. It's not known if a specific pitch caused Kluber's injury.

The injury could conceivably sideline Kluber for the rest of the season.

This season Kluber has been one of the Indians' top starters. He's 7-5 with a 3.54 ERA in 21 games, including 19 starts. His 122 innings are second on the team next to Justin Masterson's 156 2/3.

Kluber's injury means rookie Danny Salazar, scheduled to start Wednesday against Detroit, will almost assuredly stay in the rotation at least for the immediate future. Salazar will eventually be shut down so he doesn't exceed his innings limits.

This will be Langwell's third trip to the big leagues this season.

This type of injury has proved bothersome for the Indians. It ruined the career of prospect Adam Miller and stunted the grow of former No.1 pick Alex White.

TFIR wrote:And I agree Antonetti has done a really good job as GM, by the way.

I do wish he had picked up a reliever. But I have no way of knowing what the market was out there.
.

Doesn't Rzepczynski count?

Tigers are just better than the Indians. Can't give up games like we did Monday night but we've won a couple of those as well this year. I happen to really like the club we have and the willingness of Dolan to spend some $$$. That said to keep this moving forward we have to extend Masterson. He is a legit top of the rotation starter and needs to get his $$$. Kluber and McAllister have been nothing short of fantastic trades! IF Salazar can break through we really have a very nice, young rotation with some depth. Bullpen is pretty darn solid as is the offense. I hate Cabby so can't wait for Lindor. I'd trade Cabby as soon as I could.....

I love Swisher but would move him to mostly a DH to protect his shoulder. Move Santana to 1B and Gomes to C. Dump Cabby, Myers, Reynolds, Smith and take that $20M and invest it in your core guys.......

To me the economy is hurting attendance. Season tickets for baseball are just a waste of money. Too easy to get good single game tickets. We have to field a competitive team season after season to keep attendance growing. This is year one...

The Swisher money should have been used for pitching. imho that is

Swisher signing felt good and probably helped encourage some other signings. We needed everything in the offseason and we got some for each category. Of course the only "starter"we signed was Myers and he turned out to be totally useless but somehow we've gotten by with last year's cast drastically improved.

Sorry about Kluber; he has been a very steady force. Better stuff and more reliable than McAllister, Jiminez

Baseball America's annual best tools at each league as voted by managers: Asdrubal No. 3 defensive SS. I dont' think he's that high on the statistical analysis but managers like him.

civ ollilavad wrote:Swisher signing felt good and probably helped encourage some other signings. We needed everything in the offseason and we got some for each category. Of course the only "starter"we signed was Myers and he turned out to be totally useless but somehow we've gotten by with last year's cast drastically improved.

Sorry about Kluber; he has been a very steady force. Better stuff and more reliable than McAllister, Jiminez

We finally got out from under Pronk's huge salary and replaced it with Swisher's 50 some million.
And he is no spring chicken. I think they will eventually have to eat it.

rusty2 wrote:Rusty has always been forward and effusing in his Man Love of Mark Shapiro and touting Shaps as one of the most sought after "execs" in MLB.

Excuse me.

Antonetti is the leader for GM of the year. Just saying.......

Not enough fans in the stadium...... Not Antonetti's fault.

You... a non Cleveland Indians fan should not even be posting here after a big game.

Rusty, you are the personal equivalent of the last pick nomenclature of the NFL Draft.



"Mr. Irrelevant"

Excuse me while I wake up early with a big surprise for my wife.

(do any Cleveland residents of 2013 still get married?)

Ocker, Hoynes, Pluto et al are apparently hoping for bit parts in a future rendition of "Damn Yankees" as they continue to "report" on Dolan's neophyte organizational helmsmen of obvious "Shemp" and "Curly" quality.


THAT would be Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti for you possibly impaired victims of Cleveland Public School education.