My first win!

Finally my blog has experienced an Indians win. When Travis Hafner was interviewed after the game, he stated: "We called a pre-game meeting and decided to win this one for the Ranting Tribe Fan. Just the thought of him inspires all of us." Well... thanks Pronk.... I appreciate it.

When asked about his second-inning dive into third, Jody Gerut responded: "Yes... I learned most of my baseball skills from watching Who's the Boss?, in addition to many other movies and TV shows. For instance, when I have to try to knock over the catcher, I emulate George Costanza charging into Bette Midler. In order to not lose my job to an up-and-comer, I always play with reckless abandon in the outfield, just like Bump Bailey." You can read Jody's blog here.

Thanks to the TribeTracker for posting a link to this site yesterday.

Following up to my last post, here is another article from the News-Herald on just how bad the pen has been. Warning: These numbers may cause severe vomiting and diarrhea. View at your own risk.

I’ve listed the tribesmen I feel most comfortable with up at the plate with runners on and their corresponding batting averages in pressure situations.

Player	BA	w/RISP	Close & Late
Victor Martinez	.286	.280	.217
Omar Vizquel	.302	.340	.333
Matt Lawton	.320	.295	.207
Travis Hafner	.283	.267	.136
Ronnie Belliard	.343	.343	.333
Jody Gerut	.288	.196	.222
Ben Broussard	.246	.241	.100
Lou Merloni	.273	.400	.000
Alex Escobar	.228	.276	.200
Casey Blake	.243	.235	.258
Coco Crisp	.233	.273	.333

Conclusions? Well... I guess I don't really have any. It's pretty obvious why Jody only has 22 RBIs. It seems as if his hitting approach totally breaks down when there are runners in scoring position (does anybody else notice this?). Yet... as a whole, he's batting .247 with the bases empty and .308 with runners on base (which means he's getting many of his hits with a runner only on first). Strange.

How is it that Casey Blake isn't batting under .100 with runners on? Is it just me or does he strike out looking every time there's a runner on third with less than 2 out?

Another strange conclusion drawn: How is it that Ronnie Belliard has only 12 RBI? About half of his at bats are in the leadoff spot.... but he's gotten plenty lower in the batting order as well. Yet his RBI numbers are incredibly low. Wacky wild stuff.

How 'bout Omar scoring from second on that wild pitch last night? Did that remind anybody of anything? C'mon people..... the similarities are staggering!

May 27, 2004	Game 6 ALCS, 1995
Vs. Seattle	Vs. Seattle
8th Inning	8th Inning
Dan Wilson catching	Dan Wilson catching
Indians win by 4 runs	Indians win by 4 runs

You'd think Dan Wilson would've learned his lesson and run hard after those wild pitches.

I'll be unbloggable this weekend while traveling. I know.... why start it if I'm just going to ignore it for 3 days? My answer: I felt like it.