ALDS Game 2: bugs!

The Bug Game.

Cleveland finally has a pithy shorthand for a sporting event that will be remember as a positive instead of a negative (The Drive, anyone?). So that’s a good thing. So is winning. So is going up 2-0 heading to New York, where well trot out Westbrook, who’s been one of the best starters since the All-Star break, against Clemens, who has pitched about seven innings in the last month. At the worst the Indians will have CC Sabathia on full rest for Game Five. That’s a good thing too.

Sat behind three guys from New York. For NY fans they were better than I expected…until Joba entered the game and they repeatedly called him a Hall of Famer. Then they tried to convince people that yes, indeed, Joba is a Hall of Famer, all while convulsing like an epileptic at the sight of that other-worldly slider. Then Joba allowed a run to score without giving up a hit and they shut up.

Why didn’t Joe Torre ask for the game to be delayed when the bugs descended? Joba was clearly rattled and later the ump said that he was close to putting the game in a bug delay. All Torre needed to do was ask. Could have been the difference.

Had the Indians not won in the bottom of the 11th I think 18% of the crowd would have died from exhaustion. Another 23% would have lost their voices and an additional 7% would have developed debilitating blisters from clapping for four straight hours. The Indians had to win in the 11th and they did. Fantastic.

Fausto Carmona is a beast. An absolute beast. He does not tire and he does not back down from anyone. His performance tonight was one for the ages.

Ditto for Perez. Four perfect innings so far and each of those innings have been huge.

All Kenny Lofton does is get on base. The man in a machine.

Oh, and Alex Rodriguez is doing everything he can to gain an edge. Unfortunately none of it is working.

(Photo courtesy of the Associated Press)

ALDS Game 1 Highlights

Man, so much to say about last night’s dismantling of the Yankees. First, when Garko drove in Hafner in the bottom of the first it was the loudest I have ever heard Jacobs Field. The entire stadium was kicked in the stomach on Damon’s home run (it was a homer from where I was sitting) and there was a palpable nervous energy coursing through the place. Sabathia was supposed to be the ace in the hole and here he was, armor chinked, and there they were, the mighty Yankees, hitting homers and getting men on base. When Cabrera grounded into the double play the collective hopes of 44,608 people sunk quite a bit. It was almost as if the stadium got smaller. Then Hafner walks, Martinez gets on base, and Garko ties the game. There is loud and then there is indoor stadium loud. Jacobs Field was indoor stadium loud. Incredible.

First pitch:

The bullpen is going to be the difference in the series. The Yankees have no one to bring in before the 8th inning while the Indians have a trio of guys who do nothing other than shut down the other team. Perez has balls of steel, Lewis freezes everyone with that jerky delivery, and Betancourt does not care how long he takes to record an out, only that he records an out. The Yankees were clearly over-matched. If the Indians starters can go 5-6 innings and leave with a two-run lead the game might as well be over.

Casey Blake looks like a baseball player. He looks like the exact sort of guy you want on your team in the playoffs. I never thought it was possible for a bearded guy for Iowa to have swagger until I saw Blake walking the outfield before the game.

Not sure if it came across over the television, but before Kenny Lofton turned back the clock once more in the bottom of the fifth inning there was a tremendous stadium-wide chant of Yankees Suck. Throughout the game there were smaller, more localized chants of Yankees Suck, like the one that occurred in the bathroom when I was peeing in between innings. (1) And there were a few stadium-wide chants of Ken-ney Ken-ney. But none of them was as loud or as consuming as the Yankees Suck chant in the fifth inning. Too bad it only lasted about ten seconds.

Finally, the difference in the game was a man no one has talked about and who finally received the recognition he deserves. He threw out the first pitch and the only shame is that more Indians fans weren’t there to see it.

Represent, John Adams. Represent.

fn 1: There were other chants in the restroom as well. A few drunk guys started chanting about Derek Jeter performing oral sex on “Gay Rod”. Obviously lost on them was the sheer homoeroticism of a bunch of sweaty men, penises pulled out, signing in unison about other men. It was the height of irony.