Show up Indians fans... it's fun so far.

The Indians are the best team in the American League right now. And if you missed the game against the second place Royals, then you missed another fun back and forth affair.

Sin Soo Choo broke it open with a 7th inning homer. Matt LaPorta is showing that the CC Sabathia trade might finally be paying dividends. Grady Sizemore's comeback is in full swing. Jack Hannahan, he of 18 career homers going into yesterday's game, hit 2 out last night.

And oh yeah, Justin Masterson won his 5th game.

Show up! What if THIS is the team that does what Bernie Kozar, LeBron James, Albert Belle and CC Sabathia couldn't do?

What if THIS is the team that finally wins it?
Don't you want to at least know their names?

Let's see some good crowds in Cleveland this week

OK. I realize that it is a mid week series in April against Kansas City, so I understand if it isn't standing room only at The Jake. (Sorry Progressive... it's the Jake.)

But there SHOULD be some buzz and excitement in Cleveland this week.
The three game losing streak means they are no longer the best team in the American League (the defending AL Champion Rangers have that honor.)

They ARE still on top of the AL Central, and the Royals are still in second. Last week the two teams met up for a thrilling 4 game set. And on Tuesday, Justin Masterson is taking his 4-0 record to the hill.

Embrace this team! Who knows what they will do this year? And in a way, that doesn't matter. In April they are playing an exciting brand of baseball and are giving Cleveland fans a little bit of hope.

They very well might not be contending in August or September and the games will be dull "playing out the string" affairs.

Wouldn't it be more fun to see them play when you can say "Who knows? Maybe they CAN do something!"?

Get on the bandwagon NOW!
The best case scenario is you are rooting for the team than finally delivers a title to Cleveland.

The worst case scenario? You see a fun baseball game.

Sounds pretty good to me.

BELIEVE IT! The Indians are the best team in the American League!

Is it early?

Sure.

But the White Sox just dropped a week of games and the Twins are banged up (and lost to Baltimore).
And oh yeah, Justin Masterson is 4-0 and making the Victor Martinez trade look worse for the Sox. (Hindsight being 20/20.)

If the Tribe wins tomorrow, they will have taken 3 of 4 from the Royals. Usually that doesn't mean anything, except that they were the best teams in the A.L. when the series started.

Start watching, Cleveland fans. Something cool might be happening.

Well there was good news and bad news...

The good news?

A Red Sox farm product through a masterful 2 hit shutout in the Sox/Indians game.

Bad news?

It was Justin Masterson pitching AGAINST the Red Sox!

Ah well... Sox lost 11-0. It's hard to get worked up when the teams pitching AND hitting stunk.

And frankly Buchholz didn't pitch badly. 7 innings, 3 earned runs is pretty good.

Boof Bonser let up 4 runs and got no batters out in his Red Sox debut.

He put the oof in Boof.

Currently his ERA is infinity.
Let's hope he can lower it.

Well there was good news and bad news...

The good news?

A Red Sox farm product through a masterful 2 hit shutout in the Sox/Indians game.

Bad news?

It was Justin Masterson pitching AGAINST the Red Sox!

Ah well... Sox lost 11-0. It's hard to get worked up when the teams pitching AND hitting stunk.

And frankly Buchholz didn't pitch badly. 7 innings, 3 earned runs is pretty good.

Boof Bonser let up 4 runs and got no batters out in his Red Sox debut.

He put the oof in Boof.

Currently his ERA is infinity.
Let's hope he can lower it.

*sigh*

Josh Beckett's last two starts have been against the Rays.

One was a game to put the Sox 1/2 a game back...
Todays was to put the Sox in first place by themselves.

Combined he pitched 14 innings, let up only 2 runs combined and struck out 14.
His record in those 2 games? 0-0
And two last at bat losses for the bullpen.

All I can say to Justin Masterson, who has been great this year... if you are going to hit a batter in the 9th on an 0-2 pitch... drill him with a fastball and not a breaking ball.

Oh well... magic number to the postseason is down to 5.
Win tomorrow and all is forgotten.

Just like the Joba situation... without the stupidity

The Red Sox need a reliever... they have a solid rotation... Buchholz and maybe Colon are coming back, so they decided Justin Masterson should go to the pen, so they are sending him to Pawtucket to get used to relieving.

That was simple.
And makes good baseball sense.

Unlike the drama in the Bronx where everyone hemmed and hawed and turned the regular season into Joba's personal spring training.

Call me crazy, even after losing the series to Houston and Tampa and getting only a split in New York... I am not panicking yet.
And I think this Masterson move will be solid. It will be like getting another reliever without trading away Kason Gabbard and David Murphy.

It's June, so spring training is almost over for Joba

Some people are praising Joba Chamberlain's latest outing where he ALMOST pitched enough to meet the minimum requirement for earning a win.

Almost.

Extended regular season spring training continues as the Yankees map their entire season around Joba's development.

They even left Andy Pettite out there on Saturday to absorb 10 runs because they couldn't waste a bullpen with the Non Starter/Non Reliever going the next day.

And why not favor Joba over Pettite? What did Pettite ever do for the Yankees?

Now if Joba becomes the next Nolan Ryan, then this will all be worth it.
But turning the entire season into the "Let's not hurt Joba show" still strikes me as kinda sorta bizarre.

Meanwhile the defending World Champs' young pitchers continue to do things like "win" and "throw innings."

Justin Masterson is going the make the decision of what to do with Schilling and Buchholz very difficult.

He's 3-0, pitched 6 innings in every start (if Joba threw 6 innings he'd get a parade down the canyon of heroes.)

Wait... he's already thrown 24 1/3 innings? That's a lot of innings.
SHUT HIM DOWN! SHUT HIM DOWN!

Meanwhile... back at the actual pennant race

Man oh man I will TAKE IT!

J. D. Drew getting key hits and taking away doubles with his defense?
Manny Ramirez beating out throws to first?
Coco Crisp playing wall ball?
Craig Hansen getting key outs?
Another nice start from Justin Masterson?

Is this the new look of the Defending Champs?
Now if Javier Lopez could throw a strike it would feel like bizarro world... but that would be greedy.

I love taking game one of a big series (and make no mistake, Red Sox fans... this is a big series)

I especially love taking game one of a big series when Josh Beckett is pitching game two.

Let's see some more surprises tonight.
How about Julio Lugo hitting for the cycle and not making me nervous with his defense?

So many reasons to love the Red Sox's pitching

Well that was a pretty good home stand!
Nothing relieves the sting of a 4 games losing streak quite like a 7 game winning streak.

But holy crap these last 4 games gave me goose bumps if for no other reason than to see the sheer variety of the Defending World Champion Boston Red Sox starting staff and how awesome it could be.

JON LESTER

I mean what else is there to say?
He’s 23 years old and has beaten cancer, pitched the clinching game of the World Series and threw a no hitter!

When I was 23, I was fat, living in a messy apartment with my then girlfriend and another guy watching Price is Right in my underwear while eating McDonald’s every morning.

What I am saying is he’s off to a better start than me.

His no hitter was such a great story that even Chris DeLuca, a Yankee fan who loathes the Red Sox and their fans with the passion of a thousand suns, had to admit it was a good story.

I watched the last inning of his no hitter at a gym in Santa Monica. When he got the last out I high fived a woman who was also a Red Sox fan. We both agreed it was awesome and then I reminded her… “This guy is our #4 starter!”

Like any good Red Sox fan, when something positive happens to my team I also tried to think of how it affected the Yankees. I grinned when I thought “Our two stud young pitchers, Buchholz and Lester, have 2 more no hitters than the Yankees two stud young pitcjers, Hughes and Kennedy, have 2008 wins.”

Nothing gets a team going like a no hitter. Last year when it looked like the Yankees might be poised to overtake the Sox, Buchholz’s no hitter gave the Sox a big jolt.

As if this team needed a jolt, I’ll take Lester.


JUSTIN MASTERSON


In 2006, the Red Sox starting staff was so ravaged with injuries that it felt like they were letting the 15th caller on WEEI pitch every 5th day.

This year there has been an embarrassment of riches with young pitchers!
Unlike his first start, when I screamed at Francona to let the kid pitch seven, Masterson was stretched out. And while it is hard to get that excited about shutting down the Royals line up (he contained Ross Gload!) it’s hard not to get pumped about the idea of ANOTHER young stud in the rotation.

Like any greedy Red Sox fan, I started putting together the rotation of the future.

Neither Beckett nor Dice K are 30 yet… and Lester, Buchholz and Masterson round out the starting five!

“My God!” I thought quite greedily. “We could become like the Braves of the 1990s… only we’ve ALREADY won more World Series titles than those Braves teams and have a more stable bullpen!”

I might be getting ahead of myself, but keep in mind we’re asking Lester, Buchholz and Masterson to be the 3, 4 and 5 starters!


BARTOLO COLON

Now it is getting silly!

Lester beat cancer and it looks like Colon is trying to defeat gluttony.
Tell me he doesn’t look like Andre the Giant!

Christsake, El Guapo would look at this guy and say “Dude, order the small!”

If there is an uglier guy who looks worse in a uniform in the bigs than Colon, then I haven’t seen him. And if he pitches like that, who cares?

Seriously, his last full season he was a Cy Young winner and is buddies with Manny (keeping awkward looking pitchers who are friends with Manny is a phenomenon known as the Julian Tavarez Syndrome.)

And who doesn’t love a fat guy who plays well?
Why do you think David Wells is so loved in New York?
Or Fernando Valenzuela?
Or Tony Gwynn? Or Steve Bye Bye Balboni? Or John Kruk?

How’s about Babe Ruth?

Seeing a tubby guy kick butt is the inspiration for regular dudes with bellies who watch TV and say “Man! That could be me!”

I may have to get a Colon jersey… size XXXL.


DAISUKE MATSUSAKA

My friend Dan Cronin, the brilliant Emmy winning writer for Conan O’Brien, has bemoaned the Dice-K signing almost from the start and is convinced it was a giant waste of dough.

I haven’t heard a lot from him since Dice-K is now 8-0 with a 2.15 ERA.
Yeah he walks too many people, but he gets the outs when he needs them.

Also any game that features two grand slams and neither one was hit by Papi or Manny makes me feel happy for the line up.

But winning these last 4 games with those four pitchers and coming to Oakland tonight with Wakes ready to go shows how deep our staff is while Schilling and Buchholz mend.

And the other amazing about those 4 games and tonights is that none of them were pitched by the ace, Beckett.

Good times…
I will read this post if the Sox have a losing streak if for no other reason than to cheer me up.

I guess I can't complain about yesterday's game

I have complained about Francona treating pitchers like the Egg in Risky Business and I bitched and moaned about not letting the kid Masterson pitch the 7th...

So I guess I can't complain when Francona let Buchholz pitch the 8th inning of a 1-0 game...


Let's go Beckett. I would kind of like to
not be swept by Tampa

Hey Francona! Let the kid pitch!

Look, I understand we're not supposed to stretch pitchers out.
I understand young pitchers need to be treated like Fabrege Eggs.

But why the hell didn't Justin Masterson start the 7th inning?
This isn't a second guess. I was yelling this at the screen inbetween the 6th and 7th.

Think about all the positives that could have happened with a win yesterday:

- A series win over the Angels... always good to beat contenders.
- A series win where Varitek, Beckett, Youk and Dice-K all had to sit out with the flu. (Seriously, get some Day Quil and suit up!)
- A series win where David Pauley starts one of the games.
- A series win where Coco Crisp comes back and contributes to the offense.
- A series win where Papi's bat has completely caught fire.
- And oh yeah... a series win that includes a solid debut by rookie Justin Masterson.

Holy crap, the team is loading up on the young pitchers! Buchholz, Lester, Papelbon, DelCarmen and now Masterson!

The kid was throwing a 2 hitter and getting out of the few jams he found himself in.
And yeah, anyone expecting him to do better than 6 innings 1 run is greedy... but let's be greedy?

Send him out there to face Kotchman. If he let's up a homer... fine, take him out and get a standing ovation.

But Francona has been going to the Lopez, DelCarmen and Timlin well almost every night. Let the kid pitch and see what happens! What are you saving him for? He was already back in a Portland uniform by the end of the 7th inning.

Instead Lopez comes in and does his best Mark Clear impersonation and walks the only two he faces and DelCarmen makes sure the bases are loaded with nobody out for Okajima.

Then the game falls apart and all the positives are flushed down the toilet.

Everyone talks about preserving the arms of the rotation... but what about the bullpen? I'd rather see the starter wiggle out of a jam or two and get his 5 days rest instead of expecting the pen to throw 3 to 4 innings a night.

Anyway, hope to see Masterson up again soon. I like these young arms.