A night with the Tribe

Imagine how much fun we would've had if the Cleveland Indians would've won last night?

In what was an uninspiring offensive performance (0 runs on 2 hits), the Indians fell to the Oakland Athletics 3-0.

I had a feeling about what kind of night it was going to be when we sat down in our seats, I saw Fausto/Roberto Carmona/Hernandez pitching, runners on base, and no idea who was at shortstop, third base, or left field.  Also, the sight of Matt LaPorta at first base led to a mini-game of nicknames involving his last name (LaStrikeout, LaPopout, LaCaughtlookingagain) later in the game as he came up with runners on base.

I also knew what kind of night it was going to be when the A's hitters were putting Hernandez's pitches in the air, a bad sign for a sinkerball pitcher.  Oh, and the home run in the second inning.  That was a bad sign too.

Seriously, the game itself was a trainwreck.  Hernandez was gone in the third inning (still have no clue what happened, but that's mostly because I wasn't paying attention at the time and have yet to read about it) and his relief pitched a whole lot better than he did.

Then I figured out Jason Donald was at third base, Brent Lillibridge was at short, and Shelly Duncan was in left field.  That did NOT ease my concerns about the offense in the least.

While the A's were putting runners on base for the first few innings, the Indians were trying to see how quickly they could get back into the field.  There were so many 3 and 4 pitch at-bats that it was becoming contagious almost.  As if it were the only way it could end, Michael Brantley (aka Milton Bradley) struckout looking at three straight fastballs in the ninth with two runners on base.

This was our second game this year and the two games couldn't have been more different.  The first game against the Mariners the Indians put up 10 runs off of Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners on Puppypalooza night.  It was fun, the atmosphere was great, and the fans were into the game.  Last night?  Mostly empty, fans were bored, and even Rachel and I were entertaining ourselves for the most part.

Some random moments from the game included Rachel guessing pinch hitter when she meant switch hitter, confusing Milton Bradley and Michael Brantley, me saying the bathead when farther than the bat when I meant to say farther than the ball, her looking up a player she thought played for the Indians and telling me he made $48,000, I mean $408,000, I mean $480,000 this season.

We still had fun at the game, which is pretty much how things go when we go out into public.  The game was dull, but we made it entertaining for ourselves more than most ever could've.

I don't know if we're going to make it to anymore games this season.  I don't want to rule it out, but at this stage, I'd rather save the money and try to get to a Browns game instead.  I mean, sure they're probably going to stink again (lots of rookies and young players on both sides, plus injuries), but we didn't get to go last year and we both love the Browns.

As for the Indians, I can't begin to understand how two years in a row they go from first place to being the bottom of the barrel in baseball.  This year's collapse is even worse than last year's since they supposedly had learned from last year.

So instead, I will focus on the upcoming Browns and Buckeyes football seasons since, well, it's almost football season and nothing says American like grown men smashing into each other in front of replacement officials.

Oy.