After 2.5 Innings & 4 Beers

So I'm watching my first full Tribe contest in quite awhile. A far cry from an average of ~150 games/year. Anyway, I'm out of the loop. Thus this post.

1) Kelly Shoppach looks a lot like a RH Jim Thome at the plate. He points the bat, adjusts the helmet and pants, and tries to look real mean.

2) Shut the fuck up about Manny Ramirez's 16 game hitting streak. Give me a few years in the Majors and I can hit 16 games in a row. Especially with a Green Monster 100 feet away. Wake me up around game 40.

3) You know that I complain a lot about ESPN commentators that know 85% NYY & BOS and 15% MLB. One of the worst transgressions these assholes make is when they argue with K-Zone when it goes against the Sox or Yanks. "Well, I thought that pitch was high and inside. Apparently K-Zone thought otherwise. It's still a good pitch for [insert primadonna here] to take with two strikes." ... Apparently not.

4) I forgot that we had Luna in our organization for like 5 years. Is that all that Belliard is worth? Someone we cut after evaluating him for half a decade?

5) I didn't know the NL West was so tight. Granted, they still all suck with the leader being five games above .500, but when the hell did the Diamondbacks become contenders? What year is this?

6) I'm sick of people saying, "That's just Manny being Manny." Usually it's in regard to an asinine diving cut-off attempt that costs his team runs. Annoying.... Today they showed Ramirez on the screen working his dreads into his cap. "That's just Manny being Manny." What the hell does that mean? Infuriating.

7) I like Paul Byrd's delivery. Old school. Unfortunately, it seems as if most of the AL hitters like it as well.

8) I knew that the Tribe had an even better team batting average than last year and that their pitching (and defense) has been the cause of this year's decline. I had no idea that they were only 11th in pitching. That's not too terrible. Wait, I just realized that I don't know if that's MLB (as I originally thought) or just AL. Obviously, that makes a difference. Time to go look it up.

9) I think we're going to be a force next year once Jhonny wakes up.