Saturday, October 15, 2016

Lindor blast leads Tribe to Game One win!

Francisco Lindor's two run blast in the bottom of the sixth inning accounted for all of the runs in game one of the ALCS as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 in Cleveland.
Corey Kluber threw six and a third innings to keep Toronto off the scoreboard with Andrew Miller and Cody Allen finishing the game.
The Indians lead the series 1-0 with game two tonight in Cleveland.
Josh Tomlin for the Indians against JA Happ for the Blue Jays.
As most of you know I am away for the day,so I'm not how much coverage that I will have for the Indians and Buckeyes as I will be watching in a sports bar.
The Buckeye coverage may come later in the week with a rewatching of the tape,while I'm not sure on the Indians...

Smoke Signals

1) Corey Kluber was more gritty than sharp in his stint on the mound,but zero is still zero.
Kluber had to fight off six runners in the first three innings,but managed to survive.
Sign of a great pitcher is the ability to escape jams on nights that he doesn't have his best stuff...

2) Loved Francisco Lindor's enthusiasm on his homer run with smile intact racing around the bases.
I liked Lindor's play and attitude from the first time that I saw him play in the Carolina League.
Love Lindor's game and he's exciting to watch as a building block of the Cleveland future...

3) I'm rooting for the Indians of course,but I felt bad for losing pitcher Marco Estrada,who went the distance for Toronto (eight innings).
The former Hagerstown Sun made just one mistake,but otherwise equaled the Tribe at all turns.
Marco was one of my favorites during his tenure in Hagerstown and I've rooted for him ever since...

4) Andrew Miller struck out five of the six batter that he faced.
It's easy to see why the Indians traded so much for his services with the Yankees and he's a fun guy to watch pitch with all the mechanics that come with a 6'6 fireballer.
Way back in the beginnings of this blog,I complained about the Pirates passing Andrew Miller (in the draft before the blog started) in favor of Brad Lincoln in another one of those Dave Littlefield signability issues that always seemed to pop up in those days.
Miller might not have turned out to be a rotation horse,but boy is he one dominant force from the bullpen...

5) I've often been critical of Lonnie Chisenhall in the past as a doubter.
Chisenhall has been a serviceable player this season and that came to mind after his three for three night in this game.
Chisenhall might not project for power,but he's matured as a player to be a helpful role player..

6) I've also been a fan of Josh Tomlin since his minor league days,but I'm a little worried about him in this matchup.
Tomlin's stuff doesn't always play against a powerhitting team and with guys like Donaldson,Encarncion and Bautista,I'm wondering about this matchup.
This was scheduled to be Trevor Bauer's start,but Bauer and Tomlin's start were switched after Bauer suffered a small cut on a finger repairing a drone.
I'm sure this is a first time occurrence for a playoff start to be changed for a "Drone repairing injury"...

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