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Guards limp home after loss to Cards

So the sojourn down south turned sour for the Guardians. They lost two straight to wrap up the six-game trip to Atlanta and St. Louis, including the April 15 Tax Day matinee to the Cards, 5-3. The Guardians ended up going 2-4 on the trip. The loss dropped the Guardians to 10-9 on the young campaign. St. Louis is 10-8. The good news is the Guardians come home to take on Baltimore beginning April 16. They need some home cooking. They lost 6-5 in 10 innings on April 14 and then followed that up with this disappointing defeat. Cleveland generated eight hits and scored a single run in the first and two in the seventh inning. St. Louis used a big three-run sixth inning to fuel its win. Nathan Church powered the St. Louis offense with three hits, two runs, and an RBI. The afternoon start drew 22,642 to Busch Stadium. Overcast skies and temperatures in the 70s supplied the playing conditions. Is there anything better than watching an MLB game during the work day? Daniel Schneeman and Kyle Manz...
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Guards blow one late in loss to Cards

 The Guardians lost a heartbreaker in St. Louis. St. Louis came from behind to beat Cleveland 6-5 in 10 innings. The Guards looked on the road to a win. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Juan Brito booted an easy ground ball on what should have been the third out. The boot extended the inning, allowing St. Louis to eventually tie the game at 5. Jose Ramirez continued his hot hitting with two hits and his third home run of the season to lead the Cleveland offense. Daniel Schneeman also homered for Cleveland, which fell to 10-8 on the season. Joey Cantillo started for Cleveland but did not register a decision. Steven Kwan made a sensational diving catch in center field, but that great defense was undone by Brito’s boot. We must not be too hard on Brito. He is a rookie. It was just last week that he was rushed up to the Majors after Gabe Arias blew out his hamstring. The great thing about baseball is that there is another game tonight. Game 3 of the series is in St. Lou...
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Guards get win in St. Louis

 The Guardians bounced back with a big offensive night to knock off the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-3, on April 13. Gavin Williams started and picked up the win. He had a rough first inning. He steadied himself going forward and ended up pitching well enough to earn the win. He ended up working five innings and giving up two earned runs while striking out four. Angel Martinez and Brayan Rocchio homered for Cleveland, which improved to an American League best 10-7. Cleveland is tied with division-rival Minnesota for the best record in the AL. Daniel Schneeman drove in a pair of runs with a single to shallow right field in the top of the fourth inning to break a 1-1 tie. Steven Kwan put the icing on the win with a two-run single in the top of the 8th inning to increase the  Guardians lead to 9-2. Not much to add to this. The Guardians controlled the game early and poured it on offensively. Williams had to fire 36 pitches in the first frame. St. Louis loaded the bases but scored just ...
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Guards ready for series in St. Louis

 April 13. Just filed my taxes. At the public library. Owe the fed nearly a grand, get money back from the state. know for certain that I owe those blood suckers at RITA. That’s for damn sure. But I turn my attention to tonight’s game in St. Louis. Let’s see how Gavin Williams does on the hill  this evening. He is the Guard's best starting pitcher, in my humble opinion. It’s one based on three seasons of direct observation. So let’s see how he does against the National League’s St. Louis Cardinals  down below the Mason-Dixon line where the Guards have struggled. They just lost 2-out-of-3 over the weekend to the Hotanta Braves. Lay off the sweet tea, fellas. Back to this evening, another thing  to watch is how  Williams fares while facing a hostile crowd. Will he freeze up and fail miserably? Or come out firing strikes and dispatching hitters with ease? I don't think it will mess with him, but you never know. On the young campaign, Williams is 1-1 with an ERA of...
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Guards get beat down by Braves

The Guardians did not present themselves in the best light in front of a national television audience as they were pasted by the Atlanta Braves, 13-1,  on Sunday Night Baseball on Peacock on April 12. Tanner Bibee was roughed on the mound, and Cleveland’s scoring was limited to a home run by Rhys Hoskins. Bibee was tattooed for eight earned runs and 11 hits. Cleveland is 9-7 and continues its southern state sojourn with a trip to St. Louis. The first of the three games against the Cardinals is tonight.  Gavin Williams takes the hill. He’s our true No. 1 pitcher, not Bibee. Old friend CC Sabathia was on the national TV announcing crew. He pitched for Cleveland in the early 2000s and went on to a Hall-of-Fame career. I still remember listening to a portion of his first career win on the radio. It came in his second career start on the road in Detroit. I had just moved home from Minnesota. It was thrilling to hear Tom Hamilton call the games on the radio again. Even more thrillin...
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Guardians get back on the good foot down in da dirty

The Guardians got back on the right foot in Atlanta on April 11th, thanks to the pitching of Parker Messick and the hitting of Jose Ramirez. Messick pitched 6 2/3 innings of shutout baseball and struck out five to earn the win. Ramirez homered in the third inning to give Cleveland an early 1-0 lead.  His first home run of the campaign, Ramirez, according to MLB.com, “got an 0-2 change up from Martin Perez over the heart of the plate, belted it 408 feet out to left field according to Statcast. Rookie sensation Chase DeLauter’s RBI double gave Cleveland a 3-0 lead. Daniel Schneeman added a two-run single in the 8th inning. Used to be let’s play two I remember growing up when all the teams in the MLB played doubleheaders on Sundays. That’s right. You’d pay for one ticket and get to see two nine-inning games. In 1975, the then-Indian team played 12 home dates on Sundays. On six of those Sundays, the Indians played doubleheaders. I vividly remember attending the July 6, 1975, double di...
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So much for Southern hospitality

 So much for Southern Hospitality. The Atlanta Braves smacked up Cleveland pitchers for three home runs in a six-run sixth inning as they bested the Guardians 11-6 on April 10. Cleveland led 2-1 heading into the faithful bottom of the sixth. Matt Olson, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Michael Harris II all homered for Atlanta. The loss dropped Cleveland to 8-6. Slade Cecconi took the loss as he fell to 0-2. He allowed five runs on seven hits while striking out three and walking one. The Guardians' bullpen arms of Matt Festa, Peyton Pallette, and Kolby Allard were lit up for six runs. Good news for Cleveland came in the form of Kyle Manzardo, who hit his first home run of the season in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 1. Steve Kwan’s RBI single in the fifth inning gave Cleveland a brief 2-1 lead. Guards need to get back on track tonight. Detroit won last night 2-0,  so you don’t want them to get hot. Kansas City downed the Chicago White Sox 2-0, and Toronto thrashed Minnesota, 1...
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