August 2010
8/13: Indians vs. Mariners
Tonight’s 7:05 p.m. ET game at Progressive Field is on WTAM and STO.
If you haven’t already checked out my story on Luke Holko’s recovery from the foul ball that nearly killed him, please do so here.
INDIANS (48-67): CF Brantley, SS Cabrera, RF Choo, DH Brown, LF Crowe, 1B Marte, 3B Valbuena, 2B Donald, C Gimenez. RHP Fausto Carmona (11-9, 3.90).
MARINERS (44-71): RF Suzuki, 2B Figgins, DH Branyan, 3B Lopez, CF Gutierrez, 1B Kotchman, C Moore, LF Saunders, SS Wilson. RHP David Pauley (0-4, 3.38).
"The music begins to play, and you're automatically on your way"
By Anthony Castrovince/MLB.com
It’s “Rock ‘N Blast” weekend at Progressive Field, with tonight’s and Saturday’s games against the Mariners followed by a 30-minute pyrotechnic display set to 60 popular rock songs.
But music is always a major part of the ballpark experience, which is why so many of you send me messages throughout the year asking what a particular player’s at-bat or walk-up music is.
Well, wonder no more, as it’s time for my annual list of these tunes, courtesy of in-game entertainment manager Annie Merovich. You’ll find that the songs selected sometimes reveal quite a bit about the personality of the player. (Quite often, what’s unfortunately revealed is that the player has awful taste in music.)
Enjoy.
Michael Brantley: “I’m Back” by T.I.
Jordan Brown: “Remedy” by Seether
Asdrubal Cabrera: “Hasta Abajo” by Don Omar
Fausto Carmona: “Stronger” by Kanye West
Shin-Soo Choo: “Shoulder Lean” by Young Dro feat. T.I.
Trevor Crowe: “Lose My Mind” by Young Jeezy
Jason Donald: “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” by The Rolling Stones
Shelley Duncan: ”Icky Thump” by the White Stripes
Chris Gimenez: ”10 Ton Brick” by Hurt
Jeanmar Gomez: ”Me Gusta, Me Gusta” by Elvis Crespo
Travis Hafner: “Heirate Mich” by Rammstein (he actually uses any of five Rammstein songs, but, let’s face it, they’re all pretty similar)
David Huff: “Cinderella Man” by Eminem (he used to use “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Johnny Cash)
Aaron Laffey: ”Not Afraid” by Eminem
Matt LaPorta: “Pursuit of Happiness” by Kid Cudi or “Young Forever” by Jay-Z (a surprising pick for @Gator4God)
Lou Marson: “Panama” by Van Halen
Andy Marte: “Chambonea” by Omega
Jayson Nix: “Bad Girlfriend” by Theory of a Deadman
Chris Perez: “Firestarter” by The Prodigy, “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath or “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin
Rafael Perez: He left it up to the scoreboard people, who selected “Amazing” by Kanye West feat. Young Jeezy
Carlos Santana: “Chambonea” by Omega. So that’s one thing Santana has in common with Andy Marte.
Tony Sipp: “I’m Back” by T.I., “Ready or Not” by The Fugees or “Use Me” by Bill Withers
Grady Sizemore: “The Show’s About to Begin” by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Joe Smith: “So Cold” by Breaking Benjamin
Josh Tomlin: “Runnin’ Down a Dream” by Tom Petty
Luis Valbuena: “OMG” by Usher
Also of note:
- The Indians take the field to “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys.
- “Run This Town” by Jay-Z feat. Rihanna and Kanye West is played just before the Indians lineup is announced.
- The following songs are played after victories: “Cleveland Rocks” by Presidents of the U.S.A., “My Town” by Michael Stanley, “Again Tonight” by John Mellencamp, “I Love This Town” by Jon Bon Jovi and “When It’s Over” by Sugar Ray.
- Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days” is played after day game victories, while Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Night” is sometimes played after night game wins.
- Coldplay’s “Lost” or Todd Rundgren’s “Just One Victory” is played after losses.
~AC
UPDATE: Because somebody asked about Jhonny Peralta’s at-bat music, these were the songs used by the following players before they got traded last month:
Austin Kearns: “Summertime” by Kenny Chesney
Jhonny Peralta: “Abusadora” by Wisin and Yandel, “Que Tengo Que Hacer” by Omega and “Cowboy” by Kid Rock
Jake Westbrook: “Train” by Three Doors Down
Kerry Wood: “Killing in the Name Of” by Rage Against the Machine
8/11: Indians vs. Orioles
Tonight’s 7:05 p.m. ET game at Progressive Field is on STO and WTAM. I’ll be on the STO pregame show, so tune in.
BP was canceled, but the tarp is off field, as of 6 p.m., and we appear to be on schedule.
Here are tonight’s notes, courtesy of John Barone. And here’s a story on newly acquired LHP Giovanni Soto.
INDIANS (47-66): CF Brantley, SS Cabrera, RF Choo, DH Duncan, LF Brown, 1B LaPorta, 3B Valbuena, 2B Nix, C Gimenez. RHP Josh Tomlin (1-1, 2.79).
ORIOLES (39-74): 2B Roberts, RF Markakis, 1B Wigginton, DH Scott, CF Jones, LF Pie, C Wieters, SS Izturis, 3B Bell. RHP Brad Bergesen (3-9, 6.26).
"Old haunts are for forgotten ghosts"
By Anthony Castrovince/MLB.com
Tonight’s blog entry is filed live from the Third Row of the Progressive Field Press Box, proud working home of Jason Stein (the “Master of Self-Promotion”) and former working home of yours truly.
Stein and I once had the idea of pitching a “Third Row” reality show to STO. It would have been a lot like ABC’s “Bachelor Pad,” but with less bikinis, less booze, less women, less drama, less intrigue, less crying and less roses. Same amount of petty name-calling.
EXCRUCIATING MINUTIAE OF THE DAY…
- Mitch Talbot tossed three innings for short-season Mahoning Valley against Aberdeen last night and is expected back in the rotation Saturday.
- Who goes, when Talbot comes back? Well, David Huff’s alarming fifth inning Sunday didn’t do him any favors. Manny Acta wasn’t pleased with Huff’s fastball command the entire outing (Huff, meanwhile, thought his command was just fine until the fifth). Huff would seem to be a candidate to get dropped from the rotation.
- But at some point soon, Acta said the Indians might use some semblance of a six-man rotation. “What we’re thinking about is we could have a swing man, a type of guy where if someone like [Mitch] Talbot or [Justin] Masterson needs to be shut down, this guy can step in for one of those guys each week,” Acta said. “That way, everybody will pitch, but not necessarily in a six-man rotation.” The Indians don’t want to shut Talbot or Masterson down completely before season’s end, the way Jeremy Sowers, as an example, was shut down a few years ago. They see the value in having those guys reach the finish line, but their innings will likely be limited and their time between starts increased down the stretch.
- Anthony Reyes’ return could come into play in September. But for now, he’s just trying to get through his Minor League rehab, which resumes Wednesday at Double-A Akron. Reyes had a back issue that halted his rehab for a few days.
- Aaron Laffey threw a bullpen session today, his first step toward coming back from the left shoulder fatigue the lowered his velocity. It sounds as though the Indians are leaning toward placing Laffey in the bullpen when he comes back. “At this point, I think the best thing would be for us to get together with him and see how he feels about it,” Acta said, “instead of trying to ramp him up, stretch him out and bring him back as a starter.”
- Travis Hafner (right shoulder soreness) is getting close to picking up a bat again. The Indians will want to see two good BP sessions from Hafner before they determine whether he’ll need to go out on a rehab assignment.
- A few of you have asked for a Grady Sizemore update, but there’s not much to tell. He continues to get regular treatment following knee surgery but isn’t close to baseball activity. The next substantive update will probably come this winter.
- Also on the injury front, assistant to the Major League staff Ruben Niebla is on the mend after knee surgery and off crutches. Niebla blew out his knee while shagging fly balls at PNC Park in June. He said he’ll be heading to Arizona soon. The joke in the organization is that Niebla is on a “return-to-coach” program.
- Matt LaPorta is batting .297 with eight doubles, six homers and 20 RBIs in 36 games since the Russell Branyan trade.
- The Indians signed fifth-round Draft pick Cole Cook, a right-hander from Pepperdine. They also signed 22nd-rounder Nate Striz, a right-hander from UNC. Still sounds like negotiations with No. 1 pick Drew Pomeranz will come down to the wire. The deadline is Monday night/Tuesday morning at midnight ET.
- Went and saw Giovanni Soto, the lefty acquired in the Jhonny Peralta trade, at Class A County last week. A stiff breeze might blow him over. He’s as thin as the pen I stole from my Marriott hotel. But he’s 6-foot-3 with wide shoulders and has potential to throw harder once he fills out. He’s only 19, after all. Pitching coach Mickey Callaway said Soto’s pretty advanced for his age. “He’s got four pretty decent pitches that he knows how to use already,” Callaway said. “He has a real fluid delivery, and he throws strikes.” Soto has allowed two runs in 11 innings in his first two games with the Captains, walking five, striking out 11 and picking up a pair of wins. He’s pitching tonight at South Bend.
- Roving player development advisor Johnny Goryl says to keep an eye on Mahoning Valley third baseman Giovanny Urshela, an 18-year-old kid the Indians signed out of Colombia two years ago. Urshela is batting .450 with three homers, three doubles and 10 RBIs over his last 10 games. He has no strikeouts in that span.
- Jason Knapp, one of the key acquisitions in the Cliff Lee trade, starts tonight for the rookie-level Arizona League club. It’s his fourth start since coming back from shoulder surgery performed last September. As noted in this week’s Indians Inbox, Knapp is getting stretched back out and is expected to join either Lake County or Kinston in the next week to 10 days.
- The Akron Aeros, the defending Eastern League champs, are giving away playoff tickets, so snatch them up.
- My MLB.com bosses had me make some playoff predictions. I could do this several and probably have several different results. Five of the six divisions are too close to call.
~AC
8/10: Indians vs. Orioles
Tonight’s 7:05 p.m. ET game at Progressive Field is on WTAM and STo.
INDIANS (47-65): CF Brantley, SS Cabrera, RF Choo, 1B LaPorta, DH Brown, LF Crowe, 3B Valbuena, 2B Donald, C Marson. RHP Justin Masterson (4-10, 5.40).
ORIOLES (38-74): 2B Roberts, RF Markakis, 3B Wigginton, 1B Scott, CF Jones, LF Pie, C Wieters, DH Patterson, SS Izturis. RHP Jake Arrieta (3-3, 5.07).
8/8: Indians vs. Twins
Today’s 1:05 p.m. ET game at Progressive Field will be on WTAM and WKYC Channel 3.
INDIANS (47-64): CF Brantley, SS Cabrera, RF Choo, DH Duncan, 1B LaPorta, 3B Marte, LF Crowe, 2B Donald, C Marson. LHP David Huff (2-10, 5.97).
TWINS (62-49): CF Repko, 2B Hudson, C Mauer, LF Young, RF Kubel, 1B Cuddyer, DH Thome, 3B Valencia, SS Hardy. LHP Brian Duensing (4-1, 2.10).
8/6: Indians vs. Twins
Tonight’s 7:05 p.m. ET game at Progressive Field is on WTAM and STO.
Michael Brantley is back and batting leadoff. That’s where he figures to be the rest of the season.
UPDATE: Here are tonight’s notes.
INDIANS (46-63): CF Brantley, SS Cabrera, RF Choo, DH Duncan, 1B LaPorta, 3B Nix, LF Crowe, 2B Donald, C Marson. RHP Jeanmar Gomez (2-0, 1.50).
TWINS (61-48): CF Span, 2B Casilla, DH Mauer, LF Young, RF Kubel, 1B Cuddyer, 3B Valencia, SS Hardy, C Butera. LHP Francisco Liriano (10-7, 3.18).
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