The wrong trifecta

Do you like triple plays? Sure, we all do. Almost on cue from my comments yesterday, a bunt was called for in a situation that I don’t think called for it, with disastrous results. Alexei Ramirez failed to execute on a bunt summoned to move the runners from 1st and 2nd over and the Indians were able to turn it into a triple play. Obviously this is the very extreme worst case result of a batter “giving himself up,” but it only reinforces the stupidity of the act in the first place. If you’ve got the talent to swing the bat, just do it. We’ve got a lineup full of professional hitters, they may as well be able to go ahead and do that. Enough went wrong today that you can’t really hang the loss on it, but it’s certainly not something you like to achieve regularly.

Speaking of went wrong, Will Ohman has managed to slide seamlessly into the role of Scott Linebrink. It’s a pretty impressive move, really. To figure out your role within a team that quickly will save you plenty of awkward "feel out" time. While the other newcomers aren’t quite sure who to sit next to on the flights, who to engage in serious conversation and who the best guy to challenge to an Xbox battle is, Ohman is already well aware of those answers. Nobody, nobody and nobody.

While yesterday I tried to slow the praise of the hit parade by pointing to competition. Today I’ll try to temper the negativity by pointing at sample size. The hitting will come to earth, and eventually we won’t all cringe the moment we see Ohman start stretching in the bullpen. I’m sure he is a very nice fella that the rest of the team just loves to play video games with.

A huge plus out of today was John Danks. Outside of serving up a long ball to Orlando Cabrera in the 6th, he looked excellent striking out 8 while only walking 1. If there were any questions about a pitcher's ability to perform with a toothache, they were surely answered today.

That said, 2 out of 3 every series will put us right where we want to be. Now it’s off to KC for a quick set against the, ahem, first place Kansas City Royals. Mostly I’m looking forward to hearing Hawk repeatedly butcher pronunciation of Kila Ka’aihue.