Puppy Power!

The Indians finally (mercifully) won a game last night, 3-2 over the Oakland A’s, during the Tribe’s Puppypalooza promotion, which encouraged Tribe fans to bring their dogs to the game. Ironically, it was the Tribe’s own puppies that lead the charge in the win. Let’s start from the top:

Justin Masterson

Sorry Justin, one start here and there isn’t going to change my mind that you’re really a bullpen guy, but this was some good stuff. 6 IP, 2 runs and 5 hits. Not bad at all Justin. He didn’t lose his cool, got ahead of hitters, and probably could have at least started the seventh inning (although I’m glad he didn’t). He’s gonna make one nasty setup guy.

Michael Brantley

Brantley had the first RBI for the Tribe, when Lou Marson basically manufactured a run by walking, stealing second, and then advancing to third on a passed ball. But here’s where Brantley surprised me, as there were two outs and the Indians had been pathetic on offense during this losing streak. Brantley laced an RBI single to get the Tribe on the board.

Matt LaPorta

@Gator4God provided some much needed muscle in the sixth with his two-out home run. LaPorta had been struggling mightily lately, in a 4-45 slump and had really shown no signs he was coming out of it anytime soon. His home run was a sight for sore eyes for the Tribe faithful. (By the way, the Indians, probably wisely, did not shoot off fireworks at last night’s game at any point. My guess is to not upset the dogs. They are lucky I wasn’t running the fireworks that night, as I would have gone straight to the grand finale.)

Chris Perez

Pure Rage is proving he belongs in the back of the pen. Perez came in with one out in the 8th (after Sidewinding Joe Smith started to make a mess of the inning by walking two straight batters), worked a 5-out save and struck out 4. He allowed only a single to Cliff Pennington. The Tribe doesn’t have much, but hey, they got a closer. So they got that going for them.

All-in-all, the puppies did good for the Tribe last night. With the youngest active roster in the majors, there’s going to be some growing pains with these pups. But for one night, at least it was fun to play with the litter.