John Houseman used to do these great commercials for Smith Barney where he stated “They make money the old-fashioned way. They earn it.” The Indians got into first place in the AL Central after Tuesday night’s win and stayed there for the next couple of days despite losing two to the Royals. We  only stayed in first because Detroit and the White Sox lost. Last night, with Asdrubal Cabrera’s walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th, they earned it.

I love walk-offs. Not just because you might get to bed at a decent hour. It’s one of those quirks of baseball that I love. It was a great game, not only because of the walk-off. Kotchman finally got a hit. I love having his glove at first, but he’s now the only guy in the starting lineup hitting below the Mendoza Line. So while I want him to start hitting, I’d be more than happy if Albert Pujols homerless drought lasts two more games.

The other good news is that Nick Hagadone is back on the roster and Rafael Perez is on the DL. To be clear, I’m not happy that Raffy is on the DL, but it was obvious in his last couple of outings that something was wrong. He missed much of Spring Training due to soreness in his shoulder. Since he’s been back, his velocity is down and his location has been off.  It seemed clear that he came back too soon. Perez had never been on the DL in seven years in the bigs, so perhaps that’s why he was reluctant to say anything. But this idea that you should play through pain is kind of silly. If you make your living with your body, you need to take care of it.  And if you’ve invested time and money into a player, you need to take care of him–not just for a playoff run or the World Series or Opening Day. Perez is established enough that I can’t imagine him permanently losing a roster spot because of his injury. At any rate, I hope he’s given enough time to heal properly. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to seeing what Hagadone can do with a little more time on the roster.

 

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