You know it’s bad when the only thing that makes you happy is seeing Sam Fuld blow a bubble in the 9th inning and watching it pop all over his chin. This just after he made a great basket catch of a Travis Buck fly ball in deep left that would have certainly been a double if Fuld hadn’t managed to get to it. In bad games, we take our small moments of joy where we can find them.
Carlos Santana played first base today, with Lou Marson in at catcher. While I’m not entirely sold on Santana at first, especially since he’s still only hitting .212, he did make a really great stop of a sharp grounder from Sam Fuld in the 4th inning. Santana isn’t all that agile; all that time behind the plate has a way of stiffening up a guy’s limbs. I prefer him behind the plate than at first. If you’re going to give him the day off, give him the day off. Santana is one of my favorite players, and I don’t give up on my favorite players. But I’m worried about him. Every time I think he’s coming around and getting hot, he cools off again.
There isn’t much to say about this kind of loss. Although the Indians had some brights spots here and there–some nice defensive plays, three scoreless innings from Frank Herrmann (I take back everything I said when they put you in, Frank), it was an ugly loss. Masterson, who spent April being the Tribe’s ace, ended a miserable May by giving up 7 runs (6 of them earned) on 8 hits in 5 innings. But Masteron could have given up only one run. The offense couldn’t get it together. We had 5 hits and left 6 men on base. Even if they had all managed to score, we still would have lost. I’m not panicking. It was almost inevitable that the Indians would have a slump. The pendulum will swing back.
And maybe next time the gum will even stick to Fuld’s face.