Yankees at Indians, July 4, 5 & 6

[Prosecutor]

Five at-bats for Grady and no strikeouts. No hits either, but he's making better contact. That's a good sign.

[Prosecutor]

Vinnie with his worst outing of the year. Fortunately we have a five-run cushion. It's up to Rage now.

[Prosecutor]

Ballgame and we win the series. Masterson gets a well-deserved win. Chiz gets his first career HR. LaPorta is back and gets two hits and flashes some glove. All in all, not a bad Wednesday night.

[Hermie13]

Definitely a great series. Yeah Carrasco was bad (and Phelps) yesterday but taking 2 of 3 from the Yanks is still solid. 2 great pitching performances from Tomlin and Masterson. Offense showed some sparks at times, gotta love it.


also gotta give it up for Josh Tomlin. Not only does he break the ML record for starts of 5 innings or more to begin a career....but he fittingly does is on Independence Day. Taking the record from the Japanese (Dice-K) against New York....4 years after American Legend Joey Chestnut takes back the mustard belt in New York from the Japanese (Kobayashi). All is well in America, the mustard belt and an all-american baseball record are back where they belong. God Bless America

[entertheshoe]

Definitely a great series. Yeah Carrasco was bad (and Phelps) yesterday but taking 2 of 3 from the Yanks is still solid. 2 great pitching performances from Tomlin and Masterson. Offense showed some sparks at times, gotta love it.


also gotta give it up for Josh Tomlin. Not only does he break the ML record for starts of 5 innings or more to begin a career....but he fittingly does is on Independence Day. Taking the record from the Japanese (Dice-K) against New York....4 years after American Legend Joey Chestnut takes back the mustard belt in New York from the Japanese (Kobayashi). All is well in America, the mustard belt and an all-american baseball record are back where they belong. God Bless America

Take THAT Japan. They owe it to us after that one time they made us use our atomic bombs on them.

[Jake Taylor]

I remember when Hermie and I had a long debate about Asdrubal Cabrera's defensive ability...

Defensive stats continue to be almost useless.

[Hermie13]

I remember when Hermie and I had a long debate about Asdrubal Cabrera's defensive ability...

Defensive stats continue to be almost useless.

He has decent range to his left. To his right, still average at best. Not just stats either, scouts and even the Tribe GM, manager, and President have expressed their distaste with his D at SS. He does look better this year though. Being in better shape helps.

[GeronimoSon]

I remember when Hermie and I had a long debate about Asdrubal Cabrera's defensive ability...

Defensive stats continue to be almost useless.

He has decent range to his left. To his right, still average at best. Not just stats either, scouts and even the Tribe GM, manager, and President have expressed their distaste with his D at SS. He does look better this year though. Being in better shape helps.

Geeeeez Hermie, you are stubborn.. It's time to give it up on Droobs' defense.. he's as good as there with the leather in MLB at SS position.. Going to his right.. going to his left.. over his head.. behind his back.. etc.. He's the goods defensively at SS....

[criznit2009]

I remember when Hermie and I had a long debate about Asdrubal Cabrera's defensive ability...

Defensive stats continue to be almost useless.

He has decent range to his left. To his right, still average at best. Not just stats either, scouts and even the Tribe GM, manager, and President have expressed their distaste with his D at SS. He does look better this year though. Being in better shape helps.

most web gems of any ML player.... 3rd in fielding percentage for SS.... He is not an Omar BUT he is not a Jhonny P too. He would be a starting SS on any team in ML baseball, granted they didn't have a better (offensively) player already. Think Reyes, Tulowitzki etc. His D is as solid as a rock average to slightly above.

[Hermie13]

Geeeeez Hermie, you are stubborn.. It's time to give it up on Droobs' defense.. he's as good as there with the leather in MLB at SS position.. Going to his right.. going to his left.. over his head.. behind his back.. etc.. He's the goods defensively at SS....

You can call it being stubborn. I call it being objective and not letting some stupid 'web gems' on ESPN and a couple announcers sway the fact that Cabrera has consistently showed a lack of range at SS when compared to others in the league.

I can agree that he looks better this year though than the past 2 years. Definitely not a top defensive SS but looking pretty solid this year (which is a huge step up).

[entertheshoe]

Geeeeez Hermie, you are stubborn.. It's time to give it up on Droobs' defense.. he's as good as there with the leather in MLB at SS position.. Going to his right.. going to his left.. over his head.. behind his back.. etc.. He's the goods defensively at SS....

You can call it being stubborn. I call it being objective and not letting some stupid 'web gems' on ESPN and a couple announcers sway the fact that Cabrera has consistently showed a lack of range at SS when compared to others in the league.

I can agree that he looks better this year though than the past 2 years. Definitely not a top defensive SS but looking pretty solid this year (which is a huge step up).

He's not Troy Tulowitzki defensively, I'll give you that. But after him, there are not many guys who are hands down better than Asdrubal. I think you've been spoiled by Omar Visquel, but the fact is that there aren't that many elite fielding shortstops anymore. Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins in their prime were up there with Tulo, but now his range is no better than Cabrera's. There are guys like Alexei Ramirez, Elvis, Yuniesky, Pennington, and Ryan who are solid but I wouldn't say without a doubt that any of them are better than AC.

It's tough to look at it objectively without favoring the web gems. Thing is, you can't just ignore them. This isn't just a video game where you combine speed, arm accuracy, and arm strength. There's something you're overlooking when it comes to Asdrubal Cabrera - creativity. If you ask me, I'll tell you that AC is an ideal 2nd basemen and would be hands down the best fielding 2nd basemen in the league. His arm isn't a cannon and his range COULD be better. But that creativity is something that only a couple shortstops in the league have and can make up for his lack of Troy Tulowitzki tools. As it is, there's no reason to complain about his play at SS unless you're being purposely nitpicky (in other words, stubborn). The guy is the AL Gold Glove winner at this point in the season.

[Hermie13]

He's not Troy Tulowitzki defensively, I'll give you that. But after him, there are not many guys who are hands down better than Asdrubal. I think you've been spoiled by Omar Visquel, but the fact is that there aren't that many elite fielding shortstops anymore. Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins in their prime were up there with Tulo, but now his range is no better than Cabrera's. There are guys like Alexei Ramirez, Elvis, Yuniesky, Pennington, and Ryan who are solid but I wouldn't say without a doubt that any of them are better than AC.

It's tough to look at it objectively without favoring the web gems. Thing is, you can't just ignore them. This isn't just a video game where you combine speed, arm accuracy, and arm strength. There's something you're overlooking when it comes to Asdrubal Cabrera - creativity. If you ask me, I'll tell you that AC is an ideal 2nd basemen and would be hands down the best fielding 2nd basemen in the league. His arm isn't a cannon and his range COULD be better. But that creativity is something that only a couple shortstops in the league have and can make up for his lack of Troy Tulowitzki tools. As it is, there's no reason to complain about his play at SS unless you're being purposely nitpicky (in other words, stubborn). The guy is the AL Gold Glove winner at this point in the season.

I agree he'd be a better 2B. I also agree he's probably the GG winner at SS this year...then again, Michael Young won a GG at SS then was moved to 3B the very next season because of how bad he was there. Gold Gloves have become meaningless and go to guys who hit well enough to get noticed, not the best defensive players.