The Indians’ “one guaranteed win in five” dissipated last night as the Red Sox jumped on Justin Masterson from the opening pitch to beat the Tribe 6-3.  In today’s B-List, Buff wonders if perhaps we’re reading a bit too much into Masterson’s struggles, welcomes yet another enormous white man to the club, talks about the Indians’ so-called “offense,” the fickle nature of baseball flight paths, and wonders perhaps if a multi-inning scoring approach might not be more effective.  There’s also a cheap shot.

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Sports is for whatever you choose it to be for.  

Perhaps sharing sports experiences is central to your family relationships. Maybe you love it as a metaphor for life- there is winning, losing, and the striving for improvement. Sports can be a source of geographic identification and pride. Or, you could simply be a fan of particular players.

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Well, 19 scoreless, a perfect record, all went away in one game, heck in one inning.

There's something deflating when your ace goes out and gets bombed in the first inning. Granted, the Indians weren't really ever out of this one, but it is an uphill battle when your offense can't get it going immediately and your best starter who has accounted for three of your team's five wins thus far has given up a three spot right off the get-go.

Oh gosh, if Masterson doesn't start, the Indians pretty much lose. Now we have to wait four more games for another chance to win. Great. 

The Indians did have some chances in this one, but were put in too much of a hole early on to ultimately overcome. They had a specific chance that we will talk about in a second, but when you are analyzing one specific chance and saying "things could have been different if this specific chance went the other way" you are probably not in the best position to win the game.

Now the Indians just need to focus on avoiding the sweep, if they can do that without their ace on the mound.

RED SOX - 6 | INDIANS - 3

W: Alfredo Aceves (1-0)

L: Justin Masterson (3-1)

S: Andrew Bailey (1)

[BOXSCORE]

I'm going to point something out right now and I hope you all don't hate me for it.

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I would like to tell you an amusing, if gruesome, story about my mother-in-law’s cat, which we inherited.  I would like to have something uplifting and positive to say after the attacks at the Boston Marathon.  I would like to tell you about how the scores of my daughter’s volleyball games at the Y are functionally equivalent to a count of successful serves.  These things are not entirely relevant, but they have the advantage of not being Ubaldo Jimenez’ pitching performance.

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