Written by Steve Buffum

Steve Buffum
If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a save last night. After leading going into the ninth inning in all four games, the Indians salvaged a split with the BoSox in Beantown last night thanks to a Shin Soo Choo grand salami. Buff hits on that, Jason Davis, and Jake Westbrook giving up fifteen hits and winning in today's B-List.
For a team that is dead and playing for next year, the Indians had the lead in the bottom of the ninth in all four games in Fenway.  That's pretty damned good.
Hey, is anyone interested in doing a chat sometime next week?  Drop me a line: if there's interest, we'll see what we can put together.

1) Fifteen punches causes less permanent harm than three bullets

Jake Westbrook had his most mediocre stuff last night, "scattering" fifteen hits over eight innings to get the win.  He worked one hitless inning.  He was, in the parlance of Foghorn Leghorn, as sharp as a bowling ball.

Meanwhile, Hotshot Josh Beckett, on the strength of four singles and three terrible fastballs up in the zone, found himself showering after a 6-run 6th inning.  Timing is everything.

Question: how little confidence do you have to have in your bullpen to let Jake go out there for the 8th?  Yuck.

2) Now setting the record for most bad puns

How many ways are there to slip Shin-Soo Choo's last name into a bad pun?  I won't recount them all here, but suffice it to say, there's more than one.  Hundred.

However, it's hard to get real upset that Ben Broussard is no longer plying his trade with the cast iron, as Choo has now hit two (eventually) game-winning home runs with the Tribe.  By my count, he is hitting .267/.389/.667 with Cleveland, albeit in 18 plate appearances.  And a two-out grand slam to dead center with the wind blowing in is, well, very good.

His arm is also slightly better than Jason Michaels'.

I remain skeptical that he will ever be an everyday player, as his past platoon splits against lefties have been truly horrifying, but as a righty-masher with a great outfield arm, we could do worse than to address other positions before OF.