Bobby Don Southworth hired to lead Tribe

[RebelYell]

Indians tip hats to 40,304
As Sowers trips up Oakland
Jeremy Sowers has gotten back up on the horse he fell off of and now he’s showing signs of riding roughshod over the American League.

Sowers, the Cleveland rookie who had suffered four consecutive losses, won his fourth game of the year and only his second at Jacobs Field in a 7-4 decision over the Oakland Athletics.

Casey Blake went 2-for-4 and knocked in a pair of runs to extend his league-leading hitting streak to 16 games. Jody Gerut came through with a three-run homer in the third inning to put the Indians and Sowers ahead, 4-2, and they never looked back.

“It’s nice to see the resilience of this team,” Tribe skipper Bobby Don Southworth said. “That was a long game yesterday and it took a lot out of everybody. It was just good to see that we had enough left in our tanks to pull one out.”

The two teams meet in the rubber game of a three-game set today at 1:05 p.m.

[RebelYell]

Zito muzzles Cleveland bats, A’s take series
Barry Zito has been up and down this season, but Wednesday was an “up” day for the Oakland pitcher.

The Cleveland Indians just caught him at the wrong time.

Zito breezed for seven-plus innings and Eric Chavez busted out of a slump with two hits and two RBIs as Oakland defeated Cleveland, 6-2.

Jake Westbrook took the loss for the Indians, who lead the AL Central by five games over the Chicago White Sox.

The Indians travel across the border to meet Toronto in a four-game set beginning Thursday.

[RebelYell]

Coaching third base: Does it add to or take away from manager’s abilities?
Here is the latest installment of “Ask the Coach,” a regular feature in The Plain Dealer where fans can ask Cleveland first-year manager Bobby Don Southworth questions about the first-place Indians. Address your questions to “Ask the Coach,” c/o The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.

Q: Coach, doesn’t coaching third base take time away from your other duties as a manager?

A: Everywhere I’ve managed, I’ve coached third base. I never gave it a second thought when I got to this level that maybe I should turn the third-base coaching duties over to somebody else. I like doing it and nobody on the staff has asked me to step aside.
There have been a couple of times this year when I wish somebody else was out there coaching third base. I’ve sent a couple of guys home that were hosed, and I hate doing that, but I kick myself more when I hold a runner who would have definitely scored had I sent him. I want the guys to have faith in me and all the coaches and I think, sometimes, I don’t give our guys the benefit of the doubt when they’re coming around third. It really frustrates me when I end up taking their helmet and gloves back to the dugout at the end of the inning because a guy gets stranded there.
Probably my most frustrating game this year came this week when we went 13 innings without getting a runner home. We left several at third. We just never seemed to have the right combination of speed and hitting at the plate at the right time. That’s my fault.


Q: What happened with Aaron Boone? I thought he was going to be our third baseman this year?

A: I like Aaron and wish him well, but we got a good offer for him and traded him away to the Kansas City Royals. I’m not big on making trades and changing up the personnel of the team, but we’ve found ourselves in some situations this year where we’ve had to send some guys up and down the chain between here and Buffalo. We sent Aaron down to let him get some confidence back after a slow start and his replacement, Casey Blake, just started ripping the cover off the baseball. We really need two third basemen, but with a big pitching staff and a couple of good middle infielders, we’re left with one guy that we have to be able to put out there every day. At the start of the season, I thought that guy was Aaron Boone. Right now, I believe that guy is Casey Blake. And our front office was confident enough in Casey that they pulled the trigger and made a trade for Boone.


Q: We’ve seen a lot of talented pitchers coming up, but are there any good position players in the minor-league pipeline?

A: We’re loaded with pitchers, you’re right, but we’re not too short on position players. Jake Gautreau was just brought up recently and he’s spelling Ronnie Belliard and Brandon Phillips in the middle of the infield. We’ve got a young outfielder named Charles Hiser and I believe he’s going to wow our fans. He’s got great wheels, runs the bases well and can cover a Texas cow pasture on defense. If and when we call him up, I think you’ll see us bunting for a hit for the first time this year and even going for a steal of third base when the situation arises. I know we’re last or next to last in the league in stolen bases and one guy isn’t going to change that much, but we do need to have a guy we can call upon to steal a base for us. Hiser is that guy.

[RebelYell]

Dust settles
Blue Jays, Indians battle to four-game draw
TORONTO – It truly was a battle.

From Thursday’s brawl at the mound between Roy Halladay and Casey Blake to Sunday’s 5-4 nail-biter, the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays were fit to be tied.

Cleveland took a chunk out of the Blue Jays’ by winning the sandwich games in the series. Toronto opened with a 7-5 victory and closed it out with a 5-4 win Sunday afternoon.

Cleveland’s lead in the AL Central Division shrunk to three games as Chicago has reeled together six straight victories. The Indians return to divisional play this evening at Jacobs Field when the Minnesota Twins invade.

“It was a hard-fought series,” Indians manager Bobby Don Southworth said. “I guess this is what it could be like in September if we’re still in the thick of the race. Toronto played hard and our guys continued to play hard.
“It’s weird. You go out and get banged up and cut and bruised and at the end of it all, you’re really no better or no worse than when you started.”

The fireworks were lit in the third inning of Thursday’s game when Blake was hit by a Halladay pitch in the third inning. Blake never hesitated, flinging his bat down and going straight for the mound. Halladay threw down his glove and met Blake at the bottom of the mound and both benches cleared.

Both players were ejected, clearing the way for Jason Frasor to get the victory. Halladay had been ineffective, allowing a three-run homer to Jody Gerut and leaving the game with a 5-1 deficit. Frasor was stellar and Eric Hinkse delivered a two-run homer to complete the Blue Jays’ 7-5 comeback.

“These Arkansas guys are killing me,” Southworth said with a wry smile after the opener. “Don’t they know that I’m a Razorback, too? They really aren’t showing me much love.”

Southworth was referring to Hinske and another former UA standout, Kit Pellow, who have both done well against Indians pitching.

Brandon Phillips went 3-for-4 in the defeat.

Blake returned to keep his hitting streak alive at 18 games in Friday’s matchup. Ronnie Belliard added a two-run homer and Cleveland won behind C.C. Sabathia, 7-6.

The Tribe bullpen almost gave up the tying run in the seventh and eighth innings, but Chad Zerbe nailed the door shut in the ninth for his 18th save.

Blake’s hitting streak came to an end in Saturday’s contest, but the rest of the Indians bats were prepped and ready. Gerut went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs and Phillips socked a two-run double as Cleveland won, 10-3.

Cliff Lee picked up the win, improving to 3-6 and lowering his ERA to 6.44.

“Those were a couple of gutsy pitching performances by C.C. and Cliff,” Southworth said. “We just got Sabathia back off the disabled list and we just wanted him to throw 70 or 80 pitches. He did all we asked and gave us enough innings to get the win.

“Lee struggled early, but as you can see, he has a lot of potential and he’s hard for those left-handed bats to get a read on.”

Ted Lilly (5-2) enabled the Blue Jays to get the split in Sunday’s 5-4 win. David Riske took the loss for the Indians.

Blake mashed a two-run triple to give the Indians a 3-1 lead, but Moises Alou went 3-for-4 and brought in the winning run in the eighth inning.

“They’re a good ballclub,” Southworth said. “They play you tough every night out and they’ve got a good bullpen. In this series, that was the difference between winning two games and winning three or four games. Our bullpen didn’t come through for us and theirs did.”

[RebelYell]

Hodges nails door shut on Cleveland
Trey Hodges twirled a complete-game six-hitter and the Minnesota Twins helped the streaking Chicago White Sox narrow division-leading Cleveland's advantage to just one game with a 7-2 victory in the rubber game of their three-game set at Jacobs Field.

Hodges did not walk a single Indian en route to his win. He was helped by a 4-for-5 day from Brent Abernathy and the second consecutive breakout performance by Mike Cuddyer, who went 2-for-5 with a home run.

"Again, our offense came up a little short," Cleveland manager Bobby Don Southworth said. "We didn't have many opportunities against [Hodges] and we didn't do much to help out our pitcher."

C.C. Sabathia was tagged with the loss.

The Indians opened the series with a 6-5 victory behind Jake Westbrook. Grady Sizemore, Cleveland's only representative in next week's All-Star Game in Detroit, clubbed a three-run home run in the second inning. Cleveland's bullpen was sturdy in the late innings, allowing Westbrook to notch his 10th victory.

The series opener also marked the debut for infielder Jose Morban.

"We'll see more of him," Southworth said of Morban, who is a quality defensive player at both third base and shortstop. "We needed a guy who can come in and give guys like [Casey] Blake and [Brandon] Phillips a night off. I think he will fit the bill for us."

Minnesota won the pivotal second game in 11 innings by a 3-2 count. Cuddyer knocked around three hits and Kyle Lohse turned in nine strong innings of six-hit ball before the game went to extra innings.

Victor Martinez hit his 12th home run of the year to highlight the Tribe attack.

While Cleveland was losing for the second consecutive day, Chicago won its 10th consecutive game. First place is on the line today for the Indians when the Texas Rangers roll into town for a three-game series.

"We've never been comfortable this year, but we've been in first place just about every day of the season since the two-week mark," Southworth said. "I think these guys understand what's on the line and you'll see a ballclub that's worthy of being called a first-place team on the field [today.]"

[RebelYell]

Indians take two from Texas,
Open small gap over Chicago
before heading to Windy City
Ryan Drese upped his record to 9-2 and helped the Texas Rangers avoid a sweep of the first-place Indians with a 6-5 victory over Cleveland.
The Rangers finally found their bats after coming up well short against Indians left-handers Cliff Lee and Jeremy Sowers in the first two games of the series. Drese worked 8 1/3 innings and allowed six hits to lead Texas to a 6-5 victory.
While Texas was putting a stop to a short Cleveland winning streak, Chicago dropped its second straight at New York after winning 11 games in a row. The loss left the White Sox 2 games behind the Tribe. Chicago will finish up its four-game set with the Yankees before returning home to welcome the Indians.
"We got what we wanted out of the series," Cleveland manager Bobby Don Southworth said. "We wanted to win the series. We wanted to be on top when we go to Chicago."
Lee staked the Indians to the series lead with a 6-2 victory in the opener. Jose Morban, in his first appearance at shortstop this season, went 2-for-3 and Ben Broussard hammered a pair of hits and knocked in two runs.
Chad Zerbe recorded his 19th save.
Sowers and the Cleveland offense came on strong in an 8-2 victory. The Indians hammered out 15 hits and Morban went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Travis Hafner ended a long power slump by poking his 18th homer and Broussard slugged his 12th.
"It was a good start to the series and, in reality, we didn't play badly today either," Southworth said. "We've just got to go to Chicago with this sharpness we've got and try to do the same thing again over the next three days."
Grady Sizemore, the Indians' lone representative on the All-Star team, belted his 12th homer of the year in the ninth inning to get Cleveland close in the finale. Like Sizemore, Ronnie Belliard had a couple of hits in the losing cause.
Jake Westbrook took the defeat for the Tribe.
The Indians are lined up to send Kevin Millwood, C.C. Sabathia and Lee to the mound against the White Sox in their final series before the All-Star break.

[Gastric ReFlux]

Could I suggest that you put breaks in between the paragaphs?

To make this break, I hit enter twice after the ? of the last sentence.

It would make it much easier to read. Thank you.

[RebelYell]

I can do that!

I'll get back with this pretty soon. No excuses, just running out of time

[RebelYell]

Breathing room
Indians repel White Sox,
open 3 1/2-game lead
CHICAGO -- Grady Sizemore set the tone for the series by hammering a home run to lead off the first inning and the Cleveland Indians escaped the grasp of the Chicago White Sox by winning the first two games of a three-game series.

The Indians, who watched their lead dwindle to a mere two games, broke for the All-Star Game with a lead of 3 1/2 games over their chief rivals. The White Sox averted a sweep when right-hander Jon Garland (4-8) came up with one of his best performances in an otherwise disappointing campaign. Chicago took the third game, 4-2, as Frank Thomas hammered two home runs and knocked in three runs for the South Siders.

"We're going to enjoy this break and get some rest while we can so we're ready to go in the second half," Cleveland manager Bobby Don Southworth said. "I've been approaching this -- and I am trying to convey this to my players -- as a one-game-at-a-time season. We've got the upper hand and could have given up ground here this weekend. We didn't give up anything and, even though we lost today, we're feeling pretty good about ourselves."

The Indians have only one All-Star, a slim division lead and a modest 47-41 record.

"I guess if it weren't for the division lead, we wouldn't even be in the hunt for a wild-card spot," Southworth said coyly. "Thank goodness we're in the Central Division, I guess. We may end up a .500 ballclub, but somebody is going to have to whip us to put us out of the race."

Sizemore and Ron Belliard combined for six hits as Cleveland notched a 10-5 win in Friday's opening game. Kevin Millwood (9-6) earned the victory and enjoyed watching his team ambush Chicago's Mark Buehrle. Sizemore sent up a warning flare over the right-field fence on the the first strike Buehrle (8-4) threw. Belliard followed with a pair of RBIs and the White Sox were unable to catch up.

C.C. Sabathia (8-4) was helped by Sizemore's second three-hit game of the series and Chad Zerbe's 20th save of the season in a 3-2 victory. There was tension in the eighth, however, when Jody Gerut dropped a fly ball and was replaced in right field. Southworth did not hesitate with his substitution.

"If all I have on my bench is my 12-year-old kid, I'm getting him in the game. There's no excuse for an error like that and these guys, while, yeah, they're professionals, are still young enough to need to be taught that there are consequences," Southworth said. "That play needs to be made 1,000 times out of 1,000 and anything less is going to call for action. Especially in a situation like that."

With the tying run at second base, Zerbe came on to get the final four outs.

Gerut shrugged off leading questions about his misplay and made no excuses.

"I was under it, the ball hit my glove and I dropped it," Gerut said. "When that happened, the next thing that went through my mind was to get the ball back to the infield, put my head down and high-tail it for the dugout."

When told of Gerut's remark, Southworth smiled. "That's exactly how I want them to play the game," he said.

Gerut tried to atone for Saturday's faux pas with a 3-for-4 performance Sunday. Yet, Victor Martinez stranded five baserunners and Cliff Lee suffered another hard-luck loss.

[RebelYell]

So we've reached the halfway point in the season and I'm getting hungry again. I have dreams at night about that girl I saw in New York. She was hanging around the team's "star" and ultimate putz like a little puppy dog. She deserves much better than that.

I'm looking at today's paper and reading all the raving reviews of the team's first half. It's ridiculous. This team is six whole games over .500 and it's the talk of the town.

Of course, we are talking about Cleveland here. "The Mistake by the Lake" is now the "North Coast." They've got new playgrounds for their football, baseball and basketball teams and the city is going through quite a re-emergence.

But it's still Cleveland. No basketball or hockey championships. Ever. No football title since 1964 and the baseball team hasn't won a World Series since 1948. So how do you suppose this team is going to win an American League crown in this day and age of overspending and inequities between the teams.

People don't know me and they pat me on the back and tell me what a great job we're doing. I grin at them and think how they're a bunch of retards. How can anybody believe this team can compete for a championship in October. And a World Series title? Never.

But I won't keep them from winning it. I've got other things on my mind.

At the All-Star Break, Cleveland leads Chicago by 3 1/2 games.
In the AL East, the Yankees (58-31) are 10 full games up on Boston.
Seattle and Los Angeles are duking it out in the West with the Mariners (51-39) up by half a game.
In the National League, Philadelphia leads the Mets by 2 games; St. Louis has a 1 1/2-game lead over Houston in the Central, but the last-place Reds are only 5 1/2 games back. The West is a mess and is completely up for grabs and the Indians will have a say in the storyline soon after returning from the All-Star break. The Tribe has three-game trips to Pittsburgh and San Francisco sandwiched around a short homestand against San Diego.

[Y0DA55]

RY, just found this one. I hope you keep it up and I hope your son is still reading.

How much did you lose in the crash?

[RebelYell]

I’m awfully proud of my kids – All four of them.

They are four very different people. Two girls sandwiched around a couple of boys.

The oldest is a cheerleader, the punchline to a joke that started 15 years ago when, while playing in the minor leagues, I made a comment about the uselessness of cheerleaders.
Nikki is what they call a “flyer.” She’s one of the tiniest on the squad so they throw her up in the air a lot. It’s a little bit unnerving for dad.

E.J. is just a trip. He’s funny and sensitive and most will tell you he’s just his dad all over again. He plays every sport offered and excels mostly at soccer. On the baseball field, he’s every bit as good as dad was, but he plays in the outfield – in positions I never played. To this day, I can’t go out and shag balls in the outfield. As a catcher, if you hit a popup and it was playable, you were out. No doubt about it. In the outfield, I’m clueless.

Jonathan is a year younger than E.J. and already bigger. Strange how those things work out. While E.J. is a little bit on the “loud and proud” side, Jonathan keeps a lot of things inside. He’s still a happy kid, but he’s much more guarded about his emotions.

The thing about all three of them is they are very competitive. They all get good grades – E.J.’s suffer more because of his desire to excel at recess – and they’ll all do well as they get older.

The youngest, Georgia, is going to be a beauty queen. She’s 100 percent girl and she’s two years younger than Jonathan. All three kids do a wonderful job of taking care of Georgia. My biggest worry will be taking care of all of Georgia’s boyfriends. She’s going to have her pick of whomever she wants.

The reason these four are going to do so well in life is their momma. Amanda is a wonderful mother. She’s taken good care of all of them and she’s never played favorites. They don’t always get what they want, but they always get what they need. Nothing is arbitrary in Amanda’s house. There’s a good reason why for everything we do. I’d have to say, when I’m home, she’s raising me, too.

[RebelYell]

'Refreshed’ Tribe wins two at Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH – With apologies to Roger Maris, Kevin Millwood’s complete game on the mound deserved an asterisk.
For a good reason.

Millwood surrendered just four hits and one run on the mound and knocked in three runs at the plate as Cleveland won the rubber game of its three-game set in Pittsburgh, 6-1, Monday afternoon.

"That was nice," Indians chief Bobby Don Southworth said. "Millwood was exceptional today on the mound and he’s kind of making me eat my words a little bit about my complaining about the difference in the rules in the National League parks. He was clearly the difference today.”

Cleveland (49-42) responded to an 8-4 loss on Saturday with solid hitting and pitching to take their first series after the All-Star Break. Jeremy Sowers gave the Indians 8 1/3 innings of quality work in an 8-2 victory Sunday.

"We looked rested," Southworth said. "We looked refreshed. We looked like a team that had regained its concentration."

Adam Melhuse starred in Friday’s series opener, drilling three hits and knocking in four runs for the Pirates. Pittsburgh grabbed a big lead for Oliver Perez with five runs in the second inning and held off a Cleveland comeback. The Tribe had closed the gap to 5-4 before losing pitcher C.C. Sabathia (8-5) allowed a single run in the sixth and was tagged by Melhuse’s two-run homer in the eighth.

Cleveland answered in style on Saturday, posting a five-spot of its own in the second inning and routing the Bucs. Victor Martinez and Casey Blake each smashed second-inning doubles to give Sowers (6-4) the kind of lead he’s been used to having this season.

"We know Jeremy Sowers pitches pretty well when he’s got a lead," Southworth smiled. "Our bats have put him in some ideal situations most of the season."

Sowers was the only Cleveland pitcher who failed to get a hit, however.

Millwood starred in the finale, belting a two-run double in another five-run outburst. This one coming in the sixth inning.

The first-place Indians stop at Jacobs Field for a three-game set against the San Diego Padres before flying to San Francisco for a three-game series against Barry Bonds and the Giants.

[RebelYell]

Bochy tossed twice, but Padres come out on top
Bruce Bochy may have discovered baseball’s winning formula: Get thrown out of the game.

At least it worked for him twice at Jacobs Field.

Facing the American League Central Division leader and their continuing-to-swell crowds, the San Diego Padres came into Cleveland and battered the Indians pitchers for two games before relenting in Friday’s finale.

Mark Loretta’s three-run homer in the sixth inning ignited an 8-5 come-from-behind victory for the Padres on Wednesday. Todd Sears added a two-run blast in the eighth – his second dinger of the contest – to give San Diego its three-run cushion in the ninth.

That’s when the real fireworks started.
With the one out in the ninth, Bochy stormed out of the dugout to argue a close play at first base. The call, which replays showed to be accurate, brought the tying run to the plate for Cleveland. Bochy was tossed from the proceedings, but only had to sit out for one pitch as Victor Martinez grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

It was more of the same on Thursday. Down 3-0, Bochy’s Padres tied the contest with three runs in the fourth and were rallying in the fifth. Bochy’s argument from the day before seemed to carry over and the San Diego skipper was tossed out of the game for questioning balls and strikes.

San Diego scored three times in the fifth, four more in the sixth and three each in the seventh and eighth innings to blow out the Tribe, 16-5.

“What is it with these West Coast guys,” Indians manager Bobby Don Southworth said. “We heard [Bochy] woofin’ at the umpire from about the second inning on. I thought some close ones went the batters’ way most of the day and that hurt us because we’re a little more of a free-swinging team. Still, my hat’s off to them for stroking it the way they did. They’ve got a good lineup, a good bunch of bats.”

Khalil Greene went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer in the eighth. C.C. Sabathia (8-6) absorbed the defeat.

Cleveland snapped its two-game skid and captured its 50th win of the year behind rookie left-hander Jeremy Sowers. Despite allowing a career-high six bases on balls, Sowers pitched his way out of a couple of jams and led the Indians to a 4-3 triumph.

“Conditions [for the pitchers] were tough,” Southworth said. “We walked 10 of their batters today and I feel real fortunate to be standing here right now talking about a win. I guess the best way we found to slow down their bats was to not let them see too many strikes. I don’t like that kind of pitching, but it worked this time.”

Martinez went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. His solo home run in the fifth gave Cleveland and Sowers a 4-1 cushion.

Charles Hiser stole his 10th base for the Tribe and Chad Zerbe nailed down his 21st save.

[Bobbuttons]

Originally Posted by RebelYell

C.C. Sabathia (8-6) absorbed the defeat.

Along with a few chili dogs.

[RebelYell]

Depending on your point of view – or how absorbed you are in baseball history – Babe Ruth saved the game when he became the Sultan of Swat in the 1920s. At the very least, he changed what was already a good game.

Fans turned out in droves to see Babe Ruth swing the bat. His teams flourished, too. Whoever invented this game could not have dreamed baseball would become what it did by the end of the Ruth era.

Forty years later, a humble man from Alabama began his assault on Babe Ruth’s record of 714 career home runs. Henry Aaron did it with consistency. He never seriously threatened Ruth’s single-season best of 60 home runs. Triggered by powerful wrists, Aaron’s steady bat propelled him to 755 home runs and into Cooperstown.

And now, just 30 years later, the glut of power has reached new heights. Players hit 15-20 bombs one season and they’re hitting 40, even 50, the next. Purists blame everything. They say the ball is more lively. They say expansion has watered down the pitching. They blame steroid usage.

Barry Bonds is at the center of today’s controversy because he is making a late charge at both Ruth and Aaron. The son of a major-leaguer, Barry Bonds started his career following in his father’s footsteps. He was a good outfielder with a better batting eye than his dad, Bobby, and speed enough to steal bases.

As the game changed, evolving into the nightly home-run derby at a ballpark near you, Barry Bonds has changed. He got slower. He became less of an asset defensively.

But, man, could he hit the long ball.

Our job the next three days is to stop Bonds and the San Francisco Giants.

So what are we going to do to slow down Mr. Bonds? That’s the question I’ve been pondering for tomorrow’s “Ask the Coach” column ever since this plane ride began.

[Y0DA55]

Bonds, eh? A Little interleague action is going to be nice. How are the Giants doing this year?

[RebelYell]

Upon leaving my clubhouse office for the final time before boarding the charter to San Francisco, I did what I always do. I went through a pile of pink memos on my desk.

The secretary – she’s an old enough lady to have been a secretary way too long to adapt to the term “administrative assistant” – does a great job of weeding out the phone calls for me. By the time I went through the small pile of 40 messages, I picked out three that had to be returned.

Only one of those calls was of the top-priority variety. That was the call home to my wife.
We need eggs and milk for our breakfast/dinner this evening.

The other two calls got the same treatment. No calls were ever made to keep me from going home and, once on my way, my business day was over.

On the way to the airport the next morning, I returned the “Priority II” calls. I spoke with the sportswriter who takes care of my weekly column. He likes to chat with me and explained to me the difference between writers who use the terms RBIs vs. RBI. “The ones who say Travis Hafner has 38 RBI this season are wrong,” he said.

“Oh, he has more than that?” I asked innocently enough.
He laughed heartily for several seconds before realizing I didn’t get it.

“No, no, no,” he said. “What does RBI stand for?”

I knew this was a trick question.

“Uh, run batted in?”

“Exactly,” he said. “It doesn’t stand for ‘runs batted in’ so why would anybody write that Hafner has 38 RBI? It’s all the fault of the damn broadcasters, anyway. They say ‘Cleveland will send up Hafner in their half of the inning and any writer knows that Cleveland is an ‘it’ not a they.”

The whole explanation was lost on me. But I decided that