What's smoother than Smooth? Victoria's Secret perfume.
We did it, LGT! We're four games over .500 again! That's three games down, only 27 more in 27 days to go. Just to help stave off the boredom, here's a handful of juicy tidbits about baseball:
Yesterday's game: Indians 3, White Sox 2
Carlos Carrasco Redux continue to prove his chops as a starter, and the Indians won despite another pretty weak offensive performance against another pretty weak starter.
Indians news & notes
Dr. Smooth: stealth MVP candidate | FanGraphs - When Miguel Cabrera isn't Miguel Cabrera, and Mike Trout isn't Mike Trout, the MVP race isn't as clear-cut as it has been lately. Michael Brantley has, in his usual style, played himself into the race with a "quietly" outstanding season at the plate.
On Brantley's surprisingly bad defensive metrics | Waiting for Next Year - Despite his breakout offensive season, Brantley is also having one of the worst defensive seasons of his career, at least according to advanced metrics. The stats show that despite his ability to occasionally flash the leather, he kinda sucks at the routine plays. Is he the Derek Jeter of the outfield, or do the metrics fail to tell the whole story?
Smooth runs in the family | Did The Tribe Win Last Night? - No matter how Michael Brantley is playing defense, his cousin Justin Brantley is having a great year with the Captains. Justin is perhaps a never-will-be, but he's got the all the swagger that comes with the family name.
Perez doesn't care about rule 7.13 | Cleveland.com - I mean it's not that he doesn't care, it's just that he, like all of us, was pretty surprised about Robin Ventura's ridiculous challenge on the play at the plate on Wednesday.
Indians to ramp up Salazar's spring regimen | Indians.com - Danny Salazar, the artist formerly known as Puddin' Pop, was on a light regimen this past spring, and he struggled earlier in the season perhaps because of it. Mickey Callaway wants to get him on a training program that has him firing on all cylinders by Opening Day next year.
Outman traded to Yankees | Cleveland.com - The Yankees add to their stable of former Tribe relievers by trading a PTBNL or cash for Josh Outman. I had honestly completely forgotten about Josh Outman.
Tidbits from around MLB
- FanGraphs puts David Price's eight run inning disaster in perspective. Price called it "the worst game I've ever had in my life."
- Also over at Fangraphs, a discussion on why *some* team should want Bartolo Colon
- LGFTBW (beat writer) Anthony Castrovince betrays us all by discussing the Yankees as underdogs over at Sports On Earth
- Dayn Perry at CBS Sports discusses who are the best and worst managers at replay challenges
- Lastly, Royals catcher Salvador Perez like to wear Victoria's Secret perfume behind the plate