Brantley's Career High 12 Outfield Assists

Michael has set a plethora of offensive career highs this season, and now it's time for a defensive one. last year, he achieved a personal high of 11 outfield assists, which he matched on August 7, 2014. but this afternoon, during the 2nd game of the September 11 doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins, Michael was credited with his career high 12th outfield assist of the season.

with Chris Parmelee at 1st base, 1 out, and no score in the top of the 3rd inning, Brian Dozier was batting. TJ House was on the mound for the Tribe and after a 1-1 count, Dozier hit a fly ball to left field. Michael recorded the putout on the warning track right in front of the wall for the 2nd out of the inning.

photo courtesy of The Plain Dealer (Chuck Crow)

screenshots cropped from a video on Indians.com

then came the fun part. Michael quickly threw the ball in to the cutoff man, shortstop Jose Ramirez, like usual.

(close-up:)

screenshots cropped from a video on Indians.com

but Parmelee was already at 2nd base,

screenshots cropped from a video on Indians.com

so when Ramirez threw the ball to 1st baseman Chris Gimenez, Parmelee was unable to get back in time and therefore doubled off 1st.

screenshots cropped from a video on Indians.com

that gave Michael OF assist #12 for the season. it also added a double play to Michael's stat line, his 2nd of this year. and look at his reaction. i love it! you be proud cause that was awesome!

screenshots cropped from a video on Indians.com

so congratulations again, Michael, on acquiring yet another career high amid your terrific career year. i am gonna be really sad to see this season end because you are on such an incredible run and i don't it want to stop lol what else are you going to do in the final 16 games? ;D

Well Wishes For Bob Tayek

i thought something didn't sound right. literally. it was during the Arizona Diamondbacks versus Cleveland Indians game on August 12, before the rain delay/postponement, that i watched a video from my GameDay. and i could tell that the announcer in the background was not Bob, but i didn't think much of it at the time. he gets games off sometimes, it's not a big deal. shortly before 8 pm, the game was delayed due to rain. after a very long 3 hours and 40 minutes, they finally announced that the game would be postponed and it was rescheduled as part of a traditional doubleheader the next day.

so today, on August 13, before Game 1 of the doubleheader vs. the D-backs, i saw Hoynsie tweet that Bob Tayek would be out for the rest of the season due to personal reasons. and immediately i thought back to the video i watched last night and how that wasn't Bob's voice. that explains it.

but i'm thinking, there's still about 7 weeks left in this season. what kind of personal reason would keep someone out of their job for THAT long? can't be a death in the family. so my mind went right to health issues. and i really hope it's not cancer. now don't misread that, i have no inside scoop on his condition, it's just a process of elimination guess on my part. i tend to fear the worst in these situations, and the big C is definitely one of the worst things a person could encounter in life. maybe he needs to have a surgery that will take him a few months to fully heal from. i don't know, and i'm not going to pretend to know.

i think Bob is a guy who can sometimes be forgotten or taken for granted as part of our Tribe family. but he is very appreciated, as no other replacement voice can quite satisfy and due justice the way his can. so whatever the personal reason, i wish Bob all the best. i hope that the issue gets taken care of with ease and that he fully recovers, if a recovery process is necessary. here's hoping he'll be back at Progressive Field next year and ready to go for Opening Day 2015. til then, we'll miss you.