Q&A with Pinstripe Alley

1. Jhonny Peralta
   
2. No...I love the drum
   
3. Nixon...that's kind of an easy one on this team
   
4. Posada
   
5. Tribe pitching doesn't give up many walks and stays ahead of the Yankees hitters
   
6. The opposite of #5
   
7. Better than I do about him protecting a 4-run lead

I think the key, as it's been for our starters all season, is control.  If they're sharp, if they hit spots, they'll last deep into the game.  If they start giving up walks (ugly Westbrook, Fausto in all his losses), we won't have the pleasure of seeing JoBo finish off a save up 1 with runners on 2nd and 3rd.

I'll just tackle the drum.

It does NOT make me want to gargle magma, like the song "New York, New York."

It's awesome.  It's authentic, persistent, and simple.  In an age when just about everything is over-the-top, John Adams just keeps beating away.

1. Peralta for sure. There's no good media-guide quip about him, and there's only going to be room for one shortstop in this show: Alex Rodriguez.

2. I'm much more sick of Pink. And -- I mean this -- every time I hear it, I think about how unpretentious a stadium tradition John Adams is, and I'm glad I'm from Cleveland.

3. Jason Michaels. See: Every start he made in right field. I think Ben Francisco may have been better than Michaels last year.

4. Hideki Matsui, even if he's hurt. His hits can just seem so inevitable.

5. ...if Hafner happens. He gives the whole lineup more punch and swagger when he's hot.

6. ...if Raffy Perez is spent. Facing the Yankees with a dead-armed lefty is asking for trouble.

7. Pumped with false bravado. "You don't know Joe."

5.) The Tribe will beat the Yanks if__.

The umpires in game 2 and 3 call low strikes.

1.  Rafael Betancourt.  Although if the media discovers he used to be an infielder in the ... gasp in hushed awe!  Red Sox farm system, maybe that will change.

2. No.  Honestly, it's never annoyed me.  John Adams is now part of the soundtrack of my life.  Caught behind a slow driver in the fast lane, I check my rear view mirrors, spot a gap, prepare to press down on the accelerator, ... and hear that drumbeat.

3. Trot Nixon.  Casey Blake has his uses, and is better than the alternative.  Trot Nixon is not better than the alternative.

4. Posada

5. September Pronk and October A-Rod show up.

6. May Pronk and regular season A-Rod show up.

7. Queasy.  Despondent.  Inconsolable.  Missing my Rafaels.

1. Jake Westbrook. He will be matched against Clemens and will be likely nothing more than a footnote to the hype. If he pitches well, the Indians have a great chance in the series.

2. No. Never. It is not cliched, it is not canned, it is not over produced. It's just John Adams with a drum and it is something most of us grew up with.

3. Tom Mastny. I just never feel safe when he enters the game. That being said, Trot is a bit hard to defend as well.

4. Derek Jeter. He is overrated and he can't play defense but he still scares me.

5. The Indians starters hand a lead to the Raffy's and the Indians lineup gets into the Yankee bullpen.

6. Indians starters can't hold a lead and Indians hitters don't force the Yankees starters to throw a lot of pitches early.

7. The same way I have about any closer since Mike Jackson left.

I don't see the corresponding questions over at Pinstripe Alley yet.  PLEASE tell me you asked them what Yankees fans have instead of a soul?

Is John of Pinstripe Alley also John of crooksandliars.com?

1. How about team... The Indians.  The media cares little about the Tribe and we are in the playoffs with the best record in MLB (tied).  It makes for more revenue if the Yanks meet the BoSox in the ALCS.

2. Of course not.  

3. Trot Nixon...good for pies in the face only.

4.) Clemens...  A broken bat grounder could mean our hitters are dodging a flying shard of their own bat running down the 1st baseline.

5.) if Pronk and Martinez offset A-Rod's barrage in games 3-4.

6.) if the tribe's offense runs dry.

7.) about the same as we always do. nervously excited.

Never mind the drum, ask if the groundskeepers doing their less-than-manly YMCA performance gets annoying.

Guys, you're supplying cogent, well reasoned answers to serious questions from Yankees fans.  Don't you know that this approach  never works with those jadrools?  Ya got beat `em over the head like Sampson with a ass's jaw-bone.  Here's my response to the questions from Pinstripe Alley (my office mate hadda perform the Heimlich maneuver on me after I typed that)

 1) Who's the player the national media will forget about whose performance will be crucial to a title?  

Pronk

2) Don't you ever get sick of that damn drum? Come on, admit it...

Not as sick as I am of all this "Yankee aura" bull shit.

3) Do you have a player the manager obviously favors whom you wish wasn't on the roster?

ARod

4.) Not including A-Rod because he seems the obvious choice, but what other Yankee player scares you the most?

Moose Skowron

5.) The Tribe will beat the Yanks if__.

The sun rises tomorrow

6.) The Yanks will beat the Tribe if __.

There's a winter storm watch in Hell

7.) How do Tribe fans feel about Joe Borowski protecting a 1-run lead in the 9th inning?

Like an Indians fan in Manhattan - anxious but trusting that the baseball gods will protect me.

Who doesn't like the drum? Christ, at least we didn't hijack that f#@$ing "Tomahawk Chop" like the Braves did.

How could anyone hate the drum?  He's been doing it since 1973.  That's gritty.