Indians beat Yankees 4-to-1!!

Tuesday night was exciting for a bunch of reasons.

1. Chris was the starting catcher against the Yankees. He never played against the Yankees last year, so this was the first time.

2. Josh Tomlin was the starting pitcher, making his MLB debut. Chris caught Josh a lot in triple A Columbus. They have always worked really well together, so Chris was excited to have the opportunity to catch him for his debut.

3. C.C. Sabathia was the starting pitcher for the Yankees. He's kind of good. :)

4. A-Rod was chasing his 600th homerun and stadium was packed!

5. It was A-Rods 35th birthday...and of course a great birthday present would be a bomb against a debuting 25-year-old pitcher.

Add all these together and Tuesday night ended up being one of the most exciting games this season. Josh and Chris shut down the Yankees! A-Rod ended up going 0-for-4. And Jeter had the only hit going into the 7th inning. Chris played awesome and called a great game behind the plate. Tomlin ended his debut giving up only 3 hits and one run against the Yankees. It was amazing! Chris also went 1-for-2 with a single and an 8-pitch walk against CC to score a run with the bases loaded!! And he threw out Jeter trying to steal second. It was an unbelievable night! After the game Chris said it was the most fun he has ever had playing baseball and a night he will never forget. Oh, and I forgot to mention, A-Rod was not able to knock in his 600th homer. Bummer.

Here is a great article that was published in the Cleveland paper that talks about Chris and Josh. Also, below are some pictures that a friend took during the game.

THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER
Published: Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 11:33 PM
Written by: Jim dandy

The night before making his major-league debut, Tribe right-hander Josh Tomlin received a call from catcher Chris Gimenez.
"He told me: 'Relax, enjoy yourself and throw like you did in Columbus,'" Tomlin said. "He said it was the same game -- good pitches will get good hitters out."

Tomlin threw plenty of quality pitches Tuesday, resulting in a 4-1 victory in which he allowed one run on three hits in seven innings. He made sure to thank the co-pilot. "Chris was a big part of my success," Tomlin said. "He called a great game, blocked balls and threw out Derek Jeter trying to steal. He did it all."

Gimenez, subbing for Carlos Santana, also went 1-for-2 with a bases-loaded walk against CC Sabathia. Tomlin said he could not recall legitimately shaking off Gimenez. Several times, Tomlin shook him off simply to keep the Yankees hitters guessing.
"I thought Gimenez did a tremendous job calling the game," Acta said. "That was overlooked."

Tomlin used primarily four-seam fastballs (90-92 mph), cutters and change-ups to throttle baseball's highest-scoring club. He mixed in a few curveballs. The Yankees, particularly Alex Rodriguez, struggled with the cutter's late action. Rodriguez went 0-for-3 against Tomlin, and 0-for-1 against reliever Chris Perez, to remain struck on 599 homers. Rodriguez said Tomlin "pitched backward a little bit," which is a compliment to Gimenez. Gimenez called for off-speed pitches in fastball counts and visa versa.

"Josh shocked me when he threw 2-1 change-ups to some of those guys," Acta said. "He wasn't afraid to fall behind 3-1. The confidence he has in his pitches is tremendous."

Tomlin threw 60 of his 93 pitches for strikes, not many of which stayed in the middle of the plate. One that did was a fastball to Rodriguez in the seventh. The pitch was low enough, though, that Rodriguez failed to get good wood on it and flied to right.