Well that was harder than it should have been.

Despite home plate umpire John Hirschbeck’s best efforts, the Indians won Game 3 of the World Series last night 1-0 to take a 2-1 series lead. The last Tribe team to go up 2-1 in the World Series?  The fellas of 1948. Maybe you’ve heard of them.

Per @IndiansUmp, Hirschbeck blew 7 ball/strike calls last night. All seven went against the Indians. Here’s a few highlights:

I’m not entirely sure what I would have done if we didn’t win that game, but it wouldn’t have been good. Thank god it was Tomlin out there, Trevor Bauer might have spontaneously combusted right in front of our eyes if he got consistently hosed like that. Our boys beat the Cubs and John Hirschbeck last night.

Some other thoughts:

• Example number 12,983 in these playoffs of Tito being smarter than me? Pulling Tomlin at 58 pitches before the Cubs got a third crack at him. I didn’t agree with it at the time, at all. He was rolling. But of course, not only did it obviously work out for the game last night, he’ll have plenty in the tank for his potential game 6 start and Chicago didn’t have the chance to get any sort of momentum against him going forward.
• Speaking of Tomlin, great piece from Anthony Castrovince on his start and his parents being there for it here. Must read if you enjoy happiness and trying to hide the fact that you’re crying from everyone around you.
• I don’t want to hear shit from ANYONE when Bryan Shaw gives up 4 runs in the 7th inning on a Tuesday in June next year. He defeated the mighty Kyle Schwarber.
• Jason Kipnis would be on the DL if this was the regular season. You can see him laboring whenever he has to run the bases.
• I’m honest to god stunned when a hitter puts the ball in play against Miller or Allen.
• Tito confirmed Trevor Bauer will throw tomorrow in Game 5. I thought a combination of Salazar and Merritt might work out nicely given how different they are as pitchers, but hopefully Bauer will reward Tito’s confidence in him. See first bullet point.
• Two more wins and we win the World Series. Corey Kluber has two starts left.

KEEP THE CHIEF