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Tuesday was another example of why get togethers at Napoli’s are usually successful. Mike Napoli, having returned to the Indians in the morning, brought his Aura™ with him to the clubhouse and it showed on the field.
Jason Kipnis was particularly moved, building on the home run he hit over the weekend with two more on Tuesday. Kip’s 4 RBIs were matched by Richie Shaffer, who homered with the bases loaded. With the moral boost, he hit it all the way to Tacoma, actually. A man named Maggi also chipped in with 2 RBI and so did Greg Allen, who already seems to be taking more of a Professional Approach. His 40-time will also benefit from Napoli’s baserunning expertise.
Corey Kluber started, and glitched into giving up a run, while striking out three. Jake Smolinski sacrificed himself in the first inning, trading his out for a run, proving that proper Leadership is bi-partisan.
Tribe Notes
• As I think we just established, Mike Napoli is back, on a MiLB contract. He gets $1.75M if in the majors, and $3.25M in incentives. I kept wondering if there was a chance of this happening, even though as Francona already said, there is no room for him right now. Unless he’s in the outfield, I guess.
• Josh Tomlin has pink toenails.
• The underappreciated “Abraham Almonte left [Tuesday’s] game ... for precautionary reasons”
Around baseball
• For good reason, the players union complained
• With Texas, Tim Lincecum signed
• Unsurprisingly, Andrew Bailey retired
• Youngsters, Jeff Sullivan ranked