A Curtain Call for Choo

Photo Credit: Chuck Crow/Cleveland Plain Dealer

Shin-Soo Choo, one of the few not to blame for the mess in which the Indians find themselves, brought a little something extra to the batter's box Friday night.

Choo went 4-for-5 with two homers and a career-high seven RBI as the Tribe overwhelmed the Athletics, 15-3, in a clash of the non-titans at Progressive Field.

....

Choo's night began with a harmless grounder to second leading off the second inning. He had an RBI single in the third, a two-run double in the fourth and three-run homer in the fifth.

Choo ruined his chance at the cycle by sending reliever Michael Wuertz's pitch over the wall in right leading off the seventh. It accounted for the final margin.

As the crowd let loose with "Chooooooooooooooo!" the right fielder popped out of the dugout and waved his helmet.

Video of Choo's night is here at the MLB.com site.

From the AP report over at ESPN.com

Shin-Soo Choo gave his high school baseball coach a fitting tribute.

Choo learned before batting practice that his coach had died of cancer. Then he homered twice and drove in a career-high seven runs in a 15-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night that snapped Cleveland's five-game losing streak.

And here is something that I have always liked about Choo:

Choo arrived early at Progressive Field to work with hitting coach Derek Shelton. He had watched three hours of video on the off-day Thursday and wanted to make some adjustments at the plate -- even though he had raised his average to .292 by hitting .309 over his previous 48 games.

"Why change?" Choo responded to a question. "Because I want to get better."