2nd Best in Ohio?

Let me start by saying that I hate the Cincinnati Reds. It all started back in college for me. I went to Bowling Green State University from 1994-1998, during basically the glory years for my Cleveland Indians. Two World Series appearances while I was in college and a guaranteed playoff appearance every year. Well, BGSU was home to a lot of people from the Cleveland area and a lot of people from the Cincinnati/Dayton area. I never really cared either way about any National League team until my college years. The Reds fans that I encountered were some of the most obnoxious fans I've ever been around. Many of them took a rooting interest against the Indians back then for reasons I never really understood. And since they hated the Tribe, I in turn hated the Reds, and still do. And them acquiring a productive Brandon Phillips from us for nothing only fuels the fire for me now.

So anyway, with losing two of three this weekend to that team from down South, the Tribe ended this year just 1-5 against the lowly Reds. I guess that pretty much sums things up for the Indians this season. At least I picked the good game to go to on Friday night. Saturday and Sunday were just more examples of our pathetic offense and disastrous bullpen. At least it should now be crystal clear to Shapiro - the fire sale needs to start soon and hopefully we can re-tool for next year. I'm happy I got to see Sabathia pitch well for perhaps the final time for me in a Tribe uniform.

Watching the Tribe this year feels a lot like getting run over by Adam Dunn

Cavs Update: The weekend brought some semi-shocking news out of New Jersey. Let me just say that if VC were a Cavalier, he might be the only Cavalier I've ever hated. I can't stand the guy and I've joked in the past that I'd be screwed if he ever was on my favorite team. Let's just hope it never really happens and forget we ever heard such nonsense...

Gladiators Update: Tonight at 7:00 the Gladiators take on the Orlando Predators in their opening round playoff game at the Q. It will also be my Arena Football League debut as a fan and I'm interested to see how it goes. Here's a great story on the franchise's rapid turnaround in Cleveland from Sunday's PD.

Welcome to Cleveland JJ

With the 19th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers select... JJ Hickson? OK, so I admit it, Ferry threw a curveball at us with that one, but that does NOT mean it's a bad choice. The more I read and saw of this kid last night, the more I like him. Maybe I'm just talking myself into the pick. But I'll defer to the 'experts' to analyze this since I'm certainly not qualified.

The draft reviews are streaming in and it seems like we are getting some favorable marks from ESPN and SI.com. However, sportsline.com and nbadraft.net are not big on JJ. Locally, Bill Livingston, MSB, and David Lee Morgan weigh in on the newest Cavalier. Who knows how it will turn out, but I'm not jumping off a building this morning. I think Hickson will be just fine wearing the wine and gold uniform. And I'm excited that we finally have a guy that likes to dunk the ball and isn't named LeBron. Since he wasn't in New York last night and you may be curious to hear from him directly, here's a phone interview with Hickson courtesy of cavs.com.

Is Hickson ready to rock the rim at the Q?

Windhorst Update: Of course his analysis was missed last night, but more importantly, it sounds like his condition may be improving.

Tribe Update: The slumpbuster was at it again last night (and no, that has nothing to do with Mark Grace). I'm talking about Cliff Lee, who just stops losing streaks this season. Last night was the fourth 3-game losing skid that Lee has personally ended, to go along with a 7-gamer as well. He is still firmly on course to be the AL starter at the All-Star Game in a couple of weeks with his improbable 11-1 record and 2.34 ERA. Lee added 11 strikeouts to his already impressive resumé last night. The Tribe avoided the sweep with a 4-1 victory over the Giants. The team will continue interleague play tonight against the Reds with CC Sabathia on the mound and me in attendance. Maybe my last chance to see the big guy in person in a Tribe uniform? We'll find out soon...

Edit: I just realized that the Tribe is currently tied for last place in the Central thanks to Kansas City's five-game winning streak. Yes, I've been avoiding even glancing at the standings for a while now. This is the first time the Indians have been in last place this late in the season since 1993 - when they were still in the AL East and the Central didn't exist. Wow, what a year!

Draft Day

The 2008 NBA Draft is upon us tonight at 7:00pm from Madison Square Garden in NYC. But before I get to that, here are a couple updates on our friend Brian Windhorst from the ABJ and another blog. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

This swap (thankfully we didn't end up with Jermaine O'Neal and his injury problems) and these deals already went down yesterday, and I expect some more dealing before the day is over. And hopefully we're finally at the merciful end of all these mock drafts - this version now has us taking Robin Lopez from Stanford, which doesn't exactly excite me. But then again, what do I know? I'm still mostly leaning towards picking CDR (I also loved the Luke Jackson and DaJuan Wagner picks, so keep that in mind). Mary Schmitt-Boyer still thinks the Cavs are thinking trade. And the great Terry Pluto tells us what Mike Brown is thinking today. Nine hours and counting...

In Ferry and Brown we trust?

Tribe Update: Since it is my duty to report on them I will - but only briefly. Yesterday was another yawner as the Indians dropped their third straight game and second in a row at home to the Giants, 4-1. It looks like the offense is going back into the toilet, mustering only one run and four hits off the disaster that is Barry Zito (keep in mind he was 2-11 with a 6.52 ERA prior to this start). Not surprisingly, he had his best outing of the year against our lineup. And you'll be shocked to learn that Rafael Betancourt gave up another late 'insurance' run, this time a home run to right off the bat of some guy named John Bowker. Can't wait to go to the game tomorrow night and watch Brandon Phillips have some more fun against his former team! (Yes, that was sarcasm.) The Tribe looks to avoid the sweep tonight when Cliff Lee takes the mound.

Get Well Soon Windy!

Before I delve into anything else today, I wanted to take a moment to wish Brian Windhorst (by far the best Cavs writer in the world) a speedy recovery. I had been wondering about the lack of updates on his blog recently, and yesterday TrueHoop confirmed that he is pretty sick. Then I read this this morning and realized how serious his situation really is. BW, you're in our thoughts and prayers and we're pulling for you!!!

I was really looking forward to seeing what Brian had to say about tomorrow night's draft. There are a lot of different directions the Cavs can take over the next 24 hours or so. I'm sure there will be some trade opportunities out there so it will be interesting to see how everything plays out. Although Danny Ferry says don't expect any major changes. Mary Schmitt-Boyer answers some Cavalier draft day questions. And here's a decent overview of the current Cavaliers as they stand the day before the draft.

Tribe Update: The Indians lost another one last night to old friend Omar Vizquel and the San Francisco Giants, 3-2. More of the same problems for the Tribe - quiet bats and bad bullpen work. I have no statistical evidence to back up this claim (really I'm too lazy to dig for it right now), but I swear our bullpen leads the league in giving up 'insurance' runs late in games. It seems like every time either of the Raffys or Masa Kobayashi come in for the 7th inning or later with a one-run lead it always ends up getting worse. Then our anemic offense really has no chance at a comeback. Truly depressing.

Tribe fans still love #13

The Indians and Giants will be at it again tonight with the ridiculously overpaid Barry Zito (see why I'm advocating a Sabathia trade?) going against Jeremy Sowers. Also, Larry Dolan supports Eric Wedge and Mark Shapiro.

Draft Day is Almost Here

We're two days away from the 2008 NBA Draft and with the Tribe off last night, I want to focus my attention on improving the Cavaliers. I'm excited since this is our first first-round pick since 2006 and the Shannon Brown Experiment. Actually, the first round hasn't been very kind to the Cavaliers over the years - take a look for yourself. The last decade, aside from Andre Miller and the King himself have been notably painful. But then again, Jim Paxson was prominently involved in most of that, so hopefully we are onto greener pastures with Mr. Ferry heading things up.

This draft is of particular importance to the long-term and short-term future of this franchise. Ideally you'd like someone that can step in and help right away since the team is so close and LBJ will be deciding on his own future in two short seasons. For that reason alone I do NOT want to take on another project. So my short list includes the following players I think can immediately help this team get to the next level. Keep in mind, I am no expert and these are solely my own opinions. And I do realize that in order to get some of these players we would obviously have to work our way up via trade:

• Russell Westbrook, PG, UCLA - He would finally give us a 'true' PG and wouldn't be overwhelmed stepping in and starting for this team right away.
• Brandon Rush, SG, Kansas - I got to see him play in person in the NCAA tourney in Detroit in March and I love his game. He would be a great scoring threat next to LBJ.
• D.J. Augustin, PG, Texas - Again, a 'true' PG and he's used to the limelight coming from a school with big expectations in a great conference.
• Chris Douglas-Roberts, SG, Memphis - A great scorer and big-bodied SG that would also give us another scoring threat from the perimeter.

I'm sure there are others who would help but I think these four are safe bets. I would be happy to walk away with any of them. And yes, I'm staying away from soft Euros and white guys. Sorry but those are the rules I play by. I've also heard some talk of the Cavs getting back into the 2nd round for another pick. Hopefully that is the case because they've uncovered some gems there in the past (Carlos Loozer and Daniel Gibson immediately come to mind).

For fun, here is ESPN's latest mock draft. I always enjoy going back to these after the fact to see how wrong all the 'experts' are. And here's a quick draft blurb from today's PD, with a quote from Ferry. I didn't expect him to really tell us anything.

Will we find LeBron's Pippen on Thursday night?

Tribe Update: More talk about CC's future and a look at past deadline deals from the PD today. And it looks like Jensen Lewis and Asdrubal Cabrera (.408 BA) are finding themselves in Buffalo. This is good news to me for two reasons: 1) our bullpen is awful and 2) I honestly don't know how much longer I can watch Jhonny Peralta play shortstop.

Browns Update: Not really an update, just me wasting some time at work reviewing some great highlights from 2007. If this, this, and especially this don't get you excited for 2008, well, you suck.

A Little Life Left?

Maybe we shouldn't give up on these Indians yet. Bud Shaw certainly thinks it's too early for that. The Tribe didn't get the sweep against the Dodgers yesterday, primarily thanks to Paul Byrd's horrific first inning of work (gotta love hearing Vin Scully's voice in that clip!). But they did gut out two nice extra-inning wins on Friday and Saturday. And I think we've finally found our power-hitting DH to stick in the middle of the order. Now that was a bomb.

Byrd didn't have it in the 1st, but lasted 7 innings in the LA heat

That now makes three out of four series wins for the Indians, but still just a 10-11 record in June. Yes, the sweep in Colorado was awful, but they are still somehow only 6.5 out of first. More concerning to me is the fact that they are now 1.5 games behind the Tigers, who seem to have finally found themselves. The Tribe will enjoy an 0ff-day today and then welcome old friend Omar Vizquel back to Cleveland.

Cavs Update: LeBron hosted his annual bikeathon in Akron over the weekend and raised $150,000 for local charities. And this week, we'll turn our attention towards Thursday night's draft. Here's an overview to get us started. More details to come throughout the week. All I know right now is please, no Kosta Koufos.

I'm pretty sure 330 is not an area code in New York...

Gladiators Update: The Gladiators are in the playoffs after a 47-35 win over Columbus on Saturday night. They will host a wild-card playoff game at the Q next Monday vs. the Orlando Predators. I will likely make my Arena Football fan debut for this one!

Season Swept Away

This may be the defining series of an extremely disappointing and frustrating year for the Tribe. The Rockies completed the sweep of our Indians with a 6-3 win last night in Denver. Jeremy Sowers wasn't very sharp and didn't get much support anyway. And the bullpen then gave us no chance, and they really haven't all season long. This isn't what I had in mind when I bought season tickets (20-game plan) last October.

The Rockies completed the sweep on Thursday night

The team surely won't admit it, but even they have to know it's time to blow this thing up. Start the fire sale now. Terry Pluto agrees with me. I've been saying for a while that Paul Byrd will surely have to go. That's a no-brainer. But now I'm fully on board with trading CC Sabathia as well. Honestly, the only pitchers I wouldn't deal at this point are Aaron Laffey, Fausto Carmona, and Cliff Lee. The rest can be had for the right prospects. It will be interesting to see how this plays out but I have faith in Mr. Shapiro.

Tribe Notes: The Tribe did some shuffling in the wake of Victor Martinez's elbow surgery. They acquired veteran catcher Sal Fasano from the Braves, the the ever popular player-to-be-named-later. They also sent catcher Yamid Haad back down to the minors before he ever played in a game. Oh, and Jason Micheals is batting .279 in Pittsburgh with 5 doubles, 3 HR, and 22 RBI since being traded there. Of course he is. And finally, who knows when Travis Hafner will be back? Your guess is as good as mine.

Cavs Update: Brian Windhorst makes his triumphant blogging return (well, for me at least) and gives us the lowdown on the recent Anderson Varejao trade rumors. I look forward to hearing more from BW over the next week in anticipation of the draft next Thursday.

LBJ Speaks, but Tribe Silenced (Again)

The first order of business today: LeBron James gave a fairly lengthy interview and touched on a variety of topics yesterday with the PD. He also appeared later on ESPN850. This is my favorite part:

"I'm dedicated to bringing a championship to this city," James told Mark "Munch" Bishop during an appearance later Wednesday on ESPN 850 WKNR to promote the upcoming King for Kids Bike-A-Thon. "I'm bringing a parade to this city. I love this city. I love Northeast Ohio. ... Right now I can't see myself going anywhere else."

And I'm dedicated to watching the Cavs win a championship so it works out well for me LeBron. I already can't wait for November. I'll be adding some tidbits here shortly in anticipation of the 2008 NBA Draft that takes place a week from today. This is obviously a very important time for the Cavaliers and I'm excited to see what happens over the next week and beyond.

Forget New York, LBJ was deepening his Northeast Ohio roots yesterday at the Q

Tribe Update: Since it is my sworn duty to speak on all Cleveland sports happenings, I must also talk about the disaster that is the 2008 Cleveland Indians. They dropped their second in a row to the lowly Rockies last night, 4-2 in Denver. The loss drops them into sole possession of 4th place in the AL Central, now above only the Royals. The Tigers have finally overtaken us, themselves a complete disaster in 2008. Once again, the bats fell silent and really didn't give Aaron Laffey much of a chance. And Rafael Betancourt continued his bewildering slide, giving up an important insurance run to Colorado in the bottom of the 7th, just after the Tribe had cut it to 3-2. The Indians will look to Jeremy Sowers to avoid the sweep tonight.

The Tribe continues the trend of making bad teams look good in '08

At least Jhonny Peralta and I have something in common - we both share disappointment in his hitting this year. And who knows when Fausto Carmona will be healthy enough to pitch again?

Browns Update: The Browns rookies took their annual tour of the Pro Football Hall of Fame yesterday. Maybe someday one of them will be enshrined there. For now, I'll just take a home playoff game. I'm working on curbing my enthusiasm with baby steps. That way I won't be so disappointed all the time.

Byrd Bombed in Denver

This is not the way to enhance your trade value: 4.0 IP, 9 H, 5ER, 2HR. Paul Byrd was shelled again last night to drop his record to 3-7 and raise his ERA to 5.21. He also added to his league-leading home runs allowed total of 19(!) in just 77 innings of work (OK, so one was an inside-the-park job last night, but still). I was hoping some team desperate for pitching would give us something for him at the trade deadline, but now I'm starting to think it's not very realistic. Our bullpen didn't help the cause either last night with Scott Elarton and Rick Bauer combining to give up 5 more runs before it was over. The 10-2 win by the Rockies leaves the Tribe a very disappointing 13-20 on the road now and tied with Detroit for 3rd place, 6.5 games behind the White Sox. Ugh.

Byrd's neck is sore from watching all his pitches fly out of the park

Tribe assistant GM Chris Antonetti spent part of his day yesterday downplaying rumors of an impending CC Sabathia trade. Which makes me think it's even more likely than I already thought. And things aren't getting any better with the wounded Indians. I smell a fire sale soon.

Cavs Update: Well the Celtics finished things off last night (and no, I did not watch). I guess it's good for the Cavaliers to see how close they came to being in that same spot. But the thought of another Boston title still makes me want to slit my wrists. On a happier note, LeBron James is helping some Clevelanders lose their spare tires, starting today at the Q. And Pat McManamon thinks that trading Anderson Varejao is a good idea.

Browns Update: Joe Jurevicius is just a good guy. I wish more athletes these days could be like him.

Gladiators Update: And finally, something from my favorite team to root for in the summer when the Tribe is down and there's nothing else to hold my sports attention... if the Gladiators win on Saturday they are in the playoffs. Call me fair-weather, but they are still a Cleveland team and arena football is kinda fun to watch.

Updates from an Off Day

With the Tribe enjoying a day off on Monday there's not much to talk about. CC Sabathia did win the AL Player of the Week award for going 2-0 with a fine 1.59 ERA last week. And Grady Sizemore used the day off to go pose for GQ Magazine. Don't ask, just read today's Tribe notes in the PD for details...

I prefer you gracing the pages of SI Grady...

Tonight the Tribe is back in action in Colorado for a World Series rematch... err, a meaningless interleague series in the middle of June. Jamey Carroll will receive his NL Championship ring while the rest of the team will probably be wondering why they couldn't seal the deal in Game 5 vs. the Red Sox to get to face the Rockies in October. Paul Byrd gets the start in this one against someone named Greg Reynolds. I would expect this one to be high-scoring in the Rocky Mountain air. I'll be hoping that Byrd can keep things under control to help his trade value. We need to keep him as attractive as possible before the end of July.

Another Series Win

Two series wins in a row now. I'm trying to remain optimistic despite all the injuries and offensive problems that have plagued this team all season long. So winning two series in a row is a good start and even through all the adversity, the Tribe only sits 5.5 games behind Chicago midway through June. Sunday's win over the Padres featured another solid pitching performance from CC Sabathia, who went 8 innings, striking out 10 and allowing 3 runs. Coupled with Friday's 8-5 win (featuring a near 3-hour rain delay and and me getting soaked in the process) it was a pretty good weekend. Saturday was really a winnable one too when the game went to extra innings, but another bullpen meltdown killed any hopes of a weekend sweep.

Grady has been on a home run tear lately with 5 in the last 5 games

The Indians will enjoy a day of rest today as they travel to Colorado for a three-game series starting tomorrow night. Call me bitter, but I'm looking at this as the World Series that should have been last year. And we would have taken care of this team just like the Cavs would be taking care of the Lakers right now. F'n Boston.

Paul Hoynes thinks Grady Sizemore should remain in the leadoff role, even with his recent power surge (9 HR in his last 16 games). Also, there will be a lot of scouts in attendance every time CC takes the hill before the trade deadline. And finally, some updates from Sheldon Ocker on Travis Hafner, Jake Westbrook, and Asdrubal Cabrera.

2 Out of 3 Ain't Bad

The good news: the Tribe managed to win a series. The bad news: the fire sale might be starting sooner than we expected. That's becuase Victor Martinez will undergo surgery Friday to remove bone chips in his right elbow and will be out the next 6-8 weeks. Josh Barfield also hit the DL yesterday. The Indians promoted catcher Yamid Haad and infielder Jorge Valendia (don't worry, I never heard of them either) to take their places. And Travis Hafner will still be out of the lineup at least through the team's next road trip to Colorado and LA. Add that to Jake Westbrook's season-ending injury and Tommy John surgery, and Fausto Carmona's hip injury, and the roster looks more like a M.A.S.H. unit. I now fully expect Paul Byrd and CC Sabathia to be dealt, among others.

Last night was encouraging from an offensive standpoint with the Tribe banging out a season-high 18 hits in a 12-2 win over the Twins. The offense was highlighted by Jamey Carroll's 4-hit night, and Shin-Soo Choo's 3-run homer. Aaron Laffey got the win, going 6 strong innings, giving up only one run. His ERA is now down to 2.83. And the team is still only 6.5 games behind the White Sox, even with all the struggles and injuries. But that's my optimistic side coming out. My realistic side is preparing for wholesale roster changes shortly. We resume interleague play tonight at the Prog with the Padres coming to town. Yours truly will be in attendance, so I fully expect to be disappointed with the results. Tonight it will be Jeremy Sowers against Josh Banks.

Laffey was solid again on Thursday night

Browns Update: Superagent Drew Rosenhaus is at it again, talking about a new contract for K2. Sometimes I hate what professional sports have become. It's more about posturing for your next contract than anything else. I wish agents could just be eliminated completely. Also, if you didn't catch the Browns highlight show on STO last night I highly recommend it. It was the top ten plays of 2007 with the audio feed from Donavan and Dieken. Great stuff and I'm sure they'll run it a few more times. Oh, and Brady Quinn just wants to win.

Cavs Update: It's official, Big Z is out of the Olympics for Lithuania. My heart hurts a little for him as this may be his last chance to represent his country. But the selfish Cavalier fan in me says this is great news for him to be 100% next year, resting his ailing back.

Streak Snapped at 2

These are your 2008 Indians. They just can't seem to ever get any positive momentum going. After winning two straight and looking a little better, Paul Byrd took the mound and was promptly rocked for 6 runs in the first three innings. But after Grady Sizemore's 3-run bomb in the bottom of the 7th, the Tribe had clawed their way back to a 6-5 deficit. Leave it up to our shaky bullpen (it was Borowski this time) to kill any thoughts of a late-inning win by giving up two runs in the top of the 9th to erase any doubts. 8-5. Ball game. Back to .500 at home and 7.5 behind the White Sox. And Victor Martinez could now be heading to the DL. Damn it.

C'mon Byrdie... you're killing your trade value

Browns Update: Mary Kay Cabot and crusty old Bill Livingston add some more depth to the LeCharles Bentley saga. And some good news out of Berea - Joe Jurevicius says he wouldn't miss this season for the world.

Highlights from yesterday's mini-camp session:

WTF?!?!

Strange stuff coming out of Berea this afternoon. LeCharles Bentley asked for and was granted permission by Phil Savage to be released from the Browns today. More details to come...

We hardly knew you LCB :(

Finally, a Streak!

Well it's only at two games, but a streak's a streak. For the record, this was the first time the Tribe notched consecutive wins since May 13-15. And it seemed even longer than that. CC Sabathia went the distance, allowing only 5 hits and striking out 5. It was also the Indians' shortest game of the year at just 2 hours and 6 minutes. I guess that's what happens when you have poor hitting and great pitching. Again the bats were unable to give CC much run support, mustering only one run on 9 hits. But who am I to complain? I'll take any sort of wins at this point. And CC's ERA is down to 4.34, which is really impressive when you consider how badly he started the year.

CC: Soon to be traded, or regaining Cy Young form?

The Tribe will look to enter uncharted territory (3 straight wins!) when Paul Byrd faces Nick Blackburn tonight at the Prog. We owe Blackburn one since we gave him his first major league win back in April...

Cavs Update: Daniel Gibson underwent successful ankle surgery yesterday at some place called 'The Roger Clemens Sports Institute' (I wish I was making that up). Get well soon Boobie. Brian Windhorst also gives some updates on Sasha, Andy, and Z.

Browns Update: Terry Pluto and Tony Grossi weigh in on LeCharles Bentley's future with his hometown team. And news wasn't all good on the Browns front yesterday, as we learned Joe Jurevicius may not be ready for the season opener.

Cliff to the Rescue (Again)

Cliff Lee continues to be one of the few good stories in an otherwise disappointing season for the Tribe. He continued his dominance again last night in Detroit, going 5 innings and giving up two runs before being pulled after a rain delay. He is now 10-1 with a sparkling 2.52 ERA and is making a strong case to be the AL All-Star starter. The Indian offense also jumped on Dontrelle Willis (probably the best example of the '08 Tigers foolish overspending) early with 8 runs in the first two innings. The game was also highlighted in the 8th inning by Franklin Gutierrez's (remember him?) leaping catch to rob a home run. The Tribe will again look for consecutive wins for the first time since the end of World War I tonight. They finally return home to the friendly confines of the Prog to face the Twins after going 5-6 on the looooong road trip.

The 'Streak Stopper' was at it again last night in Detroit

Roster Update: Asdrubal Cabrera and his .184 average were finally mercifully sent down to Buffalo yesterday in favor of Josh Barfield, himself only batting .255 in AAA. We'll see how this goes but I'm glad Barfield is getting another shot. Hopefully Cabrera can get himself straightened out down there with less pressure on him. I still have visions of him being our everyday shortstop and moving Jhonny "No Range" Peralta over to third someday...

Cavs Update: Old friend Ira Newble is happy to be in LA, even if the Lakers find themselves down 2-0 in the Finals. And Pat McManamon rightfully thinks the Cavs should be given credit for pushing Boston to the limit. Finally, Brian Windhorst thinks the shakeup in the Central division may make things tougher for the Cavs to make a trade.

Browns Update: Kellen Winslow stuck to his agent's word and arrived in Berea yesterday for the start of Browns minicamp, which begins today. Hopefully the first in a series of good things for our '08 Brownies.

***UPDATE*** LeCharles Bentley was cleared to resume playing and is on the field this morning!!! GREAT NEWS and let's hope he can stay healthy and somehow contribute this year...

K2 is pumped for the season to start

Motown Mess

I guess the challenge for me every Monday is coming up with a new headline to describe how bad each previous weekend was for the Tribe. Friday actually was a nice win, but in true '08 Indians fashion they followed it up with two bad losses on Saturday and Sunday to the lowly Tigers. It has now been almost a full month since the team notched consecutive wins. Thankfully I was purchasing a new car on Saturday and didn't really have to be subjected to Rafael Betancourt's latest meltdown, although I did hear it on the radio. And yesterday I was half-watching our sad offense at the gym, trying to stay out of the sauna-like weather outside. It has gotten to the point where even an optimistic homer like me knows there's not much reason to watch this team on a daily basis anymore. Sad considering we were one win away from a likely World Series win over the Rockies just 8 months ago.

Even the Tigers are pumped to face the Tribe now

The Tribe looks to Cliff Lee to end another losing streak tonight. He has obviously been one of the few bright spots this season and will be looking for his 10th win (I'm trying to stay positive here, really). Paul Hoynes sounds about as disgusted as me at this point. Question: How long until Browns training camp? Answer: 48 days or so (not that I'm counting or anything).

We Just Can't Streak

So the Tribe split their four-game series with Texas. It could have been worse (from a hitting perspective, as we've seen all year), and it could have been much better (our pitchers were smacked around all series). I'm not gonna get too high on our hitting in this series, or too low on our pitching. I think a lot of it has to do with the ballpark, the strength of the Rangers hitters, and the abomination that is Texas's pitching staff.

All I know after last night is that Kevin Millwood looks weird without his goatee (I don't think I've really even seen him pitch since his great '05 season with us), Rafael Betancourt can't throw strikes anymore (and when he does they are usually hit a loooooong way), and the Tribe can't string together consecutive wins anymore. The last time the Indians won two straight games was May 13-15. Since then they are 5-14. Yikes.

Old friend Milton Bradley finished the series with 4 HR and 7 RBI

Tonight, we head north to face the Tigers to start a three-game weekend series. It will be Paul Byrd against Justin Verlander in what I expect to be another slugfest featuring two lousy pitchers. I didn't expect going into this season that on June 6th we'd be fighting the Tigers to stay out of the bottom of the Central. Jayson Stark has an interesting take on what's going on in what was thought to be one of baseball's best divisions.

Yesterday was also MLB's annual June draft - here's a rundown of all the Tribe's picks. I don't know anything about any of them but I hope they can help us somewhere down the road. Today's ABJ had some more information on top-pick Lonnie Chisenhall. I especially like the part about him being kicked off the team in South Carolina on burglary and grand larceny charges. Awesome.

Cavs Update:
Brian Windhorst reports that Andy Varejao will not be playing for his native Brazil in this summer's Beijing Olympics. I hope he is serious about rehabbing his ankle - he will either be valuable trade bait this year, or an important piece to the puzzle if he can regain his form of last year.

I'm also proud to report that I didn't watch one single second of Game 1 of the NBA Finals last night. I saw the score this morning and felt sick to my stomach thinking that could easily be the Cavaliers in place of Boston. And I felt the same way about last year's World Series. F the entire city of Boston. I can't stand them.

Runs Aplenty

I'm going to miss watching our offense face the Rangers pitching staff. Like I said yesterday, if the Indians were in the AL West the offense might crack .250. Hell, if they keep it up tonight they may crack .250 before this series ends. Again the Tribe bats were on fire, this time banging out another 17 hits and 15 runs on their way to a 15-9 win. The team batting average raised another whopping 5 points, now up to .243 (they started this series at .233!).

Cliff Lee was clearly not on his game, but did get enough run support to notch his 9th win... and maybe even solidified his chances at an All-Star game start. The STO cameras caught him in the dugout punching the Gatorade jug in frustration (please use your right hand next time Cliff) after giving up his 6th run to tie the score. But the offense was able to pick him up with five big runs in the top of the 6th, capped by David Dellucci's three-run shot, and never looked back. Maybe tonight we'll be able to see things cool down with a good pitching match-up between CC Sabathia and old friend Kevin Millwood. Although I wouldn't bet on it the way the ball flies around in Arlington...

Ryan Garko went 4-for-5 with a career-high 6 RBI on Wednesday night

Tribe Mastnyed in Texas

I think that has a good ring to it - from now on when one of our pitchers gets pummeled I think I will call it "getting Mastnyed." Tom Mastny certainly was Mastnyed in his spot start last night, as expected. He was only able to go 1-1/3 innings last night while giving up 5 runs (2HR) and struggling through 56 pitches. And trust me, it could have been a lot worse than that. Eric Wedge was able to save the 'important' (if you can call them that) bullpen arms with mop up work by Jensen Lewis, Edward Mujica, and Scott Elarton. Rafael Perez and Elarton was able to complete the torching by throwing gas on the fire in the bottom of the 8th after the Tribe was able to cut the lead to 9-6. Final score 12-7 and the one-game winning streak snapped just like that.

The good news is that the Indians' bats were able to pound out 15 more hits last night and again raised the team batting average. It now stands at a blistering .239 (up six whole points over the last two games). So if we played in the AL West and got to face the Rangers 19 times a year, our team BA might even crack .250. But I have a feeling our ERA would also be a lot worse. Let's hope for some better results tonight when Cliff Lee hits the mound for the third of this four-game series.

The Rangers enjoyed facing Tom Mastny on Tuesday night

Cavs Update: Terry Pluto thinks the Cavaliers need to put more emphasis on regular season games. I tend to agree.

Browns Update: Phil Savage is in no hurry to re-work Kellen Winslow's deal. And Tony Grossi knows the Browns revamped defense will be put to the test in 2008.

Maybe?

Maybe the Tribe needed a 13-9 softball-type slugfest like last night vs. the Rangers to right the ship? Or maybe it's just an anomaly against a bad pitching staff in a hitter's ballpark. Either way it was fun to finally see the offense make some noise last night and pick up Aaron Laffey when he had a rare bad outing. It was one of those nights for the Indians at the plate - 4 HR's, 4 doubles, 16 hits in all, and 7 RBI by Casey Blake (all before the end of the 4th inning!). They actually raised the team batting average three points with last night's performance - still a paltry .236, but I'll take any type of progress at this point. Blake had two home runs and Ben Francisco and David Dellucci added the others.

Hopefully things can start rolling now but it will be even more difficult to keep the momentum going tonight, as Jake Westbrook has been put on the 15-day DL. To make matters worse, Tom Mastny gets the start tonight for the Tribe, since Jeremy Sowers just pitched for AAA Buffalo on Sunday. Jensen Lewis was also called back up today to help in the bullpen. Let's hope the bats can stay warm because I have a feeling they will really be needed in this one...

Casey was all over the bases on Monday night on his way to 7 RBI

Cavs Update: LeBron James was just named the #3 earner in pro sports over the past year, behind only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. All this in the dinky little godforsaken market known as Cleveland. Here's to hoping that he sees that market size does not matter and he will stay home in June of 2010. We need you LeBron... just look how much you mean to this city: www.lebron2010.com (brought to you by the great Glen Infante of RCF fame).

Stop me if you've heard this one before

It's beginning to sound like a broken record, but the 2008 Cleveland Indians really can't hit. They demonstrated that again over the weekend, losing two out of three in Kansas City to the lowly Royals (themselves losers of their previous 12 in a row before to Saturday and Sunday). So the Tribe now stands six games below .500 at 25-31, and five games out of first in the craptastic Central division. Oh, and just one game ahead of the Tigers.

Recapping the month of May, the team put up some shockingly bad offensive numbers on their way to a 12-15 record. Their .218 batting average and .297 on-base percentage really say all you need to know. That average was the lowest for the franchise in one month since August of 1968! It was also the lowest in the majors since September of 2003 when the Mets hit .217. Not really the type of records I was hoping for, one year removed from the ALCS. Sheldon Ocker of the ABJ probably does a better job summing up my feelings than I can this morning.

The Indians begin a 4-game series in Texas tonight with Aaron Laffey on the mound. Oh, and the Rangers are the best hitting team in the AL so you know runs will be needed in this series... looks like another week of fun for Tribe fans everywhere! Ugh.

Even the Royals have fun playing the Tribe this year