No, thank you CC

Before I go into a recap of last night's game, I wanted to touch on something today that I didn't think I'd be talking about - CC Sabathia. In today's Plain Dealer, CC and his wife Amber took out a full page ad (costing $12,870) to take time to thank Cleveland for 10 great years. It's rare these days to see an athlete take the time to thank his community for their support and I think it shows what kind of guy CC is. I completely understand the business side of the Tribe trading him - we had to do it - but I will miss having a guy like him in our clubhouse. Someone that really seemed to like being here. Imagine that.

"Thank you for 10 great years... you've touched our lives with your kindness, love and generosity. We are forever grateful! It's been a privilege and an honor!" - CC and Amber Sabathia & family

Back to the business at hand... counting down the days until Browns football (only 38 days till the season kicks off!) by watching our beloved Tribe struggle through the season. Last night was another example of why we are still stuck in last place. The 8-5 loss at the hands of the Tigers puts the Tribe's division record at 15-27 (compared to 11-6 vs. the East, and 14-14 vs. the West). When you play that poorly in the division, you have no hope of making the postseason. That's seven more division losses than the Royals! So even with their -75 run differential we may be looking up Kansas City for a while (currently 1.5 games behind them). Ugh.

Ginter only lasted 4 innings on Tuesday night

Matt Ginter took the loss last night, going only 4 innings and 77 pitches, and showing why he probably doesn't really belong in a major league rotation. And Rafael Betancourt continued his tailspin in '08 giving up 2 more runs in his inning of work (including yet ANOTHER home run), after the Tribe had fought back a little to make the game interesting. By my own unofficial stats, Betancourt by far leads our struggling bullpen in 'demoralizing hits' this year. His ERA is now at 6.04, compared to 1.48 last year, and to me is as big a reason for the complete collapse this season as any other. Cliff Lee returns to the mound tonight with his outstanding 14-2 record to give us one reason to keep watching.

Other Tribe Notes: Victor Martinez may be back by the middle of August (only two weeks away, where did this summer go?). Terry Pluto shares his current thoughts on the Tribe. And Paul Hoynes talks about the closer role in the AL's worst bullpen. Finally, condolences to Travis Hafner who lost his father on Saturday after battling cancer.

Browns Update: Day 7 of training camp is in the books and Tony Grossi talks about three guys from UNLV hoping to shore up the defense. Also a video update from Tuesday:


Cavs Update: LeBron James has been chosen as the cover boy for the latest issue of Time magazine in their '100 Olympic Athetes to Watch' story. Pretty cool honor and well-deserved from this Cleveland homer's point-of-view.

King of Cleveland and now 'Redeem Team' leader