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.