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.

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.