Wow, it's been too long

I've been too lazy to enter any good updates here in a while - I found Twitter and it's been my ultra-lazy way of jotting down thoughts this summer. But after yesterday's Tribe trade I had to come back and enter something more than just 140 characters of broken English...

So the Indians traded Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco to the Phillies for four minor leaguers yesterday, and to me it was the final signal that I really shouldn't care about MLB or its broken system anymore. It was the second consecutive season that our tight-pursed team was inclined to trade a defending Cy Young winner in July, hopelessly out of contention in a mediocre division. If that doesn't trouble fans everywhere that something is seriously wrong, then nothing ever will. The sport is broken and only another lockout can fix it.

In the meantime, we are forced to face the reality of our beloved Tribe already raising the white flag of surrender on the 2010 season. Who will be the ace of the staff next season? A broken down and rebuilt Jake Westbrook? A highly unreliable Fausto Carmona? One of these young kids that we have no idea whether we can count on? A veteran band-aid (probably the most likely choice being someone claimed off the injury scrap heap on a one-year deal). Thinking about it just depresses me. The Central division is so winnable and we are basically already giving up. I say this because we all know the reality of the situation - we are in yet another rebuild mode, payroll will be trimmed again, and attendance will be shockingly low.

It's been nice knowing you and you will be missed

For Victor Martinez's sake I hope he is traded. But my inner-Tribe fan wishes that it didn't have to be this way. Victor has been the face/heart/soul of this franchise in this latest "era"... and for as much frustration as this era has caused us, it also gave us the highly entertaining 2005 season, and the oh-so-close 2007 season where we were basically one win away from a championship. That was just 21 months ago. So how did we get here today? Because the sport is broken and we have an owner more worried about the bottom line than winning... any chance you can save us Dan Gilbert?

Speaking of Dan, this should help get us through things a little easier: the Cavs are only 89 days away from returning to the court. Hard to believe it, but it's true. Just hang in there Cleveland, there is light at the end of the dark tunnel of misery laid out by the Tribe and Browns. And yes, I'm very happy that Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon are on board. More on them later... for now I'm mourning the loss of our Tribe and the sport I once loved.

Finally a walk-off HR

It wasn't pretty on Tuesday night at the Prog, considering the Tribe gave up an 8-1 lead they held through four innings. But they did fight back in the 8th with a home run by Grady Sizemore to tie the score at 9-9 and push the game into extra innings. Then Victor Martinez finally gave the Indians the win with his first career walk-off home run (if you can believe that) and the Tribe's first walk-off home run of the season. The 12-9 win also dealt another huge blow to the Twins' playoff hopes, pushing them 2-1/2 games behind the White Sox. This was a game that lasted almost 4-1/2 hours and featured nearly 400 pitches and you know it kills the Twins to not win this one.

Martinez couldn't hide his excitement after his first career walk-off HR

I laughed when watching Victor slide into home after his trot around the bases (although it sure didn't look like Ron Gardenhire was laughing from the dugout steps). You can't blame him for being excited. It's been a long, difficult season for him personally and I don't think he could help himself. But I actually do feel bad for the Twins. I wanted to see them win the Central this year, given my extreme dislike for Ozzie Guillen, Jim Thome, and the rest of the White Sox. Don't get me wrong - I love beating whatever team we play, but if I had my choice I'd rather see the Twins win the division. I'm just hoping we can also play spoiler for the White Sox during the final series of the year on the 26th-28th.

The Indians will look to finish off the sweep tonight with Cliff Lee on the mound for the good guys. This will be Tribe fans' last chance to see Lee and his historic season at home so I'm hoping for a good crowd. He will be facing Scott Baker who is pitching on only three days rest. It, looks like the Twins might be a little desperate at this point, no?

Other Tribe Notes: The Tribe got some bullpen help from Taiwan yesterday, signing 21-year-old Cheng-Chang Lee to a contract. The ABJ also has some more info on the newest Indian. And Anthony Reyes has been shut down for the season. Probably a good move to avoid any long-term injuries. I'm hoping for good things out of Reyes in 2009.

Browns Update: The Browns offense believes it will be better on Sunday vs. the Ravens. I sure hope that's the case, because 16 points in two home games is pretty embarrassing, regardless of who we played. And if we can't beat a team led by this guy then we probably are as bad as our record says right now. The team did make a small roster move in the wake of Robaire Smith's season-ending injury. Too bad we'll still have the same linebackers and secondary in Week 3...

"They're darned good teams — the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys,'' quarterback Derek Anderson said. ''There's nothing wrong with us. Remember last year? I've got to throw the ball better, and they have to catch it and make plays.''

Cavs Update: Just a quick note today... god forbid we have to go a couple weeks without more speculation on LeBron's future. My favorite is the huge picture of a smiling LeBron next to Jay-Z, as if that's the only place in the world that would make LBJ happy. Now I remember why I stopped watching ESPN. In fact forget I even linked to that story. The whole thing is so dumb. *Sigh* Just go read this instead. It's good to have Windhorst back.

Another day, another win

The Tribe continued the recent hot streak last night at the Prog, winning their 12th in their last 15 games with a 9-3 victory over the Central-leading White Sox. Fausto Carmona almost gave the Indians a quality start, but ran into some trouble in the 6th inning with the Tribe up 4-0. He allowed three runs in the inning but the bullpen slammed the door shut after that. The best news of the night occurred in the 2nd inning when Victor Martinez went deep onto the home run porch for his first homer in almost a year. That was definitely a sight for sore eyes.

The HR drought finally ended for Victor on Tuesday night

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about [his drought]," Martinez said. "This game is all about having fun and the guys made some fun of me. It was a great feeling."

If the Indians are able to complete the sweep this afternoon (although I have my doubts considering it's a weekday getaway game with Jeremy Sowers starting) I may officially become a little excited about the prospects of a White Sox collapse. A win today would bring the Indians to 8.5 games back in the Central with 24 remaining. Obviously a very difficult mountain to climb, but still possible considering the Tribe ends the season with a three-game series in Chicago September 26-28. The fact that I'm even entertaining that thought right now is a credit to how the Indians have really turned their season around. A winning season is now firmly within their grasp and I will be bitterly disappointed if they don't at least achieve that.

Other Tribe Notes: Some roster updates for the Tribe now that September has arrived... And some historical context for Cliff Lee's great 2008 season... And finally, a rundown of all 20 of Cliff Lee's wins.

Browns Update: Tony Grossi has an early scouting report on the Cowboys. And the Browns have been watching "Hard Knocks" on HBO too. I've caught a couple episodes and I have to say, if I was a Cowboys player I probably would have punched Jerry Jones in his obviously surgically-stretched face by now. Why is he in every team meeting?

No, that's not a mask, but it still may frighten young children

Streaking to redemption

Well, the Tribe has found a way to come full circle. I never thought it would happen back on July 10th when they were hitting rock bottom in Detroit. But they have claimed redemption with a ten-game winning streak to erase the memories of that horrible losing streak, and fittingly, they did it in the same city for a little extra emphasis (isn't it always fun to beat Detroit?). Their 9-7 victory over the Tigers last night was the latest in a shocking turnaround that has them sitting just 2 games under .500 with 30 games left to play.

"You have to stay in the moment," said Wedge. "You don't want to get ahead of yourself and you definitely don't want to look back. You just keep trying to get better."

This streak has been immensely enjoyable for me mainly because of the way it seemed to come out of nowhere. But if you look deeper, the team has played great baseball since the trade deadline on July 31st. In that stretch of 25 games they have gone 19-6 (.760). In those 25 games the bats have come alive, with the team averaging 6.08 runs per game, while allowing 4.76 runs per game. And they've done it with the long ball as well - out-homering opponents 35-20 in that same stretch. The Indians are finally getting consistent hitting throughout their line-up and it is translating into wins. As I said yesterday, it is likely too little, too late for this season, but it should make things a lot better for Tribe fans heading into next season.

Last night the Tribe added two more home runs from hot-hitting Kelly Shoppach (6 HR's this month) in the 4th and then Shin-Soo Choo in the 7th. Fausto Carmona didn't have his best stuff again, but he was able to give the team 6 innings of work and the bullpen was able to hold it down (although there were some scary moments between Rafael Betancourt and Jensen Lewis). So now the Indians will enjoy a day off before starting a weekend series with the Mariners. Hopefully the off-day doesn't get anyone out of their rhthym. But the Mariners are 22-42 on the road - by far the worst in the AL. I'm just happy I care again about an Indians/Mariners series this year!

Choo went deep again last night and has showed some real promise over the last month

Other Tribe Notes: Looks like Victor could finally be back this weekend, with Hafner and Barfield soon to follow. And also some good news regarding Matt LaPorta in Akron.

Browns Update: The Browns will look to avoid any major injuries tonight in their preseason finale at Cleveland Browns Stadium against the Bears. Romeo thinks it's time to look 'decent,' and I can't say I disagree. And here's a Browns season preview along with 'expert' picks (those always make me laugh).

30/30 and a half-game behind

The Tribe just kept rolling along last night, collecting their eighth straight victory with a 4-3 win in 10 innings in Detroit. This makes it 14 wins in their last 17 games and they are creeping closer to 3rd place in the Central, now just a half-game behind the Tigers. Grady Sizemore became just the second Indian in team history to join the 30/30 club, adding two more HR's last night. He now has 31 homers and 34 steals, and actually a decent shot at the exclusive 40/40 club with 32 games still left to be played.

Welcome to the 30/30 club Grady - got enough left for 40/40?

"He's unbelievable," manager Eric Wedge said of the three-time All-Star. "You wouldn't know if it was his first or his 30th. In a low-scoring ballgame, he set the tone. That's what he does. He does it from a spot in the order that can give us a lot of energy."

Newcomer Zach Jackson gave the Tribe another good start, going 6-1/3 and allowing 3 runs. Then the bullpen (where have you been all year???) really came through with some solid work, aside from Masa Kobayashi's two hits allowed and no outs recorded. Rafael Perez and Brandon Donnelly kept the Tigers scoreless for 2-2/3 innings. And the suddenly hot-hitting Franklin Gutierrez gave the Indians the lead for good in the top of the 10th with a shot to left field. Jensen Lewis came on to close things out was able to register a 1-2-3 10th for his 7th save in 8 chances. It makes me wonder how good this team could have been with a semi-consistent bullpen all year...

The Indians will look for their ninth in a row tonight with ace Cliff Lee on the mound for the good guys. He will look to improve on his 18-2 record and his 2.43 ERA... although I'm not sure what else he can do at this point for an encore. He has simply been incredible all year. With a win the Tribe would also move ahead of the Tigers in the standings for the first time since June.

Other Tribe Notes: Victor Martinez may finally be ready to return before the rosters expand on Monday. But not so fast for Travis Hafner. And Matt LaPorta is back in town after his beaning in China. Let's hope he's able to finish out the season in Akron.

Browns Updates: Brady Quinn will likely get another start in the Browns' quest to avoid injury before the season opener (a.k.a. their final preseason game). This is good news for Brady, as I'm sure he can't be happy with his performance in the last game. Although I'm a little concerned that Derek Anderson's next snap he takes in a live game will be on September 7th against the Cowboys... BQ has also been putting in some extra time with Donte Stallworth... And don't expect to see much from the Browns again in the finale, as they will be without lots of players.

A little breathing room

The Tribe finished a nice weekend series win on Sunday, taking two of three from the Angels, the owner's of the best record in baseball. They really could have taken all three from L.A. (or Anaheim, whichever you prefer) if not for some very sloppy defense on Saturday. But as a hefty singer from the 70's once said, two out of three ain't bad, especially in a season like this one for the Tribe where most fans are just hoping to squeeze out any positive vibes.

My wife and I were at the Prog on Friday night to see Cliff Lee go the distance for win #17 in a 3-2 victory (even if it did cause us to miss this). Lee has found the winning formula for the Tribe this year - just keep the game out of the hands of the bullpen. He induced four double plays in that victory, and watching him pitch this year really is great if you followed his struggles last year. By my estimation (and barring any injuries) he should get about 7 more starts before the season is over, and if he pitches anywhere near the level he has so far, win #20 should be here around mid-September.

Sunday's 4-3 win featured a Houdini-like escape in the top of the 9th by Jensen Lewis to get Jeremy Sowers just his second win on the year. Grady Sizemore gave the Indians the lead for good in the 6th. And to illustrate how well the Angels have played this year, this was their first series loss to an AL opponent since May. That is pretty impressive. With the win the Tribe has now won 7 of their last 10 and they have opened up some breathing room in the fight to stay out of the basement in the Central. They currently stand a game and a half up on the Royals and only 3-1/2 behind the Tigers. They will enjoy a day off today to make room for the Browns on MNF :)

Jeremy Sowers finally notched win #2 on Sunday

Other Tribe Notes: The Indians will have some big names in the line-up on Tuesday night in AAA Buffalo. Martinez homered in Akron on Sunday. And Jensen Lewis wants to be the closer of the future. Personally I'll settle for dumping a boatload of money on K-Rod (and his 47 saves already) this winter.

Browns Update: The Browns finally get back on the field tonight for their second exhibition game, this one on Monday Night Football against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants. Today's PD jokes about a possible Super Bowl preview, but is it really that far-fetched? There are plenty of reasons to watch this one, even if we will possibly play this team twice more after tonight. Want another reason? It's the debut of the Browns in brown pants. I'll admit, I'm excited for a peek at the new look. And of course, don't forget Tony Grossi's noon chat today.

"I've seen a highlight reel of Braylon [Edwards] catching the ball and me running for touchdowns. We're not the team to look over anymore. Cleveland is in the house. Put us on prime time and let's see what we can do." - Josh Cribbs

Cavs Update: LeBron and Team USA destroyed Germany today, 106-57 to finish pool play in the Olympics. His stat line reads 18 points (7-of-10 from the field, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range), 3 rebounds, and 2 steals in just 18 minutes of action. If you missed the game, it can be seen in its entirety here (not that I would ever condone watching something like that in the office). Team USA will continue play on Wednesday in quarterfinal action against Australia.

"Going against Greece and going against Spain, it was really easy to get up for," James said. "And we could have easily came in and had one of those games where we make excuses, but we didn't take a step backwards today and that was good, it was really good."

And speaking of LeBron, we've finally found an article about him in a national publication that is worthy of reading. Stop the presses, there is sanity out there. While I don't agree with everything in there (particularly the Ferry bashing - and granted, this was written before we acquired Mo), it is the first national story I've seen that presents valid points as to why LBJ would want to stay here. Imagine that.

Streak ends at five

All good things must eventually come to an end. We knew the Tribe's winning streak couldn't last forever, and it ended at five as the Orioles took them down 6-1 last night at the Prog. The good news is that the Royals continued their losing ways and spared us from last place for another day. The bad news was that another ex-Indian came back to haunt us. This time it was Jeremy Guthrie, our one-time can't-miss prospect that never panned out for us. He went 7 solid innings against his former team last night to win his fourth straight game. I guess we can add Guthrie to the growing list of former Indians that couldn't figure things out here but have gone one to have solid seasons elsewhere (joining Ryan Ludwick, Russell Branyan, Brandon Phillips, Jody Gerut, etc., etc.). And yes those guys really have combined to hit 71 HR's this year...

"I just focused on what I had to do, blocked things out, and the guys got some big hits," said Guthrie, refusing to say he felt that he extracted any revenge on an Indians team that put him on waivers in January 2007.

Anthony Reyes had another decent start for the Indians, who may have just found something in that minor deal with the Cardinals. Reyes went 6 innings, giving up only two earned runs on 96 pitches. The bullpen did not fare so well (again). This time it was Brandon Donnelly's turn to help raise the ERA of the AL's worst bullpen. He entered in the top of the ninth and promptly gave up 5 hits and 4 earned runs in just two-thirds of an inning, turning a manageable 2-1 deficit into a 6-1 hole. The Tribe will look to make it 3 out of 4 from the Orioles tonight when newly-promoted Zach Jackson gets the start.

Reyes had a second straight solid start for the Tribe on Wednesday night

Other Tribe Notes: Victor Martinez and Josh Barfield are set to start rehab assignments soon. And apparently Masa Kobayashi is getting tired. I know the feeling - I'm tired of watching him get lit up on the mound. And Shin-Soo Choo just wants to watch Korea in the Olympics.

Cavs Update: Now onto the big news of the day yesterday. The more I think about it, I just love the trade for Mo Williams. I liked it when I heard about it yesterday, but I love it now. The fact that Ferry pulled this off without having to use our two biggest tradeable assets (Varejao and Szczerbiak) really shows how hard he must have had to work to get this done. Now we still have their expiring deals, along with Eric Snow's $7M, to package in another deal before the deadline in February. I still think that we will work to get another big man, especially given the loss of Joe Smith. It will really come down to how ready rookie J.J. Hickson is to step into the rotation. And it will be interesting to see where this trade leaves Delonte West in his contract negotiations...

Some trade reactions from around the web:

• Bill Livingston of the Plain Dealer
• Bud Shaw of the Plain Dealer
• Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon Journal (more on him in a moment)
• Cavs GM Danny Ferry
• John Hollinger of espn.com
• Marty Burns of SI.com
• Damon Jones (and yes, this finally puts my mohawk tribute site to rest)
• Mo Williams himself on WKNR yesterday evening
  

And my favorite piece from yesterday's trade comes from Henry Abbott's Truehoop blog, where he gives some background on Brian Windhorst breaking the news of the trade. It's good to have you back Windy :)

After 55 days in the hospital, dealing with all manner of health trouble that I'll let him tell you about if he's so inclined, today was the day that he got to go home for the first time.

Would you believe he actually dictated this story over the phone, from the car, on the way home from the hospital?

Most sportswriters never get to have a "Willis Reed" moment, but Brian has certainly had his.

Also, as expected this morning, Team USA exacted some revenge on Greece in game #3 of their Olympic run. The Americans won 92-63, with LeBron James chipping in 13 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocks.

Browns Update: Nothing big today, just some news of a rough practice yesterday. I can't wait till we can start hitting other teams, instead of each other. The real season is now only 24 days away if you can believe it...

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

Back in action

At last, the Tribe will be back on the field again tonight in Seattle. I'm very curious to see how they will perform in the second half of the season. If I'm Eric Wedge, the one goal I'm setting for this team is to get back to the .500 mark by the end of the season. With 68 games remaining, that means they would need to go 40-28 (a .588 clip) the rest of the way. Given the way they've performed so far this year, that may seem like a lofty expectation. But with less pressure, hopefully a more stable roster, and maybe, just maybe some guys returning off the DL (namely Victor Martinez and Fausto Carmona... I'm not really expecting anything from Hafner's bum shoulder this year), the team might start to look more like the AL Central champs of 2007.

But with the trade deadline approaching, there may still be some changes coming. As I noted yesterday afternoon, Asdrubal Cabrera was called back up from Buffalo and will join the team for tonight's game in Seattle. He was able to correct himself at the plate in AAA, hitting .326 (46-for-141). I still expect to see Casey Blake traded to a team in contention before the deadline so that could cause some re-shuffling in the infield. If Blake is indeed moved, then I would really look at DH'ing Jhonny Peralta, moving Cabrera to shortstop (his natural position), taking an extended look at Andy Marte at third, keeping Jamey Carroll at second (damn that Barfield injury and Phillips trade), and getting Garko back to regular time at first. This way you can look toward 2009 to really see what these guys can do.

And before next season, I'd be completely open to bringing Blake back on a smaller contract. He's a great clubhouse guy, a decent hitter, and a very versatile guy on defense. He'd be an ideal utility player for probably a couple more years. But we'll see how everything plays out over the next couple weeks. Terry Pluto also has a plan for the second half, with an eye towards the 2009 season.

Will Casey be dealt before the deadline?

Browns Update: Yesterday Phil Savage confirmed that Joe Jurevicius will likely start the season on the PUP list, meaning he will miss the first 6 weeks (five games) of the season. At this point I'm just hoping he is able to make it back to the field in what will likely be his final season in the NFL. Jurevicius was huge for the team last year, especially on third down, where he so often kept the chains moving with big catches. Get well soon JJ.

''We're obviously very concerned about Joe's situation,'' Savage said. ''It's been very frustrating for everybody. Every time he's taken a step forward it's been two steps back."

Cavs Update: Not really an update on the Cavaliers, but an interesting story about ousted PD Cavs beat writer Branson Wright. He was definitely not one of my favorite writers, and the biggest newspaper in the state owes it to the team and its fan base to get someone better in there. (Pssst... I will work for much less than you paid him. All I require is a cushy chair courtside at the Q and a laptop.)

The Cavs summer league team will also be in action again tonight at 8:00 in Las Vegas against the Wizards. You can catch the action on NBATV or for free here if you're bored on a Friday night. I promise I won't tell anyone...

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.

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.

Weekend Recap

After the big Game 6 win by the Cavaliers on Friday I was hoping for a nice weekend from the Tribe to get back over .500. Instead the offense continued to sputter and wasted two decent pitching performances by CC Sabathia and Aaron Laffey. I honestly don't feel like going into all the details right now. It seems to me it's just the same old problems. No patience at the plate, and guys continually being fooled by pitches. After some hope from Travis Hafner, he has disappeared again in the 6th spot in the order. Really, at this point everyone besides Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez looks lost in the batter's box. Victor did continue his hitting streak to 15 games today. And according to the PD tonight, some hitting help is on the way. Thankfully the boys have a day off tomorrow, before heading to New York. I have a feeling Derek Shelton will be busy tomorrow...

Now, on to the good news. As expected, the Boston Celtics did beat the Hawks in their unlikely Game 7 on Sunday. So now the Cavaliers have a chance to slay the overhyped beast of the East in Boston. Consider this payback for the 2007 ALCS. I'm going out on a limb and predicting our Cavaliers in 6. And I did correctly guess the Wizards series. Here's the schedule:

Game 1 - @ BOS, Tue. May 6, 8:00 pm, TNT
Game 2 - @ BOS, Thu. May 8, 7:00 pm, ESPN
Game 3 - BOS, Sat. May 10, 8:00 pm, ABC
Game 4 - BOS, Mon. May 12, 8:00 pm, TNT
*Game 5 - @ BOS, Wed. May 14, TNT
*Game 6 - BOS, Fri. May 16, ESPN
*Game 7 - @ BOS, Sun. May 18, TBD
(* if necessary)

LBJ is not impressed by the hype, and neither am I

Finally, a walk-off winner

Wow, last night's Tribe game was painful for 11 innings, but ultimately they got the job done. Paul Byrd pitched 7-2/3 strong scoreless innings and left with the Tribe up 1-0. Raffy Lefty (Perez) came in and got out of the 8th with the lead still intact. But Raffy Righty (Betancourt) gave up a leadoff single to Ichiro Suzuki and you could just see that he would somehow score to tie it in the ninth.

I won't go into all the details, but the Indians had many chances to win it in the 9th, 10th, and 11th. They were a staggeringly bad 2-for-10 with the bases loaded in the series. But FINALLY, Asdrubal Cabrera singled home Franklin Gutierrez with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the 11th for the walk-off win. The Tribe is now 7-3 in their last 10 and only 1.5 games out of first. Notable in this game is the shake-up in the batting order - Casey Blake moved up to the 2-hole, David Dellucci to #3, and Travis Hafner was dropped down to 6th. Hafner did respond with two doubles so hopefully he is finally finding his way out of this slump.

Now the dilemma tonight - we have tickets to see the Tribe vs. the Royals. But the Cavaliers face the Wizards in Game 6 at the same time. I guarantee if we end up going to the Tribe game that the Cavaliers will play well and close out the series. And if we don't go, there will surely be a Game 7 on Sunday. So do I opt to watch the game at the Batter's Eye bar in right field? It will kill me, but I may just have to take one for the fans of Cleveland. More later on this difficult decision.

Cabrera finally broke through in the 11th and was mobbed by his teammates

Monday Thoughts

Further thoughts after the Cavaliers won game 4 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in this series:

• End this thing on Wednesday night. No need to return to Washington for Game 6. No need to give them any hope. Just bury this team now.
• I'm still amazed at LeBron's maturity. He took a blatant shot to the head and shrugged it off when most guys would have snapped. He then scored 10 of the next 16 points in the second quarter to really take over the flow of the game. He also put up with some questionable foul calls, didn't panic when he picked up his fifth, and trusted his teammates down the stretch.
• Delonte West was obviously huge in Game 5. And Boobie Gibson hit two big threes. I'm a little concerned at the number of threes attempted (28), but I think they won't need to be as reliant on that shot at home. And I think it will be a rowdy crowd. I can't wait.
• What has happened to Anderson Varejao lately? He has been out of sorts for long stretches this year. It's to the point that I cringe any time he touches the ball on offense. And he just doesn't look as active on defense either. He needs to get back to his old self in a hurry.
• Is it wrong that I also cringe every time Devin Brown decides to drive into the lane? Or when he jacks up a three? Look, I love his work ethic and his hustle. He is a nice player. But I hate having to rely on anything offensively from him when LeBron is on the bench.
• Finally, one thing that concerns me about Game 5 - if/when the Cavaliers take control of that game and ice the series, I'm not sure what to expect from the Wizards. But I could definitely see one of their guys taking another free shot at LeBron. And I'm not the only one worried about this.
• Oh, and one last Game 5 update from our crazy friend Tom Knott from the Washington Times. Maybe he's not as crazy as I made him out to be, because even he knows it's over:

"The Cavaliers outworked the Wizards at the rim. The Cavaliers brushed off their 36-point whipping in Game 3 and dared the Wizards to be the aggressors.

And the Wizards blinked in front of the home crowd that, in all likelihood, will be waiting on next season after Game 5 on Wednesday night."

And my non-Cavalier thoughts from the weekend:

• I'm very encouraged by the Tribe taking two of three so far from the Yankees. And tonight's game is another big one with Aaron Laffey on the hill. I still believe if we can get out of April at .500 or better, this team is on its way to big things again this season.
• Saturday's walk-off winner was a thing of beauty for me, not just because it was against the Yankees (although that helps). I really liked it because the Tribe has lost a lot of tough ones like this so far this year. And it wasn't looking good when Dellucci dove for that ball and missed it, allowing three runs to score. But Kobayashi came in and did a very nice job, and the offense won it in the bottom of the 9th behind Victor (as usual). Very nice win.
• Yesterday's choice of Beau Bell by the Browns in the 4th round was music to my ears after reading this piece from Sunday's Plain Dealer on his admiration for Lawrence Taylor. Anyone who knows me will understand why I'm digging this guy already.
  

One bad and one good...

The bad: Well, Wednesday's Tribe game went pretty much as I expected. I have no statistical evidence to back up this claim, but just going on memory over the last couple years the Tribe has been horrendous in weekday "getaway" games. You know, the last game in a series when one team has to travel to the next city so the game is played during the day? I dread these games because I'm usually forced to listen on the radio and we usually look like dog shit.

The most worrisome thing from this game is how hard Byrd got knocked around again. That's two pretty bad outings in a row now. I guess one good thing to take from this one is that the offense did show some signs of life. And that was with no Victor in the lineup. So it's back home tomorrow night for the start of a three-game series against the A's (again). Also, Friday night will be the first game in our new season tickets in the mezzanine :)

The good: At least the Cavaliers knew that I was getting sick of the double-loss days when the Tribe loses too and decided to finally beat a team they are better than. Honestly, this year you really never know which lousy team they might lose to on a given night. And even though we did end up winning by 21, we were down by 14 at one point in the third quarter. The defense did buckle down in the second half and the offense looked much better. And LeBron was his usual outstanding self. Let's hope his back can hold up for another extended playoff run. I'm sure it didn't feel very good absorbing that flagrant foul from the one and only DeSagana Diop.

This one was important because we maintained our 2-game lead for the #4 spot with just four games left to play.

LBJ took the hard foul from Diop, and the Cavaliers preserved their 2-game lead for home court