Cleveland Indians Blogs

I wrote this a few months back so it's not actually my first column, but without further ado, here it is:

This is my first column of what I hope to be many for not only Cleveland sports fans, but sports fans in general, in hopes of entertaining all who stumble upon this. I hope that this column will provoke thoughts, spark memories, and make you laugh.

Continue reading "An ode to Cleveland Sports from a ..."

Cleveland Indians vs. New York Yankees

Monday June 1, 2009

Jeremy Sowers vs. Joba Chamberlain

Progressive Field

Cleveland, Ohio

The Indians look to go 6-2 on their 8 game home stand, and improve to 4-4 vs. the Yankees this year. We’ll see if Jeremy Sowers can bring some momentum into this start following his great performance in relief last Monday in the year to date’s most exciting game, for the Tribe at least.

Continue reading "If Bill Walton did baseball games, ..."

At the beginning of the season, a lot of people sounded off and criticized the Yankees about committing $400 million + C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira. All three may have had shaky Aprils, but May was a complete turnaround for them. Sabathia has been pitching real good his past couple of starts. He was pretty much lights out against the Indians the other day. Pitching into trouble, getting out of it, and getting the win. Teixeira has been torrid every since Alex Rodriguez was put back in the line up. He's been getting his pitches and been hitting them out of the park. Yesterday was no different in the Yankee's loss to the Indians. A.J. Burnett has been pitching well. This past week he got his first win since mid-April. All along, it wasn't that he was pitching poorly. It was just that the bullpen wasn't holding leads for him and he would end up with no-decisions. All is well in Yankeeland. We are a 1/2 game into first place.

Continue reading "Offseason expenditures paying off ..."

The Cardinals made two important moves on Friday. The first was to activate Ryan Ludwick from the disabled list. After suffering a strained hamstring in Pittsburgh a couple of weeks ago, he was ready to go after about six or seven days. Putting him on the DL was the only move that the Cards could make though, since they were already going with a short bench and they can't afford to not have Ludwick long term, as Pujols already doesn't have enough protection in the lineup.

Continue reading "Options for the Cards at third base ..."

Former Penn State and Cleveland Browns' fullback Tim Manoa played four seasons in the NFL, three with Cleveland and one with the Indianapolis Colts.  Tim was also a member of the 1986 National Champion Penn State Nittany Lions who knocked off the high-powered Miami Hurricanes led then by 1986 Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde, 14-10 in the Fiesta Bowl.  Tim rushed for 938 career yards on 236 carries with 6 touchdowns and caught 40 passes for 308 yards with 2 touchdowns in his NFL career.

Continue reading "My interview with former Penn State ..."

Tampa Bay Rays @ Cleveland Indians

May 26, 2009

Matt Garza vs. Carl Pavano

Progressive Field

Cleveland, Ohio

Its game two of the series, or better known as the night of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Indians are looking to build momentum after last night’s incredible comeback. I don’t remember ESPN covering even a Tribe playoff game in ‘07 as intently as they did last night’s game. Opposing hitters are only hitting .199 against Matt Garza, which leads the league, and he picked up a victory over the Tribe a little over a week ago. That being said, Carl Pavano has been the best Indians pitcher not named Cliff Lee. I like Cleveland to win their 15th straight at home vs. Tampa Bay 5-2. I also like the Cavs tonight in a tight one 97-94. We will definitely see what the guys not named Lebron are made of tonight.

Continue reading "Carl Pavano and the Indians win the ..."

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, I missed most of, well a big part of today's game due to Memorial Day activities.  By the time I got home, it was already 9-0 in the 4th, then 10-0 and I just checked the message boards real quick on TheClevelandFan.com, and we all pretty much wrote the Indians their eulogy.  The Indians got two runs in the bottom of the 4th to make it 10-2 after a 2-run home run by Ryan Garko.  At that time I thought to myself, great, he finally hits one when it doesn't matter for shit, big deal.  A couple more innings dragged on, and the game was turning into a documentary about Tampa Bay shortstop Reid Brignac's cousin (if you were watching on STO), apparently a softball player who was 25-0 with a 0.00 ERA.  I don't know if it was in high school or college and personally I don't care, but it seemed to be the focus of Matt Underwood, and quite frankly, I can't say that I blame him.  Time had to be killed and what better way to do so rather than talk about the garbage of a game being witnessed.

Continue reading "Walks, Garko, and the heart of the ..."

Cleveland Indians @ Cincinnati Reds Sunday May 24th, 2009 I wasn’t able to catch all of yesterday’s game, so I didn’t write about it, but I was able to catch a good deal of it h

Continue reading "Alex Gonzalez, Reds make the Memorial ..."

Sporting News Major League Baseballs 50 Best

I am going to list the Top 50 according to the Sporting News and their panel, and then list my top 50 using their top 50, and then finally amending the Top 50 by inserting players that I think should be on it, and taking out the ones who I feel shouldn’t be.

Continue reading "The Sporting News Major League Baseball's ..."

Indians @ Reds Recap Friday May 22, 2009

It looks like Grady read my preview earlier today as he hit a blast to right field in his first at-bat tonight. It’s hard to not type lead off the game. It’s like those first couple documents or checks you have to date on January 1st every new year. Here are some things that caught my “I” today:

Continue reading "Arroyo sharp, Tribe bats dull. Cincinnati ..."

Cleveland Indians @ Cincinnati Reds, Friday May 22, 2009

Reyes (1-1, 6.88) vs. Arroyo (5-3, 6.56)

Interleague play is back. I personally don’t have a problem with it. It’s lost it’s luster for sure, but I don’t mind the change of pace for a handful of series during the year. At the same time if they got rid of it tomorrow, it wouldn’t bother me either. One thing that I’ll never feel different about is that I don’t see the Reds as a rival to the Indians. I would prefer to play the Pirates every year if we must do this interleague thing. This year the Indians do play Pittsburgh, but it’s been the Reds who are the annual National League opponent. Plus, it gives Cleveland fans at least one opportunity to say one of our teams beat a Pittsburgh team. I wish that I could say I was being sarcastic.

Continue reading "Cleveland Indians at Cincinnati Reds ..."

Indians at Royals, May 21, 2009

Carl Pavano vs. Zack Greinke

First off I want to say that in my preview I stated the Indians needed to win today to salvage the season. What I meant was they needed to win today in order to salvage any remaining hope for this season. The Tribe cannot afford to lose anymore series to divisional foes at this point in the season. Game three from the show me state. I’m looking for Carl Pavano to show me something today.

Continue reading "Pavano, Inidans Crown Greinke and the Royals"

I have to make this quick, I had trouble logging in to get to the area where I can post a new entry.  Carl Pavano is quickly becoming my favorite Indian, and they need this series to have any hop

Continue reading "Quick prediction, Indians vs. Royals ..."

Indians @ Royals, Wednesday May 20, 2009

Tonight I’m going to try to write as the game is being played, or at least during breaks, we’ll see. For starters, I just want to say in a non-Indians related rant, it pisses me off that Sean Elliott said on The Herd with Colin Cowherd today that he thinks the Magic have a better roster than the Cavs, yes I’m biased but c’mon! Seriously? I guess when you are Sean Elliott you have to say things like that for people to remember who you are. I tried to find if Sean Elliott was doing any NBA analysis for anyone, but came up empty.

Continue reading "The Indians Win and the Cavs lose? ..."

Cleveland Indians (14-26) @ Kansas City Royals (21-18)

Fausto Carmona (2-4, 5.70) vs. Gil Meche (2-4, 4.60)

Can it get much worse for the Indians after last night? I think I should just copy and paste that question to use for the rest of the season. The season may already be lost, but a loss tonight will definitely cement that. This is a crucial game for the Indians tonight, win and stay on life support, lose and it’s sleeping with the fishes and or Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates of the world.

Continue reading "Foutain seats for $7 still available ..."

Royals 6, Indians 5.

Where do I begin? Can we say epic meltdown? Or is it not so epic when it has happened time and time again this season? Well I was wrong on some of my predictions, but possibly only one. The Indians did score some runs for Cliff Lee and they did score all of them while he was in the game. What I wasn’t wrong about, but looked like I was going to be for oh, say 8 1/3 innings was that the Royals were going to win. I’m thinking I might have been right in predicting Cliff Lee melting down too. Even though we didn’t witness it, my gut tells me while Jensen Lewis is laughing on the inside, Cliff Lee is losing it at the exact same time.

Continue reading "Jensen Lewis is laughing on the inside."

Cleveland Indians (14-25) @ Kansas City Royals (20-18) - May 19, 2009

Cliff Lee (2-5, 3.00 ERA) vs. Brian Bannister (3-1, 1.80)

Pre-game overview and prediction:

With the way the Indians have been going and based off of their first visit to Kauffman Stadium, one would think they probably lose this game. With the run support or lack thereof that Cliff Lee has been getting, one would think they probably lose this game. That being said, I too think they lose this game. The oppositions good pitchers usually out-duel the Indians good pitchers, even though this isn’t an ace vs. ace match-up, you can argue Bannister’s numbers rival one.

Continue reading "Indians looking to not get flushed ..."

I have one Question for Jhonny Peralta of the Cleveland Indians.. Why do you bother bringing a bat with you when you walk to the plate? you never swing man.. i've seen you strike out LOOKING with base

Continue reading "QUESTION FOR JHONNY PERALTA?????"

Tim Wakefield – I owe you an apology.  I was very concerned when I heard you were returning to the Red Sox rotation.  You are the nicest guy in baseball, no doubts there.  But I doubted you during the off season.  Boy do you know how to prove others wrong.

Continue reading "It's hot...and so are the Sox!"

Someone at MLB must have read my blog post from 5/9/08 and decided that All-Star voting needed to start even earlier this season just to see my reaction.  Keep in mind that the 2009 season began later than the 2008 season.

Continue reading "All-Star balloting reminds me of the Iowa Caucus"

Since I'm unbelievably clever, that title not only refers to me defending his decision to bench the stars in the possibly-record-tying game last night, but it also points to his mantra as coach; defending.

Continue reading "Defending Mike Brown"

It’s Day Two of The Sports Don’s 2009 Baseball Preview, and I present perhaps the toughest division in baseball to predict. The American League Central could finish in any order, and I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised. And yes, that includes the upstart Kansas City Royals winning the division for the first time since 1985 when George Brett was 32, and the Royals defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

Continue reading "The Sports Don's 2009 AL Central Preview"

Well, get ready for another season of Detroit Tigers baseball. We have been spoiled the last couple of years. The team actually has expectations and unfortunately so do the fans. Can Mo Town survive another sports team to fail miserably like the hapless Lions? Are we just a hockey town? I don't have the answer to that, but I do get excited for Tiger baseball. As a proclaimed member of the Red Sox Nation, I still love the Tigers. I watch most games and even try to get to the ballpark. I lived in misery because all my neighbors are "Tigers for Life". So my sports life is much better when the Tigers are winning.

Continue reading "Detriot Tigers look to impress in 2009"

A year after they get good players the Houston Astros are looking to dump salary what a joke. They are the worst organizations in baseball. The mets should get Carlos Lee to play left f

Continue reading "Mlb HotStove Report"

Ty Law doesn't scare me.

The 5-time former Pro Bowl corner is 34 years old and hasn't played a game since the end of the 2007 season with Kansas City. That season Law came away with two interceptions, 13 passes defensed, and declining play. If he was still good, K.C. would had kept him over Patrick Surtain.

Continue reading "Hours Before Kickoff: Week 11"

The Royals according to the Kansas City Star,  are actively attempting to trade Mark Teahen to the Cleveland Indians for Franklin Gutierrez, Ben Francisco or minor-leaguer Trevor Crowe.  Great!  So essentially the Royals will get Ben Francisco for Carlos Beltran.  The Royals traded Beltran in 2004 for three studs, Mark Teahen, John Buck, and Mike Wood.  With Wood no longer in the Royals, Buck proving he is not a major league catcher, and Teahen potentially heading to Cleveland, the Royals and their fans got stuck with nothing for one of the best center fielders in baseball.  If you recall, the KC was in negotation talks with other teams, including the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees for the Beltran sweepstakes.  The talks with the Red Sox were for acquiring Kevin Youkilis (then a third baseman) and catcher Kelly Shoppach.  The Yankees countered with Robinson Cano and Dioner Navarro.  Instead of cornerstone players like Youkilis and Cano, the Royals get Franklin Gutierrez.  Gutierrez hit .248 last year, an actual downgrade from Teahen (.255).  Mark Teahen hit .285 in 2007 and .290 in 2006.  Yes Dayton Moore, lets trade Teahen at his lowest trade value.  If Mark Teahen has a bad first half in 2009 then trade him at the deadline.  I think we atleast owe that to him, after all we did trade Carlos Beltran for the guy.  Then we can put all our eggs in the Trevor Crow basket.

Continue reading "What Could Have Been Royals"

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the "Inbound Link Contest".  We have a winner!  A big congratulations go out to Marija.  Thank you for all your hard work on this.  While we had a lot of people participate, Marija was able to win with only 4 links!  So it wouldn't have taken a lot to win this contest!  We'll be having another contest soon so stay tuned.

Continue reading "Inbound link contest winner announced!"

That is what I am trying to get through my mind this Wednesday morning, out of all the pitchers to sign, why Paul Byrd? He is 7-10 with a 4.23 ERA but the excuses I am hearing is that he has been dominant since the all-star break.  That does not bode well enough with this Red Sox fan.

Continue reading "Why oh Why Byrd?"

I had been to the Pro Football Hall of Fame before, but I had to go back for Andre Tippett's Induction. It was the first time I ever experienced an induction and despite my bad seat, I was just glad to be there. There's no greater accomplishment for a pro player than to be enshrined with other legends and achieve immortality in the history of the sport.

Continue reading "A Hall of a Trip to Cleveland"

    The Mets limped home from a disappointing 1-5 road trip with a slew of injuries.  Marlon Anderson and John Maine were put on the DL over the weekend and Billy Wagner joined them today with a strained left forearm.  Ramon Castro is still shaken up from the bizzare home plate collision on Saturday, and is listed as day-to-day with a sore ankle.  Rather than make any external moves, the Mets have turned to their farm system for help.  Although for the time being Jerry Manuel says he will use a bullpen by committee in the ninth inning, Eddie Kunz, the heir apparent to Billy Wagner, is on the major league squad and may get some looks in the closer role over the next two weeks while Wagner is out.  Daniel Murphy, who was a third baseman in the minors but requested some work at second base and the outfield--a smart move, considering David Wright isn't going anywhere anytime soon--is getting the start in left field tonight agains the Padres.  The Mets really love the way he hits, so he could be a fixture at the major league level for the remainder of the season and perhaps into the future.  And rumor has it that the Mets are considering calling up Jon Niese to make a few starts in Maine's stead.

Continue reading "Mets Look to Bounce Back at Home"

    Sure enough, just after I wrote about how I’d like to see Jerry Manuel try to stretch Aaron Heilman for some more two-inning relief appearances, Heilman blew a tie game in his second inning of work on Friday night.  After getting through the seventh inning cleanly, Heilman loaded the bases in the eighth and gave up a game-winning grand slam to pinch hitter Mark Loretta.  To add insult to injury (literally, considering the ailing arms of John Maine and Billy Wagner), Heilman was tagged with the loss again on Saturday in another collapse of sorts from the Mets’ bullpen.  This one was a group effort though, with Scott Schoenweis and Billy Wagner contributing to the blown 4-1 lead.  After yet another solid, but insufficiently long, outing from Johan Santana, Schoenweis allowed a solo home run to Kaz Matsui, who has killed the Mets, hitting .438 against his former team over the last three years.  Wagner then gave up a bizzare two-run single to Geoff Blum with the bases loaded in the ninth to blow the save, as both runners crashed into one another and Ramon Castro all at once at the plate.  Then, in the tenth, Heilman put the first two runners on base before handing the ball over to Pedro Feliciano.  Feliciano actually did not pitch poorly, striking out the first batter he faced and then allowing the game-ending sacrifice fly on a weakly hit liner by Darin Erstad.  Fernando Tatis made an excellent catch on Erstad’s sinking flare, but was unable to throw Lance Berkman out at the plate.

Continue reading "Shaky Pen Gets Mets Swept By 'Stros"

It's hard to imagine how Sunday could've gone better than it did for the Twins.

With a win over the Indians, 6-2, and a White Sox loss, the Twins are in first place for the first time in what seems like forever.

Continue reading "Twins in first place after beating Indians"

    The trade deadline is approaching and the Mets still have some needs to fill.  It's still unknown whether Ryan Church will be able to come back and play everyday, so a corner outfielder is certainly a priority.  On Monday Jerry Manuel named Fernando Tatis the everyday left fielder, but his red-hot month may not, and probably will not, last.  Even if Tatis remains decent as a starter, the uncertainty surrounding Church's health calls for a stronger bench.  Endy Chavez is an excellent defensive replacement outfielder, but when he plays everyday he eventually gets exposed offensively, so he is really more suited to a role as a fourth outfielder.  Casey Blake would have been a good fit because he can play both corner outfield positions as well as first base, but he has already been traded to the Dodgers.

Continue reading "Trade Market: Will The Mets Be Involved?"

I’ve suffered through the indignation if watching Andruw Jones strike out more times than the “Star Wars kid” ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU) at Pure nightclub ( www.purethenightclub.com), and I resigned myself to the idea that he would rather pile ribs on home plate than swing a bat over it. I am completely comfortable with this idea. He’s earned every piece of hate that has rained upon his head. Then what does he do? He smokes a single to actually drive in a run! Miracles can happen! So of course, due to having the “attention span of a boiled potato”, myself as well as thousands of drunkards at Doyer Stadium told ourselves, “This is when he’ll break out of his zero for infinity slump”. Never mind that he looked just as terrible swinging at that slider as he has swinging at every other pitch this year (i.e. belly swings first and then the bat), and if that pitch was anywhere but accidentally right down the middle, his whiff would be at epic proportions to the likes of Casey ( http://ops.tamu.edu/x075bb/poems/casey.html). We had hopes. Andruw was up in the 9th inning. The Doyers down by one. Time for the slump to end. Here’s the pitch…High drive, deep to right field…Wait, I was watching Kirk Gibson’s homerun again. Of course Andruw struck out with a chance to do some damage, and of course the Doyers lost with a chance to tie Arizona for first place in what is the saddest race since Steven Hawking challenged Christopher Reeve to a 3 yard dash.

Continue reading "IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY 07.29.08: ..."

The Twins have had some disastrous series this season, and none was worse than the one in Yankee Stadium a few days after the all-star break. Fans might be forgiven for thinking the Twins were playing themselves out of contention.

Continue reading "Twins gather momentum before key ..."

    Neither the good nor the bad version of Oliver Perez showed up on Thursday at Shea--the spectacular version came to play against the Phillies.  Perez struck out 12 batters over 7.2 innings, including six whiffs of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, as he out-dueled Jamie Moyer, who pitched a gem of his own.  Carlos Delgado came through with the big hit, a two-run double off the previously unhittable J.C. Romero, in the eighth, and Billy Wagner nailed down the win in the ninth with his 26th save.  Fittingly, Jimmy Rollins, who did not start because he arrived an hour late to the ballpark, made the final out of the game.  After Tuesday night's ninth inning meltdown, the bullpen tossed 4.1 scoreless innings, including back-to-back saves by Wagner, and the Mets took two of three from Philadelphia, despite losing the first game of the series.  New York is now 9-4 against the Phillies this season.

Continue reading "Mets Continue to Roll Behind Delgado, ..."

This week on Comcast SportsNet Northwest they've been showing Game 6 of the 1990 Western Conference finals in the NBA. Being an Oregonian and Blazer fan it brings back vivid memories. I was nearing the end of my first term away from home at Southern Oregon State College (as it was known then) in Ashland, and a large group of friends were all Blazer fans. We got together to see them on TV every game it seemed.

Continue reading "Back in 1990 with the Portland Trail Blazers"

To try and motivate our bloggers to get inbound links we're going to have a contest to see which blogger can get the most inbound links to their blog. The contest begins now and ends July 31st, 2008. To be entered in to the contest all you have to do is go out and get as many websites to link to your blog as you can and at the end of the month send us an email listing all those links. All links must be active from August 1st through August 7th when we'll be judging the entries - a winner will be announced on August 7th. All entry emails must be received by Midnight on July 31st, 2008. You can email them to sportsfan@nbabasketballonline.com

Continue reading "Inbound link contest - Win $100!"

Still playing ketchup here, trying to make up for a four-day absence from the blog, so I want to start with the big trade of last week, the CC Sabathia swap. The usefulness of this deal to the Brewers is a little dubious, as CC is likely to be a half-season rental, but let’s break it down:

Continue reading "NL Central Trade Analysis, Part One"

As promised, Ill continue to trapeze my way through all 15 American League clubs, stopping and giving credit where credit is due to the biggest blood-suckers in the game-- the All-Underachievers.

Continue reading "All-Underachieving Squad (cont.)"

The Dodgers chock full off their season of mediocrity (wait, you mean the season is still going on?) passed on CC Sabathia. According to multiple sources (including Ken Rosenthal http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8328148/Notebook:-Will-Dodgers-ever-make-a-move??CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=3498) the ace pitcher could have been had for middling prospects that were not contributing at the major league level. Granted this is all here-say, but it is a rumor for a reason, and the big problem here was not Ned Colletti (for once). It seems as if frank McCourt vetoed the trade for strictly financial reasons as the Dodger payroll would have increased by $7-9 million this year with the addition of Sabathia, Jamey Carroll and Casey Blake had the trade gone through. I don’t even know where to start with this. This is the same moron who tosses $19 million to Andruw Jones, $16 million to Jason Schmitt, $9.5 million to Nomar Garciaparra and he is terrified of a trade that would increase payroll by $9 million? Granted he would have tried to sign CC to an extension and what not (and that would be about $25 million/year), but this is for the best pitcher in the game, not to mention a platoon player (who can play short) and a 3rd basemen. Everything the Dodgers wanted all in a package, and he vetoes it. It’s go to mean something when other teams won’t take on any of your high paid players because all of your high paid players are broken down and useless. So instead of moving towards a winning franchise, McCourt seems to love to meddle in mediocrity because we are dumb enough to keep going to games and to watch a bunch of turds in Dodger Blue “play baseball”. The best part of this trade was that we would keep ALL The high end prospects and could unload all the crappy players (Schmitt, Lowe, Nomar, Andruw, Kent) after next season and it would all be good. We are not a small market team, but apparently that is how the owner sees it. He is ready to try and turn Dodger stadium into a revenue service year round with his renovations and he is willing to increase prices to watch crap on the field but unwilling to make any moves of consequence to make the team actually look professional.

Continue reading "IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY 07.10.08: Dodgers Fail"

"It's not a game, it's an arms race" - Kanye West and Fallout Boy belt this hook over and over again on a recent hit with that same title. In that context, Kanye and the Fallout Boy guys are referring to the battle of musical artists not only surviving in a competitive worldwide market, but one with hindrances around every music sharing online ripping program. While that's an issue for another day and another blogsite, it's relevance is crucial when talking about the current state of Major League baseball and the National Basketball Association.

Continue reading "From the NBA to MLB, the Arms Race Has Begun"

The C.C. Sabathia deal is dead. The proposed deal that would have seen the Dodgers send Matt Kemp, James Loney, Andy LaRoche, Andre Ethier, Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kershw, Vladamir Guerrero, the letter “L”’ from the Hollywood sign (the one on the left, not the one on the right), Kobe Bryant, and DJ Mbenga to the Indians for C.C. and Casey Blake is no more. The Brewers, in a possible drunken haze traded four minor leaguers (including the perpetually well traveled “player to be named later”) in what appears to be a great move for the Brew Crew. They have no interest in keeping C.C. outside of this year if it is going to cost them a lot (and it likely will) so they will be able to pick up a couple of draft picks from the next team that signs him, and get to use the skills of a man in a contract year who is trying to make a good impression on any team that’s courting him. Smart move by the Brewers that is pretty much win, win. The Indians got a good package, but one has to wonder what they could have fleeced from the Dodgers if their deal went through. My exaggeration from the top is probably not too far off.

Continue reading "IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY 07.07.08: ..."

C.C Sabathia is officially the newest member of the Brew Crew! The Milwaukee Brewers have decided to put there foot down and compete immediately. With the addition of Sabathia the Brewers now have a formidable rotation led buy the lethal one-two punch of Sheets/Sabathia. But, just like a beautiful SL 500 from Hertz- don't get too attached...it's just a rental.

Continue reading "Rent-A-Club is Here!"

Since the calendar has turned to July, the MLB Trade deadline is quickly approaching. What teams will be buyers? What teams will be sellers? What big stars are on the block? Who will stay? Who will go?  Those burning questions are running through minds of fans of all teams, including our beloved Chicago Cubs.

Continue reading "Cubs Crave Sabathia"

                Although baseball has a long and cherished history, the thrill of going to a baseball game is the chance of seeing something unique and unexpected.  Last night the sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium saw the Dodgers win despite recording no hits, and broadcaster Vin Scully claims that in his fifty-plus years calling baseball games he’s never seen such an occurrence (though with the way his memory is aging these days, he might’ve years and years ago). However, seeing such unusual history only takes on meaning when contrasted with the everyday normality that is the slog of a six-month baseball season. The extraordinary only becomes noticed when compared to the ordinary.

Continue reading "Dodgers Wallop Three Singles Off ..."

A bullpen is all about trust, both for the team and for the fans.  A manager needs to be able to trust a reliever to put the game away, and the fan needs to trust that the reliever won’t cause more headaches with a late-inning meltdown.  An Indians fan spending the ninth inning with Joe Borowski is going skydiving without knowing whether you grabbed a parachute or a parakeet until it’s too late; a Yankees fan spending the ninth inning with Mariano Rivera is awaiting the everyday beauty of watching a simple yet majestic sunset.

Continue reading "Fantastic Four Help Dodgers Avert Cleveland Sweep"

The Dodgers’ nine-game road trip was coming to an end, and the imminent sweep of the Cincinnati Reds would help ease the anguish of five straight defeats in the middle of the trip. The offense was putting up runs early and often, and for the third day in a row the starting pitcher had allowed just one run. It seemed the Dodgers were ready to put the 4-5 road trip behind them, and return to Chavez Ravine for the comforts of home and visits by the Indians, White Sox and Angels. The Dodgers had checked out of Cincinnati, and were ready to go home.

Continue reading "Dodgers Survive Seventh-Inning Stench, ..."

The Twins must wish the Nationals were in the AL Central so they could play them more often. The Twins win Wednesday night, 11-2, with good games from starter Kevin Slowey, center fielder Carlos Gomez, and the MM boys, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.

Continue reading "Twins swat Nats again"

It was 3:15 a.m. here on the East Coast, 12:15 a.m. in sunny California, when New York Mets manager Willie Randolph learned he was out of a job.

Mets general manager Omar Minaya apparently didn't make a cross-country flight for nothing, but he did let Randolph travel 3,000 miles from home before finally deciding to end the months of speculation about Randolph's job status -- after a win, no less, over the L.A. Angels.

Continue reading "Who would want Mets job after this?"

On this day off for the Dodgers (and let’s face it, this team deserves a day off after playing such inspired baseball for the last two weeks), let’s reminisce about the past few series, and see if we can fix things.

Continue reading "IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY 06.16.08 ..."

OK, that title was irresistible, but in fact I'm going to say that Chien-Ming Wang's foot injury should force the Yanks hand in a trade, especially when combined with other injuries this season. Funny how little things can combine to lead to something even larger, accumulating momentum gradually until it becomes irresistible, as it has with the murmurs about a trade for C.C. Sabathia, which is really more the point of this blog.

Continue reading "Off On the Wang Foot"

It's hard to be optimistic about this year's Twins. Last week, after beating the Yankees on ESPN, they were three games over .500 and within striking distance of the White Sox. Now the team's three games under .500 and are about to be passed by Cleveland.

Continue reading "Twins sinking fast"

Though they don't seem as devastating as the Soriano/Pujols loss I wrote about yesterday, two key players have gone down on two other teams today. Cleveland put Victor Martinez on the DL, while Seattle placed its once-reliable closer JJ Putz back on the DL, both with elbow injuries. And unlike Soriano's freak fracture, there were hints at undiagnosed problems with both Martinez and Putz.

Continue reading "Two Big Injuries, Day Two"

The Twins beat a banged-up Indians team Wednesday, hitting starter Paul Byrd hard in an 8-5 victory.

Nick Blackburn had a strong outing, but once again the Twins bullpen showed cracks in the armor. Boof Bonser and Dennys Reyes nearly gave away the game, but Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan preserved the lead and the win.

Continue reading "Losing streak finally over"

A week ago the Twins were nipping at Chicago's heels.

Now they're only a game up on the Indians, who appear headed upward as the Twins descend. C.C. Sabathia, who's pitched reasonably well but gotten little support, shut out Minnesota 1-0 on Tuesday. Scott Baker pitched a terrific game but wasn't quite as good as Sabathia.

Continue reading "Time to trade?"

Bartolo Colon used to be one of the game’s most dominant starting pitchers with the Los Angeles Angels and also signed one of the most lucrative deals but due to injuries, fatigue and just plain bad luck, all that was lost.

Continue reading "The Case for Colon"

The first of only 3 remaining weekday games at Fenway this afternoon, Dice-K goes for AL leading 8th win as he inches closer to snatching the ERA AL leader spot from the Indian's lefty Cliff Lee.  The Sox are looking for their 7th consecutive victory and a series sweep before heading out to the doldrums of10 PM EST starts-- otherwise known as a road trip to the AL West.

Continue reading "Dice-K Preview!"

So watching NESN’s SportsDesk this evening, I heard the breakdown of Bartolo Colon’s impressive outing tonight at Pawtucket. Throwing a one-hitter in a 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Bisons, it looks as if Colon may be up on the Red Sox’s starting rotation as early as Monday against the Brewers. Tossing 64 pitches (45 for strikes), the former American League Cy Young award winner went six innings, with the only blemish being the Bison’s Mike Aubrey poking a single to right field in the fourth inning.

Continue reading "Colon to start soon?"

Major League, one of the funniest baseball movies around, told the tale of the woeful Cleveland franchise, so mired in mediocrity that their owner sought to cash in on them finishing in the cellar. It seemed like a good bet. The hapless Cleveland franchise hadn't tasted the postseason since 1954, and hadn't won a world title since 1948, one of the longest pennantless streaks in baseball. But ever since that 1989 movie--wherein, of course, the built-to-fail Indians defied their owner's devious plans--their consistent failure hasn't been a good bet. 

Continue reading "Those Amazing Indians"