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In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the month “April, 2012”

16 Apr 2012

Tribe sweeps behind hot bats, cool arms

Is there some way we can get Major League baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to let the Cleveland Indians play Kansas City every day?

The Tribe rolled through the Royals in three games at Kauffman Stadium, scoring 32 runs in the process. The Indians have now won three-of-four to move within 1.5 games of the allegedly unbeatable Detroit Tigers.

“It was great for us confidence-wise,” designated hitter Travis Hafner said of the sweep. “We feel like we have a good offense, with a bunch of guys capable of hitting 15 to 20 homers. We feel like we can keep it going from here.”

After scoring eight runs in the series opener on Friday night, the Tribe added 11 runs on Saturday and 13 more on Sunday, the first time in the team’s 111-year history that it has scored eight or more runs in the first three road games of a season, according to ESPN.

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15 Apr 2012

The Browns & draft day deals

We are now less than two weeks until the start of the NFL Draft and the rumors, speculation and misdirection are flying hot and heavy.

The thought of making a trade on draft day to pick up extra picks certainly has to be attractive to general manager Tom Heckert as the Browns, coming off a 4-12 season that was preceded by consecutive 5-11 seasons, have more than their share of holes to fill on the roster.

Having said that, we can’t help but shake the feeling that this year’s draft is the time to get a potentially elite player to help the Browns get this mess turned around a little bit quicker rather than worrying about stockpiling picks to draft a bunch or really good players.

For the rest of the story, head over to The Cleveland Fan.

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14 Apr 2012

Liverpool hoping its FA Cup runneth over

Liverpool’s Andy Carroll is never going to be worth the £35 million the team paid for him, but for one day at least it sure felt like it.

Carroll’s header at the 87 minute mark helped put Liverpool into its first FA Cup final since 2006 as the Reds beat Everton at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.

“I’ve had some criticism but I kept on going and to get the winner here is a great feeling,” Carroll said in published reports. “I had a few chances and I probably should have scored earlier but I had to wait until the end. It’s the best feeling ever. We worked hard and getting a goal at the end there was great.

“I believed in myself every day and I got my chance here. I’ve started two games and scored two goals, so it’s great.”

Liverpool will face the winner of Sunday’s match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in next month’s final.

(Photo by Reuters)

Posted in FA Cup, Liverpool | Leave a comment

12 Apr 2012

1 Comment

A Case for Morris Claiborne

Forget Trent Richardson, Justin Blackmon, Ryan Tannehill or Brandon Weeden.

If the Cleveland Browns want to win, they need to draft LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne.

How do we know this? Because while big-time offenses may sell tickets, they don’t win championships.

Cold Hard Football Facts found that 53 teams in pro football history scored more than 30 points a game in a single season (46 from the NFL, three from the AAFC and four from the AFL). Of those 53 teams, 39 did not win a championship.

Of those 53 teams, 31 of them have played in the past 50 years and only five won championships – the 1991 Redskins; 1994 49ers; 1998 Broncos; 1999 Rams and 2009 Saints.

So while the Browns definitely need to do something to help the offense, they don’t need to do it with the fourth pick in the draft – the offense can wait its turn.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Morris Claiborne, NFL draft, Ryan Tannehill

10 Apr 2012

1 Comment

Tribe Contracts & Knowing Your Audience

The Cleveland Indians bought an extra year with Carlos Santana on Tuesday, reaching a deal with the catcher on a five-year contract worth $21 million.

The deal avoids any salary arbitration issues in the coming years and guarantees the Tribe will have at least one extra year of Santana’s services, if they choose, as the contract includes a club option for 2017, which would have been the first year that Santana would have been eligible for free agency.

If he plays all the way through the deal, Santana will be approaching 32 years of age when he hits free agency and the Indians will have a better understanding of his value and maybe they will have the money to resign him if they so choose (hey, stranger things have happened).

Posted in Carlos Santana, Cleveland Indians

09 Apr 2012

It’s your turn now, Josh

Josh Tomlin takes the mound for the Indians tonight against Chicago looking to follow the lead of his fellow starting pitchers.

Despite losing two-of-three to Toronto over the weekend, Tribe starters Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez and Derek Lowe combined to give up just three earned runs in 22 innings of work (a tidy 1.23 ERA).

All three starters have gone at least seven innings, with Lowe hitting that mark Sunday on the way to giving up five hits and zero earned runs.

“When Lowe is on, it’s pretty hard for guys to lift the ball,” manager Manny Acta said in published reports. “And he did a fantastic job of getting ahead of hitters.”

Now it’s Tomlin’s turn to play “anything you can do I can do better.” The pitchers’ performance during the opening weekend is reminiscent of last year as the Indians rode solid starting pitching in building an early division lead.

After a rough opener last season, the Indians went 12-2 including an 11-game stretch where the starters threw 74 innings and gave up just 15 earned runs – a 1.82 ERA. They’ve also went an average of 6.2 innings in their starts.

If they can repeat that over the next couple of weeks it will help the team buy time until the offense (hopefully) decides to join the rest of the team in the regular season.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Fulham | Leave a comment

08 Apr 2012

The Song Remains the Same for Tribe

Things seemed oddly familiar on Saturday when the Cleveland Indians took on Toronto.

Strong solid pitching? Check.

Ubaldo Jimenez carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and left the game after pitching seven innings of one-hit, two-run ball.

“One of the main keys was that I was throwing my breaking pitches for strikes,” Jimenez told The Beacon Journal. “I think as I went along, that is what worked. I was able to throw every one of my breaking pitches for strikes. Carlos Santana called a great game. Whatever he put down, I went with that.”

We never doubted Jimenez for a moment.

Posted in bad hitting, Cleveland Indians, Manny Acta, Ubaldo Jimenez | Leave a comment

07 Apr 2012

A Clevelander talks Celtic football

In European soccer, there are several storied rivalries, but any discussion of the best rivalries has to include the one between Celtic FC and Rangers in the Scottish Premier League.

Founded in Glasgow’s East End in 1888, Celtic FC has been hugely successful within Scottish football. In 1967, Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup, famously beating Inter Milan 2-1. They were runners-up to Feyenoord.

Celtic, which has won 42 league titles, 35 Scottish Cups and 14 League Cups, is well on its way to claiming another championship this season, holding an 18 point lead with six games remaining. (Update: Celtic clinched the league title on Saturday with a 6-0 win over Kilmarnock)

Rangers were founded in 1872 in Glasgow and the two clubs, separated by just four miles, have shared a great rivalry over the past 124 years.

Rangers are currently in administration however, and with debt that could top £134 million, the club is in danger of going bankrupt and possibly ending one of the best rivalries in soccer.

Interested in learning more about the rivalry, we turned to Sean McLaughlin, a lifelong Clevelander and Celtic fan, who was gracious enough to sit down for a virtual Q&A about the club.

Sean, who you can follow on Twitter @SeanMcL216, is a member of the Celtic Supporter Club that meets on match days at PJ McIntyre’s on Lorain Avenue in Kamm’s Corners. The club can be found on Twitter (@clevelandceltic) and on Facebook.

Posted in Celtic, Soccer | Leave a comment

06 Apr 2012

Tribe so close to a perfect day

It was so close to being the perfect game for the Cleveland Indians in Thursday’s home opener against Toronto.

But in the end it all fell apart.

For eight innings the game played out exactly the way the Indians wanted it, showcasing the blueprint for how the Tribe will have to play to win this year.

Justin Masterson was sublime while working eight innings of two-hit, 10-strikeout baseball; his only mistake a solo homerun ball given up to Jose Bautista. Hey, no shame in that.

A three-run homer by Opening Day superstar Jack Hannahan (the third in his career) in the second inning was the key hit the Indians were looking for in building a four-run lead after two innings.

Posted in Cleveland Indians, Manny Acta, opening day | Leave a comment

05 Apr 2012

Hopes and Fears for the Tribe in 2012

Spring training is finally over, the Cleveland Indians are back at Progressive Field to open the season against Toronto and take on, over the next 162 games, the supposedly unbeatable Detroit Tigers in the American League Central.

That means it is time to embrace our hopes and confront our fears about the upcoming 2012 season for the Tribe.

Head to The Cleveland Fan for all the details.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Indians, Tribe Time | Leave a comment

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