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In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Cleveland Indians”

12 Jun 2012

Tribe needs to mind the farm

If there is one thing Cleveland fans like to talk about almost as much as wins and losses it is the draft.

Doesn’t matter if it is the Browns and the NFL Draft (Justin Blackmon vs. Trent Richardson? What about that back-up long-snapper they passed on with the second pick in the seventh round?), the Cavs and the NBA Draft (Michael Kidd-Gilchrist? Harrison Barnes? Trade with Portland?) or the Indians and the seemingly never-ending Major League Draft (Can you believe they took another shortstop in the 33rd round?), everyone is an expert and everyone wants to know when we will see these guys on a major league roster.

For a team like the Indians, that can’t just spend its way into the playoffs by signing high-priced free agents to fill in the holes on the roster, the draft is critical.

Head to The Cleveland Fan for the rest of the story.

(Photo by Texas A&M Athletics)

Posted in Cleveland Indians | Leave a comment

11 Jun 2012

Tribe starters find themselves in St. Louis

What a weekend for the Cleveland Indians starting rotation.

In helping the Indians take two-out-of-three against the Cardinals, the Tribe moved to a half-game behind the White Sox and, more importantly, may have rediscovered how to pitch.

Josh Tomlin, Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez all went seven innings in their starts, with Tomlin having the “worst” performance of the trio as he gave up two runs; Masterson and Jimenez each limited St. Louis to one run in their starts. The trio also only walked one batter during the series.

When you consider that the Cardinals are the highest-scoring team in the National League, and the second highest in all of baseball, that’s a solid weekend of work.

Sunday’s game was the first time Jimenez did not walk a batter all season and, in his last two starts, he has walked just one batter. That’s pretty impressive for a pitcher that has walked 43 on the season (third highest in the American League) and hit this road trip with an ERA of 9.00 in road starts.

“Jimenez was terrific,’’ manager Manny Acta told The Beacon Journal. “He was dominating. He threw 16-of-25 first-pitch strikes, and having no walks made a huge difference. He had a good split and slider. I’m happy to see him go back to back.’’

Posted in Cleveland Indians, England, Euro 2012, Jason Kipnis, Kent State, Ubaldo Jimenez | Leave a comment

04 Jun 2012

The Randomness of the first Monday in June

Poor LeBron James.

Dude spends his entire career surrounded by inferior teammates like Dwyane Wade.

Sebastian Pruiti has a good breakdown of the final play of the Heat’s Game 4 loss to Boston on Sunday night.

Instead of running the play the right way and giving the Heat a chance to win the game and take a 3-1 series lead, Wade went through the motions and ended up taking a poor shot.

LeBron really could have used the help as he was on the bench after fouling out of a game for the first time in four years and the first time ever in a playoff game.

Too bad there’s not a way that James could pick which team he plays on so he could avoid these types of situations.

***

The Cleveland Indians recalled Quadruple A all star Matt LaPorta over the weekend after Johnny Damon went on maternity leave.

Damon expects to return to the team on Wednesday, after spending a couple of days at home with his wife, Michelle, and their newborn twin daughters. Of course with Damon hitting .180 on the year, the Tribe may want him to take his time returning from diaper duty.

As for LaPorta, we’ve all been here before. He hits minor league pitching (.307, 14 home runs, 32 RBI this year in Columbus), comes to Tribe and no so much (.238 career average, .700 career OPS). So he’ll be out of here once Damon returns, right?

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Euro 2012, LeBron James, NBA | Leave a comment

03 Jun 2012

Is the Tribe’s glass half empty or half full?

As the Cleveland Indians near the one-third mark of the 2012 baseball season, it’s time to take a glass half full, glass half empty look at the Tribe.

Hit up The Cleveland Fan for the rest of the story.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

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31 May 2012

Thank goodness for the Twins

Remember how we were happy that the Royals were coming to town?

Yeah … never mind.

The Cleveland Indians head into a much-needed day off on Thursday having lost five of their last six games to close out the month of May.

During that streak, the Tribe’s starting rotation has worked 28 innings and given up 37 earned runs. That’s an ERA of 11.89.

Yikes!

“This was not a good series,” Indians manager Manny Acta said in published reports. “It’s been a rough week for us. Pitching sets the tone, and were not setting the (right) tone.”

Travis Hafner is on the disabled list and is scheduled for arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Thursday and will most likely miss at least four to six weeks … Jack Hannahan is on the disabled list … Carlos Santana is still out with concussion symptoms … Rafael Perez was moved to the 60-day disabled list over the weekend … Acta will skip Ubaldo Jimenez’ turn in the rotation on Saturday so he can make his next start on the road against Detroit, even though Jimenez has a road ERA of 9.00 this year (compared to 3.38 at home) … anything we missed?

At least the last-place Twins are coming to town this weekend. That has to be a good thing, right?

Wait, don’t answer that.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, NBA draft, uniforms | Leave a comment

29 May 2012

Thank goodness for the Royals

We thought it was odd at first that the Indians won’t see the White Sox again this season until Sept. 24, but after the weekend the Tribe just had in Chicago that’s probably a blessing.

In giving up 35 runs in the three-game series, everything that went right during the series went wrong for the Tribe against the White Sox.

Chicago was able to expose one of the Tribe’s biggest weaknesses – if the starters can’t get to the seventh inning, the Indians are cooked. While Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez are adept at handling the eight and ninth innings, things are dicey if the Tribe has to go to the bullpen too early.

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21 May 2012

Pure Rage and The Fans Right to Boo

Cleveland Indians reliever Chris Perez really did it this time with his comments after Saturday’s win against Miami.

Or did he?

You’ll nead to head to The Cleveland Fan to find out.

***

It’s no surprise that people had a lot to say about Perez and his comments. Here’s a good sampling:

Tribe Weekend Wrap: The Pure Rage Edition at WFNY

Indians closer Chris Perez tells working stiffs of Cleveland to suck it up and spend more money on Major League Baseball and $8 beers at Cleveland Frowns

No Need To Boo Perez, He’s Just Like Us at Did the Tribe Win Last Night?

Chris Perez’ comments offer harsh does of reality to Cleveland fans at WFNY

Chris Perez is a good closer, good teammate without much perspective by Terry Pluto

Posted in Chris Perez, Cleveland Indians | Leave a comment

16 May 2012

A Big Shot of Sweet and Lowe

So who had Derek Lowe in the American League Cy Young sweepstakes?

The 38-year-old Lowe notched his first shutout in seven years as the first-place Cleveland Indians beat Minnesota on Tuesday, 5-0.

In the process, Lowe became the first pitcher since 2002 to throw a shutout without striking anyone out. After only winning nine games last year with the Braves, Lowe is now 6-1 on the season with an ERA of 2.05.

“It’s been a really gratifying start,” Lowe said after the game. “Coming into the season, there were so many questions about ‘Are you done? Are you going to retire? Blah, blah.’ So I worked my tail off, not just to prove people wrong, but to get myself back to where I knew I should be.

Posted in Cleveland Indians, Derek Lowe | Leave a comment

14 May 2012

Where do we pick up our playoff tickets?

What a weekend for the Cleveland Browns.

From Brandon Weeden’s cannon arm, to Trent Richardson’s muscles to Travis Benjamin’s speed, the Browns won the weekend at the rookie minicamp.

So get those playoff tickets ready, Uncle Mike, we’re gassing up the car and heading to Berea.

OK, jokes aside, it was nice to hear some good news coming out of Berea at the end of the three-day, five-practice minicamp.

“It was a good practice, a good minicamp,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said. “I told the players it was a very good start, but we have a long way to go before we’re ready to play a game and do the things we’re ready to do.”

The Browns got their first look at Weeden as the rookie quarterback from Oklahoma State started the transition from the spread offense he ran in college to the Browns version of the West Coast Offense.

“Fortunately for me, the Senior Bowl was a nice little appetizer just because the terminology is the same,” Weeden said. “A lot of the formations were the same, so I could kind of recall going back to that. But, it’s different and for me I have to spit it out in the huddle and there are plays that are this long. You just have to get comfortable with it, understand how it all works, why we are doing certain things and once you get a feel for it, it plays itself out. I think everybody did really well with it. Overall, I am happy with the way everybody performed because everybody got better, competed and really everybody produced.”

11 May 2012

Patience is good … But we also need Hope

Patience is the companion of wisdom – St. Augustine

If you are going to be a fan of Cleveland’s sports teams, you need more than a fair share of patience.

But patience is great only if it comes with its twin – hope. We need hope that things will get better, that there is a plan in place for Cleveland’s sports teams, that the championship parade will one day roll through downtown Cleveland.

Head over to The Cleveland Fan for the rest of the story.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, reason for hope | Leave a comment

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