Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Cleveland Indians”

20 May 2011

Magic number is 50 for the Tribe

The Indians were never going to win every game the rest of the season.

So while it’s disappointing they lost both games to the White Sox this week, the bigger picture says they are still OK.

On May 1 the Tribe lead second-place Kansas City by 4.5 games. Now, almost three weeks later, they lead second-place Detroit by five games heading into a weekend series with Cincinnati.

While Fausto Carmona’s outing was ugly, he’s been fine as long as he doesn’t face the White Sox. On the season, Carmona has a 2.56 ERA against teams not from the south side of Chicago (56.1 innings pitched, 16 earned runs, four home runs allowed). In two starts against the White Sox, his ERA is 20.25 (18 earned runs and three home runs in just eight innings of work).

Carmona went 6-0 against the White Sox from 2008 to 2010. This year? It’s just one of those things that make sports weird and interesting. But his history against Chicago gives us confidence he’ll be OK the next time he faces the White Sox.

Justin Masterson was more than solid in his start against Chicago. Even though he took the loss Wednesday night, Masterson threw a five-hitter, striking out eight and walking two in his first complete game of the season.

Injuries are starting to creep up on the team, however. Grady Sizemore is on the disabled list, Travis Hafner joined him Friday because of an abdominal injury, and Travis Buck has turf toe.

So while the offense may struggle for a bit until everyone gets healthy again, the pitching and defense are still there and the Tribe has reached the quarter mark of the season in first place.

More importantly, they are closing in the 50-game mark, which is when the contenders are separated from the pretenders.

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, much of the drama of the baseball season is pretty much over by June 1. By then, about one-third of the teams are out of it; another half dozen will join them if they don’t get hot quickly.

The article found that, since 1996, just 9 percent of teams with a losing record on June 1 wound up with 90 wins, the number teams usually shoot for to make the playoffs, according to data crunched by The Wall Street Journal and Ben Alamar, founder of the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports. During that early season period, the average correlation between a team’s win percentage on June 1 and its final winning percentage is 0.76. Statisticians consider that to be a very high correlation.

The best explanation for why 50-games is all it takes to sort out the winners from the losers has to do with a combination of mathematics, psychology and the secrets of winning baseball games. While any bad team can have a good week or month, excelling for a 50-game stretch without very good players is virtually impossible.

Hang in there Tribe fans, another couple of weeks and we should have an even better read on the team.

And no matter what, it’s shaping up to be a fun summer.

***

Now that he’s taken care of Bin Laden, President Obama probably has some time on his hands. Maybe he should take a crack at ending this ridiculous NFL lockout.

***

The Brew Kettle in Strongsville won eight awards its their beers, including Best in Show, at the recent International Beer Fest at the I-X Center.

We’ll drink to that.

Posted in Cleveland Indians, craft beer, Travis Hafner | Leave a comment
19 May 2011

Browns feeling lockout’s pinch?

How much is the ongoing NFL lockout impacting the Browns?

Well, it’s certainly not helping.

Josh Cribbs told ESPN’s First Take the Browns are hurting because they can’t work with the coaches to install the new offensive and defensive systems.

“It does hurt us because at a time when there’s not a lockout, teams who have new coaches are allowed a certain amount of time to prepare,” Cribbs said. “And because of this lockout, we’re not.”

If this was a normal year, the Browns would be allowed to hold an extra minicamp because they have a new coach in Pat Shurmur.

Now? They have to be content with Camp Colt.

“Colt has been rounding up the troops and planning short minicamps to get the playbook down pat as much as we can, to get the plays down pat,” Cribbs said. “We’re really limited on the amount of things we can do because of the amount of information that we have.

“But at the same time, the minicamps that we’re having are beneficial. We’re getting our throwing down pat and the timing with the quarterback. It’s really beneficial … but we are set back a little bit because of the lockout.”

Speaking of McCoy, can he be the quarterback that helps the Browns close the gap on Pittsburgh and Baltimore?

“It’s horrible; there’s nothing good about [inexperienced quarterbacks] facing the Ravens and Steelers,” said Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc. “They’re not carbon copies of each other, but their philosophy is pretty similar. They’re going to take away your running game, and you’re not going to outwork them in the trenches or move them. Then you’re one-dimensional, and then you’re in trouble.

“I really worry about the guy’s arm strength. I just can’t get around that. When the weather gets bad, he’s not going to be able to complete passes in Cleveland. I think he’s a real good fit in the West Coast offense. I think he has some moxie to him and I like the way he plays. But when it’s December and the Steelers and Ravens are in town, you better be able to complete a deep out.”

It’s getting a little old hearing about McCoy’s alleged lack of arm strength. You know who else had “average arm strength”? Brian Sipe. It’s not always how hard you throw the ball, but when and where you throw it that counts.

“It takes a while, but you make the cold and the wind your asset,” Sipe said in Terry Pluto’s book, Things I’ve Learned from Watching the Browns. “You learn to play in it by practicing in it. Then, when the other teams come to the lakefront, they aren’t ready for it.

“You should embrace the cold. It helps you as a quarterback because it slows the game down. You can see things better. Playing in that weather is part of what made us a tough team mentally.”

McCoy has the skills needed for a West Coast offense, which the Browns are now planning to run. He’ll be fine.

***

In the world of a different kind of football, the Premier League’s 20 clubs collectively lost close to half a billion pounds last year despite making record income, a Guardian analysis of their most recent accounts has revealed.

In the 2009-10 financial year, the clubs currently in the Premier League made total revenues of £2.1 billion (that’s billion with a b), principally from their billion-pound TV deals and the world’s most expensive tickets. Yet 16 of the 20 clubs made losses, totalling a record £484 million, and the same number relied on funding from their wealthy owners.

Aston Villa lost £38 million as the club’s owner, Randy Lerner, struggles to compete with clubs whose commercial income and potential is much greater than Villa’s.

According to the report, “these are sobering figures … signalling why reality bit for Randy Lerner’s ‘good American’ takeover at Villa Park. Lerner has problems to address despite £206 million invested. Their turnover of £91 million at the 42,582-capacity Villa Park is the Premier League’s seventh highest, but is so far behind Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal they risk becoming a seller of players to the top clubs.”

So in addition to the NFL lockout, Lerner has that on his plate to worry about.

***

Lost in all the hoopla about Jake Peavy’s performance against the Tribe on Wednesday night was that Justin Masterson was just as good.

Even though he took the loss, Masterson threw a five-hitter, striking out eight and walking two in his first complete game of the season.

Masterson went 5-0 with a 2.18 ERA in his first five starts of the season. In his last four starts, he’s 0-2 with a 2.78 ERA. In three of those games, he’s allowed two or fewer earned runs.

He keeps that up and we’re sure everything will be just fine.

***

Kyrie Irving plans to only have medical tests at the NBA combine, and will skip the on-court tests and drills.

“I’m just going doing medical here,” said Irving, the presumed No. 1 pick. “There’s no particular reason. I’m still working out around here (privately) but I’m not doing anything at the combine.”

No need to wear yourself out kid. Just focus on getting ready for Byron Scott’s training camp this fall.

***

Finally, check out the latest from Fresh Brewed Tees.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Colt McCoy, Josh Cribbs, Kyrie Irving, NFL lockout, Randy Lerner | Leave a comment
18 May 2011

Cavs hit jackpot in draft lottery

The Cavs hit the jackpot in Tuesday night’s NBA Draft lottery, taking home the No. 1 and No. 4 picks in the upcoming draft.

Things broke right for the Cavs as their pick fell into the No. 4 slot while the pick they received from the Clippers in the Baron Davis deal landed them the No. 1 pick.

Maybe the draft lottery was karma from last summer and the injury-plagued season the team just endured? In any event, the Cavs now have a very real opportunity to accelerate the rebuilding process.

The Cavs should be able to walk away with two solid picks in what “experts” are calling a weak draft class. If it turns out to be true that this draft is thin, having two of the first four picks is definitely the way to go.

The gold standard for the Cavs is obviously the 1986 draft, when the team selected Brad Daugherty and Ron Harper in the first round and traded for Mark Price, a second-round pick by Dallas.

But since then it’s been more miss than hit for the Cavs when it comes to the draft lottery as they have only hit on four picks – Kevin Johnson, Terrell Brandon, Andre Miller and LeBron James.

And just look at some of the draft misses – it’s not pretty: Vitaly Potapenko, Derek Anderson, Trajan Langdon, DeSagna Diop, Dajuan Wagner and Luke Jackson.

But that’s ancient history. It’s a new day in Cleveland basketball.

Wake up and smell the coffee.

***

How bad was Vin Mazzaro’s performance Monday night against the Indians?

Try historically bad.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Mazzaro was:

  • the first pitcher in modern baseball history to allow 14 runs in less than three innings of work
  • the first reliever to allow 14 runs since Tommy Warren in 1944
  • the fifth reliever to allow 14 earned runs (he was the first to do it since Les McCrabb in 1942)

Oh, and he was sent down to the Royals’ AAA team after the game.

***

Say what you will about David Beckham – he certainly has his share of critics – but the dude still knows what to do with a free kick.

It’s ridiculous what he does here – and he knows it. Beckham tries to keep his cool after the goal, but he breaks into a smile pretty quickly.

Amazing.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, David Beckham, historically bad pitching, NBA draft | Leave a comment
16 May 2011

Grady Sizemore’s bad wheel

Apparently, since Portland is out of the NBA playoffs, Grady Sizemore borrowed Greg Oden’s knees.

Sizemore, who missed most of last season after having microfracture surgery on his left knee, hurt his right knee sliding into second base last week against Tampa Bay. Now he’s on the 15-day disabled list.

Of course he his.

”Grady has progressed the last five days, but not enough for us or for him to feel comfortable about his ability to play the outfield,” Indians trainer Lonnie Soloff told the Beacon Journal. ”We feel the most prudent course of action at this point is to place him on the 15-day DL to give him the time he needs to heal.”

”As of yesterday, he was hitting without symptoms, and he was running at about 75-80 percent with only mild symptoms.”

Sizemore started the season on the disabled list, but has been one of the Tribe’s best hitters since returning, batting .282 with 10 doubles, six home runs and 11 RBI.

Hopefully this is nothing more serious and it’s probably for the best that the Tribe is being cautious. He was swinging the bat well and, with Detroit creeping up in the standings, the Tribe needs all the offensive help they can get.

Plus the Indians start a 30-game stretch on Monday where they play at Kansas City, at the White Sox, Cincinnati, Boston, at Tampa Bay, at Toronto, Texas, Minnesota, at the Yankees and at Detroit.

That looks daunting at first, until you realize the Royals are fading; the White Sox stink; Boston,Toronto and Texas are .500 teams; Minnesota is in the Central Division basement; and the Yankees are falling apart as their players are crybabies who only care about themselves, not the team.

So things are set up well for the Tribe to make a nice run into June and come out of this next stretch of games in good shape.

And then things should get real interesting this summer.

***

You have to give credit where credit is due.

After seeing Manchester United claims its 19th league title – finally topping Liverpool as the most successful franchise in English soccer – United fans hung a banner at Anfield on Sunday saying MUFC 19 TIMES before Liverpool’s game with Tottenham Hotspur.

The fans who hung the banner made a quick getaway as they had cars waiting for them outside the stadium.

The banner was in response to one unfurled at Anfield in 1994 – when Sir Alex Ferguson won his first title as Manchester United’s manager – that said “Come back when you’ve won 18.”

Well, they came back, all right.

***

It’s not all bad news at Merseyside, however, as top-notch goalie Pepe Reina is buying what manager Kenny Dalglish is selling.

Reina is committed to staying at Liverpool thanks in part to the team’s climb up the table under Dalglish and because of the team’s transfer plans for the summer.

“In recent weeks I believe we are going in the right direction and we have to keep it like that,” the Spain international told The Daily Mail. “Next season it will be more positive and the quicker we react and improve the better it will be for the club.”

Posted in Cleveland Indians, Grady Sizemore, Liverpool, Manchester United, Pepe Reina | Leave a comment
15 May 2011

A real dog of a weekend

The weather and Tottenham Hotspur conspired to make it one crappy weekend in these parts.

After the Indians started a new home winning streak Friday night on Travis Hafner’s two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth – with more than 33,000 in attendance – the weather washed out games Saturday and Sunday.

”Now it feels like [Friday’s win] was ages ago,” manager Manny Acta said in published reports after Sunday’s rainout. ”We really wanted to use all that energy we got from that walk-off homer on [Saturday] and [Sunday]. It’s too bad that we couldn’t use all the energy we had built up. It feels like a long time ago when Travis hit that home run.”

So instead of building on the enthusiasm of another late win, the Tribe sat around for two days and now heads back out on the road for four games.

Of course.

The NBA playoffs carry on, sans the Cavaliers.

Because of the owners, the NFL lockout drags on, so there are no rookie minicamps or OTAs to think about.

And with a chance to clinch a spot in Europe for next season, Liverpool lost – at home no less – to Tottenham Hotspur.

It probably shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise that, in a week where there was so much hoopla around Kenny Daglish being name permanent manager, the Reds would come out a bit flat. Of course, they were playing at home, so we may be going a little easy on them.

But there’s no question we could have done without Luis Suarez falling down every five minutes. Once it became obvious that referee Howard Webb was not going to be calling any touch fouls, Suarez needed to man up and start playing.

And Webb will receive some criticism over some of his calls, especially his foul call on John Flanagan that resulted in a penalty kick to Spurs.

But bottom line, Liverpool didn’t play well enough and didn’t deserve to win.

There is still an outside shot Liverpool could grab fifth place. If they beat Aston Villa on the road next week and Spurs lose at home to Birmingham, the Reds take fifth.

Maybe it’s for the better if they don’t, though. If Liverpool doesn’t have to worry about competing in the Europa tournament next year, they can focus solely on the league and shoot for something bigger than pool play with Levski Sofia and Club Brugge.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, Liverpool, wasted weekend | Leave a comment
11 May 2011

Tribe pen the Rodney Dangerfield of MLB

ESPN’s David Schoenfield listed what he thinks are the best bullpens on “contenders” in his latest Sweet Spot column.

We’re not sure what we’re more offended by, the fact that he didn’t give the Indians bullpen any credit or that he doesn’t consider the Tribe – who only have the best record in the American League – contenders.

Predictably Schoenfield places the Yankees as the third best bullpen and tops in the American League, writing:

Yes, Mariano Rivera had that little burp, but he’s back on track. Setup man Rafael Soriano has struggled, but I project he’ll turn it around. Joba Chamberlain is throwing better than he has in years, and underrated David Robertson has one of the nastiest curves you’ll see. The ‘pen has allowed just five home runs in 95 innings. The big question is whether Boone Logan will prove to be a reliable lefty in the absence of Pedro Feliciano.

Well of course Soriano is going to turn it around, they’re the Yankees after all! And we can’t forget Joba, only the most over-rated pitcher in the game.

The Tribe bullpen is better or as good as the Yankees in every statistical category. Heading into Tuesday night’s game with Tampa:

  • The Indians bullpen has a 3.16 ERA to the Yankees 3.22 ERA
  • The Indians have allowed 79 hits to the Yankees 85
  • Thirty-six walks and 76 strikeouts for the Tribe; 35 and 78 for the Yankees
  • The Yankees have allowed “just five home runs in 95 innings”? Well, the Indians have given up just four in 94 innings of work.

But still, no respect.

The Indians bullpen right now matches up with any bullpen in baseball:

  • Closer Chris Perez has 10 saves in 15 innings of work, with nine strikeouts and a 3.00 ERA
  • Tony Sipp has worked 15.2 innings, striking out 12 and putting up a 1.72 ERA
  • Vinnie Pestano has worked 13.2 innings, striking out 15 and posting a 1.32 ERA
  • Joe Smith has nine strikeouts in eight innings of work after coming off the disabled list
  • Rafael Perez has worked 13.1 innings, striking out nine and posting a 0.68 ERA

Now tell us the Yankees have a better bullpen.

We get it; no one thought the Indians were going to be very good this season. We weren’t even sure what to expect.

But eventually the on-field performance has to be more important than perceptions. What the team is actually doing is more important than what people think they should be doing.

Until then, we’ll just enjoy watching the Tribe as it sits atop the Central Division standings.

If you think the bullpen is doing well, check out how the starters are performing.

And we would be remiss if we didn’t pass along Cleveland Frowns latest Tuesdays with Tony.

***

Peter Crouch did his old team a solid on Tuesday, scoring an own goal to help Manchester City beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0.

The loss by Spurs puts Liverpool in the driver’s seat for Sunday’s game at Anfield. Win and the Reds secure a spot in Europe for next year.

Not bad for a team that was sitting in 12th place in January.

Don’t feel too bad for Crouch, though. He got to go home and have nachos with Mrs. Crouch after the game.

Posted in Cleveland Indians, Liverpool, no respect, Peter Crouch | Leave a comment
08 May 2011

Tribe bullpen is human after all

After rocking it since the start of the season, the Indians bullpen finally proved to be human on Sunday.

Rafael Perez and Joe Smith couldn’t hold an eighth-inning lead and the Tribe fell to the Angels, 6-5, to finish their six-game road trip at 3-3.

While it would have been great to see the Indians go 4-2 on the trip, there are still several positives to take from the past week.

The Indians hit the road to Oakland last week with a 4.5-game lead over second-place Kansas City. They come home with that lead still intact.

The Indians faced some top-notch pitching on the trip, but the offense kept battling. They scored three runs in the ninth to beat Oakland 4-1, scored two in the 12th to beat Oakland 4-3, put up four against the Angels after falling behind 2-0 in their 4-3 win, and scored two in the eighth on Sunday to take the lead, and put up another run in the ninth and had Asdrubal Cabrera in scoring position when the game ended.

The starting pitching was once again lights out. The Tribe went through the starting rotation one complete turn, with Fausto Carmona going twice, and the starters went 41 innings and gave up only eight earned runs, a 1.76 ERA.

The Tribe’s starters went pitch-for-pitch with the two best staffs in the American League and more than held their own. We’re now five weeks into the season and the starting pitching shows no sign of slowing down.

The Indians come home this week to Progressive Field to take on Tampa Bay, who are 2-17 at Progressive Field since 2006. The Tribe is also riding a 13-game home winning streak.

Don’t worry, Tribe time is rolling along just fine right now.

Posted in Cleveland Indians, dominant pitching, Tribe Time | Leave a comment
06 May 2011

Dreaming of championship bling

It’s been so long since we’ve seen a championship team here in Cleveland that many people probably don’t remember that when a team wins a title they are rewarded with gaudy rings.

But they used to win championships in this town (seriously) and they gave out some cool stuff in the pre-ring days.

The 1954 Indians gave players these sweet cuff links, along with tie tacks and stickpins with the same motif, all cast in gold and set with rubies for winning the American League.

Those are so cool we would have no trouble running out and picking up some French-cuff shirts just so we could wear the cuff links.

These cuff links were presented to Tris Speaker in 1920 for leading the Tribe to its first World Series championship and hitting .388 along the way. (And that led to the Indians wearing the greatest uniforms in the history of forever in 1921).

After the Browns won their third consecutive All-America Football Conference championship, the team gave players these tie clips.

When the Browns, Indians or Cavs next win a championship, they need to remember their heritage and make some of these items available for fans.

We know we’d have no trouble dropping some coin on them.

(Major h/t to Uni Watch)

***

They had to go extra innings, and closer Chris Perez made it more interesting than it had to be, but the Indians beat Oakland on Thursday to take 2-of-3 from the A’s.

The Tribe starters were in a groove in Oakland, as Fausto Carmona, Josh Tomlin and Jeanmar Gomez combined to throw 21 innings in the series, giving up just 14 hits and four earned runs (a 1.71 ERA).

So the Indians are halfway through their West Coast trip and the second-place Royals haven’t made up any ground.

So far, so good.

***

We heard an interesting stat this afternoon on Sirius Mad Dog Radio.

Only three times in major league history has a team made the playoffs after being 10 games or more back after the first 30 games of the season. (We tried to catch the teams Chris Russo named, but he was going so fast we only heard the 1914 Boston Braves).

So we can pretty much write off the White Sox this season (11 games back) and we’ll throw the Twins (9.5) in there as well.

Indian Fever, baby. It’s spreading.

Posted in Chris Russo, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians | Leave a comment
03 May 2011

Dude, next time call a cab

Pro athletes never cease to amaze us with the poor decisions they make off the field.

Unfortunately, the Indians Shin-Soo Choo is the latest example.

According to The Plain Dealer, Choo was arrested Monday morning for DUI in Sheffield Lake.

Choo was stopped on Route 6 at 2:25 a.m. and failed a Breathalzyer test, registering a .20, more than twice the legal limit of .08, according to the story.

“We are aware of the incident with Shin-Soo Choo and have spoken to him about it,” Indians general manager Chris Antonetti said in a statement. “The Indians organization takes these issues very seriously and we are disappointed in the matter. We will continue to monitor the situation and we will not have any further comment at this time.”

“I sincerely apologize to my family, teammates, fans and the Indians organization for the attention stemming from this matter,” Choo said in a statement. “However, I am hopeful that this incident will not be a distraction to the Indians organization while we remain focused on continuing to play winning baseball.”

Choo has a hearing scheduled for 5 p.m. on Thursday at the Sheffield Lake Mayor’s Court. Of course, the Indians are supposed to be playing the A’s in Oakland at that time, so …

We certainly don’t take Choo to task for having a few adult beverages – he’s an adult and cocktail hour is one of life’s little pleasures.

But he certainly has the money to call a cab or hire a driver if feels like having a few too many. Or if he wants to hold on to his money, we’re sure there are plenty of Tribe fans who would be willing to be a designated driver for free.

You’d think someone in Choo’s position would use better judgment – especially in a town where Donte’ Stallworth played.

Apparently not.

***

Not a real surprise since this isn’t Boston or New York, but ESPN’s Jayson Stark isn’t a believe in your first-place Cleveland Indians.

In his latest Rumblings & Grumblings column, Stark sizes up the AL Central Division, saying of the Tribe:

Stat of the day: The Indians are the 23rd team in the wild-card era to start a season by going 19-8 or better, and the fifth to do it in the AL Central. Of the previous 22, 15 made the playoffs – but only two of four in the AL Central.

Reason to believe: The Indians lead the league in runs scored per game – and Shin-Soo Choo (.716 OPS) and Carlos Santana (.191 average) haven’t even gotten hot yet. So the offensive upside here is scary.

Reason to worry: The Indians’ shockingly good rotation is tied for the league lead in quality starts – but 11th in the league in strikeout ratio. That suggests this group has had a lot of luck fall its way so far on balls put in play.

The prognosis: We’ve found plenty of people in baseball who believe in the Indians’ ability to crank out runs – and almost nobody who’s sold on this pitching staff being quite this good. “I just don’t see it from a run-prevention standpoint,” one AL executive said. “If I’m wrong and they go on to win 95 games, God bless ’em. But I just don’t see it yet.”

Trust us guys, it’s there, you just have to look harder. Everyone in Cleveland sees it.

***

We would have thought that someone who “only cares about winning” like Derek Jeter does – or so the myth goes – would realize he’s not the same player and accept a move down in the batting order.

According to an article by Bob Klapisch in The Bergen Record:

“… among American League shortstops, Jeter is 16th in slugging percentage – an embarrassingly low .270. Pitchers no longer fear throwing him fastballs up in the strike zone. In fact, the scouting report has become a virtual prophecy: Jeter can be softened up with inner-half heat, then beaten with breaking pitches down and away.

The result? Just two extra-base hits in his first 100 at-bats. Since June 2010, Jeter is hitting .255, which is reason enough to drop him out of the leadoff spot. Privately, the Yankees would welcome Jeter taking the initiative and offer to drop down to, say, the No. 7 or No. 8 spot.

Jeter take the initiative? How about the manager doing his job and filling out the lineup based on performance, not reputation?

Just for comparison’s sake, Grady Sizemore is hitting .340 with a .389 on-base percentage and a .740 slugging percentage.

Now those numbers are worthy of being a leadoff hitter.

Posted in Cleveland Indians, Grady Sizemore, Shin Soo-Choo | Leave a comment
02 May 2011

Tribe turning into the team we need

With no championships since 1964, it’s clear we never get the team we want here in Cleveland.

But when we need it most, a team will rise up, fill us with hope and become the team we need.

In the spring of 1976, the Miracle of Richfield Cavaliers captivated Northeast Ohio for a month as they battled Washington and Boston in the playoffs.

The end of the decade was not kind to the city as it declared bankruptcy, but the Kardiac Kids were there to take the Browns to the playoffs in the fall of 1980 after an eight-year wait, taking everyone’s mind off the financial troubles plaguing the city.

In the mid-’90s, when the Cavs were irrelevant and the Browns were gone, the Indians awoke Gabe Paul’s famous “sleeping giant,” starting a run of six playoff appearances in seven years, with two unforgettable trips to the World Series.

For the past seven years, it was the Cavs, and no matter how things turned out last summer, it was quite a ride.

Now, with the Cavs no longer a playoff team, and no idea when we will see the orange helmets of the Browns on the field again, Cleveland is once again in need.

Can this year’s Indians be the team to restore our hope?

The Tribe heads out west this week for a six-game road trip with:

  • the best record in baseball
  • the best home record in baseball
  • the biggest run differential in baseball
  • the third-best ERA in the AL
  • the second-highest batting average in the AL
  • the highest on-base percentage in the AL

No one saw this coming and we have no idea how long it will last. And we don’t even want to think what it would be like around here if the Tribe was 9-18 instead of 19-8.

But it’s clear after the first month of the season that the Tribe, once again, has turned into the team we need.

***

Lawrence Vickers was surprised the Browns drafted Stanford’s Owen Marecic in the fourth round of this weekend’s NFL Draft. You know, since they share the same position and everything.

We were too, but we figured the Browns were selecting Marecic for special teams play and as a backup.

But Vickers clearly took it a different way.

“Honestly, my first reaction was ‘Wow,’’” Vickers said in a telephone interview with ESPN. “I’m amazed. I was amazed I was still a free agent and wasn’t signed [by the Browns] before the deadline. I didn’t understand it. But at the same time I do understand because nothing has ever come easy to me. So I was prepared for it.

“If they want me, they want me. If they don’t, they don’t. As a man, you have to be prepared for anything. But in the back of my mind I thought I would be in Cleveland.”

Plus Vickers is one of those guys who “gets it.”

“They love hard-working people and that’s what I love about Cleveland: It’s nothing but hard-working people there,” Vickers said. “I am appreciative of everything I have, and that’s why me and Cleveland fans vibe. You will never hear me say anything bad about them, because it’s a mutual respect.”

Vickers has been a key part of the Browns running game the past few years – he should have been in the Pro Bowl last year – and we just assumed the Browns would bring him back. Knowing that Vickers is leading the way for Peyton Hillis against Pittsburgh and Baltimore makes us sleep better at night and we find it hard to believe the Browns would want to turn the position over to a rookie.

***

While we were pleased with the Browns draft, we were a little taken aback by this story from Peter King in his Monday Morning QB column:

When Cal defensive end Cameron Jordan was taking a tour through his new business home – the New Orleans Saints practice facility in Metairie, La. – on Saturday, his cell phone rang.

“Hi,” said the voice on the other end. “Jordan? This is the Cleveland Browns … ” The call was for some biographical information.

“Uh, yeah, this is Cameron Jordan,” he said. “But the Saints already picked me.”

There was an awkward pause, and Cameron Jordan said: “I think you mean Jordan Cameron, you’re looking for Jordan Cameron. That’s not me.”

Cameron Jordan, the 24th pick in the draft, then hung up the phone. The Browns actually picked the right person – USC tight end Jordan Cameron and had phoned him to tell him the good news – and this was the call back to get biographical information from him.

Sounds like the Browns need to tighten things up a bit in the research department.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Lawrence Vickers, NFL draft | Leave a comment

Post Navigation

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →