Red Right 88

11 May 2011

The Interchangeable Fan

In the past few months, as Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel’s web of lies have unraveled and more shenanigans have been exposed in the football program, we’ve realized something that had previously escaped us:

Ohio State fans are college football’s equivalent of Pittsburgh Steeler fans.

They both have an irrational sense of entitlement, they both think their team’s you-know-what doesn’t stink, and no matter what their coach, owner, athletic director or player says or does, they always fall back on the argument that “(fill in the blank) did something worse” or that critics are just “haters.”

They both stagger through life with blinders on, seeing no evil, hearing no evil and speaking no evil.

And both carry a paranoia that someone is always out to get them.

With OSU fans it’s the NCAA or the media, primarily The Columbus Dispatch. We know it is hard for some people to understand, but The Dispatch is not a public relations arm of the university, existing only to write fawning pieces about the latest recruiting class.

With Steeler fans, the NFL is the boogeyman.

And you truly haven’t experienced paranoia and irrational thinking until you’ve heard Adrian from the Burgh on Sirius NFL Radio. Words simply cannot do him justice.

After taking a closer look, Scarlet and Gray & Black and Gold are closer on the color wheel than most would want to admit.

***

We’re sure the Bengals were happy when they made wide receiver A.J. Green their first pick in last month’s NFL Draft.

But being the Bengals, they apparently forgot how Browns corner back Joe Haden shut down Green in college:

In 2009, the Gators won a blowout over the Bulldogs, 41-17. Green was a non-factor. Haden held the receiver to just three catches for 50 yards and zero touchdowns. Green’s biggest play in the game was a 19-yard reception. But other than that, Green had trouble shaking Haden.
In 2008, Florida won another blowout, 49-10. Green had more success this time, with five receptions for 91 yards. Probably worth noting is Green’s quarterback that year was Matthew Stafford, who turned out to be the No. 1 overall pick of the Detroit Lions. To Haden’s credit, he intercepted Stafford in the game and returned the pick 88 yards.

Of course, that’s what make the Bengals the Bengals.

***

The ’70s were a strange, strange decade. (h/t UniWatch)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, culture of lies, Jim Tressel, Joe Haden, Ohio State

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

09 May 2011

Apparently, the Browns had a monster draft

We were very happy with what the Browns did on draft weekend a few weeks back.

Phil Taylor, Jabaal Sheard and Greg Little, and the rest were all solid picks, filling holes along the roster.

But if their former coaches are to be believed, our enthusiasm was unnecessarily muted.

Little’s receivers coach at North Carolina is convinced that his former star can make an impact as a rookie – and beyond.

“Greg made it his mission to the get the NFL, and now that he’s there, he’s going to have to continue to work at it,” Charlie Williams, Little’s coach at UNC, told The Plain Dealer. “How hard he works during the off-season and season will determine how long he stays in the league.

“If Greg had played his senior year, he would’ve had big numbers. I don’t know where he would’ve stacked up with (A.J. Green and Julio Jones), but I truly believe if Greg had played his senior year, he would’ve had a chance to be a first-rounder.”

And the Browns final pick, safety Erig Hagg, was the “steal of the draft” according to his position coach at Nebraska, Carl Pelini.

”Truthfully, as we look at our personnel for next year, trying to replace Eric is probably our most difficult task because he was such a versatile player,” Pelini told the Beacon Journal. ”He’s a long safety who was physical in run support, and yet he was as good a cover guy as any of our corners.

”In my mind, Eric was probably our defensive MVP for the last two years. You can use him in so many different ways and in so many different roles. Guys like him don’t come along very often.”

It bears mentioning that Hagg played on a defense that featured Prince Amukamara and Ndamukong Suh, both first-round draft picks, and six other Cornhuskers who were drafted this year.

Now it’s true that the coaches are probably over-selling the players a bit, but right now they know them better than anyone else. And it’s good to know the Browns selected players that come so highly recommended.

Let’s hope we have a chance to see them on the field this fall.

***

How much would not having the Browns play this season hurt Northeast Ohio?

No one’s really sure, but it won’t be pretty. Estimates on how much the Browns mean to the local economy range from $34.6 million to $63 million, according to The Plain Dealer.

However, that number may be a bit inflated.

“Browns weekends are very good weekends downtown, there’s no doubt about it,” said David Gilbert, President and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission. “But the economic impact from sports teams and sporting events is driven by out-of-town visitors, people who come in from out of market and spend their money in market. The vast majority of fans at games are locals. So, from that standpoint, I’d say [a lockout] hurts, but is not devastating.”

There’s no question, though, that Berea will take a big hit if the lockout wipes out or shortens training camp.

Restaurants, gas stations and coffee shops, among others, will feel a bite if the 10,000 or more fans who visit training camp each year don’t have anything to watch.

The Browns are Berea’s biggest income-tax contributor, providing more than a quarter of the city’s income-tax base – that was $2.49 million in 2010.

It’s going to be bad enough if there is no football to watch. The economic impact will just make it worse.

***

How amazing has Liverpool’s run been since Kenny Dalglish took over as manager?

The Reds made it 13 goals in their last three games and Maxi Rodriguez completed his second hat-trick over the same period, as Liverpool rolled over Fulham, 5-2, on Tuesday and tightened the noose around Tottenham Hotspur.

This from a club that was sitting in 12th place when King Kenny took the helm in January. Since then, Liverpool has taken 33 points from a possible 48 to overtake Spurs for fifth place.

Tottenham Hotspur has a game in hand, which comes Tuesday when they take on Manchester City. Lose, and Spurs are two points back of Liverpool with two games to play.

And they face the prospect of heading to Anfield on Sunday with the winner almost certain to grab the all-important fifth spot and a place in Europe next year.

Should be one heck of a game.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool, NFL draft | 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

08 May 2011

Is Art Modell a Hall of Famer?

Does Art Modell deserve to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

The short and easy answer is clearly no.

Of course, there are those who think the easy answer is yes.

Ozzie Newsome is one of those people.

Newsome has a unique perspective on the situation. He spent his entire Hall of Fame career with the Browns playing for Modell, and is currently the general manager of the Ravens – a job that Modell hired him for.

Newsome made news this week when he told Baltimore season ticket holders that Modell deserved to be in the Hall of Fame. Modell hasn’t been a finalist for the Hall of Fame in a decade. He didn’t make the cut to the finalists again this year.

“I don’t know what we can do,” Newsome said. “My biggest fear is once he passes away then he’ll get the opportunity to go in. I don’t think that’s fair. He deserves to be in there He deserves to go in before I did.”

We can understand Newsome’s feelings toward Modell. The two have a relationship that dates back to 1978, Newsome’s rookie year. Modell hired Newsome as vice president of player personnel after he retired and made him general manager in 2002, a position that Newsome has done quite well in. And Newsome is certainly entitled to his opinion

But once you take out personal feelings – on both Newsome’s part and on the part of Browns fans – and look at Modell’s body of work, you realize that, other than being a longtime owner of an NFL franchise, Modell doesn’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, even if he hadn’t moved the Browns.

In his book, Things I’ve Learned from Watching the Browns, Terry Pluto lays out a solid argument against Modell. The Browns remained highly competitive in the 1960s under coach Blanton Collier, but once he retired following the 1970 season, the wheels pretty much fell off for the Browns. Consider that:

From 1971 to 1995, the Browns were 187-188.
The team had 12 winning seasons during that span.
The Browns were 4-10 in playoff games post-Collier
Modell hired seven coaches during that 25-year stretch and only two left the team with winning records: Nick Skorich (30-24) and Marty Schottenheimer (44-27).
After moving the team to Baltimore, the Ravens were 63-64 while Modell still owned the team – but did win a Super Bowl in 2000.

Those are Hall of Fame credentials?

To be considered for the Hall of Fame, Modell would be put in the Contributors wing, which includes, among others:

Wellington Mara, former owner of the NY Giants. The team won six titles during his tenure.
George Halas, one of the founding member of the NFL and a six-time champion with the Bears.
Curly Lambeau, who spent 30 years as a player, coach, general manager and founder of the Green Bay Packers. He won six titles during that time.
Al Davis, former AFL commissioner and three-time champion with the Raiders.
Lamar Hunt, founder of the AFL. He came up with the idea of shared ticket revenue and made sure the AFL had a national TV contract that each team shared in equally. And he thought of it before the NFL.
George Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins from 1932 to 1969, he is credited with convincing his fellow owners to adopt a standard schedule and play a championship game.

The funny thing is, Al Davis moved the Raiders from Oakland to LA and back to Oakland, he has also sued the league on several occasions.

George Preston Marshall was openly racist – the Redskins were the last NFL team to integrate, in 1962 – and Marshall had the team sing Dixie every year at the season-opening luncheon (even after the team integrated).

Despite all that, they are both more deserving than Modell.

So just looking at Modell’s on-field accomplishments as an owner is enough to keep him out of the hall. But when you factor in that he took the Browns away from Cleveland, that seals the deal for keeping him out.

And the worst part is, he didn’t have to do it.

Modell was a lousy businessman; it’s hard to argue otherwise. Despite owning a team that Financial World magazine ranked in 1995 as the fifth-most valuable franchise in sports, and playing in a league where the annual TV revenue covered the payroll and playing almost every home game before 70,000 paying fans, Modell was constantly in debt. Remember how Modell had to borrow the $5 million to cover Andre Rison’s signing bonus in 1995? (Maybe that’s a memory better left buried).

And while the city of Cleveland certainly played a role in some of Modell’s financial issues – that side of the story is well told in Michael Poplar’s book, Fumble! The Browns, Modell and the Move – the one constant through everything was Modell.

Even after moving the team and receiving a sweetheart deal from Baltimore, Modell mismanaged his finances so poorly that he ended having to put the team up for sale after just three years in Baltimore.

‘The principal reason I sold my team is to put my estate in order and provide for my children and grandchildren so they won’t have to worry a day like I did growing up,” Modell said in a New York Times article in 2003. ”During my father’s time, the Depression was brutal and it wiped out his business, a chain of radio stores. During my time as owner, I’ve done many deals and made millions and lost millions, but this is the first time in my life I’ve been economically free. I’m out of the debt and out of that pressure.

“It’s something every man works for and I worked 43 years for it, to build that for my family.”

So why couldn’t he have done that in Cleveland? Al Lerner clearly had the money as he ended up buying the expansion Browns when they returned in 1999. Why didn’t Modell just sell the team to Lerner, keeping a small stake for himself, and remain what we once thought he was – someone who always had the Browns and Cleveland first on his priority list?

That’s the biggest question and that we will probably never get a true answer to.

Modell was a public relations man when he came out of New York to buy the Browns in 1961. And like any good PR man, he was able to spin his legacy to make it appear more than it really was.

For being an average owner, a lousy businessman and the man who took the Browns from Cleveland, the only way Modell should get into the Hall of Fame is if he buys a ticket.

Sorry Ozzie. You’re still one of our favorite Browns ever, but you are off base on this one.

***

For more on Modell’s legacy and what went on behind the scenes of the Browns move, check out Jon Morgan’s Glory for Sale, Fans, Dollars and the New NFL; Michael Poplar’s Fumble! The Browns, Modell and the Move; and Terry Pluto’s Things I’ve Learned from Watching the Browns.

Posted in Art Modell, Cleveland Browns, NFL, Ozzie Newsome | 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

04 May 2011

Browns front office still has work to do

With the ongoing NFL lockout preventing rookie minicamp and any other team activities, the Browns coaching staff doesn’t have a lot to do right now.

But the same can’t be said of the front office.

Eventually this ridiculous labor issue will be resolved (probably, maybe) and when it does teams will once again be able to sign undrafted free agents. And teams that put in the work now studying and keeping tabs on those players should be able to get a jump once they are allowed to start signing people.

And there are plenty of players available that could help the Browns build some depth at key positions like running back, offensive line, defensive line and linebacker.

West Virginia running back Noel Devine, East Carolina offensive tackle Willie Smith or Auburn linebacker Josh Bynes are all players the Browns could be looking at.

Hopefully the Browns are doing their homework because they still need more players and this year’s group of free agents is considered to be one of the weakest in years.

***

Former Browns quarterback Ken Dorsey retired from the NFL on Tuesday.

Who could forget those four games (three starts) that Dorsey made for the Browns near the end of the 2008 season?

A 47.3 completion percentage. Zero touchdowns. Seven interceptions. A quarterback rating of 26.4.

Good times.

***

Finally, a charming story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that provides reason No. 172 why Pittsburgh is the toilet bowl of America.

According to police, a 17-year-old boy came across a PNC Park usher who was having a heart attack in his car, pulled the man out and onto the ground, went through his pockets and stole his wallet, then drove away in the vehicle, leaving the usher to die in the street.

The teen is not charged with homicide in the death of 58-year-old Michael Schacht, who was headed home after a 14-inning game at PNC Park on April 9. The suspect is charged with car theft and robbery as a juvenile, and police did not name him.

Police said Mr. Schacht was found unresponsive on Brighton Road on the North Side and was taken to Allegheny General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No confirmation yet on whether or not the teen was wearing a Steeler jersey.

Posted in bad quarterback play, Ken Dorsey | 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

01 May 2011

2 Comments

It’s still early for the Tribe … or is it?

The Indians started May the same way they finished April, with a come-from-behind win against the Tigers.

The Tribe finished Sunday in first place in the AL Central with some pretty impressive numbers:

They are riding a 13-game home winning streak
They have the best run differential (+47) in the majors
They have the best record in the majors
They are tied with Colorado for the largest division lead (4.5 games)
They had the best April in the team’s 111-year history

For the past few weeks, while the Tribe has built their lead, we’ve all heard that “it’s still early.”

But is it really?

Since Major League Baseball went to six divisions in 1995, there have been 96 division champions, according to ESPN.

Not counting 1995 (since the strike-shortened season started in late April), 49 of the 90 champions were in first place on May 1. That’s just a 54.4 percent success rate, so the numbers suggest the Indians may want to hold off just a little bit on printing playoff tickets.

But if you go a little deeper and look at the Central Division, the Tribe may be in a better position than the other division leaders.

Five times in the past seven years, the team leading the Central Division on May 1 has gone on to win the division. The two times it didn’t happen, the Twins beat out the White Sox, in 2006 and again in 2009.

The Twins came from nine games back in 2006, but they were only a half-game back in 2009.

So the fact that the Indians carry a healthy lead over the rest of the division (4.5 over KC, 7.5 over Detroit, 10 over Chicago and Minnesota) is important. Not only do Central Division teams rarely overcome the early season leaders, they also don’t make up large deficits.

Tribe manager Manny Acta likes to say that every team wins 60 games and loses 60 games, and it is the other 42 games that matter.

Well what if the come-from-behind wins this weekend against Detroit are part of those other 42 games?

Why can’t the Indians keep this going? They can pitch and play defense, which are two things will keep them in the game most nights. Just because the national media didn’t think they were going to be good this year doesn’t mean the team has to buy into it.

Sure, it’s only May 1 and there is still a lot of baseball to be played.

But maybe, as Yogi Berra once said, for the rest of the teams in the division, it really is getting late early.

Posted in Cleveland Indians, Tribe Time