Red Right 88

23 Jul 2011

You can’t win if you can’t score

The Tribe was shut out by the White Sox Friday night, falling 1.5 games behind first-place Detroit.

It’s the farthest the Indians have been out of first place since the first week of the season.

“There’s not much you can do when you don’t score any runs,” Indians manager Manny Acta told The Plain Dealer. “We’ve had to battle all year with our offense.”

“I could care less how many times we’ve been shut out as long as we’re winning games,” Acta told The Beacon Journal. “If we win 100 and lose 62 by shutout, that’s fine with me.”

What else is there to say at this point?

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Indians, sinking ship | Leave a comment

22 Jul 2011

So when do they start playing?

The NFL owners made a perfect move on Thursday, voting to approve a new collective bargaining agreement and regaining the advantage in the battle for the hearts of NFL fans everywhere.

While some people wrongly blamed the players when this all started, the truth is the lockout was 100 percent on the owners. The players were content to continue under the current system, it was the owners that shut down the No. 1 game in town.

And the players responded with a campaign based on the slogan “Let us Play.”

Well, guess who’s holding up the show now?

According to ESPN, the players’ were told that nothing will happen until Monday:

“Our recommendation is for everyone to stay put and keep doing what you are doing where you are doing it. We will meet again Monday to discuss our options and the direction we want to go. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. Your player reps.”

But NFLPA leaders later contradicted that report, telling ESPN that they plan to talk with the NFLPA executive board and player representatives either Friday night or Saturday.

All this delay over a deal that the players could have reportedly had back in March.

We have to wonder just what the players’ side is thinking here. They have to know that this deal isn’t going to change and, the longer they hold out on approving it, the more fan anger will turn against them.

Maybe they are banking on the fact that, as long as no games are missed, the fans will still be there this fall. And there is some truth to that.

And its certainly possible that this will all be resolved over the weekend and things will get rolling along.

But the players wanted to play and now the opportunity is there for things to get back to normal. Let’s hope everyone associated with the players understands that.

Because it is long past time to get ‘er done.

In the meantime, here’s a nice breakdown of the new CBA.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL | Leave a comment

21 Jul 2011

Are the Indians at the breaking point?

We have to say, the Indians have us left us feeling extremely bipolar the past few weeks.

Two weeks ago tonight, Travis Hafner’s grand slam in the bottom of the ninth beat the Blue Jays (up).

Then the Tribe lost three in a row (down).

Coming out of the All Star break, the Indians took the first two games from Baltimore (up).

They then lost the next two (down).

We were worried going into Monday’s double header with the Twins because David Huff and Fausto Carmona were scheduled to start. But the Indians swept the day (up).

But then they lost the past two games with their best pitchers, Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin on the mound (down).

Against the Twins, the Tribe’s starters had a 2.03 ERA, giving up six earned runs in 26 2/3 innings (up).

The bullpen, however, had a 9.40 ERA (down).

Well, you get the picture

Now we’re left wondering if the team is finally reaching its breaking point.

Because of injuries, the Indians fielded an outfield the past two games of Austin Kearns, Ezequiel Carrera and Luis Valbuena, which obviously isn’t going to get it done.

Grady Sizemore joined Shin-Soo Choo on the disabled list this week and now will be out 4-6 weeks after undergoing surgery for a sports hernia.

It seems unrealistic to expect either Sizemore or Choo to come back and make any kind of positive impact on the team the rest of this season, and the Indians are running out of other options.

They dipped into the minor leagues again on Thursday, promoting second baseman Jason Kipnis from Class AAA Columbus. Kipnis hit .279 (95-341) with 64 runs, 15 doubles, nine triples, 12 homers, 55 RBI and 12 stolen bases in 91 games at Columbus this year.

While it is certainly nice to have another bat in the lineup, Kipnis doesn’t solve the outgoing issue with the outfield.

With the trading deadline coming up next week, there will be calls for the Tribe to “do something” and make a trade. But for who? There’s no guarantee that anyone they trade for will make that big of a difference, and we are nervous about the price the Indians would potentially have to pay.

We still remember the late ’90s when the team traded away prospects to bring in players like Kevin Seitzer, Jeff Kent and Ken Hill, among others, in an attempt to win a World Series. Of all the moves the team made, Hill really is the only one that made a difference and it could be argued the Indians would have reached the World Series in ’95 even without him.

We’d hate to see the team give up any of its top prospects when there’s no guarantee the Indians will make the playoffs even with a move.

Plus, people get excited about getting the best (pitcher, hitter, outfielder, etc.) available without stopping to ask if that player is any good. If you draw up a list of anything, someone has to be at the top, that doesn’t mean the Indians have to be the ones to overpay for someone.

The Indians certainly have issues – they wouldn’t be just five games over .500 if that wasn’t the case – and it’s also true that the AL Central is there for the taking this year. But the front office has worked hard to build this team the right way and we’d hate to see them sacrifice their long-term potential for a short-term game.

But check back in a few days. With the ongoing bipolar issues, we may feel differently come the weekend.

Posted in Cleveland Indians | Leave a comment

21 Jul 2011

2 Comments

The true voices of the Cleveland fan

Had an excellent time last night at Waiting for Next Year’s gathering at Canal Park.

The night offered up the chance to meet several members of the WFNY staff, as well as Peter from Cleveland Frowns (turns out we have a mutual friend) and several others.

While it was great to meet everyone – and the 20-ounce Leinenkugels were perfect on a hot summer night (draft beer is truly one of life’s little pleasures) – even better was the opportunity to sit and talk with fellow Cleveland fans about why they write.

We had good conversations with Rick from WFNY and with Frowns about why they started their respective sites. It’s interesting that none of the founders of WFNY or Frowns himself ever aspired to be sports writers, but still gravitated to writing because they had something to say and were willing to put their opinions out there.

Sites like Cleveland Frowns, WFNY, The DiaTribe, Ten Cent Beers, RiverBurn (and this one), among others, are all working to make sure the voice of the fan is heard like never before. We are all working, in our own way, to give Cleveland what it needs, rather than something it already has.

And, just as importantly, this group is doing it without any hysterics. It has always drove us batty when we hear people ripping a particular player and then concluding that the player should be traded for a superstar. You won’t find that kind of irrational thought at most of the local sites, which is refreshing.

Rick pointed out that everyone at WFNY has a different style and brings different perspectives to the table. And you can see that applies to everyone else within the community. Frowns certainly has a unique voice, and The DiaTribe is a textbook example of quality over quantity. In their own way, everyone brings something beneficial to the discussion.

During our conversations the point was made that, as recently as 10 years ago, the only way you could be heard as a fan was to wait on hold for two hours so you could have 30 seconds with someone like Greg Brinda. (How depressing is that?)

Now those days are over and everyone – from the teams to the fans – are better off for it.

Rick talked about how front-office people from the local teams read WFNY to learn what fans are saying; Frowns talked about similar experiences with his site. If the teams are reading the sites, that only strengthens the message that the writers and the fans are delivering.

Plus, the more voices that are being heard the better – especially in a one-newspaper town like Cleveland. There is little doubt that the appetite for news about the local teams is enormous, which means there is plenty of room at the table for everyone to share an opinion.

We’re not as hard on the local beat writers as some – primarily because we used to be in the business – but if someone were to only receive their news about the Cavs, Indians and Browns from The Plain Dealer or WKNR, they would walk away with a perspective that is often not in touch with how fans really feel.

But with so many sites available comes a wide variety of opinions and, even if you sometimes disagree, the fact that so many people are talking and investing the time it takes to maintain a site shows the passion of Cleveland’s sports fans.

We’re definitely glad we decided to take a seat at the table.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland fans, Cleveland Frowns, Cleveland Indians, waiting for next year

19 Jul 2011

Huffin’ & puffin’ the Twins

Just when we start to worry about the Tribe, they surprise us and pull us right back in.

After losing two straight to the last-place Orioles, the Indians headed to Minnesota for a big four-game series with Minnesota.

Monday’s day-night double header featured David Huff and Fausto Carmona taking the mound for the Tribe, leading us to worry about the prospect of a four-game losing streak.

So what happens?

Huff goes out in the opener and throws seven innings of shutout baseball to lead the Tribe to a win. And Carmona went six innings, somehow giving up just two runs as the Indians swept the Twins.

Just the way Manny Acta drew it up before the game.

“David Huff did a nice job,” Acta said in published reports. “David really pitched good with the lead. He attacked both sides of the plate. I can’t say enough about the job he did because he was on three days’ rest and it was so humid and hot.”

“(Fausto is) a guy with great stuff,” Travis Hafner said in published reports. “He’s one of the leaders on this team, so if he can pitch well it’s a huge boost for our club.”

Huff pitched so well that he earned another turn in the rotation, as the Indians sent Jeanmar Gomez back to Columbus after the game.

See what we mean about surprises?

No matter how many times the Tribe gets knocked down, they find a way to come back.

The latest punch came from Grady Sizemore going on the disabled list for the third time this season. Sizemore told The Plain Dealer that the injury feels similar to the one that led to season-ending microfracture surgery last year on his left knee.

“There’s a lot of concern,” Sizemore told the paper. “I just hope I don’t have to go through what I went through last year.”

That doesn’t sound good.

But the Indians have done nothing but play through injuries this year, and hopefully this won’t be any different. But we do have to wonder how much more one team can take and still keep on winning.

Taking the double header was huge for the Tribe. The Twins have been on a roll lately, but now sit seven games back in the standings.

With Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin scheduled to pitch Tuesday and Wednesday, it sets the team up nicely to (at least) win the series and put some additional distance between them and the Twins.

If the Tribe can pull off the sweep of the four-game series, they can push the Twins nine games back, putting a big bucket of cold water on the hot streak the Twins have been on recently.

Let’s hope the Indians have a few more surprises in store for us.

Posted in Cleveland Indians, David Huff, Grady Sizemore | Leave a comment

18 Jul 2011

Quick hits coming off holiday

Back in Ohio after a week of beach, BBQ and sweet tea in the Carolinas.

Not the way we would have liked to see the Tribe open the second half of the season, splitting a series with a Baltimore team that is 16 games under .500.

And while we were happy to hear the news that Mitch Talbot had a “back injury” that would require time on the disabled list, we’re not sunfried enough to think that Jeanmar Gomez, David Huff and Zach McAllister are going to come in and save the day.

Having said that, we don’t think it’s too much to ask that Gomez not blow a three-run lead to a last-place team.

The Tribe just completed an eight-game stretch against Toronto and Baltimore – the two worst teams in the AL East – with a 3-5 record. That’s not going to cut it if the Indians want to stay in the pennant race.

The good news is the Indians are still in first place and they play 47 of their remaining 69 games within the division. And while it does get tiring having to watch a steady diet of Detroit, Minnesota, Chicago and Kansas City, the Tribe has their fate in their own hands – take care of business in the division and they don’t have to worry about anything else.

***

So Pittsburgh’s James Harrison ran his mouth this week, criticizing teammates Ben Rothlisberger and Rashard Mendenhall.

And Hines Ward was arrested and charged with DWI in Georgia.

Good thing the Steelers have such upstanding owners who never put winning above doing the right thing.

Just look at how they handled Rothlisberger’s situation last summer. Oh that’s right, they didn’t do anything but welcome Rothlisberger back with open arms.

We expect nothing less from the hypocritical black and gold.

***

Even though they came up just short in their bid for the World Cup, congratulations are in order for the U.S. Women’s soccer team.

The team’s run to the cup came to an end Sunday against Japan on penalty kicks, but the late goals and never-give-up attitude of the team made them fun to watch.

Despite twice taking a one-goal lead, it just wasn’t meant to be for the team. And it’s not like Japan didn’t deserve to win.

It was just one of those days.

***

While on holiday we read Namath, Mark Kriegel’s 2004 biography of Joe Namath.

Excellent book.

Namath’s career was pretty much over by the time we were old enough to follow sports, so he’s one of those players that was always more myth to us. So reading about how he grew up in Beaver Falls, his exploits at Alabama and his time with the Jets gave us a new perspective on him.

Highly recommend it.

***

Ran into some current and former Clevelanders on vacation, both in Raleigh and Myrtle Beach, and had the chance to talk some Indians baseball.

The view outside of NE Ohio seems to be one of cautious optimism for the Wahoos.

So they have that going for them.

Posted in Cleveland Indians | Leave a comment

09 Jul 2011

Ran into a chum with a bottle of rum …

Red Right 88 will be on holiday at the beach for a few days. Regular activity should hopefully resume around July 18.

We may have some updates next week if something big happens. But as we will be continuing our 20-year quest for the best Mai Tai, as well as seeing how much Carolina BBQ a Cleveland boy can eat, it would probably have to be something pretty big.

Have a good one.

Posted in holiday | Leave a comment

08 Jul 2011

Holding out for a hero

Another day, another hero, another win for the never-say-die Cleveland Indians.

They left it late, but the Tribe came through against the Blue Jays on Travis Hafner’s walk-off grand slam.

Hafner’s heroics were made possible, once again, by the Tribe bullpen, which combined for five innings of one-run ball while everyone waited for the offense to do something.

“We had the right guy up there, but it started with the guys at the bottom of our lineup,” Indians manager Manny Acta said in published reports. “After the first two guys got on — I didn’t think about a walk-off — but I thought we had a pretty good chance with our lineup rolling over.

“Everybody needs to have hope. Every day of your life, you have to think you’re going to do it.”

What a week its been for the Indians.

Taking two out of three from the Yankees, thanks to Austin Kearns’ improbable home run on Monday, and Josh Tomlin and Justin Masterson shoving it up the Yankees’ asses in the two wins (a combined 15 innings pitched, six hits, two earned runs, 11 strikeouts and only three walks) to last night’s comeback, the Tribe seems to have emerged from June’s slump.

And they are doing it with key players still struggling and what seems like almost an injury-a-day policy.

But, through it all, they keep plugging along, never giving in or giving up.

One example of never giving up comes from the always informative DiaTribe, which points out that the right-field platoon of Travis Buck, Austin Kearns and Shelley Duncan have combined to hit .307 with a .844 OPS on 43 plate appearances since Shin-Soo Choo went down with an injury.

It may not be pretty, and it may not feel like it at times, but there’s no questioning this team is finding ways to win – and that is one of the reasons they are so much fun to root for.

And through it all – the injuries, the slumps, guys coming up and going down to Columbus, the only having three-fifths of a reliable starting rotation – the Tribe is in first place, 1.5 games ahead of Detroit and 5.5. up on the White Sox. In fact, over the past 10 games the Indians have picked up three games on Detroit and two games on the ChiSox.

And with Tomlin and Carlos Carrasco scheduled to take the hill this weekend, there is everyone reason to believe the team will head into next week’s All-Star break on a high note.

Get ready Cleveland, it’s shaping up to be one heck of a second half of the season.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Indians, summer of fun, Travis Hafner | Leave a comment

06 Jul 2011

The S doesn’t stand for sensitivity

Someone at ESPN obviously missed the sensitivity training seminar, as an “esteemed panel” of college football “experts” picked the Top 50 college players who failed on the professional level.

Somehow former Syracuse great and Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis – whom the Browns acquired in a trade with Washington for Hall-of-Famer Bobby Mitchell – made the list at No. 3.

The list included such notable bust as Hart Lee Dykes, Brian Bosworth and Andre Ware.

Of course, none of them died from leukemia before ever playing an NFL game, which seems like the kind of thing that ESPN’s “experts” would take into consideration when making such a list.

Instead of reading the drivel at ESPN, check out this first-person account from Davis that appeared in 1963 in The Saturday Evening Post less than two months before he passed away.

Or check out this video of Davis in the 1960 Cotton Bowl.

After reading how determined Davis was to get back on the field despite his illness, there’s no doubt that, if healthy, he would have been one hell of an NFL running back.

(h/t to Nunes Magician)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Ernie Davis, Syracuse | Leave a comment

05 Jul 2011

2 Comments

Browns blockers earn national ranking

Even with the Cleveland Indians in first place and the NFL lockout rolling along, that doesn’t mean we can’t take a moment to think about the Cleveland Browns.

The Fifth Down blog at The New York Times spent the past week rolling out its Top 10 list for each position and the Browns are well represented – especially on the left side of the offensive line.

Joe Thomas repeated as the top tackle in the NFL, someone who “makes the game look easy, especially in pass protection. Not a mauler, but as reliable a run blocker as you’ll find.”

Alex Mack moved up one spot, and is the second-best center, a “superb technician who holds his own in a phone booth and gets out in front with ease.”

Eric Steinbach dropped two spots at guard, but is still the seventh best as “he was Cleveland’s most impressive lineman in ’10. Can get to virtually any spot on the field.”

The rankings for Thomas, Mack and Steinbach are even more impressive when you take a look at the defensive ranks, which are filled with players that the Browns have to deal with in the division:

At defensive tackle, Pittsburgh’s Casey Hamilton (No. 7) and Baltimore’s Haloti Ngata (No. 1) were in the Top 10.
At outside linebacker, Pittsburgh’s LaMarr Woodley (No. 7) and Jerome Harrison (No. 1), along with Baltimore’s Terrell Suggs (No. 3) were all Top 10.
At inside linebacker, Baltimore’s Ray Lewis (No. 8) and Pittsburgh’s Lawrence Timmons (No. 4) were both Top 10.

Gives you a good idea of what the Browns face twice a year and emphasizes the importance of building a solid offensive line.

The Browns were represented on defense, as corner back Joe Haden was mentioned as a player who could make next year’s list as his “uncanny change-of-direction ability alone will make him top-10 before Halloween.”

Now if we could just see these guys on the field again sometime soon, all will be good.

(Photo by Getty Images)

Posted in Alex Mack, Cleveland Browns, Eric Steinbach, Joe Haden, Joe Thomas