Red Right 88

25 Jun 2011

Memories of 1995

With the Indians having a late start Friday night on the West Coast, SportsTime Ohio rolled out the 1995 highlight reel to hold fans over until game time in San Francisco.

We don’t care if everyone in Wahoo red, white and blue was on steroids, we still love that team.

One hundred wins in a 144-game season, seven regulars who batted .300 or better, Albert Belle’s 50 home runs and 52 doubles, a young Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome, Orel Hershiser and Dennis Martinez.

It doesn’t seem possible that it was 16 years ago.

We’ll never forget the sweep against Boston, Paul Assenmacher striking out Ken Griffey Jr. in Game 5 against Seattle, Kenny Lofton’s dash home from second on a wild pitch in Game 6 at the Kingdome, and Hershiser coming up big in Game 5 of the World Series against Atlanta.

The only thing we’ve never figured out is how the Indians could be 10 games better than any other team that year, yet not have home field advantage for any round of the playoffs.

Posted in Cleveland Indians | Leave a comment

24 Jun 2011

The rebuilding continues

The rebuilding continued for the Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday night in the NBA draft, as the Cavs found coach Byron Scott his point guard in Duke’s Kyrie Irving at No. 1 and selected Texas power forward Tristan Thompson.

Irving is quick, tough and intelligent and if he had played the entire season last year there’s little doubt he would have been a clear No. 1. He made 46 percent of his 3s in college and 90 percent of his free throws.

Scott won in New Jersey with point guard Jason Kidd and in New Orleans with point guard Chris Paul. If there was ever a player to match with a coach, this seems to be it.

As for Thompson, he has a chance to be the second best NBA player to ever come out of Canada. He’s a rebounder – he led the Big 12 with almost four offensive boards a game last year – and a shot blocker. He can also get to the free throw line – he averaged 7.3 free throws a game last year – but was a Shaq-like 48 percent on those free throws.

In a lot of ways, Thompson is a younger version of young J.J. Hickson, which makes us wonder what the Cavs have in mind here.

We know there are plenty of people who wanted the Cavs to select Jonas Valanciunas as he was sitting there when the team picked at No. 4, but we don’t know. Valanciunas only played 14 minutes a game in 14 games last year in the Euroleague and we’re not enamored with foreign players the way some people are.

Plus, Thompson is foreign, even if he did play at Texas.

General manager Chris Grant is going to get some grief for the Thompson pick because too many people fell in love with Valanciunas despite never seeing him. We’ll obviously find out over the next few years if the team made a mistake or not.

But if Irving turns out to be as good as everyone thinks he will be, and Thompson turns into a solid player, then we have to rate this draft as a winner.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyrie Irving, NBA draft, Tristan Thompson | Leave a comment

23 Jun 2011

The only Cavs draft preview you’ll need

The Cleveland Cavaliers head into tonight’s NBA Draft in a good position, holding the No. 1 and No. 4 picks.

Who will they pick? We’re pretty sure general manager Chris Grant knows what he wants to do.

And that’s all we can really ask for as fans.

Forget mock drafts, even especially detailed ones. Don’t worry about which seven-foot European player – that most people have never seen play – the team may or may not select.

Because when it comes to drafting, the only real certainty is nobody knows.

As fans, we should expect the front office to do its homework, figure out what positions are weakest on the team, and draft the player they think best fits their team’s system.

Consider the past two drafts by the Browns: they needed help in the secondary, they draft Joe Haden and T.J. Ward. This year, defensive line was an issue and they chose Phil Taylor and Jabaal Sheard.

After that, it truly is a crapshoot. There rarely is ever one singular player that a team must have, so getting too worked up leading into a draft is not really productive.

Clearly there are wrong draft picks. If the Cavs had selected Darko Milici instead of LeBron James in 2003, that would have been a bad pick. But what if the Cavs weren’t picking first that year? If they had selected Carmelo Anthony or Dwyane Wade that year, would things really have been that much different the past seven years?

The thing with draft picks is you just never know.

A team can make the right pick and things can still not work out. Players can have their careers cut short by injury (think Austin Carr and Brad Daugherty), or their time with the team can be limited by bad trade decisions (Mike Mitchell, Ron Harper).

As long as the Cavs have done their homework and identified where they need help, and don’t do anything crazy (someone should keep a close eye on Dan Gilbert), then everything will be fine tonight.

Remember: if fans can figure out what the team’s weaknesses are, then the team can figure it out.

So if the picks are Kyrie Irving and Enes Kanter, or Irving and Jonas Valanciunas, or Derrick Williams and Brandon Knight, it will be OK.

Whatever they do, it will help the rebuilding process.

Posted in Chris Grant, Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA, NBA draft | Leave a comment

21 Jun 2011

Is staying the course an option?

Top of the fifth inning … two outs … Chris Iannetta, the No. 9 hitter at the plate … Tribe leading 4-1 … Fausto Carmona melts down … and by the time the inning is over the Indians trail 7-4.

Carmona’s outing Monday night against Colorado brought about a (NSFW) reaction from Tribe fans everywhere that is certainly understandable.

After the game, the response about what to do about Carmona’s ongoing struggles was less cohesive.

One person who is clear about Carmona’s future is manager Manny Acta – and his opinion is really the only one that counts.

“He’s pitching in five days,” Acta said in published reports. “That’s the solution we have here. You can’t just get rid of him and bring somebody else in here.

“The ability to make a pitch when it counts just hasn’t been there. I don’t know if I can attribute that to a lack of focus. In this case, you’ve got two outs. … You do have to smell blood and get after those guys and get out of that inning.”

But is staying the course really the best option for the Indians as they try to stay in first place? Is the Tribe really prepared to put the pitcher with the highest ERA among American League starters back on the mound Sunday night against San Francisco?

It would be one thing if this was an isolated incident, but Carmona shows no signs of becoming a functional starting pitcher any time soon.

Per Sheldon Ocker in the Beacon Journal, in his past eight starts, Carmona has posted an 8.87 earned-run average, given up 12 hits per nine innings and one home run every 41/3 innings. His record over this span is 1-6.

The Indians are obviously not going to release Carmona; that would be ridiculous. They can’t send him to the minors without his permission. But they can move him to the bullpen and let him try to sort things out away from a situation that will cost the Indians a game.

“I don’t feel like I did in 2009,” Carmona said. “Talking about the fundamental side, I feel fine. I’m working. I’m doing stuff. I’m making pitches. I’m not getting the results I want, but I don’t feel like I felt in 2009.”

Of course, if Carmona keeps pitching the way he has been lately, he will make the choice a pretty simple one for Acta.

***

This is easily the best thing we read today, and probably one of the best things we’ve read in a while.

The SummerHoopScoop blog created a fake college basketball recruiter to disseminate information and see if people would believe it just because it sounded credible.

And boy did it work.

The blog exposed the nonsense spewed by self-proclaimed “experts” and highlighted that subset of fans who have an unhealthy interest in the recruiting of high school athletes.

Well played indeed.

(h/t to Deadspin)

Posted in Cleveland Indians, college basketball recruiting, Fausto Carmona, hard choices, Manny Acta | Leave a comment

20 Jun 2011

In praise of the dive

We come here today to praise the art of the dive.

In Sunday’s Gold Cup win, the U.S.’ Jermaine Jones took a dive in the second half that resulted in Jamaica’s Jermaine Taylor being given a red card.

Was it a bad call by the ref? Of course. But that is part of the game.

We were surprised, though, by the criticism leveled at Jones in the aftermath of the game. Complaining about diving is one aspect of soccer that we don’t understand.

In other sports, gaining an edge is applauded. When Derek Jeter fakes being hit by a pitch, he is “doing what it takes.” When Peyton Manning goes down untouched but gets the ref to throw a flag for roughing the passer, he is praised. When Jason Kidd slows down a quick guard with a well placed forearm or hip, he is a “wily veteran.”

But in soccer? Take a dive and people lose their minds. And ESPN mocks you in an ad.

It’s one thing if you are an Italian player falling down every two minutes like A-Rod after being hit by a pitch, but the rest is pure gamesmanship.

At least until the other guy does it, then it’s just plain wrong.

(Photo by Getty Images/mlssoccer.com)

Posted in Gold Cup, Jermaine Jones, United States | Leave a comment

20 Jun 2011

Opportunities abound for Browns defense

Lots of interesting news swirling about some of Red Right 88’s favorite sports teams today.

First off, Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Dick Jauron sat down with the Beacon Journal‘s Nate Ulrich for a Q & A and a few points stood out to us:

Jauron wants a physical defense: “We really need a to step up and be a very touch and physical team, not only throughout the whole league, but particularly in our division.”
What about the switch to a 4-3? “There are challenges. … The personnel mix is different. The numbers are different. There’s a lot of significant differences. It’ll take some work.
The team likes its linebackers – to a certain extent: “We’re really happy with … the starting three, the veteran three with Scott Fujita and Chris Gocong and D’Qwell Jackson. The front three, we’re depending on those guys, really, to play like the veterans they are … and hopefully stay healthy.”

For starters, what’s not to like about a physical defense? We’re so tired of watching the Browns get slapped around by other teams and their defense not being able to dish it back out (and not in the illegal Pittsburgh way).

The Browns need to be able to take a shot and give it back just as good – in the words of Al Swearengen: “Stand it like a man… and give some back” – especially in the division. They showed late in the 2009 season that if you stand up to teams like the Steelers you can get them to quit.

Next, rebuilding the defense is going to take time and patience – no matter how tired Browns fans are of hearing that.

In his book, Take Your Eye off the Ball, Pat Kirwan said it should two years to make the switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3 – if a team is smart about it. Teams generally have three to four players in their front seven with the skills that translate to the new defense. If the front office does its homework, a team can fill out the front seven in two drafts and one free agency period.

The Browns are on their way to rebuilding the front seven after drafting Phil Taylor and Jabaal Sheard to join Ahtyba Rubin on the defensive front. The front four the Browns should be modeling themselves after is Minnesota’s with Kevin Williams and Pat Williams at the tackle spots, and Jared Allen and Ray Edwards at the ends.

Taylor and Rubin can take up a lot of space in the middle, Sheard can hopefully put some pressure on the quarterback and the Ray Edwards role could be filled by … Ray Edwards, who is currently a free agent.

The linebackers do concern us, primarily because there is little depth behind the three players Jauron singled out. We saw what happened last season when Fujita went down with an injury; if any of those three go down again this year there’s not much on the bench to fill the void.

The only quibble we have with Jauron is his use of the word “challenging” – these are opportunities for the Browns, not challenges. The team has the opportunity to finally build a solid defense, one that isn’t an embarrassment against the run and one that can make the opposing offense react to the defense for a change.

And what’s not to like about that?

***

The magic was back at Progressive Field this weekend as the Cleveland Indians swept Pittsburgh.

Cord Phelps sealed the deal on Sunday with a three-run homer in extra innings.

We have to feel bad for Justin Masterson, though. Masterson gave up two runs in the first inning then combined with pretty much the entire bullpen to hold the Pirates scoreless for the next 10 innings. But Masterson walked away with a no decision.

The bullpen has not allowed a run in 22 2/3 innings over seven games.

Masterson, who is now 5-5 with a 3.18 ERA on the season, hasn’t earned a win since April 26. In that 10-start stretch, he is 0-5 with an ERA under 4.00 and has allowed two or fewer earned runs seven times.

He must have done something wrong, because the Tribe has scored all of 20 runs in Masterson’s last 10 starts.

It was nice to see the Indians right the ship, even if it is only temporary and was just against the Pirates. While you can’t count on the Tribe to sweep, they do need to get back into the habit of winning series so that they can start rebuilding their record.

Much like we pondered a few days ago about what the Indians should do with Fausto Carmona, Terry Pluto presented some scary numbers about Carmona in today’s Plain Dealer. According to the article:

Carmona’s ERA is the highest of any regular starting pitcher in the American League
Carmona allows 40 percent of baserunners to score, also the highest rate among AL starting pitchers
Carmona has already given up 14 home runs (in just 91.2 innings pitched) compared to just 17 (in 210.1 innings) last year.

Depressed yet?

The good news is the Tribe has options,with Jeanmar Gomez and Zach McAllister pitching well in the minors. If Carmona or Mitch Talbot continue to struggle, one of them could be moved to the bullpen to make room for Gomez or McAllister.

If the team does have to make a decision between Carmona or Talbot, it will be interesting to see how much salary (Carmona makes $6.2 million vs. $431,000 for Talbot) will play into the decision.

***

The U.S. Men’s National Team finally played a solid game, beating Jamaica 2-0 to advance to Wednesday’s semifinal of the Gold Cup, where they will get a rematch with Panama.

The Americans were aggressive again on offense and were rewarded for their efforts with goals by Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey.

The bad news was Jozy Altidore left nine minutes into the game with a hamstring injury and, after the game, U.S. coach Bob Bradley said he didn’t know what Altidore’s status would be for the remainder of the tournament.

But that’s a concern for another day. For now, it’s good to see the team have its best game of the tournament heading into the semis and raise our hopes for a final date with Mexico next Saturday.

***

Oh yeah, the NBA Draft is this week. The Cavs are playing it close to the vest about what they plan to do with the first and fourth picks in the first round.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, Gold Cup, United States | Leave a comment

18 Jun 2011

Better start updating the rule book

Someone better get Bud Selig on the hotline right now.

The Cleveland Indians placed Matt LaPorta on the disabled list after the first baseman injured his ankle during a rundown between second and third base on Friday night against Pittsburgh.

“He will be out two to three weeks with a mild high ankle sprain,” manager Manny Acta said of LaPorta, who is hitting .242 with eight homers and 32 RBIs in 59 games.

Clearly, the rundown is an inherently dangerous play and must be immediately outlawed.

That’s the new protocol, right? At least that’s what happened when San Francisco catcher Buster Posey was hurt in a play at the plate last month. His agent and Giants general manager Brian Sabean both cried about the injury and how the rules should be changed.

Thankfully the Indians are move level-headed about such things.

Of course, this could have all been avoided if LaPorta, who doesn’t seem to have good baseball instincts, would have not tried to go to third on a groundball to the short stop.

“It is safe to say I didn’t want him to go to third base whether or not he was getting injured,” Acta said in published reports.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in bad ideas, Cleveland Indians, Matt LaPorta | Leave a comment

18 Jun 2011

Where is our soccer superstar?

In anticipation of Sunday’s Gold Cup game vs. Jamaica, The Wall Street Journal asks an interesting question: Why can’t the U.S. build a soccer star?

The article notes that the U.S. has won more than 1,000 Olympic gold medals. It has produced 26 British Open champions, 14 No. 1 tennis players and two winners of the Tour de France. It’s the birthplace of swimmer Michael Phelps, volleyball legend Karch Kiraly and chess master Bobby Fischer.

But no soccer players that have been superstars on the international level.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Tommy Smyth, the television analyst, in the article. “I go to my local park and there’s 10 games going on all day on a Saturday, and you mean to tell me you can’t find one jewel in there?”

Smyth noted that his native country, Ireland, has produced plenty of top players (Shay Given and Roy Keane among them) even though it has a population of just six million.

Then there are countries like Trinidad (home of Manchester United’s Dwight Yorke), Togo, (Real Madrid’s Emmanuel Adebayor), Cameroon (Samuel Eto’o) and Ivory Coast (Didier Drogba).

With an estimated 15 million kids playing soccer in this country, you’d think someone would have broken through by now.

It’s not that the opportunities aren’t there. Of the 23 players on the roster for the U.S. team at the Gold Cup, 16 play at the club level internationally, at places like Everton, West Ham, Aston Villa, Rangers, Fulham, Blackburn and Wolverhampton.

Sunil Gulati, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, said he would have expected a U.S. player to become a stalwart for one of the world’s top clubs by now, but that he’s not “shocked” it hasn’t happened. “There are so few players at that level,” he said. “I believe it’s something that will happen over time.”

In some respects, Gulati is probably correct. When you think that soccer has only been a viable American sport for what, 30 years or so, while it is firmly in the DNA of almost every other country, it’s pretty impressive that the Americans have had the kind of success they’ve enjoyed.

***

Only 57 more days until the start of the Premier League season and what we hope will not be the only football we will be watching this fall.

Liverpool opens at home against Sunderland as the Reds look to continue the momentum they had from last season under manager Kenny Dalglish.

Posted in Gold Cup, Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool, United States | Leave a comment

16 Jun 2011

Quick hits on the second-place Tribe

Some quick thoughts in the aftermath of the Cleveland Indians falling back into second place after losing to Detroit on Thursday by a score of 6-2.

We had the opportunity to work from home today and, by luck, the Indians were playing an afternoon game.

But for some ongoing reason that continues to vex us, SportsTime Ohio decided they were not going to televise the game. Why? Who knows?

This is one of those situations we will never figure out. The announcers and the equipment are already in Detroit – why are you not televising the game?

So we were forced to turn back the clock to 1942 and listen to the Indians on the radio. Which isn’t a bad thing, really, we all know Tom Hamilton in the man and all, but the drawback to listening to a game on the radio are the insipid commercials you have to endure from WTAM.

Promos for Glenn Beck and Mike Trivisonno, First Energy, some kind of hot dogs, we don’t know. It was mind-numbing and an embarrassment, to put it bluntly.

We thought the endofamerica.com guy was bad on Sirius, but he’s got nothing on WTAM.

***

We’ve been feeling sympathy for the Tribe’s starting pitchers as the team has gone through its recent offensive slump – scoring two or fewer runs 10 times in their past 15 games.

It can’t be easy taking the mound knowing if you give up a couple of runs the game is essentially over.

But those sympathetic feelings have been tempered lately as we’ve watched the Indians put up a couple of runs only to see the starter go out the next inning and give those runs right back.

It happened Wednesday with Fausto Carmona – after the Tribe put up four runs in the fourth to come back from a 3-0 hole, Carmona gave a run right back to the Tigers in the bottom of the inning.

Same thing today – the Indians actually scored twice in the top of the first and then Mitch Talbot gave both runs back to the Tigers in the bottom of the inning.

Is it really too much to ask these guys to hold a lead when the Indians actually get one?

***

Cord Phelps (.063 average since being promoted) was never going to turn the slumping Indians around by himself, but having him in Cleveland may be paying dividends nonetheless.

Since Phelps joined the team last week, Orlando Cabrera, the likely candidate to lose playing time to Phelps, has hit .313.

So, if nothing else, Phelps presence has lit a fire under Cabrera’s butt.

Posted in bad pitching, bad radio, Cleveland Indians | Leave a comment

16 Jun 2011

Taking care of business

It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but the U.S. Men’s National Team took care of business against Guadeloupe on Tuesday night and earned a place in the knockout stage of the Gold Cup.

“With group play, you’ve got to deal with each game and find a way to advance,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said in published reports. “We’re pretty hard on ourselves because we weren’t satisfied with our performance against Panama, but there are things that bring a team together.”

Jozy Altidore put the U.S. up 1-0 in the 9th minute with the kind of goal that makes him such a frustrating player. Altidore’s 25-yard blast showed just how talented he can be and makes one wonder why he can’t bring that same intensity every game.

The Americans had plenty of scoring chances, peppering the Guadeloupe goal, but goalkeeper Franck Grandel denied them repeatedly. Clint Dempsey had an off night, missing two headers, hitting the post and somehow not getting a shot off when he was all alone with the ball two yards in front of the goal.

Throw in uncharacteristic misses from Landon Donovan and Chris Wondolowski and the final score could have been much more impressive.

“We want to be better,” Donovan said in published reports. “This is a game we should have won probably 3- or 4-0, but the reality is that we won. That’s all that matters at this point.”

Donovan’s right – we would have like to have seen the U.S. convert more of those scoring chances, but in tournament play the objective is to advance, and that’s what the team did.

Now we’re left to wonder which team will show up on Sunday to face Jamaica – the Group B winner that has yet to give up a goal.

“Be careful what you wish for, but I actually think that’s the kind of game we need now,” U.S. goalie Tim Howard said in published reports. “We need a game where the tempo is high and teams aren’t sitting in. They’re coming out feeling like we’re a wounded animal and they’re gonna get us, and that’s when we catch them.”

The Americans have yet to play a complete game in the tournament, but they have been able to do just enough to get by. That was OK in group play, but they are going to need to bring a full 90-minute effort from here on out – especially with a date with Mexico looming somewhere on the horizon.

The slate has now been wiped clean. What the U.S. team does now is up to them.

Photo courtesy of si.com

***

Randy Lerner’s Aston Villa have gotten themselves into a twist in their attempts to hire Alex McLeish as their new manager.

According to The Guardian, McLeish held talks with Villa officials at a secret location in London on Wednesday ahead of a proposed defection across the city on a three-year, £2m-a-year contract. At the same time a crowd of Villa supporters gathered in protest outside Villa Park while lawyers acting for Birmingham, McLeish’s former club, drew up plans to pursue their rivals for compensation and to defend the club against an anticipated charge of constructive dismissal from McLeish.

Birmingham claims that Aston Villa struck a deal with McLeish before he resigned from Birmingham on Sunday – a resignation that Birmingham has not yet accepted.

And the fans are less than thrilled, with one spray painting the message “Bluenose scum not welcome” on a wall at Villa’s training ground.

Oh Randy.

***

Liverpool has unveiled its third kit for next season, taking inspiration from the club’s jersey of 120 years ago.

It’s strange seeing blue incorporated into the jersey – kind of like if the Browns brought black-and-gold into their color scheme – but we see the historic nature of the kit.

Posted in Gold Cup, Liverpool, Randy Lerner, United States | Leave a comment