Tribe drop two in a row to lose series to Rangers

Look: a crappy but accurate headline! In light of these last two defeats and my general lack of interest in writing what is probably my 31st Indians series wrap this year, I'm not going to go over the individual games but just hit some general points of interest.

- Aaron Laffey might as well be the best pitcher we have right now. In a recap of his win to open the series, some Indians writer said Laffey was making a good case to be included in the rotation that already will include Carmona and Masterson. Hell, Laffey might as well be our 2010 Opening Day starter if I had to pick someone right now.

- Fausto wasn't too bad the other day; the Indians just couldn't give him any run support.

- Tom Hamilton informed me that the Indians have not hit a home run in the last six games at home and this is a Jacobs/Progressive Field record.

- The Rangers' pitching coach came straight out and said the Indians are a bad off-speed hitting team. Straight ball we hit very much.

- The Rangers are a good team and have a number of good young arms pitching for them.

- I hear it was in the mid-70s today in Cleveland. I would have really liked to been there today, except for the losing part.

- Hey did you know Jamey Carroll has more post All-Star Game starts than Kelly Shoppach? Neither did I until I read the most recent post from the DiaTribe.

- Chris Gimenez is now hitting .190 and looks to be having a rough go of it in this his first call-up.

- 17 of Luis Valbuena's 50 hits are doubles.

- Despite his dominating performance at AAA, Rafael Perez has given up three runs in 1.2 innings since being recalled.

Game 1: Justin Masterson, RHP (3-3, 4.22) vs. Scott Baker, RHP (9-7, 4.85)
Game 2: David Huff, LHP (6-6, 6.72) vs. To be announced
Game 3: Aaron Laffey, LHP (6-3, 3.25) vs. Nick Blackburn, RHP (8-7, 3.99)

The Indians head off to a three game series at the baggy dome against the Twins of Minnesota. Yes it is another three game road trip. Last time Masterson was cut off after 60 pitches and interim-Manager Eric Wedge has indicated that Masterson will probably get to go 75 or 80 pitches this time out. Hey look who it is, my favorite opposing pitcher...TBA! Carl Pavano originally looked to be on tap for Game 1, but instead took his first loss as a Twin today. Moving on, we have staff ace Aaron Laffey taking the mound to close out this road trip.

Go Tribe!

(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

Your '09 Browns: Outside Linebackers

Previous Previews
Running backs

After taking our first look at the offense, let's switch gears and check out the linebackers. To make things a little easier to digest (and because they are two very different positions in the 3-4 defense), we'll look at the inside and outside linebackers separately, starting with the OLBs.

The Cast
Bonafide starter: Kamerion Wimbley
Possible starters: David Bowens, Alex Hall, David Veikune
On the bubble: Leon Williams, Titus Brown


Glancing back...

Last season was a massive disappointment for the entire defense, but if one part failed more than others, it had to be the outside linebackers. The OLBs are the playmakers of the 3-4, and if they aren't getting to the quarterback consistently, then it's a safe bet that nobody else is, either.

Wimbley (right OLB) saw the field the most, while Willie McGinest received the bulk of the reps on the left side. Rookie Alex Hall took some playing time away from McGinest, but mostly in passing situations. Many fans, including yours truly, wanted to see more from Hall, but Romeo Crennel was more likely to win a marathon than play a rookie.

Hall recorded a sack in three consecutive games (at Ravens, at Begnals, Giants) early in the season, but apparently that wasn't enough for him to earn more playing time opposite Wimbley. Antwan Peek, who was allegedly a great pass rusher, spent the season on the injured reserve. Peek still banked roughly $2.4 million last year. (Another free agent bullseye, Phil.)

One of the most frustrating things about the Browns over the last two seasons has been the apparent regression of Kamerion Wimbley. After logging 11 sacks as a rookie in 2006 and appearing to be a keystone player, Wimbley's sack totals decreased to 5 in 2007, and 4 last season. After being one of the few guys who made the team watchable in 2006, opposing scouts probably noticed that Wimbley's repertoire consists solely of a speed rush around the outside.

Leon Williams is the last holdover from the Crennel/Savage regime. Williams was a fourth round pick out of Miami in 2006, and at 6-2, 250 pounds, he certainly looks the part of a physical linebacker. But 2008 was a very disappointing season for the kid from The U. Splitting time between inside and outside linebacker, Williams had only 38 total tackles and no sacks (down from 85 tackles and 4 sacks in 2007). In spite of his physical gifts, Williams has trouble getting to the quarterback, which makes it difficult to be an effective outside linebacker.

I used to scream for Williams to receive more playing time, as Romeo Crennel was known to favor the vets. However, if Williams doesn't turn any heads with a (hopefully) more objective coach running the show, maybe he's just never going to make the jump. After all, this is a guy who fell to the fourth round largely as a result of inconsistent collegiate performance.


Looking forward...

Thankfully, we won't have to watch McGinest run around the field in slow motion "Baywatch" style anymore, as he was not retained. The guy should have been cut after 2006. Antwan Peek won't be back either, and it's probably safe to label that experiment a failure.

There is some new blood at OLB, but probably not enough. David Bowens (former Jet), and David Veikune (second round pick from Hawaii) have been added to the existing corps of Hall, Williams, and Wimbley. The 23-year old Titus Brown is also competing for a roster spot. Brown had a cup of coffee with the Browns last year after spending most of the season on the practice squad.

The success of the position as a whole is largely dependent on Wimbley, and 2009 will be a watershed season for the former Seminole. If he doesn't make significant strides, then it's time for the Browns to cut bait and look elsewhere for a pass rusher. (I said it at the time, and I'll keep saying it: Haloti Ngata should have been the pick.) The Browns need Wimbley to deliver at least 8-10 sacks, thus becoming a player that opposing offenses have to account for and consider while game planning. Wimbley isn't a bust yet, but if all he delivers is one more year of sub-mediocrity, then the label should be applied.

David Bowens is ideally a backup, but unfortunately the Browns are pretty thin at outside linebacker. Bowens was signed to a four-year, $7.2 million contract, which will probably just make him a more affordable version of Willie McGinest. I doubt that the Browns will keep Bowens for the duration of that contract. Mangini isn't looking for Pro Bowl production out of the 32-year old; consistency, depth, and veteran leadership are why Bowens is on the team.

Wimbley will definitely start on the right, so any depth chart mysteries will be associated with the left side (STRONG SIDE!). According to the preliminary depth chart, Bowens currently has the edge to start opposite Wimbley. That makes sense; he knows Mangini's system best, Hall is more of a situational pass rusher at this point of his career, and Veikune is still a project. In fact, Veikune might split time between OLB and ILB.

It will be interesting to see whether or not Leon Williams makes the final cut. Williams has to prove that he can play at least one of the linebacker positions well, as opposed to playing them both decently. In other words, he has to prove he isn't a "tweener". Titus Brown has allegedly been making a real push to earn a roster spot, as well.

Bowens will likely start on the left side against the Vikings on September 13, but it remains to be seen whether Mangini will give the two starters the lion's share of the playing time, or rotate OLBs frequently (e.g. Alex Hall in pass rushing situations). Regardless of what happens on week one, look for Hall and Veikune to see more action as the season progresses, especially if Bowens starts to show his age or the Browns fall out of contention.

August and Everything After

August isn't the the best month for sports. The weather tends towards the warm side and the only real game in town is baseball. Those people excited about NFL camp are generally ignored. The fact that our Indians are having one of their worst seasons in fifteen even twenty years doesn't help either.

Last week I mentioned the fact that the Dolans look to lose $16 mil on this 2009 version of the Indians. That, along with the fact that it seems all we can hope for is making the playoffs every four to five years, still is weighing on me. I even thought about making a whole post about it but the last thing this blog needs is more Indians coverage (by me at least). So I decided to just roll it into a series recap. Previously I had thought of the Indians as the only real smart kid on the block (yeah I know that's silly in hindsight). Sure, we were never going to have a big payroll but we would have smart decisions on young guys and make decent decisions on signing grizzled veterans to cheap one-year deals. The more I think about it, though, the Indians can't possibly be that dissimilar to other clubs, right?

The good news is the Al Central will never be as big spenders as the East and West coast teams. Although the White Sox picking up both Jake Peavy and Alex Rios this year may look like big money, their decision to pick up Rios and his remaining $60 million make me actually feel more secure in the Indians' front office decision-making process. As long as the Indians aren't one of those teams that appears to not be trying or just throwing occasional crazy money at the problem (Why did the Cincinnati Reds need Scott Rolen again?) then I should be happy.

Speaking of those White Sox of Chicago the Indians had a weird three-game road trip wrap yesterday and boy have these last few series taught us a lot about the AL Central. Friday was the Jeremy Sowers/Mark Buehrle pitching matchup we had all been looking forward to. And you know what, Sowers probably pitched his best game this year and I will not criticize him for the rest of the season. Sowers went seven innings limiting Chicago to just two runs on six hits. Buehrle, on the other hand, hasn't been the same since his streak of recording outs. Kelly Shoppach pretty much was a one-man offense accounting for three hits, two runs, and four RBI on a two home run night. Tribe (47-62) win 6-2.

Saturday's game was pretty much a spring training game. Having traded Carl Pavano last week the Indians had to find a spot starter. I asked FCF writer and editor Andy who he though would start - Justin Masterson or Tomo Ohka. He later informed me that Masterson was the announced starter. This was a little surprising since I knew Masterson couldn't have gotten enough work in to go very deep, and I was right. What I forgot about was how these games don't really matter as wins or losses. No, this game was more an opportunity to get Masterson some work as a starter. So the good news is Masterson did pretty well. He reached his 60-pitch limit after four innings but only gave up one run on four hits and four strikeouts. Not too shabby. The bad news was that he was replaced in the bottom of the fifth by Ohka. Ohka lasted 0.1 innings and allowed four runs on four hits. This, unfortunately, squandered a decent effort by not only Masterson but the offense as well. The doubles machine that is Jhonny Peralta continued on driving the Indians' success at the plate, but it wasn't enough to overcome asking our bullpen to cover the post-Masterson innings. Indians (47-63) lose 5-8.

Sunday's game was most notable for the offensive outburst (outburst) of Jamey Carroll. If the Indians hold to their usual 2009 script, that can only mean Carroll should be claimed off waivers any day now. Carroll only had two hits but one of those was a home run, just his second of the year, and the other was a double that scored two to give the Tribe a 4-3 lead after trailing 3-0. Pitching-wise, David Huff had one of those ho-hum games. He was tagged for three runs in the second but settled down and ended up going 6.1 and allowing four runs. I guess not imploding is a good thing. White Sox pitcher Jose Contreras, on the other hand, could only muster 4.2 innings. Reportedly manager Ozzie Guillen was quoted as saying that the Cuban-born Contreras didn't pitch well due to the heat. Really? Because doesn't make a lot of sense. They got summer in Cuba right? Tribe (48-63) win 8-4 and take another series.

I don't remember the last time I looked at the Indians in the standings. Wow my preseason prediction of the Royals not finishing in last place isn't looking too good.

Game 1: Dustin Nippert, RHP (3-0, 2.73) vs. Aaron Laffey, LHP (5-3, 3.58)
Game 2: Tommy Hunter, RHP (4-2, 2.63) vs. Fausto Carmona, RHP (2-6, 6.66)
Game 3: Scott Feldman, RHP (11-4, 4.01) vs. Jeremy Sowers, LHP (4-7, 4.75)

Hey you remember the Texas Rangers right? They were that team the Indians faced on the crap-tacular opening series way back in April. Look at those Ranger pitcher records, weird. You know who I like in game 3? That's right, Jeremy Sowers.

(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Even Steven

With today's trade of Carl Pavano to the Twins, the Indians have now dealt 7 players since they first started selling off spare parts in June. The move is pretty universally hailed as representing a write-off of the 2009 campaign and quite possibly 2010 as well. I'm not disputing this, but I nevertheless decided it was worth looking at the numbers to see just how much the moves, particularly the high-profile moves of Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez, have actually changed our club (other than making it more affordable).

Admittedly, I did this a few days ago, but I don't think the results are any less valid. As usual, I pulled all my data from Baseball Reference.

Let's look at the hitters first. A point I've tried to make several times throughout this season is that, although the Tribe is a lousy team, (albeit one that has won 10 of 15 games and is now up 3-0 on the ChiSocks) they really aren't a bad hitting club. They sport a team OPS of .773 (OPS+ of 100), an OBP of .347, and have scored 553 runs, good for 7th, 5th, and 5th in the AL, respectively. So how does the team, as currently constructed, stack up against the year-to-date performance? I added the numbers so far for the twelve players who figure to get the most at-bats over the next two months: Sizemore, Cabrera, Choo, Peralta, Hafner, Crowe, LaPorta (maybe?), Marte, Gimenez, Valbuena, Shoppach, and Toregas, and compared it to the current all-team season total. Some of the newbies represent small sample sizes, for sure, but those mostly will be washed out by the players who've compiled the most plate appearances.

Those 12 player have, thus far, posted an OBP of .349 and OPS of .779, slightly better than the overall club's year-to-date performance. A few things make this analysis somewhat non-rigorous; pitchers batting drag down the YTD numbers, I might have made a mistabulation here and there, I left Jamey Carroll out of my 12 since he shouldn't be playing anymore, I didn't use park factor (though Progressive Field is exactly neutral for the year), and the contributions of the new guys are underweighted. But it's hard not to at least see the central conclusion: after dealing Garko, Francisco, DeRosa, and Martinez, the Indians for the moment don't appear appreciably worse as an offensive club. As much as I and everyone else loved Victor, if we get some MLB-caliber pitchers out of the trade, we'll easily come out ahead, considering the catching/guitar playing depth we have in the organization.

Regarding my comment on Carroll - it's not that I don't appreciate his contribution this year. I just think they need to give more young guys time, since Carroll isn't a long-term solution for the Tribe. Your everyday lineup should be this:

CF Sizemore
SS Cabrera
RF Choo
3B Peralta
DH Hafner
LF LaPorta/Crowe
1B Marte/Gimenez
2B Valbuena/Donald
C Toregas/Shoppach

It's time for me to single out Choo for praise once again: the dude is getting on base at a .401 clip, hits for power, makes the league minimum (next year too!) and does about everything you'd want a baseball player to do. He just hit a triple and scored, as a matter of fact. 4-0 Tribe! Anyway, let the players who figure into 2010 play every day and see what they got. For that matter, our rotation should be pretty obvious:

Carmona
Laffey
Sowers
Huff
Masterson

Bring up Rondon and Carrasco if they're ready, otherwise let these 5 ride out the year. I'm not even going to bother with the bullpen, except to note that it actually has provided a bit of stability, especially Sipp, Smith, and Wood at the back end.

And with that we get to the pitchers. For the year, the Tribe has a dreadful 86 ERA+ - better than when I last wrote about the club (and better after some strong pitching over the past 4 games), but still dead last in the AL. Losing Lee (ERA+ of 144) is obviously a big blow; losing Pavano (84), not so much. Anyway, I recalculated with the guys who figure to pitch the rest of the year (which included Pavano and I don't have a calculator with me nor the inclination to redo it): Huff, Sowers, Carmona, Laffey, Wood, Lewis, Smith, Chris Perez, Ohka, Sipp, Veras, and Masterson. The same caveats apply as with my batter analysis, but we arrive at 82, somewhat lower than without Lee. Four points here is not insignificant - we are clearly worse off without the Phifer, certainly more so than without Victor, but not devastatingly so.

The main point is that yes, we lost some key players, but for the moment, we don't really look to be a worse baseball team, both on paper or on the field, where our lead has been cut to 4-2. Go Tribe!

First the bad news

Indians beat writer Anthony Castrovince has a wonderful wrap of two interview/press conference the Indians held over the last two days. The two major things to note are that the Indians are looking to lose $16 million this year and over the last four years the Indians have only one playoff apprearance and that is probably as good as our front office thinks it can do with what it has been given.

Yeah, these aren't very cheery revelations. We could have come to this conclusion on our own but having to be told it is a lot like learning there is no Santa Claus. Looking back on it, competing on a regular basis seemed a little farfetched but cheering for a sports team is often about blind belief that your team is just as good as any team and has every right to win every night.

But enough doom and gloom - the Indians won another series today!

Tuesday's series opener against the Twins was David Huff betraying everything I had said in my last series preview. Huff only went 4.2, giving up 11 hits and being tagged for seven earned runs. You might be asking about that offense of ours. Don't even worry about it since we didn't break up the shutout until the bottom of the ninth. Back-to-back doubles (the only ones the Indians had in the game) in the ninth by Jhonny Peralta and Travis Hafner with one out was the sole scoring this team could muster. Jhonny and Travis also represent the only two players with multiple hits. Jensen Lewis pitched in relief of Huff and proceeded to give up a first-pitch three-run homer to Chris Gomez. So Jensen Lewis is back! Chris Perez and Tony Sipp both pitched hitless one strikeout innings. Tribe (44-62) lose big time 10-1.

Wednesday's game was easier to watch, or listen to, believe me. First of all, we had Aaron Laffey on the mound. You might remember Aaron as that pitcher with a winning record that we can expect to pitch for this team next year. The offense tonight was provided by the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 9 spots in the lineup. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Trevor "not Matt LaPorta" Crowe had two hits and scored two runs and added an RBI. Asdrubal Cabrera was three for three with a pair of RBI's. Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo also had two RBI apiece. Laffey on the other end of things had things locked down. Laffey pitched a career-best eight innings, scattering six hits, allowing one run, and striking out, what I believe might be a career high too, five. Mark DeRosa's player to be named later Jess Todd made his Indians debut, pitching a scoreless one hit, one strikeout ninth. Tribe (45-62) win, kind of big time, 1-8.

Well if those games didn't have enough tension for you then today's game should have been more to your liking. Fausto Carmona, making his second start since being recalled from a stint in the minors, allowed a base runner in every inning he worked, often the leadoff hitter too. Carmona, however, worked out of those situations, just as you expected him to implode. Fausto finished the day with six innings, six hits, and three walks, holding the Twins to just one run. Tony Sipp turned in a solid 1.1 innings of relief before allowing a base runner and being replaced by Joe Smith who got out of the eigth unmolested. The Indians' offense wasn't having much success agaisnt Nick Blackburn who has pretty much owned the Indians to the tune of a 4-0 record coming into today. Peralta's sac fly in the fourth might help explain to you how he went oh for three with an RBI but Trevor "Michael Brantley" Crowe's seventh inning double scoring Hafner is what put the Indians up 1-2. Kerry Wood, who hasn't pitched in five days, comes in and gets his club leading 15th save. Indians (46-62) win 1-2.

The Indians won another series and are winners of 10 of their last 15. I want to say I like the energy the new guys like Crowe, Chris Gimenez, and Wyatt Toregas bring, but it could be that the Indians winning is what I'm attracted to right now.

Game 1: Jeremy Sowers, LHP (3-7, 4.97) vs. Mark Buehrle, LHP (11-5, 3.79)
Game 2: Carl Pavano, RHP (9-8, 5.37) vs. To be announced
Game 3: David Huff, LHP (5-6, 6.81) vs. Jose Contreras, RHP (4-10, 4.95)

Who runs these teams with records like 56-53 but can't set a rotation? I guess when you're possibly in contention picking who you want to pitch takes a little more thought. Or maybe when you have more than one option it could be difficult too. Now I'm not a betting man, but who do you like in game one?

Our fine Indians radio announcers pointed out that the Tribe have this three game series, get Monday off, return to Cleveland to face the Rangers for three, only to leave town again and head to Minnesota for three games, and get Monday off again to return home for a proper homestand.

Go Tribe!

(AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Braylon

I didn't realize until just now that he's officially listed as out with a "non-football injury" and that no details have been disclosed by him or the club. Braylon himself, when asked how he got injured (from the PD):

"Talk to coach Mangini about that and see what he says."

Subsequently asked whether he did it playing basketball:

"Talk to coach Mangini."


Fortunately, I can translate Braylon-speak! What he meant was:

"I'm trying to conceal how I got hurt."

and

"Yes."


Nice to see a guy who so frequently blames others for his mistakes once again not owning up to something. Come on, man.

FCF at the Cleveland Triathlon: Year 2

FCF co-founders Nick and I made our triathloning debut in the Cleveland Triathlon last year, and this weekend returned, determined for even better things. We each placed second in our age brackets in 2008; the results were quite a bit different this year for both Nick and Andy, for vastly different reasons. At right you see a camera phone pic I took of Downtown today, including the harbor where we swam and parts of the bike and run courses.

Having learned our lesson about not eating well the night before a race from our adventures the week before at Pittsburgh, we were much healthier on Saturday evening this time out. There were a few complications; I had to borrow Nick's backup swimsuit after misplacing mine, and we had to take a trip to Bike Authority to fix a punctured inner tube on Nick's bike, but all was well. We went to Progressive Field, where the Indians completed their Ways to Lose Baseball Games Bingo card by balking in the winning run in the 12th. Knowing we'd have to get up before 5 am the next day, we cut bait after the 10th inning.

As veterans, we were much better informed and prepared this year. Most notable change: we showed up on time. This allowed us to get reasonable transition area position and get settled in before hitting the water. We hopped in during the second wave, right after the Super Sprint people did their little race. I tend to belittle the Super Sprint, and I suppose International racers do the same for the Sprint distance, but Super Sprint really is short.

This year's race featured 290 entrants, up from 214 last year, making the swim a bit more hectic. Nick was 20th out of the water, kicking it out in 9:55, while I was 120th out at 13:34. His was 1 minute slower than last year; mine was three minutes slower. There's no T1 (swim to bike transition) listed, but it seems the bike time incorporates that. Hard to tell. On the bright side, Lake Erie was the perfect temperature to swim in.

The cycle was where each of us made our most significant improvements, thanks to better gear and, at least on my part, more of an emphasis on cycle training. There was a little bit of rain on the course and some wind blowing east, but nothing we couldn't handle. I cycled in 52:08, 47th-best and almost four minutes faster than last year; Nick blazed in 47:47, dropping more than five minutes from 2008. Knock about 1:30 off of those if they indeed include T1, and you see what bike monsters we are. Apparently concerned about not looking silly enough. Nick added this comical aero bar-mounted water bottle for this race. Good times.

Conditions were very good for the run; better than my time was, anyway. As I've mentioned, I had knee surgery now 11 weeks ago, and my running isn't nearly where it should be. Well, today the knee was physically fine (yay!), though I was a bit tired rolling off the bike. The problem: I've got no training base on foot anymore. So structurally I was sound, but ran out of gas quicker than I'm accustomed to. That's not accurate - one has to have something in the first place to run out of it. The result: a lame 27:56, for 78th place. Nick was the 5th-best runner, at 22:07.

We definitely both improved in transition; Nick took a minute off his T2 (bike to run) and I dropped 30 seconds from my own. I mentioned before about T1, but Nick certainly got back a lot of time there. When the dust settled, Nick ended up at 1:19:48, ~10 minutes faster than last year; at 1:33:36, I managed to best my 2008 time by a minute, injuries and all. Nick's effort was good for 6th overall (up from 21st last year); mine put me at 58th (from 43rd). Yes, I ran faster this year and dropped 15 spots. As with last week, if you give me my last year's running time, things improve considerably; I would have had 41st. Oh well, this is a Cleveland race, so there's always next year.

The age groups are where it gets interesting. Nick destroyed his age group, beating the next "20-24" year-old guy by approximately 15 minutes. That's ridiculous. I would have placed second in Nick's division, but I'm not in the Young Bucks Division anymore. No, this year, I'm in the "30-34" bracket. I use the quotation marks because, in case I wasn't clear on this last week, I'M NOT 30 YET. As I said, I would have placed 2nd in Nick's division, and I would have gotten 5th in 25-29, right behind a friendly fellow named Kyle who puled away from me in the run. Inasmuch as I'm 29, that seems the most relevant piece of information. Unfortunately, the geniuses at USAT have decided I'm 30 (I'm not), leaving me right in the middle at 10th out of a group of 19. It's tough being old. For the record, Nick would have got 2nd in my group as well.

So, the big race for the year is over, and I think we both have to be pleased with our progress. Next year, I can see Nick gunning for Top 5 overall. Barring any unforeseen knee operations, I'm looking to break 1:30. This year, we're looking at Lorain and Erie, both of which will be a little more low-key than the big one. I can say this for certainty: they will both have better-looking t-shirts than this abomination . I think my face in this photo communicates my thoughts on the shirt more effectively than words could. Really, pink/brown/orange on a tan background? Did they have surplus tan shirts and pink ink? This thing is amazing. I can't believe I wore it out of my house after the race. But everything else about the day I enjoyed.

Look we scheduled these things so we still have to play them.

If you haven't already I recommend you read Anthony Castrovince's blog post today Sooner or later, it all comes down to money and Paul Cousineau's A Lazy Sunday and The End of an Era. Specifically AC's article pretty much summaries what I was trying to get at in my last post, but in a more professional manner. PC touches on the how he has to explain to his wife the loss of Cliff Lee and Victor Maritnez. Often those closest to us and even ourselves sometimes forget how this is a business, and trying to win is part of that business, but so is making money. Unfortunately having the usual Cleveland sports mindset, especially in baseball I think, we often cling to players we like and can identify with since come the postseason we're not exactly sure what to do with ourselves. So without the continuous hope of contention and the idea that players are moved for competitive reasons, often when we lose Jim Thome, or Omar Vizquel, or Victor Martinez we wonder why. We have a hard time believing people when they tell us in the long term this will make the team better when we're not that kind of city. We don't expect success but we do expect to see Victor behind home plate. That and trying to rationalize this to my dad during our weekly chat is not going to be easy.

OK enough of the past - on to the present. Friday saw the return of Fausto Carmona. Following the 2007 season, Fausto was signed to a long term deal (which we have been horrible at lately: see Hafner, Carmona, Westbrook) thinking that he was the post-CC ace of this team. Well thanks to Cliff Lee I finally got to witness a Cleveland Indians pitcher win 20 games, but unfortunately Carmona has been on a free fall that took him all the way to the Arizona rookie league. But he's back. Previously I talked about how he has been sort of reined in. My fear was that while he may walk fewer batters he would also be less dominating. Logically I should be happy with a guy who can go seven innings. Turning Carmona into more of a pitcher and allowing him to better control his emotions is probably the best we can hope for over the rest of his contract. So what did we get from Carmona Friday? Only 5.0 innings with two earned runs and four walks. OK? Not exactly what I wanted but it's his first day back and on a staff like this two runs in five innings is close to the norm. So what happened next? Well pretty much your usual 13-inning game, involving relief appearances by Jose Veras, Rafael Perez, Tony "I'm just being used in single batter situations these days" Sipp, Joe Smith, a 1.1-inning blown save by Kerry Wood, and then somehow four innings of scoreless relief by Tomo Ohka. Offensively, Asdrubal Cabrera had two hits and three RBI, and Trevor Crowe's three hits and three runs scored was pretty nice, but it was a 13th-inning double by Jhonny Peralta and a single by Jamey Carroll that provided the Indians with the win. Tribe (43-60) win 5-6 in 13.

Saturday's starter for the Indians was Jeremy Sowers, a guy I've been down on for a while. However, on this night, Sowers pitched infuriatingly well. Often I just want him to suck and be released, but I guess I'll just have to wait longer. Sowers' 6.0 innings and two runs represent the high end of what Sowers can be expected do. The real treat was seeing newly-acquired Justin Masterson's Indians debut, where he tossed three scoreless while only surrendering two hits. Unfortunately this was another extra-inning game and the Indians relief corps can't be relied on twice in two evenings, can it? No, I guess not. Jose Veras is probably the only guy on this team who I can clearly question right now. Ohka showed he can provide long relief but Veras can't possibly play into the Indians future. Luckily Veras did me a favor by balking in the winning run, as if to say "Look! Look how bad I am!" Tribe (43-61) lose 4-3.

Today's starter was Carl Pavano. I've written at least three times in this blog that not trading Pavano makes no sense. And it appears that either this was dismissed by the readers of this blog either because they agreed with me or thought me too stupid to correct. It now appears that the Indians will get a Type B free agent compensation pick for Pavano which probably outweighs any return they would have gotten for him on the trade block. Today Carl Pavano showed why he is the ace of this staff. Well because he's the oldest and has the most number of wins over his career, I guess. Anyway, my kidding aside, Pavano cruised - and I mean cruised - today. In the top of the seventh Pavano struck out Carlos Guillen on three pitches, got Ryan Rayburn to fly out after two pitches, and Brandon Inge to fly out on one pitch. Six pitches and three outs. Of course Pavano pitching with an 11-run lead probably didn't hurt. 11 runs, yes 11. Both Grady Sizemore and Cabrera homered with a guy on and two outs. Andy Marte had his first double of the season, which scored Jhonny Peralta and Luis Valbuena. Actually, just assume everyone had a two-run XBH. Pavano finished the day after eight innings, allowing six hits and only one run, which came in the eighth, the only inning in which the Tigers had more than one hit. Jensen Lewis pitched the ninth , striking out two in his return. Carl Pavano won his ninth game, which is more than he had in four years as an overpaid Yankee. Tribe (44-63) win 1-11.

Up next is a three-game set at Progressive Field with the Minnesota Twins. Your pitching matchups:

Game 1: Scott Baker, RHP (8-7, 4.86) vs. David Huff, LHP (5-5, 6.39)
Game 2: Francisco Liriano, LHP (4-10, 5.56) vs. Aaron Laffey, LHP (4-3, 4.08)
Game 3: Nick Blackburn, RHP (8-5, 3.83) vs. Fausto Carmona, RHP (2-6, 7.13)

David Huff isn't exactly a thrilling pitcher, prospect-wise or to watch even. He does, however, represent a solid starter that can't be counted out against anyone. I think of him as the new Jake Westbrook. In game two the Indians face the Minnesota Twins' version of Fausto Carmona: Francisco Liriano. He was shut down before his last scheduled start due to forearm tightness. Despite what I may have said above about him, I still think Fausto can come back to be a decent number two or three pitcher for the Indians. He did OK against Detroit after the first inning and Thursday's game will hopefully be another step in the right direction.

Go Tribe!

(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

Training camp log: Day 1

Ha, I'm kidding. Not that I didn't attend training camp this morning (I did), but that I would post any sort of daily log about it. For that matter, I don't really know if today was the first day of camp. I sort of just wanted to check it out once, and it was about what I expected.

Any hacky blogger or professional can give you opinion, analysis, and insight into the key questions surounding the 2009 Browns: who's going to be the QB? How will the influx of new players affect the defense? Will any rookies step up?

I'm going list funny things that I saw.

- I arrived with my work cohort AT, and quickly started off with one of many staph-related jokes of the day. Hilarious.

- I knew that Braylon Edwards, the team's resident dummy, had failed a physical earlier this week, and wondered aloud where he was. Running "sprints" on the alternate field where kickers were kicking and Ryan Pontbriand was dominating, was the answer to that question. Someone mentioned his basketball-related injury and I speculated as to whether he was unable to catch basketballs as well.

-Head Coach Eric Mangini paces around in a dark top and appears to rarely say anything. I think you have to do this as a head coach, staying above the fray and overseeing things. Or maybe he was hung over - one of the two.

- Some goofball fan yelled to a group of assistants: "Hey coaches, we want to win against Pittsburgh!" The coach quickly responded, "We want to win against everyone." Well spoken.

- When the team moved to more footballish action instead of group drills, Jerome Harrison fumbled almost immediately and was assigned a penalty lap. He ran it incompletely and incredibly lazily. Last year made it clear that he's not a coaches' favorite, and I think maybe I see why.

- The first down markers listed "P" instead of "1" on 1st downs. Still haven't figured this out. The rest were numbered correctly.

- The Browns blared music from time to time to force players to concentrate. The selections were pretty diverse because the individual players supposedly picked them. Owing to the team's demographic makeup, many of the songs were rap. At one point, a country song came on, and one fan remarked, "Fraley music!"

- Instead of pinnies, NFL players wear these ridiculous colored skullcap things over their helmets to identify one unit from another in situations where the white/offense, brown/defense thing isn't applicable. These struck me as largely ineffective.

- The circumstances here are irrelevant. If you're wearing Minnesota Vikings gear to Browns training camp, you are an idiot. Get your brain fixed.

- One girl behind me somehow got it in her head that Cleveland Browns Stadium was on the other side of the "wall" that turned out to be one side of the Browns' practice fieldhouse. We're a long way from downtown, honey.

- During a discussion of the Big Ten roots of some Browns both favorable (Robiskie) and unfavorable (Edwards), AT pointed out that not all Browns fans are Buckeyes fans and vice versa, citing Steubenville Buckeye/Steeler fans. Some guy with a giant bag of sunflower seeds and a ridiculously long goatee overheard and came up, jokingly telling us that "hey, you'd better not say anything bad about Steubenville." So I didn't tell him about how dirty it was and how much my parents hated living there. He told us he was actually a Steeler fan here to see Adam Hoppel (#67), a kid from his area's high school, then spent like the next 15 minutes telling us uninteresting factoids about Hoppel. I really don't remember asking. Sadly, there was no way to escape this non-conversation. Wow, what a surprise that the one steeler fan at Browns camp turned out to be the biggest douchebag there.

Tribe fever!

I received two texts following the Indians' 13-inning win against the Tigers last night, both of which came in well after I'd gone to bed following a blown save by Kerry Wood and fizzled 9th-inning Tribe effort to reclaim the lead.

The first, from sometime FCF contributor Doug:
"Fuck the Indians...im [sic] so pissed they won tonight"

The second, from Free Republic of East 12th Street denizen Mister X:
"Had 'em all the way. Big fat fucking deal."

Such enthusiasm! These next two years are going to be splendid - good seats still available! I've rooted for bad Indians teams before, and I'll get through this too, even though it won't be great. I'm trying to be a little more optimistic than my cohorts; fun victories are going to be scarce, so I'm going to make an effort to enjoy them as much as I can when they happen.

In other news, I fucking HATE the Boston Red Socks. I really, really didn't think I could hate them anymore, and then in the span of 24 hours I found out that their two best hitters cheated to win their championship(s) and that they stole the Tribe's best and most popular player. Fuck you, Boston Red Socks.

[Yes, I know Indians players probably are on the infamous 2003 list, but we don't have any championships to be tainted. There's at least some benefit to a 45-year title drought. Sports are awesome.]