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Tuesday, September 25, 2007
For the first time since 2001, the Cleveland Indians are headed back to the playoffs. It is the Tribe’s 7th Central Division Title, and they clinched it by defeating the Oakland Athletics 6-2 on Sunday in their final regular season game at Jacobs Field this season. Jake Westbrook, who was here the last time the Indians made the playoffs, pitched seven strong innings and got his 6th win of the season. The Indians got clutch hitting from Casey Blake, Grady Sizemore, and Asdrubal Cabrera also.
The Tribe now shifts their focus on capturing home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They currently have a ˝ game lead on the Red Sox and a 1 game lead on the Angels. They will, however, look to set up their rotation for the playoffs and give their everyday players a day or two off each.
The Indians are playing their best baseball of the season right now, and they are a team in the truest sense of the word. They are not just one superstar and a bunch of average players. They have a potent lineup one through nine with power throughout. They also have the pitching this time around with C.C. Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, and either Jake Westbrook or Paul Byrd. Their bullpen of Borowski, Betancourt, Perez, and Jensen Lewis will look to back up what hopefully will be strong starts.
The Browns lost on the final play of the game, falling 26-24 to the Raiders in Oakland. Derek Anderson led the team on what appeared to be the game winning drive as he got the Browns into field goal range. Phil Dawson lined up for the kick from 40 yards out, but just before the ball was snapped, Raiders Coach Lane Kiffin called a timeout. The kick sailed through, but did not count. The second try was blocked as the right side of the line caved in. The 1-2 Browns head back home to face the 2-1 Ravens on Sunday. It is refreshing to see the Browns at least competing in their games, and hopefully they can continue that trend and string a few wins together as well.
The Buckeyes had no trouble in disposing of the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday in a 58-7 blowout. The score could have been much worse if Coach Tressel had not called off the dogs by halftime. QB Todd Boeckman looked much better than the last two weeks, tossing four touchdown passes including three to Brian Robiskie. Beanie looked solid in limited action, but he did tweak his ankle. With Brandon Saine already out for the next three weeks with a knee injury, the load fell to Maurice Wells. The defense looked solid as they allowed no points and made some big plays. The only chink in the armor on Saturday was a kickoff return Northwestern took back for six on the opening play of the half. The 4-0 Buckeyes head to Minneapolis on Saturday to take on Minnesota.
In another less positive piece of Buckeye news, third-string Freshman QB Antonio Henton was suspended indefinitely after being arrested for soliciting sex, which is a misdemeanor charge. Fourth-stringer Joe Bauserman will now travel with the team to Minnesota.
Monday, September, 17th, 2007
The Buckeyes survived a potential season-spoiler by defeating the Washington Huskies 33-14 after a slow start. The game was a defensive struggle in the first half, as the Bucks' held a 3-0 lead until seconds before half as the defense surrendered a touchdown.
The second half saw the offense get rolling, as QB Todd Boeckman threw touchdown passes to Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline, and the team got touchdowns on the ground from Beanie Wells and freshman Brandon Saine.
Once again, the defense was impressive. Although they did give up their first two touchdowns of the season, one of them came very late and the team finally forced some turnovers. James Laurinaitis got two picks, and Malcolm Jenkins had one as well. Laurinaitis also had a sack and eight tackles. He has shown that he will be the leader of the defense all season long, and the defense will only play as well as he does.
I continue to be impressed by the freshman RB Brandon Saine. Saine now has 153 yards rushing and three total TDs (one receiving) in limited duty. He has shown the ability to bounce outside as well as run it up the gut. The Buckeyes have a good thing going right now with Beanie getting tough yards up the middle and Saine and Mo Wells provided a quicker change of pace. The Buckeyes take on Northwestern next week, who lost to Duke as they snapped their 22-game losing streak.
The Browns and Bengals had an offensive shootout yesterday with the Browns winning 51-45 at Cleveland Browns Stadium. New starter Derek Anderson threw for 320 yards and five touchdowns. Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow each had over 100 yards receiving with Edwards catching two TDs and Winslow catching one. Joe Jurevicius had two TDs as well. RB Jamal Lewis had 216 yards rushing and one TD also. Lewis had two huge runs in the ballgame and provided the balance Anderson needed to hit receivers.
The Browns did score 51 points, but it was against a poor Cincinnati defense. They also need to fix their defensive woes, as they have given up 79 points in two games. I will say that this was exactly what Derek Anderson, Romeo Crennel, and Cleveland's fans needed. Hopefully, Anderson can hold onto the starting job for most of the season as the Browns try to keep Brady Quinn off of the field for as long as possible. Romeo Crennel is playing for his job and starting 0-2 in the division might have sealed his fate. In addition, the fans finally had something to cheer about. The fan base is there; they are simply waiting for a team that shows it is going to be in the division race all season long. I don't think this is that team, but it is a start in the right direction.
The Tribe's magic number is down to 9 as they head into a pivotal three-game series with the Detroit Tigers, who the Tribe leads by 4.5 games in the Central. The Indians took two out of three from the Royals this weekend, rallying from behind on Friday and Saturday while falling just short on Sunday. C.C. Sabathia failed to get his 18th win Friday, but he pitched well striking out 13 Royals. Fausto Carmona did get his 17th win Saturday, and Aaron Laffey pitched well enough to keep the Tribe in the game. However, they dropped the final game 4-3. Casey Blake provided the heroics Friday night as he hit a walkoff homer, and Travis Hafner continues to look more like himself as each game goes by.
The Indians need to avoid a sweep against Detroit, which would put the Tigers 1.5 games behind. If they can do that, it will be difficult for Detroit to pass Cleveland for the Central crown with 14 left to play.
Monday, September 10th, 2007
Let's start with the Ohio State Buckeyes who improved to 2-0 on the season by taking care of the Akron Zips 20-2 Saturday at the Shoe. The Buckeyes failed to score in the first quarter, trailed 2-0 for most of the half, and only led 3-2 at the half. The defense performed brilliantly not allowing a single point and forcing 14 punts including 12 three-and-outs in a row. Even though the Akron offense was anemic, it was still an impressive performance for the Bucks' D.
As far as offensively, the Buckeyes were careless with the ball, turning it over 5 times in the game. QB Todd Boeckman threw two interceptions, backup Rob Schoenhoft fumbled, as well as WRs Brian Hartline and Devon Torrence. Boeckman recovered, however, throwing TD passes to Brandon Saine and Brian Robiskie. Beanie Wells improved his game from Week 1 and gained 143 yards on the ground for his first 100-yard game as a Buckeye. The offensive did a better job this week, but there is still room for improvement as they will need a stronger push up front for the team to be able to run the ball in Big Ten action. Receivers Brian Hartline and Brian Robiskie each had solid performances. Robo has emerged as the go-to guy in the passing game and made several difficult catches on Saturday.
The Browns suffered their first of many losses this season, getting crushed by the Steelers 34-7 in front of the home crowd. Charlie Frye didn't even last until halftime as he was only 4-of-10 for 34 yards with an INT. He was also sacked five times due to the inability to get the ball off in time. Frye overthrew receivers and failed to put together any significant drives. He was relieved by Derek Anderson who did much better. Anderson went 13-of-28 for 182 with a TD pass to FB Lawerence Vickers and one INT. I would expect Romeo to start Anderson next week against the Bengals. Other than the QB situation, the Browns couldn't stop Big Ben, who threw for 4 TDs on the day. The Browns still have many glaring holes on both sides of the ball, and I can tell right now that they are still AT LEAST one more year away from seriously competing in the tough AFC North.
The Indians took two tough losses to start the series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but rallied to split the series and win the final two games. On Saturday, they were led by C.C. who pitched a complete game, one-run gem. Tonight, the key was Ryan Garko's three-run blast to give Aaron Laffey some run support. The Indians with a Detroit loss today now have a six game lead in the Central with 19 to play, which makes the Indians magic number 14. They start a three-game series with the White Sox tomorrow.
Thursday, August 30th, 2007
The Tribe just keeps on rolling as they now have won five games in a row, sweeping the Twins last night with a 4-3 victory. CC got his 15th win of the year as the Tribe struck for four runs in the first inning. Joe Borowski got his 39th save, which leads the AL and puts him only seven saves behind Jose Mesa's club record of 46 set back in 1995.
It seems that the Tribe is FINALLY ready to start hitting again as Sizemore, Martinez, Hafner, and Peralta have all shown signs of hitting again. Hafner hit his first homer in over three weeks on Tuesday night. Sizemore is back in the leadoff spot where he belongs for now.
I give Eric Wedge credit for taking a risk by benching Barfield and starting the 21-year old Asdrubal Cabrera everyday. He has performed well; he is currently hitting .316 with 2 HR & 10 RBI. Wedge has also done a good job with managing his bullpen of late. Borowski, Betancourt, and Perez are all solid in late-game situations. He has done a decent job at getting Jensen Lewis and Aaron Fultz in somewhat important situations as well.
Tonight's win along with KC's win over Detroit gives the Tribe a 4.5 game lead on the Tigers with 30 games left to play. The Tribe faces the Mariners in a makeup game tonight as Laffey goes for the Tribe against Ramirez for the Mariners.
The Buckeyes start on Saturday and I think it's time to talk a little about how I think the Scarlet and Gray will do this season. They have an easy start to the schedule as their first eight games they should have little trouble in winning. The last four games include games at Penn State, home versus Wisconsin, and at Michigan. I think that if the team gels in the first eight games, they have a shot at getting to the Big House undefeated. If they can do that, perhaps Tressel's 4-1 record against Michigan can prevail.
The team will need to rely on the running game much more this year. RB Chris "Beanie" Wells returns behind a strong returning offensive line of LT Alex Boone, LG Steve Rehring, and RT Kirk Barton. Brian Robiskie, Brian Hartline, and Ray Small look to step up at receiver. Rory Nicol returns as the tight end. The defense as we know is solid as they lost only Patterson and Pitcock to the NFL. Linebackers James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman, DE Vernon Gholston, and CB Malcolm Jenkins will lead the defense. And, as always, the special teams are above average with Trapasso punting and Pettrey doing the kicking. The big question will be if junior QB Todd Boeckman can step up and be a leader on this team. If he can manage the offense without making too many mistakes, they might be able to have a team similar to the 2002 National Champions which relied heavily on the running game, defense, special teams, coaching, and a little bit of luck.
I predict 11-1 with a trip to a BCS Bowl and a victory. However, I hold out hope that they can find a way to get to Michigan undefeated and somehow, someway, make a return trip to the BCS National Championship Game with a better outcome.
Friday, August 24th, 2007
The Tribe gave themselves a shot in the arm by taking two out of three from the division rival Tigers as they extended their lead to 2 1/2 games over Detroit. The Tribe took yesterday's game 3-1 in 10 innings. It was a pitcher's duel between Jake Westbrook and Nate Robertson. Neither surrendered a single run. The Indians bats came alive in the 10th thanks to an infield single from pinch-hitter Kenny Lofton. Chris Gomez then hit a two-run single to give the Tribe a 3-0 lead. Joe Borowski gave up one run in the bottom of the tenth, but it was good enough for him to earn his 36th save of the season.
It was a big game and series for the Indians. They finally have strung together a few games where the offense has delivered when it needed to. Grady Sizemore was back in the leadoff role yesterday against the lefty, and it sounds like he could stay there for good again. With Martinez and Hafner starting to hit again, Sizemore might be better for the time being in the leadoff spot, giving Hafner and Martinez more at-bats. Detroit faces the Yankees again this weekend, while the Tribe has Kansas City. This gives the Indians a great chance to extend their lead in the Central even more. Aaron Laffey will start tomorrow's game instead of Cliff Lee. Wedge thinks that Laffey gives them a better chance to win now, and right now that's all that matters.
Meanwhile, the top story for the Browns is still the quarterback situation. Who's going to start? Will they keep four quarterbacks? How much will Quinn play? Those questions will be answered in the next two weeks, but in the meantime, here's the best guess.
Quinn will obviously make the team as the quarterback of the future, and it is believed that Ken Dorsey is almost guaranteed a spot as well. This is due to the fact that Dorsey is a veteran who can help the other three, especially Quinn, learn the new offense which Dorsey has run for years. That leaves the two potential starters in Frye and Anderson. Either the team will keep four quarterbacks or they will trade one of these two and name the other one the starter. It looks like right now that Frye has a slight advantage because of his in-game experience. We'll find out what Crennel decides soon enough.
Nothing new to report on the Cavaliers and their all too quiet summer....
Monday, August 20th, 2007
The Indians took two out of three from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays this weekend, dropping the final of the three today 4-3 in 12 innings. The Tigers, however, lost three out of four from the Yankees this weekend which gives the Tribe a 1.5 game lead in the Central Division race.
It seems as if the Tribe is finally getting out of their recent offensive struggles. Josh Barfield has been removed from the lineup due to his poor offense and has been replaced by a platoon of veteran utility infielder Chris Gomez and rookie Asdrubal Cabrera. It is possible that Barfield could be sent down to Buffalo.
If the Tribe wakes up the bats, they could really put some distance between themselves and the Tigers. The Tigers are struggling right now as well, and the Indians need to capitalize while they can. The Indians rotation has been so solid as Sabathia, Carmona, Westbrook, and Byrd have all been pitching fantastic lately. With Cliff Lee likely to rejoin the rotation as the fifth starter this week, the Indians can hope to get back on the right track.
The Browns lost their second preseason game to the Detroit Lions by a score of 23-20. The story of this game was the debut of Browns rookie quarterback Brady Quinn, who was 13-of-20 for 155 yards and 2 TDs. Quinn buried himself on the depth chart with his contract holdout, but if he continues to play like last night, especially with the mediocre perfomances of Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson, he might find himself on the field sooner rather than later.
No news on the Cavaliers free agency front. It appears that Pavlovic and Varejao are both going to wait it out, and the Cavaliers seem to be in no hurry as well. Much of the NBA is in a holding pattern right now.
Wednesday, August 15th, 2007
Let me start by saying it's been a while, but I've been really busy this summer working and doing other things. But, I'm glad to be blogging again, even if it's not on my MySpace site. Hopefully, Swartz will get that up and running again real soon.
Now to the Indians and their recent struggles. The Tribe has lost four in a row and are now one game in back of Detroit in the Central Division and 1.5 games behind the Mariners and the Yankees for the Wild Card.
In addition, the Tribe is only hitting about .230 in the last two weeks. There is absolutely no one on the team who is hitting well right now, and DH Travis Hafner has only just returned after being sidelined with a knee injury for a few games.
Eric Wedge has finally decided to shake things up and put Kenny Lofton at the top of the lineup, moving Grady Sizemore to third in the order. I am strongly in favor of this because Sizemore is leading the AL in strikeouts and is not hitting for a high average. He belongs in the middle of the order because he is leading the team in home runs (20) and he is third in RBIs (66). Also, putting Sizemore, Martinez, and Hafner next to each other in the order will be a strong middle of the lineup.
I attended the game last night and witnessed the Tribe lose their grip on a share of first place by losing in 10 innings to the Tigers 6-2. The only offense to speak of for the Tribe came from a two-run homer in the first by Sizemore. CC Sabathia pitched a strong seven innings, and Betancourt pitched two solid innings also. However, Wedge made the critical error of bringing in closer Joe "Joe-Blo" Borowski in a non-save situation. Joe gave up four runs including a three-run homer to Magglio Ordonez while retiring only one Tiger.
The pitching may have blown it in extras, but the offense squandered chances in the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th innings to put runs on the board. The crushing blow came in the 8th when Travis Hafner hit a soft liner into center and Eric Granderson made a fantastic diving catch to prevent the go-ahead run. If the Tribe wants to hang in the Division and/or the Wild Card race, they will need the bats to wake up and quick. Their pitching on the whole is plenty good enough, but you've got to put runs on the board; it's as simple as that.
The Tribe tries to split the two game series tonight as Fausto Carmona takes the mound against Jair Jurrjens, who is making his major league debut.
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