Back Again…

Again, sorry about the lack of updates on the blog. My internet’s been acting up the past week and everything seems to be up and running again so expect posts to start up again both here and on my Twitter page.

I really don’t want to talk about last nights game for obvious reasons. But, let me just say the Carl Pavano can either be “Light’s Out” or the worst pitcher in MLB! There just doesn’t seem to be any kind of middle ground with this guy this season and we all know he’s better then this!

Right, I’m running on no sleep here so I’ll leave it at that for now. I just wanted to let you all know that I’m still living! I’ll get into the larger detail after tonight’s game.

~Casey

Catch Me On The Radio!

Just a reminder that you can hear me co-host “Sports PowerTalk” Today from 4-7pm on WZIP 88.1 Akron! If you don’t live in the area, you can listen online at www.WZIP.fm. I’ll have a lot to talk about on the Tribe and Cavs, so I hope you’ll at least check it out!

A new post about the Tribe’s weekend to come either tonight or tomorrow. (Depends on when Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals ends. GO PENS!)

C’ya Then,
~Casey

Rays HATE the Corner of Carnegie and Ontario!

There is something about that ballpark in Cleveland that seems to bring out the worst in Tampa Bay. When I heard that the Rays were 1-for-their-last-15 in Progressive Field I thought, ‘Well, that’s not much of a stat… The Rays STUNK in those years! They didn’t get good until last season when they won the American League.’ So, the fact that the Tribe have a winning record vs the Rays in the Prog didn’t mean much to me going into this 4-game series.

Game 1 did NOT start well! Carmona just collapsed in the 2nd when he walked four straight! At the end of the 2nd, TB led 5-0 and at the end of the 4th, they led 10-0… This is where I shut the game off! It’s not like me to quit watching a game because my team it doing badly, but after a very bad day and seeing the Tribe basically kill themselves in this game, I shut it off, read a little bit of ‘The Yankee Years’ and went to bed.

I woke up around 2am, came downstairs and said ‘Ok, how bad did do?’ I logged on the ESPN and saw one hell of a surprise! WE WON! Holy Crap! WE WON! Victor Martinez with the 2-run single to win it in the classic ‘Bottom-of the 9th, 2-Strikes, 2-Out, Game-on-the-Line’ fashion that every kid imagines themselves in in their backyard growing up. WOW! If you think I was disapointed that I missed this epic comeback, you’re wrong! I was jumping up and down yelling ‘YES! YES! YES!’ Memorial Day was a memorable one for the Tribe.

I didn’t listen to Game 2 of this series because of the Cavs playoffs. But, I did follow it on ESPN’s GameCast and was happy to see the Indians win 5-1. I was even happier that all the points scored was via the Home Run! (Take THAT New Yankee Stadium!) Any hope the Rays had to prove that the game before was a fluke were ended early. Pavano was shut-out over seven complete inning only giving up the one run. He’s definitely gotten better in the last few starts.

Before Game 3, There was a 2-hour rain delay before it started so I miss the real start about 8:30 or so. Glad I did too, The Rays got off to a fast start by scoring 5 in the 1st. But the Indians responded with 5-runs of their own in the 2nd. Tampa tied it in the 3rd, but the Tribe also took over in that inning and won the game 12-7. There was also one other thing at the game that made that night special…

MIKE AND MIKE!!!http://espn.go.com/broadband/player.swf?mediaId=4212128

They even broadcasted the ESPN Radio show from Progressive Field the next day for the ESPN2 show.

Game 4 was a mid-afternoon game that was also started late due to rain. Not much to say about this one other than the Tribe won 2-1, Martinez drove in both runs for the Indians (his third straight game with two RBIs), and the Rays have now lost 17 straight game in Cleveland.

A 4-game sweep. I didn’t think I was gonna see one this season. Now, we face the Yankees for another 4-game set. I’m interested to see how we play them now the we’ve won 4-in-a-row. I think we can win tonight (Lee on the mound) and Sunday (Pavano) but I’m not so sure about Saturday or Monday’s game. We’ll just have to see waht happens.

…But what a series for the Tribe! Against the AL Champs no less!

‘Bout time things started to go our way!
~Casey

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By the way: I will be co-hosting the sports talk-show I help work on this week. I’ll be on Sports PowerTalk this Sunday from 4-7pm on WZIP 88.1 Akron. If you don’t live in that area, you can listen online at WZIP.fm I really hope you guys will check it out!

Also GO CAVS!
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And GO PENS!
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And of course… GO TRIBE!
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Images found via Yahoo! Image Search

Series at a Glance: Tribe @ Reds

 First off, Much congrats to Melissa http://clemsongirlbaseball.mlblogs.com/ for cracking the top 10 in the MLBlogoshpere! if you didn’t see, her pic was featured on the MLBlogs main page! Ironically, Her pic was next to MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, who’s own MLBlog inspired me to make this one! Coincidence? 

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This weekend, The Tribe started interleauge play vs. the Reds for the “Ohio Cup.” What’s the Ohio Cup? I have no idea… It’s the first time I’ve heard of it and I’ve followed this series since interleague play started in 1997! But, whatever. I do know that the Indians went into Cincinnati after winning two vs. KC to face their NL counterpart, The Reds.

In game 1, Grady give us early hope. After going 1-for-14 in the four game before Friday’s, Sizemore went 2-for-4 with a 1st inning homer and did a good job in the outfield. The lead didn’t last long though as the Reds responded when Phillips hit sacrifice fly to left in their half of the 1st.

Just when I started to think the starting pitching was getting better…Anthony Reyes proves me wrong… again. He walked six batters and hit another in only three innings on work. Still, He did only allow the one run in the 1st, so maybe there is hope…

Of course, the Bullpen blew it again in the 8th with Laffey giving up 2-runs to give the Reds a 3-2 win. But overall, I was OK with this loss. I mean, it wasn’t like they lost by 5 or 6. Your gonna have games like this where you just can’t pull out the win. I give the Tribe credit on this one. They really kept it close.

Game 2 went a little better. After the Reds scored on a homer in the 1st, Mark DeRosa responded with a 2-run long ball of is own! Add Cabrera’s 2-run RBI Single and after 1 1/2 innings the Tribe have a three point lead…

…which David Huff quickly blew after giving up two more home runs making the score CLE 4 CIN 6 after 2 innings. *sigh*

But the game wasn’t over! DeRosa hit a 2-run RBI single to tie in the 5th and Cabrera hit the game winning RBI on a sac-grounder in the 8th to give the Indians a 7-6 win! DeRosa did alot to get this win, so did Choo. He went 2-for-3 with a run and some great catches in left that could of killed us in the end if they weren’t made.

Lee got the start in game 3 and did pretty well only giving up 2-runs in 6 innings. His ERA is hovering around 3.00 now.  And I don’t know what it is with Grady in the #2 spot, but it’s working! He went 2-for-4 with a RBI and a Triple that may as well be called a Inside-The-Park Homer as he was able to score on a throwing error to tie the game at 3-3.

The Tribe did all they could but ended up losing in the 11th when Alex Gonzalez it the game-winning RBI double. But even though we lost this series 2 games to 1, I ok with it. The Indians keep all the games close and you really can’t place blame on anyone or anything other than these just being though-luck loses.

The good thing about this series was it gave Hafner a chance to improve his swing in the minors seeing how there’s no DH in NL games. From what I’ve heard he’s hit a few Homers and RBI’s playing down in Columbus.

Reyes and Laffey were placed on the DL after game 1. Even though they haven’t gotten the job done, we really can’t afford to lose any more pitching…

Overall, we might not have won this series, but I’m happy with how they did.

Just remember Tribe, Next time we see the Reds… It’ll be in an AL ballpark. Ours.
~Casey 

Not The Return I Had Hoped For…

First off, let me say how sorry I am for the lack of posts lately. I spent most of my free time studying for finals and when I was finished with those I came down sick (NOT with Swine Flu, just a bug) So, sorry about that! Back to the blog!

I’ll get to why the Tribe lost in a minute, But let me start by saying that Cliff Lee pitched great tonight! 8 innings after only 101 thrown and 2 ER. This was by far the best start the Indians have seen all season. Which of course, begs this question… WHY NOT LET HIM PITCH FOR THE COMPLETE GAME?!?

I mean, what you have to lose? Even if he lets another run or two score, you still have the closer and one or two out to work with! $20 bucks says we would of won tonight if Lee stayed in!

Everyone did his job tonight except Wood! Now, I like Kerry Wood. But if he keeps blow not only saves, but games as well, We might as well be getting ready for the 2010 season.

I might come back to this and on into detail about it sometime tomorrow. But, as for now…

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YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND HIT IT NOW!!!

~Casey

Thank God Baseball is a Summer Sport!

Sorry ’bout the lack of updates. I’ve been trying to keep up with final papers and all that… with any luck, I might be invited back for my sophmore year in the fall! Things are starting to slow down so expect a post about the Tribe/Red Sox series either after the game tonight or tomorrow.

C’ya then!
~Casey

Making a Wish with the Tribe…

First off, the “Home Run” that the Yankees hit to take the lead in Sunday’s game was just that, a home run. Even if they changed the call it would of likely been ruled a double and with our bullpen the way it’s been, we likely would of lost anyway…

Now, the real point of this post. I saw this on ESPN some time ago. It’s just a great story about a kid, Make-A-Wish and The Cleveland Indians. I’m not even going to type anymore, just watch! If this doesn’t at least make you teary-eyed, then you have no soul.

I will add by saying that this video left out the part where the kid intro’d the Tribe to the plate… then hit a home run for him!

What $1.5 Billion Can Get Ya!

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   (4-8)      Indians     22
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   (6-6)      Yankees     4              Final

Oh Hell Yeah!

After game heartbreaking loss yesterday afternoon (which was caused only caused by a home plate ump who didn’t know what a ball or strike is…) The Indians showed the Yankee fans just what a brand new, $1.5 Billion dollar, state-of-the-art stadium can get them.

Before really getting into the game itself, after the past three games, I think it’s safe to say that the New Yankee Stadium is DEFINITELY a hitter’s ballpark. At least 3 home runs a game have happened thus far and winds are carrying pop-flies over the wall in right field. I want to see what happens later in the season and see if all the games here will turn into a home run derby.

Now, on to today’s game! I was little worried about Carmona after that 2-run home run Teixeira hit in the 1st. But, he calmed down, got out of the inning and the Tribe’s offense did the rest! Carmona then did his part by going 4 scoreless innings and finally going 6 full only giving up another 2 runs.

I think it’s safe to say that this one was over in the 2nd. Why? 14 runs in one inning! The Indians beat up on Chien-Ming Wang like he was a rented mule! Then went on to beat up the guy who relived him! I can’t help but feel bad for Wang though. He only lasted 1/3 inning longer than his last start. He (and the rest of baseball) knows he’s better than that.

Now, without going over EVERY run scored for the Tribe in this one, I’ll just do a quick recap of the home runs…

Shin-Soo Choo: 3-Run Home Run into the Indians bullpen in left in 2nd.
Asdrubal Cabrera: Grand Slam to Right Center in 2nd.
Grady Sizemore: Solo Shot to Right in 2nd. (right after Cabrera’s)
Mark DeRosa: 3-Run Home Run into the Indians bullpen in left in 5th.
Victor Martinez: Solo Shot to Right in 5th. (right after DeRosa’s)
Travis Hafner: Solo Shot to Left in 8th.

Bottom Line: 13 Runs out of 22 scored off of 6 Home Runs!

The Bullpen took over for Camona and didn’t let the Yankees intimidate them (Not that they really could) and left them with just the 4 runs. 
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Overall, a good game… 😀

I am a little worried about tomorrow. It’ll be Pavano vs. Burnett so New York as the advantage. But who knows? Maybe this big win will give us the motivation to play like we used to…

But today’s game will be like the 22-0 victory we had vs the Yanks in 2004…

One we will always remember.
~Casey

LIVE MLBlog! Indians @ Yankees: First Reg. Season Game at NEW Yankee Stadium

Final  1  2  3  4  5  6
 7  8  9  10  R  H  E
Indians  0  0
  0  1  0  0
  9  0  0
 X
 10  13  1
Yankees  0
 0
 0  0  1  0
  1  0  0 X 
 2  9  1

5:05 CLE 10 NYY 2 – Final: DOUBLE PLAY!!! BALLGAME!!! The Tribe needed this win! The fact the it was against the Yankees makes it even sweeter!

 

5:00 Bot 9th: Betancourt loads the bases with 1 out…

 

4:44 Mid 9th: Only three outs to go!

 

4:37 Top 9th: Infield single by Graffanino.

 

4:34 End 8th: NICE GRAP BY PERALTA!

 

4:33 Bot 8th: Another K for Perez.

 

4:24 Mid 8th: Tribe goes down 1-2-3 in the 8th.

 

4:17 End 7th: Perez gets his first strikeout of the season and gets out of the inning with only one run against him…

 

4:14 Bot 7th: Cano hits a RBI single to left. 10-2 Tribe.

 

4:10 Bot 7th: Perez not finding to zone again. Betancourt in the bullpen.

 

4:01 Top 7th: VICTOR MARTINEZ HOMERS TO LEFT!!! 10-1 TRIBE!!!

 

3:57 Top 7th: GRADY SIZEMORE HITS A GRAND SLAM TO CENTER!!!! 9-1 TRIBE!!!

 

3:53 Top 7th: SHOPPACH SINGLES TO RIGHT! PERALTA SCORES! 4-1 TRIBE!

 

3:48 Top 7th: PERALTA HIT A DOUBLE TO RIGHT FIELD! DEROSA AND MARTINEZ SCORE! 3-1 TRIBE!

 

3:44 Top 7th: Martinez doubles to right. DeRose to 3rd, No Out.

 

3:40 End 6th: Lee FINALLY puts down the Yanks 1-2-3. We’ll likely see Perez next inning.

 

3:37 Bot 6th: Rafal Perez warming up in the Indians buulpen.

 

3:33 Mid 6th: Grady flies out to center. Another scoring chance missed…

 

3:29 Top 6th: Safe at 2nd! Bases Loaded for the Tribe with 2 outs! New pitcher coming out for the Yankees.

 

3:27 Top 6th: Error saves Tribe. 2-on, 2-out

 

3:22 Top 6th: C.C. finally strikes out Shoppach and is taken out after 122 and 4 K’s

 

3:11 End 5th: Lee gets a force out but Yanks homer to tie up the game at 1.

 

3:02 Bot 5th: Posada hit a solo Home Run to Center Field. Game tied 1-1

 

3:00 Bot 5th: Two K’s in a row!

 

2:59 Bot 5th: Great strikeout by Lee for the first out of the 5th.

 

2:55 Mid 5th: C.C. escapes with another strikeout.

 

2:52 Top 5th: Vic with a cluch hit with 2 out. C.C. over 100 pitches.

 

2:47 Top 5th: Sizemore thrown out stealing 2nd but DeRosa get a base hit.

 

2:41 Top 5th: Crowe kept swinging away but should of just taken that last pitch…

 

2:37 End 4th: GREAT PITCH! Lee survives again!

 

2:35 Bot 4th: Bases loaded for Damon with 2 outs…

 

2:33 Bot 4th: Wild pitch moves runners to 2nd and 3rd…

 

2:29 Bot 4th: Lee walks his first batter on a pitch that could of gone either way.

 

2:21 Top 4th: TRIBE SCORE FIRST RUN IN NEW YANKEE STADIUM! SHOPPACH WITH A RBI DOUBLE! 1-0 INDIANS!

 

2:19 Top 4th: Close but no cigar, Jhonny…

 

2:14 Top 4th: Jhonny gets a leadoff double to start the 4th inning for the Tribe.

 

2:11 End 3rd: What is with batters on BOTH teams swinging at pitches WAY OUTSIDE of the zone?

 

2:06 Bot 3rd: Vic’s getting better at first base! I’m surprised he tried that play.

 

2:01 Mid 3rd: I blame DeRosa for that pop-out/throw-out double play… He had more than enough time to get back and just froze. 

 

1:56 Top 3rd: Grady and DeRosa walk back-to-back. C.C. keeps on throwing into the dirt today.

 

1:49 End 2nd: Leadoff hit for the Yanks but Lee gets his first K or the game.

 

1:42 Mid 2nd: C.C. ends the the 2nd like he did the 1st — with a strikeout.

 

1:37 Top 2nd: Francisco hits a 2-out double to left field.

 

1:29 End 1st: So far, so good! I don’t think that bean was Lee’s fault… But he get’s out of the 1st with no damage done.

 

1:23: Bot 1st: Lee Beans Teixeira. Don’t fall apart now, Cliff!

 

1:21 Bot 1st: The first hit in the new park goes to NYY

 

1:20 Bot 1st: That was cool that they brought out Babe Ruth’s bat for a little tribute.

 

1:16: Mid 1st: C.C. seems to be having problems finding the strike zone but gets a swinging K to end the inning.

 

1:15 Top 1st: DeRosa’s bat must of broke because he hit that ball harder than it traveled…

 

1:06 Pregame: I ended up missing almost all of the pregame show because the fire alarm went off here at the station… Got back in just in time to see the start of the game.

 

It’s Game Time! Tribe @ Yanks in the New Yankee Stadium with the last 2 AL Cy Young winners on the mound! This should be fun to watch! I hoping for a game like a few years ago… lol
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A Sobering Win…

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   (2-7)    Indians    5
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   (5-4)    Royals    4      Final

Finally, another win! After a ‘close-but-no-cigar’ loss on Friday and another bullpen collapse  last night, this was much needed.

Sizemore had a great game, going 2-for-4 with a RBI to give the Tribe the lead which they kept for most of the game. My olny fault with his performance today is the he shouldn’t of tried to steal home on that wild pitch. There was NO chance that he was going to be safe unless the ump was blind. C’mon Grady! You know better than that!

The starting pitching and the bullpen are slowly but surely getting better. Aaron Laffey just pitched the best game of any starter thus far. The scary thing about that? He was only bought up to fill in for the injured Scott Lewis who is on the 15-day DL. Laffey went 5 1/3 innings and 5 K’s in the no decision while his relief Jensen Lewis (1-0) issued three straight walks in the bottom of the seventh but still got the win.

DeRosa now has a 5-game hit streak going and had a RBI single today. Pronk went 2-for-3 with a RBI and a run. And Wood got his first save of the season and as a Cleveland Indian. Overall, a very well played and entertaining game.

The Indians may have lost the first two games, but they’re starting the click on what needs to be worked on to win. The offense is good. The defense on the field is good. The starting rotation is (slowly) getting better. So it seems the bullpen is the main problem to focus on. This game today almost went into extras today because of a KC homer if it wasn’t for a Royal trying to turn a single into a double and getting thrown out at 2nd. The bullpen is giving up WAY to many runs and the the trends of the starters continue, we can kiss any hope of seeing the Postseason goodbye…

But, I’m going to stay optimistic. I believe the Tribe now knows how to win and is ready for the Yankees and whatever the fans have for them in the New Yankee Staduim. Tomorrow, we’ll have a battle of the last two AL Cy Young winners! Lee vs Sabathia. I’ll be doing a live MLBlog of the game tomorrow so be tuned in for that.

Until then, let’s just sit back and enjoy today’s win, Tribe… The guys on the field deserve it.
~Casey

[EDIT] OH! I forgot to mention, today was Jackie Robinson Day across Major Leauge Baseball. It was nice to see most, if not all of the players today wear #42 in tribute to the man who helped change the game for better.