Now that's more like it!

To refer to last night's game against the Royals as C.C. Sabathia's best performance of the year would be like calling Alaska the coldest noncontiguous state. Sabathia's six-inning, 11-strikeout, four-hit, scoreless gem in Kansas City was an oasis in the desert that has been his April thus far. You know that when you go six scoreless innings in the early season and it only brings your ERA down to 10.12, you got off to a rough start. But we now know that C.C. didn't leave his left arm in California this offseason. He absolutely dominated the Royals last night.

And the Tribe's dormant offense woke up last night as well, exploding for 15 runs after averaging a little more than 4 over the first 19 games of the season. Lots of hitters who got off to slow starts broke out in that game -- not least of which was Casey Blake, who went 4-for-4 with six RBIs, four of which came on one swing of the bat. His grand slam in the fourth inning turned a 3-0 game into a 7-0 game, and the rout was on. Jhonny Peralta had three hits, including a home run; David Dellucci had two hits, one of which left the yard; and Franklin Gutierrez had three hits, two of which were doubles. Let's hope these guys are all recovering from their early-season struggles.

Unfortunately, they appear to be on their way to getting rained out tonight, in their first opportunity to build on last night's game. But there is reason for optimism.

I don't like those Wizards

The Cavs are up 2-0, which obviously bodes well for the outcome of this series. They absolutely dominated that game last night from about midway through the second quarter on, coming away with a 116-86 win.

I don't know which broadcast you were watching, but I watched the game on TNT, and analyst Reggie Miller disagreed strongly with the flagrant-2 call on Brendan Haywood when he hammered LeBron, who was going for a layup. And I strongly disagree with Reggie Miller. Haywood made no attempt at playing the ball; all he did was shove LeBron while he was up in the air. That's a real good way to wind up playing the rest of the series without its greatest superstar, and the NBA simply cannot afford to tolerate that behavior. Reggie asked whether the same call would have been made if it had been another player. I don't know the answer to that, but I say it should be.

The Wizards have been hitting LeBron repeatedly in this series, which I suppose is a valid strategy. But they strike me as a bunch of thugs.

One down, 15 to go

My apologies for not posting anything for a few days. I've had a lot going on.

Anyway, it was good to see our Cavaliers pull out the win yesterday against the Wizards. I've had my doubts about this team in the playoffs, and one game doesn't magically erase those doubts, but still. The Wizards did a lot of good things in that game, but the Cavs took all their punches and were left standing at the end.

I don't mean that literally, of course, though it was a physical game that threatened to turn into a brawl at the end of the first half. LeBron took at least one absolute mauling that wasn't even called. I should have saved the game recording so I could look at it again, because I don't remember who the Washington player was on the play, but he swatted across at the ball and wound up smacking LeBron across the jaw. But there was no whistle.

At least a foul was called on the play that led to some pushing and shoving in the last minute of the second quarter, when Brendan Haywood flattened James with a screen. The Cavs wound up shooting a free throw on that one because the Wizards got two technicals to the Cavs' one, and Wally Szczxzqzerbiak hit the shot. That one point may have made a bigger difference than you might realize. The game was tight until the last couple of minutes, and if the Cavs had one point fewer, the strategies would have been different.

This was the matchup the Wizards wanted, and it's not hard to understand why. But there's an old saw about exercising care in choosing your wishes.

Prime time, here we come!

Remember when the Browns could always count on being home to watch prime-time TV every night? Well, those days are past. The Browns have five prime-time games in '08, including three Monday Nighters. If we had any doubt, this is our confirmation: The league has noticed the Browns are good.

Unfortunately for me, those Monday night games usually end around midnight or 12:30, and I'm just about to start a new job that has me starting at 8:30. But this is a minor quibble. I'm sure I'll stay up to watch, just like the rest of you freaks.

Borowski's disabled

After last night's implosion du jour against Manny and the Red Sox, Joe Borowski admitted he wasn't feeling great, and has been placed on the disabled list. Borowski led the league in saves last year, despite having bad overall numbers. So far this year, he's been just plain bad.

JoeBo has pitched in five games this season, and only once has he gotten a 1-2-3 inning — Saturday, in mop-up duty of a 7-3 loss to Oakland. In four innings overall, Borowski has given up eight runs on four walks and seven hits, three of which left the yard. That kind of closer just kills his team.

And it seems to me that if Borowski knew he wasn't feeling great going into the game, he should have said something. Borowski said after the game: "I just felt like I had nothing, like I was throwing through water." That's the kind of thing I'd want to know before I put a guy in to save a game, if I were a manager for a team that hopes to reach the playoffs.

Presumably, the new closer will be Rafael Betancourt, which is what I've been calling for since spring training (and you can check my archives if you doubt me). Betancourt hasn't exactly been lights-out so far this year, but he was the best set-up man in baseball in 2007. I predict he'll do the job well, and keep it for the rest of the season.

Now that's what I call pitching!

Cliff Lee, the former future superstar, is looking like a superstar again. In yesterday's 7-1 win against Oakland, Lee went eight innings, striking out eight and giving up just two hits. They both happened to be in the same inning (the fourth), or else Lee would likely have thrown a goose egg up on the scoreboard. I would have liked to see him try to finish, but I'm not second-guessing Eric Wedge. We won, and that's what's important. But that performance from Cliff Lee was sure good to see. And judging by the photo at left, Lee was happy to see it too. Doesn't he look like he's smiling?

And it was sorely needed. The Indians had lost three in a row, during which time none of our starters (Paul Byrd, C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona) got past 3 1/3 innings. Any guesses when's the last time three consecutive Tribe starters didn't get more than 10 outs? I'll tell you -- it was in September 1987. (For those who are curious, the three pitchers that time were Tom Candiotti, "I'm Not" Rich Yett and Ken Schrom.)

Yup, it's the Wizards again

It's been decided. The Cavaliers will play Washington in the first round, for the third year in a row. And we'll have home-court, unless we lose our last two and the Wizards win their last two. What do you think of your first-round opponent, LeBron?

"I wanted to play somebody else," James said. "But if we had to play somebody, I'm happy it's Washington."

Yeah, he's nicknamed "The Chosen One" and "The King" for his basketball ability, not his vice-like grasp of logic. Well, anyway, I won't dissect the first-round matchup now; that can wait until the eve of the series.

Last night's win against Miami was a little bit unsettling. The 14-66 Heat led by two going into the fourth quarter, and led as late as 9:19 left in the game, before Boobie Gibson hit a 3-pointer that got the Cavs off and running. But we should be able to beat a team like the Heat by more than eight. Sure, getting the W is what counts, but still.

The Cavs have struggled since the trade that brought us Wally Szczqzszerbiak, Joe Smith, Delonte West and Ben Wallace. There's no question the trade brought us more talent than we gave up, but there's a lot more to being a team than that, and these guys just haven't really clicked. They've showed flashes of greatness here and there, but haven't been able to sustain it. I have to say, I don't have a good feeling going into the playoffs. Maybe they'll turn on the jets at the right time, but that's a whole lot easier said than done.

Whither Fausto?

In his first start since signing a contract extension, Fausto Carmona couldn't control where the ball was going. Fausto walked eight hitters -- EIGHT HITTERS! -- in 3 1/3 innings against the Oakland Athletics. How many times has he walked eight hitters, you ask? Well, one. Yesterday.

What does this mean? Now that Fausto is going to make all that silly money, is he going to stop caring whether he pitches well or not? I don't think so. Even discounting the competitive nature he must have had in order to get to this point, he's got not one, not two, but three club option years built into the contract. If the Indians don't exercise any of those options, the deal is worth $15 million. If they exercise all three of them, it's worth $43 million. So yeah, Fausto's got some incentive to pitch well over the next four years.

That said, last night's outing was troubling. Fausto walked a grand total of 61 guys last year, in 32 starts. He walked one-fifth as many Saturday night. You don't have to be a sabermetrician to know that's a recipe for disaster. But let's not overblow the significance of one outing. Fausto is now 1-1 with a fine 2.20 ERA. His other two starts were fantastic. He's going to be fine. I hope I can say the same for C.C.

The Indians are now 4-7, having lost three straight. They and the Tigers were everybody's picks for the AL Central, and they are now in fourth and fifth place, respectively. I still think they're the two best teams in the division, but if they both continue to falter, it will open the door for the Royals and/or White Sox. I don't think the Twins have the talent to challenge, but they're ahead of us right now, so who knows.

Breaking Fausto news

ESPN's Buster Olney has just reported that the Indians have signed Fausto Carmona to a multiyear contract extension. The deal is guaranteed through 2011, with club options for 2012, 2013 and 2014. Terms have not been disclosed, but this seems like it can only go wrong if Fausto gets hurt. I mean, 2011 is only three years from now, and this guy looks like a perennial Cy Young candidate.

Good work, Mark Shapiro. You're the man.

Oh, well

I guess the Tigers won't go 0-162 after all, after beating the Red Sox 7-2 yesterday for their first win of the season. But the Motown Bengals are still off to an unbelievably bad start. The national prognosticators all picked the Indians or Tigers to win the AL Central, but teams that start 0-7 generally don't get to the playoffs. The Tigers' seven runs yesterday were almost half as many as they scored in those first seven games. With now 22 runs in eight games, that works out to 2.75 runs a game. And this was supposed to be some sort of offensive juggernaut. They're offensive to the Detroit fans, but ...

The Indians aren't exactly on fire themselves, of course, with a 4-5 record after yesterday's 9-5 loss to the Los Angeles-California-Anaheim-Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Paul Byrd couldn't keep the ball in the park, giving up three home runs, including Mike Napoli's grand slam. He's off to an 0-2 start with an ugly 11.05 ERA. And he walked two hitters in his three innings of work. Byrd was supposed to be the guy who never walks guys, but he's walked two guys in each of his two starts, for four bases on balls in 7 1/3 innings. That's not good, obviously, because he gives up a lot of hits. But he knows that. In Byrd's words:

"I'm trying to figure out how to get the ball down," Byrd said. "I'm making a good pitch, but then I leave the ball sitting on a tee over the middle of the plate. And I can't do that. When I do miss, it's like batting practice and you just watch them go over the wall."

The Tribe did get 12 hits off the Halos, including Jhonny Peralta's second home run of the season, and Kelly Shoppach's first. They were a little bit unlucky to have only scored five runs. And they still have a 3 1/2-game lead over the Tigers. Yes, the Royals are in first place, and yes, they're better than they've been the last few years. But unless they're still in contention in June, I still think this will be a two-team race, and it's nice to be ahead.

Nice comeback

The Cavaliers took a nice step toward home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs last night, beating the Nets for the first time all year. And it took a great second-half comeback to do it -- spurred by suffocating defense. Not bad, considering they weren't sure LeBron was going to play until the last minute.

The Cavs were down 14, 67-53, with 6:44 left in the third quarter, after former Cavalier DeSagana Diop hit a shot. Enter Boobie Gibson, who came in for Devin Brown. Boobie didn't immediately start draining shots, but he did help key the defensive effort the rest of the way. By the end of the third quarter, the Cavs were up 76-74, and they were just warming up.

The Nets took the lead back on a Bostjan Nachbar 3-pointer 30 seconds into the fourth quarter. Unbelievably, they didn't hit a field goal the entire rest of the way. The Cavs actually kept the Nets from making a single basket the last 11:30. They hit six foul shots, but nothing else. Final score: 103-84. Our boys outscored their boys 27-9 in the fourth quarter.

I have my doubts about the Cavaliers in the playoffs, but if they can keep up that defensive intensity, they can hang in there with just about anyone.

Pronk!

It sure was good to see Travis Hafner hit what turned out to be a game-winning two-run homer in the top of the ninth last night. Not just because it won the game, but because Pronk had an off-year (for him) in 2007. But we know all that.

Not to be a wet blanket, but this doesn't necessarily mean he's turned the corner. We're only eight games into the season, but Hafner's hitting .267 so far -- one point better than his average in '07. Last night's dinger was his second of the season, in 30 at-bats, or one per 15 ABs. That's an improvement over last year, when he hit one per 22.7 at-bats, and it's actually better than his career average of one per 16 at-bats. But 30 at-bats is practically nothing, and I'm perhaps doing him and you a disservice by drawing any conclusions from 30 at-bats. I'm just observing what there is to observe.

Jake Westbrook made his second solid start of the season, which was also good to see. He had a better year last year than his 6-9 record would indicate, but it was still something of an off-year for him. If the Indians can win the AL Central and nearly go to the World Series with Westbrook and Hafner having off-years, imagine what they can do if those guys have a good year.

One other note: The notoriously slow-footed Hafner got thrown out by a mile at home in the first inning, trying to score from second on a base-hit to right by Victor Martinez. Play-by-play announcer Matt Underwood originally thought Pronk ran through Joel Skinner's stop sign, but it turned out Skinner did send him, he just didn't use his usual windmill motion to do so. Most people would say that was stupid, challenging Vladimir Guerrero's famous gun with a lumbering DH like Pronk. And it's easy to say that because he was thrown out. But I liked it. There were two outs, Guerrero's arm isn't always accurate, and if he'd stayed at third, it's relatively unlikely that he would have made it across the plate.

I recently read this post by someone identified as "Pizza Cutter" about how third-base coaches are generally too conservative, and I will excerpt a little bit:

In 1993, there were 329 times when a runner was held at third on a fly ball. (I only had hit location data on 251 of them). So league-wide, third base coaches cost their teams about 120 runs on would-have-been sac flies by being too conservative. Over 28 teams (in 1993), that’s a little more than 4 runs per season. And that’s just one of the calls that a third base coach has to make.

Of course, 1993 was a long time ago, but I don't think third-base coaches have gotten a whole lot more daring since then. And it's easy to understand why. If a guy gets thrown out at the plate when he could have stayed at third, the base coach takes the heat. If he gets stuck at third when a teammate can't get a hit to bring him in, nobody remembers the decision not to send him on the previous play -- they just remember the hitter's failure to get the RBI.

So I say, attaboy, Skins. It didn't work out this time, but it might next time.

Joe Bo a no-go

I know people who believe Joe Borowski had a great year last year as the Indians' closer, because he got 45 saves and only blew six. But he did it with an uncloserly 5.07 ERA. And some of his bad outings were really, really bad. He remains the Tribe's closer this year, despite the fact that there are better pitchers in the bullpen. Rafaels Betancourt and Perez, for example, had better years than Borowski in '07. And so did Jensen Lewis. And so did Masa Kobayashi, albeit in Japan.

Borowski did it again last night. After the Indians scored three runs in the top of the ninth to take a 4-2 lead, Borowski poured gas all over the lead and tossed a match on it. After getting the first hitter, Chone Figgins, to hit a foul ball that was caught, Joe Bo failed to get another out. He walked Gary Matthews Jr., then gave up a single to Vladimir Guerrero, then walked Garret Anderson to load the bases. Torii Hunter came up next, and hammered a 75-mph meatball into the left field seats. It wasn't fair by much, but it didn't have to be. That pitch was right down the heart of the plate, and I don't know if it was supposed to break, but it sure didn't.

Any pitcher has to accept that you're going to give up hits to a great hitter like Vlad Guerrero, and Torii Hunter's going to hit the occasional home run. But doggone it, a closer can't be walking two hitters in the ninth inning -- especially if the second walk loads the bases. That's going to kill you almost every time.

Borowski has now pitched in three games in '08. He's saved two of them. In one of those saves (on opening day), he was asked to protect a three-run lead, which it seems to me should hardly qualify as a save. He gave up one run in that game, on a solo home run, and then walked a guy, so he let the tying run come to the plate despite the three-run lead. His other save came Sunday against Oakland, and he did protect a one-run lead, but he also walked a guy. So he hasn't appeared in a single game in which he hasn't walked at least one guy.

Borowski's ERA is an ungodly 19.29. That'll come down -- it could hardly do otherwise -- but I think it's long past time for the Indians to look at someone else to close games.

Go Memphis!

I don't have any particular affinity for John Calipari and the Memphis Tigers, nor do I have any particular animosity for them. I do have a little bit of a soft spot for them because they don't play in one of the Big Six conferences, and because they've never won a national title. The Kansas Jayhawks have taken two, most recently in 1988. So in the absence of any other rooting interest, I'd probably be pulling for the Tigers tonight anyway. But if they should happen to win tonight's game, they'll win me $145 in one of the NCAA Tournament pools I entered this year.

Why did I pick Memphis? I just took a look at their record and schedule, and felt they were as good as anybody. I knew most of the national prognosticators were picking North Carolina, some were saying it would be UCLA, and a few were thinking Kansas, but very few were talking seriously about Memphis. Like most tourney pools, this one is heavily weighted toward the late games, and tonight's title game is worth 15 points (compared to 10 in the semifinals, 7 in the Elite Eight, and so on). Knowing that in a tournament pool with 44 participants, it was unlikely that I'd be able to stay ahead all the way through, I thought I'd take the unpopular pick and give myself a chance to leapfrog over some others if it should happen that way. And that's just the situation I've set up for myself. I'm currently in 8th place, 12 points behind the leader. But nobody ahead of me has picked Memphis.

I've entered at least one tournament pool every year since about 1990, and I've won them twice before. I was in college when I won in 1992, in a pool run by a couple of guys living in my dorm, but I never got the money because the morons told people they could pay later, and nobody paid. A co-worker and I were running our own pool in the late '90s, and I won that one in '99, when Connecticut defeated Duke in the title game. I used the same sort of logic in that one as I did this year, which was that everybody else would be picking Duke, so I made the less-popular pick. That strategy almost backfired then, because I was actually leading going into the title game and would have had it clinched early if I'd picked Duke. But Rip Hamilton and Jake Voskuhl's Huskies pulled it out for me.

I'm feeling pretty good going into tonight's game -- Memphis is a 2-point favorite in Vegas -- but Kansas is a darned good team. We'll see.

C.C. can go home again ... but should he?

Carsten Charles Sabathia Jr. was born on July 21, 1980, in Vallejo, California, about 32 miles from the ballpark currently known as the McAfee Coliseum, home of the Oakland Athletics. He grew up in Vallejo as well, starring in baseball and football at Vallejo High School. In case you're curious, he was a tight end.

C.C. pitched in Oakland today, for the eighth time in his career, and it was the 13th time he's started a game against the A's. He did not pitch well, in a game the Indians lost. And if it seems to you that he hasn't pitched well in general against his hometown team, that's because he hasn't -- especially in front of the Oakland fans.

Following is a complete list of his appearances against the Oakland Elephants:

• August 2, 2001, in Cleveland: 3 innings pitched, 7 hits allowed, 7 runs (all earned), 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 3 home runs allowed, took the loss in a 17-4 game.
• August 23, 2001, in Oakland: 2 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 5 runs (all earned), 3 walks, 4 Ks, no HRs, no decision in a game the Indians won 9-7 (Sabathia left with the Indians trailing 5-2).
• April 27, 2003, in Oakland: 7 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 2 walks, 5 Ks, no HRs, no decision in a game the Indians lost 4-3 (Sabathia left with the game tied at 3).
• May 16, 2003, in Cleveland: 7 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs (both earned), 2 walks, 8 Ks, 2 HRs, no decision in a game the Indians won 3-2 (Sabathia left with the game tied at 2).
• July 30, 2003, in Oakland: 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R (all earned), 0 BBs, 5 Ks, 1 HR, got the win in a 4-2 game.
• July 10, 2004, in Cleveland: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R (3 ER), 4 BBs, 5 Ks, no decision in a game the Indians lost 16-7 (Sabathia left with a 5-3 lead).
• September 11, 2004, in Oakland: 6 2/3 IP, 5 H, 3 R (3 ER), 2 BBs, 7 Ks, no decision in a game the A's won 5-4 (Sabathia left with a 4-3 lead).
• July 25, 2005, in Oakland: 2 1/3 IP, 8 H, 8 R (8 ER), 2 BBs, 0 Ks, 1 HR, took the loss in a game Oakland won 13-4.
• September 12, 2005, in Cleveland: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 5 BBs, 7 Ks, took the loss in a 2-0 game.
• September 21, 2006, in Oakland: 5 1/3 IP, 7 H, 7 R (4 ER), 3 BBs, 5 Ks, took the loss in a 7-4 game.
• May 11, 2007, in Oakland: 6 2/3 IP, 9 H, 6 R (6 ER), 1 BB, 5 Ks, 2 HRs, took the loss in an 8-2 game.
• June 25, 2007, in Cleveland: 9 IP, 9 H, 2 R (2 ER), 0 BBs, 8 Ks, got the complete-game win in a 5-2 game.
• April 5, 2008, in Oakland: 5 1/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R (4 ER), 4 BBs, 2 Ks, 1 HR in a game the Indians lost 6-1.

The totals:

• Against Oakland in five games at home: 30 innings pitched, 29 hits, 15 runs (all earned), 10 walks, 19 strikeouts, 5 home runs allowed, 1 win and 2 losses (Indians went 2-3 in his starts), a 4.50 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, average of 6 innings per start.
• In eight games in Oakland: 43 innings, 49 hits, 39 runs (34 earned), 17 BBs, 33 strikeouts, 5 home runs allowed, 1-4 record (Indians went 2-6 in his starts), a 7.12 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, average of 5.4 innings per start.

His overall record against the A's is 2-6, with a 6.04 ERA, and the Indians are 4-9 in games C.C. has started against the Green Pachyderms.

So while C.C. hasn't pitched particularly well against the A's at Jacobs Field, he's been absolutely awful against them in the stadium formerly known as the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. He wasn't too bad there early in his career (that 2001 start notwithstanding), but since 2005, he's been putrid in the Bay Area. In his last four starts there (all of them losses), he's got an abysmal ERA of 10.07 and averaged 4.9 innings per start.

Of course, four starts is a small sample size, but it does seem to suggest that there might be some sort of mental block for C.C. when he pitches in Oakland. I'm not about to call for Eric Wedge to skip C.C. if his turn comes up when the Tribe is in Oakland, but perhaps the young lefty might benefit from some work with a sports psychologist.

Give me an N! Give me an I! Give me a T!

So the Ohio State Buckeyes won the derby for 66th place, otherwise known as the National Invitation Tournament. Seriously, they should be proud. Winning the NIT is a lot better than losing in the NIT.

"This is what happens when you put an NCAA Tournament team in the NIT," Jamar Butler said after the Buckeyes beat Massachusetts 92-85 in the NIT title game.

Well, Jamar, I hate to say it, but if you guys wanted to get into the NCAA, you shouldn't have lost 13 games. I did think they should have gotten in, but you know, somebody's got to win the NIT, and whoever that team is, they're probably going to think they proved they belonged in the NCAA. But the time to do that is before they make the selections.

Terrible ... just terrible

The Cavaliers led the Bulls by 17 points. And the Bulls won. In Cleveland. Really, does anything else need to be said?

The Cavs led a 30-45 team by 17 points in the third quarter. These are the defending Eastern Conference champions? My petoot! Do they think they're going to win a playoff series? They've got seven games left to get it together, and I don't see it happening. The Cavs will have home court in the first round, but as they showed us tonight, they're perfectly capable of losing to an inferior team at home.

I don't want to be too negative about this team, because there's a lot of talent here. But Danny Ferry's blockbuster trade seems to have discombobulated everything. Maybe this group will come together next year, but I just don't think it'll happen this year. There's just not enough time left.

One other thing: Larry Hughes hit 11 of 17 shots for the Bulls tonight. Where was that shooting touch when he played for us?

Revised expectations

OK, so the Indians can do no better than 161-1 now. I think we can live with that.

Seriously, Jake Westbrook pitched pretty well today -- just not quite well enough. White Sox starter John Danks and three relievers kept the Tribe bats in check. Danks didn't even allow a hit until the sixth inning, when Casey Blake reached him for a single. I was at work and therefore unable to watch the game very closely, but I saw Blake's hit, and it was no cheapie. And Ryan Garko's RBI double in the seventh was hit pretty hard too. The White Sox outfield gave the Indians the chance to score more runs in that inning too, when Nick Swisher and Jermaine Dye collided going after a fly ball hit by Franklin Gutierrez (as pictured), and the ball dropped, leaving runners on second and third. But the Tribe failed to capitalize. Hey, that's baseball.

So we opened the season taking two of three from the intra-division White Sox. I'll take it.

Next is a three-game series at Oakland, and the A's are probably still suffering from jet lag a little bit, after opening the season a couple of weeks ago in Japan. So that's good timing. At least I hope so.

Still on pace for 162-0!

The Indians are 2-0, so they're still undefeated, one-81st of the way through the season. Fausto Carmona was brilliant tonight, yielding but one run on four hits and four walks in seven innings of work. So that was good to see. You just never know with a young pitcher, whether he'll be as good from year to year. We may be seeing the next C.C. -- though of course, Fausto is not quite the same type of pitcher as C.C. For one thing, Fausto throws with his right hand. Whether he'll be as good in '08 as he was in '07, obviously, we don't know yet, and won't for quite a while. But this was encouraging.

Fausto had his sinker working, as only one fair ball was hit in the air against him -- a fly-ball out off the bat of Jim Thome.

In other news, it seems Victor Martinez isn't hurt quite as badly as we'd feared, which of course is good news. He should be back soon.

Today in sports history -- Baseball Hall of Fame

Seventy years ago today, the Baseball Hall of Fame opened its doors in Cooperstown, New York, on the shores of Lake Otsego. It's about a seven-hour drive from Cleveland.

As was the case with our Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there were already several baseball Hall of Famers by the time the Hall opened: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner in 1936; Cy Young, Tris Speaker and Nap Lajoie -- all of whom played significant portions of their careers in Cleveland -- in 1937; and Grover Cleveland Alexander -- who did not play in Cleveland, even though that was his middle name -- in 1938. Today, those nine men would all be no-doubt, first-ballot guys, but as the Hall was finding its way, it only inducted a few a year, which seems prudent.

There are now 286 Hall of Famers, which in my opinion is too many. Who's going to go through and read 286 plaques? But the Hall is a magnificent place for baseball lovers to visit. I went there in about 1991 or '92, and though I spent several wonderful hours in that building, I did not see everything -- not even close. I urge anyone who loves the game to make the trip. You won't be disappointed.