Good old Manny

A sign Manny Ramirez held up in the dugout during last night Red Sox-Angels game: "I'm going to Green Bay for Brett Favre, straight up."

Manny seems to hate playing for the Red Sox right now, saying they "don't deserve a player like me." Rumor has him possibly going to Florida, which obviously would have to be completed today, as today is the trade deadline. He may not be traded at all, of course, but if he were, that would end his Boston career after the better part of eight seasons. That's almost exactly how long he played for the Indians. Does this mean he might be wearing an Indians hat on his Cooperstown bust? Probably not, but I can hope, can't I?

Today in sporting history

On this date in 1988, a man named Ronald J. Dossenbach began a cross-country bicycle trip. This wasn't just any cross-country bicycle trip -- it set a new record. And it wasn't even this country. It was one of only three nations on earth that's bigger than the United States. No, it wasn't the USSR (the largest controlled-border nation the world has ever seen), and no, it wasn't China.

Twenty years ago today, Dossenbach left Vancouver, British Columbia, and alighted for Halifax, Nova Scotia. According to Google maps, the shortest-distance route between those two cities is 3,474 miles miles. By comparison, it's 2,764 miles from New York to Los Angeles. And most of that shortest route is through the United States, so he must have gone a couple of hundred miles farther just for the sake of staying in Canada.

Dossenbach completed his cross-Canadian course in 13 days, 15 hours. That's a total of 327 hours. So assuming he went 3,600 miles, that works out to about 11 miles an hour at all times. That's the average speed he was moving whether he was riding, stopping to eat, sleeping, whatever he was doing.

I recently rode 20 miles on the Trumbull County section of the Western Reserve Greenway Trail, and completed that trek in about an hour and a half. That works out to about 13 miles per hour. And I really pushed it, and was proud of myself for keeping up that pace. This guy kept up almost as good a pace as that -- for more than TWO WEEKS.

What can I say about that? It's darned impressive.

Valdosta? Believe it!

I was very surprised that a city of just 43,000 people won ESPN's Titletown USA contest, but it does make sense once you learn what's happened there. Valdosta, Georgia, is home to two very successful high school football programs, as well as a strong Division II college program. The Valdosta High Wildcats have won 23 state championships, and crosstown Lowndes High Vikings have won three of the last four state titles. And the Valdosta State Blazers have two Division II national championships to their credit.

Of the other cities rounding out the top six, only Boston has more than one professional team, and only Boston and Green Bay have even one. Parkersburg, West Virginia, finished second. My lovely fiancee and I visited Parkersburg earlier this month, and it's a lovely town, but who knew of its robust sports tradition?

But this isn't a blog about southern Georgia sports, northern West Virginia sports or eastern Massachusetts sports, it's a blog about northeastern Ohio sports, and we had a horse in the race too. Massillon finished fourth, with 6.7% of the vote. (Columbus was in the running too, but didn't finish in the top six.)

The following was submitted by an ESPN user named "fgrahamiv":

Massillon, Ohio, is about an hour south of Cleveland and directly west of Canton, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Massillon is a blue-collar steel town where high school football has been played since 1894.

Massillon Washington High School has 780 victories, ranking third all-time in the nation, has 22 Ohio state championships and nine national championships.

Massillon has played its longtime rival Canton McKinley 116 times, with a record of 62 wins, 49 losses and five ties.

Massillon has a population of just over 30,000 with a stadium that holds 17,000. It is named after Massillon alum and NFL hall of famer Paul Brown.

The Massillon tradition is so strong that every newborn baby boy is given a miniature football at birth. Massillon has had 23 players go on to play in the NFL such as Horace Gillom, Tommy James, Lin Houston, Jim Houston, Denny Franklin, Steve Luke and Chris Spielman. Not to mention the godfather of football, Paul Brown.

A quote from Ron Maly, Des Moines Sunday Register: "In the beginning when the Great Creator was drawing plans for this world of ours, he decided there should be something for everyone. He gave us mountains that reach to the sky, deep blue seas, green forests, dry deserts, gorgeous flowers, and gigantic trees. Then he decided there should be football, so he gave us Massillon. He created only one Massillon. He knew that would be enough."

That's a little bit melodramatic, but hey, for a town of 31,000 to beat Boston, New York and Detroit in a national poll of this nature is pretty impressive. Congratulations, Massillon.

It seems a great number of the cities that finished high, did so on the basis of high school football. Valdosta, Parkersburg and Massillon are certainly on the list for that reason. As much energy as we spend following sports on the national stage, high school football may well be the most popular level of a single sport in this country. And there's something very cool about that.

Fausto returns; Casey departs

Fausto Carmona's return last night could hardly have gone worse; he gave up nine runs on seven hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings of the Tribe's 11-4 loss to the Twins. But it's good to have him back. He's one of my favorite Indians. I really admired the way he kept his concentration in that playoff game against the Yankees last year, when the flies swarmed the field and, unlike Joba Chamberlain, he successfully ignored them. He'll do better after he's got a couple of starts under his belt. Aaron Laffey got sent to Buffalo to make room for Fausto, and that's a good thing too. Laffey did some good things when he first got called up this year, but he seems to have lost his confidence, and the International League is a much better place to try to regain your confidence than the American League is.

Speaking of my favorite Indians, Casey Blake is gone. Mark Shapiro sent him to the Dodgers for pitching prospect Jonathan Meloan and catching prospect Carlos Santana. It was a smooth trade; a black magic woman could hardly have done better. But I'll miss Blake. Taken from the AP story on the trade:

"There were quite a few rumors out there," said Blake, playing for his fifth big league club and first in the National League. "Nothing like this has ever happened to me, so it's all a new experience. A lot of emotions hit me at once and I didn't really have a lot of time to let any of them soak in. I kind of got anxious real quick."

Blake's been an Indian since 2003, when Shapiro signed him to a one-year, minor-league deal. As ESPN's Keith Law points out (subscriber only), this is a pretty good return on that investment. The Law on the two guys we got:

Carlos Santana is a recent convert from third base to catcher, and like most players converted to the position, he has an above-average arm. He's also a good receiver and has unusually good plate discipline. He has a compact swing and generates power through hard contact and upper-body strength. He projects as an everyday catcher with great defense, average power and an average to above-average hit tool.

Jonathan Meloan has worked this year as a starter with awful results. It's no surprise, as he projected all along as a good reliever. He works with a solid-average 88-92 mph fastball, but he's effective because he has two plus offspeed pitches, a 12-6 curveball with great depth and an 86-87 mph cutter with a long, late break. His downside is that despite his size (he's 6-3), he gets no downhill plane on his pitches and tends to leave his fastball up in the zone.

Meloan could probably pitch in Cleveland's bullpen this year, and at worst should be in it in April of 2009. Long term, he should be an above-average short reliever, maybe even an unconventional closer because he can miss so many bats in spite of the average velocity.

This year, Santana is hitting .323 with 14 homers and 96 RBIs at Class A, and that RBI total is the most in the minor leagues at any level this year. Meloan is 5-10 with a 4.97 ERA in AAA (the notoriously hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League). He's got 335 strikeouts in 262 innings in his minor-league career. So these are guys with some serious upside. The Indians sent Meloan to AAA Buffalo, where he'll move to the bullpen; and Santana to Class-A Kinston.

Blake will be a free agent at the end of the season. This piece appeared in the Plain Dealer yesterday, the same day the trade was made. Blake told Paul Hoynes he'd like to finish his career in Cleveland. Of course, he still could. If Andy Marte doesn't show anything the rest of this season, the Indians are going to need a third baseman next year. And Marte hasn't shown anything at all at the major-league level. He did hit his third home run of the season yesterday, and has been a little bit better lately, but he's still hitting just .190 on the year.

Shapiro also got reliever Anthony Reyes from the Cardinals yesterday, in exchange for AA reliever Luis Perdomo. This is a pretty minor trade, but Reyes has been pitching in the majors, and a major-league-ready reliever is almost always worth more than a reliever who's not ready for the bigs.

Nice hustle

In the first inning of the Indians' 5-4 win Friday night over the Twins, while the Indians were battering Livan Hernandez (hero of the 1997 postseason for the Marlins, as we all remember), Grady Sizemore scored from second base on a sacrifice fly by Ben Francisco. I've seen that before -- I remember in particular a time in about 1994 or 1995 that Kenny Lofton was on third and Wayne Kirby was on second, and they both scored on one fly ball -- but it's pretty darned rare. From a Minnecentric perspective, it will be remembered for being the play in which Carlos Gomez injured his back catching a fly ball. Gomez deserves a great deal of credit for quickly flipping the ball to teammate Denard Span, which at least kept Jamey Carroll, who was on first, from going any farther than second. And I can promise you a very large number of major leaguers would have stopped at third on that ball. But Grady is not among that number, which is why we love him so much. (That's the only reason, ladies.)

Cliff Lee (14-2) is now 70% of the way to the Indians' first 20-win season since Gaylord Perry won 21 in 1974. CC and Fausto each got to 19 last year, and there have been a few other 19-game winners in the last 34 years, but Cliff, who was born in 1978, is six wins away from being the first Indian to do it in his own lifetime. There aren't too many pitchers who've done that. (Expansion teams, of course, but there probably aren't many more.)

Lee is the first major leaguer to start 14-2 since Roy Halladay in 2004, and the first Indian to do it since Perry, that same year. And he'd be 16-2 if the bullpen hadn't blown two games he'd have won. There's still more than two months to go in the season, but Cliff Lee has a chance to have the best season I've ever seen an Indians pitcher have, and I'm 37. (My current previous choice would be Jose Mesa in 1995, in case you're wondering.)

General (Cliff) Lee

It's hard to believe that the guy who won his 13th game of the year today and started the All-Star Game on Tuesday was just a five-game winner in 2007. And it's also hard to believe he did it by pitching a complete game 11-hitter. Yes, Cliff Lee had luck on his side today, but regardless, this guy is putting together one heck of a year. And the Indians might have back-to-back Cy Youngs for the first time since ... well, ever. In fact, he'd be only the third Indian ever to win the award.

I'm curious to know when was the last time someone pitched a complete-game 11-hitter. I have a hunch the Elias Sports Bureau knows the answer, and will share it with the world tomorrow.

Here's a little-known fact about Clifton Phifer Lee: He was drafted three times by major-league teams. The Marlins took him in the eighth round in 1996, but he chose to attend Meridian Community College instead; the Orioles chose him in the 20th round in 1998, but he decided to be an Arkansas Razorback; and finally, the Expos signed him after picking him in the fourth round in 2000. Then they traded him for Bartolo Colon, in the best trade Mark Shapiro has ever made.

Hooray for Boobie!

What can one say about a five-year deal for Boobie Gibson? We're talking about a guy who's shooting 44% from behind the three-point line in his career -- second in Cavaliers history, behind the great Mark Price. That's the kind of weapon a team needs when it has one of the greatest take-it-to-the-whole guys you'll ever see. (LeBron James, in case this is the first thing you've ever read about basketball.)

Here's a question I've been pondering for a few months: Would Boobie have made the difference against the Celtics? If so, would the NBA championship banner now be hanging in Cleveland? We'll never know, of course, but Boobie's 10.4 points a game were good enough for third on the team, among players who ended the season in Cleveland; and as we all remember, that series went seven. And with just a little bit of a lift, the Cavaliers could have won that seventh game. (Boobie was hurt and didn't play, in case you weren't paying attention.)

The Indians have fallen on hard times this year, and the Browns have a tough schedule ahead of them. So the Cavaliers appear to have the best chance to bring Cleveland its first title since 1964. ESPN's been doing its "Titletown USA" competition over the past month or so, and it's been mildly interesting, but if only because Cleveland has zero chance of being included, I haven't been paying very close attention. I'm optimistic about the near-term future of all three of our teams, but the bottom line is that none of them have won a championship since seven years before I was born. And that's darned depressing, to the extent that sports matter. (They don't really, of course, but we still care.)

Boobie, you have until 2013 to end that drought. I know you can't do it by yourself. But I also know that if it's going to happen, it'll require a significant contribution from you. We're counting on you.

That was amazing

Josh Hamilton didn't win the Home Run Derby tonight, amazingly enough. But we've never seen the likes of the 28 home runs he hit in the first round, and we may never see it again. He was just cranking them, one after another. It didn't seem to matter where the ball was pitched, either. Low and inside? Boom, 500 feet to left. High and outside? Boom, 500 feet to center.

As has almost always been the case, the guy with the killer first round ran out of gas before it was over. I think the scoring should be changed. Justin Morneau hit five in the third round, beating Hamilton's three. But Morneau hit, what, eight in the first round? (I may be misremembering, but I can't seem to find the numbers anywhere, and I want to go to bed.) Hamilton hit a total of 35, if I'm not mistaken. I don't remember how many Morneau hit in the second round, but I think he wound up with a total of about 20. Hamilton hit 13 straight at one point. That's more than anyone else hit in an entire round. He should be the champion.

Mike Davidson, VP and chief marketing officer of State Farm Insurance, called Morneau "Jason" as he got ready to hand the Boys and Girls Club for which Morneau was playing. Morneau was gracious in calling it "his show," referring to Hamilton, and said he himself had won because he "got lucky." Justin Morneau is a good guy, and I admire him for saying that. And he's right, this was Josh Hamilton's show. The crowd at Yankee Stadium chanted "Ham-il-ton! Ham-il-ton!" as he took his cuts in the final round, but he just didn't have any starch left. I won't go into his recovery from heroin addiction, as it's undoubtedly going to be fodder for many a column elsewhere.

Our guy Grady Sizemore acquitted himself well, hitting six in the first round. He fell just one short of moving along to the second round.

Our other guy in New York, Cliff Lee, is the All-Star starter for the American League, making him the first Indian moundsman to start the All-Star Game since Charles Nagy in 1996. And he deserves it, after his 12-2, 2.31 first half. As has been covered in this space and many others, it's an amazing turnaround story from last year, when he was so bad he got sent down for a while and didn't even make the postseason roster. In spring training this year, he was fighting Jeremy Sowers for the fifth spot in the rotation. And now he's the American League's starting pitcher for the All-Star Game. If a few more Tribesmen were playing like that, we'd still have CC Sabathia and still be in the hunt for the playoffs.

But enough about that. If you follow this link, you can see Cliff talking humbly at a press conference about being named the starter. Congratulations, Cliff. You've earned it.

Some thoughts from Sunday's baseball action

* Jeremy Sowers usually tries to pitch like Greg Maddux -- albeit a lesser version -- but today, he seemed to be channeling Nolan Ryan or Bob Feller. He struck out eight guys and walked seven in just four innings. I'm not sure what to make of that. As far as I noticed, Sowers didn't get above 92 on the radar gun. Sometimes in baseball, things happen that you just can't explain.

* The Indians' four-game sweep of the Rays, completed with today's 5-2 win, knocked Tampa Bay out of first place in the AL East, where they are now half a game behind the Red Sox. I'm always glad to see the Tribe playing well, but I'm sorry to see the Rays fall into second place.

* Andy Marte hit his first home run of the season, among his two hits. That lifted his average to .177 on the year. Mark Shapiro regrets giving up on Brandon Phillips too soon, and doesn't want to make the same mistake with Marte. That's fine; this is a lost season anyway. Give him his shot, and if he ends the season with similarly anemic numbers, get him out of here.

* Gretchen Wilson won ESPN's silly little competition for the best version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." She did a credible job, but like almost everyone who competed, she sang "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks." The product is called Cracker Jack, not Cracker Jacks, and the original lyrics reflected this fact. Also, like most of the participants, she sang "'Cause it's one, two, three strikes ..." when the original lyrics are "For it's one, two, three strikes ..." I realize these are small differences, but I'm an editor by trade, and such things bother me. It's a dumb song, but it's a baseball tradition, and I think it should be sung correctly.

* Speaking of ESPN, they had the great Rod Carew as a guest on "Baseball Tonight" at 12:30 and 7. Carew was asked whether he had ever been part of a team that got no-hit, and he correctly remembered that Vida Blue had once no-hit his Twins. But Carew said it was a perfect game; it was not. Blue walked Harmon Killebrew in that game. All right, I'll stop nitpicking now. Carew had some very interesting things to say about his bunting and base-stealing methods, and I enjoyed hearing it.

* CC Sabathia hit his second home run of the season today, and it was key to his team's 3-2 victory. He also pitched a complete game. I wish him well, even though I have a bias against Bud Selig's Brewers.

* Matt LaPorta, the main guy we got for CC, went one-for-three with a walk in the Futures Game, playing for the U.S. against the rest of the world. The one hit was a seeing-eye single, but whatever. One game means very little. In any case, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick takes an interesting look at how the trade has elevated LaPorta's profile.

Mildly interesting

This report details why left-handers generally have an advantage over right-handers in baseball. There's honestly not much here that baseball aficionados don't already know, but the theory about lefties getting an advantage by learning to write in a right-handers' world is interesting. I'd like to see someone explore that, but I have no idea how such a project might be undertaken. After all, I'm a writer, not a scientist.

The report does not mention that lefties have a huge defensive disadvantage if they play infield positions other than first base. I probably don't have to explain this to anyone who watches much baseball, but a left-hander would have to twist his body around to make the throw to first from second, short or third. Never mind turning a double play. I recently saw a brief snippet of a youth softball game outside Chardon (I don't usually go to youth softball games, but I was looking for the parking lot for the bike trail that goes by there, and went to the wrong place). I noted that the shortstop for one of the teams was a lefty. She's probably the best athlete on the team, and the disadvantages of being a left-handed middle infielder might be overcome at that level. But if she tries to play college softball, she's going to have to move to first base or the outfield, unless she can pitch.

One thing I don't get ...

The Indians have won three in a row, which is nice, obviously. It's still only 30% as long as the losing streak that preceded it, so it's not like they're suddenly the '27 Yankees, but we'll take it. I wish it were against Boston or New York, rather than the Rays, because I want the Rays to win the AL East, but it's nice that the Tribe's playing better.

But I have to wonder what Eric Wedge was thinking when he pulled Matt Ginter from last night's game after just five innings and 67 pitches. He had a five-hit shutout going, with five strikeouts and no walks. At that time, the score was 7-0. Ginter was making his first start of the season at the major-league level, but he'd been starting all season in Buffalo. He'd thrown more than 100 pitches as recently as July 3. His last start for the Bisons had been Tuesday, which meant he was making yesterday's start on just three days' rest, but he'd only thrown 41 pitches in Tuesday's start, probably because the Indians knew he'd be needed Saturday. So if you add those two outings together, that's only 108 pitches. He certainly could have gone at least another inning or two.

And let's not forget how bad the Indians' bullpen has been. Sure, you'd like to think the relievers can protect a seven-run lead, but if that's true, wouldn't the same be true of the starter? And the bullpen held true to form yesterday. Rafael Betancourt, who's had a very difficult first half, put in two scoreless innings, but then Juan Rincon gave up four runs in two-thirds of an inning. And suddenly, it was a ballgame again. When you've got a seven-run lead, you surely don't want the game to turn into an actual ballgame.

The decision to pull Ginter notwithstanding, it's nice to see the Tribe offense putting some runs on the board. Except for Kelly Shoppach, everybody in the lineup got at least one hit, and several had two. One of those was Ryan Garko, who's not having a good year, but his three-run double and two-run homer were huge. And Grady Sizemore, the AL's home run leader, hit his 23rd of the year. If he holds on, he'll be the Tribe's first home run champion since Albert Belle in 1995.

Finally!

With a strong start from Aaron Laffey, accompanied by an offensive explosion, the Indians finally snapped their losing streak last night. The 13-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays (it still seems weird not to call them Devil) ended the skid at 10 games, the Tribe's longest losing streak since 1979.

When the Indians beat the Reds on June 27, they were a semi-respectable 37-43. Their pitching staff included not only CC Sabathia, but Joe Borowski and Rick Bauer.

Since then: Two losses to Cincinnati (5-0 and 9-5), three losses to the White Sox (9-7, 3-2 and 6-5 -- all games the Indians could have won), three to the Twins (12-3, 9-6 and 4-3) and two to the Tigers (9-2 and 8-6). The 10th of those losses was the worst of all, as the Tribe got out to a 6-0 lead before the bullpen blew it.

This is obviously a lost season for the Indians. Everybody knows that. They're now 15 games behind the White Sox, and have been in last place for a while. But at least now we know they won't finish 37-125.

By the way, the last time the Indians lost 11 straight games? You've got to go all the way back to 1931. My parents hadn't even been born yet.

This was also the first time since 1992 that the team with the best record in baseball lost to a team that came in with at least a 10-game winning streak. We are a font of useless knowledge here at Of Fair Hooker.

Speaking of Sabathia, The Hardball Times did a very interesting report looking at who got the better of that trade. The prognosis? It's pretty much even. But as a Tribe fan, I know we came out ahead because we got more than a stupid draft pick for him.

What a bunch of Bozos

This has nothing to do with sports, but it seems the Clown Hall of Fame in Milwaukee has posthumously reinstated Larry Harmon, the man who popularized the character Bozo the Clown. Harmon was originally honored in 1990, but had his plaque taken down after the Hall realized he was not the man who originated the role. He bought the rights to Bozo in the 1950s, then performed as Bozo for decades. The Hall decided he was inducted not for creating the character, but for his body of work while playing said character.

A spokeswoman said the Hall had actually reinstated him last year, but was waiting to make an announcement until a proper ceremony could be scheduled. I don't know when last year he was reinstated, but it's now the seventh month of this year, and it sure seems like they could have scheduled one by now. Harmon died last week at 83.

The lesson? Don't wait too long to honor someone who's on the far side of 80. I don't know what kind of prestige goes along with being a member of the Clown Hall of Fame, but I can promise you it's pretty hard to enjoy that prestige when you're dead.

Sabathia's last stand (in Cleveland)

Like any Indians fan, I wish C.C. Sabathia were still an Indian. I also wish Thome and Manny were still here; yes, both are in their late 30s, and both are showing signs of age. But imagine what we could have done with them in the lineup throughout the current decade.

Baseball doesn't work like that, of course. The teams with the deepest pockets get the best established major-leaguers. The Milwaukee Brewers are not one of those teams, but they're in the same position the Indians would be in if they were contending. They know they're not going to sign C.C. after this year, but they feel they can win this year, and so they're giving up future pieces to help them in the present day. The Brewers are Bud Selig's home team, so it's hard to praise them, but I do think they're doing the right thing. When you haven't been in the playoffs since 1982, and you've got a chance of getting there this year, you've got to go for broke.

Of course, these trades have a way of working out for the seller. Did you happen to notice who the Indians' two All-Stars are this year? Anyone remember how we got Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore? Does the name "Bartolo Colon" ring a bell? If the Sabathia trade works out half as well as the Colon trade did, I'll take it.

Let's take a look at the guys we're getting from the Brewers:

* Matt LaPorta: Seen as the linchpin of the deal, LaPorta is the current home run leader in the Class AA Southern League. He's a power-hitting outfielder, which is obviously something we can use in the coming years. LaPorta, 23, is in his second year of professional baseball, after a brilliant four-year career at Florida in which he hit 74 home runs in 195 games. He has 30 minor-league homers in 350 ABs, which is a pretty doggone good clip. I look forward to seeing him in Cleveland in 2009, if not September 2008.

* Zach Jackson: The lone player with major-league experience to come over in the deal, the 25-year-old has had cups of coffee in Milwaukee in 2006 and earlier this year. He had a decent year in 2007 in Triple-A Nashville, but hasn't done well this year. In his minor-league career, he's registered more than twice as many strikeouts as walks, and given up about one home run every 12 innings. In the majors, he's 2-2 with a 5.36 ERA in 10 games, seven starts. In the minors, he's 32-29 with a 4.55 ERA in 93 games, 82 starts. He's a throw-in, but the Indians must think they see something in him that the numbers don't show. That's a risky proposition, but no riskier than trying to sign your best player one year removed from a Cy Young award. Maybe they're taken in by the fact that he wears his glove on his right hand. It sure gave Jesse Orosco a long career. And the way the Indians' bullpen has gone, adding someone who's roughly a replacement-level major-leaguer can't really hurt.

* Robert Bryson: A 20-year-old right-handed pitcher, Bryson has put up some impressive strikeout numbers in the low minors. He fanned 70 in 54 innings in the Rookie League last year, and 57 in 45 1/3 this year. So he doesn't put a lot of stress on the defense. But like many fireballers, he misses the strike zone a lot. That combination helps him more in the low minors, where hitters don't have a great command of the strike zone. It's a lot tougher in the bigs. But the Indians must feel that if they work with him on his command, he can contribute in a few years.

* A player to be named later: Could be the greatest player you've ever seen. More likely, he'll be someone like Jerry DiPoto. (No offense, Jerry DiPoto, and god bless you on your recovery from cancer.)

At first glance, this is no Colon trade. Of course, we have to remember that when Colon was traded, Montreal Expos GM Omar Minaya had absolutely no reason to consider next year. The Expos were moving after that year, and nobody knew where, but everybody knew Minaya wouldn't be following them there.

Go Gladiators

It nearly escaped my attention that the Cleveland Gladiators of the Arena Football League are in the playoffs. They're playing right now against the Georgia Force, and Georgia's leading 7-0. (I can't imagine what it would be like to have a team in an indoor version of a major sport with the name "Force," by the way. Ahem.) Of course, with the ridiculous quantity of scoring in the AFL, a 7-0 lead is almost like a 2-0 lead in an NBA game. And the Gladiators tied it as I was writing that sentence.

C.C. sweepstakes

I'm referring to it as a "sweepstakes" in the headline, as that's how the national media tends to refer to such things. It's not really a sweepstakes, of course. That implies a certain randomness. There's nothing random about who will get C.C. Sabathia. It'll be the team with the best package to offer in return. (I know, I know, I said "package." Get your mind out of the gutter.)

Word is the Milwaukee Brewers seem to have taken the lead in this race, reportedly offering a package (stop giggling, you moron) involving top prospect Matt LaPorta. This Mr. LaPorta is hitting .288 in Class AA Huntsville, with 20 home runs and 66 RBIs. That home run number is good enough for tops in the Southern League. He's had a pretty good first half, but he's probably not ready for the majors yet.

The Tribe is allegedly also trying to get Double-A shortstop Alcides Escobar, who is currently third in the SL in the batting race. It bears mentioning that the top four all play for Huntsville, so one must wonder whether the home ballpark has something to do with that. I haven't seen any research on the subject of the ballpark at Double-A Huntsville, but you can bet Mark Shapiro has.

So that seems to be what's going on. Of course, it's easy to go off half-cocked about trade rumors. I blogged a few months ago about the rumors of the Cavaliers getting Matt Miller in a trade, and that apparently never even came close to happening; we wound up getting Wally Szczqzxzerbiak, Ben Wallace, et al instead. So we'll see what happens. Any National League team that picks C.C. will have the added advantage of his bat. He's hit two home runs in interleague games, so he can handle the lumber.

I know many fans are seeing this as a bad time because we're almost certainly about to give up one of our best players, and a guy who's spent his whole career with the Indians up to this point. The same was true of Albert Belle, Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez, all of whom brought the Tribe nothing but supplemental draft picks. A strong Double-A prospect is worth at least three or four supplemental draft pick. So let's not feel too bad about this.

UPDATE: It seems C.C. has been traded to the Brewers, just as I was publishing this post. We don't know the details yet, but they're saying on Baseball Tonight that it's a done deal. I'm assuming we got LaPorta; don't know about Escobar.

Breaking Bonds

So the ball Barry Bonds hit for his 756th home run last year, tainting the biggest record in North American professional sports, is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Fashion designer Mark Ecko paid three-quarters of a million dollars for the right to put an asterisk on the ball and donate it to the Hall.

I don't believe in asterisks in the books, because what happened in games must be accurately reflected in the historical record. But this is not a record book, it's a ball. And if ever a ball deserved to be marked with an asterisk, it's this one.

In the unlikely event that anyone cares what Bonds thinks of the situation, he has said he will boycott the Hall, were it to accept the defaced ball. Of course, the Hall might boycott him too, in a way, if enough voters think his juicing is sufficient reason not to vote him in.

Maybe next year

A few thoughts on the current baseball season, which is now past the halfway point:

On May 19, the Indians were 22-19, good enough for first place in the AL Central. Today, they are 37-46, bad enough for last place, 10 1/2 games behind the first-place White Sox. Their odds of playing into October are slim indeed, according to the Interweb computer types -- coolstandings.com gives them a 3.2% chance of getting to the playoffs, which is far more optimistic than Baseball Prospectus' postseason odds page, which put them at 0.8% even before last night's loss to the Chicagos (it takes them a while to update their page in the morning).

What happened? Well, during the early portion of that 15-37 stretch, the Tribe pitchers were typically doing the job, but the Tribe hitters were failing to give them anything to work with. Then the offense picked up -- just as Fausto Carmona and Jake Westbrook got hurt, Paul Byrd seemed to forget how to pitch, and the bullpen started to fall apart. Last night's 9-7 loss was kind of a microcosm of how things have been going for the Erie Warriors. Jeremy Sowers, the former future star, was terrible. In three innings, he gave up eight runs on six hits and two walks against two strikeouts. Every hitter who reached base against him scored, which is often what happens when you can't keep the ball in the park. The offense fought back and made it interesting, with 14 hits, five of which were off the bat of Jhonny Peralta. But they had too far to come back. You have to be able to win when you score seven runs.

Bottom line: This team is not going anywhere. It's time to start looking toward next season and beyond. Obviously, that means entertaining offers for C.C. Sabathia. It also means listening to any GM who is interested in any of the other Indians who aren't signed past this year -- a list that includes Byrd, Casey Blake and Joe Borowski. Neither Byrd nor Borowski is likely to bring A1 prospects, but if they can bring a B-level pitching prospect, I'd make that trade. Blake is no All-Star, but he's quietly having a pretty good year, and he could help a team that needs a good glove at third or in the outfield. He's one of my favorite players, because I like his attitude, but like any fan, I care more about wins and losses. If he can bring a decent prospect or two, you've got to make that deal.

So with the Indians pretty much out of the race, I've picked a new horse to root for, and it probably won't surprise too many people to see it's the Tampa Bay Rays. The team with the worst record in baseball last year is now a game and a half ahead of the Red Sox in first place in the AL East. They're a likable young team, led by such emerging stars as Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton and James Shields, with veterans such as Carlos Pena, Troy Percival and Carl Crawford mixed in. And best of all, they could be the first team not named the Yankees or Red Sox to win the AL East since 1997.

One other thing about last night's Tribe-Sox game: I was glad to see home-plate umpire Eric Cooper deny Toby Hall's request for time out in the bottom of the eighth. I'd like to see more of that. The powers that be in Major League Baseball wring their hands about how long games are getting, and here's a pretty simple thing that could shave some time off. There's no reason a hitter needs time out unless he's got a bee in his eye or something. It made for kind of a comical sight, as Hall asked for time, assumed it was granted, and stepped out of the box. The next time he looked up, Borowski was delivering the pitch. Hall quickly got back into the box and took a half-hearted hack at the ball, which appeared to be low and outside. He went on to fly out to end the White Sox' eighth.