Tribe pulls one out

I know that many of you have hardly been paying attention to the Indians lately, and I certainly understand why. We all know it's been a lost season for the Indians, Browns camp has started, the Buckeyes are looking good again, the Cavs have made some big moves, etc., etc. But what a game the Tribe played last night in Baltimore!

Andy Marte is the one getting the headlines today, and not without cause. Marte's been a pretty big bust since he came over here in the Caca Crisp* trade, and that home run he hit off O's closer Jim Johnson was clutch. Marte has been hitting much better lately, and that was his second home run in his last three games, which is great to see.

But I'd like to point to the previous hitter, Matt LaPorta. LaPorta, up with two outs, nobody on base and the Indians trailing by a run, won an epic battle with Johnson. He worked the count full, then fouled off pitch after pitch before finally singling up the middle. (I want to tell you how many pitches LaPorta faced, but unfortunately, I've been unable to find that information, and I didn't count them. But it was a lot.) Without that great effort from LaPorta, the game would have ended right there, and Marte would never have come up to hit that home run.

LaPorta and Marte both spent most of the season in Columbus before the recent flurry of trades created opportunities for them. They were both hitting great down there, but had both struggled in previous major-league opportunities. I don't want to make too much out of a small sample size, but it's nice to see those guys swinging the bat well.

* For the record, I have nothing against Coco Crisp. In fact, I like him. I just think it's funny to call him Caca, much as I think it's funny to call a certain former teammate of his Feces Sabathia. This is my blog, and I can be as infantile as I want.

Clifton and Carsten

If it's time to dip into the mailbag, that means it's time to hear from Jeff Brown:

Cliff Lee is 5-0 with the Phillies with a 0.68 ERA!

This is about as dominant as you can be. So much for the Phillies "settling" for Lee instead of getting Roy Halladay -- even Halladay would be hard-pressed to pitch THIS well, even when he's on a hot streak.

Similarly, C.C. Sabathia went 11-2 with the Brew Crew in 2008 with an ERA of 1.65, 7 complete games and 3 shutouts.

And that was after slowing down a bit toward the end of the season, after he won his first 9 starts.

Steve, this is truly remarkable, and for a change, this is not hyperbole on my part.

There's no exaggeration necessary with these numbers.

So now my question for you -- why did each of them have such a lousy record with the Tribe immediately prior to joining their new teams and absolutely dominating everyone in sight?

First, Lee was far from lousy for the Indians this year. He wasn't as good as he's been for the Phils, but he was pretty darned good. In fact, he was pitching his best ball of the season just before he was traded. True, he was only 7-9, but his ERA was 3.14, and he suffered from poor run support in Cleveland this year. Similarly, if I remember correctly, Sabathia was pitching pretty well just before he got traded last year, after a lousy start. Like Lee, he had a losing pre-trade record (6-8) but with a 3.83 ERA; and the latter number had come way down over the past month or so before he was dealt to Milwaukee. So both men would figure to pitch well after the trades too. Of course, neither could have been expected, based solely on their Indians performances, to dominate as they have/did.

I have a trio of theories. One, the American League is simply a stronger league than the National League, as evidenced by the junior circuit's dominance in interleague play (not to mention All-Star Games) the last few years; therefore, anyone who moves from AL to NL can expect his numbers to improve. Two, Sabathia and Lee both left situations in which they were pitching for nothing but their next contract (and I realize that's an oversimplification, but you see what I'm saying) to situations in which they were/are pitching for October, and presumably responded to the added incentive. Third, there will be some random fluctuation in any player's performance, and I think some of that is in play here.

Still, what Lee has done since that trade has been eye-popping. Few pitchers have a run like that at any time in their career. It must be fun to be Cliff Lee right now.

A new team record ... for the Royals

There's something very bittersweet about seeing a record set against your team. On the one hand, you have to appreciate seeing someone do something nobody's ever done before; on the other hand, every success for one team or individual is a failure for the opponent, and when that opponent is your team, that means your team is failing badly.

Such was the case in last night's game between the Indians and Royals. Zack Greinke has been a monster all season — there's no secret about that. But he had never missed as many bats as he did last night. Greinke went eight strong innings and struck out 15 Indians along the way, setting a new Royals team record for strikeouts in one game. (The record he broke, incidentally, was set 21 years ago by Mark Gubicza. Thought you'd like to know.)

Greinke took advantage of the Tribe's reluctance to swing at curveballs early in the count. And he was putting all his pitches exactly where he wanted them, which meant he had no trouble getting ahead in the count. Then he'd punch them out with sliders and his mid-90s fastball. Some of his off-speed pitches were somewhere in the 60s, and that variability in speed makes for a tough evening for the other team's hitters.

Greinke struck out Kelly Shoppach and Shin-Soo Choo three times each; Jamey Carroll, Travis Hafner and Matt LaPorta twice each; and Jhonny Peralta, Luis Valbuena and Andy Marte once each. Asdrubal Cabrera was the only hitter in the Indians lineup to avoid being whiffed at least once; he drove in the Tribe's second run in the eighth, and then promptly got thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple. Marte got a measure of revenge with a home run in the top of the sixth, his first of the season in the bigs. Peralta, for good measure, struck out a second time in the ninth against Robinson Tejeda, giving the Royals staff 16 total for the game.

Greinke is now 12-8 with a 2.43 ERA (tops in the American League) while pitching for a team that's on pace to lose 100 games. The Cy Young discussions tend to favor pitchers who get a lot of wins, and there are six AL pitchers who've won more games than Greinke, but it's not his fault the Royals suck.

Justin Masterson struggled in his fourth start as an Indian, giving up four runs on seven hits, including one home run, and two walks in six innings. He struck out four, which looks laughable next to Greinke's 15. He wasn't awful, but I'd sure hope he'd do better against the worst team in the American League.

And hey, how about that Valbuena?

As soon as the ball came off Luis Valbuena's bat in the bottom of the 11th of last night's game against the Mariners, I knew it was gone. The only question was whether it would stay fair. Of course, it did, giving the Indians a 4-3 walk-off win. It was the first walk-off home run Valbuena had ever hit as a pro, and you could see how excited he was as he tossed aside his helmet between third and home so his jubilant teammates could beat him up once he touched the plate.

Valbuena's long ball was the lead story, but the secondary story was another impressive start from Aaron Laffey. Laffey gave up three runs in the top of the first, and then settled down to put up zeroes the rest of the way. I've said it before, but Laffey is an ace in the making. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find him in the 2010 All-Star Game, and maybe making a run at a Cy Young in a couple of years.

And the bullpen came through too, as Chris Perez, Kerry Wood, Tony Sipp, Joe Smith and Rafael Perez put up four more zeroes to hold the Mariners off long enough for Valbuena to end it. Rafael Perez, in particular, has been pitching much better lately, after getting off to a terrible start this season. He had a couple of bad outings after being recalled from Columbus in early April, but has been rock-solid since then, giving up nothing over his last five outings, and getting the win last night.

Rolling over a bad team

There was a lot to like about the Browns' effort last night against the Detroit Lions, but of course, you have to take it with a grain of salt because the opponent was the first team ever to come off an 0-16 season. Still, it was good to see our guys dominate like that.

Derek Anderson got the start behind center, and did not disappoint. Anderson went 8-for-13 for 130 yards as he led the Browns to a 20-0 first-quarter lead (aided in large part, of course, by Josh Cribbs' 84-yard punt return for a touchdown). He did throw a pick, but was mostly very solid. Brady Quinn got his chance in the second quarter and looked pretty good too, though he only threw five passes, completing three for 29 yards. I'd say the spot is still up for grabs, but Anderson is probably ahead by a nose after this.

And the Browns made a number of big plays. Besides Cribbs' impressive runback, there was the undrafted James Davis' 81-yard TD run at the end of the third quarter, and Eric Wright's interception of first overall pick Matthew Stafford. Stafford telegraphed the pass a bit, but Wright still made a great read on it. And getting back to Davis, I don't know if he's a good bet to make the team, but he sure looked good last night, albeit against the third-string defense for the NFL's worst team.

The Browns take on the Titans this coming Saturday. The quarterback situation is obviously the biggest story line to follow, but I look forward to seeing how everybody does against a real NFL team.

Masterful Masterson?

On the surface, Justin Masterson turned in a pretty darned solid performance last night against an explosive offensive team in the Los Angeles/Anaheim/California Angels. Masterson, acquired in the Victor Martinez trade, went 6 1/3 innings, giving up just one unearned run on three hits. But Masterson only struck out three hitters while walking four. That's way too many walks. Usually, if you do that against a team like LA/A/C, you're going to get burned in the butt. Still, holding the Angels, who had eight .300 hitters in the lineup, to three hits is impressive, so I don't want to be too negative.

The real story last night was the Indians' offense, which has chugged along all season, no matter who is in the lineup. It was looking like a pretty good pitchers' duel until the sixth, when the Tribe hitters blew it wide open. The Indians hit four singles and three doubles in the inning, with a walk for good measure, in the course of batting around and putting a 7 on the board. Even the outs were pretty loud in the inning. Kelly Shoppach's sacrifice fly to deep center was the first out, and Shin-Soo Choo's liner to shortstop was the second and third outs, as Asdrubal Cabrera got doubled off second. Shoppach was the only hitter in the lineup who didn't reach base in the inning. The Tribe wound up putting 11 on the board for the game.

Lifelong Indians fans

Today, we're going to dip into the good ol' mailbag, from our most diligent correspondent, Mr. Jeffrey William Brown of Columbus, Ohio:

If you're feeling anything like I am these days, you are resigned and despondent about being a Cleveland Indians fan.

I mean, we trade away our best players and immediately they rock and roll with their new teams. The latest example: P Carl Pavano, who pitched 7 shutout innings in his first start with the Twinkies.

Also, Cliff Lee. Also, C.C. Sabathia last year, who not only "upped" his game, but pitched the most dominant 2 1/2 months of baseball I've ever seen.

Also, also, also... (and on and on and on).

Where does it end, Steve?

You and I are 38 years old, and let's just say for the sake of argument, we'll live to be around 85 years old.

That leaves us with 47 seasons to hope to see the Indians win the World Series, and realistically we've only got 46, because they already chose to be a last-place team next year.

Really -- and I ask you to be utterly realistic and honest -- do you believe and you and I will live to see a World Series champion in Cleveland?

For the record, Jeff and I were both born in 1971. I'm sure I don't need to remind Of Fair Hooker readers that none of Cleveland's three teams has won a title since the Browns in '64.

Let's keep in mind that these things tend to be cyclical. Two years ago, would you have said the Tampa Bay (not devil) Rays would even get into the playoffs over the next 10 years, much less win an American League pennant? Now look at them. They're not likely to get back in this year, but they're still one of the better teams in the majors, and they are still in contention for a postseason berth.

And look at what are the most pathetic franchises in baseball right now: You've got the Royals, who won a World Series 24 years ago; you've got the Pirates, who won a World Series 30 years ago; and you've got the Nationals, who have been to the playoffs once in their existence (as the Expos in 1981, the year the playoffs were expanded). The Nationals are a bad example, and I hope we can agree the Indians are a better bet than the guys in our nation's capital. The other two of those teams have won titles that I'm old enough to remember. (That '79 World Series is the first one I remember well, and hating Pittsburgh as I did even at age 8, I was rooting hard for Jim Palmer and the Orioles.)

The Dolans are clearly spending less money now than they did in 2007 and 2005, when they gave us a serious contender. The fact that they decided to cut expenditures right now doesn't mean they won't spend again when they think we have a real chance, possibly as soon as 2011 or 2012.

And that's just talking in the short term. Jeff and I will be 60 in 22 years, we'll be 70 in 32 years, and presuming medical science and/or our strong constitutions can keep us alive that long, we'll be 80 in 42 years. I say it's a strong bet the Indians, Cavaliers and Browns ALL win a title in that time. The fact that it hasn't happened in our lifetimes already is a statistical aberration; and all three have had championship-caliber teams that we are old enough to remember well.

So that's my answer. Yes, I believe Jeff and I will both live to see a World Series champion in Cleveland.

Now that the pressure is off ...

The Indians are playing very well right now, using players who have spent large portions of the season in AAA. Since the trade deadline, the Tribe has won six of nine, taking three straight series against Central Division teams, capped off by yesterday's 8-4 win over the White Sox. The stars of that game were David Huff, who opened the season in Columbus; Jamey Carroll, who has been the club's utility infielder all year; and Wyatt Toregas, who would still be in Columbus if not for the Victor Martinez trade.

In an odd way, the Indians' recent run seems to somehow reflect badly on Eric Wedge. I don't know if that makes sense, but think about it: The Tribe got off to a very slow start, as they have almost every year Wedge has been here, and fell out of contention early, even while playing with an $80 million payroll made up of players we were counting on to make us contenders. Now that many of those players are gone and there's no pressure, the players who are left are playing their best ball of the season. Where was this in April and May?

I've heard a lot of people calling for Mark Shapiro's head, and some of the same people are calling for Wedge's. Leaving aside the Shapiro question for now; it's hard to know what a manager's true effect is on a team, but I say somebody else ought to get a shot to get these guys playing well out of the chute next year. As we've said in this spot, it seems like Shapiro's given up on 2010 already, but the reality is, it might not take more than 85 or 86 wins to take this division next year. If these guys can play like this in August 2009, they ought to be able to play like this in April 2010. But I don't think it'll happen with Wedge in the dugout.

Mangini speaks on SportsCenter

Chris Mortensen's tour of NFL training camps for ESPN's SportsCenter took him to the Browns' camp yesterday, and naturally he spoke to Eric Mangini about the quarterback controversy. Mangini basically said he's going to give both Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn every chance to impress him, and that he won't make a snap decision. (Mortensen asked him to bring us "up to snuff" on how the competition is going, which I don't think is quite what he meant to say.)

"At some point, one will make a really strong case that they should be the starter, and at that point, we'll name them," Mangini told Mortensen. "The most important thing to me is not to make a quick decision, it's to make the right decision."

There was no mention of the recent release of Shaun Smith, apparently for being lazy and insubordinate. I have to say I like the way Mangini is running his camp, based on what I've seen. Sure, giving both quarterbacks a fair chance to be the starter isn't exactly brain surgery, but a lot of coaches would have just named a starter by now so they wouldn't have to worry about it. And he's making sure his players know who's boss. It comes to mind that a certain former coach with a Shakespearean name wouldn't have done that.

Laffey wins laugher

We all know the Indians are done for this season, and we all know they've gotten rid of a lot of the players who were on the opening-day roster. But darn it, this team is still fun to watch sometimes.

Aaron Laffey went eight innings — the longest outing of his major-league career — and gave up just one unearned run on six hits, striking out five. Laffey first came up in 2007, so it's easy to forget he's only 24. He's got a bright future, provided he stays healthy.

The offense scored eight runs without leaving the park, with an 11-hit attack led by the top third of the order, Grady Sizemore, Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo. Sizemore and Cabrera had three hits each, Choo added two, and each member of the trio had a double.

And Trevor Crowe, hitting ninth, also had two hits, which is nice to see. When Crowe was sent to Columbus on June 24, he was hitting .169. Since being recalled on July 31, he's hitting .381 in five games, bringing his season average up to .221. Crowe is 25, so his peak years are still to come.

The Indians and Twins play their rubber match today at noon, with Fausto Carmona facing Nick Blackburn. I have to work for a living, so I won't get to see it, but I'd sure like to see Fausto turn in a solid outing.

Aftermath

I haven't watched or heard any Tribe games since Shapiro's Fire Sale '09, as I was out of town all weekend. But I did catch some of the Trivisonno show on Friday (hosted on this occasion by Chuck Galeti), just a couple of hours after the Victor Martinez trade was announced. And wow, were there some angry Indians fans. One caller questioned whether Paul Dolan and Mark Shapiro will have the guts to eat out in public in Cleveland. Another was saying how Victor was her favorite player, and now she's going to give away her remaining tickets.

I understand that kind of thinking, but if, as a Cleveland Indians fan, you start picking favorite players and getting upset when they leave, you're going to be disappointed a lot. Does anyone reading this think Grady Sizemore is going to finish his career in Cleveland? No way. He'll be too expensive when his next contract comes up. And we're all rooting for players like Shin-Soo Choo and Fausto Carmona and Jhonny Peralta to become the stars we think they can be. But if they do, they'll also be too expensive to keep.

A lot of people are angry at Dolan and Shapiro for getting rid of probably our two best players in Martinez and Cliff Lee. I admit I hated to see them go too. But the people running the Indians didn't create the Major League Baseball salary structure. It's not their fault the Indians can't make the kind of money that teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers can make. And it's not their fault that those teams are allowed to outspend them year after year. I disagreed with trading those guys now instead of next year, but Mark Shapiro is smarter than I am, at least when it comes to running a baseball team. He does it for a living. I could never hope to have all the knowledge he has at his disposal every day. That doesn't mean he's right and I'm wrong, but I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. Don't forget, he did build a team that almost went to the World Series two years ago. If he was smart then, he didn't get stupid in two years, unless he's developed a meth habit that we don't know about.

We did get some fine young talent in those trades, as well as the Garko, Betancourt and DeRosa deals. ESPN.com's Keith Law posted a list on his blog about the 10 best prospects to have changed teams this past week, and four of the 10 are now playing in the Indians farm system. And that doesn't even include Justin Masterson, who's an established major-leaguer. Law has Nick Hagadone ranked second, and believes he might become a fine starter, though it would take time for him to get to that point. He also has good things to say about Jason Knapp, Carlos Carrasco and Bryan Price.

Right now, it doesn't feel great to be a Cleveland Indians fan. Nobody feels that more keenly than I. But let's give these players a few years to develop. We may someday be glad Mark Shapiro blew up the team in 2009.