A walk-off WHAT?!

The walk-off is one of the most exciting plays in baseball. Because it can only happen in the bottom of the ninth inning (or the bottom of an extra inning), only the home team can win on a walk-off, which adds to the excitement because the home fans get to celebrate along with the winning team. The walk-off home run is undoubtedly the most exciting way to win in walk-off fashion, but walk-off hits are fun too, especially if there's a play at the plate. You'll occasionally see a walk-off walk, which if you're not a fan of the winning team is disappointing and anticlimactic.

But a walk-off bunt single? I'm pretty sure I've never seen that before. Yes, it happened in Major League, but that's fiction, and even that game didn't end until Willie Mays Hayes rounded third and headed home, drawing a throw from Klu Haywood at first. Anyway, that's how the Indians lost to the Angels last night, as Howie Kendrick laid one down against Chris Perez that caught the entire infield defense napping. Once the ball got past Perez, it was over with.

Unbelievable.

Talbot wins third straight; offense comes alive

Mitch Talbot is supposed to be the Indians' fifth starter this year. That's where he falls in the rotation, anyway. But after going 6 1/3 and giving up just one run in last night's 9-2 win over the Angels, Tabot is now 3-1 with a 2.05 ERA. He stopped the Indians' losing streak at two games, and his ERA is best among all five Tribe starters — and eighth-best in the American League. Those three wins he's got already this year are the first three of his major-league career. The kid's off to a great start.

The offense also came alive last night, pounding out 18 hits, including three from Austin Kearns, one of which left the yard. Kearns racked up five RBIs in this one, doubling his season total. Asdrubal Cabrera also had four hits.

The Indians and Angels play the rubber match tonight, and it actually starts at 7:05 Eastern, which gives working Clevelanders a chance to watch it. Jake Westbrook will try to turn around his poor start, facing off against Ervin Santana. At my house, we'll be watching American Idol for part of that time, but you can bet we'll be checking in. (For anyone who cares, I think Big Mike is toast.)

Next victim: Boston Celtics

The Cavaliers threatened several times to pull away in last night's series clincher against the Bulls. They never did pull away, but it doesn't matter now. The only thing that matters is that they won, the series is over, and the Cavs move on to play the Celtics in round two.

It's unusual to say this after a series-clinching win, but arguably a bigger story than the outcome of the game is LeBron James' right elbow, which he just admitted has been bothering him for weeks, but he's been able to play through it. It apparently hurt so much, he shot his last free throw left-handed, with just seven seconds left in the game and the Cavaliers up by just four. This wasn't Bo Kimble shooting left-handed to honor Hank Gathers (video here) — Bo had practiced shooting left-handed. LeBron hadn't, and he missed his. James claims it's nothing to worry about, but when you've got your right-handed superstar shooting left-handed because of pain in his right arm ... I'm sorry, LeBron, but I'm going to worry about it, at least a little bit.

LeBron did have an MRI on the elbow on Monday, and it came out clean. He's got three days to rest it before the Cavs open their second-round series against Boston at the Q on Saturday. And to be sure, other than that left-handed free throw, it didn't seem like The King was suffering much. He only scored three points in the first half, but did put in 16 in the second half and was one assist away from his second straight triple-double — and he had one of his patented poster-worthy dunks in the third quarter.

Antawn Jamison was arguably the star of this game, putting in 25 points; and Shaquille O'Neal was an absolute monster on the inside, with 14 points and eight rebounds in just 26 minutes.

I do want to mention the officiating again. After the Cavs' close loss in game three, I complained about a couple of fouls that weren't called. After this one, I'm going to mention a couple that were called, and this time, I'm throwing a bone to the other team. Bulls center Brad Miller got called for two fouls in less than a minute in the fourth quarter while guarding Shaq, and I didn't think either one should have been called. They were Miller's fourth and fifth fouls in the game, and he would go on to foul out in just 10 minutes of game time. After Miller came out following that fifth foul, Joakim Noah got called for a ticky-tack foul on Shaq, and it was his fifth foul too. Give the Cavs credit for getting the ball to Shaq when the officials were calling it so tight, but I'd rather have defeated the Bulls without any help from the referees.

Regardless, it's over with, and the Celtics are waiting to face us on Saturday. I'm going to assume LeBron is healthy enough to dominate, in which case, Boston doesn't stand a chance. Bring 'em on.

Now THAT's the Cavaliers team we all know and love

The under-talented Chicago Bulls raced the thoroughbred Cavaliers neck and neck until there were just a couple of minutes left in the first half yesterday, but the Cavs managed to pull away at the close of the second quarter, and never looked back. LeBron James' jumper at the first-half buzzer gave the Cavs a 10-point lead at the break, and it seemed like that shot took the heart out of the Bulls — all but Joakim Noah, who ended the game with 21 points and 20 rebounds.

It almost seems like LeBron's game yesterday was not particularly noteworthy, just because it was him; but The King put up his fifth career playoff triple-double, with 37 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. It was his second career playoff game with at least 37 points in a triple-double — the only other player to do that twice was Oscar Robertson. In addition to his first-half buzzer-beater, he hit one from almost half-court at the close of the third quarter with Derrick Rose's hand in his face, which made it a 21-point advantage. This was an enormous effort from LeBron.

The poor Bulls had no chance of closing that gap in the fourth. The Cavs did win by that same 21-point margin, but pushed the lead as high as 29 before letting their foot off the gas in the final minute of the game. And we're one win from moving on to the second round. That win will come Tuesday night in Cleveland.

Browns select quarterback of the future (again)

It tells you something about how important the quarterback position is in the NFL that one of the Browns' third-round picks, Texas QB Colt McCoy, gets more attention than their second-round picks, Oregon safety T.J. Ward and Tennessee running back Montario Hardesty. It's kind of surprising that McCoy would fall to the 85th overall pick, given that he's the winningest quarterback in NCAA history and completed 70% of his passes in his collegiate career. And we Ohioans all remember how he led the Longhorns to a 24-21 victory in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl over Ohio State, throwing the winning touchdown pass with 16 seconds left.

How this guy was still available that late, I'll never know. Maybe it's because he's listed at 6'2", and coaches like quarterbacks who are tall enough to play power forward in the NBA (and yes, I'm exaggerating to make a point). That's why NFL coaches wouldn't take a chance on 5'10" Doug Flutie, who became the greatest player in Canadian Football League history before returning to the States for a pretty successful last hurrah. It's a stupid reason not to pick a quarterback. Sure, a couple of inches more in height might help a little, but I don't see that holding him back. I think this guy's going to be a star, and while he'll be behind Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace for a while, I look forward to the day he takes over the Browns' offense. ... And I'm not going to say a word about other quarterbacks of the future the Browns have drafted since becoming an expansion team. That was then, and this is not then.

Ward and Hardesty are both very talented players with significant injury histories, which allowed the Browns to get them a bit later than they otherwise might have been able to. Ward has missed time with injuries every year since his senior year in high school, with the lone exception of 2008. He missed five games last year with a right ankle sprain, but still racked up 68 tackles in eight games.

Hardesty has had three knee surgeries in his life, but was healthy all of 2009, and rushed for 1,345 yards and 12 touchdowns. He'll presumably be behind Chris Jennings on the depth chart, but he'll get a chance to prove himself.

The Browns also picked Arizona State offensive lineman Shawn Lauvao with the 92nd overall pick. It's not easy to evaluate offensive linemen statistically, but at the scouting combine, the dude did 33 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press. I sure wouldn't want to piss him off.

These four draftees join Thursday night's first-round pick, Florida cornerback Joe Haden, taken with the seventh overall pick.

Where were Cavs hiding it?

It's hard to believe when you look at the final score and remember how the fourth quarter went, but the Cavaliers were at one point losing last night's game by 21 points. Supposedly the NBA's best team, down by 21 to about the 19th- or 20th-best team in the league.

The last quarter and a half, they showed who the better team was, making quite an impressive comeback that fell just short. But it should never have come to that. The Cavs played weak defense most of the evening, and that's just got to get better if they hope to get far in this postseason. Particularly weak was Mo Williams' defense on Derrick Rose, who poured in 31 points. Williams has never been known for his defense anyway, but he's just got to do better.

LeBron James was his usual bad (in a good way) self, leading all scorers with 39 to go with 10 rebounds and eight assists. He did make some key turnovers down the stretch, but he continues to play like the best player on the planet, which he is.

Oh, and of course I must mention the officiating, which was terrible at the end. I hate to be the guy who blames the officials for my team losing — and again, the Cavs have nobody to blame but themselves for digging such a hole to climb out of — but LeBron was the victim of two fouls that weren't called in the closing moments, including one that actually went the other way. LeBron was driving to the hoop, and Luol Deng stepped in his way as he put up a shot that went in. Deng's feet were clearly moving, and should have been called for a foul that would have given LeBron an and-one opportunity that could have cut the lead to 102-99. Instead, LeBron got called for a charge. What that official was watching, I have no idea. And later on, your favorite Bull and mine, Joakim Noah, clotheslined LeBron as he went for a rebound. That one was a little bit less obvious since neither player had the ball, but it should have been called.

Regardless, the Cavs are still up 2-1 in the series, and still figure to close it out early. I originally predicted a sweep; now I'm predicting five games. I still say these Bulls are no match for this Cleveland team.

Asdrubal struggles; Tribe bats remain silent

Poor Asdrubal Cabrera. He isn't having a very good series in Minnesota. First, on Tuesday night, he let an inning-ending double-play ground ball go between his legs in what would become a four-run inning that made the difference in the Tribe's 5-1 loss. Then, last night, he came up in the bottom of the fifth with one out and the bases loaded, the Indians still down just 3-0. Twins starter Francisco Liriano had already walked a man in the inning. Cabrera swung at the first pitch and hit an easy double-play ball to third. The Indians would go on to lose 6-0, but that was a blown opportunity to stay in the game.

David Huff followed his fine outing last week with a poor effort in this one, walking six and striking out just one in his six innings of work. He gave up four runs on three hits, one of which was Michael Cuddyer's solo home run in the sixth. Huff was lucky not to have given up more runs.

It's time to start getting a bit concerned about the Indians' offense. After last night's blanking, they're tied with Baltimore for 28th in the major leagues in runs scored, with only Houston behind them. With 46 runs in 14 games, they're averaging 3.3 a game, and no pitching staff can win with that kind of output. They have a team batting average of .215, which is positively hideous (and yes, worst in the bigs). On-base percentage is a better statistic, but they're ahead of only the aforementioned Orioles and Astros there, at .300.

Shin-Soo Choo, as covered here before, is off to a fine start (.313/.450/.625), but after that, the stat sheet's pretty ugly. I know what I just said about batting average, but it's a stat everyone can relate to, and it is a decent barometer of success, so let's take a look at it among Tribe regulars. Cabrera's hitting a respectable .288 (with no power), and next on the list is Travis Hafner, at .234 (with not much power). When the third-best batting average on your team is .234, you're in trouble. It's a testament to the Indians' starting pitchers that they're 6-8. It could be a lot worse.

AL chooses Choo

Ladies and gentlemen, your American League Player of the Week for April 12-18 is Cleveland Indians right fielder Shin-Soo Choo — and well-deserved. Choo hit .579 in six games during that period, with three home runs and 11 RBIs, and is on a seven-game hitting streak. He's the number-one reason the Tribe is riding a four-game winning streak leading into tonight's game in Minnesota.

Surprise! LeBron dominates again

It seems like it's always been this way: When the Cavaliers play the Bulls in the playoffs, #23 takes over and makes sure his team doesn't lose. Of course, that #23 plays for the Cavs now. LeBron James looked every bit the MVP he is in last night's 112-102 win over Chicago, pouring in 40 points to go with eight rebounds and eight assists. Among those 40 points were one of the niftiest dunks you'll ever see, weaving through traffic and fending off contact from James Johnson, reaching back with the ball to get more power, and stuffing it in with tremendous authority. And in the fourth quarter, when the Cavs were slowly building their lead after being tied at 77 to start the period, LeBron kept taking jump shots with one or two seconds left on the 24-second clock — and hitting most of them, including a three-pointer with Joakim Noah in his face. LeBron put up 15 points in that decisive fourth quarter.

One of the subplots of this game was Noah insulting Cleveland, saying there's nothing to do here, nowhere to go out at night. I frankly don't give a rat's petoot what Joakim Noah thinks of Cleveland, but he obviously didn't look very hard. It's about 10 blocks from the Q to the Warehouse District, for example. And there are plenty of places to go that are even closer. ... Meh, whatever. Noah brought the wrath of the Cleveland faithful upon himself, but it sure didn't seem to slow him down. If anything, he seemed to have fed off it. Noah put in 25 points to go along with 13 rebounds, and almost single-handedly kept the Bulls in the game. ... So if the series does come back to Cleveland (which it won't), don't boo him anymore.

LeBron's exploits crowded the rest of the club out of the game story, but he did have some help. I especially want to mention Jamario Moon coming off the bench to hit 4-of-5 shots, all from three-point range. That was killer.

The Cavs are now up 2-0 in this series. Game 3 is Thursday in Chicago, game 4 is Saturday in Chicago, and game 5 won't happen. This is going to be a sweep.

Cavs go about as expected

I probably don't have to tell anyone reading this blog about yesterday's Cavaliers win over the Bulls. The Cavs pretty much dominated that game, as we all expected. LeBron was great, Shaq was good in his first game in over a month, and while the Bulls got within seven in the fourth before succumbing to the Cavs' superior talent, it was really never in doubt.

Sorry I don't have that much more to say. I didn't watch the game very closely, as my wife and I were throwing a birthday party for our five-year-old. Regardless, the Cavs are now 15 wins away from a title.

Tribe attendance problems?

We're dipping into the mailbag this morning, courtesy of Of Fair Hooker's second-most faithful reader (after my lovely wife), Jeff Brown:

Yes, the Tribe won their baseball game [yesterday] 3-2 against the ChiSox, however we have a major problem shaping up: this was a Saturday game, traditionally the day of the highest attendance across MLB, and the Tribe drew a grand total of 12,885 fans (barely 1/4 of the capacity of Jacobs Field).

This, Steve, is not a good sign when our hometown heroes draw a measly crowd like that. It's downright embarrassing, humiliating, and cause for starting the argument that the Indians might move out of Cleveland to greener pastures.

I mean, how can you justify continuing to function when you draw that kind of a crowd on a sunny Saturday afternoon, Steve?

I'm not sure if Jeff is employing hyperbole here, but taking his comments at face value, let's examine that attendance figure. Obviously, the Indians would be happier with a number much closer to the capacity of Progressive Field. But first of all, while the sun may have been out, it was cold yesterday. I don't know what the mercury hit in downtown Cleveland, but here in Windham, it never broke out of the 40s.

Second of all, the game started at 4 p.m., in order to accommodate the Fox network; exactly one hour after the Cavaliers started their first-round playoff series against the Chicago Bulls right across the street from the Indians. I don't know that I'd go so far as to say a lot of people who might have gone to the Indians game went to the Cavs game instead, but I will suggest that a number of Tribe fans chose to stay home and watch the Cavs on TV.

Don't misunderstand me: The Indians' attendance figures HAVE been down in recent years, and that IS a problem. But I think to point to one game and say that game's figures are cause for sending the Indians to Portland or Las Vegas is a bit much.

Speaking of yesterday's game, it was the Indians' third straight victory, after Asdrubal Cabrera's homer off Jake Peavy tied it in the eighth, and Shin-Soo Choo's RBI double off Matt Thornton gave the Tribe a 3-2 lead that would be the final score. Chris Perez, who had been so bad his last couple of outings, pitched an uneventful ninth for his third save. (And he might not be getting any more save opportunities for a while, as Kerry Wood appears close to returning.)

It was also the third straight game in which the Indians gave up exactly two runs. Jake Westbrook didn't go the distance like David Huff and Mitch Talbot the previous two days, but he was pretty good for seven innings, and this win was more his doing than the guy who got the win, Jensen Lewis.

At 5-6, the Tribe is now alone in third place, 3 1/2 behind the Twins.

Another big start from a young Indian

Mitch Talbot entered last night's game with zero major league wins. He has one now. Talbot, the Indians' fifth starter, followed fourth starter David Huff's complete-game victory with one of his own. And Huff rewarded him with a shaving-cream pie all over his face. It was the first time Indians starters have won back-to-back complete games since Charles Nagy and Chad Ogea did it in 1996. That's a long time. For a second-year pitcher and a rookie to do it is pretty remarkable.

Talbot gave up two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks, striking out two. The one earned run scored on Paul Konerko's solo home run in the fourth. The Tribe bats helped him out with six runs on eight hits, including Luis Valbuena's two-run fourth-inning home run off White Sox starter Mark Buehrle.

With the win, the Indians moved ahead of the White Sox in the standings, and are tied with the Royals for third place, at 4-6, 3 1/2 behind the first-place Twins.

The White Sox are staying in the same hotel as the Chicago Bulls, giving me a convenient segue to mention that the Cavs start their march to the title against the Bulls at 3 p.m. today. I predict a Cavaliers sweep. It's possible the Bulls could steal a game, but the Cavs are clearly a far superior team. They almost beat them 10 days or so ago without LeBron James, for criminy's sake.

How 'bout Huff!

David Huff pitched a gem yesterday to end the Indians' four-game losing streak and up the club's record to a not-quite-respectable-but-not-quite-pathetic 3-6. Huff went the full nine in the 3-2 win over Texas, striking out four, walking just one, and yielding just four hits. One of those hits was Michael Young's two-run homer in the fourth that gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead that lasted until Shin-Soo Choo's three-run job in the bottom of the eighth. Give Huff credit for holding the Rangers down long enough for the offense to come back.

It was Huff's second start of the season, and his second strong start. His ERA stands at 1.80. He gave up one earned run (three unearned) in his first start against the Tigers, but took the loss. It looked like he might face a similar fate in this one, but Choo showed why Manny Acta's got him hitting third in the lineup. The Seein' Korean (I know, it's bad, but I'll try to come up with something better) got off to a slow start, but had two hits yesterday to raise his average to .323, the home run was his third of the year, and he is now among the early American League leaders in many categories.

The Tribe opens a three-gamer tonight against the White Sox. Mitch Talbot goes against Mark Buehrle.

Opening act has left the stage

The regular season is over for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost their last four games of the campaign, each by more points than the last. But no matter. As you surely know, the Cavs had nothing left to play for except continued health until the real season gets going. They finished with a 61-21 record, the second-best record in club history, after last year's 66-16 mark.

The Cavs will open the playoffs Saturday against the Chicago Bulls, who beat the Bobcats last night to finish 41-41 and hold off Toronto for the eighth and final spot in the East. In a way, the Bulls have the Cavs to thank for getting them into the playoffs. We had the Raptors and Bulls in consecutive games on April 6 and April 8. On April 6, the Cavs were still trying to clinch home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, so they went full-bore after Toronto, and beat them 113-101. But on April 8, they had clinched it, and rested LeBron in a 109-108 loss. Had the two teams faced the Cavs on opposite dates, we'd be looking at the Raptors for our first-round match-up.

Game one starts at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Cavs went 2-2 against the Bulls this year; one of those losses, of course, was that April 8 game in which LeBron didn't take the floor. The other was November 5, which dropped Cleveland to 3-3, as part of the slow start they got while working Shaquille O'Neal and Anthony Parker and such guys into the rotation. The Cavaliers team that will take the floor Saturday is far different from the one that took the floor in either of those losses. I predict a four-game sweep.

Tune-up ends tonight

The great Shaquille O'Neal has been cleared to play in tonight's regular-season finale against the Hawks. Whether he'll actually play or not is an open question, as Mike Brown has been resting his starters ever since the Cavaliers clinched home-court throughout the postseason, including the great LeBron James the last three games. But the fact that he has been cleared means the Cavs will be at full strength when the playoffs start this weekend. The only question is whether they'll open against the Chicago Bulls or the Toronto Raptors.

The Cavaliers are 16-6 since Shaq injured his thumb on February 25 against the Celtics, and that includes losses in their last three, with LeBron out. And it bears mention that they didn't lose any of those three by very much (by one against the Bulls, by three against the Pacers, and by six against the Eastern Conference's second-best team, the Magic).

This team is ready for the playoffs, ladies and gentlemen. I can hardly wait.

Another tough loss

Some quick thoughts on the Indians' 4-2 loss to the Rangers in yesterday's home opener:

• First, the positive: Fausto Carmona was pretty good. He went eight innings, giving up just two runs. I'm still concerned about his strikeout-to-walk ratio — he had four of each yesterday — but he kept the ball in the yard. With the exception of the fifth inning, when the Rangers got both their runs, he got the big outs when he needed to.

• Now, the negative: The bullpen was bad. Chris Perez was bloody awful, for the second day in a row. Joaquin Arias opened the ninth with a double, then Perez had a chance to retire him at third on Taylor Teagarden's bunt, but made a bad throw. He obviously was totally flustered at that point, walking No. 9 hitter Elvis Andrus on four pitches. And Manny Acta had seen enough from Perez.

• Tony Sipp came in and got former teammate Ryan Garko on a popup to second, then Jamie Wright followed by getting Michael Young on a tailor-made double-play ball to end the threat. If only Wright had done as well in the 10th. He gave up Nelson Cruz's fifth home run of the young season, scoring Josh Hamilton, who had singled, and the Tribe bats couldn't get it done in the bottom of the 10th.

• The Indians came close to winning this game. If Travis Hafner were just a little bit faster — not Kenny Lofton fast, but even Sandy Alomar fast — he'd have scored from second on Matt LaPorta's single. Instead, he got thrown out at the plate. And in the bottom of the ninth, LaPorta and Luis Valbuena both made loud outs. If the wind hadn't been blowing in from right field, Valbuena's would have been a walk-off home run. But that's baseball. As it's been said many times, it's a game of inches.

Well, that hurts

I don't want to overstate the importance of a game played April 11 by a team that doesn't figure to contend for the playoffs anyway. But when you go into the bottom of the sixth with a 7-1 lead against the first-place team in your division, after getting six runs off Justin Verlander, you've just got to win. But the bullpen gave it up. After Jake Westbrook pitched into the sixth, surrendering three runs, five members of the Indians' pen finished it up, and only one of those five did his job.

• Jensen Lewis pitched an inning, giving up one run on two hits and two walks. He's lucky it was only one run, with four baserunners.

• Aaron Laffey pitched to one hitter, whom he walked.

• Joe Smith pitched to one hitter, getting Magglio Ordoñez to fly out to center. (He's the one guy who did his job.)

• Rafael Perez pitched to five hitters and only got two outs — on a double-play ball — giving up four hits and two runs in the process. The hits were all singles, and he didn't walk anybody, implying bad luck; but he also didn't strike out anybody, which is not bad luck.

• And the capper was provided by interim closer Chris Perez, who relieved Rafael in the eighth. He did get out of the eighth without any further damage, which left the score at 8-6. But in the ninth, the poor guy totally fell apart. He retired pinch-hitter Ryan Raburn on a ground ball to short. Then Ordoñez singled. Miguel Cabrera walked. Carlos Guillen doubled to drive in Ordoñez, making it 8-7. Brandon Inge grounded out, putting Perez within one out of a shaky save. Ramon Santiago walked, loading the bases, but Perez still just needed one more out. But he then walked Johnny Damon to force in the tying run. (How does a major-league closer, interim or not, walk in the tying run?) While pitching to rookie Scott Sizemore, Perez uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Guillen with the winning run. Catcher Lou Marson probably should have blocked that ball, but it was in the dirt, which is on Perez.

And the Indians are now 2-4 instead of 3-3. Not good.

Santana off to a supernatural start

If Carlos Santana gets to the majors and lasts long enough, someday I'll probably stop punning on the other, slightly more famous Carlos Santana, the one who plays the guitar. But that day hasn't come yet.

Anyway, the catcher Carlos Santana is one of the key reasons the Indians were willing to trade both Victor Martinez and Kelly Shoppach last year. He just turned 24 on Thursday, and celebrated by going 4-for-5 with two home runs and a double in Columbus' 17-4 opening-day win over Indianapolis. It was Santana's AAA debut. He followed that with a two-run jack and a double in last night's 14-12 loss. Santana hit .290 with 23 home runs last year in Akron, and is considered one of the top catching prospects in baseball. He was expected to open this season on the disabled list because he broke his hand playing winter ball, but healed fast, and appears to be nearly ready for the bigs.

The Indians' current big-league catcher, Lou Marson, acquired in the Martinez trade, is only three months older than Santana, and is a decent prospect in his own right. But Santana is the Tribe's catcher of the future. At some point, probably this year, Marson will either be traded to make room for Santana or become his backup. I would wrap this up with my own super-insightful conclusion, but ESPN's Rob Neyer beat me to it, and I can't really improve on his:

So, yeah: Marson's a perfectly fine place-holder, but it would be lovely for the Indians if he played so well over the next month or two or three -- however long it takes Santana to force his way into the majors -- they could flip him for a catcher-hungry team and get another prospect (or two). Because the Indians are essentially playing one game: Prospect Acquisition. Get enough of them, and they can compete in a weak division every year. Don't get enough, and just hope to get lucky every few years. At this point they're doing well with hitters, but the jury's still out (way out) with pitchers. And they have to hit on both.

I do want to add one thing: One of Santana's homers came two pitches after a purpose pitch that was thrown behind him. So the guy's pretty unflappable, too.

Fausto starts turnaround?

Fausto Carmona was bad last year, at age 25. He was bad the year before, at age 24. He was one of the best pitchers in baseball the year before that, at age 23. So what kind of year will Fausto have at 26?

Well, he started to answer that question in last night's 5-3 win over the White Sox, which evened the Tribe's record at 1-1. Carmona went six innings and gave up three runs on just one hit — Paul Konerko's second home run of the year. The hit total is encouraging, until you consider that Fausto also walked six guys in those six innings, while striking out just one. I wish I could be more optimistic, but if he keeps that up, he is going to get hammered. That the White Sox only got one hit off him was an extreme fluke. Credit the defense behind him, but if he only gets one batter out without needing the defense's help, they're not going to be able to keep bailing him out. Sorry, but despite the end result, this was not a good outing for Fausto.

The Tribe offense will be fine, however. They banged out 10 hits, led by two each from Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo and Matt LaPorta, and drew six walks. That's 16 baserunners, and we all know you have to get on base in order to score. It's a wonder they only got five runs out of that.

An instant classic in Indianapolis

That national championship game last night was one for the ages. I'm still a little bit disappointed that Butler didn't win — they came oh, so close — but the Bulldogs have absolutely no reason to hang their heads.

Lots of people have written lots of words about what a great game this was, and I'm not likely to top them just dashing off some thoughts on my lunch break. But I can't help wondering what would have happened if Gordon Hayward's six-foot jumper would have gone in with five seconds left. Duke would have had five seconds to run a play, and obviously might still have won it, but it would have been an exciting sequence.

And just imagine the celebration by the Butler players if Hayward's half-court shot had gone in at the buzzer. The Duke players would have collapsed in agony. This might have been the greatest championship game in recent memory, but that would have made it one of the greatest sporting events I ever saw in my life, right up there with the Miracle on Ice in 1980, which I don't even remember that well because I was only eight years old.

It wasn't to be. Give the Blue Devils credit, they got it done. Whether tiny Butler University truly had the second-best men's basketball team in the land this year is open to debate, but they certainly were the second-best team over the last month. And they were just inches from being the very best.

Congratulations, Butler. I know you didn't win the title, but you sure gave us some great memories.

Acta era begins today; go Butler; etc.

Very quick hits, because I don't have a lot of time this morning:

* The Indians open the season at 2:05 Eastern this afternoon on the south side of Chicago. It's not just any opening day, because former All-Star Jake Westbrook gets the start for the Tribe, in his first action since May 2008, after having Tommy John surgery. The White Sox counter with Mark Buehrle, who I will always remember as the guy who hit Travis Hafner in the mouth with a pitch in 2005. Like Westbrook, Pronk is also trying to return to his All-Star-caliber days, so maybe seeing Buehrle out there can get him going.

* Despite the Cavaliers' loss yesterday in Boston, they clinched home-court advantage throughout the postseason thanks to the Lakers' loss to the Spurs. So, with five games left in the regular season, the Cavs officially have nothing to play for. It is perhaps slightly ironic that their next game after clinching home court throughout is against their likely first-round opponent, the Raptors, tomorrow night. I don't expect the Cavs to take it too easy on them, but I don't expect them to play with fire in their eyes either. 

* It's worth noting that despite the loss yesterday, the Cavaliers came back from 22 points down against the Celtics to take the lead in the fourth quarter. And if LeBron James could have hit that three-pointer with four seconds left, the Cavs probably would have won that game. Ultimately, a loss is a loss, but that was awfully interesting.

* I don't have a whole lot of confidence that this will happen, but I'm very much hoping Butler can beat Duke tonight in the national championship game. (I rooted for Butler against Michigan State, even though my dad went to Michigan State, because I can't resist an underdog. So you can imagine how badly I'd like them to beat the Blue Devils.) Duke is probably the better team, but then, so was Syracuse, and Butler beat them too. The Bulldogs beating the Spartans on Saturday despite going over 10 minutes of the second half without hitting a field goal was one of the most unlikely things I've ever seen. Butler won it with defense, and they'll need more of that to beat Duke.

* Tiger Woods makes his return this week at the Masters. I wonder if that'll get any headlines?

Odds and ends, starting with Shaun Rogers

So they say Shaun Rogers tried to carry a gun onto a plane yesterday at Hopkins. Well, not so much "tried to" as "forgot not to," at least if you believe him. Which, frankly, I do, because how stupid would he have to be to intentionally try to carry a loaded gun onto an airplane? Don't get me wrong, it's pretty stupid to forget it's in the bag you're trying to carry on too, but ... yeah, I've got nothing to add to that.

The arrest puts the 31-year-old Rogers' career in jeopardy, because even if he doesn't get jail time, he's likely to be suspended by the league, and for a long time because he'll be a repeat offender. He tested positive for a banned substance in 2006 and was suspended for four games. The Browns are going to have to expect to play next season without him.

* Indians manager Manny Acta gave the final spot in the starting rotation to David Huff, as I predicted. Don't bother to check what I predicted, just take my word for it. OK, you're right, I thought it would be Aaron Laffey. Anyway, Huff went 8-11 as a rookie last year, with a 5.61 ERA. He walked 41 hitters and struck out 65, and gave up 16 home runs in 128 1/3 innings. Maybe Manny sees something I don't. I'll be shocked if Huff stays in the rotation all year.

* Shaquille O'Neal took part in the Cavaliers' practice yesterday, for the first time since he tore a ligament in his thumb on Feb. 25. Coach Mike Brown says he's not counting on Shaq being back before the playoffs, but the big man says he's ahead of schedule. I hope he's right; it would be nice to get at least a couple of games under his belt before they start needing to win four to advance.

* The Browns were among 30 teams (out of 32) to check out Texas quarterback Colt McCoy on Wednesday. McCoy's skills are said to be well-suited to a West Coast-style offense, which the Browns are planning to implement. We all know Jake Delhomme's not going to be our quarterback in a year or two, so whether the Browns pick up McCoy or Sam Bradford or Jimmy Clausen or whoever, they're picking a quarterback this year. They'd have to trade up for Bradford, and might have to trade up for Clausen too (stupid end-of-season four-game winning streak), but McCoy could be available when the Browns pick in the second round. If so, they'd be fools not to give him a shot.