Tribe wins four straight; thoughts on Nebraska, World Cup, etc.

A few thoughts on what's currently going on in the sports world:

* After last night's 7-1 victory, the Indians are riding a four-game winning streak. They're still a long way from contending, but this team is starting to do some exciting things. Last night's stars were Carlos Santana, who homered and doubled to drive in three runs in his second career major league game; and Fausto Carmona, who is really having a strong comeback season. The win evened his record to 5-5, but with a nifty 3.23 ERA that is good for 13th in the American League.

* The Indians have spent most of the season in last place in the AL Central, but their record is now a bad but at least somewhat respectable 25-36. That puts them on pace to finish 66-96. More importantly, they have moved into a virtual tie for fourth place, just percentage points behind the woeful Royals.

* As loyal reader Jeff Brown has been trying to get me to write about, the Indians are dead last in the majors in attendance. From Jeff's most recent email on the subject:

As I've mentioned several times now, the Indians rank dead-last in home attendance, and by a growing margin: they are averaging 15,658, and the next worst team (Toronto Blue Jays) are averaging 16,267.

For perspective, there are 12 major league teams averaging MORE THAN TWICE AS MANY FANS as our lowly Cleveland Indians, Steve,

But here's the real rub, Steve -- the Indians rank 14th out of 30 teams (in the upper 50 percentile) in AWAY attendance, meaning that in the eyes of the rest of the league, they are a worthy team to watch in person.

View it here:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/sort/awayAvg

So what the hell is wrong with hometown Tribe fans, Steve? If visiting teams can support them better than more than 1/2 of the teams in the majors, why the hell can't Cleveland fans get their heads screwed on straight for a change?

I find it highly doubtful that fans on the road are all that interested in the Indians. I think it's much more likely that the Indians' road attendance is helped by the fact that they've played in cities where the home team draws well. They've gone to Minnesota, which has its new ballpark; along with places like Chicago, Anaheim, New York, etc. Their road average will probably come down.

But it is somewhat distressing to see the home attendance numbers. It's simply a function of the fact that this team got rid of its best established major leaguers last year in favor of cheaper young talent. It was an understandable decision, but it has definitely cost them at the gates.

* One game that will raise that average number, at least a little, is this afternoon's game, in which Indians hitters will face Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg in his second career start. That's going to be pretty interesting. Strasburg would have to strike out 13 Indians today to tie the major league record of 27 strikeouts in a pitcher's first two starts combined, set by Dodgers rookie Karl Spooner in 1954.

* Another mailbag item from Jeff Brown concerns the Big Ten landing Nebraska:

The Big Ten Conference hit a home run by getting the University of Nebraska as a new member.

Even if the Big Ten stays put and doesn't invite any new members from this point forward, this is a slam dunk and greatly improves the conference.

They have some of the best football fans, rich tradition, national titles, an iconic figure in Tom Osborne who is still their A.D., and fits in very well culturally into the Big Ten region.

And while they had a few down years after Osborne retired as head coach, lately they have come raring back and are once again a powerhouse under stud coach, Bo Pellini.

It's true that Nebraska is a great get for the Big Ten, but I don't know if I'd quite call it a home run. Texas, which is a national power in football, basketball and baseball, would be a home run. Notre Dame, the nation's most storied football program, would be a home run. Nebraska is a solid two-run double off the wall. The Cornhuskers have probably one of the 20 best football programs in the country, and they definitely make the conference stronger in that sport. And it gives the Big Ten a solid presence at its western end. Schools like Iowa and Wisconsin often have strong teams, but the conference is usually dominated by eastern teams like Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. This makes the possibility of a Big Ten championship game more interesting, as the league will probably separate into eastern and western divisions.

* The United States soccer team got one of the luckiest goals you'll ever see to tie England yesterday. Short of an own-goal, I can't think of a luckier way to score in soccer than having the goaltender fail to scoop up a ball that's rolling slowly toward his waiting arms. But the Americans deserve credit for holding a very strong British team to one goal (which they scored just 3 1/2 minutes into the game), and this bodes well for our chances to advance in the World Cup. Our remaining preliminary-round games are against Slovenia and Algeria, and we'll be favored in both.