That's better; more thoughts on other topics

• So the Indians pulled one out yesterday against the allegedly woeful Orioles, thanks to a strong performance from 22-year-old rookie Jeanmar Gomez. Gomez, making his fourth career start, went six innings, giving up just one run, striking out three, walking none, and keeping the ball in the park. He is now 3-0 with a sterling 1.54 ERA, and has yet to yield more than two runs in a game.

• Michael Brantley, in the leadoff spot, got four hits, to raise his batting average from .174 to .198. He's hitting .375 over his last six games, with three walks. Brantley, who's 23, has a long way to go to show he's a legitimate major league regular, but it's nice to see him starting to hit.

• You will note that both the above players are still trying to establish themselves as major leaguers, as is true of a very large portion of the Indians' roster these days. As a matter of fact, in a quick review of the current Tribe roster, I count exactly five players who have spent the entire year on the major league roster. Everybody else has spent time either in Columbus or on the disabled list. And every one of those five players (Fausto Carmona, Justin Masterson, Chris Perez, Rafael Perez, and Tony Sipp) are pitchers. That's right — not one position player has spent the entire season in a Cleveland Indians uniform. Yes, we're rebuilding.

• Don't forget, the Browns open their preseason tomorrow against the Packers. As seems to be the case perpetually with this team, the biggest question I have will be how the quarterback (currently Jake Delhomme) looks. I'm sure we'll see Seneca Wallace and Colt McCoy at some point as well. McCoy's the one I'm really looking forward to seeing. And I will also be interested to see how the starting defense looks — as well as running back Jerome Harrison, who broke out at the end of last season.

• I have always been a fan of Charles Barkley, at least from a personality standpoint, and he has solidified his position in my good graces with his recent comments about our former hero, LeBron James. Taken from the Fox Sports story:

"I heard about LeBron's little tweet today that he's remembering everybody who said anything bad about him," Barkley said Thursday on ESPN Radio 103.3 Dallas/Fort Worth. "And he said 'everybody.' Well, I want him to make sure that he puts my name on that [list]."

Barkley took particular issue with the one-hour "The Decision" special on ESPN, where James announced he was going to sign with the Heat to play with friends and fellow superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

"I thought that his little one-hour special was a punk move," said Barkley, who earlier in the summer said James would never be Michael Jordan.

"I thought them dancing around on the stage was a punk move, and I thought he should've stayed in Cleveland. Him joining Dwyane Wade's team was very disappointing to me."

None of this changes the fact that LeBron is gone, obviously, but it's still nice to hear.

• As I approached I-77 this morning on the Ohio Turnpike on my way to work, I was driving in the center lane, and this dude came up behind me, tailgated me for about a mile, and then came right up on my bumper as he passed me on the left — even though there was no traffic in that lane at all at any point during the whole event. As he went past me, I noticed that he had Ohio plates but a Michigan Wolverines bumper sticker. That shows you what kind of person lives in Ohio and roots for Michigan.

September means debuts

The rosters expand to 40 every Sept. 1, which leads to teams who are out of the race (like the Indians) giving their young prospects a look against major-league competition.

Last night, that meant Carlos Carrasco making his major-league debut on the mound against the Tigers, and Michael Brantley making his major-league debut in left field. Brantley's debut went pretty well. Carrasco's was ... did I mention Brantley?

Carrasco, the first to debut of the four players the Tribe got for Cliff Lee, went just three innings and gave up six runs on nine hits, including three home runs. He walked three and struck out three. His career record is 0-1, and his career ERA stands at 18.00. That's obviously not going to get it done, but debuts can be that way. He's 22 years old, and he went 5-1 with a 3.19 ERA at Columbus after the trade. This kid's got potential, for sure.

Brantley had two hits. His first hit was a solid single the second of which was an infield single that he hustled to beat out. He was solid but not noteworthy in the field, though it should be said that in any individual game, most of the players don't do anything noteworthy on defense. Brantley's career average stands at .500. His on-base percentage is also .500, and his slugging average is .500 as well.

Andy Marte, who went nearly 60 at-bats before hitting his first home run of the season at the major-league level on Aug. 25, hit his fourth last night. Marte, like Carrasco and Brantley, spent most of the season in Columbus, but got called up after the Ryan Garko trade, and is finally starting to show the hitting talent he was reputed to have when they got him. Since Aug. 20, he's hitting .364 with the four dingers and 13 RBIs in 44 at-bats over 12 games. Obviously, we can't expect him to hit like that over the long term, but this is the first time he's produced anything like this, and it's great to see.