Where's the offense?!?

The Indians' 7-2 loss to the White Sox last night seems like it was almost inevitable, which is not the kind of thing you want to feel about an alleged playoff contender.

The surging Sox have now won seven in a row, and the tumbling Tribe has lost five straight. The Sox are in first place, 3 1/2 ahead of the Indians. The 23-23 Twins are ahead of us also. The starting pitching has generally been great (even last night, Paul Byrd was cruising until the sixth), but they've had bupkis for offense. Since beating Toronto 12-0 on May 10, the Indians have scored 2.5 runs a game (25 runs in 10 games). That, my friends, is pathetic. Miraculously, they've won four of those 10 games, thanks to the pitching staff.

I don't know what the answer is, but something's got to happen. They can't expect to win like this.

But hey, on the bright side, Michael Aubrey hit his second career home run last night. Too bad nobody was on base.

Yawn

The New Orleans Hornets were the last hope for us fans of the underdog in this year's NBA playoffs. The day after the title-less Cavaliers were eliminated, the zero-championship Hornets failed to close out their series against the Spurs.

So now we're left with:

• The Celtics, who have won 16 titles -- though none since 1986. It's amazing to me that there are people who are old enough to drink and have never seen the Celtics win a championship. But they're still the Celtics, and I still generally want them to lose.
  
• The Lakers, who have won 15 championships, counting their days in Minneapolis. Their most recent title was in 2002, when the Shaq-n-Kobes swept the Nets to win their third straight title. They have won nine since moving to LA.
  
• The Spurs, who have won four in the last decade, including last year's sweep of the Cavs.
• The Pistons, who have five rings, including their time as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons. They have won three in Detroit, most recently in 2004. They lost the 2005 Finals to the Spurs.
  

I want them all to lose. That's impossible, of course. So I have no idea what to root for. Is it too late for a player strike? Can we cancel the rest of the playoffs, just because, you know, what's the point?

The only possible Finals matchup that's never happened before would be the Celtics and Spurs, simply because they've dominated different eras. Going for the less-recent winners would give us another stupid Celtics-Lakers series, all these years after Bird and Magic retired.

Depressing.

Too many mistakes

The Cavaliers could have won that game yesterday in Boston. The national media will always remember it for the epic individual battle between Paul Pierce and LeBron James, and rightly so. But I'll remember it for the many mistakes the Cavaliers made -- missed foul shots, failure to box out for rebounds, sloppiness with the ball, etc., etc.

Pierce and James played about even. Our guy got 45 points, five rebounds, six assists and two steals; their guy put in 41 points, along with four rebounds, five assists and two steals. Beyond the box score, Pierce deserves credit for coming up with that jump ball in the waning seconds, but don't forget about the play a minute or so earlier when LeBron picked Pierce's pocket. What it came down to is, the other Celtics played better than the other Cavaliers.

Just look at the foul shooting. The Cavs hit 25 of 35, the Celtics 28 of 34. If the Cavs had shot from the line at the same clip as the Celtics, they'd have hit 29 of 35. The Celtics won by five. Add those four points to the Cavs' total, and it's a totally different ending. I'm not saying we'd have won, but who knows.

Boston out-rebounded us 39 to 29. Even up the glass stats, and that would give us five more rebounds. If we could have kept them from hitting five second-chance shots, we're looking at a completely different ballgame.

The Cavaliers turned the ball over 14 times, to the Celtics' 10. If we'd held onto the ball long enough to get four more shots off, ... well, you get the idea.

It's amazing that the Cavaliers were able to hang around so well in that game, given how many miscues they made. And it's all due to one man, who wears his age on his jersey.

I'll have some thoughts on the Cavs' future later this week, but right now, I just have to shake my head.

Game Seven

Turns out the Cavaliers and Celtics are each incapable of winning on the other's home floor. That's been the trend in this round of the 2008 NBA postseason, in which, adding up all four series, the home team is 21-2. (In case anyone's wondering, the home team was 30-13 in the first round.) Of course, the national media is making a big deal about how the Celtics have won all their home games but lost all their road games against the Cavs and, in the first round, the Hawks. And that is a very odd thing. In just one completed series so far in this postseason has the home team gone undefeated, and that was that Celtics-Hawks series. If the Celtics win today, that'll make two. The one Western Conference semifinal that's still going on will also fit that description if the Hornets beat the Spurs on Monday night in New Orleans.

So it all comes down to today's game. The natural favorite, obviously, is the Celtics, and for good reason. They had the NBA's best regular-season record, and as previously mentioned, they're undefeated at home in the playoffs.

But they don't have LeBron. They've got three superstars, and yes, three superstars would seem to be better than one. And LeBron's been pretty mortal in this series, though he's picked it up considerably over the last couple of games; and he played better in the early games of this series than his point totals would seem to suggest. But it's painfully obvious that if the Cavaliers are going to win this game and this series, LeBron James is the guy who's going to win it for them. But we know he can do it, because we have witnessed it. (That's as close as I'm going to come to advertising Nike in this space. Well, besides mentioning it by name just now.)

The game starts at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, on your local ABC affiliate (Channel 5 here in Cleveland). I can hardly wait.

Tribe starters still humming, but ...

The bullpen -- perhaps the Indians' greatest strength last year -- has been dreadful. And they're just not scoring runs, either. But let's tackle the bullpen first.

Fausto Carmona turned in 7 1/3 innings yesterday in Cincinnati, leaving with a 2-1 lead. His personal ERA for the day was 1.23. Rafael Perez came in and struck out Ken Griffey Jr., the only hitter he faced, and then Masa Kobayashi took over. He got Brandon Phillips on a fly ball to center to end the eighth, and that would be the Reds' last out of the game. Kobayashi came out to protect that 2-1 lead in the ninth, and promptly gave up a single, hit a batter, and then served up Adam Dunn's walk-off three-run homer. The bullpen ERA for the day: 40.50.

On Friday, Jeremy Sowers made his first big-league start of the season. He turned in the worst start by an Indian in a couple of weeks -- which isn't to say he was bad. The Indians' starters have been unbelievable. Sowers gave up three runs in five innings. So the starters have given up four runs in 12 1/3 over the last two games, an ERA of 2.92. Jorge Julio and Rafael Perez put in 2 1/3 scoreless between them, and then Jensen Lewis walked three, including one that sent what turned out to be the game-winning run jogging across home plate -- which should NEVER happen. So in those same two games, the bullpen has given up four runs in 3 2/3, an ERA of 9.82.

On Thursday, Aaron Laffey turned in what was possibly his best start of the season, giving up just one unearned run in seven innings, and striking out six. That's four runs over the last 19 1/3 innings for the starters (1.86). Laffey's unearned run was the first run an Indians starter had given up in the previous 43 1/3 innings, so you'll see that number continue to shrink as we go back in time for a while. Anyway, the Tribe won that game, completing the sweep of Oakland, but not before Rafael Betancourt continued his disappointing season by giving up a run on two hits, and getting just one out. So that's five runs over the last 5 2/3 innings for the bullpen (7.94).

On Wednesday, C.C. Sabathia pitched a five-hit, complete-game shutout over the A's, who (as we've covered in a previous post), have historically battered him. So that's four earned runs over the last 28 1/3 for the starters, or 1.27. The bullpen, mercifully, was spared having to so much as get up and stretch. Incidentally, that got C.C.'s season ERA down to 5.47, which is pretty good when you consider it was 13.50 after four starts. It's also worth mentioning that it was the Indians' major-league-leading seventh shutout as a staff.

The staff's sixth shutout came the previous day, also against Oakland. Paul Byrd was fantastic, striking out seven and giving up five hits in 7 1/3. Starters' ERA in the past five games: 1.01 (four runs in 35 2/3). The bullpen, obviously, did the job in that game, with 1 2/3 scoreless innings, between Perez and Kobayashi. So that's five runs in 7 1/3, or 5.87.

The Tribe's previous game was the nightcap of a doubleheader against Toronto, and Cliff Lee was unbelievably good, as he's been all year. He gave them nine scoreless innings, but it wasn't enough, as the game went into 10. So over the last six, the starters have given up four runs in 44 2/3 innings, or 0.81. Betancourt came in for the 10th and was lousy, giving up three runs in one inning. That's eight runs in 8 1/3 for the bullpen, or 8.64.

In the first game of that twinbill, Fausto Carmona tossed a complete-game shutout, so in the last seven games, the rotation has allowed four runs in 53 2/3, or 0.67 (which, coincidentally, happens to be Lee's eye-popping season ERA right now, going into this afternoon's game against the Reds).

On May 10, Laffey and little-used Craig Breslow combined to shut out the Blue Jays. Laffey went seven innings (eight games, four runs in 60 2/3, 0.59), and Breslow finished (eight runs in 10 1/3, 6.97). Incidentally, Breslow has given up just two runs in his eight innings this year. Given how the rest of the bullpen's been doing, why have we not seen him in over a week? Why keep trotting guys out there who haven't been successful lately, when you've got a guy sitting out there who's been nothing but successful so far? One other note on that game, which the Indians won 12-0: That's the last time they've scored more than four runs in a game. They've scored 18 runs in the seven games since, about 2 1/2 runs a game. It's a tribute to the pitchers (and the defense, to be fair) that they've gone 4-3 in those games.

The day before that, Sabathia gave up one run in seven innings of a 6-1 win over Toronto. So in the last nine games, the starters have yielded five earned runs in 67 2/3 innings, for a shiny 0.66 ERA. Lewis and Kobayashi got the job done in that one, so the bullpen ERA over those nine games is 5.84 (eight runs in 12 1/3).

So the bullpen's got to shape up. The Indians might have the best starting rotation in the majors right now, but they're not going to be this good all year. They're going to need better support from the relievers. And they're going to need more offense. Hear that, Travis Hafner? Casey Blake? Jhonny Peralta? Everybody?

Of Asdrubal, Fausto and Cliff

Asdrubal Cabrera turned the 14th unassisted triple play in major league history in game two last night -- and yet, that might not be the most notable thing about yesterday's doubleheader.

If the Indians could have put a single run across in that game -- and they had their chances -- they'd have had complete-game shutouts thrown by their two starting pitchers. Cliff Lee didn't come out for the 10th in the scoreless tie, and Rafael Betancourt laid an egg, leading to a 3-0 win by the Blue Jays. Fausto Carmona tossed a shutout in the first game. Carmona and Lee became the first teammates to throw nine shutout innings in the same doubleheader since 1977. (Don Aase and Reggie Cleveland turned the trick for the Red Sox, against the expansion Blue Jays.) The last unassisted triple play was just last year. So at least in those terms, this was a rarer feat.

Asdrubal also hit his first home run of the season in the first game, making him just the fourth player to go deep on the same day he turned a UTP. So, yeah, that's pretty special, though there's a lot of luck involved in an unassisted triple play. Make no mistake, it took a great play for Asdrubal to turn that triple. He made a diving catch. That was the hard part. Then he touched second and tagged the runner coming from first. That was the easy part, because the runners were off with the pitch. But Cabrera also made some outstanding defensive plays in the first game. If he can hit like he did last year, he'll be a fine major leaguer for a long time.

Incidentally, this makes the Indians the first team to have turned three unassisted triple plays. But it's unlikely anyone who's reading this remembers the first two: Neal Ball turned the first one in major league history in 1909, and Bill Wambsganss got one in the 1920 World Series.

One other thing: After Asdrubal turned that triple, he threw the ball into the stands. What could he have been thinking? Why wouldn't he want to save that ball?

Oh, and by the way, Cliffy's ERA is now 0.67, after seven starts. That gives him the third-lowest ERA in the majors after seven starts in 50 years. And he spent part of last year in the minors. Unbelievable.

Oh, and across the street, the Cavaliers tied the series against the Celtics last night. So that was pretty cool too.

Offense! Pitching! Defense!

The Tribe was firing on all cylinders last night in beating the Blue Jays 12-0. You don't have to look past the final score to see it was a strong overall performance. Obviously, when you win 12-0, you don't need Bill James to tell you you've done a few things right.

Aaron Laffey finally got his first major-league win of 2008, in his third strong start. The Indians scored just two runs for him in his first two starts. They'd matched that before even making an out Saturday, and by the time Laffey took the mound for the second inning, he was working with a 6-0 lead. Laffey recorded seven scoreless innings, and his ERA is down to 1.83. Not bad for a guy who opened the season in Buffalo.

And the offense! Let's be honest, the Indians' offense has been disappointing so far this season. Even after last night's outburst, the Tribe has scored fewer runs than all but four American League teams. So it's always good to see a double-digit number on the scoreboard. Grady Sizemore, who has had a fairly slow start, had his best game of the year last night, on Grady Sizemore Fleece Blanket Night. He hit two homers, including one to lead off the first inning. Grady wound up with three hits, three runs scored and five RBIs.

Victor Martinez got two hits to raise his batting average to .346, which now leads the AL. Asdrubal Cabrera and Casey Blake, who have started very slowly, each had two hits as well. Now, if we can just get Pronk going ...

Well, that's another matter for another time. Let's just enjoy this one.

Now that's more like it

LeBron seemingly still can't hit the broad side of a barn, but it didn't matter in last night's blowout win over the Celtics. Mr. James did hit 3-of-5 three-pointers, but was just 2-of-11 from inside the arc. But it should be pointed out that LeBron didn't exactly lay an egg -- he did rack up eight assists and five rebounds, and he led the team with four steals and three blocked shots to go along with his 21 points. He's still LeBron, even when he's not hitting his shots.

The midseason blockbuster Danny Ferry pulled off bore fruit in that game. The four guys he got were all keys to the strong performance last night.

• Delonte West had 21 points, five rebounds and seven assists.
• Joe Smith came off the bench to score 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
• Ben Wallace, who nearly didn't play at all because of an inner-ear infection, had nine rebounds and two blocks, along with nine points.
• Wally Szczerbiak put in 16 points in 43 minutes.

The Cavs played stifling team defense, especially in getting off to a 32-13 lead after one quarter. The Celtics outscored us in the second and third quarters (by three points total), and then our boys outscored the green men 29-21 in the fourth, for the final 24-point margin.

So the guys from Boston now have a 2-1 lead. They haven't lost a game at home yet in the playoffs, but they also haven't won a game on the road. If that trend holds, they'll win every series 4-3 because they have home-court advantage throughout the postseason. But the Cavs nearly stole Game 1 in Boston, and we have reason to hope they'll pull out Game 5 or Game 7, if they can get there.

There's one other thing I'd like to address. No matter what anyone else says, I say James Posey's tackling LeBron by the neck as he drove to the hole was a dirty play, and I cannot believe it almost wasn't called a flagrant foul. Yes, it seems clear he didn't mean to put a choke-hold on LeBron, but he clearly was trying to grab him, and he made no attempt at getting the ball away from him. I'm not going to say Posey should have been thrown out of the game or should be suspended for the next one, but there's no place in the sport for a play like that.

It's a lovely, sunny Saturday

I haven't been able to post in a while because I just got back from Chicago, where I spent four days at a nursing conference. I'm not a nurse, in case anyone was wondering, but there's certainly no shame in being a male nurse.

Anyway, I'm going to round up all my recent thoughts in a fun little package of vignettes. I hope you enjoy them.

• Yeah, the Cavs' loss to the Celtics on Thursday was disheartening. The Fighting LeBrons had a chance to steal Game 1, but Game 2 was over long before it was over. Of the six games the two teams have played this year, including the regular season, that was the first blowout. The Celtics have done it with defense, holding Mr. James to just 19% shooting (8-for-42) in the first two games. Clearly, LeBron's going to have to either figure out how to get open or let his teammates take some of those shots. I would like to point out the home team is still undefeated in the season series, and the next two games are in Cleveland. So all is not lost. But these Celtics are tough.
• C.C. Sabathia is looking like he's back to his old self, thank goodness. C.C. was fantastic last night against the Blue Jays, giving up one run on six hits in seven innings, and striking out nine. He won the battle between Cy Young winners, beating Roy Halladay, who was cruising until getting battered in the seventh. C.C. has now made eight starts this season. In his first four, he went 0-3 with an ugly, ugly 13.50 ERA. In his last four, he's 2-2 with a 1.98 ERA. In one of those losses, he only gave up one run in eight innings. So he's now 2-5, 6.55. That's not great, obviously, but recent signs are encouraging.
• It sure was good to see the Tribe offense break out last night, putting a 6 on the scoreboard in the seventh. Travis Hafner and Casey Blake each had two hits in the game, bringing their batting averages up to .220 and .221, respectively. One of Blake's came just a few feet from being a grand slam, going for a two-run double instead. The offense has been struggling, Victor Martinez's hot start notwithstanding. I hope to see them do this kind of thing more often.
• Speaking of Victor, he'd be second in the AL batting race at .340, except he doesn't have quite enough plate appearances to qualify. Remember, of course, that Victor has missed a handful of games due to various ailments, most recently a stiff neck. That's what tends to happen to catchers as they get older. Yes, Victor is only 29, but 29 is fairly old for a catcher. Around this point in their career, most catchers start playing first base or DH-ing (both of which Victor has dabbled in). In any case, when he has been well enough to play, he's been the Indians' most consistent threat at the plate. Interestingly, the leader is Twins' catcher Joe Mauer, and I don't know if catchers have ever finished 1-2 in a batting race, but I doubt it.
  
• Remember Jody Gerut, Tribe fans? He finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2003, while wearing our smiling chief on his hat. He slid in '04, got traded twice in '05 (we got Jason DuBois for him, for those who don't remember), then never reached the majors again ... until this year. He opened the season on the Padres' big-league roster, went 1-for-6 in the first week of the season, then got sent down again. But when the Daddies released Jim Edmonds yesterday, Gerut was the guy they called up. May he prosper.
• Speaking of former Indians, Richie Sexson embarrassed himself when he charged the mound against Kason Gabbard on Thursday night, and nailed Gabbard with his batting helmet. Sexson, now with the Mariners, was obviously anticipating some payback after M's pitcher Felix Hernandez hit two Rangers, including Ian Kinsler in Kinsler's next at-bat after hitting a home run off him. I think we can all understand that Sexson might have been on guard. But the pitch to which Sexson took exception was not inside. It was up around his eyes, but it was over the plate. It didn't even come close to hitting him. Sexson's former teammate Eduardo Perez, now a commentator on ESPN's "Baseball Tonight," points out that Richie had spent the previous night in the hospital with his sick 2-year-old son, and that he apologized afterward. Those are mitigating factors, but they don't make it less ridiculous that he charged the mound and threw his helmet at the pitcher after a pitch that was over the plate.
• Danica Patrick ran over somebody on the racetrack yesterday. Like most people I know, I don't care the least bit about auto racing, but I saw the footage on SportsCenter, and it was hard to watch (though I admit I couldn't look away). It was a member of another driver's pit crew, and she got him with both left tires. His injuries were not serious. Racing great Mario Andretti saw it happen right in front of him, and said it "wasn't anybody's fault." I'm sorry, but if a guy gets run over on pit row, there has to have been a serious error somewhere. Either he shouldn't have been standing there, or she shouldn't have been driving there.

Boston, here we come

An espn.com poll found that 65% of the country believes the Celtics will win the seven-game playoff series against the Cavaliers that starts tonight. And there's certainly good reason to think so. The Celtics had the NBA's best record this year, at 66-16. They started the season strong, struggled a bit in January and February, and then finished the regular season strong. Yes, Atlanta surprisingly took them to seven games, but Boston dominated its home games. And the Cavaliers struggled after making the mega-trade that brought them more talent than they gave up, but altered their team chemistry.

But the Cavs did beat Washington pretty handily in two games, and pulled out two others, which was enough to take the series. Sure, the Celtics are a better team than the Wizards, but let's not forget the Cavaliers did win two of four games against Boston this year. Each team won both home games, but it's not like the Celtics blew us out.

And one other thing. Yes, the Celtics clearly have more overall talent than the Cavaliers. But we do have one thing they can't match: LeBron. He showed us last year against the Pistons that he's capable of winning a playoff game practically singlehandedly.

It should be an interesting series. Go Cavs.

Clifton Phifer Lee

ESPN's Rob Neyer, one of my favorite baseball writers of all (and yes, I'm the sort of person who has a handful of favorite baseball writers), wrote a column the other day opining that ... well, I'll let HIM say it, after I set it up for him. Since it requires an ESPN Insider membership to read the whole thing, I'll give you the gist of it.

Neyer's column is titled "What's weird in April?" beginning with the fact that the Braves are in fourth place despite having the best run differential in their division. That's mostly explained by their 0-9 record in one-run games, which indicates bad luck more than anything. But I don't really care about the Braves or the National League East.

Then he moves on to what he calls "individually, the weirdest story of April," our Cliff Lee. Neyer points links to a column by Rany Jazayerli of Baseball Prospectus (posted April 26, so it's a week old, but still), which contains the following passage:

In 31.2 innings, he has allowed 11 hits, walked 2, struck out 29, and has a 0.28 ERA. I’d venture to say that half the pitchers in the majors today would struggle to put up those numbers if they got four starts in the Midwest League.

Just focus on his last three starts. On three consecutive occasions Lee has pitched 8 innings or more, allowed no more than 3 hits, walked no more than one batter, and struck out at least 8 batters.

We have game logs going back to 1956, courtesy of Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference.com. Since 1956, do you know how many pitchers had made three straight starts with 8+ innings, <=3 hits, <=1 walk, and 8+ strikeouts? Here's the list, which I have put in alphabetical order for your convenience:

Cliff Lee.

Here's that list again, sorted by last name:

Lee, Cliff.

That's it. Lee's stretch of pitching is unmatched in at least 50 years, and quite possibly ever, when you consider that strikeouts tend to decrease in frequency as you go back in time.

Yes, it's impressive. Since then, in his last start, Wednesday night, Lee gave up three runs, all on the last pitch he threw in the game, and his ERA ballooned to 0.96. Before that swing, he was at 0.24. Lee's obviously not quite this good -- no pitcher is -- but it's fantastic to see him get off to this kind of start, especially when you consider how bad he was last year.

Anyway, Neyer believes (and rightly so, I'd say) that Lee is fundamentally a much better pitcher than he showed last year, and a much lesser pitcher than he's shown thus far in '08. Were the Cy Young given out in early May, he'd have it locked up -- but, of course, there are five months left to go in the season, and Lee will struggle from time to time. Every pitcher does. Baseball simply isn't this easy.

Neyer also notes, quoting another blogger, that Lee's batting average on balls in play (kind of an egghead statistic, but it does serve as a fairly reliable predictor of future success) is .153. He's not going to be able to keep that up, because no defense is that good.

Neyer's conclusion, which is what I was setting up in my first paragraph:

So is Cliff Lee for real? I think all we can say is that he's really healthy. He's going to give up a higher batting average on balls in play, and some reasonable percentage of the fly balls he gives up will fly over the fence. So no, he probably doesn't wind up winning the Cy Young Award. But I'll bet he's better than average. And considering how well C.C. Sabathia's pitched in his last two starts, suddenly the Indians would seem to have the best rotation in the majors.

Sabathia struggled a bit last night against the Royals, and took the loss, but still, he appears to have largely turned it around. And while the Indians are off to a bit of a disappointing start as a team, at 14-16, they're still only a game and a half out of first place. I feel pretty optimistic.

Interesting series

The Cavaliers absolutely dominated that game last night in Washington. It's hard to believe the Wizards were actually winning after the first quarter, and extended the lead to six in the second. But after Boobie Gibson's three-pointer with 5:35 to go in the first half gave the Cavs a 43-41 lead, they never looked back. Our guys outscored the Wiz 21-7 the rest of the quarter, and the Washingtonians never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

After that domination, it's hard to believe these same two teams played such an up-and-down series. The margins of victory were: Cavs by 7, Cavs by 30, Wizards by 36, Cavs by 3, Wizards by 1, Cavs by 17. And Cleveland eliminates Washington for the third year in a row. It was a real battle, marked by hard fouls (of which LeBron James took most of the brunt), 13 technicals, one ejection and one suspension.

Of course, LeBron atoned for his missed shot that would have won Game 5, scoring his third career playoff triple-double (27 points, 13 rebounds, 13 assists). He was a monster in that game. As Zydrunas Ilgauskas put it, the Cavs always have a chance because "We have LeBron on our team, and there are 30 other teams, or 29, who don't. That's the biggest difference."

Wally Szczqzxzerbiak, who couldn't buy a basket for a couple of months after the Cavs traded for him, seemingly couldn't miss last night, and wound up with 26 points. He and Boobie (22 points) combined for 10 treys.

And maybe DeShawn Stevenson and Caron Butler will learn to keep their mouths shut. But I'm guessing not.

It's also hard to believe we don't know who we're playing next yet. Really, the HAWKS taking the CELTICS to seven games? If Atlanta were to win somehow, this would be the biggest series upset in NBA history. Remember 1994, when Dikembe Mutombo's Nuggets became the first eight-seed to beat a one-seed, and it was Shawn Kemp's Supersonics? Remember the image of Mutombo lying on the floor at the end of the deciding game, holding the ball over his head in unbridled glee? Those Nuggets went 42-40 that year, to Seattle's 63-19, a 21-game difference in the standings. That's a big upset, no question.

But these Hawks went 37-45, to Boston's 66-16. That's a 29-game spread, for those who aren't good at subtraction. The Hawks are one of the worst teams to even make the playoffs in recent memory, and the Celtics basically ran roughshod over the league. The fact that Garnett, Allen, Pierce and company didn't send the Hawks home a few days ago is incredible by itself; never mind the idea that the Hawks might actually win. That's why they play the games, I suppose. But whoever wins Game 7 tomorrow, we can at least hope they'll be worn out when the Cavs get them.

Now that's more like it!

To refer to last night's game against the Royals as C.C. Sabathia's best performance of the year would be like calling Alaska the coldest noncontiguous state. Sabathia's six-inning, 11-strikeout, four-hit, scoreless gem in Kansas City was an oasis in the desert that has been his April thus far. You know that when you go six scoreless innings in the early season and it only brings your ERA down to 10.12, you got off to a rough start. But we now know that C.C. didn't leave his left arm in California this offseason. He absolutely dominated the Royals last night.

And the Tribe's dormant offense woke up last night as well, exploding for 15 runs after averaging a little more than 4 over the first 19 games of the season. Lots of hitters who got off to slow starts broke out in that game -- not least of which was Casey Blake, who went 4-for-4 with six RBIs, four of which came on one swing of the bat. His grand slam in the fourth inning turned a 3-0 game into a 7-0 game, and the rout was on. Jhonny Peralta had three hits, including a home run; David Dellucci had two hits, one of which left the yard; and Franklin Gutierrez had three hits, two of which were doubles. Let's hope these guys are all recovering from their early-season struggles.

Unfortunately, they appear to be on their way to getting rained out tonight, in their first opportunity to build on last night's game. But there is reason for optimism.

I don't like those Wizards

The Cavs are up 2-0, which obviously bodes well for the outcome of this series. They absolutely dominated that game last night from about midway through the second quarter on, coming away with a 116-86 win.

I don't know which broadcast you were watching, but I watched the game on TNT, and analyst Reggie Miller disagreed strongly with the flagrant-2 call on Brendan Haywood when he hammered LeBron, who was going for a layup. And I strongly disagree with Reggie Miller. Haywood made no attempt at playing the ball; all he did was shove LeBron while he was up in the air. That's a real good way to wind up playing the rest of the series without its greatest superstar, and the NBA simply cannot afford to tolerate that behavior. Reggie asked whether the same call would have been made if it had been another player. I don't know the answer to that, but I say it should be.

The Wizards have been hitting LeBron repeatedly in this series, which I suppose is a valid strategy. But they strike me as a bunch of thugs.

One down, 15 to go

My apologies for not posting anything for a few days. I've had a lot going on.

Anyway, it was good to see our Cavaliers pull out the win yesterday against the Wizards. I've had my doubts about this team in the playoffs, and one game doesn't magically erase those doubts, but still. The Wizards did a lot of good things in that game, but the Cavs took all their punches and were left standing at the end.

I don't mean that literally, of course, though it was a physical game that threatened to turn into a brawl at the end of the first half. LeBron took at least one absolute mauling that wasn't even called. I should have saved the game recording so I could look at it again, because I don't remember who the Washington player was on the play, but he swatted across at the ball and wound up smacking LeBron across the jaw. But there was no whistle.

At least a foul was called on the play that led to some pushing and shoving in the last minute of the second quarter, when Brendan Haywood flattened James with a screen. The Cavs wound up shooting a free throw on that one because the Wizards got two technicals to the Cavs' one, and Wally Szczxzqzerbiak hit the shot. That one point may have made a bigger difference than you might realize. The game was tight until the last couple of minutes, and if the Cavs had one point fewer, the strategies would have been different.

This was the matchup the Wizards wanted, and it's not hard to understand why. But there's an old saw about exercising care in choosing your wishes.

Prime time, here we come!

Remember when the Browns could always count on being home to watch prime-time TV every night? Well, those days are past. The Browns have five prime-time games in '08, including three Monday Nighters. If we had any doubt, this is our confirmation: The league has noticed the Browns are good.

Unfortunately for me, those Monday night games usually end around midnight or 12:30, and I'm just about to start a new job that has me starting at 8:30. But this is a minor quibble. I'm sure I'll stay up to watch, just like the rest of you freaks.

Borowski's disabled

After last night's implosion du jour against Manny and the Red Sox, Joe Borowski admitted he wasn't feeling great, and has been placed on the disabled list. Borowski led the league in saves last year, despite having bad overall numbers. So far this year, he's been just plain bad.

JoeBo has pitched in five games this season, and only once has he gotten a 1-2-3 inning — Saturday, in mop-up duty of a 7-3 loss to Oakland. In four innings overall, Borowski has given up eight runs on four walks and seven hits, three of which left the yard. That kind of closer just kills his team.

And it seems to me that if Borowski knew he wasn't feeling great going into the game, he should have said something. Borowski said after the game: "I just felt like I had nothing, like I was throwing through water." That's the kind of thing I'd want to know before I put a guy in to save a game, if I were a manager for a team that hopes to reach the playoffs.

Presumably, the new closer will be Rafael Betancourt, which is what I've been calling for since spring training (and you can check my archives if you doubt me). Betancourt hasn't exactly been lights-out so far this year, but he was the best set-up man in baseball in 2007. I predict he'll do the job well, and keep it for the rest of the season.

Now that's what I call pitching!

Cliff Lee, the former future superstar, is looking like a superstar again. In yesterday's 7-1 win against Oakland, Lee went eight innings, striking out eight and giving up just two hits. They both happened to be in the same inning (the fourth), or else Lee would likely have thrown a goose egg up on the scoreboard. I would have liked to see him try to finish, but I'm not second-guessing Eric Wedge. We won, and that's what's important. But that performance from Cliff Lee was sure good to see. And judging by the photo at left, Lee was happy to see it too. Doesn't he look like he's smiling?

And it was sorely needed. The Indians had lost three in a row, during which time none of our starters (Paul Byrd, C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona) got past 3 1/3 innings. Any guesses when's the last time three consecutive Tribe starters didn't get more than 10 outs? I'll tell you -- it was in September 1987. (For those who are curious, the three pitchers that time were Tom Candiotti, "I'm Not" Rich Yett and Ken Schrom.)

Yup, it's the Wizards again

It's been decided. The Cavaliers will play Washington in the first round, for the third year in a row. And we'll have home-court, unless we lose our last two and the Wizards win their last two. What do you think of your first-round opponent, LeBron?

"I wanted to play somebody else," James said. "But if we had to play somebody, I'm happy it's Washington."

Yeah, he's nicknamed "The Chosen One" and "The King" for his basketball ability, not his vice-like grasp of logic. Well, anyway, I won't dissect the first-round matchup now; that can wait until the eve of the series.

Last night's win against Miami was a little bit unsettling. The 14-66 Heat led by two going into the fourth quarter, and led as late as 9:19 left in the game, before Boobie Gibson hit a 3-pointer that got the Cavs off and running. But we should be able to beat a team like the Heat by more than eight. Sure, getting the W is what counts, but still.

The Cavs have struggled since the trade that brought us Wally Szczqzszerbiak, Joe Smith, Delonte West and Ben Wallace. There's no question the trade brought us more talent than we gave up, but there's a lot more to being a team than that, and these guys just haven't really clicked. They've showed flashes of greatness here and there, but haven't been able to sustain it. I have to say, I don't have a good feeling going into the playoffs. Maybe they'll turn on the jets at the right time, but that's a whole lot easier said than done.

Whither Fausto?

In his first start since signing a contract extension, Fausto Carmona couldn't control where the ball was going. Fausto walked eight hitters -- EIGHT HITTERS! -- in 3 1/3 innings against the Oakland Athletics. How many times has he walked eight hitters, you ask? Well, one. Yesterday.

What does this mean? Now that Fausto is going to make all that silly money, is he going to stop caring whether he pitches well or not? I don't think so. Even discounting the competitive nature he must have had in order to get to this point, he's got not one, not two, but three club option years built into the contract. If the Indians don't exercise any of those options, the deal is worth $15 million. If they exercise all three of them, it's worth $43 million. So yeah, Fausto's got some incentive to pitch well over the next four years.

That said, last night's outing was troubling. Fausto walked a grand total of 61 guys last year, in 32 starts. He walked one-fifth as many Saturday night. You don't have to be a sabermetrician to know that's a recipe for disaster. But let's not overblow the significance of one outing. Fausto is now 1-1 with a fine 2.20 ERA. His other two starts were fantastic. He's going to be fine. I hope I can say the same for C.C.

The Indians are now 4-7, having lost three straight. They and the Tigers were everybody's picks for the AL Central, and they are now in fourth and fifth place, respectively. I still think they're the two best teams in the division, but if they both continue to falter, it will open the door for the Royals and/or White Sox. I don't think the Twins have the talent to challenge, but they're ahead of us right now, so who knows.

Breaking Fausto news

ESPN's Buster Olney has just reported that the Indians have signed Fausto Carmona to a multiyear contract extension. The deal is guaranteed through 2011, with club options for 2012, 2013 and 2014. Terms have not been disclosed, but this seems like it can only go wrong if Fausto gets hurt. I mean, 2011 is only three years from now, and this guy looks like a perennial Cy Young candidate.

Good work, Mark Shapiro. You're the man.

Oh, well

I guess the Tigers won't go 0-162 after all, after beating the Red Sox 7-2 yesterday for their first win of the season. But the Motown Bengals are still off to an unbelievably bad start. The national prognosticators all picked the Indians or Tigers to win the AL Central, but teams that start 0-7 generally don't get to the playoffs. The Tigers' seven runs yesterday were almost half as many as they scored in those first seven games. With now 22 runs in eight games, that works out to 2.75 runs a game. And this was supposed to be some sort of offensive juggernaut. They're offensive to the Detroit fans, but ...

The Indians aren't exactly on fire themselves, of course, with a 4-5 record after yesterday's 9-5 loss to the Los Angeles-California-Anaheim-Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Paul Byrd couldn't keep the ball in the park, giving up three home runs, including Mike Napoli's grand slam. He's off to an 0-2 start with an ugly 11.05 ERA. And he walked two hitters in his three innings of work. Byrd was supposed to be the guy who never walks guys, but he's walked two guys in each of his two starts, for four bases on balls in 7 1/3 innings. That's not good, obviously, because he gives up a lot of hits. But he knows that. In Byrd's words:

"I'm trying to figure out how to get the ball down," Byrd said. "I'm making a good pitch, but then I leave the ball sitting on a tee over the middle of the plate. And I can't do that. When I do miss, it's like batting practice and you just watch them go over the wall."

The Tribe did get 12 hits off the Halos, including Jhonny Peralta's second home run of the season, and Kelly Shoppach's first. They were a little bit unlucky to have only scored five runs. And they still have a 3 1/2-game lead over the Tigers. Yes, the Royals are in first place, and yes, they're better than they've been the last few years. But unless they're still in contention in June, I still think this will be a two-team race, and it's nice to be ahead.

Nice comeback

The Cavaliers took a nice step toward home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs last night, beating the Nets for the first time all year. And it took a great second-half comeback to do it -- spurred by suffocating defense. Not bad, considering they weren't sure LeBron was going to play until the last minute.

The Cavs were down 14, 67-53, with 6:44 left in the third quarter, after former Cavalier DeSagana Diop hit a shot. Enter Boobie Gibson, who came in for Devin Brown. Boobie didn't immediately start draining shots, but he did help key the defensive effort the rest of the way. By the end of the third quarter, the Cavs were up 76-74, and they were just warming up.

The Nets took the lead back on a Bostjan Nachbar 3-pointer 30 seconds into the fourth quarter. Unbelievably, they didn't hit a field goal the entire rest of the way. The Cavs actually kept the Nets from making a single basket the last 11:30. They hit six foul shots, but nothing else. Final score: 103-84. Our boys outscored their boys 27-9 in the fourth quarter.

I have my doubts about the Cavaliers in the playoffs, but if they can keep up that defensive intensity, they can hang in there with just about anyone.

Pronk!

It sure was good to see Travis Hafner hit what turned out to be a game-winning two-run homer in the top of the ninth last night. Not just because it won the game, but because Pronk had an off-year (for him) in 2007. But we know all that.

Not to be a wet blanket, but this doesn't necessarily mean he's turned the corner. We're only eight games into the season, but Hafner's hitting .267 so far -- one point better than his average in '07. Last night's dinger was his second of the season, in 30 at-bats, or one per 15 ABs. That's an improvement over last year, when he hit one per 22.7 at-bats, and it's actually better than his career average of one per 16 at-bats. But 30 at-bats is practically nothing, and I'm perhaps doing him and you a disservice by drawing any conclusions from 30 at-bats. I'm just observing what there is to observe.

Jake Westbrook made his second solid start of the season, which was also good to see. He had a better year last year than his 6-9 record would indicate, but it was still something of an off-year for him. If the Indians can win the AL Central and nearly go to the World Series with Westbrook and Hafner having off-years, imagine what they can do if those guys have a good year.

One other note: The notoriously slow-footed Hafner got thrown out by a mile at home in the first inning, trying to score from second on a base-hit to right by Victor Martinez. Play-by-play announcer Matt Underwood originally thought Pronk ran through Joel Skinner's stop sign, but it turned out Skinner did send him, he just didn't use his usual windmill motion to do so. Most people would say that was stupid, challenging Vladimir Guerrero's famous gun with a lumbering DH like Pronk. And it's easy to say that because he was thrown out. But I liked it. There were two outs, Guerrero's arm isn't always accurate, and if he'd stayed at third, it's relatively unlikely that he would have made it across the plate.

I recently read this post by someone identified as "Pizza Cutter" about how third-base coaches are generally too conservative, and I will excerpt a little bit:

In 1993, there were 329 times when a runner was held at third on a fly ball. (I only had hit location data on 251 of them). So league-wide, third base coaches cost their teams about 120 runs on would-have-been sac flies by being too conservative. Over 28 teams (in 1993), that’s a little more than 4 runs per season. And that’s just one of the calls that a third base coach has to make.

Of course, 1993 was a long time ago, but I don't think third-base coaches have gotten a whole lot more daring since then. And it's easy to understand why. If a guy gets thrown out at the plate when he could have stayed at third, the base coach takes the heat. If he gets stuck at third when a teammate can't get a hit to bring him in, nobody remembers the decision not to send him on the previous play -- they just remember the hitter's failure to get the RBI.

So I say, attaboy, Skins. It didn't work out this time, but it might next time.

Joe Bo a no-go

I know people who believe Joe Borowski had a great year last year as the Indians' closer, because he got 45 saves and only blew six. But he did it with an uncloserly 5.07 ERA. And some of his bad outings were really, really bad. He remains the Tribe's closer this year, despite the fact that there are better pitchers in the bullpen. Rafaels Betancourt and Perez, for example, had better years than Borowski in '07. And so did Jensen Lewis. And so did Masa Kobayashi, albeit in Japan.

Borowski did it again last night. After the Indians scored three runs in the top of the ninth to take a 4-2 lead, Borowski poured gas all over the lead and tossed a match on it. After getting the first hitter, Chone Figgins, to hit a foul ball that was caught, Joe Bo failed to get another out. He walked Gary Matthews Jr., then gave up a single to Vladimir Guerrero, then walked Garret Anderson to load the bases. Torii Hunter came up next, and hammered a 75-mph meatball into the left field seats. It wasn't fair by much, but it didn't have to be. That pitch was right down the heart of the plate, and I don't know if it was supposed to break, but it sure didn't.

Any pitcher has to accept that you're going to give up hits to a great hitter like Vlad Guerrero, and Torii Hunter's going to hit the occasional home run. But doggone it, a closer can't be walking two hitters in the ninth inning -- especially if the second walk loads the bases. That's going to kill you almost every time.

Borowski has now pitched in three games in '08. He's saved two of them. In one of those saves (on opening day), he was asked to protect a three-run lead, which it seems to me should hardly qualify as a save. He gave up one run in that game, on a solo home run, and then walked a guy, so he let the tying run come to the plate despite the three-run lead. His other save came Sunday against Oakland, and he did protect a one-run lead, but he also walked a guy. So he hasn't appeared in a single game in which he hasn't walked at least one guy.

Borowski's ERA is an ungodly 19.29. That'll come down -- it could hardly do otherwise -- but I think it's long past time for the Indians to look at someone else to close games.

Go Memphis!

I don't have any particular affinity for John Calipari and the Memphis Tigers, nor do I have any particular animosity for them. I do have a little bit of a soft spot for them because they don't play in one of the Big Six conferences, and because they've never won a national title. The Kansas Jayhawks have taken two, most recently in 1988. So in the absence of any other rooting interest, I'd probably be pulling for the Tigers tonight anyway. But if they should happen to win tonight's game, they'll win me $145 in one of the NCAA Tournament pools I entered this year.

Why did I pick Memphis? I just took a look at their record and schedule, and felt they were as good as anybody. I knew most of the national prognosticators were picking North Carolina, some were saying it would be UCLA, and a few were thinking Kansas, but very few were talking seriously about Memphis. Like most tourney pools, this one is heavily weighted toward the late games, and tonight's title game is worth 15 points (compared to 10 in the semifinals, 7 in the Elite Eight, and so on). Knowing that in a tournament pool with 44 participants, it was unlikely that I'd be able to stay ahead all the way through, I thought I'd take the unpopular pick and give myself a chance to leapfrog over some others if it should happen that way. And that's just the situation I've set up for myself. I'm currently in 8th place, 12 points behind the leader. But nobody ahead of me has picked Memphis.

I've entered at least one tournament pool every year since about 1990, and I've won them twice before. I was in college when I won in 1992, in a pool run by a couple of guys living in my dorm, but I never got the money because the morons told people they could pay later, and nobody paid. A co-worker and I were running our own pool in the late '90s, and I won that one in '99, when Connecticut defeated Duke in the title game. I used the same sort of logic in that one as I did this year, which was that everybody else would be picking Duke, so I made the less-popular pick. That strategy almost backfired then, because I was actually leading going into the title game and would have had it clinched early if I'd picked Duke. But Rip Hamilton and Jake Voskuhl's Huskies pulled it out for me.

I'm feeling pretty good going into tonight's game -- Memphis is a 2-point favorite in Vegas -- but Kansas is a darned good team. We'll see.

C.C. can go home again ... but should he?

Carsten Charles Sabathia Jr. was born on July 21, 1980, in Vallejo, California, about 32 miles from the ballpark currently known as the McAfee Coliseum, home of the Oakland Athletics. He grew up in Vallejo as well, starring in baseball and football at Vallejo High School. In case you're curious, he was a tight end.

C.C. pitched in Oakland today, for the eighth time in his career, and it was the 13th time he's started a game against the A's. He did not pitch well, in a game the Indians lost. And if it seems to you that he hasn't pitched well in general against his hometown team, that's because he hasn't -- especially in front of the Oakland fans.

Following is a complete list of his appearances against the Oakland Elephants:

• August 2, 2001, in Cleveland: 3 innings pitched, 7 hits allowed, 7 runs (all earned), 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 3 home runs allowed, took the loss in a 17-4 game.
• August 23, 2001, in Oakland: 2 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 5 runs (all earned), 3 walks, 4 Ks, no HRs, no decision in a game the Indians won 9-7 (Sabathia left with the Indians trailing 5-2).
• April 27, 2003, in Oakland: 7 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 2 walks, 5 Ks, no HRs, no decision in a game the Indians lost 4-3 (Sabathia left with the game tied at 3).
• May 16, 2003, in Cleveland: 7 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs (both earned), 2 walks, 8 Ks, 2 HRs, no decision in a game the Indians won 3-2 (Sabathia left with the game tied at 2).
• July 30, 2003, in Oakland: 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R (all earned), 0 BBs, 5 Ks, 1 HR, got the win in a 4-2 game.
• July 10, 2004, in Cleveland: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R (3 ER), 4 BBs, 5 Ks, no decision in a game the Indians lost 16-7 (Sabathia left with a 5-3 lead).
• September 11, 2004, in Oakland: 6 2/3 IP, 5 H, 3 R (3 ER), 2 BBs, 7 Ks, no decision in a game the A's won 5-4 (Sabathia left with a 4-3 lead).
• July 25, 2005, in Oakland: 2 1/3 IP, 8 H, 8 R (8 ER), 2 BBs, 0 Ks, 1 HR, took the loss in a game Oakland won 13-4.
• September 12, 2005, in Cleveland: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 5 BBs, 7 Ks, took the loss in a 2-0 game.
• September 21, 2006, in Oakland: 5 1/3 IP, 7 H, 7 R (4 ER), 3 BBs, 5 Ks, took the loss in a 7-4 game.
• May 11, 2007, in Oakland: 6 2/3 IP, 9 H, 6 R (6 ER), 1 BB, 5 Ks, 2 HRs, took the loss in an 8-2 game.
• June 25, 2007, in Cleveland: 9 IP, 9 H, 2 R (2 ER), 0 BBs, 8 Ks, got the complete-game win in a 5-2 game.
• April 5, 2008, in Oakland: 5 1/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R (4 ER), 4 BBs, 2 Ks, 1 HR in a game the Indians lost 6-1.

The totals:

• Against Oakland in five games at home: 30 innings pitched, 29 hits, 15 runs (all earned), 10 walks, 19 strikeouts, 5 home runs allowed, 1 win and 2 losses (Indians went 2-3 in his starts), a 4.50 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, average of 6 innings per start.
• In eight games in Oakland: 43 innings, 49 hits, 39 runs (34 earned), 17 BBs, 33 strikeouts, 5 home runs allowed, 1-4 record (Indians went 2-6 in his starts), a 7.12 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, average of 5.4 innings per start.

His overall record against the A's is 2-6, with a 6.04 ERA, and the Indians are 4-9 in games C.C. has started against the Green Pachyderms.

So while C.C. hasn't pitched particularly well against the A's at Jacobs Field, he's been absolutely awful against them in the stadium formerly known as the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. He wasn't too bad there early in his career (that 2001 start notwithstanding), but since 2005, he's been putrid in the Bay Area. In his last four starts there (all of them losses), he's got an abysmal ERA of 10.07 and averaged 4.9 innings per start.

Of course, four starts is a small sample size, but it does seem to suggest that there might be some sort of mental block for C.C. when he pitches in Oakland. I'm not about to call for Eric Wedge to skip C.C. if his turn comes up when the Tribe is in Oakland, but perhaps the young lefty might benefit from some work with a sports psychologist.

Give me an N! Give me an I! Give me a T!

So the Ohio State Buckeyes won the derby for 66th place, otherwise known as the National Invitation Tournament. Seriously, they should be proud. Winning the NIT is a lot better than losing in the NIT.

"This is what happens when you put an NCAA Tournament team in the NIT," Jamar Butler said after the Buckeyes beat Massachusetts 92-85 in the NIT title game.

Well, Jamar, I hate to say it, but if you guys wanted to get into the NCAA, you shouldn't have lost 13 games. I did think they should have gotten in, but you know, somebody's got to win the NIT, and whoever that team is, they're probably going to think they proved they belonged in the NCAA. But the time to do that is before they make the selections.

Terrible ... just terrible

The Cavaliers led the Bulls by 17 points. And the Bulls won. In Cleveland. Really, does anything else need to be said?

The Cavs led a 30-45 team by 17 points in the third quarter. These are the defending Eastern Conference champions? My petoot! Do they think they're going to win a playoff series? They've got seven games left to get it together, and I don't see it happening. The Cavs will have home court in the first round, but as they showed us tonight, they're perfectly capable of losing to an inferior team at home.

I don't want to be too negative about this team, because there's a lot of talent here. But Danny Ferry's blockbuster trade seems to have discombobulated everything. Maybe this group will come together next year, but I just don't think it'll happen this year. There's just not enough time left.

One other thing: Larry Hughes hit 11 of 17 shots for the Bulls tonight. Where was that shooting touch when he played for us?

Revised expectations

OK, so the Indians can do no better than 161-1 now. I think we can live with that.

Seriously, Jake Westbrook pitched pretty well today -- just not quite well enough. White Sox starter John Danks and three relievers kept the Tribe bats in check. Danks didn't even allow a hit until the sixth inning, when Casey Blake reached him for a single. I was at work and therefore unable to watch the game very closely, but I saw Blake's hit, and it was no cheapie. And Ryan Garko's RBI double in the seventh was hit pretty hard too. The White Sox outfield gave the Indians the chance to score more runs in that inning too, when Nick Swisher and Jermaine Dye collided going after a fly ball hit by Franklin Gutierrez (as pictured), and the ball dropped, leaving runners on second and third. But the Tribe failed to capitalize. Hey, that's baseball.

So we opened the season taking two of three from the intra-division White Sox. I'll take it.

Next is a three-game series at Oakland, and the A's are probably still suffering from jet lag a little bit, after opening the season a couple of weeks ago in Japan. So that's good timing. At least I hope so.

Still on pace for 162-0!

The Indians are 2-0, so they're still undefeated, one-81st of the way through the season. Fausto Carmona was brilliant tonight, yielding but one run on four hits and four walks in seven innings of work. So that was good to see. You just never know with a young pitcher, whether he'll be as good from year to year. We may be seeing the next C.C. -- though of course, Fausto is not quite the same type of pitcher as C.C. For one thing, Fausto throws with his right hand. Whether he'll be as good in '08 as he was in '07, obviously, we don't know yet, and won't for quite a while. But this was encouraging.

Fausto had his sinker working, as only one fair ball was hit in the air against him -- a fly-ball out off the bat of Jim Thome.

In other news, it seems Victor Martinez isn't hurt quite as badly as we'd feared, which of course is good news. He should be back soon.

Today in sports history -- Baseball Hall of Fame

Seventy years ago today, the Baseball Hall of Fame opened its doors in Cooperstown, New York, on the shores of Lake Otsego. It's about a seven-hour drive from Cleveland.

As was the case with our Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there were already several baseball Hall of Famers by the time the Hall opened: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner in 1936; Cy Young, Tris Speaker and Nap Lajoie -- all of whom played significant portions of their careers in Cleveland -- in 1937; and Grover Cleveland Alexander -- who did not play in Cleveland, even though that was his middle name -- in 1938. Today, those nine men would all be no-doubt, first-ballot guys, but as the Hall was finding its way, it only inducted a few a year, which seems prudent.

There are now 286 Hall of Famers, which in my opinion is too many. Who's going to go through and read 286 plaques? But the Hall is a magnificent place for baseball lovers to visit. I went there in about 1991 or '92, and though I spent several wonderful hours in that building, I did not see everything -- not even close. I urge anyone who loves the game to make the trip. You won't be disappointed.

162-0! We can do it! Come on!

My good friend Jeff Brown, who is unquestionably among the most faithful readers of Of Fair Hooker, Elmer Flick and World B. Free, had this to say about today's Indians game:

Steve,

I've got some good news for you -- the Cleveland Indians professional baseball team won their first game of the 2008 season, 10-8, over the Jim Thome-led Chicago White Stockings.

The Tribe is on pace to demolish the single season record for runs scored. Averaging 10 runs per game so far this season, this puts them on track to score 1620 runs!

Also, our ol' buddy Jim Thome is on pace to smash 324 homers this season, which by season's end, would put him at 829 career homers, breaking Barry Bonds hallowed record set last season.

On the down side, the Tribe is also on pace to allow 1296 runs, which would also be a single-season record... but who cares when we score 10 per game?!

Warmly, Jeff

It's no doubt an oversight, but Jeff failed to mention that:

• Franklin Gutierrez is on pace to collect 486 hits, which would shame Ichiro back to Japan for thinking his record-breaking total of 262 in 2004 was impressive.
  
• Casey Blake shares with Gutierrez a 486-RBI pace, which would have them both breaking Hack Wilson's 78-year-old record by mid-June.
  
• Rafael Betancourt is on pace to win 162 games, which would make a mockery of the previous record, Old Hoss Radbourn's 60 wins for the Providence Grays in 1884.
  
• C.C. Sabathia, while he may not want to end the season with an 8.44 ERA, is on pace to strike out 1,134 hitters. Nolan who?

If I may be so bold as to guess at the comedic device Jeff is employing, I believe he means to lampoon the rampant optimism (or pessimism) that comes from fans making too much out of one game, or even the first few games of the season. Sure, it's nice that we got off to a win, but let's not forget that this game means exactly as much as the game scheduled for August 23, the game scheduled for June 8, and the game scheduled for September 28 (the last day of the season).

But it sure was great to see Blake hit that three-run double off the wall in the bottom of the eighth. Baseball is back, ladies and gentlemen. And we've got a darned good team here in Cleveland.

So anyway ...

Miami lost to Boston College on Sunday. Those of you who care already know that, I'm sure; and you may also know that the RedHawks lost because they fell asleep for two minutes in the second period. BC scored three goals in that two-minute span. Considering the final score was 4-3 in overtime, that gives you some idea what an uncharacteristic lapse that was for Miami. The Hawks really dominated the overtime too, but they couldn't get any shots through. This was the third year in a row that Miami has fallen to Boston College in the NCAA Tournament. That's like the Browns and Broncos in the late '80s, only worse.

And so ends the season for senior Ryan Jones, the nation's leading goal scorer; junior Jeff Zatkoff, the nation's second-leading goaltender in terms of save percentage and goals against average; freshman Carter Camper, junior Justin Mercier and junior Brian Kaufman, all among the nation's leading scorers; fine senior defenseman Mitch Ganzak; senior forward Nathan Davis, who was among the team's best players, but missed a lot of time due to injury (including the Boston College game); and the nation's leading overall team offense.

With Jones and Davis among the players we're losing, it's going to be hard to make up that much offense next year. I'm not saying it can't be done, but we're talking about the best finisher in the nation, in Jones. If Zatkoff returns with the kind of year he had in '07-08, however, the RedHawks have a chance to make another run at a national title.

But I wanted to see them do it this year. I still think they could have. But they didn't.

What a game what a game what a game!

Miami (Ohio) and Air Force played an instant classic today in the NCAA Division I Hockey Tournament. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a better college hockey game, and while there are undoubtedly people who have watched a lot more college hockey than I have, I've watched more than my share.

Miami scored just 19 seconds into the game, on a Tommy Wingels wrist shot into the upper corner (where momma keeps the cookies, I believe is the term). After that, Air Force goaltender Andrew Volkening put on one heck of a show. Miami had shot after shot denied, including one that ESPNU play-by-play announcer John Buccigross said may have been the save of the year in college hockey. Color commentator Barry Melrose agreed it had to be in the top five. Volkening shut out the RedHawks for 50-plus minutes of game action, while his teammates managed to score twice on rebound shots to give them a 2-1 lead. The way Volkening was playing, it looked like the Falcons were going to pull off the upset.

But with 7:50 left in regulation, Air Force got hit with a penalty for having too many men on the ice. It was Miami's fourth power-play opportunity of the game, and they failed to take advantage of the first three. But this time, freshman Carter Camper made the Falcons pay, putting it in off a rebound with 6:16 to go.

Miami controlled the overtime period, but Volkening was almost unbreachable. It should be noted that Miami goalie Jeff Zatkoff, the nation's leading goaltender in terms of save percentage, made some great saves in that time too. But something had to give, and that something turned out to be Volkening. As Justin Mercier took the puck down to the right side of the goal, Volkening gambled that he would take it behind the net. But he didn't. He veered in front of the net and put it in the far upper corner. And Miami moves on to the round of eight.

Taken from the USCHO.com story:

“The puck came loose in the neutral zone; I was able to pick it up,” Mercier said. “I knew I could take advantage of their ‘D’ if I got him turning, pivoting. It was almost a fake shot, got him to freeze up for a second, took the puck around him and made a play on net to get it past their goalie.”

Miami won despite getting no goals from Ryan Jones, the nation's leading goal scorer. Jones had some chances, including a breakaway opportunity, but Volkening stopped him. But as Melrose pointed out, Miami's got a lot of weapons.

At 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the RedHawks play the winner of the Boston College-Minnesota game, which Boston College currently leads 2-1 in the second. The winner of tomorrow's game moves on to the Frozen Four in Denver. I can hardly wait.

March Madness -- on the ice

The NCAA Division I Hockey Tournament opens today, and there is one Ohio school in the 16-team field. And it happens to be my alma mater, Miami (Ohio). The RedHawks (32-7-1) are the No. 1 seed in the Northeast Region, and open at 4 p.m. today against Air Force (21-11-6). You can see it on ESPNU.

Miami is the No. 2 overall seed, behind someone I hope we can all agree to hate, the Michigan Wolverines. Miami and Michigan spent most of the season ranked No. 1 and 2, and Michigan wound up on top by virtue of a 2-0-1 record against our Hawks, including the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament championship.

Some notes cribbed from the USCHO.com story:

The RedHawks are the No. 2 seed overall in the tournament after losing their bid for a CCHA championship title to the No. 1 seed Michigan Wolverines. Miami played a cautious semifinal game against Notre Dame last weekend before a looser display against the Wolverines, but each contest had something glaring in common; the RedHawks failed to score until the final minute of each game.

In the 2-1 overtime win over the Irish, defenseman Mitch Ganzak scored the equalizer at 19:56 in the third, while fellow blueliner Alec Martinez scored at 19:21 in the 2-1 loss to Michigan the following night — and both goals were scored with Jeff Zatkoff pulled from the net in favor of the extra attacker.

That is a little bit worrisome, and we'll have to play better if we want to advance through this field to the Frozen Four.

Air Force won the Atlantic Hockey tournament for the second straight year, and will surely give the RedHawks a tough game. I'm looking forward to it.

Dawson rule?

As ESPN's John Clayton reports, Phil Dawson's nearly disallowed game-tying field goal against the Ravens last year has spurred a proposed rule change. Field goal kicks were previously not reviewable under instant replay rules, but that was because of kicks that sailed over the uprights, not kicks that may or may not have cleared the crossbar.

The officials initially got the Dawson call wrong. They wanted to review the tape, but the replay rules wouldn't let them. So all they could do was discuss it amongst themselves, and then they kind of had to take a guess. They got it right that time, but who's to say they won't get it wrong the next time? This is a no-brainer to me. Clayton feels some owners might vote it down. Frankly, any owner who votes against this is an idiot.

Four days to Opening Day

For the Indians, that is. The A's and Red Sox only have 160 games to go. Incidentally, am I the only one who didn't know Keith Foulke was making a comeback with Oakland? Didn't he say he was retiring last year when the Indians were expecting him to be their closer? Not that I'm dissatisfied with how the season went overall, but still, I was surprised to see him take the mound in Tokyo. He pitched in both of those games, in fact. If he'd made his comeback with the Red Sox, I'd have taken it a little harder, but since it's the small-market A's, I forgive him.

This has nothing to do with the Indians, but I saw it on SportsCenter, and I just have to mention it. During a spring-training game yesterday between the Twins and Braves, Atlanta's Elliott Johnson tried to bunt for a hit, and he laid down a beaut that dribbled down the first-base line. Twins pitcher Livan Hernandez knew he didn't have a play if he picked it up and threw it -- so he KICKED IT to first base. He must have some soccer experience somewhere along the way, because he kicked it right into the first baseman's glove, and got the out. Absolutely brilliant.

Here's an interesting column about the prospects of C.C. Sabathia eventually getting to 300 wins. The prognosis? Don't put money on it. Of course, he's probably not going to be with the Indians a whole lot longer, but who knows. Maybe he'll surprise us on both counts and win 300 games as an Indian.

And if you follow this link, you'll see that our old friend Charlie Manuel believes his Phillies can score 1,000 runs this year. Charlie's deeply, deeply wrong about this, of course. I think he overestimates the prospects of any team scoring 1,000 runs in a season, simply because he was the hitting coach for a team that did it -- the 1999 Indians, led by Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, David Justice, Roberto Alomar and Kenny Lofton. Charlie may or may not know that those Indians are the only team that's scored 1,000 runs since 1950. And for a National League team to do it, with pitchers taking up one-ninth of the batting order? Virtually impossible. But I suspect Charlie won't care much if they only score 850 runs and win the NL East.

Tim Kurkjian just said on "Mike and Mike in the Morning" that he changed his mind a few days ago about who's going to win the AL Central. He now believes it will be the Indians because the Tigers have too many problems in their bullpen. But of course, it makes no difference what Tim Kurkjian or anyone else thinks. It'll be settled on the field. And I don't know about you, but I'm sure looking forward to it.

Left Chris Paul too much time

I had a bad feeling in last night's game between the Cavaliers and Hornets after LeBron scored with 7.7 seconds left, putting the Cavs up one. That gives Chris Paul too much time, I said out loud to my TV. Sure enough, Paul dribbled down the middle of the key, drew three defenders to him, then kicked it out to a wide-open David West, who nailed it. Hornets 100, Cavaliers 99.

We could take comfort in the fact that the Cavs took the team with the best record in the Western Conference to the last second of the game. But a loss is a loss.

But the loss did not taint Joe Tait's 3,000th radio broadcast as the voice of the Cavaliers, dating back to the expansion Cavs in 1970. I don't usually watch the TV broadcasts during halftime, because I've got 200-some channels, and there's always something more interesting on than halftime. But I did watch this one. Former Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund, who brought Tait back after Ted Stepien chased him out of town, came out and said some nice things, cracking a few jokes. An example: "My wife says I've listened to you more than I've listened to her." Danny Ferry said a few things too, but he was obviously nervous, as he's not used to speaking in front of so many people. But he did fine. And when Tait himself addressed the throng, he did it with his usual class and professionalism, thanking many, many people, including you and me for listening to his broadcasts.

Thank YOU, Joe. May you be around for 3,000 more.

Today in sports history -- Sugar Ray Robinson

On this date 50 years ago, Walker Smith Jr., aka Sugar Ray Robinson, beat up Carmen Basilio and took his middleweight championship. That made Robinson the first boxer ever to win a title for an individual weight class five different times. The relevant bouts were as follows:

1. Feb. 14, 1951: Knocked out Jake LaMotta in the 13th round to take the middleweight belt, after moving up a weight class because he was having trouble staying at 147 pounds.
2. Sept. 12, 1951: Knocked out Englishman Randy Turpin in the 10th round to regain the title, which he had lost to Turpin in a 15-round decision in July. The fight Turpin won was in London; the fight Robinson won was in New York. So they split a home-and-home, each winning in front of his own home fans.
3. Dec. 9, 1955: Knocked out Carl "Bobo" Olson to regain his middleweight crown, which he'd given up after moving up to the light heavyweight class to fight Joey Maxim in 1952. Maxim won by TKO, and Robinson retired to become a singer and tap-dancer. Realizing he wasn't cut out for that kind of work, he went back to the ring. He gave Olson a rematch in May '56, and beat him again.
   
4. May 1, 1957: Knocked out Gene Fullmer in the fifth round to regain the belt he'd lost to Fullmer in a 15-round decision four months earlier.
5. March 25, 1958: Beat Carmen Basilio in a 15-round decision after losing his title to Basilio in September 1957.

Robinson lost his title for the last time on Jan. 22, 1960, to Paul Pender in a 15-round decision. Pender gave him a rematch and held onto the title; and after Fullmer regained the title from Pender, Fullmer beat Robinson twice in title bouts, in 1960 and 1961. Robinson never got another title shot, though he kept boxing until 1965, when he was 44 years old. He retired with a career record of 175-19-6, with two no-contests.

Those five middleweight titles were not the only belts Robinson ever wore. Before all of the above fights, in 1946, Robinson defeated Tommy Bell in a 15-round decision to win the vacant welterweight title. In his first title defense, he literally beat Jimmy Doyle to death. Like Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, whose fists killed Duk Koo Kim, Robinson struggled with that for some time.

Walking Ortiz to pitch to Manny?

The first official major-league game of the year, which started at 6 a.m. eastern time in Tokyo, went into extra innings after Oakland A's closer Huston Street blew the save in the ninth, giving up a home run to Boston's Brandon Moss. The Red Sox were up in the top of the 10th, and with a runner on second and two outs. David Ortiz was the hitter, with Manny Ramirez on deck. Oakland manager Bob Geren ordered Street to walk Big Papi and pitch to Manny, presumably because of the righty-lefty theory. Street is a righty, Ortiz hits lefty, and Ramirez hits righty.

Managing in the major leagues is a tough job, and I don't mean to suggest that I could do it better than Geren. But come on. Ortiz was 0-for-4 on the day, and had shown signs of being in a bit of a funk. He has this reputation as a great "clutch" hitter because of a couple of dramatic postseason home runs, but there's no evidence he's been able to carry that through from season to season. And Manny had already hit a two-run double in the game -- and as Tribe fans may remember, he practically sneezes RBIs. Seems to me Geren outsmarted himself.

For those who don't know, Manny doubled off the wall, scoring two (including Ortiz), and the Red Sox took a 6-4 lead. This exposes another flaw in Geren's logic: If Ortiz had gotten the same hit Manny did, just one run would have scored. It being the top of the 10th, that's not insignificant; you'd be looking at a 5-4 game instead of a 6-4 game. Then you could walk Manny and pitch to Mike Lowell if you want. Lowell's not exactly a banjo hitter, but he's no Big Papi or Manny. As it happens, the A's got one back in the bottom of the 10th, but it wasn't enough.

So I thought it was a bad move. I know that's easy to say now that I see how the game turned out, but it's what I was thinking at the time.

I realized another thing as I watched the game. I now hate the Red Sox almost as much as I hate the Yankees. I don't mean that I despise everyone who wears the uniform, of course, but I very, very badly want them to lose.