Tribe's having fun

The Indians' 9-3 win over the White Sox yesterday was a lot of fun to watch, in large part because it involved fine performances by two guys who have been hurt much of the year. Victor Martinez hit what was rather unbelievably his first home run of the year, in his third start since having elbow surgery in June; and Fausto Carmona -- though he wasn't exactly dazzling -- won his third straight start, going 5 2/3 innings. He's now 8-5 with a 4.51 ERA, and if you subtract his disastrous first start off the disabled list, in which he gave up nine runs in 2 1/3, he's 8-4, 3.81.

The expanded roster limit allowed the Indians to call up Josh Barfield, Michael Aubrey, and pitchers Brian Slocum, John Meloan and Tom Mastny. That'll come in handy if they play a 20-inning game. The next game Meloan pitches in will be his major-league debut, so that's pretty exciting.

The news isn't all good, though. Travis Hafner, who's been on a rehab assignment in AAA Buffalo for the last week or so, is deemed not ready to return to the bigs despite hitting .318 in seven games for the Bisons. But he appears to have a positive attitude about it, and says he'll keep working on his shoulder through the offseason and be ready to come back in the spring. I have my doubts whether he'll ever again be the hitter he was a couple of years ago, but I hope I'm wrong.

Also, Aaron Laffey has been shut down with elbow inflammation. I believe he has a bright future if he can stay healthy, but that's always a big "if" when you're talking about a young arm.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Cleveland Indians have a 20-game winner

Now THAT's how you win your 20th game. Cliff Lee is 20-2, after toying with the Chicago White Sox for the full nine tonight, finishing with a five-hit shutout. And Gaylord Perry is no longer the Indians' last 20-game winner, a title he held for 34 years.

I hope to post a game-by-game look at Lee's season after he wins the Cy Young. But to sum it up, this is the best season I've ever seen an Indians pitcher have. He's better than CC was last year, he's better than Jose Mesa was in 1995, and he's better than Bert Blyleven, Rick Sutcliffe, Dennis Martinez, Tom Candiotti, et al ever were in Tribe uniforms. The fact that he's doing this for a team that's fighting for third place makes it that much more impressive. And he's got a month to build on that total. He could end up with 24 or 25 wins.

Congratulations, Cliff. (I assume he's a regular reader.)

Speaking of CC ...

Did you see the clips from his "one-hitter"?* He made one of the best defensive plays I have ever seen a pitcher make. He caught a line drive with his bare hand. Granted, his bare hand is bigger than most people's mitts, but still. And then he threw to first to double off a runner. CC has been absolutely out of his mind since arriving in Milwaukee. He's now 9-0 since the trade, with an ERA of 1.43, in 10 starts as a National Leaguer. That, my friends, is patently ridiculous.

Of course, the story from that game involves the one "hit," which was an infield "single" by Andy LaRoche. It was what some commentators would call a swinging bunt; LaRoche topped the ball, it bounced in front of the plate, and Sabathia himself attempted to field it with his aforementioned bare hand, which apparently doesn't work for him unless the ball's traveling as fast as a car. CC fumbled the ball and could not recover in time to throw out LaRoche. LaRoche was about 30 feet down the line when CC touched the ball, and there is no doubt he could have -- had he fielded it cleanly, using his glove if necessary -- thrown the runner out. But the official scorer in Pittsburgh scored it an error, saying it would have taken an above-average play to throw the runner out.

At this point, I should like to express an opinion about baseball's reverence for its single-game accomplishments. A no-hitter is but one example; you've got your single-game RBI records, your single-game stolen base records, your single-game outfield assist records, etc.

Baseball's single-game feats come in three tiers, with one each for pitching, hitting and fielding: On the first tier, you've got a perfect game for pitchers, four home runs for hitters, and an unassisted triple play for the glovemen. One could make the argument that an unassisted triple play belongs in a different category because it only involves a single play and requires a great deal of luck, but I am including it because it still happens within the confines of a single game, and it takes some luck to pitch a perfect game or hit four home runs as well. These events are about equally likely: There have been 17 perfect games, 15 four-homer games, and 14 unassisted triple plays in major-league history. Of course, the four-homer game is the only one that's possible to top, but it hasn't happened yet.

If you look at the players who have accomplished these top-tier feats, you'll see a wide range of players. To use the perfect game as an example, you'll see some Hall of Famers (Sandy Koufax, Cy Young, Catfish Hunter, Cleveland's Addie Joss, and future first-balloter Randy Johnson); a bunch of guys who had strong careers but fell short of that level (Dennis Martinez, David Wells, Mike Witt, etc.); and a few guys who actually finished their careers with losing records (Charlie Robertson, Don Larsen, our own Lenny Barker). So while being a great player surely increases the likelihood of appearing on one of these lists, it's also quite possible to get there as a mediocre player. Hard-hittin' Mark Whiten hit four homers in a game, but if he ever got a single Hall of Fame vote, the writer who voted for him would deserve to be stripped of his vote. And our boy Asdrubal Cabrera turned an unassisted triple play earlier this year, shortly before being sent down to the minors because he wasn't hitting.

In the second tier, you've got no-hitters, hitting for the cycle and the standard triple play, which of course is a team feat. There have been 256 no-hitters, 278 cycles, and 672 triple plays in major-league history. So the defensive feat is considerably more likely, but it's still rare enough to be notable. The names on these lists almost seem random; for example, in the last decade, no-hitters have been credited to such luminaries as Anibal Sanchez, Clay Buchholz, Bud Smith and Jose Jimenez -- and six Astros combined on a no-no of the Yankees.

In the third tier, you've got your odd records like most strikeouts, most hits, etc., and while these are arguably more impressive than those in the second tier, if not the first, they are not held in nearly the same esteem. Ask me, the cycle is a highly overrated accomplishment that has occasionally prompted a player to abstain from taking the extra base, which actually hurts his team. I've watched a few no-hitters myself (I saw Barker's perfecto and Bud Smith's no-no, and I saw Dwight Gooden no-hit the Mariners, all on TV), and it is kind of thrilling. But the bottom line is winning, and it does occasionally happen that a pitcher throws a no-hitter and loses. The reverence for these single-game feats sometimes overshadows the idea that you're supposed to try to win the game, and I find that troubling.

Getting back to CC, the Brewers have appealed to the commissioner's office for the one hit to be changed to an error. I don't know how I feel about this. The official scorer does not affect the outcome of the game, but can have a profound impact on these revered feats, obviously. I feel the official scorer blew this one, but now that the game's in the books, turning it back into a no-hitter would be anticlimactic at best. And if it had been scored an error from the start, would the Pirates' hitters have approached the ninth inning differently, knowing a no-hitter was on the line? I don't know. I was in favor of overturning it last night, but right now, I think I'm against it. Ask me in an hour, and my answer might be different. But the only thing that really matters is that the Brewers won. They're in a pennant race, after all.

* Could be a no-hitter, if the Brewers' appeal is upheld.

Swept!

How do you follow a 10-game winning streak? By being swept at home by the American League's worst team, of course.

The Indians' 6-4 loss to the Mariners today is perhaps more indicative of the way the season has gone than their 10-game winning streak was. But, it should be mentioned, the Tribe is now 10-3 over the last 13 games. Hey, that's still pretty good.

Zach Jackson, acquired in the Sabathia deal, had his worst start in the bigs (out of 4), giving up six runs on seven hits in five innings. Hey, it's his fourth major league start. He'll have much better ones than this, and of course, he'll have a few that are even worse. This is baseball, and everybody's up some days, down some others.

Get well, Beanie

As expected, Ohio State demolished Youngstown State yesterday, 43-0. But that's not the story. Sure, if the I-AA Penguins had upset the mighty Buckeyes, that would have been a story, but Ohio State beating any other team from Ohio is a footnote at best.

The story, as we all know, is that Heisman candidate Beanie Wells hurt his foot after taking a handoff in the third quarter. The Buckeyes have a lot of talent, but they play USC in two weeks, and that would be a tough enough game without your Heisman candidate running back. X-rays were negative, but that doesn't mean there's no ligament damage.

I know it's easy to say this in hindsight, but why was Beanie still in the game at that point? It was halfway through the third quarter, Ohio State was up 26-0, and against that Youngstown State defense, Maurice Wells or Daniel Herron could have done the job the rest of the way (as they did after that play). Yes, your regulars need some game time to get ready for the battles ahead, but Beanie had already run for 111 yards on 13 carries. I don't often second-guess Jim Tressel -- and I'm sure Tressel's second-guessing himself now too. I just hope he'll be close to 100% for the Trojans.

As always, there were some upsets on the college football season's opening weekend, and the biggest involved an Ohio school. Bowling Green knocked off No. 25 Pittsburgh, 27-17, after being down 14-0 early on. So not only did they pull off a big upset, they beat a team from Pittspuke while wearing brown and orange. I certainly hope that's not the first time we see that this season.

Baseball finally steps into the 1990s

So Major League Baseball has finally decided to allow instant replay to help decide home run and fair/foul calls. And I say, it's about time. I've covered a lot of this ground before, but to recap briefly, there's been a lot of talk about replay "removing the human element." That's absolute rubbish. I can accept the fact that players make mistakes; heck, that's an essential part of the game. But errors by the umpires can mean that a particular game wasn't decided by the players.

ESPN's Tim Kurkjian explains how replay will work, and colleague Rob Neyer put together a very interesting list of big games that might have gone differently had the umpires had access to replay. It includes Game 1 of the 1948 World Series, which our Indians lost 1-0 to the Braves. That one run was scored by Phil Masi off Bob Feller, after Feller may or may not have picked Masi off second base. The second-base umpire said Masi was safe, but Feller insists to this day he was out. That being 60 years ago, there's no replay that definitively solves the mystery one way or the other, so that call was made using all the tools available to the umpires at the time, which one has to accept. And anyway, the Indians would go on to win that World Series in six games, so all's well that ends well, though the great Bob Feller never did win a postseason game. It should be noted, obviously, that the newly implemented replay system would not have corrected that call, since it was not a home run or a fair/foul call, but just as replay has evolved in football, it will evolve in baseball.

John Kruk said a bunch of incredibly stupid things on the subject of replay last night on "Baseball Tonight." I like John Kruk; I find him entertaining, and he seems like a generally nice guy. But I also think he's kind of an idiot. He was railing about how it's wrong to put "a rule change" in place in the middle of the season, because it's not fair to teams who were affected by bad calls earlier in the year. The reasons why this argument is ridiculous are obvious to me, but I will put them forth nonetheless. First of all, there is no rule change here. It's simply giving the umpires a new tool to enforce the rules that are already in place. Second of all, teams that were hurt by bad calls earlier in the year will not be helped by bad calls later in the year, unless those calls should happen to go in their favor. But those teams are just as likely to be hurt again by bad calls, and I really don't see what good that would do.

As it is currently constituted, replay will not pop up very much. MLB has said it would have been used on about a dozen plays up to this point in the season, so that's about once every 10-12 days or so. I look forward to seeing the first bad call an instant replay turns into a good call.

That's 10

Ten games ago, the Indians were in last place, 12 games under .500, at 55-67.

After tonight's 7-5 win over the Tigers, they're in third place at 65-67, and just 10 1/2 games out of first place. Granted, 10 1/2 games back with 30 to play is still pretty insurmountable, but stranger things have happened. But I'm not about to suggest the Indians are suddenly contenders. I'm just happy to enjoy this streak.

For anyone who missed it, Cliff Lee is now 19-2. Jensen Lewis, though he gave up two runs in the ninth tonight, is now a legitimate major league closer. Fausto Carmona appears to be on his way back, even though he struggled at times tonight. Grady Sizemore is the Indians' second 30-30 man, showing that rare combination of speed and power that we haven't seen since Joe Carter. Kelly Shoppach has proven to be a regular-quality major-league catcher, which is a good thing if we want to play Victor Martinez every day next year, whether at first, DH or whatever. Ben Francisco and Franklin Gutierrez are good enough to play every day, too. And if they need a rest, Shin-Soo Choo is a viable option. Jhonny Peralta is quietly having a good year. Asdrubal Cabrera is about as good as they come in the field, and has started to come around at the plate. Even Andy Marte finally got his batting average over .200 tonight.

In many ways, this is a lost season for the Indians, and I know they can't keep playing like this. I predict they go about .500 the rest of the way, maybe a little better. They might finish about 83-79. Hey, I'll take that, after all those injuries.

Put him in a Chinese prison!

The above photo speaks for itself. The man on the left is Cuban taekwondo athlete Angel Matos, and the man on the right is Swedish taekwondo official Chakir Chelbat. Just before this photo was taken, Chelbat had disqualified Matos from the bronze medal match against Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov because he Matos had taken more than one minute to nurse an injury. That's not a judgment call on Chelbat's part, those are the rules of Olympic taekwondo. If you're hurt, you get one minute, and if you can't continue, you're done. It's harsh, but nobody gets an Olympic medal if they're injured too badly to compete.

Matos kicked the official in the head for the unpardonable offense of enforcing the rules. He'll get his due process, but he's going to be banned for life from international taekwondo, and rightly so. But that's not enough. Do you know what would happen if you were to kick a police officer in the head? Not only would you spend some time in jail, you'd "accidentally fall down the stairs" first. And you'd have it coming. Kicking a taekwondo official in the head is basically the same thing. I don't mean to imply that taekwondo officials have as dangerous a job, but to assault an authority figure for properly enforcing the rules? That should be punished not only by the taekwondo authorities, but by the Chinese court system. Because dammit, that's assault.

This offense brings to mind Orlando Brown shoving an official after being hit in the eye with a penalty flag. That was also completely unacceptable, and I also think he should have been prosecuted in court. The fact that it happened on the field of play doesn't make it any less egregious. This was not a player shoving another player. It's a little bit more understandable in Brown's case, because that flag actually injured Brown, causing him to miss three seasons.

Getting back to the current case, it's possible that Matos' coach, Leudis Gonzalez, will also be banned for being unapologetic afterwards. He claimed Chelbat was "too strict," and wondered out loud to a reporter whether the Kazakhs had paid him off. I'm a little bit more inclined toward leniency in this case, because I doubt whether Gonzalez, who has probably spent his whole life in Communist Cuba, has any concept of free press. This is probably the first time any reporter's even noticed him before, much less interviewed him. I'd bet he's surprised his remarks have even been reported. He must apologize, but if he does, I say let him off with a six-month suspension or something like that.

18-2!

Before I get into Cliff Lee, let me start by offering condolences to the families of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones and NFL players union Executive Director Gene Upshaw. They both did and said things I disagreed with, but they worked hard to get where they were, and they both died too young.

Ladies and gentlemen, Cliff Lee is going to win the Cy Young award this year. Lee won his 18th game today, in a 10-3 laugher over the Royals. He's now 18-2 with a 2.43 ERA. His nearest competitors are miles behind him. According to Bill James' Cy Young Predictor, he has only a slim lead over Francisco Rodriguez, but I think the formula has changed somewhat for relievers because the Cy voters have come to value them less (as they should). Rodriguez might break the saves record, but Lee could win 23 or 24 games. The voters aren't going to pass over that for a reliever, no matter what the reliever did.

The other star of the game was Mr. Sizemore, who hit his 29th home run, stole his 31st base, and knocked in seven runs from the leadoff spot. That's not easy to do. And with about 5 1/2 weeks left in the season, he's got a legitimate shot at 40-40. I'm betting he falls short in home runs, but we'll see.

Getting back to the Cy Young race, loyal reader Jeff Brown points out that last year's AL Cy winner, CC Sabathia, has been beyond amazing with the Brewers so far in the second half, and asked whether I think CC has a shot to follow up his AL Cy with an NL Cy the following season.

It brings to mind Rick Sutcliffe winning the Cy Young in 1984. The Indians, as you recall, traded Sutcliffe to the Cubs in the middle of that season, along with George Frazier and Ron Hassey, for Don Schulze, Mel Hall and Joe Carter. Hall was seen as the linchpin of the deal, but of course, Carter would go on to have the greater career. He won the RBI title in 1986, as you also recall. But I digress.

Sutcliffe was traded on June 13, 1984, at which point he was 4-5, 5.15 ERA, 58 Ks in the American League; and after which he went 16-1, 2.69, 155, in the senior circuit, for an overall total of 20-6, 3.64, 213. CC was traded almost a month later in the season, on July 7, after amassing a record of 6-8, 3.83, 123, with the Tribe; and since which he's gone 8-0, 1.60, 69, with the Crew, for a total of 14-8, 2.99, 192. Sabathia's six wins behind Ricky-boy, and has more losses, but by any other measure, CC is having a better season than Sutcliffe did the year Sutcliffe won the Cy. There's still about six weeks left in the season, so he'll undoubtedly pass him in strikeouts -- and he could reach 20 wins, though it's not likely.

But we must not forget that the Cy Young is a league award, and as such, must be based solely on what the pitcher accomplished in that league. And while CC has been unbelievable, he's likely to regress somewhat, and I predict he'll finish with a record of about 12-2 with an ERA around 2.00, and about 100 to 110 strikeouts. Those are great numbers, but can you give a guy a Cy for winning a dozen games and striking out about 100? In theory, yes, but only if there aren't strong candidates who spent the whole season in that league.

Brandon Webb's numbers right now are 18-4, 2.85, 145. He's the obvious front-runner for the award, and would almost have to fall on his face to lose it. And even if he did, Tim Lincecum, Edinson Volquez, Ryan Dempster and Danny Haren are also having Cy-caliber seasons in the NL.

Would I like to see Carsten Charles Sabathia win the NL Cy Young this year? You bet I would. But it won't happen. Maybe next year, when he's back in Cleveland. (A man can dream, can't he?)

Wow, did that suck!

The Browns' starters got absolutely demolished by the Super Bowl champion Giants last night. It was pathetic. I was in bed by 10, so I didn't see our third-stringers nearly pull it out against the Giants' third-stringers, but I did see the debacle that was the first quarter. Eli Manning only threw seven passes, but two of them went for touchdowns. Derek Anderson threw 10 passes, completing just four for just 20 yards, or an average of two yards per pass. Jamal Lewis did better than that -- six rushes for 13 yards, or 2.2 yards per attempt. But consider that he got 12 yards on his first two rushes, and that's an average of 0.25 yards per run in his last four.

And the mistakes! One after another. Penalties, blown coverages, missed blocks, a punt returned for a touchdown, and so on. On one series late in the first quarter, the Browns started at their own 8. The series of plays:

* Anderson passes to Charles Ali for six yards, but it's called back on an offensive pass interference penalty on Kellen Winslow Jr. First and 14 at the 4.
* Lewis runs over left tackle, but never gets close to the line, losing two yards. Second and 16 at the 2.
* Anderson's pass attempt to Travis Wilson is incomplete. Third and 16 at the 2.
* Anderson's pass attempt to Steve Heiden is incomplete. Fourth and 16 at the 2.
* In punt formation, Kris Griffin is called for a false start. Fourth and 17 at the 1.
* Dave Zastudil, who cannot drop back the usual 15 yards to punt because the back of the end zone is only 11 yards behind the line of scrimmage, gets his punt blocked because his own blocker is pushed back into the ball's path. The ball bounces out of bounds in the end zone. Safety, New York leads, 16-3.
* Zastudil's free kick is fielded at the 18 by the Giants' Dominik Hixon, who returns it 82 yards for a touchdown. Following the extra point, New York leads, 23-3.

About the only good thing that happened for the Browns in that quarter was Phil Dawson's 56-yard field goal, made necessary by the offense's collective anemia. And just three plays after the above-described sequence, after Syndric Steptoe's kickoff return to the 9 and a seven-yard pass from Anderson to Ali put the Browns at the 2, James Butler returned Anderson's fumble 98 yards for a touchdown, and the Giants were up 30-3. Pathetic.

But it was just a preseason game, so let's not all burn our Browns gear. They're a much better team than this.

Also ...

The Cavaliers pulled off a beauty today, sending Joe Smith and Damon Jones to Milwaukee for Mo Williams. Smith moves on to Sea ... er, Oklahoma City. And LeBron finally gets a point guard.

No disrespect to Delonte West, who played pretty well in the postseason last year despite not being a pure point guard. But Mo had 17 points and six assists a game in '07-08. This is going to be good.

Bye, Byrdie

One of my favorite Indians got traded yesterday, basically for nothing. And I'm glad.

Paul Byrd is the only modern major leaguer who still throws his hands back before his windup, which sort of makes him the Mark Moseley of pitching. And he's a nice guy who cracks a lot of jokes. I think I'd enjoy having a beer with him. But his contract was up at the end of the year, and as Mark Shapiro said, trading him provides the Indians with some "payroll relief" -- $2 million worth. If you can avoid paying $2 million for a pitcher who's not signed for next year when your team is out of playoff contention, why shouldn't you do it?

I know it seems like they could have gotten a decent prospect for Byrd, but I'm pretty sure if there had been a better deal out there, Shapiro would have taken it. And it does suck that he went to the Red Sox. He was the last pitcher to beat the Red Sox in 2007, but we all know what happened after that. I've come to think of the Red Sox as the "other Yankees," just because it seems inevitable every year that at least one of those teams will make the playoffs. And the Red Sox are probably going to do it again this year, as they're in the lead for the AL Wild Card, and they're better than the White Sox or Twins. (Thank the stars, the Yankees probably won't get in, though I'll feel a lot better when they're actually eliminated.)

But in addition to the $2 million, this will also give some of the younger guys a chance to pitch to major leaguers this year, and that has value too. Keeping Byrd might have meant the Indians would finish 76-86 this year instead of 74-88, but letting him go might mean they'll go 91-71 instead of 89-73 next year. Yes, I plucked those numbers out of the air, but that's a reasonable guess. There's a lot of talent in this Cleveland Indians organization.

And remember, they won the World Series just 60 years ago.

Rolling along

In case you haven't noticed -- and judging by the attendance, you haven't -- the Indians have managed to win a few ballgames, and are threatening to climb out of the cellar.

Yes, that's Bob Uecker as Harry Doyle in "Major League," but it applies to the present situation as well. No, these Indians aren't going to climb over the whole division and win a one-game playoff against the Yankees, who aren't even in their division anymore, but they're riding a four-game winning streak right now, after last night's offensive explosion. They're not contenders, but there's a lot to like about this team.

Fausto was going along reasonably well last night against the Orioles, until Edward Mujica came in and threw gas on the fire. Mujica relieved Carmona with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh, and the Tribe up 7-4, and immediately gave up a three-run triple to tie it, then the run scored on a ground ball to give Baltimore the 8-7 lead. But these Indians weren't about to let that stand, putting up three in the bottom of the seventh and three more in the bottom of the eighth to win it 13-8. It's not every day you give up eight runs and still win.

Mujica, who gave up just the one run in two-thirds of an inning but allowed all three inherited runners to score, was awarded the win, and I think that's a mistake by the official scorer. Taken from the official rule book (found here on baseball-almanac.com):

(4) The winning relief pitcher shall be the one who is the pitcher of record when his team assumes the lead and maintains it to the finish of the game.

EXCEPTION: Do not credit a victory to a relief pitcher who is ineffective in a brief appearance, when a succeeding relief pitcher pitches effectively in helping his team maintain the lead. In such cases, credit the succeeding relief pitcher with the victory.

I don't know how anyone could claim that Mujica was not ineffective in a brief appearance. Brandon Donnelly, making his Indians debut, pitched a scoreless eighth to maintain the lead, and should have been given the win.

But ultimately, that's not very important. The important thing is, the Indians got 13 runs across on 13 hits, three of which left the yard. Asdrubal Cabrera hit his fourth of the year, and has hit much better since his remedial assignment in Buffalo. His season average of .211 is nothing to rave about, but keep in mind, he was hitting just .186 when he got sent down in early June. Ben Francisco's 12th of the year and Andy Gonzalez's first as an Indian (third of his career) both wrapped around the left-field foul pole in the eighth. Francisco, at .277/12/44, is having a pretty good year in just 318 at-bats, and he'll be 27 next year, which is the age at which most hitters peak. I look forward to seeing what he'll do.

And I missed mentioning this yesterday, but Cliff Lee is now 16-2 with a 2.45 ERA. SIXTEEN AND TWO. And the bullpen has blown three games in which Lee left with the lead. He could have had 19 wins in mid-August. He's probably got about nine starts left, and would appear to have a strong chance at winning 20.

Oh, yeah! The Olympics!

I just finished watching the opening ceremony from the Olympics in Beijing on my DVR, and they sure spent a lot of money on it. It reportedly cost $300 million just to put on the opening, and in a country where hundreds of millions live in poverty, that seems pretty ridiculous. It was garish, it was opulent, it was exorbitant, it was almost dehumanizing to the thousands and thousands of Chinese people who performed -- and it was spectacular. I absolutely loved what they did with the torch-lighting at the end, after 4 1/2 hours of pomp. If you didn't see it, my words won't do it justice. I may watch the whole thing a few more times. Heck, with all the money they spent on it, it almost seems like I owe them that.
I love the Parade of Nations. I think it's my favorite part of the Olympics, watching all these athletes who've come from all over the world to represent their nations, soaking up the roar of the crowd. And I love reading all the cool names of the men and women who are carrying their nation's flag. Here are my favorites, for your amusement (and I'm not making fun; I'm sure they're lovely people, and they've all worked hard for this honor):

Fatmata Fofanah (Guinea)
Soloniaina Razanadrakoto (Madagascar)
Guwanc Nurmuhammedow (Turkmenistan)
Daba Modibo Kaita (Mali)
Priscila Tommy (Vanuatu)
Souleyman Chebal Moctar (Mauritania)
Bradely Ally (Barbados)
Bose Kaffo (Nigeria)
Daniela Del Din (San Marino)
Marcel Tshopp (Liechtenstein)
Abubaker Kaki (Sudan)
Jangy Addy (Liberia)
Fiderd Vis (Aruba)
McWilliams Arroyo (Puerto Rico)
Lopez Lomong (United States; more on him later)
Hem Bunting (Cambodia)
Ahamada Feta (Comoros)
Manus Boonjumnong (Thailand)
Miruts Yefter (Ethiopia)
Tsotang Maine (Lesotho)
Jeroen Delmee (The Netherlands)
Ele Opeloge (Samoa)
Dilshod Nazarov (Tajikistan)
Phone Myint Tayzar (Myanmar)
Hastings Bwalya (Zambia)

A lot of countries gave the honor of carrying the flag to the most famous athlete representing them, which is why there were four NBA players waving flags (Dirk Nowitzki for Germany, Andrei Kirilenko for Russia, Manu Ginobili for Argentina, and of course, Yao Ming for the host country). Sarunas Jasikevicius, a former NBA-er who now plays in Greece, carried Lithuania's flag, presumably because the Cavaliers succeeded in barring his good friend Zydrunas Ilgauskas from playing in the Olympics. (I think that stinks, but that's another matter for another time.) And the world's greatest tennis player, Roger Federer, carried Switzerland's colors into the stadium.

But I like what the U.S. did. There are literally dozens of famous athletes performing in Beijing, from LeBron and the rest of the "Redeem Team" to Lindsey Davenport to Michael Phelps, and so on. But none of those people got the honor of carrying the Stars and Stripes. Instead, it went to Lopez Lomong, a 1,500-meter runner who emigrated here in 2001, at age 16, as one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan." His story is particularly gripping -- he was abducted from a Catholic Mass at age 6, and his parents were so sure he'd been killed that they held a funeral for him in absentia. He almost did die in captivity, but he and three others escaped to Kenya, where he spent the next decade in a refugee camp before Catholic Charities paid his way to the U.S. He assumed his family had been killed, but they had moved to Nairobi, and he was reunited with them in 2003. Lopez was an excellent choice to carry the flag, and he's already done our nation proud, whether he medals or not.

Some thoughts from last night's Browns game

Apparently, Channel 3 never told Time Warner Cable it had the Browns last night, so the channel lineup didn't say the Browns were on. So I had to set my DVR to record "Entertainment Tonight," "Last Comic Standing," "America's Got Talent," Channel 3 News, and "The Tonight Show." And I don't know when "Last Comic Standing" is being replayed, which stinks, because I've been following it. I'm rooting for the bald British guy who plays the cello.

What a catch by Braylon Edwards in the first quarter! He was clearly expecting the ball to be in front of him, but when he turned around, he saw that Derek Alexander had put it behind him. And it was way too far behind him for him to catch it, but he caught it anyway, with one hand. He's a special talent. I almost forgive him for going to Michigan.

That one-hour lightning delay gave everybody a chance to FINALLY talk about Brett Favre. Yes, that was sarcasm. Don't get me wrong, I understand that a future Hall of Famer changing teams at this stage of his career is a huge story, but that doesn't mean I can't be sick of it. It will be strange seeing Favre in that color. Sure, it's still green, but it's a lighter shade.

I think Josh Cribbs is my favorite Brown. In fact, he's one of my favorite Browns of all time. He came out of Kent State as an undrafted quarterback, and has made a career as a gung-ho special teamer, and he's now seeing some action as a wide receiver. He's the kind of guy who'll do anything he can to help win football games. How can you not love a guy like that?

Alexander looked pretty good in limited action. The one TD pass he threw was a better play by Edwards than it was by Alexander, but in his defense, he put it where if his guy didn't get it, nobody would get it, and that's worth plenty.

Brady Quinn was just OK. He made a bad throw on the interception. Syndric Steptoe was open, but Quinn threw it too hard and put it where Steptoe couldn't reel it in.

It's a bit unsettling to watch a bomb thrown against your defense, even in the preseason. But it was a nice moment for David Clowney of the Jets. And right after catching the touchdown, he made the tackle on the kick return. I really like that.

The Jets technically won the game, but the Browns' starters outplayed the Jets' starters. Then again, it's worth mentioning that the guy who's going to start at QB for the Jets watched from the sidelines because he'd only been traded there the previous day.

And another thing ...

I'm sick and tired of Brett Favre leading off SportsCenter every day. I watch SportsCenter to get highlights, not soap opera updates.

Come on already, Jim Brown

Let me start off by saying I've never been a big fan of Jim Brown. Sure, he's the greatest Brown of all time, arguably the greatest running back of all time, and quite probably the greatest athlete Cleveland has ever seen. I love watching footage of him slashing his way through defenses, running between, past and through very large men as if they were little children. I'm glad he played for our team, even though I'm not old enough to remember it.

And I also give him his due for his acting work. He was fantastic in The Dirty Dozen, and I loved his scenes with Isaac Hayes in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Nor do I deny he is doing positive things with gangs in Cleveland and L.A., through the Amer-I-Can program.

All that said, I think the guy's kind of full of it. He sees himself as a role model -- and to be sure, many others do too -- but let's not forget he's been accused of throwing a woman off a balcony, threatening to snap his wife's neck, and raping another woman. In fairness, he was never convicted of any of those crimes, but I have a hard time believing a man accused of three acts of violence against women has never committed a violent act against a woman. If he has done that, I can't imagine why anyone would care about his opinion on anything. And he does have his opinions, and will share them with anybody who will put a microphone in front of his face, all the while wearing that ridiculous hat-thing.

But none of this has anything much to do with the reason for today's post. Today's post has to do with Brown's recent lawsuit against EA Sports for using his likeness in a video game. Taken from the Bloomberg.com story:

The character, part of the "Real Old School Teams and Players'' series, is a muscular, African-American running back wearing the number 32 jersey who is featured in the game's "All Brown's Team,'' Brown said in a complaint filed yesterday in state court in New York.

Brown, who wore number 32 for the Cleveland Browns, said in the complaint that he "never signed away any rights that would allow his likeness to be used.''

Professional athletes now typically sign agreements allowing the use of their names and likenesses, according to the complaint. Brown said in the complaint that, when he played football, "The NFL had league wide policy that players shall have no lawyers or agents when negotiating compensation. Video games were not invented yet and no union to obtain rights from existed.''

Professional athletes DO sign agreements that allow their names and faces to be used ON THE FRONT OF THE BOX. I have a very hard time believing EA Sports got signatures from every NFL player to put them in Madden 2008. That would be a pretty steep burden to impose.

Regardless, I'm sure EA Sports is doing irreparable damage to Jim Brown's reputation by allowing video gamers to maneuver a computer image that looks like him up and down a computer-generated field substitute. But maybe he'll feel better if he throws the game off a balcony.

Today in sporting history

The late Rod "Shooter" Beck would have turned 40 today. Beck is 24th on the all-time saves list, saving 286 games for the Giants, Cubs, Red Sox and Padres between 1991 and 2004, and is tied for the eighth-most in a single season, nailing down 51 saves for San Francisco in 1998. Beck was a three-time All-Star, and won the National League's Rolaids Relief Man award in The Season With No Champion. He remains the Giants' all-time saves leader.

Beck was well-known for his electric stuff, his ridiculous Fu Manchu mustache, his long, flowing locks, and his death by cocaine overdose in 2007, at age 38. He was by all accounts a nice guy and a good teammate, but had struggled with the white powder since at least 2004, when he abruptly left the Padres in midseason to enter a rehabilitation program.

And he was against the designated hitter rule, which earns him my admiration. Growing up in Southern California, he followed the Dodgers, but didn't watch the Angels, due to his opposition to the DH. Lifted from his Baseball Library page:

"If there's an American League game on TV, I'll turn it on mute and play pool," he told the Chicago Sun-Times in 1999. "I didn't like the American League going to the designated hitter. I always wanted to be a pitcher, but I wanted to hit, too."

Rest in peace, Rod Beck. Wherever you are, I hope you're having a happy birthday.

Good old Manny

A sign Manny Ramirez held up in the dugout during last night Red Sox-Angels game: "I'm going to Green Bay for Brett Favre, straight up."

Manny seems to hate playing for the Red Sox right now, saying they "don't deserve a player like me." Rumor has him possibly going to Florida, which obviously would have to be completed today, as today is the trade deadline. He may not be traded at all, of course, but if he were, that would end his Boston career after the better part of eight seasons. That's almost exactly how long he played for the Indians. Does this mean he might be wearing an Indians hat on his Cooperstown bust? Probably not, but I can hope, can't I?

Today in sporting history

On this date in 1988, a man named Ronald J. Dossenbach began a cross-country bicycle trip. This wasn't just any cross-country bicycle trip -- it set a new record. And it wasn't even this country. It was one of only three nations on earth that's bigger than the United States. No, it wasn't the USSR (the largest controlled-border nation the world has ever seen), and no, it wasn't China.

Twenty years ago today, Dossenbach left Vancouver, British Columbia, and alighted for Halifax, Nova Scotia. According to Google maps, the shortest-distance route between those two cities is 3,474 miles miles. By comparison, it's 2,764 miles from New York to Los Angeles. And most of that shortest route is through the United States, so he must have gone a couple of hundred miles farther just for the sake of staying in Canada.

Dossenbach completed his cross-Canadian course in 13 days, 15 hours. That's a total of 327 hours. So assuming he went 3,600 miles, that works out to about 11 miles an hour at all times. That's the average speed he was moving whether he was riding, stopping to eat, sleeping, whatever he was doing.

I recently rode 20 miles on the Trumbull County section of the Western Reserve Greenway Trail, and completed that trek in about an hour and a half. That works out to about 13 miles per hour. And I really pushed it, and was proud of myself for keeping up that pace. This guy kept up almost as good a pace as that -- for more than TWO WEEKS.

What can I say about that? It's darned impressive.

Valdosta? Believe it!

I was very surprised that a city of just 43,000 people won ESPN's Titletown USA contest, but it does make sense once you learn what's happened there. Valdosta, Georgia, is home to two very successful high school football programs, as well as a strong Division II college program. The Valdosta High Wildcats have won 23 state championships, and crosstown Lowndes High Vikings have won three of the last four state titles. And the Valdosta State Blazers have two Division II national championships to their credit.

Of the other cities rounding out the top six, only Boston has more than one professional team, and only Boston and Green Bay have even one. Parkersburg, West Virginia, finished second. My lovely fiancee and I visited Parkersburg earlier this month, and it's a lovely town, but who knew of its robust sports tradition?

But this isn't a blog about southern Georgia sports, northern West Virginia sports or eastern Massachusetts sports, it's a blog about northeastern Ohio sports, and we had a horse in the race too. Massillon finished fourth, with 6.7% of the vote. (Columbus was in the running too, but didn't finish in the top six.)

The following was submitted by an ESPN user named "fgrahamiv":

Massillon, Ohio, is about an hour south of Cleveland and directly west of Canton, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Massillon is a blue-collar steel town where high school football has been played since 1894.

Massillon Washington High School has 780 victories, ranking third all-time in the nation, has 22 Ohio state championships and nine national championships.

Massillon has played its longtime rival Canton McKinley 116 times, with a record of 62 wins, 49 losses and five ties.

Massillon has a population of just over 30,000 with a stadium that holds 17,000. It is named after Massillon alum and NFL hall of famer Paul Brown.

The Massillon tradition is so strong that every newborn baby boy is given a miniature football at birth. Massillon has had 23 players go on to play in the NFL such as Horace Gillom, Tommy James, Lin Houston, Jim Houston, Denny Franklin, Steve Luke and Chris Spielman. Not to mention the godfather of football, Paul Brown.

A quote from Ron Maly, Des Moines Sunday Register: "In the beginning when the Great Creator was drawing plans for this world of ours, he decided there should be something for everyone. He gave us mountains that reach to the sky, deep blue seas, green forests, dry deserts, gorgeous flowers, and gigantic trees. Then he decided there should be football, so he gave us Massillon. He created only one Massillon. He knew that would be enough."

That's a little bit melodramatic, but hey, for a town of 31,000 to beat Boston, New York and Detroit in a national poll of this nature is pretty impressive. Congratulations, Massillon.

It seems a great number of the cities that finished high, did so on the basis of high school football. Valdosta, Parkersburg and Massillon are certainly on the list for that reason. As much energy as we spend following sports on the national stage, high school football may well be the most popular level of a single sport in this country. And there's something very cool about that.

Fausto returns; Casey departs

Fausto Carmona's return last night could hardly have gone worse; he gave up nine runs on seven hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings of the Tribe's 11-4 loss to the Twins. But it's good to have him back. He's one of my favorite Indians. I really admired the way he kept his concentration in that playoff game against the Yankees last year, when the flies swarmed the field and, unlike Joba Chamberlain, he successfully ignored them. He'll do better after he's got a couple of starts under his belt. Aaron Laffey got sent to Buffalo to make room for Fausto, and that's a good thing too. Laffey did some good things when he first got called up this year, but he seems to have lost his confidence, and the International League is a much better place to try to regain your confidence than the American League is.

Speaking of my favorite Indians, Casey Blake is gone. Mark Shapiro sent him to the Dodgers for pitching prospect Jonathan Meloan and catching prospect Carlos Santana. It was a smooth trade; a black magic woman could hardly have done better. But I'll miss Blake. Taken from the AP story on the trade:

"There were quite a few rumors out there," said Blake, playing for his fifth big league club and first in the National League. "Nothing like this has ever happened to me, so it's all a new experience. A lot of emotions hit me at once and I didn't really have a lot of time to let any of them soak in. I kind of got anxious real quick."

Blake's been an Indian since 2003, when Shapiro signed him to a one-year, minor-league deal. As ESPN's Keith Law points out (subscriber only), this is a pretty good return on that investment. The Law on the two guys we got:

Carlos Santana is a recent convert from third base to catcher, and like most players converted to the position, he has an above-average arm. He's also a good receiver and has unusually good plate discipline. He has a compact swing and generates power through hard contact and upper-body strength. He projects as an everyday catcher with great defense, average power and an average to above-average hit tool.

Jonathan Meloan has worked this year as a starter with awful results. It's no surprise, as he projected all along as a good reliever. He works with a solid-average 88-92 mph fastball, but he's effective because he has two plus offspeed pitches, a 12-6 curveball with great depth and an 86-87 mph cutter with a long, late break. His downside is that despite his size (he's 6-3), he gets no downhill plane on his pitches and tends to leave his fastball up in the zone.

Meloan could probably pitch in Cleveland's bullpen this year, and at worst should be in it in April of 2009. Long term, he should be an above-average short reliever, maybe even an unconventional closer because he can miss so many bats in spite of the average velocity.

This year, Santana is hitting .323 with 14 homers and 96 RBIs at Class A, and that RBI total is the most in the minor leagues at any level this year. Meloan is 5-10 with a 4.97 ERA in AAA (the notoriously hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League). He's got 335 strikeouts in 262 innings in his minor-league career. So these are guys with some serious upside. The Indians sent Meloan to AAA Buffalo, where he'll move to the bullpen; and Santana to Class-A Kinston.

Blake will be a free agent at the end of the season. This piece appeared in the Plain Dealer yesterday, the same day the trade was made. Blake told Paul Hoynes he'd like to finish his career in Cleveland. Of course, he still could. If Andy Marte doesn't show anything the rest of this season, the Indians are going to need a third baseman next year. And Marte hasn't shown anything at all at the major-league level. He did hit his third home run of the season yesterday, and has been a little bit better lately, but he's still hitting just .190 on the year.

Shapiro also got reliever Anthony Reyes from the Cardinals yesterday, in exchange for AA reliever Luis Perdomo. This is a pretty minor trade, but Reyes has been pitching in the majors, and a major-league-ready reliever is almost always worth more than a reliever who's not ready for the bigs.

Nice hustle

In the first inning of the Indians' 5-4 win Friday night over the Twins, while the Indians were battering Livan Hernandez (hero of the 1997 postseason for the Marlins, as we all remember), Grady Sizemore scored from second base on a sacrifice fly by Ben Francisco. I've seen that before -- I remember in particular a time in about 1994 or 1995 that Kenny Lofton was on third and Wayne Kirby was on second, and they both scored on one fly ball -- but it's pretty darned rare. From a Minnecentric perspective, it will be remembered for being the play in which Carlos Gomez injured his back catching a fly ball. Gomez deserves a great deal of credit for quickly flipping the ball to teammate Denard Span, which at least kept Jamey Carroll, who was on first, from going any farther than second. And I can promise you a very large number of major leaguers would have stopped at third on that ball. But Grady is not among that number, which is why we love him so much. (That's the only reason, ladies.)

Cliff Lee (14-2) is now 70% of the way to the Indians' first 20-win season since Gaylord Perry won 21 in 1974. CC and Fausto each got to 19 last year, and there have been a few other 19-game winners in the last 34 years, but Cliff, who was born in 1978, is six wins away from being the first Indian to do it in his own lifetime. There aren't too many pitchers who've done that. (Expansion teams, of course, but there probably aren't many more.)

Lee is the first major leaguer to start 14-2 since Roy Halladay in 2004, and the first Indian to do it since Perry, that same year. And he'd be 16-2 if the bullpen hadn't blown two games he'd have won. There's still more than two months to go in the season, but Cliff Lee has a chance to have the best season I've ever seen an Indians pitcher have, and I'm 37. (My current previous choice would be Jose Mesa in 1995, in case you're wondering.)

General (Cliff) Lee

It's hard to believe that the guy who won his 13th game of the year today and started the All-Star Game on Tuesday was just a five-game winner in 2007. And it's also hard to believe he did it by pitching a complete game 11-hitter. Yes, Cliff Lee had luck on his side today, but regardless, this guy is putting together one heck of a year. And the Indians might have back-to-back Cy Youngs for the first time since ... well, ever. In fact, he'd be only the third Indian ever to win the award.

I'm curious to know when was the last time someone pitched a complete-game 11-hitter. I have a hunch the Elias Sports Bureau knows the answer, and will share it with the world tomorrow.

Here's a little-known fact about Clifton Phifer Lee: He was drafted three times by major-league teams. The Marlins took him in the eighth round in 1996, but he chose to attend Meridian Community College instead; the Orioles chose him in the 20th round in 1998, but he decided to be an Arkansas Razorback; and finally, the Expos signed him after picking him in the fourth round in 2000. Then they traded him for Bartolo Colon, in the best trade Mark Shapiro has ever made.

Hooray for Boobie!

What can one say about a five-year deal for Boobie Gibson? We're talking about a guy who's shooting 44% from behind the three-point line in his career -- second in Cavaliers history, behind the great Mark Price. That's the kind of weapon a team needs when it has one of the greatest take-it-to-the-whole guys you'll ever see. (LeBron James, in case this is the first thing you've ever read about basketball.)

Here's a question I've been pondering for a few months: Would Boobie have made the difference against the Celtics? If so, would the NBA championship banner now be hanging in Cleveland? We'll never know, of course, but Boobie's 10.4 points a game were good enough for third on the team, among players who ended the season in Cleveland; and as we all remember, that series went seven. And with just a little bit of a lift, the Cavaliers could have won that seventh game. (Boobie was hurt and didn't play, in case you weren't paying attention.)

The Indians have fallen on hard times this year, and the Browns have a tough schedule ahead of them. So the Cavaliers appear to have the best chance to bring Cleveland its first title since 1964. ESPN's been doing its "Titletown USA" competition over the past month or so, and it's been mildly interesting, but if only because Cleveland has zero chance of being included, I haven't been paying very close attention. I'm optimistic about the near-term future of all three of our teams, but the bottom line is that none of them have won a championship since seven years before I was born. And that's darned depressing, to the extent that sports matter. (They don't really, of course, but we still care.)

Boobie, you have until 2013 to end that drought. I know you can't do it by yourself. But I also know that if it's going to happen, it'll require a significant contribution from you. We're counting on you.

That was amazing

Josh Hamilton didn't win the Home Run Derby tonight, amazingly enough. But we've never seen the likes of the 28 home runs he hit in the first round, and we may never see it again. He was just cranking them, one after another. It didn't seem to matter where the ball was pitched, either. Low and inside? Boom, 500 feet to left. High and outside? Boom, 500 feet to center.

As has almost always been the case, the guy with the killer first round ran out of gas before it was over. I think the scoring should be changed. Justin Morneau hit five in the third round, beating Hamilton's three. But Morneau hit, what, eight in the first round? (I may be misremembering, but I can't seem to find the numbers anywhere, and I want to go to bed.) Hamilton hit a total of 35, if I'm not mistaken. I don't remember how many Morneau hit in the second round, but I think he wound up with a total of about 20. Hamilton hit 13 straight at one point. That's more than anyone else hit in an entire round. He should be the champion.

Mike Davidson, VP and chief marketing officer of State Farm Insurance, called Morneau "Jason" as he got ready to hand the Boys and Girls Club for which Morneau was playing. Morneau was gracious in calling it "his show," referring to Hamilton, and said he himself had won because he "got lucky." Justin Morneau is a good guy, and I admire him for saying that. And he's right, this was Josh Hamilton's show. The crowd at Yankee Stadium chanted "Ham-il-ton! Ham-il-ton!" as he took his cuts in the final round, but he just didn't have any starch left. I won't go into his recovery from heroin addiction, as it's undoubtedly going to be fodder for many a column elsewhere.

Our guy Grady Sizemore acquitted himself well, hitting six in the first round. He fell just one short of moving along to the second round.

Our other guy in New York, Cliff Lee, is the All-Star starter for the American League, making him the first Indian moundsman to start the All-Star Game since Charles Nagy in 1996. And he deserves it, after his 12-2, 2.31 first half. As has been covered in this space and many others, it's an amazing turnaround story from last year, when he was so bad he got sent down for a while and didn't even make the postseason roster. In spring training this year, he was fighting Jeremy Sowers for the fifth spot in the rotation. And now he's the American League's starting pitcher for the All-Star Game. If a few more Tribesmen were playing like that, we'd still have CC Sabathia and still be in the hunt for the playoffs.

But enough about that. If you follow this link, you can see Cliff talking humbly at a press conference about being named the starter. Congratulations, Cliff. You've earned it.

Some thoughts from Sunday's baseball action

* Jeremy Sowers usually tries to pitch like Greg Maddux -- albeit a lesser version -- but today, he seemed to be channeling Nolan Ryan or Bob Feller. He struck out eight guys and walked seven in just four innings. I'm not sure what to make of that. As far as I noticed, Sowers didn't get above 92 on the radar gun. Sometimes in baseball, things happen that you just can't explain.

* The Indians' four-game sweep of the Rays, completed with today's 5-2 win, knocked Tampa Bay out of first place in the AL East, where they are now half a game behind the Red Sox. I'm always glad to see the Tribe playing well, but I'm sorry to see the Rays fall into second place.

* Andy Marte hit his first home run of the season, among his two hits. That lifted his average to .177 on the year. Mark Shapiro regrets giving up on Brandon Phillips too soon, and doesn't want to make the same mistake with Marte. That's fine; this is a lost season anyway. Give him his shot, and if he ends the season with similarly anemic numbers, get him out of here.

* Gretchen Wilson won ESPN's silly little competition for the best version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." She did a credible job, but like almost everyone who competed, she sang "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks." The product is called Cracker Jack, not Cracker Jacks, and the original lyrics reflected this fact. Also, like most of the participants, she sang "'Cause it's one, two, three strikes ..." when the original lyrics are "For it's one, two, three strikes ..." I realize these are small differences, but I'm an editor by trade, and such things bother me. It's a dumb song, but it's a baseball tradition, and I think it should be sung correctly.

* Speaking of ESPN, they had the great Rod Carew as a guest on "Baseball Tonight" at 12:30 and 7. Carew was asked whether he had ever been part of a team that got no-hit, and he correctly remembered that Vida Blue had once no-hit his Twins. But Carew said it was a perfect game; it was not. Blue walked Harmon Killebrew in that game. All right, I'll stop nitpicking now. Carew had some very interesting things to say about his bunting and base-stealing methods, and I enjoyed hearing it.

* CC Sabathia hit his second home run of the season today, and it was key to his team's 3-2 victory. He also pitched a complete game. I wish him well, even though I have a bias against Bud Selig's Brewers.

* Matt LaPorta, the main guy we got for CC, went one-for-three with a walk in the Futures Game, playing for the U.S. against the rest of the world. The one hit was a seeing-eye single, but whatever. One game means very little. In any case, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick takes an interesting look at how the trade has elevated LaPorta's profile.

Mildly interesting

This report details why left-handers generally have an advantage over right-handers in baseball. There's honestly not much here that baseball aficionados don't already know, but the theory about lefties getting an advantage by learning to write in a right-handers' world is interesting. I'd like to see someone explore that, but I have no idea how such a project might be undertaken. After all, I'm a writer, not a scientist.

The report does not mention that lefties have a huge defensive disadvantage if they play infield positions other than first base. I probably don't have to explain this to anyone who watches much baseball, but a left-hander would have to twist his body around to make the throw to first from second, short or third. Never mind turning a double play. I recently saw a brief snippet of a youth softball game outside Chardon (I don't usually go to youth softball games, but I was looking for the parking lot for the bike trail that goes by there, and went to the wrong place). I noted that the shortstop for one of the teams was a lefty. She's probably the best athlete on the team, and the disadvantages of being a left-handed middle infielder might be overcome at that level. But if she tries to play college softball, she's going to have to move to first base or the outfield, unless she can pitch.

One thing I don't get ...

The Indians have won three in a row, which is nice, obviously. It's still only 30% as long as the losing streak that preceded it, so it's not like they're suddenly the '27 Yankees, but we'll take it. I wish it were against Boston or New York, rather than the Rays, because I want the Rays to win the AL East, but it's nice that the Tribe's playing better.

But I have to wonder what Eric Wedge was thinking when he pulled Matt Ginter from last night's game after just five innings and 67 pitches. He had a five-hit shutout going, with five strikeouts and no walks. At that time, the score was 7-0. Ginter was making his first start of the season at the major-league level, but he'd been starting all season in Buffalo. He'd thrown more than 100 pitches as recently as July 3. His last start for the Bisons had been Tuesday, which meant he was making yesterday's start on just three days' rest, but he'd only thrown 41 pitches in Tuesday's start, probably because the Indians knew he'd be needed Saturday. So if you add those two outings together, that's only 108 pitches. He certainly could have gone at least another inning or two.

And let's not forget how bad the Indians' bullpen has been. Sure, you'd like to think the relievers can protect a seven-run lead, but if that's true, wouldn't the same be true of the starter? And the bullpen held true to form yesterday. Rafael Betancourt, who's had a very difficult first half, put in two scoreless innings, but then Juan Rincon gave up four runs in two-thirds of an inning. And suddenly, it was a ballgame again. When you've got a seven-run lead, you surely don't want the game to turn into an actual ballgame.

The decision to pull Ginter notwithstanding, it's nice to see the Tribe offense putting some runs on the board. Except for Kelly Shoppach, everybody in the lineup got at least one hit, and several had two. One of those was Ryan Garko, who's not having a good year, but his three-run double and two-run homer were huge. And Grady Sizemore, the AL's home run leader, hit his 23rd of the year. If he holds on, he'll be the Tribe's first home run champion since Albert Belle in 1995.

Finally!

With a strong start from Aaron Laffey, accompanied by an offensive explosion, the Indians finally snapped their losing streak last night. The 13-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays (it still seems weird not to call them Devil) ended the skid at 10 games, the Tribe's longest losing streak since 1979.

When the Indians beat the Reds on June 27, they were a semi-respectable 37-43. Their pitching staff included not only CC Sabathia, but Joe Borowski and Rick Bauer.

Since then: Two losses to Cincinnati (5-0 and 9-5), three losses to the White Sox (9-7, 3-2 and 6-5 -- all games the Indians could have won), three to the Twins (12-3, 9-6 and 4-3) and two to the Tigers (9-2 and 8-6). The 10th of those losses was the worst of all, as the Tribe got out to a 6-0 lead before the bullpen blew it.

This is obviously a lost season for the Indians. Everybody knows that. They're now 15 games behind the White Sox, and have been in last place for a while. But at least now we know they won't finish 37-125.

By the way, the last time the Indians lost 11 straight games? You've got to go all the way back to 1931. My parents hadn't even been born yet.

This was also the first time since 1992 that the team with the best record in baseball lost to a team that came in with at least a 10-game winning streak. We are a font of useless knowledge here at Of Fair Hooker.

Speaking of Sabathia, The Hardball Times did a very interesting report looking at who got the better of that trade. The prognosis? It's pretty much even. But as a Tribe fan, I know we came out ahead because we got more than a stupid draft pick for him.

What a bunch of Bozos

This has nothing to do with sports, but it seems the Clown Hall of Fame in Milwaukee has posthumously reinstated Larry Harmon, the man who popularized the character Bozo the Clown. Harmon was originally honored in 1990, but had his plaque taken down after the Hall realized he was not the man who originated the role. He bought the rights to Bozo in the 1950s, then performed as Bozo for decades. The Hall decided he was inducted not for creating the character, but for his body of work while playing said character.

A spokeswoman said the Hall had actually reinstated him last year, but was waiting to make an announcement until a proper ceremony could be scheduled. I don't know when last year he was reinstated, but it's now the seventh month of this year, and it sure seems like they could have scheduled one by now. Harmon died last week at 83.

The lesson? Don't wait too long to honor someone who's on the far side of 80. I don't know what kind of prestige goes along with being a member of the Clown Hall of Fame, but I can promise you it's pretty hard to enjoy that prestige when you're dead.

Sabathia's last stand (in Cleveland)

Like any Indians fan, I wish C.C. Sabathia were still an Indian. I also wish Thome and Manny were still here; yes, both are in their late 30s, and both are showing signs of age. But imagine what we could have done with them in the lineup throughout the current decade.

Baseball doesn't work like that, of course. The teams with the deepest pockets get the best established major-leaguers. The Milwaukee Brewers are not one of those teams, but they're in the same position the Indians would be in if they were contending. They know they're not going to sign C.C. after this year, but they feel they can win this year, and so they're giving up future pieces to help them in the present day. The Brewers are Bud Selig's home team, so it's hard to praise them, but I do think they're doing the right thing. When you haven't been in the playoffs since 1982, and you've got a chance of getting there this year, you've got to go for broke.

Of course, these trades have a way of working out for the seller. Did you happen to notice who the Indians' two All-Stars are this year? Anyone remember how we got Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore? Does the name "Bartolo Colon" ring a bell? If the Sabathia trade works out half as well as the Colon trade did, I'll take it.

Let's take a look at the guys we're getting from the Brewers:

* Matt LaPorta: Seen as the linchpin of the deal, LaPorta is the current home run leader in the Class AA Southern League. He's a power-hitting outfielder, which is obviously something we can use in the coming years. LaPorta, 23, is in his second year of professional baseball, after a brilliant four-year career at Florida in which he hit 74 home runs in 195 games. He has 30 minor-league homers in 350 ABs, which is a pretty doggone good clip. I look forward to seeing him in Cleveland in 2009, if not September 2008.

* Zach Jackson: The lone player with major-league experience to come over in the deal, the 25-year-old has had cups of coffee in Milwaukee in 2006 and earlier this year. He had a decent year in 2007 in Triple-A Nashville, but hasn't done well this year. In his minor-league career, he's registered more than twice as many strikeouts as walks, and given up about one home run every 12 innings. In the majors, he's 2-2 with a 5.36 ERA in 10 games, seven starts. In the minors, he's 32-29 with a 4.55 ERA in 93 games, 82 starts. He's a throw-in, but the Indians must think they see something in him that the numbers don't show. That's a risky proposition, but no riskier than trying to sign your best player one year removed from a Cy Young award. Maybe they're taken in by the fact that he wears his glove on his right hand. It sure gave Jesse Orosco a long career. And the way the Indians' bullpen has gone, adding someone who's roughly a replacement-level major-leaguer can't really hurt.

* Robert Bryson: A 20-year-old right-handed pitcher, Bryson has put up some impressive strikeout numbers in the low minors. He fanned 70 in 54 innings in the Rookie League last year, and 57 in 45 1/3 this year. So he doesn't put a lot of stress on the defense. But like many fireballers, he misses the strike zone a lot. That combination helps him more in the low minors, where hitters don't have a great command of the strike zone. It's a lot tougher in the bigs. But the Indians must feel that if they work with him on his command, he can contribute in a few years.

* A player to be named later: Could be the greatest player you've ever seen. More likely, he'll be someone like Jerry DiPoto. (No offense, Jerry DiPoto, and god bless you on your recovery from cancer.)

At first glance, this is no Colon trade. Of course, we have to remember that when Colon was traded, Montreal Expos GM Omar Minaya had absolutely no reason to consider next year. The Expos were moving after that year, and nobody knew where, but everybody knew Minaya wouldn't be following them there.

Go Gladiators

It nearly escaped my attention that the Cleveland Gladiators of the Arena Football League are in the playoffs. They're playing right now against the Georgia Force, and Georgia's leading 7-0. (I can't imagine what it would be like to have a team in an indoor version of a major sport with the name "Force," by the way. Ahem.) Of course, with the ridiculous quantity of scoring in the AFL, a 7-0 lead is almost like a 2-0 lead in an NBA game. And the Gladiators tied it as I was writing that sentence.

C.C. sweepstakes

I'm referring to it as a "sweepstakes" in the headline, as that's how the national media tends to refer to such things. It's not really a sweepstakes, of course. That implies a certain randomness. There's nothing random about who will get C.C. Sabathia. It'll be the team with the best package to offer in return. (I know, I know, I said "package." Get your mind out of the gutter.)

Word is the Milwaukee Brewers seem to have taken the lead in this race, reportedly offering a package (stop giggling, you moron) involving top prospect Matt LaPorta. This Mr. LaPorta is hitting .288 in Class AA Huntsville, with 20 home runs and 66 RBIs. That home run number is good enough for tops in the Southern League. He's had a pretty good first half, but he's probably not ready for the majors yet.

The Tribe is allegedly also trying to get Double-A shortstop Alcides Escobar, who is currently third in the SL in the batting race. It bears mentioning that the top four all play for Huntsville, so one must wonder whether the home ballpark has something to do with that. I haven't seen any research on the subject of the ballpark at Double-A Huntsville, but you can bet Mark Shapiro has.

So that seems to be what's going on. Of course, it's easy to go off half-cocked about trade rumors. I blogged a few months ago about the rumors of the Cavaliers getting Matt Miller in a trade, and that apparently never even came close to happening; we wound up getting Wally Szczqzxzerbiak, Ben Wallace, et al instead. So we'll see what happens. Any National League team that picks C.C. will have the added advantage of his bat. He's hit two home runs in interleague games, so he can handle the lumber.

I know many fans are seeing this as a bad time because we're almost certainly about to give up one of our best players, and a guy who's spent his whole career with the Indians up to this point. The same was true of Albert Belle, Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez, all of whom brought the Tribe nothing but supplemental draft picks. A strong Double-A prospect is worth at least three or four supplemental draft pick. So let's not feel too bad about this.

UPDATE: It seems C.C. has been traded to the Brewers, just as I was publishing this post. We don't know the details yet, but they're saying on Baseball Tonight that it's a done deal. I'm assuming we got LaPorta; don't know about Escobar.

Breaking Bonds

So the ball Barry Bonds hit for his 756th home run last year, tainting the biggest record in North American professional sports, is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Fashion designer Mark Ecko paid three-quarters of a million dollars for the right to put an asterisk on the ball and donate it to the Hall.

I don't believe in asterisks in the books, because what happened in games must be accurately reflected in the historical record. But this is not a record book, it's a ball. And if ever a ball deserved to be marked with an asterisk, it's this one.

In the unlikely event that anyone cares what Bonds thinks of the situation, he has said he will boycott the Hall, were it to accept the defaced ball. Of course, the Hall might boycott him too, in a way, if enough voters think his juicing is sufficient reason not to vote him in.

Maybe next year

A few thoughts on the current baseball season, which is now past the halfway point:

On May 19, the Indians were 22-19, good enough for first place in the AL Central. Today, they are 37-46, bad enough for last place, 10 1/2 games behind the first-place White Sox. Their odds of playing into October are slim indeed, according to the Interweb computer types -- coolstandings.com gives them a 3.2% chance of getting to the playoffs, which is far more optimistic than Baseball Prospectus' postseason odds page, which put them at 0.8% even before last night's loss to the Chicagos (it takes them a while to update their page in the morning).

What happened? Well, during the early portion of that 15-37 stretch, the Tribe pitchers were typically doing the job, but the Tribe hitters were failing to give them anything to work with. Then the offense picked up -- just as Fausto Carmona and Jake Westbrook got hurt, Paul Byrd seemed to forget how to pitch, and the bullpen started to fall apart. Last night's 9-7 loss was kind of a microcosm of how things have been going for the Erie Warriors. Jeremy Sowers, the former future star, was terrible. In three innings, he gave up eight runs on six hits and two walks against two strikeouts. Every hitter who reached base against him scored, which is often what happens when you can't keep the ball in the park. The offense fought back and made it interesting, with 14 hits, five of which were off the bat of Jhonny Peralta. But they had too far to come back. You have to be able to win when you score seven runs.

Bottom line: This team is not going anywhere. It's time to start looking toward next season and beyond. Obviously, that means entertaining offers for C.C. Sabathia. It also means listening to any GM who is interested in any of the other Indians who aren't signed past this year -- a list that includes Byrd, Casey Blake and Joe Borowski. Neither Byrd nor Borowski is likely to bring A1 prospects, but if they can bring a B-level pitching prospect, I'd make that trade. Blake is no All-Star, but he's quietly having a pretty good year, and he could help a team that needs a good glove at third or in the outfield. He's one of my favorite players, because I like his attitude, but like any fan, I care more about wins and losses. If he can bring a decent prospect or two, you've got to make that deal.

So with the Indians pretty much out of the race, I've picked a new horse to root for, and it probably won't surprise too many people to see it's the Tampa Bay Rays. The team with the worst record in baseball last year is now a game and a half ahead of the Red Sox in first place in the AL East. They're a likable young team, led by such emerging stars as Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton and James Shields, with veterans such as Carlos Pena, Troy Percival and Carl Crawford mixed in. And best of all, they could be the first team not named the Yankees or Red Sox to win the AL East since 1997.

One other thing about last night's Tribe-Sox game: I was glad to see home-plate umpire Eric Cooper deny Toby Hall's request for time out in the bottom of the eighth. I'd like to see more of that. The powers that be in Major League Baseball wring their hands about how long games are getting, and here's a pretty simple thing that could shave some time off. There's no reason a hitter needs time out unless he's got a bee in his eye or something. It made for kind of a comical sight, as Hall asked for time, assumed it was granted, and stepped out of the box. The next time he looked up, Borowski was delivering the pitch. Hall quickly got back into the box and took a half-hearted hack at the ball, which appeared to be low and outside. He went on to fly out to end the White Sox' eighth.