Thirty years ago today: Jorge Orta

There's not much news in the Cleveland sports world today, so I thought I'd revisit something that happened 30 years ago today. On June 15, 1980, the memorable Jorge Orta went six-for-six in a 14-5 win over the Twins, becoming one of just 35 players in American League history to get six hits in a nine-inning game.

Orta, batting second and playing right field, hit five singles and a double in that game. But that might not even have been the most notable performance of the game, even if it was the rarest. Teammate Toby Harrah went four-for-five, including a triple and a home run, and knocked in seven runs.

Dan Spillner, in his last full season as a starter, went 6 2/3 innings for the win, even though he didn't pitch particularly well. He gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits and four walks, striking out four. Sid Monge went the last 2 1/3. Spillner would spend 1981 in the bullpen, then become the team's closer in 1982.

Orta, a native of Mazatlan, Mexico, had a pretty decent year in 1980, hitting .291/.379/.403, in a low-offense era, and making his second (and last) All-Star appearance. He was spending his first of just two seasons in Cleveland, before being traded for Rick Sutcliffe. Orta's 16-year career that would end in 1987 with Kansas City, where he was a member of the World Series champions in 1985.

In fact, Orta would be a key player in one of the most controversial plays in major league history in that World Series, as first base umpire Don Denkinger made what might have been the most famous blown call in baseball history until Jim Joyce's recent gaffe. Orta led off the bottom of the ninth of game six with the Royals trailing the Cardinals three games to two, and 1-0 in the game. He hit a ground ball to St. Louis first baseman Jack Clark, who flipped to pitcher Todd Worrell at first, and the throw easily beat Orta to the bag. Denkinger was watching the bag and listening for the ball to hit Worrell's glove, but because it was so loud in the ballpark, he couldn't hear the ball hit the glove, and therefore had to guess. He guessed wrong, and called him safe. The Royals would go on to win that game 2-1, then beat the Cardinals 11-0 the next day to win a World Series that should have gone to the team on the other side of Missouri. And yet, 25 years later, we still don't have instant replay for anything but home run balls.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gotta love the walk-off

Some quick thoughts:

• Going into the bottom of the ninth last night, it looked like another tough loss for the Indians, as Kerry Wood had come this close to saving the game, but with two outs and two strikes on J.D. Drew, he threw a slider that slid too much, hitting Drew; and then gave up a two-run homer to Adrian Beltre to give the Red Sox a 7-6 lead. But the Indians' offense roared back in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases with nobody out against Daniel Bard. Bard then bore down and struck out Travis Hafner, then got Jhonny Peralta on a pop foul. Enter Russell Branyan, who roped a single to right that scored two runs and gave the Indians a walk-off win.

• The Tribe won despite committing four errors, three of which were committed by third baseman Andy Marte in the first inning. Two of those were on one play, as he failed to field the ball cleanly to score one run, then threw it away to score another. As a result, Mitch Talbot had to work a lot harder. He only gave the Indians four innings, giving up five runs, three of which were unearned. Marte is supposed to be strong on defense, but he sure didn't show it last night.

• The Indians are reportedly set to call up catching uber-prospect Carlos Santana in time for tonight's game against the Nationals. In the words of ESPN's Rob Neyer:

There are so many things to love about Santana, whose performance has improved as he's moved up the ladder. He was great in fast-A, greater in Double-A, and sublimely brilliant in 56 Triple-A games this year. He's 24, though — older than Matt Wieters and Buster Posey — and so it's time to move him up and see what he's got.

Couldn't agree more, Rob. They will presumably send down Lou Marson, who's been good with the glove (and the arm) this season, but terrible with the bat.

• Speaking of the Nationals and uber-prospects, Stephen Strasburg will get his second career start Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field. Strasburg struck out 14 Pittsburgh Pirates in his first career start, while walking zero of them, in seven innings. This kid looks like the real deal. I look forward to seeing what he's got. And I'm obviously not the only one, as the Indians have reportedly sold more than 8,000 tickets to that game since it was announced that Strasburg would be starting.

• Tom Izzo was in town yesterday, being wined and dined by the Cavaliers. It sounds like they're close to a deal. I'm not backing off what I said the other day, which was that the track record of college coaches who jump to the NBA isn't good, and therefore it seems a bit foolish to hire one, but Dan Gilbert seems to have his mind made up. Izzo apparently hasn't signed anything yet, but if he does, I hope he proves me wrong.

A fun inning; Masterson's masterpiece

Going into the bottom of the eighth inning last night, the Indians were clinging to a save-opportunity-size 3-0 lead over the Red Sox. The way Justin Masterson was pitching against his former team, that lead looked fairly safe, but it was the type of situation in which a team hopes to add an insurance run or two. Well, they did that, and then some.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona chose to use Boof Bonser to try to hold the Indians' lead to three. Bonser (fun fact: he legally changed his name to Boof a few years ago) hadn't pitched in the majors yet this season, having just been activated after a rehab stint in the minors due to a groin injury. He now has the distinction of a sideways 8 in his ERA and WHIP columns, because he didn't record an out. He pitched to four hitters, all of whom would eventually score. Since Bonser couldn't get anybody out, Francona pulled him in favor of Joe Nelson, who failed to retire any of the first five hitters he faced, and the first four of those would also score.

Here's a quick blow-by-blow of that Indians eighth:

1. Trevor Crowe walked and stole second.
2. Shin-Soo Choo singled to center, sending Crowe to third.
3. Austin Kearns walked to load the bases.
4. Russell Branyan singled to right, scoring Crowe. Score 4-0. Bases still loaded.
At this point, Nelson "relieved" Bonser.
5. Jhonny Peralta singled to right, scoring Choo. 5-0, bags still juiced.
6. Travis Hafner homered to right for his 10th career grand slam. Indians lead 9-0.
7. Luis Valbuena singled to right.
8. Anderson Hernandez, who was recently called up, doubled to deep right for his first hit as an Indian, sending Valbuena to third.
9. Lou Marson walked, loading the bases AGAIN.
10. Crowe grounded into a double play, plating Valbuena and sending Hernandez to third. 10-0, but now with two outs.
11. Choo walked.
12. Kearns walked, sending Choo to second and loading the bases yet again.
13. Branyan reached on an infield single to third, scoring Hernandez. And it was 11-0.
14. Peralta struck out looking.

So the Indians sent 14 men to the plate in the inning, six of whom batted with the bases loaded. They batted around before even making an out. They collected seven hits — including five in a row — and drew five walks.

As Crowe was coming to the plate to start the inning, I told my wife the game would probably be over in about 20 minutes, since if things went according to plan, we only had the bottom of the eighth and the top of the ninth to go. But the bottom of the eighth alone lasted more than half an hour. (She pointed out that she had predicted the game would last another hour, and that her prediction was closer than mine. True, honey, but who could have predicted an eight-run bottom of the eighth by the punchless Indians?)

Masterson, whom the Tribe acquired in last year's Victor Martinez deadline deal, made quick work of his former teammates in the top of the ninth, as he had done all night. Masterson put together a masterpiece, a two-hit complete-game shutout, the first nine-inning goose egg of his career. And he needed it. Though he has now won his last two starts, that two-game winning streak follows a streak of 17 starts without a win, dating back to last year. He hadn't been as bad as that sounds — after this one, his ERA is a decent 4.74 — but he certainly didn't look like any great shakes on the mound. But he pitched like an ace last night. In the words of Francona, his ex-manager:

"All the things we used to brag about when he was in our uniform he showed tonight. He maintained his velocity from the first pitch to the last pitch, he threw a lot of strikes, he stayed down in the zone, he elevated a couple of times I'm sure on purpose, changed speeds enough on the lefties, got the slider under their hands. That's about as good a game as he could pitch."

Let's hope we see more of that from Masterson. If he can keep it going, the Indians could actually have the makings of a strong starting rotation.

Tribe's new young arm

There are a few things I could write about today. There's the Indians' 4-1 loss to Boston yesterday, in which Austin Kearns' homer was the Tribe's only run; there's Victor Martinez's first return to Cleveland in an enemy uniform; there's further developments on the Izzo front; there's minor stuff from the Browns' optional workouts; there's always more to report on LeBron; and there's the fact that the Cavaliers will be introducing new general manager Chris Grant this afternoon.

But today's Cleveland sports news that interests me the most is Major League Baseball's amateur draft, in which the Indians, with the fifth overall pick, selected Drew Pomeranz, a left-handed pitcher from the University of Mississippi. Pomeranz, named the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year as a junior this season, went 9-2 with a 2.24 ERA in 16 starts for the Rebels. He struck out 139 hitters in 100 2/3 innings, against 49 walks. Opposing hitters batted .195 against him.

I listened to a little bit of the Indians-Red Sox game on the radio last night, and Mike Hegan and Tom Hamilton were talking about Pomeranz's prospects. They compared him to Mike Leake, whom the Reds took with the eighth pick in last year's draft. For those who haven't been following, Leake signed late last summer, the Reds chose to rest his arm the remainder of the season, and after a stint in the Instructional League, he made the big club out of spring training to be the first player to totally skip the minor leagues since Xavier Nady in 2000. Leake is off to a phenomenal start, going 5-0 with a 2.22 ERA so far. (It must be noted that Leake is a right-hander, and Pomeranz is a southpaw; nonetheless, their college numbers are similar.)

It would be ridiculous to predict such a start for Pomeranz, simply because it so rarely happens. For that matter, it would have been ridiculous to predict such a start for Leake. And even Leake's fast start doesn't necessarily indicate future success in the majors. How many times have we seen a young pitcher dominate, only to flame out because of arm trouble? Current Indians closer Kerry Wood is a prime example of that, but at least he's been able to stick around as a reliever. The same cannot be said of his former teammate Mark Prior, who won 18 games at the age of 22, but hasn't pitched in the bigs since 2006, when he was just 25, because his arm gave out. There's just an awful lot that can happen to a young arm.

The Indians have until August to sign Pomeranz. If they don't, he can go back to Ole Miss and pitch again next year; but I don't anticipate too much trouble on that front. I would presume they'll handle him similarly to how the Reds handled Leake last year. And barring injury, we'll see him at Progressive Field in 2011 or 2012. I look forward to it.

Izzo to Cleveland?

The Cavaliers have reportedly offered their vacant head coaching job to Michigan State's Tom Izzo, one of the most successful college coaches out there since he took over the job in 1995. In Izzo's 15 seasons, the Spartans have won one NCAA championship (in 2000) and six Big Ten titles. They have reached the Final Four six times, including each of the last two years. In his first two years in East Lansing, Izzo took the Spartans to the NIT; they have not failed to secure an invitation to the NCAA Tournament in the 13 years since. He is the winningest coach in MSU history. This man has earned his stripes.

I should note at this point that the Cavs are in kind of a catch-22 situation right now, as they will likely have trouble hiring a top coach without signing LeBron James first, and they will likely have trouble signing LeBron James without hiring a top coach first. That said ...

I caught a little bit of talk about Izzo on "Mike & Mike in the Morning" on WKNR this morning, and the eponymous hosts disagreed about whether they wanted Izzo to test his skills in the NBA. Mike Greenberg really hopes he stays in the college ranks, where he's built up a great program and makes more of a difference to his team than he might in the NBA; and Mike Golic would like to see him at the top level of the sport, which is of course the NBA. (Both were careful to say that they're not presuming to tell Izzo what to do.)

Of course, Greenberg and Golic are not Cavaliers fans, so far as I know, and therefore are looking at this through the lens of the national sports media. But Greenberg made some good points. Izzo would be taking a great risk by jumping to the NBA. If he stays at Michigan State (my dad's alma mater, by the way, in the interest of full disclosure), he's basically guaranteed a job for as long as he wants it, and could eventually become East Lansing's version of Dean Smith or Jim Calhoun — or Woody Hayes or Bo Schembechler. They would someday name the court after him and such. If he goes to the NBA, even if he's very successful for a few years, he's probably gone the first time the team has a 50-win season when the team leaders were expecting 60 wins.

And the fact is, the track record for successful college coaches coming to the NBA is not very good. Look up P.J. Carlesimo, Rick Pitino, Tim Floyd, Lon Kruger, and John Calipari, just for starters. All were highly successful college coaches who bombed in the NBA. The only one of those who had any real success at all after going to the pros was Pitino, who won a division title with the Knicks in 1988-89 but lost in the second round of the playoffs; Pitino nonetheless has a losing record as an NBA coach, as that was his only plus-.500 record in six NBA seasons. There probably is a college coach who's come to the NBA and done very well, but off the top of my head, I'm not thinking of him.

Can Izzo break that mold? I don't know, but I kind of doubt it. He's a great coach in the college ranks, and I think he should stay there.

Talbot gets his seventh win

I've written about Mitch Talbot enough in this space that I'm starting to feel like a broken record. Talbot came into the season with some major-league experience, but zero major-league wins. And now he has seven, after yesterday's 3-1 victory over the White Sox. The Indians are now a game and a half behind those same White Sox for fourth place in the AL Central, which isn't much, but it's something.

Talbot allowed just one run in seven innings of work, on six hits and three walks. He struck out five. For the second time this season, he out-pitched former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. He leads all major-league rookies in victories, and his 3.54 ERA puts him 18th in the American League, just one one-hundredth of a run behind teammate Fausto Carmona (about whom I haven't written much this season, but definitely should, because he's quite a comeback kid). It must feel pretty good to be Mitch Talbot these days.

The Indians will go for the three-game sweep this afternoon, as Jake Westbrook faces off against Mark Buehrle -- who, like Peavy, is having a very disappointing season so far. I like our chances.

I cannot believe that just happened

Armando Galarraga was one out from the 21st perfect game in major league history tonight against the Indians. One out away. He got Jason Donald to hit a fairly routine ground ball between first and second. First baseman Miguel Cabrera fielded it, set his feet and delivered a strong throw to Galarraga, who was covering first. The ball got there, and it landed in the webbing of Galarraga's glove a full step before Donald reached the bag. First base umpire Jim Joyce called him safe.

He called him safe.

Armando Galarraga just pitched a perfect game, except it won't go into the record books as a perfect game because the first base umpire blew a call on the last out of the game. THE FIRST BASE UMPIRE BLEW A CALL ON THE LAST OUT OF WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A PERFECT GAME.

I know a lot of fans, even when their team is on the losing side of a no-hitter, will root for the pitcher to get it. I am not one of those fans — I would rather see my team break up the no-hitter. And according to how this game will be recorded in the books, I did see my team break up the no-hitter. But I would much, MUCH rather have seen this go into the books as a perfect game than see it broken up on a bad call at first base.

Ladies and gentlemen, baseball NEEDS instant replay. As it stands now, it's only allowed on home run calls. That's baloney. Commissioner Bud Selig is on record as saying he doesn't want it expanded, and as long as Bud doesn't want it expanded, it's not going to expand. But Bud is going to see what happened in this game. Armando Galarraga lost his perfect game because of a bad call. How can he allow that to happen?

I feel really sorry for Jim Joyce. I can't imagine what he was looking at, but I'm sure he made the call he thought was correct, unless he somehow bet a buttload of money that Armando Galarraga wouldn't pitch a perfect game. When he sees that replay, he's going to be sick. Come to think of it, he's probably seen it by now, and he's probably not going to get much sleep tonight, because that's a big damn call to get wrong. He drew the wrath of the entire Tigers organization and the home crowd, and understandably so.

The one guy who took it in stride was Galarraga, who simply smiled and went back to work, retiring the next hitter, Trevor Crowe, on another routine ground ball. You've got to hand it to him — he pitched the game of his life, and appears to be happy with the victory, perfect game or not.

LeBron James to Larry King: Cleveland has the edge

In an interview that will air Friday on CNN's Larry King Live, LeBron James had this to say when the eponymous star of that show asked him whether the Cavaliers have the edge to keep him:

"Absolutely. Because, you know, this city, these fans, I mean, have given me a lot in these seven years. And, you know, for me, it's comfortable. So I've got a lot of memories here. And — and so it does have an edge."

LeBron also told Larry that his main goal is winning championships "and not just because of LeBron James," which strikes me as a bit arrogant for someone who could probably have propelled the Cavs past the Celtics if he'd played the way we've seen him play in the playoffs before.

He also said he won't try to dictate who his next coach will be, that he would love to play with either Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh, and that he's humbled by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's push for him to sign with the Knicks and President Obama's call for him to go to the Bulls. (The latter seems like an unbelievably stupid thing to say, politically. Ohio's a very important swing state that Obama probably doesn't want to take any chances with in 2012.)

All of this is very preliminary. LeBron can't do anything until July 1, and will certainly take longer than that. I hope he stays in Cleveland, and I'm inclined to think he will, but there's a long way to go before we find that out.

Courting LeBron

A couple of things happened yesterday on the LeBron James front. First, fellow free agent Dwyane Wade (who really should fix the spelling of his first name already) told a Chicago Tribune reporter that he wants to talk to LeBron and Joe Johnson of the Hawks before he decides where to sign. It's highly unlikely that all three could possibly play for the same team next year, but two of them potentially could. If they do, that team is not going to be the Cavaliers, because the Cavs don't have the flexibility under the salary cap to sign a big-name free agent other than LeBron.

Of course, this having run in a Chicago newspaper, the questioning came around to the possibility of those free agents winding up with the Bulls, and Wade said some stuff about the impersonality of the organization, and how Jordan and Pippen are no longer involved in any capacity, blah blah blah. OK, so it sounds like he's not ga-ga for the Bulls. That doesn't mean he and/or LeBron won't sign there.

Second — and be forewarned, this is almost totally irrelevant — a group of L.A. Clippers fans rallied outside the Staples Center yesterday in support of LeBron coming there. This actually made SportsCenter, on a day when the Lakers won game five of their playoff series against the Suns in the same building. Did these poor misguided souls actually think their little rally would have any effect on what LeBron does this off-season? I guess there are people with too much time on their hands anywhere you go.

On a personal note, I'm going camping with my family this weekend and probably won't be posting anything for a few days, so I'd like to wish you all a safe and effective Memorial Day weekend. ... Wait, safe and happy. Sorry, I edit medical-related magazines and see a lot of FDA reports.

Balky balk calls? I don't think so

Somebody needs to get Mark Buehrle a pacifier and a blanket, and gently rock him to sleep.

Before I write more about Buehrle and his balks, I do want to say something brief about the way the game ended. The Indians went into the bottom of the ninth with a 5-1 deficit, and were facing White Sox closer Bobby Jenks in a non-save situation. They quickly put three runs on the board and had the bases loaded with just one out. Jenks managed to strike out Austin Kearns and retire Russell Branyan on a lazy fly ball to left to end the threat. It's disappointing that they lost, but at least they managed to make it interesting.

Now then, back to Mark Buehrle. First, a little background. I've never liked Buehrle, especially since he hit Travis Hafner in the head with a pitch a couple of years ago that caused Hafner to miss a few months, and I think he hit him intentionally. His manager, Ozzie Guillen, is a colorful character, but speaks freely enough to prove that he generally has his head up his rear end. So when I heard Buehrle and Guillen had been ejected for arguing balk calls in yesterday's game against the Indians, I couldn't help but feel a perverse pleasure.

It was a noon game, and I have a job, so I didn't see it until I watched the highlights on SportsCenter this morning. They showed both of the pickoff moves that got Buehrle called for balks, and they were clearly both balks. Buehrle made a move toward the plate, then threw the ball to first. That's deceiving the runner, which is the very definition of a balk. Buehrle told reporters afterward that those moves were no different from the ones he'd made on previous throws to first; those other throws were not shown on SportsCenter, so I can't speak to that, but the balk calls that first base umpire Joe West made were 100% correct.

Guillen got ejected for arguing the first one, and Buehrle got thrown out for tossing his glove to the ground after the second one. He then argued vociferously and tried to advance upon West, while his teammates held him back. Buehrle said after the game he was just trying to get his "money's worth," but I can't imagine what he thought was going to happen when he dropped his glove. Did he think West would apologize and send the runner back to first? If he'd given it just a moment's thought, he'd have known it was an ejectable offense.

But Buehrle isn't much of a thinker, I guess. Neither is Guillen, for that matter, who said after the game that West thinks people pay to watch him umpire. But one of Buehrle's comments really rankles me. Taken from the Associated Press report on yesterday's game:

"I think he's too worried about promoting his CD [West is a country music singer and songwriter with his own website] and I think he likes seeing his name in the papers a little bit too much instead of worrying about the rules."

Does he realize what a serious accusation that is? Does he care? He's suggesting that Joe West called two balks on him, not because he actually balked, but because he wants people to see his name in the paper and buy his CD? What kind of sense does that make? That's not a post-game comment, that's a tantrum thrown by a person who always thinks he should get his way.

Would somebody please change his diaper and fix him a bottle? He's cranky and ready for beddy-bye.

Rookie Talbot outduels former Cy

Mitch Talbot entered 2010 with zero major-league victories. Less than two months into the season, he has six, while pitching for a bad team. What do you know about that!

Talbot went six strong innings (and one shaky one that got him lifted) in the Indians' 7-3 victory over the White Sox last night, giving up two runs on six hits over his seven innings. He walked none, struck out four — three in the first three innings — and kept the ball in the yard. He held the Sox scoreless over the first six innings, then gave up two runs on four doubles in the seventh. Mark Kotsay did him a favor by getting thrown out trying to stretch his double into a triple.

In any case, Talbot was lifted after having thrown just 77 pitches, 57 of which were strikes. He stands at 6-3, 3.73. Any team in the bigs would love to have that kind of production, and all he cost us was Kelly Shoppach. It's too soon to truly evaluate that trade, but so far, it looks like quite a fine move by Mark Shapiro. He's been our best starter so far this year, and his six wins tie him for second in the American League (with Boston's Clay Buchholz, behind David Price of the Rays, who has seven). If he keeps this up, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the All-Star Game.

Another young Indian contributed to this win, as Jason Donald opened the scoring with his first major-league home run off 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. Peavy's obviously not the pitcher he was a couple of years ago, but that nonetheless had to be a thrill for Donald. Shin-Soo Choo's blast that followed gave the Tribe back-to-backs, and the Indians battered Peavy for six runs on eight hits over six innings.

The Indians and White Sox play the rubber match today at 12:05. Jake Westbrook, who seems to have mostly gotten his stuff back after missing a year and a half, will face off against Mark Buehrle, who's not having a good year at all. I wish I didn't have a job, so I could watch it. (Just kidding. ... Or am I? ... Yes, I am.)

Cleveland Brownout

When I told my 11-year-old stepdaughter this morning that the Cavaliers had fired head coach Mike Brown, she said, "Good! Now I don't have to kill him!" Relax, Mike. She was just joking. (I think.)

The Cavs announced this morning that they had fired Brown, who presided over the most successful period in team history, but couldn't push the right buttons to get the club over the hump. In Brown's five seasons at the helm, the Cavaliers went 272-138, never winning fewer than 45 games. He led them to the team's first-ever Eastern Conference championship in 2007, but they never got back to that point despite winning 66 games in the regular season last year and 61 this year — the two winningest seasons in Cavs history.

He was named NBA Coach of the Year just twelve months ago, but that was before he and his coaching staff couldn't find an answer for Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic; just as they couldn't find an answer for Rajon Rondo and the Boston Celtics this year. (To be fair, Stan Van Gundy and the Magic are coming up with even fewer answers for those Celtics in this year's Eastern Conference Finals.)

Brown is widely regarded as a defensive specialist, and the statistics bear that out. The Cavaliers allowed 95.6 points per game all year, which tied them for fifth in the league in that department. They held opponents to a .442 shooting percentage (fourth) and racked up a .772 defensive rebounding percentage (second). Those numbers all dipped a bit during the postseason, but this was a strong defensive team.

It was on the offensive side that the Cavs suffered this postseason. They struggled a bit on that end of the floor against Chicago in the first round, but then had nothing with which to challenge Boston offensively. LeBron James' elbow was clearly a factor, but that only underscored Brown's offensive lack of creativity. His offensive philosophy all year long (and indeed for all his time in Cleveland) was basically, give the ball to LeBron and let him create. When you've got a superstar like LeBron, that's got to be an easy trap to fall into. But when LeBron's not able to create the way he's used to being able to create, you've got to have some other way of putting points on the board. Brown didn't come up with anything that fit that description, and Doc Rivers and the Celtics ate him for breakfast.

Obviously, the subplot to anything involving the Cavaliers this offseason is whether this improves our chances of signing LeBron. The only person who can give a reasonable answer to that question is LeBron, but an ESPN.com poll is about evenly split: 29% say it makes him more likely to stay, 30% say it makes him more likely to go, and 40% say it will have no effect on his plans. I personally think it makes him slightly more likely to stay, because he may have the chance to practically dictate who the next coach will be, if he so chooses (and if Danny Ferry does what he asks).

It should be interesting. If not altogether pleasant.

Tribe is sliding, and not in a good way

There's a lot going on with the Cleveland Indians these days, and not much of it's good. Consider the following pile of facts:

• After having lost their last four in a row, the Indians are now 16-24, in last place in the American League Central. Their season run differential is -42, which is worse than all but one other AL team (the Orioles). They are on pace to go 65-97.

• The Tribe just suffered a two-game sweep at home against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals have won six of their last eight, responding well after Ned Yost replaced Trey Hillman as their manager. Nonetheless, it's the first time they've swept anybody this year, and only the fifth time they've won two straight all year.

• The Indians are playing without their top two hitters in the batting order, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who is out for eight to 10 weeks after undergoing surgery on his fractured left forearm — broken in a collision with third baseman Jhonny Peralta as they both went for the same ball; and center fielder Grady Sizemore, who was having a crappy year anyway, but regardless, is on the DL with a knee.

• In their place are two players who quite recently were plying their trade in Columbus. Manny Acta has Trevor Crowe leading off and Jason Donald hitting second. Donald just made his major-league debut on Tuesday and got two hits, but has oh-fored since. Crowe is at least holding his own with a .333/.385/.458 line in six games, but he was in AAA for a reason.

• Russell Branyan, who a couple of weeks ago hit three home runs in two days, is now in a 1-for-22 slump. That one hit left the yard, naturally, and we've known Branyan was an all-or-nothing kind of hitter for a long time; still, he's now got an ugly .197/.284/.424 line.

• Kerry Wood, who is being paid eight figures to save games, hasn't saved one yet. To be fair, he's only had one opportunity since coming off the DL, but he blew it spectacularly on Wednesday against the Royals. He pitched to seven hitters and only got one out, giving up five runs on four hits and two walks in what turned from a 4-3 lead into an 8-4 loss. His ERA now stands at 18.90. Being fair again, Wood had been good in his last three outings before that, allowing just one hit and one walk in a combined 2 1/3 innings. Still, that was an epic implosion.

• Justin Masterson, installed as the third starter out of spring training, has yet to win a game. He hasn't pitched that badly, but he does have an ERA of 5.65 and a WHIP of 1.81. That's not a good way for a young pitcher to stay in a starting rotation. If only they had other options.

• The Tribe is last in the AL with 23 home runs, 12th in the AL in runs scored, 13th in slugging, and 12th in on-base percentage.

This is a bad Indians team, ladies and gentlemen. We all knew they'd be bad, but I sure hoped they'd be better than this. Unfortunately, I don't see a lot of reason for optimism right now.

The great Joe Tait steps down

Cavaliers announcer Joe Tait announced yesterday that 2010-11 will be his last season as the team's mouthpiece. It's kind of hard to imagine there being Cavaliers radio broadcasts without Joe, who has been announcing Cavs games since the team's inception in 1970-71, but for a couple of years in the early 1980s when Ted Stepien mucked things up for him.

I've always been a baseball fan first, and I'll always remember Tait's tenure at WUAB-43 announcing Indians games with Bruce Drennan in the 1980s. They were an entertaining pair, and they livened up what was usually some terrible baseball in Cleveland. But then the Cavaliers decided to make him an employee, and he stopped moonlighting on baseball.

It's hard to overstate how good Tait has been, broadcasting basketball games for four decades, most of that time without a partner. He has announced some phenomenal basketball teams (albeit none that have quite scaled the summit), and he has had to describe some awful basketball teams. I heard a quote on WTAM yesterday — which I can't find online anywhere, so I have to paraphrase — that he had nothing to do with the great basketball or the terrible basketball, he was just along for the ride. He will be inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame's broadcasters wing later this year, and deservedly so.

Joe has been an entertaining, informative voice on the Cleveland sports scene for my entire life, and I'm sure going to miss him.

Tribe takes second straight series

Jake Westbrook came within a single out of pitching a complete-game shutout yesterday against the Orioles, just one start after getting his first major league win since 1988. OK, it was 2008, but the point is, it was a long time. Westbrook gave up nine hits yesterday, but a lot of them were ground balls that happened to find holes. He struck out eight, against a single walk. If he pitches like that on a regular basis, he'll do just fine. He still got the complete game in the Indians' 5-1 victory, on 116 pitches.

Westbrook was aided by home runs from Matt LaPorta and Russell Branyan, the latter of which was Branyan's fourth home run of the year, all coming in the past week. There's no question that the guy can touch 'em all if he makes contact. ... Incidentally, you may remember that "touch 'em all time" was Jack Corrigan's signature home run call when he broadcast Tribe games on WUAB-43. A friend of mine used to think he was saying "touch of old time," which confused him because there were more home runs being hit than ever before. I found that amusing.

In other notes:

• The Celtics beat the Magic in Orlando to steal home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals yesterday. Maybe the Cavaliers weren't so bad in that series; maybe it's just that the Celtics are playing over their heads right now.

• WTAM has started a daily "LeBron watch" or whatever they're calling it at 7:45 every morning. The guy can't do anything until July 1, so what there is to talk about every single day between now and then, I can't fathom. But I'm sure they'll come up with something.

• In a non-sports-related note, heavy metal legend Ronnie James Dio died of stomach cancer yesterday. At various times the lead singer of Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, his own band Dio, and Heaven & Hell, Ronnie had a unique, powerful voice, and while his lyrics could be a bit hokey, he had his own style, and this is a great loss to the music world. Rest in peace, Ronnie. Anyone who wants to hear Ronnie sing on a great song they've probably never heard should check out this youtube link.

An eight-run explosion!

As I try to forget about the Cavaliers ...

Heading into the ninth inning last night, the punchless Indians seemed about ready to putter their way to a 2-0 loss, with both Orioles runs coming off solo home runs by Ty Wigginton off Tribe starter Mitch Talbot. It looked like Talbot, who had given up two runs on five hits in eight innings of work, would be the hard-luck loser.

Enter Baltimore's 28-year-old rookie closer, Alfredo Simon. Entering last night's game, Simon was 5-for-5 in save opportunities and had not given up a run in his 8 1/3 major league innings since getting called up in late April. Simon got the first hitter, Trevor Crowe, on a pop foul to the third-base side. (More on Crowe later.) That was the only out Simon would record in this one. Asdrubal Cabrera singled to right, Mark Grudzielanek drew a walk, and Shin-Soo Choo followed with an RBI single that put the tying run at second. Then Simon made a mistake up in the zone to Austin Kearns, who was previously 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Kearns deposited it in the left field stands, giving the Indians a 4-2 lead.

Tribe manager Manny Acta got closer Kerry Wood warming up to protect the lead in the bottom of the ninth, as Orioles skipper Dave Trembley pulled Simon in favor of Cla Meredith. Meredith was only slightly better than Simon, walking Travis Hafner, giving up a single to Jhonny Peralta, then striking out Russell Branyan for the second out of the inning. Mike Redmond followed with a two-run double, then Crowe swatted a home run to right that gave the Tribe an eight-run inning and a six-run advantage. Cabrera flied out to end the inning.

Crowe, who had JUST been called up from Columbus the same day, would follow his offensive heroics with a sterling defensive play in the bottom of the ninth. Acta had chosen to go with Tony Sipp instead of Wood, saving Wood in case of a closer game today or later in the week, and Nick Markakis opened the inning with a double off Sipp. The next hitter, Miguel Tejada, sent a liner toward shallow center, where Crowe was playing deep. Crowe got a great jump on the ball, took off on a full sprint toward the infield, and made the play with a diving catch that saved a run.

And that, my friends, is why the Orioles are one of baseball's worst teams.

Epitaph on what used to be such a promising season

As last night's game ended, my wife was holding our three-month-old daughter and trying to put her to sleep. We watched LeBron James hug Celtics players one by one, then take off his jersey and walk into the locker room, as the ESPN commentators wondered aloud whether that would be the last time LeBron ever took off a Cavaliers jersey. As the postgame interviews started, leading off with Kevin Garnett, I picked up the remote and asked my wife what she'd like to watch. She said, "Definitely not interviews with Celtics players."

I scrolled through the recordings on our DVR, found last night's installment of Jeopardy!, and we watched that. It's the annual Tournament of Champions, and though it was a runaway for one of the contestants, the Tournament of Champions is always interesting to watch. At no point during the program did I stop thinking about what I'd just seen from Boston, but it was at least a helpful diversion.

After Jeopardy! ended, my wife asked me if I was sad. I don't remember word for word what I said, but it was something to the effect that no, I'm not sad, but I'm very disappointed. It's just a sporting event, it's really not important in the grand scheme of things, etc., etc. But I really wanted to see this Cavaliers team win a championship.

I really wanted to see this Cavaliers team win a championship.

The team that steamrolled through the NBA all season, swept the Lakers, hung tough against all the league's heavy hitters, and looked unstoppable, simply rolled over when it counted the most. LeBron James' elbow obviously is a big part of the reason why, as he clearly was physically off his game for this whole series against Boston, but he seemed mentally off his game too. He grabbed 19 rebounds and had a triple-double last night, but he seemed to play lazy defense too. How many times did he fail to stay in front of his man, for example? And as the seconds ticked off at the end of the game, he and the Cavs completely gave up, conceding when they still might have had some faint glimmer of hope if they fouled to stop the clock.

Now the talk will turn to LeBron's future. Will he stay in Cleveland? Will he go to New York or Chicago or Miami? I have no idea, and right this minute, I barely even care.

Which LeBron James will show up tonight?

Will it be the LeBron who torched the Celtics in game three, or the LeBron who couldn't hit a jump shot to save his life in game five? Will it be the LeBron who scored the Cavs' last 25 points to beat the Pistons in double-overtime in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2007, or the LeBron who kept passing up opportunities to drive the lane off pick-and-rolls the other night? Will it be the LeBron who has dominated the NBA all season, or the LeBron who had seven turnovers in game four of this series? Will The King show up, or will he The Serf? Will we witness the kind of dominance we've always known him for, or will he let this Cavaliers season (and possibly his Cavaliers career) end with a faint whimper?

I don't know. By the next time I post on this blog, the Cavaliers season may be over, and LeBron may have played his last game as a Cavalier. I dearly hope neither of those things will be true, but both of them have an uncomfortably high probability of being so.

If that happens, maybe I should stop subjecting myself to the torture that is being a Cleveland sports fan. The Cavs won't be worth much without him, and the Browns and Indians don't seem to be anywhere near contending anytime soon. Maybe I should start watching ballet or take up knitting or something instead.

SOME good news

Nobody's really paying attention to the Indians right now, what with the Cavaliers on the verge of ending what was once such a promising season — but hey, the Tribe's won three straight. OK, the last two of those came against the pitiful Kansas City Royals; and OK, they're still just 13-18, and have zero chance of contending this year. Still:

• Russell Branyan has hit three homers and driven in five runs in his last two games.
• Fausto Carmona, Aaron Laffey, Chris Perez and Tony Sipp combined on a shutout yesterday. Carmona only threw 70 pitches through five innings, and surely would have gone longer if not for the rain delay. He's now 4-1 with a 3.43 ERA. Is he back to his 2007 form? Time will tell.
• Jake Westbrook FINALLY won his first game since 2008 on Tuesday.
• Mitch Talbot, who came into the season with exactly zero major-league victories, is now 4-2 after beating the Tigers on Sunday.
• The Indians are now in third place, one game ahead of the White Sox and 3 1/2 ahead of the Royals.

The Tribe goes for a sweep in a day game today. I hope they get it, because that would at least mean that SOMETHING good happened in Cleveland sports today, in case the Cavaliers get eliminated.

Pathetic

I don't have much to say about that embarrassment at the Q last night. If it was LeBron James' last home game as a Cavalier, he will have gone out with one of the worst performances of his NBA career. He didn't have much help, either from his teammates or from the coaching staff, but LeBron is the back-to-back MVP. He sure didn't play like it. We've seen him take over games like this, but for whatever reason, in this series — with the sole exception of game three — he's been unable or unwilling to do it.

If the Cavaliers lose game six in Boston and LeBron leaves in the coming offseason, he can't say the front office didn't give him enough pieces to win with. The only person LeBron can blame for not winning a title in Cleveland is LeBron.

Don't panic, Cavalier nation

Yes, the Cavaliers lost yesterday in Boston, and it was a game they could have won. They had it down to a two-point game with less than five minutes left, before the Celtics pulled away at the end.

Yes, Rajon Rondo dominated, scoring 29 points with 18 rebounds and 13 assists. How does a 6'1" guy get 18 rebounds in an NBA playoff game? Seriously! We've got to find a way to slow that guy down.

Yes, LeBron James played like he did in game two, failing to take over at any point, perhaps raising more questions about the health of his elbow. He flirted with a triple-double himself, but only scored 22 points and turned the ball over seven times.

But you know what? It's now a 2-2 series, and games five and seven (if necessary) will be in Cleveland. The Cavaliers are clearly the better team, when LeBron is playing like LeBron. Game five is tomorrow night, and I think the Cavs will be ready.

Now THAT is what I'm discussing

Was there some question about one of LeBron James' joints? I vaguely seem to remember something like that ... maybe a shoulder or a wrist?

I'm joking, of course. We all know there has been some doubt about the health of LeBron's elbow, pretty much since the playoffs started against Chicago. And after game two of this Boston series, you read in many places (including Of Fair Hooker) that the elbow was clearly hampering The King. But he came out last night and silenced all that talk. LeBron came out like a man on a mission in that first quarter, pouring in 21 in the game's first 12 minutes and spurring his team to a 19-point lead at the quarter pole.

A lot of times, when a team gets off to a huge early lead, they'll start relaxing and let the other team back into the game. The opposite happened last night. The Cavs never let the foot off the accelerator, and coasted to a hugely impressive 124-95 win. It was the biggest road victory in Cavaliers postseason history, which is impressive; it was the biggest home loss in Celtics postseason history, which is astounding, given how many playoff games the Celtics have played in their storied history.

LeBron was the main catalyst, but this was a total team effort. James dominated that first quarter and put in 38 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists on the night, but really, everybody contributed. Antawn Jamison had 20 points and 12 rebounds; Shaquille O'Neal had 12 points and nine rebounds; Mo Williams had 12 points and seven assists; Anthony Parker scored 11 on four-of-four shooting, including three from downtown; Delonte West scored 14 off the bench; Anderson Varejao had six points and four rebounds in just 17 minutes.

And the Cavaliers regain the upper hand in this series. If they keep playing like this, it's going to be a five-gamer, and the Cavs will clinch it at home on Tuesday. Obviously, the Celtics are capable of beating our boys in one game, but I say it's over two games from now.

Lesson to young infielders: Get your glove dirty!

It can't feel good to be Luis Valbuena right now. The proximate cause of the Indians' 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays yesterday was the fact that a ground ball that should have been the last out of the game went under his glove into left field, allowing the next hitter, Adam Lind, to come up and hit a two-run homer off Chris Perez. ... For that matter, it can't feel very good to be Chris Perez, because even after Valbuena's gaffe, Perez still had a chance to close it out. But home runs will happen; balls that squirt through between infielders' legs are not supposed to, at least not at the major league level.

Valbuena, the Tribe's everyday second baseman, was playing shortstop because Asdrubal Cabrera's leg is bothering him. We can sit here and say Cabrera would have made that play — but let's be honest, if you'd put a third-string high school DH out there, he'd probably have made that play. Valbuena was playing out of position, and the ball does come off the bat a little differently at shortstop than at second base. Still, he obviously should have had it, and he knows that as well as you and I.

This was the club's fourth straight loss, and undoubtedly the loss that stings the most so far in the young season. When the Indians were 10-13 a few days ago, Bob Frantz on WTAM was saying this is not that bad a team. Now, at 10-17, they're on pace to lose more than 100 games, they're in last place in the AL Central, and there seems to be very little reason to hope they're going to be respectable. Sorry, fans, but that's the way it is.

LeBron James' elbow has its own Twitter page

It's true! The team says nobody there has anything to do with it, and nobody seems to know who's writing it, but it's up—and as of this moment, it has 4,432 followers. It appears to have been created April 28. LeBron's elbow's most recent tweet:

Night everyone. I'm trying to read everyone's funny comments but LeBron keeps singing Usher's My Way in his sleep so it's kinda distracting.

In all seriousness, this elbow thing has to be a major concern. LeBron, Mike Brown and the Cavaliers are downplaying it, but he's getting a second MRI on the joint, which leads me to believe it's giving him more trouble than he's letting on. He insists on not using the elbow as an excuse for his tentative play, and while that's an admirable quality in a superstar, it doesn't mean the elbow isn't negatively impacting his game.

The Cavaliers have other issues in this Boston series, but clearly that elbow is #1. If LeBron's not healthy, the Cavs are in trouble. Sure, they've got other fine players, but if we're going to get to the promised land, he's the only one who can lead us there.

Time for concern, Cavaliers faithful

It's a new series with the Boston Celtics, ladies and gentlemen. But now it's a best-of-five, and the Celts have home-court advantage. And the questions about LeBron James' elbow are back. Fortunately, he's got three days to rest it, but that helps the aging Celtics too. Beantown manhandled our boys on the way to a 104-86 victory.

LeBron, on the day he formally received his second straight NBA MVP award, made a lot of mistakes and had little impact on this game until the fourth quarter, when the game was out of reach. He scored 24 points, 12 of which came in that fourth period, on 7-of-15 shooting (0-for-4 from downtown). He was able to get the ball inside a few times, and that's where most of his points came from. He wasn't able to hit from the perimeter worth a darn. He turned the ball over five times. He made some defensive contributions, to be sure, but this game was proof that as LeBron goes, so go the Cavs.

The Cavaliers were lacking in defensive intensity in this one. The Celtics had six players in double figures, but the biggest key to their offensive output was point guard Rajon Rondo. His 19 assists tied a Celtics team record for a playoff game — and when you tie a Celtics team playoff record, you know you've done something special. And late in the second quarter, he made one of the prettiest basketball moves I ever saw, dribbling toward the right side of the backboard, then stopping short as he held the ball off to the right, before moving left and laying the ball up. That move faked out not one, but two Cavaliers defenders. Regardless, it's Rondo's ability to create for his teammates that the Cavaliers simply have to find a way to stop.

There is reason for optimism, however. For example, look at the teams' respective outside shooting in this one — the Cavaliers shot just 4-of-21, the Celtics 9-of-19. Neither team is going to keep up that kind of pace. The Cavaliers went 2-2 against the Celtics in the regular season, splitting two games in each team's building. The Cavs' win in Boston was a very convincing 108-88 victory on Feb. 25, in which our guys outscored theirs by 21 in the fourth quarter. And as Tim Legler pointed out on SportsCenter, the Cavs were the best defensive team in the NBA this year. Their lapses in this game were uncharacteristic, and there's no reason to believe they'll continue to play like that. They'll pick it up.

... I hope.

Some quick thoughts

I've been busy, but I want to share just a few thoughts on just a few things:

• I've heard some people call the Cavs' win on Saturday over the Celtics "troubling," or words to that effect. Like them, I didn't enjoy seeing our boys fall behind early, but I sure did enjoy watching them claw their way back into it and pull away at the end. These Celtics may not be quite as talented as they were when they won the title two years ago, but this is still a very good Celtics team. I would be delighted to see three more games against them go exactly the way this one did.

• Our man LeBron James has been named MVP for the second year in a row. Yawn. ... Don't get me wrong, LeBron had an outstanding season and certainly deserves the award. But I find it hard to care who gets the hardware. I'm interested in results on the court. And I'm far more interested in whether LeBron is still in Cleveland when he wins his third MVP.

• Speaking of LeBron, he says his elbow feels about the same as it did at the end of the series against the Bulls. Given that he shot his last free throw in that series left-handed but came back with 35/7/7 in Game 1 against the Celtics, I find that kind of hard to believe. But only LeBron knows what LeBron feels like.

• The Indians pulled out an exciting 11-inning win over the first-place Twins on Saturday, but came back with a lackluster effort yesterday that included the trifecta of poor clutch hitting, poor pitching and poor defense. The Indians gave up 20 hits in that 8-3 loss. Twenty freaking hits! The Twins stranded 16 runners, including at least one in every inning but the fifth. The 2010 Indians are not that bad a team, but they're clearly inferior to those Twins.

• A recent Wall Street Journal study found that the Indians are baseball's most hated team. How can this be? Local fans are obviously not impressed by the current crop of Indians, but they can't be more hated than the Yankees, can they? Well, according to Page 2's Jim Caple, the study was not intended the way it was taken:

But it turns out Cleveland ... [is] not hated ... The Journal simply misinterpreted the analysis. A Nielsen rep told the New York Daily News that its rankings were based merely on positive-and-negative feelings generated by teams from their performances the first three weeks of the season. They were not meant to show whether at team was most-hated or most-liked overall. Which explains why teams off to bad or disappointing starts ranked poorly, as well as the Yankees whose lofty standards require that anything short of a ticker-tape parade by May is considered disappointing by their fans.

Whew!

A walk-off WHAT?!

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

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

Unbelievable.

Talbot wins third straight; offense comes alive

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

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

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

Next victim: Boston Celtics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Browns select quarterback of the future (again)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where were Cavs hiding it?

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

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

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

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

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

Asdrubal struggles; Tribe bats remain silent

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

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

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

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

AL chooses Choo

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

Surprise! LeBron dominates again

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

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

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

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

Cavs go about as expected

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

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

Tribe attendance problems?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another big start from a young Indian

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

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

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

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

How 'bout Huff!

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

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

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

Opening act has left the stage

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

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

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

Tune-up ends tonight

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

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

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

Another tough loss

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

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

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

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

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

Well, that hurts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Santana off to a supernatural start

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

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

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

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

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

Fausto starts turnaround?

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

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

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

An instant classic in Indianapolis

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

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

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

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

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

Acta era begins today; go Butler; etc.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Odds and ends, starting with Shaun Rogers

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

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

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

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

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