4th Of July. Can We Get Some Fireworks Tonight?

Happy 4th everybody!!! Hope you all enjoy this day of independence! I'll be at the game tonight and Wednesday so I'll be doing some live in-game tweeting. I've been wanting to do it all year I just haven't gotten around to it. Jeter is supposed to be back in the lineup for the Yanks and needs just 6 hits to reach 3,000. Back to back years now I have had the opportunity to witness some pretty amazing milestones in the careers of two Yankees, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod didn't pull through last year when they were in town so we'll see if Jeter can come up with those 6 hits by Wednesday. In no way am I saying I want Jeter to get 6 hits this series but it would be something cool to tell my kids.

So the Tribe come up short yesterday after falling behind early and end up losing 7-5 to the Reds. We couldn't get that season series sweep but we definitely owned the other Ohio team this year. In the six games played against the Reds, we outscored them 35-19. It was obvious early on that Mitch Talbot did not have his stuff going and he was pulled after just 4 innings giving up 10 hits and 6 runs. Our bullpen kept the Reds in line for the rest of the game but they had what proved to be too big of a lead even with our offense getting some runs back. Not a great way to finish interleague play but overall the Indians held strong and finished with a 11-7 record against NL teams. I know that Manny Acta, Tribe fans, and Travis Hafner are happy to finally get through the long stretch of games in NL ballparks to get back home and get Pronk back in this lineup. His presence will be greatly needed in these next two series against the Yanks and Blue Jays.

Alright that'll do it for the Tribe but someone asked my thoughts on the Cavs yesterday and I said I'd put it in my next post so here goes. First I'll start off with the draft. Kyrie Irving and Triston Thompson will be immediate impacts for the team in the 2012. Here's why; Irving is a legitimate PG. He's quick and can get to the basket and finish. Yes we have Baron Davis and Ramon Sessions but who really thinks Davis will be with us very long? We'll see what happens in the off season with the lockout but get ready for Sessions and Kyrie to battle it out for that starting spot. It may be closer than you think. Let's get to Thompson now. I think I probably saw him play once or twice and was quite surprised that the Cavs picked him up. While he is more proven than Irving it'll be tough to say what kind of impact he will have, but he will have one.

J.J. Hickson is a goner. Cavs fans have been expecting this for some time now, and if you weren't then you should have. It'll be sad to see J.J. go but he was simply inconsistent and never reached his full potential with the Cavs. However, keep an eye on him. He is still young and could make the Cavs front office regret this trade. Now what did we get? We got another unproven potential starter at the small forward position. While we don't have a small forward and we needed one, I don't think Casspi will flourish with the Cavs this first season. All together I think the Cavs will have a competitive team next year but in no way do I believe they will be competing for a playoff spot. That is about as optimistic as I will get about the Cavs this early in the year. Expect the worst so if we do good we can be happy and if we're bad then you can say you expected it. Better to be safe than sorry and embarrassed.

Hopefully that wasn't too long and boring for you but I had a lot to write. That's two posts in two days. Be happy. Be grateful. Who knows when I'll get the chance again but hopefully it'll be soon. That's it for today. Everyone have a safe and enjoyable 4th. GO TRIBE!!!

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The Rise And Fall..And Rise Of The Cleveland Indians.

It has been a roller-coaster of a season so far for the Tribe and I'll give you 2 reasons as to why. Although the Tribe hold a game and a half lead over the Tigers with just 8 games left to play before the break, one can wonder how much longer we can hold this slim lead.

First I'll start off with injuries. With a healthy club at the start of the season (excluding Sizemore) the Tribe was fresh and energetic. Since then Mitch Talbot, Carlos Carrasco, Travis Hafner, Vinnie Pestano, Matt LaPorta, Shin-Soo Choo, Travis Buck, and Fausto Carmona have all spent time off the field with injuries. While those four pitchers listed above were missed (Fausto is out but if anything that was a blessing in disguise) our pitching staff has been excellent all season long. Without the run support from guys like Pronk, LaPorta and Choo, our pitchers have been wasting starts. For example; you have a guy like Justin Masterson who started the season with 5 wins in 5 tries. Since then he has started 11 games with only one win. In those 11 games he lost 5 and had no decisions in 5. He gave up a total of 22 earned runs in those 11 starts, which averages out to be 2 runs per game in that span. In only two of those starts he gave up more than 2 runs. If he would have gotten the run support from just those injured guys alone, he had the potential to have over 10 wins before the break. You would think a guy would have more than 6 wins through 22 starts that posts an ERA of 2.85.

Moving right along we'll go with the month of June. 17 loses in 27 games. The Indians were lucky to get off to a great start because not to many teams would be sitting atop first place in their division with a month like they had. 5 out of the 17 loses were shutouts and 10 out of those 17 we failed to score more than 4. In 4 of the 17 loses we were blown out but you'll have that. What is more frustrating is how many games we lost by one run (5). The blame game can be played to multiple sides with that last stat. Some of those close loses were due to blown saves, blown chances with RISP, or dumb management. Altogether you have to look at the general trend in that month which can be categorized by one word. SLUMP. The Indians went through a huge slump in the month of June in every category there is. While some of this was due to the aforementioned injuries, some was due to guys tapering off.

While July has gotten off to a better start (2-0) I can see these same problems popping up the rest of the season. As long as our guys are able to weather the storm and stay confident, playoffs are in the future for this young team. With Choo out Michael Brantly has stepped up and been a huge contributor and will continue to help during the time Choo is out.

Well that'll do it for today's post. Sorry for the lack of posts in the past couple months. Job and Girlfriend take up almost 100% of my time. I had almost forgotten how much fun writing was so it feels good to be back. Check back soon for more.

GO TRIBE!!!!!!!!!!

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