The Sports Guru

Ok, I admit it. After watching the Indians fall behind the hapless Royals 10-1 I turned off the TV. I found something better to do, like play with the Baby Gurette’s Barbie Dolls. Something, anything had to be better than watching the Indians lose AGAIN to the worst team in baseball. Baseball is very cyclical in nature. The Indians threw 11 on the board in a game at Jacobs Field last weekend against the Royals, so turn-about is fair play. The Royls throw 10 up against the Indians.

Here is how the inning went:

Single
Wild Pitch
Error
Single
3-Run Home Run
Single
Strike Out
Fly Out
Single
Triple
Single
2-Run Home Run
New Pitcher
Single
Single
Double
Line-Out

The Result - 10 Runs, 11 Hits, 1 Error

Was I wrong to think it was over? It was 10-1! TEN TO ONE!!! It should have been over, but in this season where everything IS NOT what it seems for the Tribe the young kids mounted a comeback. 2 in the 3rd, 3 in the 4th, 1 in the 5th, 2 in the 6th and it is all of a sudden 10-9. Could it be?? DOH! ‘Gas Can’ Carmona and the Indians surrender 3 back to the Royals in the bottom of the 6th, 13-9. Nice try, but thanks for coming and drive safely. Right?

The Tribe wasn’t done yet. After striking out Jason Michaels to start the top of the 9th, the most dangerous hitter in baseball, Travis Hafner worked a walk. That walk was the key to the inning. Back to back doubles for Victor Martinez and Ryan Garko made the score 13-11. Could this actually be happening? DOH! Jhonny Peralta strikes out, now 1 on and two outs. Up comes the venerable Hector Luna. And let me tell ya, you can’t stop Hector Luna, you can only hope to contain him. With Shin-Soo Choo on deck the Indians have the deadliest combo in baseball. You can have Ortiz and Ramirez or Jeter and A-Rod. I’ll take Luna and Choo. Back to the action. Luna doubles to right scoring another run, 13-12. The Indians have come too far to falter now. ‘Big League’ Choo steps in and BAM, a single to center, the game is tied!!!

You could see the stunned look on the faces of the Royals. Utter disbelief. Needless to say the Tribe went on to score 2 in the 10th, winning 15-13. That’s what I love about baseball. Two teams that are totally out of it, putting everything they got into a meaningless game. Teams aren’t supposed to score 10 runs in an inning, and teams aren’t supposed to come back from 10-1 deficits. That’s the glory of the game, as long as there is an out to be made, there’s a chance to be had. Last night, the Indians seized the moment.

Technorati Tags: Indians, MLB, Major League Baseball, Cleveland Indians, comback, rally, baseball, Kansas City Royals

This is always the tough part of the baseball season when your team is completely out of it.  Such is the case for the Indians, a team that won 93 games last year and had several “experts” googly eyed, predicting playoffs or better.  It didn’t happen as bull-pen woes and underacheiving vets limped out of the gate, cowering to a 49-64 record.

All is not bad for the Indians, however, who have managed to jettison much of the dead weight from the team in order to get a good look at what the future might hold.  Judging by the results of teh past week or so, I would say the future looks pretty bright.  Even though the Tribe finds itself out of playoff contention they are going to have a big say on who DOES make it to October. 

It all started last week with a 4 game series in Boston.  The Indians split the series, but the Red Sox had to win both games in their last at bat.  The wheels were starting to come off at that point.  They have lost 5/6 since and fallen out of the playoffs.  The team then went to Detroit and lost 3 1 run ballgames.  Sure, Detrot swept the Tribe, but they definitely earned it.  Next comes the Angels, in first place in the AL West.  After losing the first game, the Tribe came back to win the next 2, including last night’s 14-2 clobbering.

My point in all of this?  It can be fun for the Indians down the stretch, as they play the role of spoiler and make it all too hard for teams that are facing the heat of the pennant race.  Even more exciting is that they are doing it with the guys that will be part of the long term future of the team.  Here’s a look at some of them:

1. Shin Soo Choo, acquired from the Mariners for Ben Broussard on July 27, as done nothing but hit .340 and play incredible out in Right Field.  Time will tell but the Indians may have found a diamond in the rough in Choo.

2.  Ryan Garko has hit .417 in his brief stint at the Major League level.  A former catcher, the Indians are in the process of moving Garko to 1B.  He has hit at every level he has played and looks like he can be a Sean Casey-type player, if he can get the glove to match the bat.  He had 4 RBI last night, including his first Major League home run.

3.  Fausto Carmona went through a week of hell last week, but seems to have come through unscathed, pitching 2 scoreless innings last night.  Carmona’s stuff is filthy and if he can keep his head up after blowing 4 saves in a 7 day period he will be that much better for it. 

4.  Joe Inglett may not be a superstar, but every good team has a guy like him on the bench.  The Indians have tried several different players to be that “super-utility” guy.  Joey Cora, Ramon Vasquez, Eduardo Perez, all failed.  Inglett has not.  He can play all infield positions and has held his own with the bat, hitting .289 in 28 games.

The Indians were able to take care of another big piece of business, locking up starter Cliff Lee with a 3 year deal.  Lee won his 10th game last night and has proven to be an effective pitcher and nice piece of the rotation.  With Lee, C.C. Sabathia and young star Jeremy Sowers the Indians have the distinction of having 3 lefties in their rotation.
 

I might be grasping at straws, but this team is alot more fun to watch now than they were with Broussard, Eduardo Perez, Ramon Vasquez, etc.  These young guys are playing hard and are showing some flashes of greatness.  If the kids can keep playing and learning 2006 may prove to be just a hiccup on the Indians’ road to the top.

***This is great! Appeasing fans that were looking for a way to report rowdy fans around them, the Cincinnati Bengals announced the ‘Jerk’ line. Starting with Saturday’s Pre-Season game with the Redskins fans will be able call a hot-line to report fans that cause unnecessary rowdiness during games. According to the story, a call to 381-JERK will alert security to check out the rowdy fan question via camera. If warrented, security will talk to the perp’ in person.

“We are not going to be the curse police, you have to understand you are coming to an NFL game”, said a representative of Paul Brown Stadium. “We want to make sure we are paying attention to the fans that go over the line”

According to the story, Paul Brown stadium is equipped with 38 video cameras and more than 500 security personnel at each home game.

People have complained that beer has become increasingly responsible for the misbehavior problem in the stands. Complaints of excessive drunkenness, “people that were kind of falling down drunk”, and reports of fighting. The representative reported there were a “few more fights than normal” last season.

The team will be informing season ticket holders of the policy and the punishment for bad behavior. They will also show a video promo for the hot-line during games. For it’s part, the NFL says 6 teams have similar concepts started in Philadelphia a couple of years ago to deal with their rabid fans.

The question I have is this….Why haven’t the Bengals set up a Hot-Line for people to call when on eof their players is being beligerant in public. With all the legal troubles facing Bengal players, it might just be a good idea.

***Another reason why athletes should avoid anyone with a MySpace page. Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca has had better days. In the last week it hass been reported that Lo Duca’s wife has filed for divorce, claiming among other things that Lo Duca had an affair and was a problem gambler. Lo Duca has said that he enjoys going to the track and the Mets are now investigating how deep Lo Duca is in the gambling world. I have talked at nauseum of how bad an idea it is for a pro athlete, especially a baseball player, to have his name involved with any type of gambling.

I digress…It seems the other woman in Lo Duca’s wife has come forward. Feel free to read the whole article in the link above, but in short, the 35 year old Lo Duca was seeing a 19 year old college student from Long Island for the past 4 months. Lo Duca met the teen on “18 and over Night” at a popular night club. 18 and over night? I felt weird going to 18 and over night when I turned 21. Not Lo Duca, apparently, who sent a member of his entourage to hit on the teen.

They continued to see each other and “burned up the phone lines” when Lo Duca was on the road. Most nights they went to Lo Duca’s house, only going out in public once. The teen used her MySpace page to document her relationship with Lo Duca, even going so far as posting pictures of the “couple” out and about. Lo Duca had told the teen that he was divorced, even though he was still married. Now, I don’t know much, but I think I would avoid anyone with their own website if having an affair, especially a MYSpace page owned by a 19 year old.

For his part, Lo Duca isn’t saying much and the 19 year old say he is a “2-timing scumbag”. Go Mets!

There are so many things I want to write about my fingers are trembling.  Every time I look up there is another story that just begs me to dissect it.  Instead of writing 5 or 6 articles I figured I would just touch on each and give my 2 cents….

***According to this and this, Derek Jeter is branching out into the Men’s Grooming product business with the release this fall of his signature scent, Driven.  He spoke of the help his mother and sister gave him during development of the product, including the mixture of scents and design of the bottle and logo.  Let’s think about this for a minute.  We all know Jeter IS Mr. Yankee.  My thought is this takes in a little too far.  If A-Rod had come out with his own scent he’d be getting killed in the press.  Not to mention Jeter is releasing his scent through AVON, a company that claims right on their web-site to be “the company for women”.  Athlete fragrances haven’t done well in the past(i.e. Michael Jordan) and this one will probably do no better.  I can’t imagine being asked by the Gurette, “ohhhh, what cologne are you wearing?” and me responding, “I’m wearing Derek Jeter”.  Creepy.
 
***I am going to offer my services for free to every American League Manager out there.  Usually I would charge for this type of expert consultation, but I am feeling generous today.  In fact, let’s make it a “Man Law”.  Do not pitch to David Ortiz after the 1st inning, under any circumstances.  How many walk-off hits and home runs does this guy have to hit before teams realize that he might be pretty good.  The latest  example of this was last night when new Indians closer Fausto Carmona decided to “challenge” Papi with a 2-0 fastball in a 2 run game.  Oops.  Papi proceeds to hit it about 450 feet, winning the game.  How is it that Barry Bonds is hitting about .200 and teams still walk him twice a game yet Papi is leading the Majors in virtually every clutch stat possible.  I know it’s Manny Ramirez hitting behind Ortiz, but it doesn’t matter.  Ramirez might beat you, Papi WILL beat you.

***ESPN’s Jayson Stark wrote a brilliant piece dealing with Roger Clemens and the Trade Deadline that passed at 4:00 PM yesterday.  Clemens made a tough decision in May when he chose his home-town team over the team that drafted him.  I really thought there was a strong possibility of Rocket heading back to Boston to finish his career.  Roger is nostalgic, and ending his career by helping the Red Sox win another World Series would be the stuff of legend.  Was it close to happening?  As Stark puts it, the Astros and Red Sox travelled down that road, going so far as to talk names.  The conversation stopped when Astros Owner Drayton McLane ended the talk.  If what Stark says is true it proves just how selfish McLane is.  Roger deserved to go out his way.  Sure, he chose to come back to the Astros, but that’s Roger.  He feels loyalty to his hometown and to McLane.  Roger would never had demanded a trade.  Similar to Greg Maddux, Clemens would do what was better for the team and keep his mouth shut.  The Astros could have gotten 2 or 3 prospects to inject into a system void of any significant talent.  And Clemens could have finished where it started.  It would have been magical, but the greed of a billionaire got in the way.

***Speaking of the Deadline.  Can someone tell me why the Indians didn’t trade Aaron Boone to ANYONE for a bag of peanuts and tall draft?  If there is anyone wasting a spot on a roster more than Boone I haven’t found him.  Boone was a nice player in his day, but the knee injury efectively ended his career.  He has essentially been cashing paychecks and booting ground balls for the last 2 1/2 years and the Indians should have ended it.  Let’s hope that they’ll do the right thing and simply grant Boone his release and move on.

***Color me stupid for wanting to believe Floyd Landis.  According to this, it appears that a portion of the Testosterone found in his system is synthetic.  In layman’s terms, Landis was doping.  I defended Landis in this blog last week saying I believed him because he was “acting innocent”.  It is starting to appear that I was fooled.  Not again.  I am officially boycotting writing about cycling on this Blog.  I talk about sports, and cycling is a farce filled with cheats and liars.  Foll me once, shame on me, fool me twice, I kick you off my Blog.

***An interesting story here.  Jason Taylor, former Akron Zip and current Miami Dolphin is married to teammate Zach Thomas’ sister Katina.  Well it seems Katina has filed for divorce and the big topic around Dolphins camp is how it will affect the locker room.  All the major players are saying the right things(though I haven’t seen anything from Thomas), but you’d have to think it won’t be that easy.  Without knowing the reason that Mrs. Taylor is requestion the split, it is hard to imagine that Taylor and Thomas will have the same type of relationship they have shared in the past.  The last thing a team on the fringe of becoming a contender is for family strife.  This will be one to keep out “eyes” on.

According to THIS, the Teaxs Rangers have made the first move of the trading season by acquiring slugger Carlos Lee from Milwaukee.  On paper, if the players involved are correct, this trade seems to be a good one for the Brewers.  Everyone loves Kevin Mench, and despite his struggles Francisco Cordero is a sold arm out of the bullpen.

I imagine this officially checks the Brewers off as sellers at the deadline and the Rangers as buyers.  How realisitc a shot the Rnagers have, I don’t know.  But the message to the fans is a good one, that we are going for it.  Something that Indians management has failed to do.  Nothing is guarunteed, so you have got to go for it when you have the chance.  Kudos to the Rangers for giving a little back to their fans.