They Still Have Heart!

After everything that has happened this year, despite the trades, the owner with deep pockets and short arms, the stubborn manager, the executives scrambling to save their jobs, the bewildered coaching staff, despite all of that...this team still has heart!

Grady Sizemore has said it many times in the past few weeks, "We got nothing to lose, we are playing all out!"
How else do you explain these guys hanging tough? Sizemore, Choo, Carroll producing every day and night...Peralta getting tough at 3rd and overcoming his streaky hitting...Fausto being who he can be...the rise of a star in Valbueno...Astrubal threatening to crack the top 10 in league batting average while playing a slick SS...some gutsy pitching...even Marte is starting to produce!

There is still time for one last winning streak!
Eyebrows would be raised once again!
This pesky bunch of misfits could make things very interesting with a little over a month to go!
They could steal the show!

Still On The Warpath!

As asked last week, what would it take to win the American League Central?

Well, the good news is that the Indians are only 1 game off of the plan (See below, see previous blog).

· Win today’s game (8/13) vs. the Rangers...Nope, lost that one!

· Win 2 of 3 at the Twins...Yes, we took 2 of 3!


· Win 2 of 3 from L.A.


· Sweep the Mariners


· Sweep the Royals in K.C.


· Win 3 of 4 from the Orioles


· Win 2 of 3 from the Tigers


· Win 2 of 3 from the Twins


· Win 2 of 3 from the Rangers


· Sweep the Royals here!


· Win 2 of 3 from the Twins


· Win 3 of 4 from the A’s


· Win 2 of 3 from the Tigers


· Win 2 of 3 from the Orioles


· Win 2 of 3 from the White Sox


· Win 3 of 4 from the Red Sox!

It's that simple!...Well, why not?
The Rockies did it in '07...so did the Yankees only they started their move about 30 days earlier...so what! We need something to salvage from this season of waving the white flag early and "scalping" our future free agents.

It's like Grady Sizemore said Sunday, "We have nothing to lose, we are relaxed and playing all out."

True, but you could have something to gain...a far-fetched but possible shot at the Central Division!

There are others who would have something more to say about it. The cover of the USA Today touts the Angels (our next opponent) as having a hot hitting lineup, all hitting .297 or better! We play them pretty good and there is no reason we cannot take 2 of 3.
The Tigers have Rick Porcello pitching well and just signed big hitter Aubrey Huff. They still don't scare me.

Grady is right! There is nothing to lose and everything to gain so let's beat the drum, stay on the warpath, win some games, and have some excitement!

Note; A win streak sure makes all of this come together...we have 2 in a row!

How The A.L. Central Division Can Be Won…

Apparently neither the Tigers, White Sox, or the Twins seem to be very engaged in winning the American League Central Division so, as written yesterday, here is how our Indians can do it;
We have 49 games remaining and we must win 37 of those games…Yes, it is a tough road but with no one running away with the division, why not consider the possibilities. Here are the must win scenarios of the final 16 series;
· Win today’s game vs. the Rangers
· Win 2 of 3 at the Twins
· Win 2 of 3 from L.A.
· Sweep the Mariners
· Sweep the Royals in K.C.
· Win 3 of 4 from the Orioles
· Win 2 of 3 from the Tigers
· Win 2 of 3 from the Twins
· Win 2 of 3 from the Rangers
· Sweep the Royals here!
· Win 2 of 3 from the Twins
· Win 3 of 4 from the A’s
· Win 2 of 3 from the Tigers
· Win 2 of 3 from the Orioles
· Win 2 of 3 from the White Sox
· Win 3 of 4 from the Red Sox!
Of course, if we run up a nice win streak, this all becomes much more achievable!


“All right people, we got 10 minutes 'till game time, let's all gather 'round. I'm not much for giving inspirational addresses, but I'd just like to point out that every newspaper in the country has picked us to finish last. The local press seems to think that we'd save everyone the time and trouble if we just went out and shot ourselves. Me, I'm for wasting sportswriters' time. So I figured we ought to hang around for a while and see if we can give 'em all a nice big shitburger to eat!” Lou Brown, fictional manager of the Cleveland Indians in the movie, “Major League”.

Wassuppppppppp?!

Wassupppppp?!!!!!!!

In case you hadn’t noticed, and based on attendance you probably hadn’t, the Indians have won 7 of their last 10 games and trail the division leading Tigers by only 10 games. Yes, the hapless Tribe is still 14 games under .500 but the Tigers are only 6 games over .500…stranger things have happened!
With 50 games to go, what would it take to capture the division? Forget about the wild-card as that is out of the question…gotta go for the division!
So, what would it take?
· A combination of the weakest division in baseball continuing that trend with a hot streak by the Indians
· To catch the Tigers at their current wins to losses, the Tribe would have to win 37 of their remaining 50 games. That is a .740 winning percentage. Hey, they just won 7 of 10, can they make it 9 of 12? That is one more game than 2 of every 3 in a 12 game set.
Here is the thing, Detroit is ripe for getting knocked off…somebody is gonna do it…why not the Tribe?
This plays very well into the ownership’s collective thinking; in a 5 year span this team can get lucky and contend 2 seasons. Let’s say the 5 year span starts this year. It’s time to get lucky! Besides, this team has put together very dramatic 2nd halves of the season in 3 of the last 4 years.
Plain Dealer sports columnist Bill Livingston wants the Tribe to collapse in the second half of this year to force ownership and management of the team to not stay pat with the current talent. Great call-out Bill but they are going to stay pat anyway!
So let’s have some fun now!
“There’s 3 or 4 potential all-stars and the regulars are starting to play well. I think we are contenders right now!” Lou Brown, fictional manager of the Cleveland Indians in the movie, “Major League”.

Defeated!

Did you read what Cleveland Indians' president Paul Dolan said?????

"If every four or five years we can have a shot at the World Series like we did in 2007. And compete for a playoff spot like we did in 2005, that's as good as it gets in this market.”

No wonder we are not competitive this year or last, it's not our year. According to Paul, we have shot our competitive wad until 2011. What kind of businessman makes a statement like that?! The big boys in the big markets play too tough so we will settle? Tell that to Detroit...or Tampa Bay...or Texas...or Minnesota...or Florida...or Colorado. You can't tell those teams that because each one of those small to medium (at best) market teams is either leading their division or is a bona fide contender for the playoffs...and they do it every year. The Dolans believe that they cannot compete because of the market size in Cleveland so they don't compete. Mr. Dolan, please don't even begin to tell us that 2005 and 2007 were engineered because they were not. The then Cleveland Indians put those seasons together despite ownership of the team. Admit it, 2005 caught you by surprise just like it did everyone else. That team played "also-ran" ball through most of the season just to put together a strong August and September and come up one half game short of the playoffs with a major choke. Same goes for 2007. They battled Detroit all season long in the weakest division in baseball, got hot in September, won the division, beat NY in the playoffs, and pulled off one of the biggest chokes in team history in giving the World Series berth to the Red Sox. Why the chokes? Not enough horses to finish the job! Truly what you are saying is, we will maintain status quo, spend little or no money on high profile ball players, and we should get lucky once or twice in a span of 5 years. Defeated! Loser! Unmotivated! Complacent! Content! Apathetic! Lethargic! Inadequate! Incompetent!

Cleveland Plain Dealer sportswriter Terry Pluto had the following to say this morning, "Fans often say the Dolans should sell the team. Fine, who is your buyer?" Where would the Cleveland Cavaliers be if they adopted that same defeated attitude that now Pluto apparently has been sucked into???? Guys like Dan Gilbert don't fall out of trees but they do exist and they know how to run an organization with a positive attitude, putting their money where that thought process is.

The Dolans are out of their league...please get out of the league!

SELL THIS TEAM!!!!!!!!!!

Cleveland Indians owner Larry Dolan and president Paul Dolan share a game recently with fans.

"Good morning, gentlemen, and welcome to another season of Indians baseball."

Once again, life is imitating art. In this case, the real Cleveland Indians' ball club is very much like the 1989 hit movie version, "Major League". You might ask yourself, "Just what are the intentions of ownership?!" Apparently, their intentions are good but their ability to run a successful baseball team is completely questionable.

"The fact is we lost our two best players to free agency [I wish it was only two]. We haven't won a pennant in over thirty-five years [12 years now], we haven't placed higher than fourth in the last fifteen [close enough]. Obviously it's time for some changes."

"Maybe the problem is... we're coddling these guys too much. Yeah!"

At any rate, despite the poor performance of the team to this point and the poorer performance of ownership, this team is still trying and they are having a very good second half again! They have won 5 of their last 7 games against the top Central Division teams and they are fun to watch!

However, with the team still only 11.5 games out of 1st place, it will be a long time until happier times return to the corner of Carnegie and Ontario streets.

Mr. Dolan...SELL THIS TEAM!

Who's Flying The Plane?

Cleveland Indians' President Paul Dolan reports to the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the Cleveland Indians ball club will lose $16 million this season. This number is despite the revenue sharing from Major League Baseball. What Paul was really doing was justifying the annual dumping of high priced and talented ball players. In addition to Cy Young winner Cliff Lee, All-Star Victor Martinez, Ryan Garko, Raphael Betancourt, Mark DeRosa, and Ben Francisco, we can now add Carl Pavano.
Dolan claims that the team must look longer term, like 2010, 11, 12, 13...etc. Unfortunately he did not say what we would be looking at, probably more of the same. Dolan claims that attendance will miss the projected 2.2 million mark by about a half million fans. He expects attendance to drop even more next season. (Let me know when we may hear something that resembles strong management or something to look forward to!)
Oh, this may be it..."Our losses aren't expected to be as great next year," Dolan said. Guess what Prez, neither is the team!
"The fans aren't happy with us now," Dolan said. Why should that be a factor now, Paul? It never was before.
"Eric Wedge and others deserve a lot of credit," said Dolan. For what?!!!
Then he goes on to say, "Despite that, we have not been successful the last few years with a team that should have been successful." Oh, I see, that's what Eric Wedge and others deserve credit for!
Dolan said the Indians' losses will be made up from loans and cash from the Dolan family. Too bad he found out the truth about the Tooth Fairy, Santa, and the Easter Bunny.
The Dolan family is not considering selling the team.
OK, so let's summarize;

• Losses of $16 million
• Fans are angry with ownership
• Attendance will be down this year and down more next year
• The team has not been successful over the last few years with a team that should have been
• Eric Wedge and others deserve a lot of credit
• Loans and personal finances will make up the losses
• The team is not for sale

Personally, I don't think the fans are angry enough. This kind of double-talk makes Casey Stengel a toastmaster award winning speaker!

Yogi Berra might say, "It over before it's over."

Satchel Paige might say, "Look back!"

Mr. Dolan, SELL THIS TEAM!