Tribe offense wakes up in win.

Travis Hafner homered twice with Grady Sizemore and Todd Hollandsworth also adding long balls as Cleveland took the first match of a 3 game series against the Cardinals. Cliff Lee kept his perfect interleague record in tact going 7 strong innings to get the win.

All star voting is nearly complete with Sizemore and Hafner being the likely candidates to represent the indians. Hafner may get left out due to only being a DH with the game being played in Pittsburgh, a National League park. Should Travis make it he'll only be used as a pinch hitter.

Pitching stud called up.

Jeremy Sowers was called up Friday from Triple A Buffalo and will make his Major League debut on sunday against the reds.

Sowers stats look like cy young material: 9-1 with a 1.39 ERA.

unfortunately, those numbers dont count in the big leagues but it was certainly enough to warrant a chance in Cleveland.

"I'm just going to do what I do and hopefully it turns out ok" a nervous but excited Sowers said in an interview on saturday. " it was just nice to be at the park and participate in warmups and meet all the guys".

Hopefully the indians offense will wake up and give him some run support to work with. Building this kids confidence is the most important thing right now but with the way the Indians are playing its a dangerous situation.

Hes been compared to the likes of Tom Glavine and Chris Capuano, but better.

Jason Johnson was traded to the red sox for a player to be named later and/or cash which ultimately opened the door for Sowers.

a little too late shapiro...If they think this kid is the answer to this teams problems they are dead wrong. I know this kid will be a star but to keep him in the minors for so long when Johnson was getting lit up is just ridiculous. He wouldnt have done any worse. The indians owned johnson last year and then they turn around and sign him? ugh.

Cleveland dropped fridays contest against the reds 3-0 but responded 4-0 on saturday behind a great start by pitcher Paul Byrd. Hollandsworth and Sizemore homered.

Notes: I didnt take a journal with me on my trip so im going to have to wing it. I'll post game by game analysis later this week. I will say this though, Travis Hafner hit the farthest home run I have ever seen.

baseball road trip.

about to leave for Wrigley Field then to Cleveland for the cubs/tribe series.

party in the flats @ the Great lakes brewing company every night

I'll be bringing a journal to recap each and every game along with all the great baseball fans I'm going to meet as well.

I cant fucking wait for this. Two of the most storied franchises in all of baseball finally square off after 106 years of never meeting.

Peace!

Greetings from fourth place.

Dear forth place,

We, the Cleveland Indians had such high hopes for this season coming off a choke job that will go down in indians history as EMBARASSING. We decided to pretend we could contend with the better teams in our division and even more superior teams in the rest of the American League to make the inevitable toilet flush easier to take.

"Contention! Contention!" was our battle cry. however, that was just another ploy by our wonderfully incompetent front office to drain the wallets of our ignorant, story believing, waiting for any kind of hope at all, fans.

Its been somewhat of awhile to wait but here we are fourth place. We've missed you and glad to be back where we, as a pathetic excuse for a major league baseball team, have just been waiting for the right time to reunite ourselves. Minnesota was just the comforter on the bed of SHIT our team has laid in all year.

C.C. Sabathia, despite his surprizing stats, weighs about 400 pounds and has a favorite game called Schizophrenia. David Riske, Coco Crisp, and Scott Sauerbeck will get a chance to see the playoffs this year with their new teams, funny how OUR players go somewhere ELSE and excel huh? Coco is at least not surprizing.

Wedge says "respect the game" "hes coming around" "its just a matter of time" " he had location problems but he'll bounce back".

respect the game huh? so you're content with allowing opposing pitchers to throw at your players without any retaliation because its a matter of respect? No, wedge, no one is telling you to be a goon and throw at someones head, but sticking up for your players is a part of baseball, you dont just take it in the ass because you feel like being Mr nice guy all the fucking time.

I believed the stories until they traded crisp. someone of his caliber and talent, YOU DONT TRADE. for a so called prospect who is falling on his face in triple A!

this season is OVER and will be the same story every year as long as these IDIOTS run my team.

GOD HATES CLEVELAND

The ship is sinking.

Casey Blake was placed on the 15 day disabled list thursday which opened the door for Buffalo prospect Franklin Gutierrez to get the call up.

Scott Sauerbeck was given his outright release and David Riske (bp fastballs and all) was acquired by the white sux in a trade with the boston red sox for a Class A level player.

Peralta ended an 0-17 slump today with an rbi double.

top of the ninth in the bronx. Cleveland 7, spankees 4.

Cleveland goes to milwaukee for 3 games then heads home for 3 games against the cubs which I'll be at.

The tribe/cubs series could be really interesting. atrocious bullpens on both sides with very anemic offenses may see ties in all three meetings. wish circumstances were better for the two storied franchises.

Cubs last world series title: 1908
Cleveland: 1948

thats 156 years between the two teams without a world series title. yet boston has the highest concentration of psychologists in the united states?

we should win this but since I'm typing this they'll find a way to blow it. it is the yankees after all and our fat closer is coming in to pitch.

wow wickman, 1-2-3 indians win.

Shapiro dodges reality

This article was written on the indians messageboard by a poster named Scultra32.

Shapiro is now P-Ring his way through the wild…he’s definitely Dolan’s yesman…
“Shapiro also said manager Eric Wedge is ‘part of the solution’…”

He’s part of the solution how? Don’t offer me generalizations. He’s the hired f—k and you’re the other hired f—k…how are you two going to make things happen now, as they should be happening? Is Wedge just bluffing with his poor managerial calls early on but is going to use his poker face and make magically fantastic calls from the dugout the rest of the way? Shut the f—k up, Shapiro…he’s Dolan’s financial solution. Get it clear.

"Are they a team that would consider right now trading a Major League player for prospects? Are they a team that would have to be big league for big league deal?” - Shitpiro

Um, weren’t we just the team last January who traded a Major League player for prospects? Now we’re looking back to the other side of the fence according to this bozo? AFTER winning 93 games last year? Are Marte, Shoppach and Mota a Big League deal? This just gets more embarrassing everyday…

"I think where our club is, and where we expect it to be next year and the year after, which is in the thick of things, I don't see us throwing in the towel at any point," he said.

You don’t huh? Ten games back behind not one but two of the best teams in MLB this year just within out division alone…a frightening bullpen staff, and a meager rotation, again…after winning 93 games last year? And you expect it, not KNOW it will be in “the thick of things” next year or the year after? WEREN’T WE JUST IN THE THICK OF THINGS last year, with seemingly nothing but upside to build upon? Make it more obvious you are Dolan’s yes-man keeping just enough talent around to draw fans to the park and viewers to the TV for additional revenue, but intend to never actually spend the extra few bucks to win.

"The challenge that we have here on a daily basis is that we continue to try and fix a lot of things," Shapiro said. "And to some extent they're a moving target. I think the best example of that is, up until a week ago, we had not blown a game that we were leading after seven innings. And in the last week, we've blown three of those."

LOL…well, color me dumb! Gosh golly gee, Hank! Shoot, if we’d just not done everything else wrong, such as let the players follow the idiot instruction or lack thereof from Wedge and Co. in numerous key moments that let games get away (like leaving Mota in for more than an inning multiple times) and gosh darn if Byrd and Johnson had come in here for duh money dey wuz paid to pretend likes dey wuz all-star pitchers and pitched like all-stars, and if dem players like Mota and Michaels were more than what they are…we’d darn well just be worrying about those blown leads in the last week…
and now that those three blown leads are the latest in the growing fiasco…they show a decline in the team…not a revival…thanks for pointing it out shitpiro.

But we’re in the thick of things…and Wedge is the solution to make that happen…and it’s not Shitpiro’s fault when no other team wants to be “big league” enough to trade away legitimate impact MLB players for unproven prospects, those jerks…

This article, written by fellow PR yesman Castrovince…just spells it all out…

Just concentrate on the Cavs and Browns!
Shapiro’s riding us around on a motorcycle with no helmet and Dolan paid for the work on the bike.

The calendar has turned to June.

August and September Schedule:

9 times vs KC
7 times vs TB
7 times vs MIN

beat kansas city 7 times, tampa bay 5 times and minnesota 4 times gives the indians a 16-7 record. sounds nice, yes?

Wrong.

The royals OWN us this year. remember last year against the devil rays? that didnt turn out so well either did it?

Tampa Bay are not the push over they have been. Their farm system is stacked and with a little pitching could be a serious threat in their division.

They are fast (Carl Crawford, Joey Gathwright) and they can murder the ball (Jonny Gomes, Aubrey Huff, Jorge Cantu)

They're getting beaten by teams that are better than them and Cleveland; such as Anaheim who the Indians should have swept.

Tom Hamilton interviewed eric wedge the other day and the responses he got out of him strongly indicated wedge just might be more dumb than we had previously thought.

wedge has been known to "play the numbers"...

For instance, A typical left handed hitter doesnt see the ball the way he sees it against a right hander so scott sauerbeck, the only lefty reliever was called in to face said handed batter. the ball ended up in the seats, ballgame.

Wedges answer for this debacle: "I dont care if he is a righty, if he can get a lefty out, so be it"...WHERE was Betancourt then? the bullpens most reliable reliever!

The Detroit Tigers had been playing out of their minds since opening day. With an offense lead by Chris Shelton and stellar pitching that lead the majors in ERA, they were simply unbeatable.

One of their many victims along the way happened to be Cleveland.

Familar territory:
Detroit and Chicago play eachother 10 more times during the Tribes August/September schedule. We are 6-3 against chicago and see them again in september but had we beaten detroit we'd be in a better and more realistic position to be thinking of the lesser teams on our schedule.

The Indians didnt miss the playoffs because of how Boston or New york finished, or that the white sox swept 4 games from us, we missed the playoffs because of the teams we faced in those last 2 months that we just happen to play again this year.

Sept 25th vs Kansas city: Grady Sizemore loses a ball in the sun allowing the winning run to score.
Sept 27th vs Tampa Bay: A 3 game sweep.

The twins were the only non factor, but I dont believe we played them all that well either.

The Surge must start now:
we're a game better than we were this time last year so wedges simple mind probably sees this as a drastic improvement and that he actually knows what hes doing.

I hate the "what ifs" of the game but Matt lawton alone accounted for 100 runs scored and 20 hrs in 2004. we didnt resign him. Rhodes was lights out until a family emergency took him off the team permanently and wasnt given another chance...etc, etc, etc...thats all this front office has been consistent about...inconsistentcy.

dolan allows our marketing office to name a section of the stadium after the teams best hitter, Travis Hafner, which wasnt free I'm sure with the ad's and rights that go along with this sort of thing.

Those dollar bills could have been used in a trade or FA signing of a quality starter. they seem more interested in making a place for the casual fan to call their friends on their cellphone telling them "HEY DUDE IM STANDING IN PRONKVILLE !"

There is still a severe need for a RH power bat. Perez is 36.

We're the 2004 indians. jekyl and hyde offense + no pitching = 80-82.

I cant wait to hear what wedge says when this late surge doesnt happen. but what does he care, his job is the safest on the team.

Give me a 5th rotation guy, a setup/reliever who isnt going to throw batting practice, give me a consistent lead off hitter and a shortstop who actually knows what his role is, and maybe, just maybe this team can do it.

until then, theres always next year.