Wahoo

There's always controversy with the Indians.

I'd bet money that right now in Cleveland there are some people sitting in the bar debating what should be done with Fausto 4.0. And I bet somewhere else there are people debating what should be done with Sin-Shoo Choo. Day in and day out, game or no game, there's controversy surrounding the Indians.

Perhaps the biggest (this side of Belle's bat), is Chief Wahoo.

I have my opinion on the matter, specifically the issue of whether Wahoo is racist or not. I could rattle on about it and offer my counter arguments to those who think differently (and I've heard them more times than I can count). But that's a pretty redundant argument.

And for the sake of this discussion, it's irrelevant.

A few weeks back the Indians were getting a lot of press, between the snow outs and the games in Milwaukee. Every time the Tribe were talked about on ESPN, they would put up Cleveland's logo (side note: Chief Wahoo is a logo, not a mascot -- Slider, the guy in a suit who runs around during games, is a mascot. Wahoo does no such thing), usually next to either the Mariners or the Angels.

It was during one of these stories that I realized something:

Our logo sucks.

Try this: Take away Wahoo's feather and make him white. You know what you get? A giant, goofy, cartoon head. That's our logo.

Check it out (click on the poster to viewer a larger version): http://www.sportsfanfare.com/sf-treposmlblog03.html

Notice anything about all the logos BUT ours? Not a single goofy cartoon head to be found.

We have the four year old's choice of logo. People wonder why we don't get any respect. I can't imagine this helps. Frankly, it's just embarrassing...

...and that's REGARDLESS of the racism issue!

Look at it this way: Our AAA team has a cartoon buffalo on their logo and it's STILL not as goofy looking as ours.

It's time to earn some respect. A winning team is one step. Not having a joke for a logo is another.

It's time to grow up.

Another Series Win

You do have to wonder what happened in NY.

I keep reading articles where people wonder what should be done with Fausto 4.0. I'm not quite sure what the issue is. I mean, people are actually suggesting he's an option for long relief. Are their memories really that short? Fausto is a starter and he should be nothing other than a starter forever and ever amen.

Sowers is struggling the most of the rotation, but there's still no reason to send him down. Just send Carmona back down to Buffalo so he can keep up regular work. I'm sure there will be an extra start or a double header in the future when we can move someon to the DL and call him back up. At mid-season we can see where we're at and look at the rotation again.

I've also read a lot of articles pointing out that the Indians aren't actually playing as well as perhaps their record indicates. If you look at the batting averages in our line-up and the number of strikeouts we have, it's hard to argue that point.

But look at the opposing pitch counts. How many times in the second inning to we hear "and he's up to 40+ already." It really is amazing how many pitches our roster makes guys throw at them.

And we leave April, 14-8, tied for the third best record in baseball, the second best record in the AL and a game and in first place in the Central. Not too bad.

Off day tomorrow, so I'm putting up a special RCR Extra -- should be the most talked about RCR ever (which, granted, isn't saying much at this point).

First off, the run counted. I found the rule. It's still ridiculous that they waved it off and gave it back.

That said...Hernandez is killing me. Yes, I realize that Fultz gave up the go ahead run. But a one run lead isn't exactly safe when the closer you're facing has an ERA over five.

But no, we go to the the bottom of the ninth down by three instead of one.

It'll be great if we make a comeback here. But we shouldn't have to.

Orioles @Indians, 4/27/07

Come on, people. Sure, I'm surprised that Fultz gave up a hit, but Hernandez? I mean, is anyone shocked by this?

I think MLB broadcasts should mic the managers when they decide which reliever to go to, because I'm completely baffled by the process. Only Mastny and Davis pitched yesterday, and Davis only an inning. As erratic as JD can be, I'd take him over Hernandez.

Thank god, they're going to Betancourt. Wait, did I just type that? I realize Rafy is prone to the long ball (he throws it so hard you just need to get wood on it to send it out), but he generally goes after guys.

Okay, switching to happier times -- how about that in the park home run?? You have to love Grady. I honestly thought that ball was gone when he hit it.

Who else expected Guthrie to come out and smoke us, though? History suggests that any player we let go will automatically come back to own us. Thankfully, that wasn't the case tonight.

"He came in and fired two quality strikes." Yes, yes he did. Let's go, Betancourt...let's get this...

Grounder to Barfield! That was a heck of a battle, though.

Okay, time for some insurance...

UPDATE: Indians win! Borowski strikes out the side!

I don't know that I've seen it mentioned anywhere, but has anyone else noticed that Shoppach catches in the final innings of any close game? It's a smart move to get his defense in there. I just don't remember them doing that regularly before.

Texas Two Step

I don't know which is more shocking, the fact that we just swept another team or that I was able to come up with another title involving the team and some reference to two.

It was good to see Byrd pitch well, although he still concerns me. He's a lot like Borowski and Wickman: always one bad pitch away from letting the flood gates open.

The big story of the day was, of course, Shin-Soo Choo. He really did set the tone for the entire game with that incredible throw to get Lofton at the plate. That had me "woo"-ing it up. He was 2 for 4 today, too.

It should also be pointed out that we are undefeated with Choo on the roster. Hell, we're 5-0 with Casey at third, for that matter.

The one thing I've always liked about Wedge's approach is that he views the season as a long string of series, and that the goal is to win each series. So far the Tribe has only lost one (albeit in horrible fashion).

Considering the log jam of players we have at almost every position, it will be interesting to see what kind of team we're putting out there around mid-season.

Rangers@Indians 4/25/07 Part Three

I said Victor was due!!

Okay, winning run 90 feet away and no outs...

Let's go, Michaels...in the hole 0-2 after a horrible called strike. C'mon...

Just flipped over to ESPN and the White Sox have bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th. They're down by four. Man, I hate the White Sox.

Michaels continues to battle. He deserves something here.

Dammit, swing and a miss.

Oh, JP. Come ON, man. Don't be that guy.

Hot damn!! Jhonny does it!

And, hey, the White Sox lost -- all alone in first.

I really can't believe we won that game. After all that, I can't believe we won.

MVP to Cabrera, this is definitely the guy we heard about so much. Let's hope he keeps that up.

Rangers @Indians, 4/25/07 Part Two

And that's what I get for hoping Sammy Sosa does well. I meant in general, not against us! Thankfully, we've still got a lead, so all is not lost.

As usual, there's not such thing as an easy win for the Indians.

Grady goes down swinging and we get the fun fact that both he and JP are in the top ten in baseball in strike outs. That's not really a distinction we want.

Tom Mastny comes in and does what he does. You know, I know he was good to us last year, but he's been pretty amazing this year. It really would be a shame to lose him if/when Miller comes back. I'm sure we can find someone else to drop from the roster, someone a bit older than everyone else, perhaps...

Heart of the order coming up for the Tribe. Victor's 0-3 today...I think he's due...

Pronk hit bya pitch. Has he ever been hit this much this regularly before? Is this a new thing? Everyone hit Pronk?

Okay, I said you were due, Victor, don't make me look stupid...

Due for a walk! Two on, no outs for Garko. I wonder what Ron Washington said to Mahay that required him to walk out there instead of the pitching coach.

Mahay just faked a throw to second. Not only was no one covering, but Travis Hafner was on base...and, really, he's a big stealing threat.

Garko walked! Wow. And not to beat a dead horse, but Casey Blake no where to be seen.

I'm sure I could find this stat somewhere, but it would be interested to see how many called strike threes Ryan Garko takes. It can't be that many. The many just does not give in when he's down to his last strike.

Michaels pops up in the infield. Not a good start. Two more chances.

Good god. Peralta goes down swinging. This is unreal.

Choo is up and down 0-2 just like (not unlike Peralta's at bat). This is not good.

BOOYAH!! Choo singles Hafner home! At least we've got something.

Barfield pops up and, hey, some kid in the stands catches it.

And a few pitches later he strikes out.

Man, only one run...that's just sad...

UPDATE: You know, we kind of deserve to lose this game. It would not shock me to see the Rangers actually drive in runs with the bases loaded just to mock the fact that we only got one.

And would someone please tell me Hernandez is in? I don't care if Fultz has walked two guys, I have way more faith in him than in Hernandez. It's like replacing a guy who can't find the strike zone with a guy who never finds the strike zone.

This can't end well.

Hey, what do I know? Hernandez not only finds the strike zone, but gets a strike out for the final out!

We're three outs away from winning a ridiculous game.

I'll admit that Casey Blake has been an easy target for me so far in my blogging, but it really does seem like he's playing better baseball now that he's at third base every day. That was a perfect bunt and it's nice to see the Tribe playing some small ball, even though that will be rendered moot as they'll most likely walk Pronk...

...unless, of course, they decide to pitch to him, which worked out well for Texas.

But as I said earlier, I think Victor is due. An extra run for Borowski would be nice.

And Victor makes me look stupid. The question now isn't whether or not Borowski will get the save, but how many baserunners he'll allow in the process. With the way this game is going, I'm going to say two.

Okay, Joe, prove me wrong here, buddy...1-2-3...

Well, there's one, and with only four pitches! You're killing me, Joe.

At least Wedge is smart enough to get the bullpen going. I wonder what Shoppach just said to Borowski? Something along the lines of "for the love of god just throw strikes."

Pop up to JP for the first out.

Lofton in the game now, gets a round of applause from the oh, two dozen people still at the game. Hey, I would imagine it's pretty cold after 10 in Cleveland. Personally, I just shut off the air conditioning a little while ago.

Lofton steals second. That's another pair of gloves to put on the wall.

Wow, well, Borowski with a strike out and Lofton goes to third. The tying run is just 90 feet away.

And first pitch Young sends over Sizemore and the game is tied.

Amazing what happens when you walk a .150 hitter.

Rangers @Indians, 4/25/07 Part One

That was a quick one. C.C. allows some contact and Padilla strikes out the side, which is pretty shocking, really. It's one thing to get Grady to strike out swinging as he does that pretty often and it's not like it's that hard to get Casey to strike out looking, as he seems to excel at that, but to get Pronk?

Into the second we go...

Top of the 2nd, Rick Manning: "Texas has not done well offensively on the road this year." Thanks for the jinx, there, Rick.

Sosa pops out to JP. JP's been involved in all of the outs so far. I'll admit it: I'd like to see Sammy do well this year. Then again, I wanted him to beat Big Mac, too.

And C.C. makes Blaylock look silly to end the top of the 2nd.

Yet again all but one AL Central team is playing someone in the AL Central. Obviously they can't keep that schedule up forever, but it's interesting to see it happen. Tori Hunter gets to see his beloved Royals tonight.

Garko gets hit by a pitch, one on one out for Trot "God is on my side" Nixon.

And he delivers with what should be scored as a single and an extra base on the throw. Garko 90 feet from giving us the lead.

My friend Brett's fiance calls Jhonny Peralta "fat face." Let's go fat face.

Evidently Padilla got a 3 year $33 million deal from the Rangers. The Westbrook deal is a steal.

And they walk the .196 hitting Peralta. Bases loaded and -- thank god -- Casey Blake no where in sight.

Wow. That was just...wow.

And more wow.

The Texas 2nd baseman completely booted a play that allowed two runs to score and no outs to be recorded. Then Barfield sacrifices JP in. The Grady knocks Choo in with a big hit.

Not only are we now up 3-0, but Padilla is creeping up on 40 pitches. And Grady steals??

We steal now? The Indians? I'd be more excited if that didn't just move another runner into scoring position for...Casey Blake.

Wow.

"It seems like since Casey was moved from the outfield to 3rd base he's been hitting the ball better." -STO guy whose name I don't know.

And there's your proof. Two more runs in!

Yeah, no joke, you get behind 3-1 on Pronk, you walk him.

And we're finally out of the second. C.C. must be happy about all this.

Omar

It's just after midnight Eastern, so I'm too late for that time zone, but I'd be remiss in not wishing the masterful Omar Vizquel a happy birthday.

When I was a kid my favorite player was Ozzie Smith (this was a combination of the fact that I had some weird love of cardinals, I played short stop in little league, and it's hard not to like a guy who does back flips). In a lot of ways, Omar was something of the second coming of the Wizard of Oz.

Let's face facts: we'd be a better team if we still had Omar. No one can doubt that. Imagine Omar and Barfield up the middle (particularly after that play Barfield made tonight). Unstoppable. And we'd have three legitimate stealing threats.

But it is what it is.

I actually saw Omar at the airport one time. It was out here at LAX; I was heading back to Ohio and I would imagine he was heading up to San Francisco. He was wearing a completely pimped out leopard print outfit. I was too shocked at seeing him to say anything. The outfit didn't help.

My dad sent me the send off spread that the fine folks at the Plain Dealer published when Omar went on his way. It's still hanging in my office (right above the picture of Aaron Boone slamming into AJ Pierzynski, but that's another story).

Dare I Say It? Twin Wins!

Okay, show of hands: who saw that coming? Who honestly believed we'd take both games from the Twins, particularly with one being pitched by Santana?

And how about Fausto Carmona 4.0? Pretty impressive (bonus points for those who can correctly name the other versions of Carmona I'm thinking of).

This was a great series for us. We had one error, which just happened to be a bobble by Grady aka not an infield error. Our bullpen was better than the Twins' bullpen. And the future of our rotation stepped up.

And hello first place, nice to be here!

Congrats to Mike Rouse, who not only got his first hit of the year, but an RBI.

And Casey Blake had an RBI! Yet, ironically enough, it will not improve his Runners In Scoring Position AVG, as Grady was actually on first.

Speaking of Casey, I'm beginning to think that, aside from Fausto Carmona, he's been the player most abused by the Tribe management team.

Casey's gotten a lot of grief in his time with the Tribe, a lot of it deserved. I realized tonight that a big part of that grief this season has been the simple fact that he's been taking time away from Garko at first. I think pretty much everyone knows that he's the future at first and Casey, as always, is just a placeholder.

But since Marte got hurt, I can't help but wonder if the ball was dropped with Casey. What did we gain by having Boone at third of Casey Blake? For that matter, what are we gaining now by having Marte there? Casey did a pretty impressive job tonight.

Casey really can't win. In the end, though, I'd feel worse for him if he didn't leave so many runners on base.

Sidenote: It's already common knowledge that baseball includes the largest collection of men who honestly believe the goatee to be a good idea. Please, Pronk, don't add your name to that list!

Westbrook and Managers

RCR EXTRA (aka, a non-game entry)!

So long time RCR reader Mike (he's been on board from the start) asked me about Jake Westbrook. I can't imagine I was alone in saying, after Westbrook's start against that Yankees, that this is what happens when you guarantee a guy $33 million.

While Jake is winless so far this season, he's 50/50 on quality starts, and we still got the win after one of those bad starts (against the White Sox). But what about the bad start we lost? What about the defiling the Yankees gave him?

Well, I chalk that up to a bad night against a good team. Sure, the Red Sox just swept the Yankees, but their much vaunted starting rotation (they had their 1-3 guys going) gave up 5, 4, and 6 runs a piece. The Red Sox paid $51 million just to talk to Dice-K, and he gave up six runs; I'd be surprised if the Tribe paid for more than dinner to talk to Westbrook.

I'll say this much, though: I'd prefer it if Westbrook was at the back end of our rotation. I'd love it if the Tribe had a 1-3 who were more intimidating. A groundball pitcher with one of the worst defences in baseball behind him is not scary. But with Sowers, Miller, and possibly Carmona (if he can pitches like he did against the Yankees on a regular basis), I think that will take care of itself.

RCR EXTRA EXTRA

Living with someone who knows absolutely nothing about baseball (aside from the fact that I'm always watching it) is extremely enlightening.

Case in point: why DO managers wear uniforms?

This is a singular experience in all of sports. Basketball coaches don't wear jerseys. Hockey coaches wear ties, for god's sake! So why does the entire coaching staff of a baseball team were uniforms?

The obvious answer is that it's a hold out from the days of player-managers. But it's been a while since we've seen such a creature. It was also suggested to me that maybe they wear the uniforms because they have to go out on the field, so they'd need to wear the shoes...except for the fact that (aside from Jim Leyland), the shoes are the one part of the uniform the don't wear.

So why do managers still wear uniforms? Because let's face facts, it's not like Lou Pinella, Joe Torre, Jim Leyland, or even Eric Wedge are exactly blending in on that bench.

My theory: unlike other sports, baseball's "sideline" is actually a shared living space. The dugout is home for these guys for three plus hours. It's not exactly the place for a suit and tie.

And perhaps there's a certain amount of psychology at play. Perhaps the manager is saying "hey, I might be out of shape and overweight, but I'm still one of you guys and I know what it's like to be where you are."

Then again, there are times when you see a manager walking out to the mound when you wish they'd really just say that and spare us the embarrassment.

12 Is My Lucky Number

It's the top of the 12th in Minnesota as I type this. V-mart just singled and Hafner moved to third. There are no outs.

As this is my inaugural entry into Ray Chapman's Revenge, perhaps a little background is needed.

My name is Kyle. I'm an Indians fan. Of the many awful things I've inherited from my father, this is the worst. Let's face facts: no one chooses to be an Indians fan. Why would anyone choose such misery?

I've had it pretty good, though, I'll admit. While my earliest memories of the Tribe center around the 1987 Sports Illustrated cover (I was 11), I was less than invested in the team. Honestly, I was more interested in playing outside than watching baseball on TV.

(I should note that the Tribe is now up 5-3 following a single by Garko -- who we all love -- and a double by Jason Michaels. The funny part about this is that the Minnesota announcer suggested that the Twins' defense was looking for Michaels to bunt, which is just funny since it's the Indians we're talking about.)

Needless to say, the "good years" were right in my wheelhouse (have you ever noticed that words like "wheelhouse" seem to be socially acceptable -- nay, necessary -- during baseball season, yet never leave your lips any other time?). My love of Major League helped, too. I mean, I can't be the only one that thought Willie Mays-Hayes and Kenny Lofton were separated a birth. I kept waiting for Lofton to do push-ups whenever he popped out.

Update: Bases loaded for Choo. Still no outs.

Update: Choo hits it up the middle and drives in two more. Will Rouse finally get a hit?

As I was saying, I had it better than most Tribe fans, and certainly better than my dad or my older brother. There was little suffering on my part...

...or was there? In the grand scheme of things, supporting a bad team isn't so much heart breaking as it is sad. But cheering on a team that comes within two outs of winning it all? Well, that's just cruel.

I'll go into more detail on my history with the Tribe in the future, but this is getting a bit long as it is.

So what's the point? What am I doing with this free forum?

I'm going to chronicle the 2007 season as best I can. I'm going to cover every game from here on out, sometimes with a running commentary.

Because I'm just that weird.

Update: We're headed to the bottom of the 12th, 7-3 Tribe. There could be more later, depending upon how this goes (and you really never know).