Jason Epstein, in his post about the Indians, notes their low attendance. They’re in first place in the AL Central Division, so why aren’t Clevelanders flocking to Progressive Field? So asked Tribe closer Chris Pérez last weekend, sparking a week’s worth of commentary.
True, the prevailing mood in Cleveland about the Indians’ nice start is “Eh.” Should it be otherwise? This is a club, remember, that also had some nice finishes — in 1995, 1997, 2005, 2007 — but still failed to win the World Series. The last time they did win it, 1948, was before most Clevelanders were born.
They’ve earned their skepticism. It would be hard to overestimate the degree to which it has been reinforced in recent years by the loss of their back-to-back Cy Young Award winners, C. C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee, to (essentially) free agency. (The Indians traded them before their contracts were up.) Fans calling in to local sports-talk radio tended to blame the owner, Larry Dolan, for not spending money the club didn’t have.
The hosts got it, for the most part. They explained about salary caps, or the absence of them, and how it’s not unreasonable for MLB executives at 245 Park Avenue to want to see the best baseball talent concentrated in the biggest markets, where the industry can maximize its profits off, for example, the left arms of Sabatha and Lee. The cost of that plan is that MLB loses in places like Cleveland and Pittsburgh, but that’s a low price to pay for winning in New York and Boston.
In MLB, the correlation is strong between market size and on-field performance, which obviously correlates with revenue. (The St. Louis Cardinals are an outlier and a testament perhaps to the enduring genius of Branch Rickey, who as general manager in the 1920s and ’30s transformed the franchise into the jewel of the National League — unless you think that distinction belongs to the Dodgers, which Rickey imprinted during his general managership of them in the 1940s.) This is in marked contrast to other professional sports leagues, most notably the NFL, which consistently enables franchises in small cities to dominate. Pittsburgh and Green Bay come to mind.
Terry Pluto’s observations about the Indians and their fans are worth reading.
Be sure to keep this full-Monty streaker in your mind — well, not necessarily all of him — the next time you hear that St. Louis Cardinals fans are the classiest in the game.
For those of you who are hockey fans this is not news, but the Devils and Rangers have renewed their rivalry in this year’s NHL playoffs and are currently in the middle of yet another classic series.
In 1994, these two teams took part in what was perhaps the greatest playoff series in hockey history. In Game 6, the Rangers trailing three games to two, Rangers captain Mark Messier famously promised victory, like Joe Namath of the Jets in 1969. Messier’s bold prediction came true, and it happened in stunning fashion, with Messier scoring a hat trick in the third period to lift the Rangers to a 4–2 victory.
In Game 7, the Devils were trailing 2–1 but forced overtime, thanks to an equalizing goal from Valeri Zelepukin with just seven seconds remaining. In the second overtime, the Rangers finally ended the landmark series with a goal from Stephane Matteau.
Today is the 18th anniversary of that unforgettable Game 6 and, as then, the Rangers find themselves behind three games to two.
A lot has changed during these 18 years. The Devils have lifted Lord Stanley’s Cup three times and now play in one of the nicest arenas in the league. All the players are different with one notable exception in New Jersey goaltender Martin Broduer, who has earned himself the reputation of being the greatest player ever at his position. At 40, he is playing phenomenal hockey.
One thing that has not changed is that these teams still hate each other, and the rivalry is probably more intense than ever. The Devils and the Rangers are separated only by roughly 14 miles, and with the New York Islanders among the perennially worst teams in the league, the Devils have become the natural rival to the Rangers in the New York metropolitan area.
There is general animosity among the fans, the players, and the coaching staffs. Rangers coach John Tortorella and Devils coach Peter DeBoer have been critical of each other all season. In Game 4 on Monday, they began shouting at each other from their respective benches after a controversial moment when Ranger forward (and former Devil) Mike Rupp shoved Brodeur and a melee ensued.
Even if you’re not a hockey fan, Game 6 tonight is well worth checking out.
This morning John Adams of the Los Angeles Times offered his readers a suggestion: “If a tree falling in a forest doesn’t make a sound, then the streaking Cleveland Indians in an empty ballpark must be just as insignificant.”
This afternoon the Indians edged Justin Verlander and the Tigers, 2–1, thereby completing a three-game sweep of their division rivals.
And the team won in front of 23,622 fans, including the seventh most walk-ups in the franchise’s long history: 6,433.
So after 44 games, the Indians lead the AL Central with a 26–18 record, whereas the Tigers are 20–4 and in third place.
Of course, our short-term memory reminds us that 2011 started out much the same way. As Dave Cameron of Fangraphs noted:
If they need motivation, the Tigers can point to this time a year ago, when they were in almost exactly the same situation. After 44 games, they stood 22–22 and trailed the Indians by six games — they went 73–45 the rest of the year and ran away with the AL Central title.
SB Nation’s Al Yellon highlighted why in Cleveland it may soon be déjà vu all over again:
The Indians, truth be told, are probably playing a bit over their heads. With the 2–1 win Thursday, they’ve scored 190 runs (seventh in the AL) and allowed 189 (also seventh). They’re about as league-average a team as you can imagine. Derek Lowe and Jeanmar Gomez have pitched extremely well, and once the Indians get a lead, they keep it — they’re now 10–2 in one-run games.
This is far different from the way the Tribe ran out to their big lead in 2011 — by the end of May, they were 10-8 in one-run games, but 9-5 in games won by at least five runs.
That was an illusion, obviously. This year could be as well; the Tigers still have a fine pitching staff and plenty of firepower in their lineup, though it hasn’t been much in evidence to date. Detroit has scored fewer runs than Cleveland (186 after Thursday’s loss), something they surely didn’t expect when they added Prince Fielder to a lineup that finished fourth in the AL in 2011 with 787 runs. With the weather warming up, more run-scoring seems destined to follow.So, Indians fans, enjoy this while you can. The Tigers are well-positioned to make the same kind of run they had in 2011.
Cameron is also pessimistic, albeit about Detroit’s chances:
Even if we didn’t adjust our expectations for this Tigers team down at all due to their slow start, asking them to play at a 93 win pace is no small task, and realistically, some of the struggles the team has had reveal flaws that suggest that Detroit isn’t as good as they were thought to be before the season began. Without Alex Avila and Jhonny Peralta hitting at All-Star levels, this offense just isn’t the juggernaut that it was expected to be, and the pitching is getting betrayed by lousy defensive support.
The Tigers can still win the AL Central, but the early advantage that the Indians have built suggests that they should no longer be expected to come out on top. Cleveland is now the team to beat in that division.
Both seem to agree that the White Sox, currently in second place, the Royals, and the Twins are not serious threats for the top spot.
The New York Daily News reports that the Yankees might be on the market in the near future:
Rumors are flying in Major League Baseball and New York banking circles that the family that has owned Major League Baseball’s premiere franchise since Cleveland shipbuilder George Steinbrenner purchased the club for $8.8 million in 1973 is exploring the possibility of selling the Yankees.
Multiple baseball and finance sources told the Daily News they are hearing that the team the Steinbrenner family has led to seven World Series titles could be put on the block in the wake of the record sale price of $2.175 billion the Los Angeles Dodgers went for in April.
“There has been chatter all around the banking and financial industries in the city for a couple of weeks now,” one high-level baseball source told The News. Read more:
Alas, the organization’s brass publicly rejects the idea.
Yankee president Randy Levine adamantly denied the rumors: “I can say to you there is absolutely, positively nothing to this. The Steinbrenners are not selling the team.”
Sports Illustrated has a story about Randy Moss’s newly discovered commitment to teamwork and practice. The 49ers believe that he’s a changed man and will be a model teammate.
Maybe. Moss has mixed results in new environments. He tanked in Oakland, but thrived in New England (at least for a while). The 49ers, though, don't have the same kind of leadership that the Patriots had. Tom Brady is and was the unquestioned leader of the team, and Bill Belichick has never been the kind of coach who allows insubordination. San Francisco isn't dysfunctional like the 2005 and 2006 Raiders, but adding the wrong player could change things. The 49ers had a good season last year -- a few dumb plays separated them from a Super Bowl berth. But it's not clear they can absorb Moss as well as the Pats did.
Still, it's worth the risk. Randy Moss, by all accounts, is in good shape. Sure, he hasn't played since 2010, he's getting up there in years, and he seems to have lost a step -- worrisome for a player who's never been known as a versatile route runner. But he is still Randy Moss! He can stretch the field, he has exceptional length, and few receivers are as good around the ball. The 49ers don't need him to be the same receiver who caught 23 touchdowns in 2007. Michael Crabtree, the 49ers' top wide receiver last year, totaled only 874 receiving yards and four receiving TDs. (Tight end Vernon Davis led the team with six.) Even a 35-year-old Randy Moss can improve on that.
The only real question is: Will he behave himself?
Miami took it to the Pacers in a blowout victory last night and seemed to take out a little frustration in the process. After Game 3, the media (including yours truly) went to town questioning the Heat’s ability to gut it out against a physical Pacers team. Well, the Heat are back on track, one game from putting the Pacers away, and their two megastars are firing on all cylinders.
The role players on the Heat put on a pretty tough facade in Game 5, with a few flagrant fouls as well. Udonis Haslem put the hammer down on Tyler Hansborough, perhaps as payback for the head injury Haslem sustained in Game 4 and/or as payback for the flagrant that Hansborough levied on Dwyane Wade just seconds earlier.
This was not a good move on Haslem’s part. With Chris Bosh out, Haslem has been the Heat’s best role player. The above foul probably should have been a flagrant-two foul — since, unlike Hansborough, Haslem made no play for the ball as he was hammering the shooter — and the NBA might review this and suspend Haslem for a game or two. That could have a major impact on the Heat’s ability to surround James and Wade with enough skill to have an easy victory.
Later in the game there was an incident between a few bench scrubs. Dexter Pittman came in with a hard elbow on Lance Stephenson during a rebound. This also might have been in retaliation for Stephenson’s bench behavior from Game 3. Pittman is going to get a multi-game suspension for this one. Not that it matters a whole lot — Pittman has only played a few minutes in the playoffs — but it betrays a lack of class on the part of the Heat.
There’s a fine line between playing tough, protecting your stars, and taking cheap shots. The Heat took some cheap shots in Game 5. If they survive the Pacers and meet the Celtics in the Eastern Finals, they might find out what that difference is.
What are the odds of a fan ending up with back-to-back home run balls . . . while perched in the packed bleachers of the Great American Ballpark? Is it in the millions? Billions?
Anyway, congratulations to Reds fan Caleb Lloyd:
The Thomas More junior said he didn’t keep either ball he caught in left field.
“I gave the Cozart one to my buddy whose uncle actually got us the tickets, so I gave it to him because he’s the reason that I’m here,” Lloyd said after the game. “And then the Leake ball, I gave it back because it was Leake’s first ever Major League home run, so I decided to give it back.”
Lloyd had never caught a home run ball before Monday’s game. He caught the second ball after it bounced around in the stands while the first one was still in his hand.
Drew Stubbs then hit a third consecutive home run for the Reds. However, that ball landed in center field.
Lloyd will speak to the media before Tuesday night’s game at 7:10 p.m. He will also serve as honorary captain and deliver the Reds’ game card prior to the game.
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