I thought I would try to watch an Indians game again, well at least more than a couple innings even if it got to the usual 6-1 opponent lead by the third inning. So far as I’m writing this the Indians bats have come alive and they are leading 8-3, but it’s wayyyyyy early. There is still that thing called the bullpen waiting in the wings. I’m guessing win or lose the Indians and A’s players will want to escape from Progressive Field like smooth criminals before the MJ tribute fireworks show starts.

Here are some things that caught my script, and after this season, black and blue “I”:

-There is still some incentive to watch Indians games. STO is giving away Browns tickets during the Oakland series.

-It’s weird to see Jason Giambi on this A’s team. He’s not the star he once was but in my opinion he’s literally and figuratively too big for a small market team like Oakland, he looks out of place.

-To a lesser extent, the same can be said for Nomar Garciaparra.

-Changing gears a bit, good news for Columbus Blue Jackets fans as Rick Nash signed an 8 year, $62.4 million extension to remain in C-Bus earlier today.

-The am/pm and ESPN voice-over guys must be related in some way.

The Eric Wedge and Mark Shapiro era in Cleveland can be summed up pretty well from the well-known quotation from Charles Dickens "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". The Cleveland Indians were up 3-1 on the Boston Red Sox in the 2007 ALCS and looked poised to win their first championship since 1948. The Tribe pulled a major league choke job and lost the next 3 games, falling in the series to the eventual World Series Champs. It had at one time looked like the Indians would take the mantle as one of the top American League teams for years to come.

Artwork by Tom Galmarini. Click image to view larger.

Watching the Indians lately is liking going into something knowing in advance it’s going to give you a migraine but you continue with it anyway. With aspirin in hand, I’m ready to watch game three of the “Ohio Cup”. I haven’t heard of a worse cup since the Apple Cup between Washington and Washington State. Today is game one without Mark DeRosa, who was acquired from the Cubs in the off season for three pitchers, then later traded to the Cardinals for a pitcher and a player to be named later? Makes sense when pitching has been the weakest part of your club right?

Some things that caught my script “I”:

-Nice to see Asdrubal Cabrera back in the lineup, and he picks up where he left off with a leadoff single.

-This Reds team has one pretty good hitter, an ok 2nd baseman, a supposed “can’t miss” prospect hitting .213 and a bunch of Triple A filler, and yet they hit around Tribe pitching as if they were the Philadelphia Phillies.

-Other than Fill The House for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the other Fill The House dates for charities, I urge fans not to go see this horrendous team until changes are made, let Dolan sit and spin on that.

Interleague foes have led to interleague woes for the Tribe this year. Coming into tonight’s game vs. Cincinnati, the Indians are 4-11 vs. National League opponents. One good thing going into tonight, this Reds lineup doesn’t look the least intimidating on paper, minus Joey Votto, it’s nothing to write home about. Then again, neither is ours!

Some things that caught my script “I” during the game, today, or from recent happenings:

-If you’ve gotten a negative vibe in my writing lately, you’re correct. I really don’t have too much good to say about the Indians and I probably won’t until there are upper and field level management changes, but I will still give credit where credit is due to individual players and I still want to see this team win games.

-Brandon Phillips is on pace for 100 RBI’s this year. (See http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=89823427695&ref=ts)

-One commercial that’s gotten on my nerves for awhile now that finally needs mentioning is the Continental Airlines one where they compare adding new planes to their fleet as if they were newborn babies. And not to mention the woman saying it is almost as annoying as Flo from Progressive.

Since I live in the Youngstown television market, I also get FSN Pittsburgh on my cable package, so tonight I’m going to mix things up a bit. Tonight I’m going to watch the game on FSN Pittsburgh and give you a perspective through the eyes of Bob Walk and Tim Neverett, the Pirates tv announcers for tonight’s game. I thought it would be interesting to see what they had to say about the Tribe throughout the game, and what FSN Pittsburgh does a little differently than STO.
Some things that caught my script “I”:

-Bob Walk was pretty complimentary to Grady Sizemore. He said despite the low average this year, he’s a great overall player/athlete when healthy. That’s debatable if you want to factor in average and high strikeouts, but here’s hoping he finds his stroke.

-There was a fan on the right side of home plate wearing a “Irate fan” t-shirt, the t-shirts fans that tried to protest the Pirates losing ways by leaving a game in the 3rd inning a couple years back wore. I almost forgot about that til I saw that shirt.

The Cleveland Indians have acquired Jose Veras from the New York Yankees in a trade today. In exchange for Veras, the Tribe will send cash to the Yankees who had sent the 28 year old to the minors last week.

"We're just looking to try to continue to get better," manager Eric Wedge said. "We're trying to find a combination that works. [Veras] has experience and has a pretty good arm. So we'll go from there."

The Indians are desperately trying to repair a bullpen which has blown leads on a nearly nightly basis recently.

Veras is a 6 foot 5 right hander and weighs 230 pounds. In 106 games at the MLB level he has an 8-4 record with a 4.43 ERA. He has struggled this year with an ERA of nearly 6.

The Cleveland Indians and Direct Energy have announced a new contest. The news release states:

Through Direct Energy's Front Row Friday contest, participants can enter for a chance to win four front-row seats to one of three Friday games in July. The winners will be picked throughout the month of July. The prize package also includes an opportunity to check out the team during batting practice the afternoon of the game. Entrants will also get a chance to win the grand prize of six field-level dugout suite seats for the Indians vs. Royals game on Friday, September 11. The grand prize winner will be picked in August.

"Direct Energy knows how passionate Ohioans are about their sports teams, and we're happy to be able to offer this rare opportunity to Indians fans," said Mike Beck, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Direct Energy - a supplier of natural gas to over 250,000 consumers throughout the state. "We wouldn't be here without the support of Ohio consumers, so this is just one way we want to say thank-you."

You can enter win at the official website of the contest or at the following team shops:

Well so much for my 7-2 homestand prediction. The Indians will have to win this game just to go over .500 at 5-4. Every time I say something positive the Indians give me two reasons to be negative. Carl Pavano is suddenly terrible, and the bullpen has been atrocious again. The offense is averaging 8.5 runs a game vs. the Brewers in the frist two games of the series and has won neither.

I’m not a huge fan of Eric Wedge or Mark Shapiro for that matter and I’ve been trying to give Wedge the benefit of the doubt lately. But one thing that is really starting to infuriate me is the lineup inconsistency. Even before all the injuries, it was almost a different lineup with guys in different positions every night.

Mel Hall, who roamed the outfield for the Cleveland Indians in the mid-to-late 80's and was one of the most feared batters on the team of that found era, learned his fate after being guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl he coached on a basketball team. The 48 year will spend at least 22 1/2 years behind bars with the maximum of 45 years if he is not granted parole.

Prosecutor Kim D'Avignon said after sentencing:

"We believe that the verdict does on some level show that the jury understood,'' adding. "They looked in these girls' eyes and said this is worth 40 years, and we agree with them.''

Hall played thirteen seasons in the Major Leagues with his best years coming with the Indians and New York Yankees.