End Of The Indians As We Know It

With the trading away of Victor Martinez today, coupled with the Cliff Lee trade of two days ago, the Indians have officially traded away fans and any excitement towards the team for the foreseeable future. What is really frustrating is that they traded Lee away for no major leaguers and not even the top prospect in the Phillies organization. What we got in return is Jason Knapp, an 18 year old pitcher that is ALREADY shut down for the rest of the year with right shoulder soreness (apparently the key to the deal), Carlos Carrasco, a 22 year old pitcher with a 5.18 ERA in Triple A Lehigh Valley, 23 year old catcher Lou Marson (a top catching prospect I'm told), and 24 year old shortstop Jason Donald whose batting .236 with one homer and 16 RBI for Triple A Lehigh Valley after just returning from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee. Let's review: Trading last year's Cy Young winner and your ace for a guy that is shut down for the remainder of the season, another who is coming off an injury to his knee, a pitcher with a high ERA in Triple A, and ANOTHER catcher. Now, as far as the Marinez trade is concerned, they AT LEAST got a pitcher that has pitched in the majors, with success, in Justin Masterson. What I don't like about this is the fact that they probably could have resigned him next year if they were to pony up the money to do so. You just lost a leader on your team and arguably your best and most clutch hitter. I just hope that management, especially the Dolans, understand that by cutting salary and trading away most of your best players, expect not to draw fans this year or next because you're not going to win and no one is going to know who the hell is taking the field. Also understand that AT SOME POINT in the next couple of years, you will have to SPEND MONEY if you want to win anything. All I keep hearing is that "we'll spend money when the time is right" and we want to make decisions that are "financially prudent at this junction". That is a bunch of BS. I would have a little more respect for you if you were to come out and publicly say that this is only a business to you and you don't care about winning but only about making money. Newsflash: You tend to make money when you win. I truly wonder if the Dolans are aware of this. With these last two moves, I feel they don't. I worry that, with the constant firesale of proven, quality, players that fans will start to become apathetic towards this team and when that happens, it can take years for fans to come back. Granted, I am only 23 years old, but this is one of the saddest days in Indians history that I can remember.

Remember Dick Jacobs

RIP Mr. Jacobs.

He may have been the best owner that this city has ever seen. He single handidly revitalized the city of Cleveland by leading the construction of Gateway. He was responisble for building Jacobs Field, The Gund Arena, and bringing hundreds of new buisnesses to create a welcoming area for Cleveland Sports and entertainment.

Mr. Jacobs bought a sorry Cleveland Indians franchise in the mid 1980's for a whopping $40 million and turned around to sell it in 2000 for the huge profit of $200+ million. He revitalized this team and city by constructing the most beautiful baseball field in the MLB and putting a team on the field that I grew up to love. He brought in players like Baerga, Sorrento, Lofton, El Presidente, Belle, Thome, Ramirez, Kent, Williams, Hersheiser, Grisom, Justice, Robbie and Sandy Alomar, Murray, Mesa, Plunk, Assenmacher, Wright, and the list goes on and on. With these players he brought this city a winning atmosphere that no life-long Cleveland fan could have ever imagined!

He built a winning tradition from 1994-2000 that produced 5 straight Central Division Titles, 2 American League Pennants, and a team that was within 1 out of winning the World Series for the first time since 1948. Most importantly he built a tradition that translated into a MLB record 455 straight home sell-outs. It was almost impossible to get a ticket for that place.

I was lucky enought to meet Mr. Jacobs in 1996 during the a home ALCS game against Baltimore. My dad was lucky enough to get club seats for that game and that meant we got to take the elevator up to our seats. As I was standing in the elevator I looked over and Mr. Jacobs was standing right there. (Gapa loves when I randomly meet Ohio sport legions) My dad introduced us and he was the nicest guy ever. He asked me if I was having a great time and he was kind enough to sign my ticket. That ticket sits on my sports mantle to this day as a great memory. That was the kind of owner that he was. He always put the fan first!

I only wish that Mr. Jacobs would have never sold that team to Larry Dolan. He hasn't held true to Mr. Jacobs thought of doing whatever it takes to win a World Series for this team. Plus he took away the greatest stadium name ever. It will always be Jacobs Field in my eyes and we will always refer to it as "The Jake".

Thank you for everything Mr. Jacobs. I have you to thank for so many great Cleveland Indian memories. Hopefully you and Herb will look over us and bring us that World Series that we need so badly!

Why You Never Leave Early!!!

YES...that is my friend Matt's boy, Victor Martinez. Probably the only good player on the Cleveland Indians despite his recent 0-18 slide. But, I'll get back to him in a minute.

As you all may know I am a die hard Cleveland sports fan (my father brainwashed me) and an even bigger Cleveland Indians fan. I know I should be complaining about the Cavaliers but I don't want to cry.

This season for the Indians has just been plain awful but we may have just witnessed the only glimmer of enjoyment that can come from this 162 game marathon. Luckily, I was there to witness it and I'm glad that I followed my rule of never EVER leaving a game early because of how down and out of it my team seems to be.

Let me give you a little history. I have been to games where they were losing 14-0 in the second inning and thought that there was a glimmer of hope that they would win when they hit back-to-back solo homers in the bottom of the 9th. (Gapa knows the look) I've been to games where they blew leads and went down 8 in the 8th and thought that there could be a miracle. As a fan it is our duty to stick it out and watch the BAD games because you always know that the baseball gods are looking out for you and will give you a gem to remember.

One of my favorites was back in the 90's, AKA the Glory Days, when we were down 1 going into the bottom of the 9th. I looked up at the scoreboard and saw Ramirez and Thome due up and knew that something special was about to take place because of course it was Thome bobblehead day. Ramirez comes up and just jacks the hell out of ball to tie the game. The crowd was going nuts and everyone knew what Thome was going to do. He came up and sent all of us home with probably the most memorable walk-off that I will ever witness.

Two years ago I thought I was witnessing a team of destiny like the Indians of the 90's. We were down 4 in the bottom of the ninth to those pain in the ass Tigers. We couldn't hit the ball if our lives depended on it and I wanted to leave so badly becasue I was pissed. I was sitting there with Gapa and V-Chuck and one of them called the victory just being stupid. With our luck, Todd Jones was pitching and he sucks haha. We came back to tie it up and had a guy on second. Then comes up David Dellucci, who I still can not believe that he is still on this team. He rips a single up the middle to score the winning run and caps off the biggest hit of his life.

This past Memorial Day was one of those games where you're sitting in the stands as a die-hard and you're asking your self why you are sitting there watching an awful baseball team down 10-0 in the 3rd. You're also saying to yourself that you're happy you only spent $8 for that garbage. Well, I was sitting there pissed off and ready to leave, but I couldn't. They started to creep back into it with 2 runs and then 2 more in the 8th to cut it to 10-4. The 9th inning comes along and I am just hoping for a quicky because I'm tired and ready to go.

There were probably only about 5,000 people left in the stadium and they had to all have the same feelings as me. A guy sitting next to me was joking that they were coming going to come back and win this thing. I didn't believe it and became memorized by a guy's shirt in front of me that said "It Will Always Be Called The Jake" (I have a picture of it on my phone if you want it.)

All of a sudden Tampa Bay forgot that there was something called a strike zone and they were giving up walks and hits as easily as AROD gives it up to Jeter. Then Matt's boy Victor comes up with 2 outs, a tie game, an 0-18 skid and puts a line drive single up the middle to score the winning run capping off a 7 run 9th to win 11-10.

The Jake just simply exploded like we had won the World Series and the players celebrated on the field like they had just won it too! Wedge actually showed emotion by standing on the field clapping. Tampa players walked off the field with their heads down. People were hugging complete strangers. Hands were slapping everywhere and someone may have slapped my ass. People were even honking their horns outside! It was AWESOME!!!!

So, this season may be a total waste, but at least they made a moment that will live on in my memories forever. It will always reassure me that there is a reason why I never leave a game early, no matter the circumstances. I know that the baseball gods have paid there debts and now I will have to sit through 10 more blow-outs to have one of those games, but it will surely be worth it. Just never leave early because you never want to be the guy the next morning that says "Well I was there but I didn't see the comeback becasue I left early"

Tribe Time Sucks

They Suck! 14-25 is absolutely inexcusable and something needs to be done about it.

Eric Wedge needs to be eliminated immediately. He doesn't know when to make pitching moves, he doesn't know when to play small ball, he doesn't motivate his players, he believes in the stupidest platoon system ever, he lets Dellucci play, he doesn't know how to give a worth while interview, and most importantly he doesn't grow out the dictator 'stache.

This team is underachieving almost as bad as the 2008 Cleveland Indians did after the collapse in the 2007 ALCS against Boston. (We all know what happened there and don't need to relive it). This team made the appropriate moves of solidifying the back-end of the bullpen with Kerry Wood. They got an unproven 5th starter in Carl Pavano who I believe could be solid. The signing of DeRosa was a solid improvement over Blake. Maybe that's why Wedge is off his game because Blake isn't there to hold him at all times.

The offense should be a good RIDICULOUS and in reality they are a BAD ridiculous. Grady Sizemore strikes out more than I do with woman on a regular basis. Travis Hafner just plain sucks and couldn't hit a baseball unless there is a needle sticking out of his ass. Peralta might need to get a refund on his lasic eye surgery because it is not helping him hit the ball. Booger might hit the ball worse than a kindergarten kid hitting off a tee with his dad helping him swing the bat.

I may have just bashed this team, but unlike my good friend Steve Gapa I am NOT giving up on this team until they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. He gave up on them on May 11th, that is just plain insane. Remember we play in the AL Central and with a 14-25 record we are only 7.5 out. That's a good and bad Ridiculous.