That's Just The Way It Is, Baby

Looks like a few of my recent twenty questions were answered over the last couple of weeks, eh?

Despite a few misgivings I had with the idea going into last weekend (all of them to do with the present state of the team), my brother and I took in a Tribe game this past Thursday, and it was a corker: the Cleveland Indians held the slap-hitting Minnesota Twins to 1 run while managing to score just 2 of their own. This was the kind of tense match up where every pitch and every runner could be the difference in the game (the best kind there is, really), and we had a great time.

Normally this narrow margin of victory does not hold up over nine innings in such a hellish parody of expectations as this season has been, yet the Tribe somehow prevailed. As rickety as it looked at times, Fausto Carmona's second major league start since being sent all the way down to Arizona ball two months ago was better overall than I could have expected, though he's still walking far too many batters for my liking. The difference now is that Carmona doesn't seem to rattle as easily as he did before, and he now appears to have reacquired the ability to limit damage when base runners are in scoring position (Minnesota's only run for the game was scored on a wild pitch) without throwing an extra dozen pitches in order to do so. Carmona may not be the invincible, unhittable phenom he was in 2007 anymore, but this is absolutely an improvement on his early season form.

The bigger story here is that the team that we watched last Thursday afternoon was not quite the same club we saw barely two weeks before. First baseman Ryan Garko, pitcher Carl Pavano, outfielder Ben Francisco, relief pitcher Rafael Betancourt, pitcher Cliff Lee, and catcher Victor Martinez (arguably the heart and soul of the team, and in many peoples eyes the true face of the Cleveland Indians) are gone now, mostly traded away for desperately needed pitching prospects after the Indians front office was forced once again to look towards the future in realization that the present just ain't gonna fly. While the pace of retooling may have slowed since the hectic end of July, the surprise recent move of Pavano (ironically, to the Twins) signals that we're not quite through with moving assets around just yet. It definitely wouldn't surprise me to see other players such as Kelly Shoppach, Jhonny Peralta and Jamey Carroll dealt in the off-season, if not before.

I have no desire to see Eric Wedge at the helm of this team at the start of the next season and I have serious misgivings with various aspects/levels/tenets of General Manager Mark Shapiro's organization, yet I do not believe that these moves were made lightly and with any malicious or lunk-headed intention. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the last two weeks on a personal level is the apparent belief by many fans that I talk to at work that Shapiro, Wedge and team owner Larry Dolan are simply "being cheap" and refusing to put a decent team on the field for whatever nefarious conspiracy-minded reason sounds good at the time.

Incredibly, local columnists, talk show hosts and sports desk anchors feed into this simplistic ignorance of reality rather than actually try to explain why these trades had to happen. I'm not sure of the reasons behind this decision to pander to the mob: it's not like this is discussing neurosurgery and you don't need a master's degree in business to figure out that most of major league baseball is being held in a financial headlock by the 5 teams at the upper end of the financial pyramid. These teams are able to use their vast resources to cherry pick their future starters from the remaining 25 clubs, all of whom are forced to rely on smarts, guile, timing and not a little bit of luck to put together what they hope are contending teams on a comparatively shoestring budget (and hoping to God they don't have to write off the inevitable busts, which is nowhere near as easy for a small-to-mid-market team as it is for Boston, Chicago or New York).

It is this frustration with the misdirected vitriol of the fans that has spurred me to write about the current economic state of major league baseball in the hope of at least instilling some basic understanding of why "it is what it is" (as the players are so fond of saying). It's okay to be mad: hell, I'm furious over losing Martinez (the closest thing to a hero I've had over the last few years) for lack of anywhere to put him and being stuck with 3 more seasons of Travis Hafner instead, but fans need to be focusing their anger at the system instead of the people doing the best they can to work within its boundaries.

Fans are at least partially correct on the "spend the money and win" angle: with only a few exceptions, the teams with the most dosh to spend are the ones who usually wind up in the postseason. These teams may not always win it all, sure (just ask the New York Yankees, who in of the rare instances of poetic justice in modern life, have spent over a billion dollars since their last World Series title and still have no follow-ups to show for it), but they can certainly get most of the way there before letting the dice fall where they may.

The top 10 pro baseball teams by 2009 payroll, preceded by payroll amount in millions, and followed by their current standings (sourced from ESPN):

1. 201.5 New York Yankees (#1 AL East)
2. 135.8 New York Mets (#4 NL East. Ow.)
3. 135.0 Chicago Cubs (#2 NL Central)
4. 122.7 Boston Red Sox (#2 AL East. 6 games behind NY)
5. 115.1 Detroit Tigers (#1 AL Central)
6. 113.7 Los Angeles Angels (#1 AL West)
7. 113.0 Philadelphia Phillies (#1 NL East)
8. 103.0 Houston Astros (#3 NL Central. Whoops.)
9. 100.5 Los Angeles Dodgers (#1 NL West)
10. 98.9 Seattle Mariners (#3 AL West)

The only team at the top of its division that is not listed above is the NL Central St. Louis Cardinals, who are 13th on the list with 88.5 million (that said, the Cubs trail them by only 2 games). The Cleveland Indians, for the sake of noting, are 15th on the list with a 2009 payroll of 81.6 million, which only further underlines just how badly they have underperformed this year.

Many fair-weather Indians fans have been screaming themselves hoarse over the last 2 weeks, proclaiming that they are "through" with the team and that they "never going to another game again" and sundry other expressions of disgust, blaming the Dolans (and/or Shapiro and Wedge) for the sinking attendance numbers at Progressive Field games this year. Apparently, many of these fans have failed to notice that the Indians have ranked near the bottom of the league in attendance totals for some time now, averaging only 22,500 people per game this year in a stadium that can seat twice that amount. Even during the magical 2007 season, the Tribe's first playoff berth in six years, attendance only really surged over the last two months of the regular season campaign, when it was clear that the Tribe were post-season contenders. Even considering that the team made it to within one game of the World Series, 2007's year-end attendance rating was still 9th in the American League with about 28,500 per game (the ranking was the same last year, though the per-game figure was closer to 27,000). While these numbers are, incidentally, improvements over the rebuilding years of 2003 and 2004, it can be safely extrapolated that even with a contending squad on the field, the glory years of 455 consecutive sold-out games are long gone, not to mention the once-surging local economy that powered that impressive statistic.

Attendance and merchandise sales are vital parts of any club's revenue stream, but the real separator over the last decade has been cable television networks, and the cold demographic realities of advertising and subscription revenue is what truly weeds out the men (New York, Boston and Los Angeles) from the boys (everyone else). Ever since the Atlanta Braves started pulling in big money from revenues generated by team owner Ted Turner's cable station WTBS in the early 1980s followed by ESPN's acquisition of broadcast rights at the dawn of the 1990s, the transition of baseball away from broadcast stations has gathered speed to the point now where one can hardly ever see a baseball game outside of cable television. While the popularity of the sport may have waned over the years, a lot of people still watch baseball games at home (or at the bar) rather than attend the games in person (certainly a lot of disgruntled Indians fans do this, judging by their posts to various discussion forums), and if baseball owners were to get a cut of the fees people gladly put up for cable/satellite TV packages, it stands to reason that there is an awful lot of money to be made.

Eventually, many cities with big league sports teams launched their own regional sports networks (a kind of homer mini-ESPN, in effect), and the combined revenues/subscriber fees from those networks could then be used to fund operations, pay salaries, obtain free agents, et cetera. With at least 162 games played by each team annually, most of them lasting three hours in duration, baseball quickly became the dominant sport (read: "cash cow") of the RSNs. For many smaller teams, these networks offer at least some measure of financial competition with the mega markets ... but when you're comparing the audience cume of, say, Tampa Bay with that of the New York City metropolitan area, "some" is nowhere near enough.

Just how unequal is this distribution of newfound wealth? According to Forbes magazine:

"For the 2008 season the Yankees received $80 million in rights fees from YES (note: the team's RSN, launched in 2002), more than double the local cable revenue of every team but the Angels and the New York Mets, who earned $52 million through its RSN, SportsNet New York. In fact, it was more than the entire media revenue (both national and local) of all but six teams: the Mets, Atlanta Braves, Dodgers, Cubs, Angels and Red Sox."

Another revelation from the same article: Cleveland's own haul from their SportsTime Ohio isn't listed among the Top 10 in baseball (even the Washington Nationals make more from their RSN, for Christ's sake!).

Things were bad enough with disparity ten years ago, now they seem to be getting completely out of hand. Without some form of revenue sharing or (only slightly more realistically) a salary cap, it's difficult at best to imagine how these financial imbalances will ever keep from hobbling five out of every six teams in baseball to the benefit of the remaining sixth.

What has to happen in order to force a change towards a level playing field? A strike? Who, exactly, is going to strike over this? Certainly not the players, whose union would gladly shut down the game instead over any agreement that might drive the ludicrous salaries of the game's biggest names down rather than up. While I'd love to imagine long-suffering baseball fans across the heartland states finally realizing they've been ranting at the wrong people for the reasons why their middle-market team hands over all of the best players to the coastal organizations, what would they actually do about it? Unsubscribe en masse from cable television? Cease going to ballgames? Oh wait, they already did that. Uhhh, large demonstrations outside of said ballparks in an attempt to reach those who are still going and teach them the error of their ways? Sure, yeah, but come on man there's a Cavs game on tonight ...

So, that leaves it up to the owners. Well, some of the owners, anyway. I don't see Theo Epstein or the Steinbrenner Brothers ever assenting to an agreement that would theoretically erase their biggest advantage over the rest of the league. So, would the owners of the bottom dozen teams come together and bar their teams from playing until a fairer system can be hammered out, in effect holding the entire season hostage? I suppose this stunt has some element of plausibility, but also seems extremely unlikely. So much for the owners. Barring some kind of sea-change of incalculable magnitude from within or outside the sport (or a major redrawing and redistribution of the current luxury tax system as it affects the sport's payroll), the playing field looks to remain tilted for the foreseeable future. Insert pithy "ain't that life" remark here.

Bah. All of this is a bunch of crap that proves nothing, the fans reply. The Dolan's need to step aside and sell the team to someone who is not afraid to spend some money so that we can compete with the big guys.

OK, first off, what billionaire is going to be the prospective buyer of an overvalued baseball team (Dolan bought the Indians from the late Dick Jacobs at a quite-frankly ridiculous price) that has just announced that it will be losing sixteen million dollars this year? Who is supposed to buy this team and then just toss a hundred million dollars into the wind and see what happens, even though the club doesn't draw consistently (even when performing well), and hasn't since the end of the last century? Anyone? Anyone?

Even if the most fevered dreams of Dolan haters came true and Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert decided to add a baseball team to his portfolio, what reasons does anyone have to believe that Gilbert intends to spend money willy-nilly when the economic realities of major league baseball have very little in common with those of professional basketball? This is what it all comes down to, people: like it or not, owning a baseball team is a business proposition and the owners (and shareholders, if applicable) intend to profit from their venture, and you don't profit by spending freely when there is no hope for a return on your investment. Therefore, unless the underlying money is there (and it is not here for reasons I detailed above), literally no one outside of the Red Sox, Mets or Yankees can afford to pay C.C. Sabathia 23 million dollars a year for six years or drop fifty million dollars into the toilet just for the right to take a look at Daisuke Matsuzaka's pitching (nevermind actually signing him). Hell, the Yankees pay 5 players on their squad a total of 106 million dollars a year (this is more than the total payrolls of 22 other clubs). So. Anyone out there know of any prospective owners who feel like matching that out of their own pocket (since it sure isn't coming from anywhere else)?

Oh, before we move on, there is one last little fact that gets lost in all of the back and forth: the Dolan's actually spent 3 million more on payroll this year than they did in 2008, and nearly twenty million more this year than in 2007 (this despite the relatively low upswing in attendance in 2007 and subsequent drop in 2008). So much for being "cheap" ...

While the loss of so many familiar (and trusted) faces is crushing for those who regularly follow the Tribe, it's also an exciting time as the Indians roster is presently overrun with kids now jockeying for position on the Opening Day roster for the 2010 season. Among these new faces: catcher Wyatt Toregas is getting an extended look while Shoppach is given some time off (ostensibly to regather his swing), super-utility man Chris Gimenez will play at odd spots around the diamond (as well as behind the plate when the need arises), Andy Marte will man first base, and Trevor Crowe will patrol left field while occasionally spotting Grady Sizemore (whom I suppose has now become the undisputed face of the Indians) in center. These new names may not have the effortless grace and presence of seasoned veterans, but they play with heart, they've greatly improved the team's speed on the base paths, and they all have something to prove.

While the full impact of all the recent trades may not be known in most cases for a few years yet, there have been a couple of optimistic portents visible at the major league level thus far. First and foremost, the performance of Justin Masterson in two appearances has already made some people feel a little bit better about the Martinez trade. Masterson, acquired from the Boston Red Sox bullpen, made a great first impression in relief and then again in an abbreviated start as he is gradually stretched into the Indians' starting rotation. Also showing considerable promise is fireballing reliever Chris Perez, who was acquired last month in the Mark DeRosa trade and is just now being summoned into games in high-leverage situations.

So, the Indians' 2009 season continues to play itself out in a relentless march to Boston in the first week of October. Perhaps the Indians will continue their expected post-All Star Break winning tear and finish the season with a .500 record as they did in 2008 (hey, how about we move the break into May next year so these guys can at least have a fighting chance of contending by early August?). Maybe there will be some good news concerning the rocky rehabilitation of Jake Westbrook and the continuing, evolving Rorschach Test that is Travis Hafner. Maybe Eric Wedge will (finally) be let go in the off-season in lieu of someone like Red Sox pitching coach (and ex-Indian) John Farrell. While we won't be looking forward to October once again, we still have at least some reason to keep listening or watching, as frustrating as this year has been.

Finally, I'd like to offer a few words for a couple of dearly departed Indians. From a pure fan standpoint, the final week of July was the worst time to be an Indians fan since possibly the end of the 2007 ALCS, if not Game 7 of the 97 World Series. Sarah wasn't happy to see Betancourt, Garko or Pavano go, but the terms of their departures were at least understandable on a gut level. The loss of Lee was a significant blow to our morale as we have lost one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, and with Jake Westbrook's future presently in a state of stomach-churning doubt, the Indians pitching staff now seems particularly rudderless for the first time in 3 or 4 years. Cliff may not have been the most personable, affable player on the team from a PR standpoint, but he was a model of staggering consistency and focus and he will be sorely missed.

At least Lee was shipped over to the National League, where I can cheer him on to beat C.C. Sabathia in the World Series this year (assuming, of course, that the Yankees can power their hefty lefty past the ALCS). Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Victor Martinez being traded to the Red Sox (the Red Sox! Jesus!), the final announcement of which was almost too much for me to bear. I could ramble on here for a long while about how much Martinez meant to the Tribe, to the fans, and to Cleveland itself, but there are others (such as Jay, Andrew and Ryan over at Let'sgotribe) who did an incredible job of delving into the enormity of this loss from all angles, so I'll link you to their work instead. Believe me, these guys express far more eloquently what I cannot at this time without sounding like a big ol' sissy.

P.S.: My personal attendance record is now 17-11 (.608). Yeah, that's right. I bring victory, bitches. Someone clue the front office in and land me some season tickets. I'll do my part.

Drifting, Falling

Took in an Indians game on Sunday with Sarah, my brother, and my niece. On the plus side, it was a beautiful (if unseasonably mild) summer day with a very welcome cool breeze that kept us cool as we sat in direct sunlight for the entirety of the proceedings.

On the minus side, I forgot my camera (oops), and this was perhaps the most uninspiring game I've seen yet from this team, who managed to come back from an early deficit to tie the Seattle Mariners at 3-3, only to once again have the god damnable bullpen fritter the game away in late innings. The fact that we were starting to join in the heckling of Kerry Wood during the ninth inning should speak volumes as to just how dispiriting this season continues to be on even long-suffering masochists such as I.

Oh, and my updated win-loss attendance record: 16-11 (.593). Hmm, looks like I might want to restrict the number of games I attend this season if I wish to keep a winning percentage...

NP: Foals Antidote

From Bad To Worse: 20 Questions Concerning The Cleveland Indians

A few weeks ago, Sarah and I took in our first ball game of the year, a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. At the time, I wrote the following:

With this victory, Cleveland took the series and hopefully boosted themselves another step closer to possible contention in the American League Central.

Ha ha ha. Oh, I kill me sometimes.

Immediately following that night's win, the Cleveland Indians stopped screwing around with .500-level ball and went back to outright tanking the year: the team went a miserable 2-14 for the rest of June, returning to levels of horrifying all-around suck not last seen since, er, April. By the time Sarah and I made it to another game on July 4, the 2009 season was for all intents and purposes a lost cause. Sigh.

A bigger development this past weekend: the news came down that Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro had just guaranteed the employment of hugely unpopular head coach Eric Wedge and his staff through the end of the current season. I suppose it is currently feasible that another one of this club's patented second-half breakthroughs is only a matter of time away as this seems to be the way Wedge clubs operate. However, it is also conceivable when looking at past evidence that if the Indians perform well enough from now until the end of September, Wedge will wind up keeping his job into the 2010 season.

Quite frankly, it is exactly this possibility that upsets die-hard fans the most: we've already accepted the early end of this campaign, and we're willing to see the rest of this mess through in order to (once again) evaluate some major league-talent lurking about in AAA ball and try and rebuild for next year. That said, the mere idea of possibly having to go through all of this frustration once again next year with this same coaching staff is intolerable. Enough is enough, Shapiro: I have nothing personal against Eric Wedge, but it's time to move on. Hell, after this year, even he might agree.

Even with the speculation as to status of Wedge's job now laid to rest (for now), dozens of other questions surround this team as we head towards the All-Star Break and, eventually, the season trading deadline at the end of the month. I've listed 20 of the more pressing queries below:

With Shapiro and Wedge and the players all accepting the blame for the woes of this team, is the entire organization flawed from top to bottom?

If that is the case, should Shapiro be fired as well as Wedge at the end of this year?

If that is to be, then how long before this entire organization can be righted and set back on a winning course?

What in the hell is going on during Spring Training and why does it look like this team has drilled relentlessly on everything but actually playing baseball?

What is wrong with our much-vaunted scouting staff, particularly in regards to evaluating pitchers?

Why does this team only seem to "put it all together and hit the afterburners" during the stretch run in August when it's usually too little, too late?

With the season already in the toilet and showing very little hope of a turnaround, why is Grady Sizemore playing at all and not undergoing needed elbow surgery instead?

Will the dominating 2007 iteration of Fausto Carmona ever re-appear, or is the tentative, apparently fragile pitcher that we see on the mound in his stead all we have to look forward to until his contract is up?

While we're on the subject of Carmona, what exactly was/is being done to correct his mental and mechanical issues in Arizona and the minor leagues? Is this a Roy Halladay-style complete rebuild or a kind of double-secret rehab assignment without end?

Just how ungodly awesome is Shin-Soo Choo?

Is the return of Travis Hafner a recurrent mirage?

Who is the real Kerry Wood?

Just how bad is the news with Jake Westbrook's delayed return to regular pitching? Is this going to be one of those rare Tommy John Surgery stories where it doesn't work out in the end?

How long before Carl Pavano is dealt? Kelly Shoppach? Ryan Garko? Jamey Carroll? Ben Francisco?

How far up Eric Wedge's shit list is Jhonny Peralta and will this affect his standing (or employment) in the ballclub?

With the recent additions of Jose Veras, Winston Abreu, Mike Gosling and Chris Perez, I believe we are now on version 3.0 of the 2009 Indians bullpen. When Rafael Betancourt returns at last from the Disabled List, will he pitch again for Cleveland, or is a deal in the works?

Speaking of the bullpen and people named "Perez," is Rafael Perez in need of more time in Columbus before he can be trusted again in a tight game?

With over seventy different lineups used thus far, when will we finally see a stable, standard batting lineup from Wedge?

What will be the respective futures of superstar catcher Victor Martinez and staff ace Cliff Lee after 2010, when both become eligible for free agency (and with the likelihood of the Indians to afford what these two will be worth on the open market, will they even be on the team by the end of this year, for that matter)?

If we are to trade Lee and Martinez now or in the offseason, in what state does that leave this team in for 2010 and beyond (especially if our farm system/scouting operations are as compromised as they appear to be by a systemic tendency to focus on players of a certain personality in lieu of a certain level of ability)?

The next 4 weeks may be very interesting indeed as far as answering the trading/dealing questions is concerned. Beyond that timeframe, there will be a lot of waiting and seeing going on both in the stands and behind the scenes. How this team handles the second half of this season, whether Wedge is able to create another late surge to semi-respectability, what kind of deals Shapiro can engineer in a league currently awash in tight divisional races, all of these factors will play into the decisions that may have to be made by Indians owner Larry Dolan in the offseason. For now, Dolan is staying mum and letting things play out. Who knows, when all of this is over (one way or the other), he might not be so willing to stand pat once again.


P.S. About the only good news to be had in all of this: my new adjusted attendance record is now 16-10 (.615). Ph33r!

(Flickr): Tribe On The Warpath

What a fantastic match-up last night! Indians maestro Cliff Lee pitched a 3-hit complete game shutout (after carrying a no-hitter clear into the 8th inning) as the Tribe defeated the Cards 3-0 behind home runs from Mark DeRosa and Kelly Shoppach. With this victory, Cleveland took the series and hopefully boosted themselves another step closer to possible contention in the American League Central.

My adjusted attendance record: 15-10 (.600). Maybe I should apply for mascot.

Taking Me Out To The Ballgame

An early birthday gift for me as we're headed downtown to see my first Cleveland Indians game of the 2009 season later tonight. Even though it's technically a stupid dumb interleague game, this contest should provide a very interesting pitching match-up as Indians staff ace Cliff Lee takes on St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter before a national audience via ESPN.

I'll have more to say on this frustrating, but not entirely hopeless season in a couple of weeks. Until then, in a fit of boredom and sleeplessness (not taking any pills on the weekends is the plan for now in an attempt to draw out their effectiveness a bit), I computed my attendance win/loss record (minus one late summer game I attended in 1990 and have absolutely zero memory of) and the final results are presented below:

1995: 1 - 0
1997: 0 - 1
2006: 1 - 0
2007: 5 - 2
2008: 7 - 7

This gives me an overall record of 14-10 and a winning percentage of .583. Granted, that's not exactly a dominating number right there, but it ain't too shabby in baseball terms (especially in this year's AL Central).

I therefore conclude that tonight's game is in good hands. :)

Two Small Victories

~1~

As promised, I took an Ambien before bed time last night and slept wonderfully, though I guess getting any quality sleep would qualify as semi-miraculous after the last five days.

These pills require you to have at least eight hours of time handy to devote to uninterrupted rest, so until I get a handle on this (hopefully temporary) insomnia problem, I'll be heading to bed a bit earlier for a while in order to giving myself plenty of time to figure out if I'm gonna conk out on my own or with a bit of chemical assistance (be it in pill or organic form).

I'm not sure if it was the after-effect of the Ambien or if my internal sleep timer is still mysteriously out of sync, but I felt heavy-lidded and a tad lethargic at work this afternoon, though nowhere near as foggy-brained as I felt on Tuesday night.

~2~

The Cleveland Indians won only their second series (and their first in almost exactly a month) of the season early this afternoon against the Chicago White Sox. For a club that is playing with the worst record in all of baseball, only in the last game or so have the Indians begun to look like a team with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Pitching remains crucial to the team having any chance for a successful season, and the call-up of Jeremy Sowers to fill the fifth starter role does not look like a long-term answer to that problem (especially with proven starting commodity Aaron Laffey now working in the bullpen as the team's long relief man). On the other hand, Cliff Lee has been pitching like a man possessed over his last few starts, having fully regained his incredible 2008 form and is only now finally getting some help from the Indians offense. This team has a long way to go to reach .500, but at least there is now a glimmer of possibility.

Another Springtime In Hell With The Cleveland Indians

Nearly two years ago, following the Cleveland Indians' defeat at the hands of the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS, I took some solace in the loss to the idea that this team would be back to take another shot at a championship berth in 2008. My co-worker Jeff didn't share that optimism, and he reminded me of just how difficult it is in the game of baseball for any team to simply repeat a postseason appearance, never mind a championship. A few months later, the events of the 2008 season proved him correct, and as time goes by, I start to wonder if what we saw at the end of 2007 was a mirage and the true reality of this team lies is the surrounding years.

Jeff was more upbeat on his outlook for this year, as the run-up to the beginning of the 2009 season felt altogether different than the last few, from an extended period of spring training in the team's new facility in Goodyear, Arizona to the adjustments that had been made to address the weaknesses that had plagued the team over the previous campaign. Free-agents had been signed to shore up the perceived issues in pitching and defense, and new talent from the farm system was evaluated to build the best possible team for the new year. By Opening Day, the only true Cleveland shortcoming that could be immediately seen was the starting pitching rotation (now significantly weakened with the trade of C.C. Sabathia and the offseason Tommy John surgery to the elbow of Jake Westbrook). Once again, we are learning anew that the funny thing about baseball is just how completely wrong you always are when it comes to figuring out just how things are going to play out over a season.

So it was that I entered the 2009 season with the usual eternal optimism that afflicts us baseball fans: everyone starting off the marathon once again, anything being possible, expect the unexpected, etc. Boy, did we get it: at one month into the 2009 season, following their worst opening stretch in nearly a century, the Cleveland Indians sit dead last in the American League Central Division with a record of 8-14.

If there is one thing keeping the die-hards from standing in the middle of the Hope Memorial Bridge and staring down soulfully at the murky depths of the Cuyahoga River, it's the fact that despite the ridiculous level of hapless suck the team is exhibiting right now, the Tribe remains only a handful of games out of first place in the American League Central: across-the-board mediocrity seems to be endemic as of right now. One cannot assume this situation will last forever, of course, and I'd personally feel far better about things if the Indians can manage to finish the month of May at .500 or better ... a place this team has not been since, oh, last spring. Since there is no guarantee that stupid interleague play will be any kinder to this squad than last year's abysmal pounding, I'd like to have a little bit of cushion going before we run headlong into the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinatti Reds, thankyouverymuch.

The more things change, the more they stay the same: the Indians' offense, such as it is, remains helpless against off speed pitches and strikes out at a rate that leads the American League. Aside from the split series against the hated New York Yankees at their shiny new billionaire's bandbox, the Indians have scuffled at the plate, often struggling to produce even a single run with bases loaded and less than 2 out.

Not all is lost in this department: Victor Martinez has been batting nearly .400 and is certainly making up for time lost to injury in 2008, while Asdrubal Cabrera has found his swing again and is spraying singles and doubles all over the outfield. Travis Hafner, despite recently being added once again to the Disabled List, showed tantalizing glimpses of his past Pronk-like glory for a couple of weeks. On the whole, Cleveland batters have been patient and exacting at the plate, wearing down starting pitching early and drawing nearly 100 walks, which leads the league. That said, perhaps the batters have been a little too patient: the Indians' batting average with runners in scoring position has been abysmal, and coupled with the previously mentioned strikeout rate, has left the team hard pressed to come up with runs in the clutch, let alone at any other time, unless they happen to be blasted out of the yard.

After a disastrous start, Cleveland's starting pitching has at least gathered itself into a semblance of its usual form. The victories are mixed: on one hand, staff ace Cliff Lee has started to draw a bead on the form that led him to 22 victories in 2008, while the arguably more-talented Fausto Carmona remains maddeningly inconsistent and well short of his 19-game- winning 2007 form. Elsewhere, Anthony Reyes has managed to pull off a shaky kind of Paul Byrd-like highwire act, while sinkerballer Aaron Laffey and off-season signing Carl Pavano (of all people) have been the most consistently dependable starters to date.

Perhaps the biggest issue currently facing the Indians is the terrifying performance of their bullpen, particularly the once-trustworthy duo of lefty Rafael Perez and Jensen Lewis, who became our default closer in the second half of 2008. Even more so than the first half of last year's campaign, the bullpen has been a model of consistency in the category of "fail" since Opening Day. Perhaps the most glaring statistic I can put on the table: the bullpen has given up nearly 30 runs in the 8th innings so far this season (which is a hell of lot considering we have not yet played 30 games yet). The back end of the equation has also been a bit wobbly, with $20 million dollar closer Kerry Wood looking at times more like Bob Wickman than the ironclad game insurance Tribe fans had been expecting, though the jury remains out on that particular acquisition for the time being.

Lastly, shoddy defense, primarily at the corner outfield positions and the left side of the diamond has been a nagging issue, creating an extra strain on an already dangerously-thin pitching situation. While this in itself is generally not as damaging to our team as the pitching has been, the amount of extra outs being doled to opposing teams is a troubling issue, especially since more often than not, the Tribe's opposition finds ways to exploit these opportunities.

So, what and where are the fixes? Calling up new help from our restocked farm system has certainly been on the minds of many the last couple of weeks (certainly following the immediate splash made by reliever Tony Sipp), though it appears that no league-ready pitching exists in Columbus or Akron that has not already been looked at during spring training. I'm not even sure that calling up AAA-mashers like Matt LaPorta can do much for an offense that seems to have the talent, but is missing some vital spark somewhere that remains frustratingly intangible and inaccessible.

Once you eliminate the above, you have to focus on the idea of a managing change, and while every team has a group of fans who are always calling for heads to roll, their screaming sounds more and more like a viable option the more games this team loses. I am not now (and have never been) a member of that eternal "FIRE ERIC WEDGE" crowd ... but after seven years and one postseason run to show for it, I have to admit that my patience is at last beginning to run out.

(Flickr Post): Cliff Gets #20

Going into September. the 2008 Cleveland Indians season is all about reduced expectations and winning a few little battles in lieu of the war ... save for the amazing ascent into Baseball Valhalla of longtime Cleveland starter Cliff Lee.

Exactly one year after he was called back up to the Tribe from the minor leagues (where he had been banished for half the summer following an awful, injury-plagued 2007 start), Lee faced the front-running Chicago White Sox and shut them out with nine innings of incredible, pinpoint location.

Like every other Tribe fan this year, I had been following Lee's exploits all year following his absolutely inhuman April start, watching as he came slightly back down to Earth in May and June, yet never relinquishing his new position as baseball's most dominant pitcher. Scheduling conflicts had kept me from ever seeing Lee pitch in person, and it was with great delight that I realized that the game I would finally see him pitch in person would be such a historic occasion. Everyone at Progressive Field was there to see Lee become the first twenty game winner for the Indians in nearly 35 years, and the atmosphere was electric with excitement the entire night.

What a fantastic night, and what an incredible achievement for a pitcher that many, including myself, were all too ready to part with after the 2007 season. In a season that has given Indians fans precious little to cheer for, Lee has become a superstar. This was a night for the ages.

(Flickr Post): Swept

What the hell is it with the Indians lately? With the 2008 season all but lost, they jettison three of their most popular and talented players (all of them respected clubhouse leaders, to boot), and then start to play some of their best baseball of the year in the weeks afterward. Of course, whenever they start to get too good, and the fans start to wonder if maybe they just might mount some kind of Hollywood rally, the Indians have to go out and remind everyone just how badly they can suck when the occasion warrants ... and you don't get many more occasions than this one.

With the '08 season about to enter its final month, my brother and I hatched a nutty plan to catch three games in three days at the Prog. Two of those games would be against the pathetic Seattle Mariners, arguably the worst team in baseball this year. The third game would be against the far tougher (and AL-Central leading) Chicago White Sox, but would feature our staff ace Cliff Lee, gunning for his league-leading twentieth win.

Seattle, though, came first ... and my god, those games were ugly, including this one. Suddenly hapless in the face of such utter mediocrity, the Cleveland Indians team lost all three games to Seattle. All. Three. Games.

Luckily, as was the case last Labor Day weekend, the Cleveland Air Show was going on above our heads, and we were offered plenty of opportunities for distraction as groups of military jets thundered about in the atmosphere around the park on another incredible, crystal clear day.

(Flickr Post): Diamond Vision

I had a couple of days of vacation left over after Sarah went back to work, and decided to take in a weekday game down at The Prog. Since only I was going, I decided to look for the best seats I could find, and brother, did I find something special: Section 151, row F (in the so-called Diamond Box seating, first row, just to the side of home plate, and at the very edge of the safety netting). No contest, these were the best seats I'd ever had to a game, not to mention the most expensive by some distance, but oh were they worth it.

The day itself was damn near perfect for end-of-July-baseball: blue skies, a slight breeze, and blazingly hot (sunscreen and a steady supply of liquid refreshment were a must). Having never attended a weekday games before, I was pretty surprised at the large turnout. The atmosphere at the park was great: the people seated around me were a riot and we had a roaring time razzing the visiting batters as they took their practice swings in the on-deck circle. It felt like the crowd as a whole was equally energetic and into the game throughout: made easier, I suppose, by the Tribe delivering a sound thrashing to the Detroit Tigers and their ace, Justin Verlander.

Just seeing the Indians winning a contest for a change made this one the best games I'd seen all year, but this day was more than that: for me, this was easily the best day of the year, and certainly the peak of a too-brief one week vacation from work. Driving down E. 9th Street after the game, I literally felt more relaxed, recharged, and at ease with things than I have in a long time. This is what a good vacation is supposed to do, isn't it?

(Flickr Post): Mezzanine

I had deliberately chose my vacation week to coincide with a competitive homestand, so that I could go see a game on almost any night the urge struck me. With attendance stagnant following the team's downward trajectory over the early summer, an offer was floated to Indians fans for free tickets redeemable in exchange for any purchase of $40 or more at a team gift shop. The only "catch" in this deal was that the free tickets would be for seats in so-called "Pronkville" (the mezzanine level behind right field, named for an Indians player I seem to remember being quite dominating a couple of years ago).

As it turns out, the mezzanine seats weren't bad at all as the photos in this post's gallery will attest (though I can't imagine getting any farther away from the action and still feeling any sense of involvement in the game). You get blasted in the face with sun for a few innings, yes, but our slightly elevated perspective was a new vantage point and that enough proved worthy of the trip.

Unfortunately, the game itself was just more of the same in this unending trudge through despondent sub-.500 mediocrity that we Tribe fans call the 2008 season. Indians emergency pitcher Matt Ginter put up a decent fight for a while, but was eventually chased off the mound after giving up 4 runs, followed by Detroit plating an additional 2 off reliever Juan Rincon.

Cleveland tried to make a late comeback off the Tigers bullpen to at least make this game look a bit more respectable in the end, but the final of 8-5 is really all that matters in the long run. We had already left by that point: Sarah wasn't feeling well as the evening grew late, and we both had seen this particular movie a few too many times before.

It hit me at some point before the game that Sarah and I hadn't attended a night game in some time, certainly not this year at least, so I also used this opportunity to get some night-time shots of the downtown Cleveland area with my new camera from the upper deck concession areas. I hope y'all will find them as fetching as I did.

(Flickr Post): Indians Vs. Twins 7/27/08

Strange as it may seem, especially in this season of discontent and disappointment, the baseball fever that Sarah and I contracted over the last couple of years has now managed to infect my brother and my niece.

My brother and I had recently been hitting a couple of Sunday afternoon games that Sarah had opted out of attending, and he apparently enjoyed the experience so much that it piqued his daughter's curiosity as well. With her cousin in tow and Sarah wanting to go to today's contest, the five of us took in a game against the Minnesota Twins.

For five remarkable innings, Cleveland starter Jeremy Sowers was literally perfect: he allowed no base runners at all until the sixth, which is when Minnesota managed to pull ahead by a run, ultimately winning in the ninth with two additional runs scored against the Tribe's unremittingly terrible bullpen.

On the brighter side, however, these regular Sunday excursions are turning into a kind of regular family outing, and I couldn't be happier about that. If nothing else, it helps to further alleviate a truly depressing year to be a Cleveland Indians fan.

(Flickr Post): Fausto Carmona Pitches At Classic Park

The Lake County Captains haven't quite managed the same winning pace in the second half of their season as they had during the first, but their playoff appearance is still secure, which is a lot more than can be said for the Cleveland Indians these days.

Anyway, with Indians starter Fausto Carmona set to make his first rehab appearance since coming off the Disabled List only a couple of miles from my front door on my day off (which also happened to be yet another wonderfully gorgeous summer's day), this was going to be a must-see game.

Thankfully, Carmona did not disappoint this evening ... those duties were handled instead by Captains reliever Josh Judy during a disastrous seventh inning. The Fautastic One racked up four innings of near-spotless work, allowing only one double and reminding everyone present just how much he is missed at Progressive Field.

Oh yeah, and none other than Dick Goddard sang the "The Star Spangled Banner" at the game. Bonus.

(Flickr Post): Sweep!

Initially, I had resisted buying tickets to today's game, wondering what positive gain could come out of watching what was left of the Cleveland Indians getting steamrolled by the hottest team in baseball. Then, from out of nowhere, the Indians improbably won the first 3 games in this 4-game series (and by a decisive margin at that), and I suddenly had to make the trip downtown to see if they could somehow pull off the sweep, even with Jeremy Sowers on the mound.

Guess what? Even though Sowers remains winless on the year (despite five perfect innings of work to start off this particular game), the Tribe somehow came out on top yet again and the sweep (sweep?!) of the Tampa Bay was complete.

Into the All-Star Break we go, our 2008 season a wreck, our ace traded off to a National League team in the midst of a pennant race, and we have just taken four in a row from the biggest surprise team of the year (in a positive sense, at least).

This is the weirdest season ever.

(Flickr Post): Stormy Weather At The Prog

With the 2008 Cleveland Indians continuing to morph into a sick and twisted parody of our fondest hopes and dreams, my reasons for attending baseball games at The Prog instead of doing something a tad less depressing/futile with my free time have less to do with Major League Baseball than simply enjoying a nice summer afternoon in downtown Cleveland with my brother.

Of course, it doesn't help matters if that "nice summer afternoon" turns windswept, gray and rainy while your beloved ball club is being throttled by a pitcher who just threw one of the worst starting pitching performances in the history of major league baseball just 1 week before. Typical.

The season from Hell continues ...

(Flickr Post): Cleveland Indians Win!

At last! We attend a Sunday game that results in a win for the Indians!

At last! I get close-up pix of one of the all-time pitching greats warming up in the visitors bullpen before the game!

At last! Mustard wins the Hot Dog Derby ... while I am waiting in line at one of the concession stands, which means I have no photographic record of my hero's greatest achievement. Gaaahh.

Ten Cent Beer Night

With this year's baseball season refusing to head outright into the tank (instead, it feels like the next 100 games will be a death march of mediocrity cruelly punctuated with maddening flashes of hope and inspiration), let's take a break from the current malaise and look back at a time when the Cleveland Indians were expected to suck, and ownership was frantically trying to keep people coming to the park anyway.

A friend pointed me at this article that ran on ESPN to mark the 34th anniversary of one of the more notorious moments in Cleveland's history: Ten Cent Beer Night.

Definitely a recommended read for baseball fans and native Clevelanders (though not necessarily in that order).

(Tribe 2008): The Crisis (with apologies to the descendants of Thomas Paine)

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer bleacher bum and the sunshine Cleveland Indians fan will, in this crisis, shrink from the support of their team; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Possessing the worst-hitting squad in the modern history of this team, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as "a winning record" should not be highly rated.

The Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, and Minnesota Twins amongst other major teams across the league that can actually hit baseballs out of the freaking infield to enforce their tyranny, have basically declared that they have a right (not only to WIN) but "to stick our mangy heads further down in a swirling vortex of utter and total suck" that is the AL-Central and if being drowned in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon Earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to the god damnable Boston Red Sox.

Whether the contendability of this team was declared too soon, or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument; my own simple opinion is, that had we have been able to win one more ALCS contest game eight months ago, it would have been much better.

We did not make a proper use of last winter, neither could we, while we were in our perpetually cash-strapped state. However, the fault, if it were one, was all our own; we have none to blame but ourselves (or perhaps the cold, merciless, spotty, cackling, ball busting, luggage-skinned hag that keeps this region's grandest optimistic hopes in an airless, cast-iron safe at the bottom of the Marianas Trench).

I thank providence, that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear. I know our situation well, and can see the way out of it (or if nothing else a lot more free time once this team completes its fall from contention, if that is to be the Way of Things).

Once more the Indians are hitting and scoring; our newfound momentum is materializing fast, and we shall be able to open the next month of the campaign with our dependable twenty-five men, well prepared and clothed.

This is our situation, and who will may know it. By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious summer; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils — a triumphant Chicago — a depopulated Progressive Field — Tom Hamilton leaping in despair from the WTAM broadcast booth — summer without hope — our glorious ballpark turned into barracks and bawdy-houses for White Sox, and a 2009 pennant race to provide for, whose father we shall doubt of. Look on this picture and weep over it! and if there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented.

May 31, 2008