Cliff Lee?? Cliff Lee? Cliff Lee!!!!!!

Cliff Lee has been filthy this season

Just in case you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven't, the Indians have managed to win a few games and are threatening to climb away from the rest of the AL Central. The Wigwammers have managed to win 3 straight ballgames and 8 out of 10. The starting pitching has been phenomenal and has carried the Indians' scoring challenged offense. The rotation gave up their first run in 44 1/3 innings today when Aaron Laffey (who turned in another strong effort) gave up an unearned run in the 2nd inning of the Tribe's 4-2 victory over Oakland. The catalyst for this pitching onslaught? Mr. Cliff Lee.

Through 7 starts, Cliff Lee is 6-0 with 53 2/3 innings pitched, 44 Ks, 4 walks, and a 0.67 ERA. He's given up 4 earned runs all season. His stats are so good right now, they sound made up. He is absolutely dominating the American League. So where the heck is this coming from? Who is this guy that's tossing out Koufax-like numbers?

Here's what I know about Cliff Lee from his 7 years with the Tribe. Lee is a 6'-3" southpaw from Arkansas. He comes off as an "aw shucks" sort of guy in interviews and has a heavy Southern accent. He carries a pretty good 60-36 record in his major league career. He was part of the Bartolo Colon trade that also brought Brandon Phillips and Grady Sizemore to the Tribe. Ya think the Nats could manage to find room for Phillips, Sizemore, and Lee on their roster today?

Lee was slightly heralded when he pitched his first full year with the Indians in 2004. He had pitched pretty well in his first couple of cups of coffee in the bigs in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, Lee managed a 14-8 record, but had a bloated 5.43 ERA. Tribe fans were able to chalk 2004 up to growing pains when he rebounded the next season and went 18-5 with a solid 3.79 ERA. In 2006, he slipped, and it looked like he was destined for the dreaded "innings eater," 4th starter's role when he went 14-11 with a mediocre 4.40 ERA, but pitched 200 innings for the 2nd straight year.

Then came last year. Lee struggled with everything. He was hurt a lot and only started 16 games. When he did pitch, it was a train wreck. He went 5-8 with an astronomical 6.29 ERA. He also managed to piss off a lot of people last year when he beaned Sammy Sosa in the noggin (I liked it personally) on the day the Rangers were celebrating Sammy's 600th home run. Reportedly, that incident turned the Indians clubhouse against him. Eventually, Lee was sent down to the minors. Rough year.

This spring the former 18 game winner had to fight for a spot in the Indians rotation against promising young guys, Laffey and Jeremy Sowers. Lee won the job and has been lights out all season.

His fastball hits between 91-93 on the radar gun, and he's had Maddux-esqe command over it this year. He mixes in a good curveball and a change-up. He does what every baseball color man demands out of a pitcher, he throws a lot of strikes. He is off to the most dominating start by any pitcher that I can remember. Who knew?

Players and Teams Who Never Should Have Been

The Dream in Splendid Raptors Purple, But Of Course

Certain things just don't look right. Guys in skin-tight blue jeans. Crown Victoria sedans sitting on 26s. Carlos Beltran's hair.

The same can be said of athletes, particularly those who spent large portions of their career with one team and then put on a new and unfamiliar uniform. The phenomenon is exacerbated with big stars. In researching our previous post on the decline of starting pitching, we utilized the phenomenal resource that is the baseball almanac. It was there we were reminded that our beloved Doc Gooden, in addition to donning the pinstripes of the evil empire and sporting Chief Wahoo atop his noggin, played for the Astros and Devil Rays.

Wait, what? Yes, time seems to have contributed to memory erosion (OK, probably a little more than time along, but that is besides the point). During our life span of our sports fanaticism, there have been a few player moves we simply failed to ever come to peace with. These might not have been the last stop for these stars, or even their shortest stint, but something about seeing those players in those jerseys was simply irreconcilable.

For these folks, we've either truthfully forgotten, pretended to forget or are still actively seeking to eradicate their memory in certain duds. Our list has a slight slant toward a few of our favorite local teams. Don't hold it us against us. Hit us up with yours in the comments.

Patrick Ewing (Seattle Supersonics)
Whether fans care to admit it our not, Patrick Ewing is arguably the greatest Knicks of all-time. He was a pillar of a team that competed at the highest level for nearly a decade with the 7-ft Hoya in the middle. And while he earned his ticket to the Hall this year, the spectacle of #33 in Sonics green never felt right. Even Orlando wasn't as bothersome as Patrick was already on his way out and, besides, at least blue looked familiar on him. This did not...


Emmitt Smith (Arizona Cardinals)
Long before he was making us all dumber via his ESPN commentary, Emmitt was a pretty solid NFL running back. OK, like really, really solid. For 13 seasons, #22 was a fixture in the Cowboys backfield and formed that nasty triumvirate with Aikman and Irvin that football people can't seem to talk about enough. During his decade plus in Big D, Emmitt started at least 14 games every season and rushed for over 1,000 yards ten straight campaigns. Then he went out West and put on an Arizona Cardinals jersey. And it was just...weird.


Wayne Gretzky (St. Louis Blues)
The Great One made his name in Edmonton. He won cups. Hollywood seemed the perfect stop during the late 80s and early 90s. The best player in hockey makes the Kings relevant in L.A. Perfect. Even Gretzky's swan song in the Big Apple didn't feel all that funny (sure it helped that I was a Rangers fan). But one season wedged in between L.A. and NYC was a bit different than the others. "Ladies and Gentlemen! The Captain of your St. Louis Blues, Wayne...Gretzky!


Hakeem Olajuwon (Toronto Raptors)
Was it a Dream or did Hall-of-Famer Hakeem Olajuwon really end his 18-year career in Toronto after 17 seasons as a Houston Rocket? At least he wasn't sporting one of those vicious-looking dinosaurs across his chest.


Eric Dickerson (Atlanta Falcons)
There was Rams Dickerson and Colts Dickerson. When did this Atlanta Falcons Dickerson come about? Apparently the Falcons were trying to catch lightning in a bottle that had already drifted to sea, or, more likely, just some publicity. Unfortunately for them, Dickerson carried the rock all of 26 times for 91 yards before hanging up his cleats for good.


Brian Leetch (Boston Bruins)
Leetchy should have never left New York. He didn't want to go. We didn't want him to go. It's kind of like the whole Tom Glavine Atlanta thing but the other way around...or something. For some reason, #2's trek up to Toronto didn't bug us. Perhaps it's because they actually care a lot about hockey up there, so we figured it was probably pretty cool to play in front of those fans. But the Bruins? That was unacceptable.


Dominique Wilkins (Boston Celtics)
'Nique is a Hawk. He's the only thing good that ever happened to that franchise. He is the face of the organization. As far as I'm concerned, he never played in Los Angeles or San Antonio. And he certainly never suited up for the Celtics (/steadfastly refusing to acknowledge previously stated facts).


Randall Cunningham (Dallas Cowboys)
Here's another one that simply doesn't compute. Minnesota? OK. I remember that. It was a few years. It was exciting. Randall was still an Eagle in everyone's head, but the Vikings thing didn't seem totally bizarre. But heading to the Cowboys after 11 years in Philthadelphia? The former Eagle...to the dreaded Boys? Of course this was then followed by the logical final stop in Baltimore. Sure, Randall the Raven. Puh-leez.


Jerry Rice (Seattle Seahawks)
The best receiver in the history of the NFL. The most potent quarterback-to-wideout combo of all-time. Many would argue Jerry Rice is the best football player to ever step on the field, at any position. But if you would have asked a fan in the 80s and 90s which was more probable, they may have actually chosen the option that Rice would appear on an ABC reality show called "Dancing with the Stars" over the possibility of Rice ending his career in a Seattle Seahawks uniform. Luckily, we got to experience both (tongue embedded in cheek).


Michael Jordan (Washington Wizards)
I won't even pretend I wasn't fired up to see MJ lace them up again, no matter the team. I was. Everyone was. But it was not the same, and it probably wouldn't have mattered what the uni. Somehow, though, it looks even goofier on a poster. Jordan is in wearing RED on posters. He is flying, gliding, dunking...his tongue is out. He is not wearing long goofy white spandex and a knee brace, and he is definitely not passing the ball.

We know there are others that rocked your sports-crazed worlds at the time (and maybe still do). Which sight could you never come to grips with? Pete Rose with the Expos slightly before we were old enough to know that was weird comes to mind. Montana in Chiefs red (never bothered me that much, but I'm sure it was like nails on a chalkboard for the West Coast folk)? Bonds as a Ray. Whoops, getting ahead of ourselves. Who else?

DL Least Of Borowski's Concerns

Cleveland, April 15, 2008 -- Indians closer Joe Borowski was placed on the disabled list with a strained right triceps today, following a blown save against the Boston Red Sox. The Legend of Cecilio Guante has learned that a strained triceps muscle might be the least of Borowski's concerns, though. A leading Cleveland law enforcement official says that evidence has surfaced linking Borowski to hundreds of mysterious, unsolved deaths throughout Northeastern Ohio.

Police Chief Wahoo was willing to speak to us, but didn't want too many facts of his investigation to slip out to the public. Chief Wahoo indicated that since since April of 2007, a fear has gripped the city of Cleveland and all of Northeastern Ohio. Throughout this time, there have been hundreds of unsolved deaths in the area. The Chief said, "it's always the same crime scene, a man between 18-80 sitting at home in front of his television, and we get there to find that his heart has exploded. Paramedics report that the Indians post game show was on the tv when they arrived on the scene in 95% of the cases. We thought it was some bizarre, supernatural s**t."

Police won't reveal how they connected Borowski to the case, but it's believed that statistical analysis played a large part. The numbers indicate that 100% of the mysterious heart explosions took place on nights when Borowski took the mound. It is also believed that the sudden overcrowding of Northeastern Ohio psychiatric wards might somehow be linked to Borowski.

"Right now with Joe on the DL, we're going to take a hard look to see if, as anticipated, the instances of these mysterious deaths slow down or come to a complete halt," said Chief Wahoo, who indicated that the authorities will also keep their eyes on the numbers in area insane asylums. The Chief thought that chances were "pretty good," that a significant drop in the number of cases of insanity would result from the DL stint.

Borowski, 36, has been described as "much-maligned," "embattled," and "struggling" by media outlets. He led the AL in saves last year, but has a penchant for putting runners on base and giving up runs before eventually closing the door, or leaving it wide open. His 45 saves came with a 5.07 ERA and 8 blown saves last year. This season, Borowski has 2 saves, 2 blown saves, and and ERA of 18.00.

Right now, police officials aren't sure what charges if any can be brought against Borowski. Legend staffer, Erie's Scribe, is a huge Tribe fan and was available for comment. "My heart has nearly exploded 25 times since Borowski (whom he would only refer to as 'the Polish Jose Mesa') took over the closer's roll," ES said, "I feel great relief today." ES then went on a 20 minute, profanity laced tirade about Borowski, the Red Sox, the ALCS, Manny, Progressive Field, crop circles, and Rocky Colavito.

Buying Into The Indians: Literally

Mortimer, we're back!!!

As sports fans, we invest our time, money and emotions into our teams. Unless you're a Packers fan and Green Bay resident, though, you don't have an actual ownership share of your team. Thanks to a tip from a reader, this is no longer the case.

Into our lives stepped Randy Newsom via the New York Times Freakonomics blog. No, unfortunately we can't actually buy into the Cleveland Indians, but we can buy stock into one of the Tribe's minor league hurlers. By going here, anyone can snatch a few Randy shares and bet on his future major league earnings. A mere $20 for a piece of Randy's Major League pot at the end of the rainbow? The editorial staff at The Legend couldn't wait to jump on board (after a lengthy debate over whether I read about this in Moneyball or not).

The commenters on the Freakonomics NY Times blog don't seem to think much of Randy's chances to make the big leagues, but what do they know? What team doesn't have a need for a crafty submarining/sidewinding righty out of the pen? Eighteen saves in Akron last year? Our kind of player.

Sure, "Newsom does not have a blazing fastball, wipeout slider, or a knee-buckling curveball, but he is extremely intelligent, has moxie, commands his pitches well, has great makeup, and goes right after hitters. He should start the season in the Buffalo bullpen and could make his professional debut with the Indians sometime in 2008." Hear that? He's got moxie! Moxie!!

And we're going to be investment gurus. Every couple of weeks during the season we'll post a Newsom watch to chart Randy's progress. You, Legend faithful, will be able to see first hand whether our investment experiment booms or busts, at no cost to yourselves. All he has to do is make a cool $1.25 million and we're in the black. Eat your hearts out Stock Market Wizards.

Horribly Unfortunate Editor Update: Alas, we have moved to slow as Newman stock has flown off the shelves and is no longer available for purchase. At the very least, still a great publicity stunt, and we'll be watching.

Indians Routed By Red Sox: There Is No Joy In Mudville

Casey didn't strike out, but the look on his and Pronk's faces tell it all

So, the title of my column is unoriginal because it includes an overused, practically cliche line from Ernest Lawrence Thayer 's classic poem "Casey at the Bat." Well too bad, shove it. Add unoriginal hack to the list of adjectives like crest fallen, dejected, bewildered, disappointed, biter, angry and woeful to describe me right now. The beloved Wahoo Warriors just fell on the field of battle to the Boston Red Sox (the team that gave up on Tris Speaker, the "Grey Eagle"). It was a great ride for a group of young and talented Cleveland baseball players. The ride has unfortunately come to an end. And while the Indians look to have a bright future, they end on yet another disappointing note for Cleveland sports fans.

You probably don't want to hear a woe-is-me rant from a broken down Cleveland fan, but it's all I've got. My pro sports teams are the Browns, Cavs, Indians and Sabres. My noble alma mater(glorious to view), does not have big time sports, but did manage to tear my heart out against Duke in the National Lacrosse Semifinals this past May. Yeah, my teams are painful. Maybe you Mets fans can take some form of solace in reading of the atrocities endured by a simple man from Erie, PA. Erie, by the way, doesn't bring much in the way of sports glory besides the great Freddie Biletnikoff, Mark Stepnoski, some high school state championships and this classic moment. Eriesistible!!!!!!!

In the rankings of painful losses I've endured during my career as a sports fan, this ranks some distance behind the losses deadlocked at #4: a. The Indians defeat in the '97 World Series to the Florida Marlins (Joe Table, a part of Erie's Scribe died that night nearly ten years ago). b. The Cornell Lax team comes all the way back from 7 goals down to tie the National Semifinal Game against Duke, only to lose it with 3 seconds remaining. c. The Buffalo Sabres lose the Stanley Cup in Triple Overtime of Game 6 on a cheap ass goal by Brett Hull that should have been disallowed by the rules in place at the time. d. MJ, Ehlo, Game 4 1989. Lucky they don't play that on the devil box over and over ad nauseam.

Anyway, this is much closer to the Cavs loss to the Spurs in the NBA Finals. Blowing a 3-1 lead in the ALCS is terrible. Not World Series terrible, but still terrible. Losing sucks. I hate it. I hate it in real life, I hate when my favorite teams lose and I hate it when my fantasy teams lose (yeah, add fantasy dork to my other list of superlatives). But, the Cavs and Indians' losses are a little easier to swallow. The Red Sox, like the Spurs, were the better team. You gotta give them credit. The Indians, like the Cavs, are a young and talented team (sure most of the Cavs talent is tied up in one player, but they are young) on the rise. Good foundations for both squads and they're both at the beginning of their window of championship opportunities.

Luckily, I can now turn my attention to the Cleveland Browns and the offensive juggernaut they've become under Chud's expert guidance. At least I know the Brownies won't break my heart?!? Hey, the Colts had the worst run defense in the league last year and they won the Super Bowl!! Bark like a Dawg.

I HATE THAT DAMN JOSH BECKETT

Even Danielle Peck couldn't save the Tribe against Josh Beckett.

Game 5 of the ALCS was terrible, Josh Beckett was unreal. That guy is money in the postseason. Thank God the Tribe doesn't have to face him in Game 7. For some reason, I was convinced that Beckett was beatable tonight. ESPN kept harping on the fact that Beckett was yanked after only 80 pitches in Game One. And speaking of Game One, I had it in my head that he didn't exactly light the world on fire that night(turns out he only allowed 2 runs in 6 innings, D'Oh). On top of this, Danielle Peck, Beckett's ex-girlfriend was on hand to sing the national anthem and "God Bless America." Danielle happens to be smoking hot. I was distracted and I was sure Josh Beckett would be too. Somehow, I managed to let those completely dubious hunches overlook the fact that Beckett is unstoppable in the playoffs. I'm not even going to look up his postseason stats, please trust me that they are completely ridiculous. How did did I understimate this guy? That's what infuriates me off most. The deception of it all. If I had seen this pitching performance coming, as I should have since the guy FRICKING DOMINATES in October, then I could have accepted it easier. Instead, Josh Beckett has become Public Enemy Number One in my book.

To the suprise of one person in America, Mr. Beckett decided to pitch 8 innings of 5 hit, one run ball. He racked up 11 K's while only walking one. Ahhhh, peaches, the dude can wing it. The Tribe was able to muster a couple of threats against him, but nothing serious. You have to take your hat off to the guy, I guess.

On the other hand, C.C. Sabathia was not dominating. He wasn't as bad as he has been, but he was not good either. Are votes cast for the Cy Young before or after the postseason? There's no way C.C. deserves this year's Cy Young after his performance to date in October, especially when his nearest competition is pitching like a machine. On the plus side for C.C., you have to think that tonight's performance lowered the 10.61 ERA he was sporting.

Not much else to say about this one. I didn't want the Tribe to have to go back to Beantown, but I the utmost confidence in Fausto Carmona. Hopefully he was just a little nervous pitching in Fenway for the first time in the playoffs. Live and learn, Fausto. Live and learn. Good game by the Red Sox tonight, they knocked the Tribe around I have to hand it to them (except I hope that those relief pitchers who were mocking the Jacob's Field crowd by beating on fake drums in the bullpen get shelled on Saturday night. Jerks).

Time for The Sons of the Cuyahoga to regroup and finish the deal. They'll be working behind the best pitcher in the A.L. on an October Saturday night in New England. "Well, then there's only one thing left to do. Win the whole........thing."

GO TRIBE!

Doing The Byrdman In Erie

The Byrdman giveth and The Byrdman taketh away. Paul 'The Byrdman' Byrd

Alright, now we're playing some frickin hardball! The Tribe got after it last night, led by The Byrdman. Lots of things to like about the The Byrdman. First and foremost, he throws strikes. I love to see a pitcher working in the strike zone. The Byrdman said he has, "below average Major League stuff." But, the Byrdman trusts that stuff. Imagine if some pitchers with "above average Major League stuff" trusted their stuff as much as Paul Byrd does. There is nothing more frustrating than watching a ridiculously talented guy nibble around the corners and run up his pitch count (I will submit C.C.'s Game 1 performance as evidence. Note the 85 pitches in 4 1/3 innings).

Secondly, I love the old fashioned windup he comes with. Doing little things like double winding to get in the hitters heads. Lovin it Byrdman. Third thing that you have to love about The Byrdman is that he's a nutty guy (would you expect anything else from a junk baller named Paul Byrd?) The guy isn't Bill the "Spaceman" Lee nutty, but he's worth some ink every couple of days. Well played tonight Paul, well played.

The Jake was transformed into a rock concert once again. Can you say enough good things about Indians fans at this point? Now that's home field advantage. Let's hear ya Cleveland!!

Tim Wakefield was terrifying last night. The first three innings were my worst nightmare. Nothing is more painful than watching your teams' sticks die a slow, painful death as Wakefield's 60 MPH knuckleballs are staging a 9 inning limbo contest. That's why the excitement went through the roof at the Jake (actually, the Jake doesn't have a roof, but you get the point) when Wakefield's knuckleballs started drunkenly dancing into the limbo poles in the Bottom of the 5th.

I need to give shout outs to two Indians players who contributed in the 5th:

1. Johnny Peralta. Hats off to you Mr. Shortstop man who spells his first name funny. Peralta has been producing great at-bats all Postseason and great production. Defensively (not traditionally Jhonny's strong suit), I've only yelled for the return of Omar Vizquel once so far in the playoffs, and Peralta has turned a lot of double plays with Asdrubal.

2. Casey Blake. The guy looks like a lumberjack and moves like a science teacher. Yet, he somehow manages to be productive every single year. Will his numbers wow you? No, will you get 20-25 homers with 80-90 RBI's every year and stellar defense wherever he plays? Yes you will. Huge homer off of Wakefield.

My excitement over the Tribe has reached dangerous levels. Failure now would really damage my sports psyche. Part of the reason I'm so hooked is the Tribe's dominating pen (minus Mr. Borowski of course, but Joe's been getting it done so far). Jensen Lewis gave up a homer last night, but really settled things down when the Red Sox looked like they were going to make it a ballgame. The brothers Rafael are just sick. Betancourt is off the hook right now (any Red Sox fans making HGH allegations yet?). Can't put into words how huge this is in the playoffs.

C.C.'s turn to pitch game 5 against Beckett. Time to step up C.C. Are you really a Cy Young candidate? Go Tribe!! For any Tribe fans out there who have caught the fever, I have to plug

Let's Go Tribe and Indians 24/7 again. Reading these guys break it down and reading the other fans' comments is the way to do the playoffs. Go Tribe!!!

Tribe Up 2-1, Jake Rocks The Jake

The best $33 million bargain you can find, Game 3 victor, Jake Westbrook


Erie's Scribe checking in here with an update from last night's game in the Tribe/Sox Series. I can't stop myself from writing about every single Tribe game from here on out, so prepare yourself for a Cleveland invasion, Legend faithful; you've been warned.


Last night, Jake Westbrook did what you always hope your 3rd starter can do in the postseason, but rarely does. A 3rd starter has the stuff to go in there and shut down the opposing team's sticks. If he didn't have that ability, he wouldn't be a 3rd starter on a playoff team. But, if he had the ability to do that all the time, he'd be a number 1 or 2. Usually Mr. 3rd starter settles for mediocrity and this is what we come to expect as fans. That's why when Westbrook was taking a shutout into the 7th and my roommate animatedly said, "you would have been happy if he'd given up four runs," I just nodded in appreciation of Jake's effort. I knew he had it in him, but I had no idea whether he would dominate or throw gasoline on the fire.


You know the Tribe is on a roll when 'The Polish Jose Mesa' comes in and records a 1, 2, 3 ninth. It was the most relaxing game in the playoffs for me. I felt like the Tribe was in complete control the entire time. Not to mention Kenny Lofton! I have to admit, that I wasn't always the biggest Kenny supporter in the world, but the man is the toast of the town right now! They chant his name when he gets to the plate, and then he cranks a two run shot over the fence in right? Is this a movie script? And to top it all off, we got a curtain call out of Kenny. What fires up a crowd more than a curtain call? You acknowledge the ballplayer's greatness, and he acknowledges your enthusiasm. Fantastic!


Okay, I've got to get ready for Game 4 tonight at the Jake (Only two hours away? What happened to the day? I think I must be suffering from propeller lag). Please tell me that the Barometric Pressure and the Temperature combine perfectly to straighten out Mr. Wakefield's knuckleball.


Oh yeah, for any Tribe fans out there take a look here and here throughout the playoffs. Great Tribe blogs. Go Tribe!!!

Playoff Songbirds: A Slightly Creepy Tribe Video

A byproduct of the wonders of technology? Homemade "music videos" with a sports twist. They're all over the place these days. And for those of us whose entertainment standards are slightly lower, these projects offer some amusement.

Immediately below, the latest from one of Erie's Scribe's countrymen. Corny or creepy? I'm leaning towards both. Something about imagining this dude singing his little heart out...wherever...is just...frightening. Although, we always give out "As" for effort to those looking in any way to exploit and capitalize on Yankees failures.



Undoubtedly the early postseason nod still goes to this video. Equally disturbing to imagine this individual in a room recording, but the lyrics, visuals and sentiment? Top-notch.

Carmona, Hafner, Lofton, Bugs!!!

The bug swarm didn't seem to bother this guy in Game 2.


Erie's Scribe here, checking in after watching an amazing and bizzare Game 2 of the Indians/Yankees series.

Wow. Glad to see they still had Bill Cohwer in the booth with Tony Gwynn and Chip Caray (wait, if your name was Skip, would you name your son Chip? When will we see young Rip Caray announcing games?). If Cowher does the The NFL Today show and is in the booth in the Bronx for Sunday's Game 3, I'll be impressed. Now it might just be me (because I tend to be angry at the announcers, the umps, the opposing team, the opposing team's coaching staff and the opposing team's fans during the baseball postseason) but I thought Chip was butchering facts and seemed confused at least 5 times during the game. I'm suspicious it might be my general Playoff Baseball Anger since over at Awful Announcing they had this glowing report for the crew 's Game 1 performance (Caray drew my ire in Game 1 also, before the Tribe exploded in the bottom of the 5th).

Headed into tonight I felt pretty comfortable with the Carmona/Pettitte matchup, with reservations in the back of my mind because Pettitte is so tough in the playoffs. Pettitte went out and scared the crap out of me tonight. He was a bulldog out there. Carmona made the one mistake to Carbrera but was still pitching a gem, yet Pettitte buckled down every time the Tribe threatened. So many chances with RISP (my new favorite acronym), so much failure. Torre finally pulls Pettitte with one out in the 7th, but I don't feel much better because he goes straight to Joba Chamberlain and now the Tribe had 8 outs to put the tying run across against Joba and Rivera. That'll put some hair on your chest.

In the top of the eighth, Carmona was still dominating and now you could tell there are a lot of bugs on the field for some reason. Odd, but it wasn't too noticeable since Carmona didn't seem to notice them at all and just kept bringing it. When asked about the bugs after the game, Carmona gave a 3-5 word response that his interpreter turned into a mini soliloquy about how Fausto was only focused on the hitters and didn't even see the bugs. Fausto's interpreter is awesome. If I'm ever traveling abroad with an interpreter, I hope I can mumble a couple of words and then he'll squeeze 2 or 3 sentences out of it that make me sound like a complete badass.

So out popped Joba and his 0.38 ERA for the bottom half of the 8th (after making quick work of the two batters he faced in the 7th), and it got biblical at the Jake. Bugs just swarming everywhere. Despite getting sprayed down twice with OFF! (A bad marketing night for the OFF! company if I've ever seen one), the bugs will not stay away from Joba. Don't get me wrong, the bugs harrassed everybody, but they were all over Joba. Dude, you gotta take a shower before Game 3. As the inning progressed and Joba was falling apart, my roomates and I were making plans just in case water started turning into blood.

Anyway, you know how the game turned out. Joba's wild pitch scored Sizemore, Carmona struck out A-Rod, Rafael Perez pitched two perfect innings, Rivera almost blew it but wiggled out of a jam, and Luis Vizcaino showed why the rest of the Yanks pen is considered a train wreck.

A couple of notes to wrap up. Kenny Lofton HELLO! You can't stop Kenny at this point, you can only hope to contain him. Pronk, thank you for that game winner in the 12th, I've seen too many Indians playoff games where the Tribe's offense leaves a ton of men on base, and their pitching caves in during the late innings. Those games take years off of my life, I don't know how to repay you Pronk. I'd like to note also that the bugs affected every pitcher and hitter from the 8th inning on for both teams. Carmona, Perez and Rivera didn't let it bother them. Joba and Vizcaino went to pieces. Best of luck in the Big Apple, Tribe. Have a great weekend Legend faithful.

**Editor's Note: Erie's Scribe was emotionally and physically drained after this game. Please overlook any instances of tense changes, comma missuse, poor spelling and generally offensive grammar. We'll try to see that it doesn't happen again. Thank you,

--The Legend of Cecilio Guante Editorial Staff.

Let us Rejoice in Tribe Win with A Twist on a Classic

One little, two little, three little INDIANS...

EVERYBODY NOW...

Four little, five little, six little INDIANS...

I CAN'T HEAR YOU...

Seven little, eight little, nine little INDIANS...

Ten little INDIANS...

But, wait, there's more...

PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER!

...Eleven little, TWELVE little INDIANS. Twelve little Indian runs have scored!

Note: More from Erie's Scribe later on his beloved Wahoo Warriors.

Tribe Will Pitch Past Aging, Over Paid, Over Hyped Spankees

Who is this man, and why will Yankees fans soon hate him?


Every Yankee hater (that'd be every baseball fan who has a heart and a soul) can take a deep breath and relax, because the Cleveland Indians are about send the Kings of the Inflated Payroll to the golf course for the winter. Here's why.

It's all about the starting pitching. Every year the long, 162 game regular season seems to erase our collective memory of how to win playoff baseball. Good pitching beats good hitting in the playoffs. This formula works every year, almost without fail. Trust me; I saw plenty of Tribe teams in the 90's with superior offense and mediocre pitching fade away in the playoffs after fantastic regular seasons. The Indians' 1-2 punch of C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona will be devastating in a 5 game series. C.C. is the Cy Young front runner, and has finally developed into the ace the Indians thought they were getting when they drafted him out of high school. The big lefty has always had the arm, but could never put it all together for a dominant season. Well, now he has. Unless the Spankees go with the Little League strategy of bunting every at-bat against the big fella, runs are going to be hard to come by tonight. Did I mention that it's a contract year for C.C.? After C.C., the Tribe will roll out Fausto Carmona. Every time I read a recap of a Tribe game this season, the opposing teams’ quotations looked something like this: "It's not normal," Torii Hunter said of Carmona's go-to pitch. "He's not even human. It was so scary, I thought I was hung over." That quotation came after Carmona out pitched Johan Santana early in the season. Good luck Yanks. After the two aces, the Tribe will count on Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd to try to close it out in the Bronx, with the insurance that C.C. will be there for game 5 in Cleve-town if it gets to that. Westbrook and Byrd don't dominate like C.C. and Fausto, but Westbrook has lowered his ERA from a disastrous 7.90 to a respectable 4.32 since coming of the DL in June. He is capable of shutting down any line-up. Paul Byrd is better than whatever garbage the Yanks will be sending out in game 4.

As for the Yankees rotation, Chien-Ming Wang is legit. He's won 19 games each of the past two years, but I wouldn't call him dominating. After that it's a bunch of guys like Jake Taylor in "Major League." "I wish we had him 2 years ago." "We did." "Five years ago then." The best the Spanks can hope for is that they start Philip Hughes in game 4 and he returns to his pitching phenom/pre-injury form.


My Yankees fan friends have harassed me about the Indians' 'mediocre' offense this week. An offense that ranked 8th in all of baseball in runs scored with 811. An offense with five 20 homer guys, 3 legit superstars (Martinez, Sizemore, and Hafner), and one guy that nobody's ever heard of but has sparked the Indians offense since being called up on August 8th. That guy is Mitch Cumstain, my college roommate. No, it's actual Asdrubal Cabrera. He's the sort of guy you feel comfortable pitching to if you're an opposing team's fan(a rookie 2nd baseman with no power), until he rips your heart out and starts a huge rally. In fact I can't wait for the slew of "Who the hell is Asdrubal Cabrera" phone calls I'll be getting this weekend.


While the Tribe did commit 4 more errors than the Spanks this year, they have an identical .985 fielding percentage. We'll call the defense a wash.


The only ray of hope the Yankees have is in the bullpen. But, the Yanks advantage in the pen does not start in middle relief with Joba the Hut like everyone thinks. While Joba is completely terrifying, the Tribe has a couple of lights out set-up men as well. Cue up the Rafael brothers, Bentacourt and Perez, and their respective 1.47 and 1.78 ERAs. The Tribe is doing just fine until the ninth inning. Need I even mention rookie sensation Jensen Lewis or lefty specialist Aaron Fultz who both have ERAs in the twos?

The closer situation is a little dicey. I would take the 91 year old Mariano Rivera over the Polish Jose Mesa every day of the week and twice on Sundays. But, despite Mr. Borowski's flair for the dramatic, he did lead the AL in saves this year with 45 and was second in all of baseball to Arizona's Jose Valverde and his 47 saves. That's gotta count for something, right?

Oh yeah, there's one more reason that the Tribe will dominate the Yankees. It's because Derek Jeter is an overrated, no talent ass-clown. Actually, I can't back that up, Jeter is the man. But, if there's one certain way to get under a Yankees fans skin it's by talking trash about their captain. Never fails, Yankees fans hate it!

So, there you have it Legend faithful, I've shown you the roadmap to the demise of the Yankees for one more year, and I didn't even have to mention what a huge choke artist A-Rod is while I did it. Isn't it nice when the forces of good triumph over pure evil?

Colorado is Rocking...Me to Sleep

Confucius Ask: How Does Stadium Full of People Make No Noise

Pardon me for critiquing, but I hereby pledge allegiance...to the Tribe...for the 2007 postseason. My allegiances were up for sale following the events of the last few days (by the way, the Mets will not be spoken about again here until the spring). The bidders were the Colorado Rockies and the Cleveland Indians. The Rockies and their fans had the opportunity to sway my vote tonight, but I barely heard a peep. Literally.

Maybe it is the equally emotionless TBS broadcast but could there be a more lifeless crowd in a one-game playoff? Or maybe it was the extreme juxtaposition against the frenzied towel-waving scene in Philadelphia throughout the last week. But Coors Field was like a morgue. Am I the only one who noticed this? Tell me I'm not losing my mind, here.

First off, the Rockies fans looked plastered to their seats. Seriously, it was if a magnetic force of unparalleled strength was sucking their chubby asses back into the hard plastic. Not once did they stand as one with runners on base in the middle innings. I did not witness one instance where they rose to cheer a two-strike, two-out count with the game hanging in the balance. This is the atmosphere during in all-or-nothing game for a team that won 13 of the last 14 games? In a word, pathetic.

Now, I've been to Coors during the regular season. Their fans are quite pleasant. They're the types of folks you'd look forward to having a conversation with about the weather, fun outdoor activities in the Denver area, maybe even the best microbrew in town. But crazed fans they are not.

So it is we at The Legend will put our rooting interests behind the Wahoo Warriors, regardless of the outcome of the should-be-riveting but seems-quite-boring Rocks/Pads contest. We have no problem with this. The Indians for one are the pride and joy of Erie's Scribe, and their opponent is the despised Evil Empire. We have no problem getting behind that combo.

Let's go Tribe.

Weekend Preview for the Sports Enthusiast

The Phillies rallying from a 6-2 deficit in the 2nd row at RFK stadium

Hello San Diego, I'm Erie's Scribe. Tits McGhee is on vacation.

Lot's of stuff to watch this weekend. First and foremost, watch the US Women's Soccer team in the Women’s World Cup. "Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. I need all of you, to stop what you're doing and listen. Cannonball!" Unfortunately, I do have a horrifying news story; the U.S. Women lost 4-0 today to Brazil. On the bright side, that frees up some viewing time for other sports that need to get our undivided attention this weekend.

Like baseball, "As in Gene Tennis at the plate WHAMMY! WHAMMY!" I haven't been following the races as closely since the Indians clinched the Central. I'd get excited about winning the Division, but it's all about the Series for this year's Tribe. They're Hot, Hot, Hot heading into the playoffs. But, I just need a brief glance at the standings to see what's going on. The AL is wrapped up except for match-ups. The standings indicate that the NL, however, is mayhem.
New York Mets: lost 3 straight; 4-6 in the last 10; Choke alert moving to defcon 5!!!
Philadelphia Phillies: Won last night; 7-3 in the last 10; On the warpath! Losing to Charlie Manual would add insult to injury for Mets fans.

Colorado Rockies: Won 10 straight; 10-0 in last ten! Let's hear you Denver!! 2.5 back in the West. 1 back in the Wild Card!! Dios mio, man. What are the Rockies putting in their Coors Light these days? Can I have some?
Chicago, Milwaukee, San Diego and Arizona: All 6-4 in the last week. All treading water instead of charging.

Mets, Padres, Phillies and Diamondbacks clawing to see who will achieve the highest level of mediocrity and the NL Wild Card if they don't get caught by the red hot Rockies. "WHAMMY!!"

College Football starts with an intriguing match-up with West Virginia at South Florida on Friday night. I don't care if South Florida is on a tear and ranked 18th, if West Virginia is really a title contender, then they blow out the Bulls (I had to look that up) tonight. From there it's pretty tame this weekend. If you have to give up a college football weekend to your significant other, I'd pick this one. Cal/Oregon should be a good game. And Washington could hang with USC for awhile..... it's pretty slow. I know that two of my buddies are whipped into a frenzy over the Texas A&M/Baylor match up and that I'm going to the Navy/Air Force game. There's the train wreck that is Notre Dame if anyone's interested. "This is worse than that time the raccoon got in the copier!"

The NFL match-ups feature some interesting (and some overplayed) stories. Brett Favre facing that whole 'I can't play in domes' thing again in Minnesota. Cleveland will revisit it's never ending hate affair with the Baltimore Ravens and specifically Art Modell. Ken Whisenhunt facing the Steelers for the first time... uh-oh, it looks like I'm reaching again. At least Monday Night's game has shootout potential. "That's how I roll."

Monday Musings: Sexy Rexy, The 'Cuse and More

"At least someone still loves me despite my 27.5 passer rating..."

Pleasant Monday to all loyal Legend readers and new visitors. Before we get to the weekend wrap, a quick note that we received a quick shout-out from sports blog Godfather Will Leitch over at Deadspin on Friday. We'd like to extend a personal thank you to Isiah Thomas for occassionally making our job just too damn easy. With Thomas and Dolan both scheduled to take the stand this week, I'm eagerly anticipating the Post and Daily News back pages.

The highlights and lowlights from another glorious weekend of sports action.

Simply Gross: Even Lovie Smith has to have a breaking point. Doesn't he? In another game where the spotlight shined brightly on Rex Grossman, he proved himself utterly inadequate. Lion in Oil officially denounced their loyalty this morning and many more windy fans are lined up right behind them.

San Diego...Not-so-Super Chargers: Now, I know the coach is not the root of all ills for the Chargers. HOW-ever (and you know how much we love linking to our own posts), Mr. A.J. Smith this CAN NOT surprise you. How many different ways do we need to say this? Norv Turner = born loser.

Dear Louisville: Never mention the words "national title" in the same sentence as "Louisville Cardinals." In a loss that falls short only to UM/App. St., the high-powered Cardinals lost AT HOME to a pretty terrible Syracuse team. It also solidified the notion that you can never take this all-O, no-D team seriously when discussing the elite teams in the country. Sometimes capturing the sentiment of a fan base cannot be done any better than visiting a blog of a hard-core, educated fan of that team. In this case, the source of information is Card Chronicle. Read the post when you have half an hour to spare. If you don't have that kind of time, let us pull some of the more memorable quotes:

"I'm sitting here a day later and I still have absolutely no idea what to write about what I witnessed Saturday afternoon..."

"I can't imagine there being another reasonably eligible head coach on this planet who could have done a worse job thus far than Steve Kragthorpe."

"I will never, ever boo a Louisville team or coach, but for the first time in my life I found myself feeling glad that other people were. "

Call me a Bandwagoner: But I'm pulling for Favre to lead the Packers back to the playoffs and go out on a high note. Maybe it's those oh-so-genuine Wrangler jeans commercials, or the fact that he is now playing the way critics have been encouraging him to play the last three seasons, but there is something compelling about this whole thing. Old gunslinger...putting a young team on his back...finally trusting in his supporting cast...coming to a realization about how we can best lead them...good stuff all around.

Other good stuff...

'Bama/Ga. on Saturday night was one of the better games I've caught this season.

We often forget that these big-time college ballplayers are...well, college kids. Therefore, it should not be surprising that WVa. quarterback Pat White is enamored with Erin Andrews. Listen Pat, when you grow up that infatuation will go awa...wow, she is hot isn't she?

A solitary blogger tries to keep the hopes of a nation alive.

Oh yes, and the J-E-T-S got a W-I-N, while the Mets managed to give away another three-run cushion and provide their fans with a mild coronary before beating those pesky fish in 11. This will continue to be anything-but-easy.

And, finally, congrats to Erie's Scribe and the rest of Wahoo nation on the Tribe officially clinching a spot in the postseason. If you haven't noticed...and judging by the lack of media attention...you haven't...the Indians are the hottest team in baseball.

I Like Big Plays and I Cannot Lie. You Other Brothers Can't Deny.

Even these guys would have liked the Browns performance on Sunday

Okay, I'm not going to clutter The Legend again with another 1,000+ words about the Browns. Just one quick paragraph to say..... How about them Brownies! Offensive juggernaut. While many national media outlets would rather focus on the Bungles lousy Swiss cheese defense, I prefer to think about the Browns glorious offense. I'm a glass half full type of guy I guess. But I could talk about the Browns 51-45 shootout win over the Bengals all day. I could write enough words about this victory to fill the entire internet. Nobody would be able to get things done on the internet, because all of the space would be taken up by the rantings of an excited Browns fan. Amongst approximately 200,000 other things, I might get into, would be Jamal Lewis proving all the national prognosticators who said he didn't have anything left in the tank (minus SI's, Peter King who put him on the cover of SI), wrong. If there are any Browns fans out there who want a level headed breakdown (I'm incapable of writing about that game with a level head) of the Cincy game check out what Dawgs By Nature has to say about it.

Enough about the Browns, I'm pretty sure there were other things that went on in sports over the weekend and this week. Hey, did anyone else's Sports Illustrated feature 6 upside down pages this week or was that just the one sent to my house? In the middle of the 'Eric Byrnes is a nutty guy who hustles a lot' article, right after page 62, I have six straight pages that are upside down. Is this to illustrate how truly nutty Byrnes is? Do you think they just used the 'Johnny Damon is a nutty guy who hustles a lot' article from a few years ago (back when Damon was a nutty guy who hustled a lot) and changed some names and flipped a couple of pages upside down to save some time? I'm not fooled that easily.

I've mentioned Michigan's early season failures each of the past two weeks, so I guess I have to mention their victory over Notre Dame. How long until we start hearing that the Notre Dame brain trust is racist for keeping Charlie Weis when they fired Tyrone Willingham who will probably have a higher winning percentage than Weis after this season? Is it ever too early to play the race card? With USC's performance over the Huskers, is it safe to say that there are two super teams right now, with everyone else looking up at them? Nice comeback wins out of Kentucky and 'Bama. It's weird though, you'd think you need good karma for amazing comebacks, and while I'm not sure if this opinion is justified or not, I've got it in my head that both Rich Brooks and Nick Saban are dirtballs.

I just figured out why I don't like the SEC. It's because there are two SEC's! All along I thought it was a regional thing (I've spent most of my life in either the Rust Belt or in the Mid-Atlantic part of the Eastern seaboard). Here's the problem; when you talk about the Pac Ten, Big Ten, Big Twelve, Big East, ACC, WAC, or other conferences, you know that you're talking about college football or basketball conferences depending on the season. You talk about the SEC and you might be talking about college football, or you might be talking about the Securities and Exchange Commission. Google it! Que barbaridad! I do not like confusing a powerful football conference with a powerful business watchdog. So until either you Southeastern Conference or you Securities and Exchanges Commission, change your name, I shall always have a bias against the both of you. You've been warned. I will not explain this to either of the SEC's or their respective fans again.

There are two things that get me really fired up for baseball. The first is the phrase "pitchers and catchers report in two weeks." Loosely translated into English, the phrase means that spring is right around the corner. The second thing is the term "magic number." When you start hearing about magic numbers, you're in the middle of the playoff races. You've got teams heating up at the right time, like the Yankees and Indians, and teams fading down the stretch like the Mets and the Red Sox. A quick glance at the standings this morning shows that minus the AL Central and AL West, all of the division races are coming down to the wire. The Mets and Phillies have the most separation of the remaining division leaders with the Mets clinging to a 2.5 game lead. The Phils are also 2.5 games behind the Padres in the Wild Card. Every game counts. I love the NL Central race this year. Two long suffering teams duking it and scoreboard watching every night. The Cubbies took a one game lead over the Brew-crew last night with a tight 3-2 victory over the Reds, while the Brewers lost in ten to the 'Stros. Speaking of the Cubs, they pitched Carlos Zambrano on three days rest the other night, and lost. Zambrano pitched okay, but does this pitching on three days rest thing ever work? And if you're a Cubs fan and you've seen Prior's and Wood's careers fall apart due to arm injuries, how do you feel about Sweet Lou throwing your young ace on limited rest?

New Yorkers I've talked to seem to be in a tizzy about their football teams, and have decided to focus their energies on baseball. Yesterday I got my first call from a Yankees fan declaring that the Bronx Bombers will be winning the World Series this year. "The hottest team in baseball," he said. When I informed him that the Tribe (magic number: 3!) was 20-5 over their last 25, he pulled one of my favorite Yankee fan tricks by just ignoring me. Many more of these phone calls to come, I'm sure. The Mets fans I know haven't said much of anything lately, save for a few jabs at Willie Randolph. Good luck to you Mets fans, I'm very experienced in late season/playoff collapses of all shapes and forms. Help me help you.