In another strong move, the Browns signed massive left tackle L. J. Shelton, a former first-round pick out of Eastern Michigan. Shelton is not an All-Pro and Crennell might have to whip him into shape, but he’s certainly an adequate replacement for loudmouth Ross Verba. Savage has indicated that he will not restructure Verba’s deal, and Verba is now screaming for his release.

If I were Savage I’d tell him to pound salt and hold out if he wants. With Shelton this team does not need Verba, and they certainly don’t need someone like him to disrupt the new chemistry they are trying to build on this team. Verba is a decent player, but he is not a dominant left tackle, and he really doesn’t fit the power game Crennell is trying to install in Cleveland. Verba is one of those “versitile” linemen Butch Davis always yapped about. Sure, he can play guard as well, but what we really need is someone to play tackle, play it well and keep his mouth shut while doing it.

I guess we just have to accept this garbage, because Wedge and ShapIRO refuse to do anything about it. The “Boone and Blake” show. How wonderful. Day in and day out, Wedge keeps putting them in and day in and day out, they keep screwing this team over. And for those of you who will ask, “If not Boone, who will play third?” WHO CARES?! You could get ANYBODY to bat higher than .150. Fifty-three games into the season is not a slump. Then there’s Dolan — “We’ll get free agents when fans starting coming to games….” Great. Does Wal-Mart say, “We’ll get good products when people start coming to our stores.” Of course not. And don’t give me this small market crap. This market, which includes Akron/Canton/Toledo/Youngstown, is NOT a small market. It’s a mid-market, and these idiots know it. I am not spending a DIME to see bums like Boone and Blake. This team and organization absolutely disgust me. I feel like it’s 1981 all over again — mediocre, if not bad, team, mediocre front office, and cheap owner who strangles the region by hanging on to a team he simply cannot afford, which clearly shows on the field.

So much for making up ground on the White Sox. The Indians lost the first game of this weekend’s big series in Chicago 6-4 Friday night. Coco Crisp had another big game, homering for the second-straight night and driving in three runs, but Jake Westbrook allowed four runs in the first and two more in the fifth to fall to 2-8 on the season. After evening out at .500 against Minnesota, the Indians have lost three-straight and, unless they can pull it together for these final two games of the series, they’re in danger of falling out of the Central race.