The Indians did all they could to win a ballgame. They also did all they could to lose it. You would think a 7-0 lead going to the bottom of the eighth is pretty darn safe. Well, think again. The Tribe blew that lead Friday night and lost 8-7 in the first game of their series against the Reds. The Indians put on a hitting clinic early and put up five runs in the first. Todd Hollandsworth and Ronnie Belliard each had two RBIs and a home run, Grady Sizemore added two doubles, and Paul Byrd pitched six innings of shutout ball to help give the Indians the large lead.

Unfortunately for the Tribe, they had to turn it over to their horrific bullpen. Rafael Betancourt gave up four runs, including two homers, and failed to record an out in the eighth. The Indians tacked on a run in the ninth but it wasn’t enough insurance. With the Tribe holding on to a three-run lead, Bob Wickman walked two straight batters to load the bases for Adam Dunn, who ended the game with a line drive grand slam.

“I had nothing tonight,” Wickman said. “It was ridiculous and embarrassing. I can’t throw a strike.”

I can’t even make this stuff up.

Indians’ first baseman Eduardo Perez was traded Friday to the Seattle Mariners for infielder Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera, who hit .236 this season with AAA Tacoma, will be assigned to Buffalo and first baseman Ryan Garko will join the Indians. With the log jam the Indians have at first base, Perez became expendable. Does this signal the beginning of more trades for the Indians now that the season is a lost cause?

Cabrera is only 20 years old and is known for his above average speed and defense. Last season, he was rated as the Mariners’ 6th best prospect and was voted the best defensive second baseman in his league. The Indians clearly are thin at second base and shortstop when it comes to minor league talent so Cabrera may be able to fill that void. I wonder if this trade was made simply to dump Perez and give Garko a chance up at the big league level or if Shapiro really does see a future with this Cabrera kid. Remember, Ronnie Belliard’s contract is up after this season.

The 21st annual Mud & Grass Volleyball and Mud Dodgeball Tournament to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association will be held Saturday, July 22 beginning at 9:00 a.m. at the Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights, Ohio. More than 4,500 players, spectators and volunteers are expected to participate in the event. Children and adults come from miles around to play or just watch, enjoy good food and music and help kids with neuromuscular diseases.

For more information on this immensely popular event, including team fees and sign-up instructions, click here.

Cavaliers’ first-round pick Shannon Brown and LeBron James aren’t exactly strangers to one another. They met and became quick buddies back when they were both high school stars and have played on the same court quite a bit. Akron Beacon Journal sportswriter Brian Windhorst explains.

Brown’s relationship with James started in 2002 when both took part in the USA Basketball’s “Development Festival'’ in Colorado Springs. It expanded a year later in 2003 when they bonded while starring in the McDonald’s All-American Game in Cleveland and at the Jordan Capital Classic in Washington, D.C.

Brown, a star from Proviso East High School in Maywood, Ill., nearly upstaged James at the McDonald’s Slam Dunk Contest, finishing second behind him. Then the next night, he scored 23 points and had three assists opposite James, who was named the game’s MVP.

A few weeks later in Washington, Brown and James shared the MVP honors of the Capital Classic. Behind Brown’s 27 points, his team beat James’ team despite James’ 34 points. After the game, James joked that he might skip going to the NBA so he could go to Michigan State to play with Brown.

So it’s safe to say LeBron approves of the pick. These two, with Larry Hughes, have a chance to develop something really special for years to come. Brown probably won’t start right away but will eventually work his way into the rotation. He’s got the demeanor and work ethic you look for in a player and, with his athleticism, should be a terrific compliment to both LeBron and Larry. Brown and James knowing each other from their high school days can only help their relationship and chemistry on the court.

The Indians had won two games in a row and were on the verge of a sweep until a ninth inning meltdown lost it for the Tribe Wednesday night. Given the Indians’ track record the last month, a sweep was probably too much to ask for from this club. The Tribe were down 3-1 going into the eighth but managed to score three to take the lead. Bob Wickman entered in the bottom of the ninth with a one-run lead and that’s when the ugliness began for the Tribe. So Taguchi hit a pop-up to catcher Kelly Shoppach, who dropped the ball in fair territory, leaving Taguchi at second on the error. After an RBI double that tied the game, Jhonny Peralta’s poor throw to first on a grounder helped score the winning run for the Cardinals. Jake Westbrook pitched a solid ballgame, giving up three runs in six innings of work. Grady Sizemore provided some punch at the top of the order and had four of the Tribe’s 10 hits on the night.

The Tribe were riding a modest win streak going into the final game of the series and actually had some momentum for the first time in quite awhile. But, as they have done all season long, found a way to lose and failed to close it out thanks to the disappointing ninth inning.

“It was a total defensive collapse,” Wedge said. “We gave it back to them a lot easier than we took it from them. It was an embarrassing ending to what potentially could have been a real big game for us.”

The Cavaliers got their point guard in Daniel Gibson with the #42 pick and selected Nigerian small forward Ejike Ugboaja with their third and final pick of the 2006 draft. Gibson, a sophomore out of Texas, put up 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.1 assists last season.

With the selection of Shannon Brown and Gibson, the Cavs really shored up their backcourt and shooting issues. Gibson also is a very solid outside threat, shooting the three at a 38% clip last season. The pick of Ugboaja was a little confusing, however. He’s a raw small forward who may not even make the team. I would have preferred the Cavs had gone with a big man with their last pick, someone like Terence Dials of OSU, considering the uncertainty with Drew Gooden. Overall, Danny Ferry did a pretty decent job with the draft and improved the team where they needed it most.

With the 25th overall selection, the Cavaliers chose guard Shannon Brown from Michigan State. Brown averaged 17.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists for the Spartans last season as a junior. He’s an extremely athletic player who will also give the Cavs an outside shooting presence. Brown shot 39% from beyond the arc last season. The Cavs barely missed out on the top few point guards as Rondo, Williams, and Lowry were taken #21, 22, and 24, respectively. However, the Cavaliers were still able to get a quality player and as the NBA Draft crew on ESPN said, we may have gotten the “steal of the first round”. Here’s what ESPN insider Chad Ford had to say about the selection.

I love this pick for the Cavs. They have been keyed on Shannon Brown for a long time and thought there was no way he’d be there. Brown will give them a great penetrator and explosive athlete who can attack the basket or pull up for the 3-pointer. Put him on the floor with LeBron James and defenders are going to cower. Brown has the most potent combination of power and athleticism in the draft. I’m not sure he can play the point, but with Larry Hughes and LeBron James’ ball-handling skills, he’ll be fine.

In his previous start, C.C admitted to quitting and losing focus during his worst performance of his career when he gave up nine runs to the Chicago Cubs. He was frustrated and upset with himself and apologized after the game. Sabathia had something to prove going into his start Tuesday night and came up big. The Tribe offense didn’t do much after the two-run first inning so the only way they were going to get a victory was if Sabathia pitched a dominant game and that’s exactly what he did. He displayed some great mental toughness by putting his last ugly outing behind him and focused on the task at hand. Kudos.

“I felt like a kid throwing a baseball,” Sabathia said. “I was having fun. Just to get back out there and be pitching, it felt awesome.”

C.C Sabathia returned to form as he pitched eight outstanding innings in the Indians’ 3-1 win over the Cardinals Tuesday night. Sabathia surrendered only a run and five hits over the eight innings and bounced back from some rough previous starts. Ronnie Belliard started the Indians off on the right foot by hitting a two-run home run in the first off Cardinals starter Anthony Reyes. Victor Martinez gave them their third run with his RBI single in the seventh. The Tribe won back-to-back games for the first time since June 1 against the White Sox. With the victory, the Indians are guaranteed to win the three-game series against the Cards, which makes it their first series victory since the aforementioned battle with the Sox.

Kenny Roda will be writing a weekly blog on Cleveland Scores covering the entire Cleveland sports universe. Check back often for his updates!

After searching the internet, making a ton of phone calls, watching everything from ESPN to NBA TV and talking with some high ranking NBA Big Wigs, here’s the “411″ I can give you about the 2006 NBA Draft before it happens. When it’s all said and done we’ll see how we did and if I’ll trust those people for next year’s draft.

This is considered an average draft at best. No true number #1 pick and no true superstars. In a good to above average draft you could project 10 to 12 players who would end up being starters. One NBA exec told me this year those numbers are projected at maybe 6 to 10.

While there may not be as many starters or impact players in this draft, there is depth to fill out rosters.

Because of the items we just mentioned, expect there to be some wheeling and dealing in this draft for a number of reasons. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Depending on the needs of a team, someone might be willing to trade up or down because they are targeting one particular player they feel could help them immediately. Also, a team may feel they have projected a sleeper in the draft and will go get him via trade.

As for European players in this draft, there are a few, but the free agent class for the Euro’s is projected to be better than the draft class. But the best in this draft class is 7′1” power forward Andrea Bargnani of Italy. He’s being considered as the top choice by the Raptors. Others include power forward Olexsiy Pecherov of Ukraine, point guard Sergio Rodriguez of Spain, small forward Thabo Sefolosha of Switzerland and power forward Joel Freeland from England.

The deepest positions in this draft are wings and point guards. The weakest position of this draft…centers, or “Bigs”, as my good buddy and former Cavs coach John Lucas liked to call them.

Point Guards - My Top 6 - Marcus Williams from UConn, Kyle Lowery from Villanova, Rajon Rondo from Kentucky, Sergio Rodriguez from Spain, Jordan Farmar of UCLA and Dee Brown out of Illinois. Brown’s size is the biggest question about him. If he were taller than 5′11”, he may be the #1 point guard in this draft. He’s tough, hard-nosed, can play both guard spots (which he did at Illinois), can score and pass and is a winner. I’d take him on my team any day and I think whoever drafts him may get a steal of a deal.

Wings (shooting guards and small forwards) - My Top 6 - Brandon Roy from Washington, Adam Morrison out of Gonzaga, Rudy Gay from UConn, Ronnie Brewer out of Arkansas, Randy Foye from Villanova and Shannon Brown from Michigan St. In my opinion, Brandon Roy is the most complete player of this group. Great first step, can handle the rock, can create and slash, average passer and decent defender. Randy Foye is not far behind, but like we mentioned with Dee Brown earlier, his size could hurt him. The best scorer of this group is Adam Morrison, but can he play defense at the NBA level? If he goes to a team who is already defensive minded it won’t be a concern. The best value pick in this group late in the first round could be Shannon Brown.

Power Forwards - My Top 6 - LaMarcus Aldridge from Texas, Tyrus Thomas of LSU, Andrea Bargnani from Italy, Cedric Simmons out of NC State., Sheldon Williams from Duke and Olexsiv Pecherov from Brazil. Two sleepers to keep an eye on are Alexander Johnson from Florida St. and Leon Powe from Cal. Josh Boone is kind of a tweener whether he is a center or power forward. To me it doesn’t matter. I’d love to have UConn’s Boone on my team, especially on the defensive end.

Centers - My Top 3 - Patrick O’Bryant from Bradley, Josh Boone from UConn and Paul Davis out of Michigan St. Like I said earlier, not a good year for “Bigs”.

Who do the Cavs go with?

As far as the Cavaliers go at #25 in the first round and picks #42 and #55 in the second round, General Manager Danny Ferry has said that bringing three rookies into camp probably won’t happen. So that means one of two things. Either they’ll try and package two picks to move up and get a player if someone slips that they really like, or they could draft a player or two in the second round and let them play overseas for a year or two.

My guess on the Cavaliers is they’ll come away with a point guard for sure because of the ages of both Eric Snow and Damon Jones and the fact that they aren’t very good. The Cavs also will want to find a power forward who can bang, rebound and block shots. But then again, depending on how the draft goes, they could go for one of the wings since that position is so deep. If the Cavs could have one player in this draft I believe they would take Brandon Roy out of Washington. I’ve heard they love his all around game and if not him then point guard Kyle Lowery. Also a player like Josh Boone would really help them defensively around the hoop. If they stay at #25 and it comes down to two players and one of them is a point guard, they will take the point guard, no doubt. From what I’ve been able to gather, here’s what Danny Ferry, Mike Brown and the Cavaliers are looking for in a point guard: 1) Can he defend? 2) Can he shoot? 3) Does he have the size needed in the NBA? and 4) Can he handle the ball and make good decisions with it?

Names to realistically consider for the Cavs: Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown,
Dee Brown, Josh Boone, Daniel Gibson (point guard from Texas), Shawne Williams from Memphis, Olexsiy Pecherov, Mardy Collins out of Temple and Leon Powe.

The Cavaliers worked out 30 to 35 players and the most important part of the workout was not what they saw on the court because 90% of their mind is already made up on the players’ athletic ability. It’s the chance to test them mentally on the court and afterwards by interviewing him. This allows the Cavs a chance to balance their basketball skill with his mental skills or his basketball IQ.

Don’t forget. After all 60 picks are made over the two rounds, free agent frenzy begins when teams try to sign undrafted kids. This is where teams with a great scouting department might find that diamond in the rough!

One last thing. After the draft ends on Wednesday, June 28, the most important move of the Cavaliers’ off-season will be only three days away. That’s when the Cavaliers can offer LeBron James his $75 million contract extension. So if things don’t go the way you were hoping on draft night, forget about it. Worry more about whether or not LeBron gives the Cavaliers his autograph on that new contract!