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What a blast!

July 13, 2006 / John Blake

The Indians returned from the break and seemed refreshed and re-energized as they used four homers to beat the Minnesota Twins 6-4 in the Metrodome Thursday night. Minnesota’s young pitching stud Francisco Liriano, the league’s ERA leader, was rocked for four earned runs in five innings pitched as he lost just his second game of the season. He may have edged out Travis Hafner for one of the final A.L All-Star spots, but Pronk got the better of Liriano this time, launching a solo home run to right field in the fifth inning. Liriano gave up three long balls on the night, including one to Casey Blake, who made his first return to the lineup after being out with an oblique strain. The Tribe added an insurance run in the ninth via Kelly Shoppach’s home run.

After allowing two straight walks to start the game, Cliff Lee settled down and gave up only two earned runs and five hits to notch his ninth win of the season. He has now won six of his last seven decisions dating back to early June. Fausto Carmona, who continues to dominate as a setup man, pitched another scoreless eighth and Bob Wickman saved his 14th of the season.

Cleveland Indians

LeBron thoughts

July 13, 2006 / Kenny Roda

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

The Cavaliers’ signing of LeBron James. We told you it would happen in our last blog and it has. LeBron agreed to a three-year deal worth about $43 million with a player option for a fourth year that would make the total value of the deal worth $60 million. This isn’t totally what we were all hoping for. We were hoping for a five-year, $80 million deal. But as he’s done so far in his short but amazing career, LeBron has set a new trend.

He realized two things:

1) With a new collective bargaining agreement in the not-too-distant future, he could more than likely make more money then by accepting less money and years now. His good buddy Dwayne Wade has done the same thing in Miami. Yes it’s a risk, but a small one at that, considering how much money they take in outside of the NBA from endorsements.

2) It forces Dan Gilbert and Danny Ferry in the next four years to put a good team around Lebron. If they fail to do so, he could decide at the end of this contract, when he would be an unrestricted free agent after the 2009-2010, to take his talents elsewhere, having given the Cavaliers organization seven years to build a winner. When you look at it from that standpoint, as much as we may not like it, it’s a brilliant move by LeBron both on the business side as well as the basketball side. It’s a decision I don’t blame him at all for making.

Also, before you start panicking about the fact that LeBron didn’t sign the max contract, take a few deep breaths and relax. What you’re failing to realize is that we have LeBron in Cleveland for the next four years: the 2006-07 season, which is the final year of his rookie contract, and then three additional years as part of his new contract, which will run through the 2009-10 season.

That’s four years to build a championship team. Plus, even if LeBron decides to decline the player option for 2010-11, the Cavaliers will be able to offer him more money than any other team in the NBA because he will be their free agent. That particular deal could be worth from $150-$160 million. But because of how much money LeBron will have already made by that time, the most important thing in making sure LeBron will stay in Cleveland is winning championships. Memo to owner Dan Gilbert and GM Danny Ferry: get to work now. You’re on the clock and time is ticking away!

Cleveland Cavaliers, Kenny Roda, LeBron James

All-Star week in Pittsburgh

July 13, 2006 / Kenny Roda

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

As I attended Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game in Pittsburgh many thoughts went through my head.

How can the best stadium in the big leagues be home to the worst franchise in the big leagues? What a waist. The city of such a historic franchise should be embarassed by it’s baseball team and call for Kevin McClatchy, owner of the Pirates, to sell the team to somebody who cares about bringing a winning tradition back instead of just stuffing his pockets with the revenue sharing money he gets!

Phil Garner, a former Pirate, screwed the National League out of a possible win. How do you not take advantage of the bat of the N.L.’s leading hitter, Nomar Garciaparra, as well as totally ignore Scott Rolen and Andrew Jones? I understand wanting to play the two hometown favorites, Jason Bay and Freddie Sanchez, but not as long as Garner did. This was for home-field advantage in the World Series!

The American League is now 9-0-1 (thanks to the Bud Selig tie in 2002) in the last 10 Mid-Summer Classics.

Bud Selig

As I was about to cross the street from the Westin Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh to the FanFest at the convention center, I was held up for about 10 minutes. Why? Because security was waiting for baseball’s so-called leader (yeah, that would be Bud Selig…LOL) to get into his van and drive away. That’s right, it was as if “George W” was there with his many secret service men, 12 motorcycle cops and other police officers making sure nothing happened to him. What a joke!

Derek Jeter, class act

After talking to both Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, it is more clear to me now that
Derek Jeter gets it and A-Rod doesn’t. The Yankee captain talked about how the All-Star Game should not determine home-field advantage for the World Series. Jeter went against what MLB was doing and said that the team with the best record in baseball at the end of the season should get the advantage. Rodriguez, on the other hand, sounded like a P.R guy or a spokesman for MLB trying to convince me and every other media member in the room that there was parody in Major League Baseball and that 12 or 15 teams have a legitimate shot at winning the World Series this year and that it’s only going to get better just like the NFL. This coming from a guy who makes more than the entire Florida Marlins team and about half of the Indians total team payroll!

The Wright stuff

David Wright could and I stress could be to the Mets what Derek Jeter is to the Yankees. I know that’s a lofty comparison, but after talking to him before the game and then watching him in the Homerun Derby and the All-Star Game, I came away saying to myself, “He’s going to be New York’s next superstar!” Like Jeter, he seems to get “IT” on and off the field.

Tribe All-Stars

Tribe skipper Eric Wedge and All-Star center fielder Grady Sizemore both told me that the team hasn’t given up on the season even though they’re seven games under .500 and 18 1/2 games out of first. Both agreed as well on the fact that Wedge has not lost the team and is in total control. They may not have given up on this season…YET. But I disagree wholeheartedly about Wedge. I think the players have tuned him out. They’ve heard everything he can say more than once and it goes in one ear and out the other. If it were me, I would have canned Wedge at the break and picked from the likes of Bud Black, Tony Pena, Larry Bowa and even Lou Pinella to replace him. But, of course, that would mean Larry Dolan would have to spend some real money on a real manager and we all know that’s never going to happen with “Dolan’s discounts.”

Having said what I just did about Eric Wedge, like Charlie Manuel, he’s a great guy and a good baseball guy, but I just don’t think he’s best suited to be a big league manager. Manuel would be the first guy I would hire as a Major League hitting instructor and Wedge would be the guy I would hire to be in charge of the farm system, working with the kids to get them ready for the big leagues.

Homerun Derby

It was a blast to watch in person as Ryan Howard and David Ortiz were splashing balls 460-plus feet into the Alleghany River. Those two put on a great show, but so did the guy I mentioned earlier, David Wright. Sixteen homers in the first round of his first ever Homerun Derby. That’s sick! Some first-timers don’t even hit one out. Others may go yard only a few times. This guy went deep 16 times in his first at-bat. Let me say it again…STUD!

Big Papi, BMOC

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, garnered more attention during the All-Star Game festivities than Ortiz. A-Rod, a Yankee (sort of) said he was pulling for Ortiz to win the Homerun Derby and said, “How can you not like him? He’s like a big cartoon character.” The media hounded him everywhere he went and Big Papi didn’t disappoint. He wore diamond-studded sunglasses, diamond earings, diamond rings the size of strawberries and a white suit that probably cost $4,000. He was playing the part of Elvis at the All-Star Game and loved every minute of it, answering all questions and signing a ton of autographs. Maybe A-Rod was finally right about something!

Smokin’ Venezuelan reporters

I’d be remissed if I didn’t mention the other hot topic amongst the media other than David Ortiz. It was the female reporters from Venezuela. They would have made Maxim magazine’s Top 10 hot list, maybe even the Top 5. WOW! I’m going to be pushing for Bullz-eye.com guru Gerardo Orlando to take a trip to Venezuela to look for some Girls Next Door and feature models for the website. And by the way, Gerardo, I will volunteer my time to come along and do all of the grunt work.

Cleveland Browns, Kenny Roda

It’s official: LeBron agrees to three-year deal

July 12, 2006 / John Blake

Rumors have been swirling about LeBron almost on a daily basis since the season ended about his future with the Cavaliers. Will he bolt to the larger market teams? Then came the discussion recently about whether he was going to sign a five-year or three-year extension with the Cavaliers. Wednesday marks the first day players can officially sign new contracts and all the speculation about what LeBron was going to do came to an end. James officially agreed to a three-year, $60 million contract extension with the Cavs with an option for a fourth year. The shorter contract turns out to be more beneficial for James, who can actually earn more dollars under the new deal. After his new contract is up, LeBron will become an unrestricted free agent and can earn a greater percentage of the team’s salary cap with his next deal.

In an interview with LeBron, his agent Leon Rose, and GM Danny Ferry, Cavs.com takes a look at what transpired with the whole extension process and what lies ahead for LeBron and the Cavs.

Why the three-year deal?

James: If I didn�t believe in this team and this organization and the direction that we’re headed, I wouldn’t have signed the extension. I’m extremely happy here and excited to win a championship here. We did extensive research and with the way the C.B.A. (Collective Bargaining Agreement) is set up, it makes the most business sense to sign this extension and then look at another new contract in four years.

Rose: In the end, this works out very well for him and puts him in a position to accomplish all of his goals, both on the court and off…They (the Cavaliers) really look at their relationship with LeBron as a partnership and understand that helping LeBron maximize his opportunities only helps them as well. So you could say it worked well for everyone.

How LeBron’s signing will affect potential free-agent signings:

Ferry: His signing shows his confidence in winning championships here in Cleveland. That certainly shows our current guys and the entire league that we all believe Cleveland is a place that will get it done.

What LeBron’s new deal means for the franchise:

Ferry: should be a tremendous moment of pride for our entire region and state considering the positive impact LeBron has had thus far and will continue to have. Few things or people in life have the ability to raise the spirit of a community like LeBron does here. It is very rare and we are very fortunate to experience it.

This truly is a historic day for the city. Having an athlete and a person like LeBron call Cleveland home is a once in a lifetime opportunity. For years we have seen other athletes from different cities ascend to greatness and now we have the chance to witness LeBron’s greatness right in front of our eyes for years to come. He is a unique talent, something the city hasn’t seen since Jim Brown.

Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James

Say it with me: “We want Marte!”

July 11, 2006 / JEC

If Mark Shapiro hasn’t been feeling pressure to cut the cord on Aaron Boone and call up slick-fielding, power-hitting third baseman Andy Marte from Buffalo as his replacement, he will after last night’s Triple-A All Star Home Run Derby:

When the best power hitters in Triple-A baseball were finished, a number of balls had left the park and pounded onto the pavement beyond the high barricade in left field. Andy Marte of the Buffalo Bisons, a top prospect in the Cleveland system, won the competition by hitting 29 home runs, and as shot after shot disappeared into the night sky, Tribe fans had to be saying: “Get this guy to Cleveland.”

Um…yeah. As I stated in a previous post, it’s got to be difficult to make such a move (replacing an established, albeit struggling, veteran with an unproven prospect) because it signals the end of your season (most likely), but enough is enough. At the very least, Marte can’t possibly be any worse than Boone, although some readers recently have commented on the effects of team chemistry, and losing Boone would certainly change the chemistry. Still, Marte is a very good defensive third baseman and, obviously, the kid can hit.

Now, let’s see him do it at the Jake.