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Victor moving to first?

June 23, 2006 / John Blake

The Indians made another roster change Friday by recalling catcher Kelly Shoppach and designating Tim Laker for assignment. Victor Martinez played his first ever major league game at first base for the Tribe. With the move, has the Indians organization given up on Victor as a catcher? He has been behind the plate long enough to be able to successfully throw out basestealers, but he can’t. Was this just an experiment or have the Indians really lost hope with Victor ever becoming a quality major league catcher?

As far as I’m concerned, it is a good decision on the organization’s part if they really do decide to permanently move Martinez to first base. While Shoppach is not the greatest hitter, his defense is apparently what scouts love about him. The Indians can’t afford to continue on with a below average defensive catcher. Give Victor the first base job, trade either Broussard or Perez, and develop Shoppach, or even Garko, behind the plate. Garko came out of Stanford as a catcher but the Tribe view him as a first base prospect. Maybe then Martinez won’t have to worry as much about his knees getting all screwed up and the Indians would finally have a power source at first base, a position of power.

Cleveland Indians

Tribe puts up goose egg, loses again

June 23, 2006 / John Blake

Another series opener, another loss. The misery just continues for the Tribe as they were blanked by the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 Friday night at the Jake. Aaron Harange, of all people, pitched the complete game shutout and keeps the Tribe searching for answers. Ryan Freel had a career-high five hits for the Reds in the victory, which put them within three games of the Cardinals in the NL Central. Poor execution with runners in scoring position (1 for 10) ultimately cost the Indians the game. Their best chance came in the eighth when they had runners on first and second with nobody out and couldn’t score. Instead of bunting the runners over, Jhonny Peralta grounded into a double play, killing any chance the Indians had of a rally. The Indians blew another solid performance by Jake Westbrook. In his last two starts now, comprising of 14 innings pitched, Jake has only allowed three runs and the Tribe lost both games.

In the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the Indians down 3-0, Aaron Boone decided it was a good idea to lay down a bunt, which resulted in an easy out to end the ballgame. I hope Wedge isn’t that stupid and called that from the dugout so Boone must have done that on his own. At least the fireworks were a good show.

Cleveland Indians

LeBron/Wade debate off and running

June 23, 2006 / John Blake

The LeBron James / D-Wade debate has officially begun.

Besides Darko Milicic, Wade is now the first of the 2003 draft class to bring home the championship hardware and Tom Reed, Akron Beacon Journal sportswriter, declares Wade, not LeBron, the league’s current best young player. While Reed admits that Shaq played a role in the Heat’s championship by commanding double teams which enabled Wade to do what he did, Wade was the main reason why they won it in the end.

D-Wade is a terrific young player, don’t get me wrong. During the NBA Finals, he displayed the heart of a champion and the poise of a 10-year vet. But do the Heat even get to the Finals if it weren’t for his supporting cast? In Game 6 against the Pistons, it was Shaq and Jason Williams who won that game for Miami. Shaq’s 28 points and 16 rebounds and Williams’ 21 points helped the Heat advance to their first NBA Finals in franchise history. Yes, I know Wade had the flu bug and wasn’t at full strength, but if it weren’t for those two, Miami would have had to travel to Detroit for a Game 7 and who knows what would happen at that point.

Reed does give LeBron his due by saying he will be the better player in the end.

James just completed an astonishing first playoff run. He had a triple-double in his first game. He hit two game-winning shots. He averaged 30.8 points in the face of constant double-teams. He helped soften the Pistons for his friend Wade by extending them to seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Cavs’ standout remains the better long-term prospect. An authority no less than Bill Russell said last month that James is the one with the potential to match his Boston Celtics dynasty if surrounded by the right supporting cast.

Size and durability also are James’ allies. Wade is a serious knee injury away from being a borderline All-Star. The 6-foot-8, 240-pound James is a serious knee injury away from becoming the next Karl Malone.

That all being said, I still believe LeBron is the best player right now even without a championship ring. He came into the NBA straight out of high school and has single-handedly revived the city of Cleveland. LeBron is a physical freak who poses matchup problems for anyone in the league who dares to try and defend him. He does things on the court that nobody else can do. Case and point: the Detroit series. The Pistons changed their entire defense because of LeBron and he was still able to cut through triple teams on his way to the rim. In that series, the Cavaliers only had one other player who averaged double digits in points (Zydrunas Ilgauskas ) and LeBron still was able to get his team to a Game 7.

Finally, put LeBron is Wade’s shoes. If James were on the Heat and had Shaq and company, I don’t think anybody would doubt that LeBron would win the championship.

LeBron James

Tribe throws away game in third

June 21, 2006 / John Blake

Going into Wednesday’s game, the Indians actually had an opportunity to win a series, something they had not done the previous five. With the Cubs’ 9-2 rain-shortened pounding of the Tribe in the rubber match, you can now make that six consecutive series the Indians have failed to win. Due to rain, the umpires called for the tarp in the top of the eighth and the game was later made official. C.C Sabathia was charged for nine runs in only 2 1/3 innings, although some rather bizarre misplays by the Tribe infield did not help.

Indians fans witnessed one of the ugliest innings of the season in the top of the third. With runners on first and third, Ben Broussard fielded a ground ball and threw it to Victor Martinez, thinking the runner was going to try to score from third. After that loaded the bases, Ronnie Belliard followed it up with another boneheaded play. Belliard snagged a grounder moving to his left and got caught in-between whether to throw to first or second. The second baseman managed to throw the ball to nobody and a run scored.

“Inexcusable,” Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said.

Chicago scored eight in the inning and knocked C.C out of the game. Cubs second baseman Neifi Perez went 3 for 4 with two doubles and two RBIs in the game and Aramis Ramirez had two hits and two RBIs to lead them to victory. The Tribe could only score two off starter Carlos Zambrano, who got his sixth win of the season.

C.C clearly was frustrated following the game.

“What’s inexcusable? For me not to make pitches. For me to be giving up,” Sabathia said, protecting his teammates. “That’s something as a pro I should never do. I would like to apologize to everybody. I lost focus.”

“We all know we stink right now,” he said.

Sabathia has had some rough outings his last four starts. He once boasted a sub-2 ERA and now it has ballooned to over four. Although who are we kidding, did anyone really think these Indians could win two in a row? Poor defense has been an issue all season long and the Tribe continued the trend Wednesday night. The mental lapses displayed by Broussard and Belliard in the third exhibited what could be seen in little league baseball games. What happened to this team?

Cleveland Indians