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Westbrook, Indians take care of Twins for sweep

April 9, 2006 / John Blake

Jake Westbrook pitched another fantastic ballgame, allowing only one run on two hits in 7 1/3 innings as the Indians won their fifth straight, beating the Twins 3-2. The Tribe earned their first sweep of the season and beat one of the game�s best pitchers, Johan Santana, in the process. Eduardo Perez took Santana deep in the fourth and Aaron Boone delivered a two-run double in the sixth.

“We’re six games into the season,” cautioned Perez. “But we’re getting good pitching, good fielding and guys like Travis Hafner are really hitting well.”

The Indians sure are doing a good job of putting the past behind them. They know they can’t have a repeat of the last two Aprils when they struggled out of the gate. They are really clicking in every facet of the game, it�s just too bad they have a day off. Hopefully that won�t affect our momentum going into the Seattle series.

Cleveland Indians

Cavs, LeBron still need to end season strong

April 9, 2006 / Bob

LeBron James is moving up the charts on many writers� lists for MVP. I believe the last two weeks of the season are going to be critical for James to win the covenant award. The Cavaliers will have to decide on whether to rest James to prepare for the first round of the playoffs or let his young legs carry him to his first of many MVP�s.
I believe it�s important for Mike Brown and the Cavaliers to close out the season strong and play every game to the end. This is a young team that is not playoff tested. LeBron and company will need all the confidence they have now for their playoff run.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Ohio State Football equals NFL

April 9, 2006 / Bob

The Ohio State University and Coach Jim Tressel will have an easy time recruiting next year as the Buckeyes make another strong showing in the 2006 NFL draft. This year they project at least 5 Ohio State players to go in the first round. This is more than both USC and Texas, who played in the Championship game.
Ohio State and Coach Tressel are starting to make this a common theme each year for the NFL. The emphasis put on playing as a team and continuing to work hard is starting to make NFL scouts look to the Buckeyes first when evaluating NFL prospects. Jim Tressel may be conservative in his thought process, but his development of players is very successful.

OSU Football

Johnson dominant in victory

April 9, 2006 / John Blake

The Tribe beat the Minnesota Twins 3-0 Saturday, extending their win streak to four. Jason Johnson was superb in his first outing as an Indian, giving up only four base hits in seven innings. Travis Hafner continued his hot streak, going 3 for 3 while hitting his fourth homer of the season. Wickman shut the door in the bottom of the ninth to get his second save of the season.

What a great performance by Johnson. I didn�t really know what to expect from him but he came in and pitched an excellent ballgame. At least for one day, Shapiro looks like a genius for signing Jason in the offseason.

Cleveland Indians

Fourth quarter surge ends Nets’ streak

April 8, 2006 / John Blake

LeBron dropped 37 points Saturday afternoon as the Cavaliers beat the Nets 108-102, snapping New Jersey�s 14-game winning streak. James, once again, took charge and led his team when it counted, scoring 18 of his points in the fourth quarter. With a Washington loss to Miami, the Cavaliers will lock up the fourth seed and clinch home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

New Jersey is the hottest team in the NBA and to come from behind and beat them on their home floor is pretty remarkable. Without Z, LeBron put the team on his shoulders and was phenomenal the way he carried the Cavaliers to victory.

“LeBron James was LeBron James; he is truly an amazing player,” Mike Brown said. “In my opinion, there are a lot of great players out there, but without him we’d be in trouble. So in my opinion, he’s an MVP.”