The Cavs Play Very Well Friday. The Next Night? Uh, Not So Much

Usually, we write on Saturday morning but after the Cavaliers very good performance on Friday night against the then 8-1 Philadelphia 76ers, we figured we would wait to see how the wine and gold followed up that performance against the defending champion New York Knicks, who swept Kenny Atkinson’s crew out of the playoffs last season in the Eastern Conference finals.

By the way, both games were at Rocket Arena.

Did the Cavs build on perhaps their best game of the young season on Friday? They did not, They trailed by 10 at the half and by 18 at the end of three quarters, losing by a dozen and dropping to 5-5.

This edition of the Cavaliers is befuddling for sure.

Yes, we know the team is battling injuries. One starter, Jarrett Allen is currently out, and two of their primary reserves, Jaylon Tyson and Sam Merrill, also were not available.

Donovan Mitchell wound up with 37 points and had an incredible fourth quarter but seemed to be the only Cavalier playing with any urgency, at least on the offensive end.

Cleveland took 50 three-point shots, they attempted 82 field goals for the game. That number would be fine if they had made say, 30 of the long-range shots. They made 16. In one possession late in the third quarter, they garnered two offensive rebounds, so they had three opportunities to score.

They attempt three shots from behind the line. They missed them all.

In the third quarter, the home team made 1 of 13 from beyond the arc. Didn’t someone on the floor or on the bench think maybe we should stop taking threes? We know, we know, that’s today’s NBA,

The other primary starters for the Cavs, Evan Mobley and James Harden, didn’t do much. Mobley in 33 minutes scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds. He took 11 shots, five of them from three-point range,

As for Harden, he scored seven points on nine shots and only got to the free throw line twice. Meanwhile the two Knick stars, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 60 points.

And as usual when the Cavaliers are defeated, they lost the battle of the boards, getting outrebounded 49-40.

We understand Atkinson has drawn fire recently, but we continue to question the decisions of president of basketball operations Koby Altman.

With Allen out, the lack of another big man has reared its ugly head. Among the first moves made this off-season were keeping both Thomas Bryant and Craig Porter Jr., and neither are in the rotation when everyone is healthy.

Bryant has taken 25 shots this season in the five games he has played and 15 of them have been threes.

We have questioned Porter’s ball handling especially when he is pressured, and he seems to have been passed in terms of playing time by second year player Tyrese Proctor and rookie Maleek Thomas.

Altman did trade for Peyton Watson, who starts, and signed Mario Hezonja as a free agent, but the coaching staff doesn’t seem to recognize the latter can play, despite last night’s 0 for 6 (5 threes!) from the floor. He did grab five rebounds, and is third on the team in boards, even though he gets only 20 minutes per game.

We have said the last two years, the Cavs’ success can’t be judged until they reach the playoffs, but it doesn’t mean inconsistency is fine during the regular season. And what is worse to us is the lack of any real plan. For example, we haven’t had an idea of what the team is trying to accomplish defensively for quite some time.

It’s frustrating to watch for sure, and really not a good viewing experience if you are a basketball fan. It’s more irritating than entertaining to watch this team right now.

It’s Still Early For Cavaliers, But…

The Cleveland Cavaliers are only eight games into their season, but from our point of view, we are seeing things we aren’t particularly fond of with the wine and gold. Granted, injuries to Peyton Watson and Jaylon Tyson haven’t helped the situation.

It looks as though the same things that plagued the squad in the playoffs a year ago haven’t been corrected. It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

In a league that is getting longer every year, coach Kenny Atkinson and his staff continue to use small ball lineups, frequently it is either Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen with four other players who are 6’6″ and smaller. The usual result is the wine and gold getting hurt on the boards.

The last two losses for the Cavs, against Atlanta and Oklahoma City, they were outrebounded, particularly giving up second chance opportunities to both opponents. It’s fundamental basketball to say defense isn’t done until you rebound the ball. Sometimes it’s as simple as they don’t box out, other times, it’s just because they are too small.

What’s weird is the Cavaliers are 4th in the league in rebounds, but it seems when they need a key stop, they force a miss, but don’t get the ball.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

They don’t seem to have an identity, particularly offensively. They blew out the Bucks, who aren’t a good team, by feeding Mobley and Allen, getting them a combined 32 shots out of the 100 they took. The next game, a loss to the Thunder, the two big men took a total of 21 shots out of 90 in total.

We agree with analyst Brad Daugherty, who says many times that the Cavs would be better off playing insde out, meaning establishing the two big men inside and forcing the opposition to defend them, using with double teams, thus leaving shooters open on the perimeter.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

So far, the season has been about either having a big lead and blowing it or being down by a lot early and coming back. We believe this is because there is no “Cavalier way” of playing. To us, Atkinson’s crew seems to morph into whatever style their opponent plays. If they are shooting threes, so will Cleveland. Again, it would help to establish the inside game early.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

We liked bringing in size on the wings in Watson and Mario Hezonja this summer, but we wanted another big to play inside, and that wasn’t accomplished. Instead, the front office brought back Thomas Bryant, who has played in just two games thus far, and in his last appearance, fired up four shots in five minutes.

The Cavs need some bulk inside. Hezonja helps a bit, but he’s just 6’8″. A larger problem might be the bottom of the roster, particularly with Nae’Qwan Tomlin out. There isn’t much help there.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves

The roster construction is still sketchy though. The team brought back Craig Porter Jr. and it has only taken a few games for him to fall out of the rotation. We had doubts about his ballhandling and shooting after last season. And again, why did they rush to resign Bryant?

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

We will give them credit for Maleek Thomas, who has earned minutes early, but as we said after the draft, it’s not that the rookie can’t play, it’s that he’s 6’5″, and the roster is filled with players of that profile.

It is early and perhaps this group is just trying to find it’s style of play. We repeat what we said prior to the season, the real measure of success is how they do in the playoffs.

It’s just frustrating to watch right now (if you can watch)

More Embarrassing, The Browns’ Play Or The Taunting Down By 21?

Obviously, we don’t know Todd Monken, but we do think as a coach, he will have a lot of teaching points after Sunday’s 27-6 beatdown of the Cleveland Browns by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The first lesson? The Browns aren’t as good as they think they are. There was a lot of good feelings after another comeback win over a bad Tennessee Titans team the week before, and certain players on the defense started running their mouths now that the Browns came into this game with a 5-2 record.

The most embarrassing thing that occurred in a game where Monken’s team was outgained on the ground 200-34 might have been two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for taunting with the Steelers up by three touchdowns. That will likely irritate the head coach the most.

Deshaun Watson played much like he did with the Texans in 2020. He put up a ton of yardage, throwing for over 300 yards for the second straight week, but in a loss. Watson led the NFL in passing yards in that season, but his team was 4-12.

He was also sacked eight more times and continues to lead the league with 33. Yes, the offensive line struggled (again 34 yards rushing), but there is no question he either runs himself into sacks or doesn’t throw the ball away to avoid a loss of yardage.

Besides, he’s not putting up a great deal of points. Ignoring the game against the terrible Titans’ defense, the Browns have scored 12 (vs. the Jets), 13, and 6 points in their last three games. Not much of a change from last season.

Perhaps the only Cleveland player who had a good game was TE Harold Fannin, who hauled in 10 passes for 154 yards, but even he committed a turnover, fumbling in the first quarter. The two rookie wideouts, Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion both contributed just 37 yards each. Something has to be done to get each of them the ball on a regular basis.

As for the defense, the old adage is you have to be able to stop the run to be effective and the Browns have allowed more than 130 yards on the ground in three of the last four games. Coordinator Mike Rutenberg did a good job fixing things after the hammering on opening day against Jacksonville, and he has a new project. He has to figure out stopping the run.

That adage also says if you can’t run the ball, you can’t be a good team and the Browns continue to have difficulties. After 183 yards rushing last week, to get only 34 isn’t good and it’s the second time under 50 this season.

Quinshon Judkins had only 25 yards on 11 carries, and for the season, is at just 3.4 yards per carry. Of course, last year, he had just 3.6 per attempt. Monken has to get more production out of the ground attack.

So, the coaching staff has a lot of ammunition to discuss this week before heading to New Orleans to play a Saints’ team coming off a bye week. The biggest thing to fix is stopping the run, but being able to put points on the board is going to be a must because the Saints can put points up.

Hopefully, after that whooping, the staff will have the full attention of the players.

What A Guardians’ Winter Could Look Like

Hopefully, Game 5 of the 2026 World Series isn’t the last baseball game we see until 2028. As former Giants’ first baseman once said, “Baseball must be a great game to survive the people who run it.”

In our opinion, salary cap, salary floor, or vice-versa, the true issue is the revenue imbalance between the small markets and the large markets. That has to be solved. And to us, both of these things can be true–The Dolans’ ownership cannot compete with the Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, etc., but they are capable of spending more money and they choose not to.

And with that, we will get off our soapbox and talk about the Guardians going forward and we will assume the jerks that run baseball will get their act together.

Four players exercised their right to be free agents: Austin Hedges, Rhys Hoskins, and two players acquired at the trade deadline in Foster Griffin and Nathaniel Lowe. Of these, our top priority would be Griffin, who went 3-3 for Cleveland with a 5.19 ERA, but pitched well in the playoffs and overall went 15-6 with a 3.60 ERA for the season.

Why? Because you can never have enough starting pitching, and there really isn’t anyone on the AAA horizon ready to challenge for a spot in the rotation.

Shawn Armstrong, despite pitching well in October is also gone, as the club declined his option for 2027. Could he come back under a new deal? That’s always possible.

We believe the offense still needs to be improved. Despite the surge after the arrival of Jo Adell and Lowe, the Guardians still ranked 24th in the sport in scoring runs, the worst rank of any playoff team (to be fair, the Red Sox were 23rd).

It is true they scored more runs, but the attack was still very inconsistent as we all saw in the first two games against the White Sox and the last five against the Rays. We will also remind you the biggest reason for the improved hitting was the red-hot bats of Steven Kwan and Chase DeLauter, and not the deals bringing over Adell and Lowe.

Yes, we understand DeLauter should be better and provide more power as he matures and hopefully can stay healthy, and we do feel Travis Bazzana will be a solid bat and also improve. We also feel Jose Ramirez will have a better season.

We think Ralphy Velazquez (928 OPS in the minors last season and 107 Ks in 538 plate appearances) can be a factor for the big club next season, and the organization has to figure out where International League MVP Cooper Ingle can fit. Ingle hit .297 with a 951 OPS with the Columbus Clippers last season, and if the organization doesn’t feel he can catch at the big-league level, they have to find a place for his bat.

On social media, we pitched trading Brayan Rocchio this winter, not because we don’t think he’s a good player, but due to organizational depth. We believe that Angel Genao is ready, but with Bazzana and Rocchio manning the keystone, there isn’t spot for him.

We would like to see a “baseball trade”. Teams are also looking for good young shortstops and perhaps the Guardians can fill a need, or get a good arm, starter or bullpen, in exchange for either Rocchio or Genao.

Just something to think about.

Talking about this stuff is way better than talking about CBAs.

Is Watson The Reason For The Browns’ Success? We Say Not Really

With the Cleveland Browns’ 5-2 start and their hold over the Cleveland media, both print and broadcast, we figured we would start seeing and hearing about how good Deshaun Watson has been this season.

Yes, he’s led the Browns to five fourth quarter comebacks this season, the most in the league. Another way to look at it is his play hasn’t been good enough in the first three quarters of most games this season. In a weird way, can you credit someone for a team coming from behind because his play was part of the reason the team was losing in the first place?

We understand that passer rating isn’t the greatest measure of quarterback play, but currently Watson ranks 19th in the league right behind Bryce Young and Tyler Shough, and just ahead of Jordan Love and 43-year-old Aaron Rodgers.

In yards per attempt, a stat a lot of football people look at because guys who “dink and dunk” don’t rank that high, Watson is 17th surrounded by Love and Matthew Stafford (that’s good company) but also Malik Willis and Tyler Huntley.

The point is he’s right in the middle of the pack, nothing horrible, nothing great. Now, that’s better than some of the terrible play at QB the Browns as a franchise has had since returning to the league in 1999, but is it something to sign up for going forward?

Watson played his best game of the season last Sunday, but it was against one of the five worst defenses in the league as the Titans are. Again, we’d rather have him play well vs. a terrible defense than not, but let’s not pretend he carved up the ’85 Bears.

Watson is having his best season since 2020, and while we want to enjoy this present, a 5-2 start, if you look ahead to next year, do you really think he’s going to continue to play at a level he hasn’t played at since the end of the last decade? We would be very leery about that.

Here’s a bad argument. Watson isn’t playing awful and the Browns are 5-2. Does that mean he is the reason for the team’s success? On social media, we equated it to the arguments Cavs’ influencers used about Dean Wade.

They would list the wine and gold’s best performing lineups and they included Wade, so the inference was the lineups were successful because of Wade. The reality is they did well because of the other players in the group, actual solid NBA players. Our argument was how would the squad perform if you replaced Wade with a better player?

For the Browns, who would they be playing if say, Jared Goff or Joe Burrow, or Trevor Lawrence were guiding the offense? Our guess is a lot more points would be scored, and the fourth quarter comebacks wouldn’t be necessary.

We know there will be some who will say we should just enjoy the success. It’s been a while since the Browns sat at 5-2. And our answer (as usual) is yes, we want them to win. We grew up in an era where the Cleveland Browns were a perennial winner.

The issue is stop thinking this team doesn’t need better quarterback play and stop thinking the solution is keeping Deshaun Watson. It should point out to the front office though that you don’t have to tank to get decent QB play.

How? We Don’t Know, But Browns Keep Winning Games

It’s complimentary football, we guess. The Cleveland Browns’ defense didn’t play well on Sunday, giving up 322 yards of total offense to one of the worst attacks in the NFL. The Tennessee Titans had a season high in total yards and scored more than 20 points for only the third time this season.

It didn’t matter, because Browns’ offense went wild, tying their season high with 27 points and rolling up almost 500 yards in total offense (491) in a 27-24 win over the Titans.

Todd Monken’s squad is now 5-2 and although no one gave a second thought about the next week’s visit to Pittsburgh at the beginning of the season, the contest is now a showdown for first place in the AFC North.

Let that sink in for a minute.

In his 26th start with the Browns, spanning five seasons, Deshawn Watson finally had his first 300-yard passing game, completed 25 of 36 throws for 308 yards and running three times for 19 yards, including a TD run.

He was aided greatly by a ground game which totaled 183 yards on the ground, led by Quinshon Judkins 96. Dylan Sampson returned from the injured list to add 45 more on six carries and caught three more throws for 32 yards.

Rookie receiver KC Concepcion had his best game yet, catching 8 passes for 129 yards, and TE Harold Fannin caught 6 throws for 91 yards, including a 36-yard catch and run which set up Andre Szmyt’s game winning field goal.

Give credit where it is due, it was clearly Watson’s best game as a Brown. But the announcers being quick to absolve him from blame for his first quarter interception was crazy. Did Denzel Boston allow the defensive back to undercut the route? Yes, but if you see a defender there, you don’t have to throw the pass.

The defense gave up a game opening touchdown drive again, and that is something we are sure coordinator Mike Rutenberg isn’t happy with and will be looking to fix. However, we do have to credit the unit for the goal line stand in the 2nd quarter and with winning the turnover game, with an interception by Denzel Ward and a fumble caused by Tyson Campbell and recovered by Ronnie Hickman.

The question that keep being asked regarding the Browns is “is this sustainable?” It’s probably not, but who cares, they are winning. And not to get ahead of anything, but with ten games left, if they split them, they would finish at 10-7, which will likely land them a playoff spot.

They have been helped by having the division match up with the mediocre NFC South, but everyone in the AFC North has feasted on that. The latter has a 7-1 record against the South, the only loss being to the Saints by the Baltimore Ravens.

Of course, nothing guarantees that trend will continue, but…

We are sure only the most optimistic of Browns’ fans would have thought next Sunday’s contest in Pittsburgh would be for first place in the division. After all, Sunday’s win matched the win total for all of last season at five.

But here we are, a very important regular season game at a venue where Cleveland teams historically have had little success. With their defense, the Browns can very much win, especially if the running game can come close to performing like it did vs. Tennessee.

Successful? Yes, But Still A Disappointment For The Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians’ season came to an end Monday night in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays. Two things were the primary causes of their demise, one was predictable (the offense) and the other wasn’t (the lack of starting pitching).

We have heard from many over the last month how the offense turned the corner after the deals at the deadline. We heard how they were fifth in the big leagues in that span in scoring runs. That’s one of the lies of dealing with statistics.

Using average runs per game is a solid metric, but in the Guardians’ case it doesn’t show how inconsistent the offense was. For example, in the playoffs, Cleveland had games where they scored nine runs twice and seven runs once in the 11 post-season games. On the other hand, they were shutout once, scored a single tally twice, and put up three runs three times. And remember, they won the deciding fifth game of the Division Series, 2-0.

After obtaining Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe on August 3rd, the Guardians were shutout seven times and scored one run twice in the last 49 games after the trades.

They scored seven times in winning the first game of the ALCS, then scored 11 runs in the last five. That simply isn’t going to get it done.

As for the starting pitching, Steven Vogt and Carl Willis used primarily seven starters for the entire regular season, perhaps the most stable rotation in the game. Until a late July game due to a rainout, they used only five starters when Logan Allen took the mound in a day/night doubleheader.

They traded for Foster Griffin and moved Slade Cecconi to the bullpen. Those were the seven until they started experimenting with using Daniel Espino as an opener for Joey Cantillo in September.

Then in their 11 playoff games, they used Parker Messick, who seemed gassed, for four starts, and Gavin Williams, magnificent in the deciding Game 5 vs. the White Sox, three times. The only other regular rotation piece used in a starting role was Griffin, who pitched in the opener of the ALCS.

Very, very curious.

Cantillo pitched just five innings in the post-season, less than reliever Shawn Armstrong, who by the way acquitted himself very well in the post-season. And by now, everyone is aware that Tanner Bibee, who lead the Guardians in starts during the regular season, faced three batters in the post-season.

This lack of usage took a major toll on the bullpen, with Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith getting just two games off in just two of the 11 contests. The wear and tear showed up for each as they gave up two-run homers in Game 6.

We understand Joe Torre and Terry Francona changed the game in terms of how relievers were used in October, but to ignore the starters wasn’t a good formula.

As a fan, this season ended the way every season since we’ve been following this team since 1965 has, without a World Series team. Hopefully, the franchise understands the goal shouldn’t just be winning the Central, it’s getting rid of the “not since 1948” stigma.

And hopefully, we will have a somewhat normal off-season, and the front office can look to improve the Guardians, but that is probably not in the cards with the owners and players not realizing what the real issue is (it should be about revenue equality).

There is good, young talent here (Chase DeLauter, Travis Bazzana), a resident superstar in Jose Ramirez, a pro’s pro in Steven Kwan, and a budding ace in Williams. Plenty to be optimistic about, but will the front office be allowed to spend and add to the core?

That’s always the question with the Dolan ownership.

It’s Basketball Time For The Wine And Gold

The Cleveland Cavaliers open the 2026-27 NBA season tonight and the expectations on the team are much like the last two seasons. What they do in the regular season will doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, how successful their season is will be determined by how far they go in the playoffs.

Last season, Kenny Atkinson’s squad got to the Eastern Conference finals, a step further than the year before. However, they blew a big fourth quarter lead in the first game and then were pretty much outclassed during the rest of the series.

It was the third straight season they were pretty much non-competitive in the series in which they were eliminated, and that means the good feeling about taking the next step are erased in the view of most basketball people.

Koby Altman did add some height to the roster, especially on the wings by trading for 6’8″ Peyton Watson, and he added 6’8″ Mario Hezonja, who will likely spend time at both forward spots. We also expect another 6’8″ player, Nae’Qwan Tomlin to have a bigger role this season once he returns to the court following a lower back injury.

We would have liked (and still would like) Altman to add another big man to back up Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. Currently the main back up is veteran Thomas Bryant, but more likely than not, Atkinson will probably go smaller when Allen or Mobley are not on the floor. (Ugh!)

Altman swung big at the trade deadline a year ago, bringing in James Harden for Darius Garland. Harden brings a lot, both good and bad. He averaged 20.5 points and 7.7 assists in 26 games after coming over from the Clippers. He shot 43.5% from three and 46.6% from the floor overall.

He’s great at finding big men in the pick and roll too. Jarrett Allen averaged almost 20 points per game from February until the end of the season.

However, the ball is in his hands a lot, so ball movement suffers. Also, Harden isn’t exactly quick, which presents a problem defensively. And the Cavs likely will not be getting a ton of transition baskets with Harden on the floor. That eliminates easy baskets.

The veteran averaged almost 35 minutes per game last season, and we know Harden takes pride in being on the floor. We wonder if he would play at a higher level getting fewer minutes, especially in the regular season. We will see how Atkinson divvies up the minutes.

With Harden and Donovan Mitchell or at least one of them on the court most of the time, there isn’t a huge need for a backup point guard, and we are curious about using Craig Porter Jr. there. In our opinion, his ball handling is questionable.

He’s a high energy player for us, but not really a lead guard. We wonder how long before second year player Tyrese Proctor gets minutes at that spot.

We will start getting answers in regard to how the Cavs will play and how the rotations work starting tonight. It’s probably not fair, but barring some bad injury luck, the Cavaliers are building toward starting their real season in April.

The goal should be winning the NBA title, especially this season. The “one step forward” nonsense is just that.

Browns Do Just Enough Offensively, Now Sit At 4-2

As we were watching the first half of Sunday’s Browns-Ravens game, we were wondering how long the head coach Todd Monken could stay with Deshaun Watson at QB. It was that bad.

We wondered why the Browns weren’t running the football. They had a few decent gains, especially giving Jaleel McLaughlin the ball, and the passing game simply wasn’t doing anything. And Watson was doing was he seems to do a lot, that is, running himself into sacks.

But somehow, again, the fourth quarter came and the Browns’ offense came to life, scoring 10 points to win 13-10 and run their record to 4-2. We don’t know how sustainable this style of play is, but as always, we subscribe to the Bill Parcells’ theory of you are what your record says you are.

One thing that allows these fourth quarter comebacks is the Cleveland defense, which remains one of the best in the league. After spotting the Ravens a 10-0 advantage in the first quarter, our thought was the Browns needed to score next, certainly falling behind 17-0, would be too much to overcome.

But Mike Rutenberg’s unit rose to the occasion again, holding Baltimore (without Lamar Jackson) to 235 yards, limiting Derrick Henry to just 58 on the ground and forcing a fumble by Henry in the 4th quarter to set up the tying touchdown.

We keep bringing up how Carson Schwesinger gutted out a late season game a year ago vs. Pittsburgh on an ankle sprain, which was a display of grit and toughness often missing from the Browns in recent years. The reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year was all over the field yesterday and forced the fumble by Henry in the last quarter.

He made a tremendous open field tackle on the elusive Tay Flowers earlier. He was a tremendous pick by Andrew Berry, and in addition to his tremendous play, he provides great leadership.

We also can’t say enough about the secondary led by Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell. Grant Delpit has been great too but missed most of the game with a concussion. And even without Myles Garrett, they still put pressure on the QB. Three more yesterday, all by different players. Maliek Collins (now 3.5 for the season), Quincy Williams, and Isaiah McGuire (now 3 on the year).

As we said before, the running game wasn’t as bad to us. McLaughlin had 41 yards on nine carries and made us think we might not be wrong in thinking the issue with the ground game just might be that Quinshon Judkins is either still hurt, or just not a big time NFL back.

And although we criticize him at times, kudos to Jerry Jeudy, who made two big fourth quarter catches and was the leading receiver with 4 catches for 69 yards. That doesn’t mean Denzel Boston shouldn’t be targeted more. Only five targets on Sunday, about half of what he should be getting.

Can this continue? It’s doubtful, but why not ride it as long as you can. The next three for the Browns are on the road, but the next week’s game vs. Tennessee is almost a must-win if Monken’s squad is to be considered a playoff contender.

That would have been crazy to think before the season, but here we are…

It’s Down To A Three Game Series, But What Was The Bullpen Plan Yesterday?

We will go back to what we said after Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, It was never going to be easy.

Tampa Bay was the best team in the AL during the regular season. They are a good team, a very good team. Now it’s a best of three series with the Rays having the last two games in Florida.

After holding Tampa’s bats at bay in the first three games, they scored just 8 runs in that trio, Kevin Cash’s crew got their big boys going. Yandy Diaz started a rally in the third, scored their first run, and then capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the 9th.

Jonathan Aranda got the hit to deliver Diaz, and delivered another big hit, with the aid of Chase DeLauter’s error to score two more runs, part of a three-hit night for him.

And Junior Caminero broke a 1-1 tie in the 6th with a ringing double. The trio delivered six hits, Tampa had 11 and knocked in five of the seven tallies.

Steven Vogt left himself open to a lot of second guessing (not here, we thought it at the time) the way he used his pitchers after Shawn Armstrong opened the game putting up a scoreless first.

Foster Griffin pitched 3.2 innings and allowed one run but was removed with two outs and no one on in the fifth because he wanted Daniel Espino to face Yandy Diaz. Diaz fanned, but Vogt left Espino on to start the 6th with a pair of left-handed hitters due in Aranda and Chandler Simpson.

Espino walked both of them and then gave up the double to Caminero to give the visitors the lead.

Why not just leave Griffin in? He was pitching well, and if you wanted Espino for Diaz, why not bring in Tim Herrin to start the sixth?

Later, we saw Matt Festa’s playoff debut, and he got three outs, but with the score being 5-3 heading into the top of the ninth, we weren’t confident with him getting three more. He didn’t, allowing the homer to Diaz that salted the game away.

While the Rays got their big bats going, the top five hitters for Cleveland went 3 for 19 and after hits by Kwan and DeLauter in the first, the Guardians didn’t get another hit until Travis Bazzana went yard in the 7th.

Nick Martinez pitched 13 scoreless innings against the Guardians in the regular season, and he baffled them again, allowing just the one run in 5.1 frames.

So, we would guess the Rays will use game one starter Drew Rasmussen tonight and he was very good in both the regular season and his two playoff starts. Again, it won’t be an easy task.

Remember, after the 7 runs scored in the first game, the Guardians have managed just 7 runs themselves in the last three contests. They will need to figure out a way to put some offense together along with the pitching doing better.

We will guess Vogt will go with Parker Messick tonight and some good news for the relief corps is with the rainout on Friday, Cade Smith, Erik Sabrowski, and Hunter Gaddis all have had two straight days off. That would seem to shorten the game considerably.

But we will also point out we are still worried about Messick, who hasn’t been as sharp in his last few starts, probably due to fatigue.

Have to lost confidence? No, but again, Cash has good pitchers at his disposal too. And the Guardians don’t want to have to win two more elimination games on the road again.