As sports weekends go in Cleveland, this was a pretty good one. The Tribe took the first two games of a four game series against the hated Yankees, before losing yesterday’s pitching duel 1-0. The Cavaliers are now one step away from advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals after a huge road victory yesterday, 100-97, to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their best of seven series against the Washington Wizards.
Cavaliers. First, let’s discuss the wine and gold. They had their three point shooting shoes on, hitting 13 of 28 tries from behind the arc yesterday afternoon. The biggest shot was obviously Delonte West’s triple from the corner with 5.5 seconds left to provide the margin of victory. As with every Cavs’ win, there have to be supporting stars along with LeBron James to win, and West’s 21 points, and Daniel Gibson’s four three pointers were keys to the win. And don’t forget Ben Wallace’s 12 rebounds as well. It might have been his best performance in the Cleveland uniform.
Mike Brown played the hot hand as well. With Big Ben playing well, Anderson Varajao played just 13 minutes. Devin Brown didn’t get as much time as usual because West and Gibson were doing the job. And Wally Szczerbiak saw just 16 minutes of action as well. Don’t forget LeBron’s effort either. He scored 34 points, grabbed 12 boards, and dished out 7 assists. He also made the correct basketball play at the end of the game. He drove, made the defense commit, and then hit the open man, who hit the game winning shot. The Cavaliers are now just one win away from eliminating Washington in the first round for the third straight year.
By the way, the so-called rivalry between LeBron James and DeShawn Stevenson is akin to the one between The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.
Indians. The Indians rebounded from their pitiful offensive performance against Minnesota last weekend by ripping off five straight wins before yesterday’s 1-0 loss. The starting pitching was solid all week, even getting a good outing from Jeremy Sowers, who gave the team five strong innings against the Yankees. Aaron Laffey gets a call up to face the Yankees tonight, as the Tribe’s pitching depth has come into play early in the season.
Cliff Lee continues to be the surprise of the season, not just for the Indians, but also in all of Major League Baseball. According to Baseball Prospectus.com, no one in the last fifty years has put together three straight starts of eight innings or more allowed less than three hits, walking less than two, and striking out eight or more. A truly historic pitching performance. The bullpen has also started to gel since Eric Wedge and Carl Willis decided to use guys that throw strikes, particularly Masa Kobayashi.
One concern does have to be Fausto Carmona, who has a 2:1 walk to strikeout ratio. That would be great if the greater number was strikeouts, not walks. Also, it is interesting to note that there is nothing wrong with C.C. Sabathia’s arm. He also reportedly told Fox’s Tim McCarver that if the money is close, he would stay with the Indians after this season.
Here’s looking forward to a week where the Tribe keeps it going, and the Cavs wrap up the Wizards. Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about the Browns’ draft either.
JK/MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 