Brown Has to Develop Players

When the Cleveland Cavaliers rehired Mike Brown as head coach for the 2013-14 season, they knew they were getting a strong defensive presence, something the team needed the past couple of years.

The Cavs allowed the sixth most points in the league last season, and they allowed the highest shooting percentage against in the NBA as opponents shot 47.6% vs. the wine and gold in 2012-13.

However, in this tenure with Cleveland, Brown will also be charged with developing a bunch of young players, something he didn’t have to do in his first term as Cavaliers’ head coach.

Yes, we know he made LeBron James into a solid, if not great defender, but James is a different story. He was touted as being one of the league’s best from the minute he was drafted into the NBA.

In Brown’s first year as Cavs head coach, the only young player who received a lot of playing time was Anderson Varejao, then in his second season with the team, and he only appeared in 48 games that season.

Brown’s second season with Cleveland included a roster with Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson as rookies. Gibson ranked 10th on the team in minutes, while Brown, the Cavs’ first round pick played just 202 minutes for a team than went to The Finals.

Granted, the Cavaliers were in a different mode then. They were trying to win titles, and there wasn’t time available for rookies, and it wasn’t a priority for the head coach to develop players.

The only rookie to get significant playing time in Brown’s final three years as Cleveland’s coach was J.J. Hickson, who has developed into a journeyman at best.

In the coach’s one full season leading the Lakers, again, he was guiding a team built to win and win now. There wasn’t time to bring a rookie in and give that player significant minutes.

Now, the Cavalier squad that Brown is guiding is totally different. It is a roster full of young talented players that need to be finished off and learn how to win. Brown can help with the latter by emphasizing defense, but it is unclear if he can make the young core of talent better players.

This is only because there is no track record of the coach doing just that.

What Brown has proven in his coaching career is that he stresses defense and he can win when he has the best player on the floor, which he had most of his tenure as the bench boss because he had James and Kobe Bryant.

Can he make Kyrie Irving the NBA’s best point guard? Who knows?

Can he develop Dion Waiters into a championship quality #2 guard who can average 18-20 points per night?

Can he transform Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller into big men who can play big minutes for a playoff team?

Can he show Anthony Bennett the ropes and make him a contributing player as a rookie?

The answer to all of these questions is that we just don’t know. But Brown will need to do at least three of those things if the Cavs are going to return to the NBA’s elite teams. It’s just another reason he was a curious pick to be the new coach of the wine and gold.

It should have been something that was taken into consideration. If the coach can’t make the young core better, then it won’t be long until Brown is looking for another gig.

Cavs Collecting Talent, Still Need Leadership

The Cleveland Cavaliers surprised quite a few people with the first pick in the NBA draft.

After weeks of speculation about Nerlens Noel and Alex Len being GM Chris Grant’s top choice, the Cavs went with F Anthony Bennett from UNLV at number one.

The question mark on Bennett is whether or not he is a tweener, too small to play power forward and not quick enough to guard small forwards. He does have an NBA body, measuring at 6’7″ and 240 pounds. He’s big enough to not get pushed around by older NBA veterans.

On the other hand, looking at him from the offensive end, he could be a match up nightmare for opposing forwards because with his size, he can overpower many small forwards in the league, and if other teams put a power forward on him, he will be too quick for them.

However, he needs work on defense, which he will get from coach Mike Brown. He reportedly also needs help with his aggressiveness on the boards, which again, the coaching staff will work on.

One question that will need to be addressed with Brown is how well he works with young players. He didn’t seem to have a lot of patience with guys like Shannon Brown, but he will need to tolerate rookie mistakes from Bennett, and the team’s second first round pick in Sergey Karasev.

Karasev is 6’7″ and can shoot the basketball, given a score of 10 out of 10 in shooting on NBADraft.net. He is reportedly a good passer and has a good feel for the game, but he needs to get stronger. It was reported that Grant had coveted him for a while, and the rumor was the Cavs were going to trade up to #13 to get him, but he fell to them at #19.

The problem with the Cavaliers right now is still the absence of a veteran to give guidance to all the young players. That is a definite need, someone who can teach Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, and Dion Waiters how to win in the NBA.

Also, Bennett was a good player in college, but we don’t feel he was a dominant one. Last year, Anthony Davis was clearly the best player in the college game. You can’t say that about Bennett, and if you can’t dominate at the college level, what makes anyone think he can be a great pro.

That’s why we advocated dealing the first pick if at all possible.

Right now, Cleveland has one potentially great player in Irving, and a bunch of other young players who might develop into solid NBA players, or they might not.

And they seem to be collecting guards with Irving, Waiters, Karasev, and second round pick Carrick Felix. They still don’t have a big man who can put the ball in the basket on a consistent basis.

Perhaps Tyler Zeller will be that player in his second year, but no one can be sure of that.

We realize they still could make a trade or do a sign and trade before the season started. But right now, it is tough to project this team as the playoff team owner Dan Gilbert said he wanted.

Hate to put a damper this soon on draft night, but if there no more moves for the Cavs, it looks like another long winter for the wine and gold.

Tribe Needs to Look at Ticket Prices

There is no question that the Cleveland Indians alienated their fans for the past several seasons.

After the 2007 season in which they missed the World Series by just one game, they acted like someone was going to tell them it was their turn to win someday, so they could be inactive.

They traded two Cy Young Award winners in C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee, and traded a professional hitter who said he wanted to stay here in Victor Martinez. All three were gone by the time the 2009 season ended.

Later, after a 2011 season is which they were surprisingly in contention until Labor Day, when the Detroit Tigers finally got hot and ran away, they were inert in the off-season following, setting up a 2012 campaign where they were depending on players like Shelley Duncan, Casey Kotchman, and Derek Lowe.

To be fair, they did deal two top pitching prospects for Ubaldo Jimenez at the deadline in ’11, but that move hasn’t worked out the way GM Chris Antonetti wanted. The fact it hasn’t worked out for Colorado is of little consolation.

However, last winter, the ownership seemed to get the message that the fan base was unhappy with the way things were being run. After Travis Hafner’s large deal finally ended, the front office went out and signed Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn to multi-year contracts.

Unfortunately, the people who buy tickets seem to be holding a grudge because the Tribe ranks last in the American League in attendance.

While many fans obviously have a wait and see attitude regarding this team, it is a better team and while they struggled mightily at the beginning of June, they have ripped off eight wins in the last 12 games and currently sit just four games behind the mighty Tigers in the AL Central.

And they are very good at home.

Whether or not the Indians can make the playoffs isn’t the issue because the American League is very strong. Heck, all five teams in the AL East are above the .500 mark.

We said at the beginning of the season that 13 of the 15 teams in the AL had legitimate chances to get to the post-season, and yes, the Tribe was one of those teams.

So where are the fans?

This is a city with blind loyalty to the Browns, a team with two winning seasons since 1999. In that same time period, the Indians have had five such seasons, making the playoffs three times.

We checked the prices for the next home series for the Tribe when they come home from this trip to Baltimore, Chicago, and Kansas City. They take on the Tigers on July 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th.

Seats in the upper deck and the bleachers are being sold for $23.60 apiece for the Friday night game. Meaning it costs almost $100.00 for a family of four to attend.

In order to sit behind home plate, it will cost you $80.00 for a single seat.

If the Indians want families to go to the games, they are making it tough, particularly when the fortunes of the team have soured a lot of baseball fans in Cleveland.

The Tribe did the right thing in lowering the cost of concessions in the off-season, but it doesn’t do much good if they don’t get people to make the trip to Progressive Field.

Perhaps it is time to look at the ticket prices as well. Lower them so people will want to see what the new Indians are all about.

The prices might be lower than many franchises, but apparently they are still too high for the fan base.

Whatever the reason, the front office needs to look at why fans aren’t clicking the turnstiles.

Young Athletes Too Arrogant to Care About Where They Play

After the Miami Heat won the NBA title, Cleveland Browns’ players Josh Gordon and Phil Taylor expressed how happy they were about the Heat’s triumph. These comments did not play well with fans in on the North Coast.

While certainly, Gordon and Taylor have the right to feel anyway they want on Miami’s victory, they obviously didn’t use a great deal of common sense.

Many of today’s younger athletes do not take the time to get to know the area in which they play, and to find out what will be a popular stance within the community and what won’t be.

If Gordon and Taylor had any idea about the sports history in this city, they would have kept their feelings to themselves.

It was a lesson the Cavaliers learned during LeBron James’ first game at Quicken Loans Arena wearing another uniform besides the wine and gold. His former teammates greeted him with open arms for the most part, and James woofed at the Cavs’ bench much of the game before an assistant coach finally told him to shut up.

The fans of northeast Ohio and Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert was appalled at the reaction of the team, and when the two teams met later in the year, it was a different attitude. Everyone in the organization knew that James was now the “enemy”.

The ridiculous part of Gordon and Taylor’s comments were that the Cleveland Browns have basically sucked for the last 14 years. Fans of the football team in Cleveland are used to getting their hopes up throughout the spring and summer, only to spend the fall watching the franchise compile a record of 5-11 or 4-12, whichever you prefer.

A more appropriate comment from the two players would have been if they said they watched the Heat celebrate, but can’t wait for a chance to have a party like that in Cleveland, when the Browns win the Super Bowl.

You notice that no one in the Indians organization said they were happy to see the Heat win.

Think about how much Tribe supporters have taken to Nick Swisher because he says he is excited to be here. Comments like that go a long, long way in gaining acceptance and love from the fans.

However, too often, young athletes have a lack of respect for opponents and the fan base.

Watch games and see how often today’s players feel the need to show up their opponents. Whether it is “generational” or not, it isn’t right.

Just yesterday, we witnessed a city recreation baseball game in which a player on a team winning 14-0 decided to score the 15th run by turning a cartwheel to touch home plate.

It’s a good thing he didn’t bat again in the game, because he probably would have the imprint of a baseball in his rib cage today.

Players who toil in Cleveland have to know what the area’s feeling are for James and the Heat. And we understand that as professional athletes, they like to watch excellence and enjoy watching James, currently the best player in the NBA.

Still, discretion is needed as well.

As we said before, Gordon and Taylor can wear Heat gear every minute of the day when they are in their houses or when they are outside of the Cleveland area.

However, they should understand that talking publicly about supporting them in northeast Ohio is like waving a red flag in front of a charging Bull.

It’s Not LeBron, It’s the Heat

As we wait for Game 7 of the NBA Finals, we had a revelation.

We really don’t care if LeBron James wins a second title with Miami tonight, but the thought of the people in south Florida celebrating a second consecutive title is down right nauseating.

First of all, Miami is a terrible sports city when you come right down to it. And the fact that a bunch of people left game six early speaks directly to that. They don’t share the passion for sports that midwestern cities like Cleveland have. To them, it’s just a thing to do, a place to go.

That’s just the fans. The reason for rooting against the Heat have more to do with the franchise, and the way the team was put together.

It starts with Pat Riley, who is most famous for coaching the “Showtime” Lakers of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy, but we remember that he was a central figure in the era that almost killed basketball, when he was coaching the New York Knicks.

Those Knicks teams forced the league to re-examine the rules about illegal defense, and they played thug basketball, with Riley instructing his squad to foul on pretty much every possession, and daring the referees to call it every time down the floor.

Of course, they didn’t because games would have lasted four hours, so “Riles” got away with one, although the Knicks never won a title.

Riley did finally win another title as coach, with the Heat, but did so forcing out Stan Van Gundy as coach, and taking over a team led by an aging Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade.

And although the league has never acknowledged it, there was tampering involved in putting the current Heat team together with Riley allegedly contacting LeBron James during the season before he became a free agent.

Sure, the players themselves (James, Wade, and Chris Bosh) probably talked about it during their time together in the 2008 Olympics, but many feel Riley was checking on the players during the season.

Then there is Wade, who is right now a broken down version of the great player he once was, but is a guy who for whatever reason gets the benefit of the doubt from officials on a regular basis.

When James was with the Cavs, there was a game the Heat won late because the refs continually sent Wade to the line even though in many cases, he created contact or a Cleveland player was called for a foul when he was getting out-of-the-way.

If Miami wins tonight, Wade will preen around the court like he is the guy responsible for the crown, much like he did after the Eastern Conference title. He should have been reminded that he played one good game in the series.

And then there is Bosh, a player much highly regarded than he should be. He disappears within the game on a regular basis.

Then you have Shane Battier, who may be falling down instinctively right now. Ray Allen, who turned his back on his compadre in Boston to chase another ring, and Eric Spoelstra, who the NBA butt kissing media would have you believe is a great coach.

If the Heat fail tonight, the blame should be placed on Riley, who didn’t put a strong enough team around James, much like Danny Ferry didn’t in Cleveland.

Instead, James will be skewered, and that’s not fair.

And this is coming from someone who still can’t forget the knife he put in the backs of Clevelanders a few years ago.

If You Are Older, NBA Doesn’t Care

The NBA continues to make older sports fans shake their collective heads.

The league says they want to have 30 franchises in 28 markets (the New York area has the Knicks and Nets, and Los Angeles has the Lakers and Clippers), but if it were up to the players, there would be six teams in New York, six more in LA, and several in Miami.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be good business for the league because basketball, on the professional level, would become a regional sport.

Younger fans don’t care, because you get the feeling, by and large, that they root for players not teams.

In the long run, that’s not good for business unless there is a marketable player on each team, and we all know that is not the case.

After the Miami Heat put together their “super team” after the 2010 season, similar experiments have been tried in other cities, none with the success of the Heat.

The Lakers tried by getting Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to go with Kobe Bryant. The Nets took a shot by getting Joe Johnson to go with Deron Williams. The Knicks tried as well, getting Carmelo Anthony to go with Amare Stoudemire.

None of these efforts have really paid off in titles, except for the group that Pat Riley put together on South Beach.

However, the lack of success hasn’t deterred the players, who are still trying to play general manager.

Just last week came word that Chris Paul and Howard and trying to figure out a way to play on the same team next season, since Paul is mad at Clippers’ management because they threw him under the bus, blaming him for the firing of coach Vinny Del Negro, and Howard is upset because the Lakers’ “big three” didn’t work.

Why is this a problem? If the owners decided to do something in concert with each other, the players would claim collusion. So why can two or three players get together and decide how to play on the same team?

As much as we dislike the Celtics, what they did in getting Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to join Paul Pierce was not a problem because GM Danny Ainge traded assets (a bunch of draft picks and Al Jefferson) to obtain them.

It wasn’t players using free agency to make it happen.

The new type of fan might keep the league relevant for a while, because they will still follow the stars, most of who are created by the NBA’s corporate sponsors,

Meanwhile, the older hoop fans, who the league seemingly doesn’t care about because they aren’t the preferred demographic, will lose interest.

And ESPN, the “worldwide leader” in sports, will continue to blame the poor play of teams led by stars instead of praising the teamwork of San Antonio Spurs.

And where are the new stars coming from? This year’s draft lacks a star quality name, and in the meantime, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and Dwyane Wade are getting older.

The young player who may have the highest profile to consumers is the Cavs’ Kyrie Irving. Think about that for a moment, and you should be afraid.

Very, very afraid.

Tribe Bullpen Not Saving

Last night, the Cleveland Indians’ bullpen had another bad game, bringing the problem to the forefront once again.

Leading 6-5 with two outs in the eighth inning, Joe Smith served up a homer to Chad Tracy, now hitting .145 on the season, on an 0-2 pitch. The next inning, Vinnie Pestano gave up a game winning gopher ball to Anthony Rendon, his first big league circuit shot.

Rendon is a top prospect, but his blast followed miscommunication between Nick Swisher and Jason Kipnis, which resulted in his foul pop up dropping harmlessly to the ground. However, that doesn’t excuse Pestano serving up a meatball to the rookie.

The Tribe bullpen, considered a strength coming into the season, is leaking oil. Outside of Scott Barnes’ three inning save against the Red Sox in a 12-3 blowout on May 23rd, the last time an Indians’ reliever picked up a save was over a month ago, on May 12th vs. Detroit, when Cody Allen came in and recorded the last out in an extra inning win.

That was Mother’s Day. Today is Father’s Day. The only save recorded between the two days honoring our parents was a “rule” one, because Barnes’ went three innings.

Now, losing 16 of 20 contests drastically lowers your chances of getting saves. They don’t award them in losing efforts. But, there were several games in the losing skein that the bullpen could have changed the outcome.

Most famously, there were the two games in Boston where Terry Francona’s squad were winning late.

On May 25th, Cleveland was leading 4-3 in the eighth inning, when Pestano allowed four runs to the Boston, the last two on a another pop up that dropped in with Asdrubal Cabrera trying to catch it.

The very next day, Chris Perez blew a great start by Corey Kluber in the ninth, turning what looked to be a 5-2 win into a 6-5 defeat.

On Memorial Day, which was the day after Perez’ struggles, Nick Hagadone came into a 2-2 games and promptly allowed a two run shot by Joey Votto to give Cincinnati a lead it never relinquished.

Hagadone was victimized again early this week against Texas, when he allowed another tie breaking HR, this one to Lance Berkman.

Perhaps we should have seen this coming. The last game before the Indians entered the losing period, the relief corps allowed game tying home runs in three consecutive innings against Seattle in a game the Tribe would up winning 10-8. The culprits were Pestano, Perez, and Smith, who earned the win when Yan Gomes belted a three run dinger in the 10th inning.

All in all, Cleveland relievers are last in the league in saves, with just nine on the season. To show that saves aren’t the be all, end all for a team, the next two lowest bullpens are Boston (13) and Detroit (14), both of whom reside in first place in their respective divisions.

However, the Tigers have the second best ERA in the American League, which a great starting rotation, and the Red Sox are seventh. The Indians are 13th in that category.

The problem has arisen in two areas: The left-handers (primarily Hagadone and Rich Hill) have been terrible, and the late inning guys, most notably Pestano and Perez have allowed a lot of long balls (a combined eight in 34-2/3 innings).

Smith has a 1.48 ERA, allowing just four runs for the season, but two of them were game tying home runs.

The middle relievers (Matt Albers, Bryan Shaw, Allen, and even rookie Matt Langwell) have been solid.

Perhaps it is time to use them in later game situations.

The Indians have not had a lot of save chances so far in 2013, the problem is, when they have had them, they haven’t done the job. This has to make Francona wonder why he wanted to manage again.

Two Weeks to Go to Determine Cavs’ Future

After winning the NBA Draft Lottery last month, Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert once again put all kinds of pressure on himself and his basketball organization by announcing it would be the last time for the wine and gold in that position for a while.

While we believe Gilbert was speaking from his desire to win, these types of statements are growing old. It is time for results for sure, but what happens if the Cavaliers miss the post-season by one or two games in 2013-14? Winning 36-38 games next season would be a great improvement from this year’s 24 victories.

There has been a lot of conversation about trading out of the top spot in the draft, a move we have advocated all along, but with this year’s crop of draftees being devoid of a “difference maker”, it will be tough for GM Chris Grant to come up with a trade partner.

If the wine and gold cannot deal the first pick, then they need to take the best player, whoever they perceive it to be, and not worry about the current make up of the roster.

While you can pick for need when picking later, when you have the first pick, you have to take the best player.

That would seem to narrow it down to three choices: Kansas G Ben McLemore, Indiana G Victor Oladipo, and Maryland C Alex Len.

McLemore is reported to have outstanding athletic ability and can score the basketball. He has three-point range, and can shoot off the dribble, a skill needed to be a complete player. His weaknesses are his feel for the game and his ball handling.

Those are a lot of good skills to like in a player.

Oladipo might be a reach at #1, but it has been reported the Cavs love him, and he would fit in nicely with Mike Brown’s emphasis on defense. He might be the most explosive athlete in the draft. He has a toughness about him and can finish at the rim. However, the rest of his offensive game needs a lot of work.

His jump shot is inconsistent and he doesn’t handle the ball well. He may be a good complement to Kyrie Irving, with Dion Waiters coming off the bench in a combo guard role.

Len is probably the most ready to play big man available this year. At 7’1″ and 255 pounds, he is a legitimate NBA center and his back to the basket game continues to improve. And he’s a decent mid-range shooter, and made 69% of his free throws in college.

As with most big men though, Len needs to get stronger and because of that, he is not a great rebounder at his size.

His NBADraft.net comparable player is someone Cleveland basketball fans should be very familiar with…Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

The Cavs’ biggest need is a small forward, but there doesn’t seem to be a quality one available this year.

Normally we don’t advocate taking a big guy for the sake of taking a big guy, but taking Len makes the most sense unless Grant can make a deal.

The speculation will end two weeks from today.

NBA Finals are Generational Thing

The NBA Finals have turned into old school vs. new school.

In one corner, we have the Miami Heat, the darling of ESPN. They are a highlights editor’s dream, filled with spectacular passes and high-flying dunks. They were put together through the highest profile free agency season ever when LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade to form basketball’s latest “big three”.

On the other hand, if you are above 40 years old, you have an appreciation for the San Antonio Spurs, led by Tim Duncan, an all time great looking for his fifth title as an important member of his team.

The Spurs were built through the draft, shrewdly picking international players like Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Tiago Splitter, and shrewdly grabbing guys like Kawhi Leonard in the draft and signing role players like Danny Green.

And San Antonio has perhaps the best coach in the professional ranks in Gregg Popovich.

The younger generation think the Spurs are boring, because they play below the rim and have unassuming superstars, who rarely draw attention to themselves.

The Heat have the preening James, the perpetual scowling Wade, and Bosh, who screams like he won the lottery every time he makes a big shot.

The older fans think the Heat is all that is wrong with professional basketball, with their roster of three all-star players, a couple of decent role players and a bunch of stiffs. They’ve become the place where guys nearing the end of their career go to try to pick up a championship ring.

But they think the Spurs play the game the right way. The move the basketball, play solid defense, and just go out and do their jobs. They are business like in their approach, as opposed to the “look at me” Heat.

The Spurs play like the great NBA teams of the past, and we aren’t talking about the Bulls of the 1990’s and the Lakers of the 2000’s. We are talking about the 70’s and 80’s, when teams moved the basketball, and the game wasn’t someone pounding the ball at the top of the key, waiting to break someone off the dribble and drive to the hoop.

Sure, occasionally Parker does that, like he did in Game 1 when he kept his dribble alive, falling down, getting back up, and hitting a leaner off the glass to clinch the win. However, by and large, the Spurs score by executing and making open jump shots. They usually are a very good three-point shooting squad.

They are like the old guys who play the kids at the Y, and keep winning and staying on the court because they understand the game, and use the mental aspect to create mismatches and points.

And on defense, they know how to grab and lean into players just enough to knock them slightly off-balance when they are shooting. They frustrate the heck out of their opponents.

Most of the older basketball fans are rooting for San Antonio, not just because their stars are older, but because they represent the way things used to be. They are hoping for a champion who does things the correct way.

Combo of Walks and Homers Hurting Tribe Pitching

Despite the slugging teams of the 1990’s, including a team that scored 1000 runs in a season (the last team in major league baseball to do so), Jacobs Field/Progressive Field has always been a pitcher’s park.

That speaks to how great those Indians teams that featured Albert Belle, Carlos Baerga, Manny Ramirez, and Jim Thome really were. They placed half of their games in a park that helped pitchers.

Now, the Indians have a problem. Their ballpark helps the pitchers and it is making it look better than it is.

Not that ranking 12th in the American League looks good. Cleveland pitchers rank ahead of only Baltimore, Toronto, and Houston in ERA.

However, on the road it is worse as Tribe hurlers rank ahead of only Seattle in terms of that statistic. That would partially explain why the Indians have lost 10 games in the row away from Progressive Field. They have a 4.72 ERA away from home.

The particular problem that has plagued Cleveland pitchers on the road is the base on balls. They have issued 118 walks on the road, 14 more that the next worst group, the Chicago White Sox.

Opposition hitters are only hitting .253 against the Tribe staff, the 5th best rate in the AL. But they have allowed 35 home runs, the 4th worst mark in the league. If you walk people and give up home runs, you are going to allow a lot of runs.

At home, the Tribe’s ERA is a respectable 4.15, which is 10th in the AL, but only .08 behind the Red Sox staff, which is in the middle of the pack. The walks are a problem at home too, though, allowing the 5th most in the Junior Circuit.

If you have figured out at this point that Cleveland pitchers are allowing too many batters to reach base via the walk, you are correct. Tribe pitchers are 3rd in the league overall, behind just Houston and Boston.

They’ve also allowed the 4th most dingers in the league, behind only Baltimore, Houston, and Toronto.

The home runs are equally spread out among the starters and relievers. The starters have given up 48 bombs, 5th worst in the league, while the relievers have allowed the 3rd highest total.

The bases on balls are the same ways. The starters have walked the 3rd most in the American League, the relievers rank 4th.

The one thing that doesn’t make this combination an unmitigated disaster is the Cleveland pitchers ability to strike people out, ranking behind just Detroit and Boston in that category.

In their recent losing streak, however, it is the starting pitching that is really letting the team down, allowing 2o runs in the first three innings, putting the team in a hole right off the bat.

So, while the starters’ ERA is 4.46, that figure has been accomplished because they have righted the ship after falling behind early and they have given Terry Francona around six innings per start.

In the Yankee series alone, all three starters (Justin Masterson, Scott Kazmir, and Corey Kluber) gave up big innings in the first three frames, but settled in and gave the skipper at least six innings, thus protecting the bullpen.

Earlier in the season, Indians’ pitchers were not walking as many batters, ranking in the middle of the pack, but as of late, that has changed and the extra base runners are lengthening innings, and helping set up three run home runs.

If the Indians are going to get going again, and as we said before the season started that this would be a streaky team, then the pitchers need to throw strikes, and they must pitch better on the road.

Until that happens, the Tribe will continue to struggle.