Displaced Cleveland Fan

With the help of ex-Indian Cy Young award winner, CC Sabathia, the New York Yankees won their 27th World Series title.

As it turned out, the playoffs were quite predictable from the perspective of a cynical Cleveland fan. When I made my playoff predictions a month ago, my picks were not based on the strength of the team, but on the players on their rosters that left the Indians in either 2008 or 2009. The result? All but one of the picks was correct (I picked the Red Sox with Victor Martinez to beat the Angels).

So in a World Series that began with a pitching match-up of CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee (who both won the Cy Young award in consecutive years while in Cleveland), Sabathia and the Evil Empire prevailed.
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The 2009 Major League Baseball postseason began with the Twins beating the Tigers in extra innings to claim first place in the AL Central. The Divisional series begin Wednesday night. These are the matchups:

AL: Minnesota Twins vs. New York Yankees / Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angelas Angels

NL: Colorado Rockies vs. Philadelphia Phillies / St. Louis Cardinals vs. Los Angelas Dodgers

If you look at the eight playoff teams, the list is dominated by big market clubs. For the 2009 season, nine teams had a payroll over $100 million. Of these nine teams, five made the playoffs (55.5%) - Yankees (#1), Red Sox (#4), Angels (#6), Phillies (#7), and Dodgers (#9).
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After losing 2 of 3 to the Royals in Kansas City last week, the Tribe came home and evened the season series between the two teams.

Tuesday, with home runs from Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez, and the defense turning a double play in six straight innings, the Indians won the opener 8-7.
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Just looking at the wins & losses, the Indians and Yankees looked like they came out even in the four-game series the two teams just wrapped up. That may be true, but here are three reasons why the Tribe had the better series:

#1 - The Yankees’ first game in their brand new $1.5 billion stadium was an 8-run loss. Not only that, but Cleveland’s reigning Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee got the win. Former Indian and 2007 Cy Young award winner CC Sabathia, despite a new $161 million contract, could not beat his former team. He didn’t pitch bad. But he had to give it up to the bullpen which blew the game by allowing a 9-run 7th inning.
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First, apologies to the DCF readers for the lack of posts over the last couple months. Things have been busy and this blog wasn’t as high a priority as some other things. But I’ve been wanting to resurrect it. I figured since this was the day that the world celebrates the Easter bunny hatching out of his egg, it was a good time to start this up again.

The Good

Could this be the year? I mean really. Being a Cleveland fan, you never want to get your hopes up. But come on. 39-1 at home. The #1 seed in the East. Possibly the best record in the NBA which would ensure the team home court advantage throughout the playoffs. And today they destroyed the defending champion Celtics 107-76. Granted, Boston was without Kevin Garnett. But still, having him in the lineup does not swing the margin 30+ points.

With the sports history of this city, you never want to feel too confident. And as good as the Cavaliers are, there is at least one blemish that sticks out like a sore thumb - the one loss at home. This loss came to the Lakers, the #1 seed in the West. The Cavs lost both games to them this year - one in Cleveland, one in L.A. If it came down to it, could the Cavs beat the Lakers in the Finals? Absolutely! Would they? That’s another matter. Needless to say, I’m hoping someone knocks the Lakers out before then.

The Bad

Baseball season is finally here. But what is supposed to be a promising year for the Indians has certainly had a rough start. The team lost their first 5 games. Fortunately today, they beat Toronto to improve to 1-5.

A bad first week of the season is certainly no call for despair though. It’s a long season. The Tribe has plenty of time to get their act together.

Cliff Lee, last year’s 22-game winner and Cy Young award recipient, has not been the Cliff Lee of ‘08. In two starts thus far, Lee is 0-2 with a 9.90 ERA. No one realistically expected him to repeat his performance last year. But we were hoping for a good year. He can still deliver one. But he’ll have to turn this around.

One big question mark has been whether or not Travis Hafner could come back from his injury and make an impact. To be honest, I didn’t expect him to. But so far, it appears he may be back. In the 5 games he’s played, he’s batting .300 with 3 home runs and 6 RBI’s.

Next up for the team is 3 games in Kansas City, then traveling to the new Yankee Stadium.

The Ugly

No comment. At least not until draft day.

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Thanks for stopping by after the extended break. I hope to get back to more regular posting from now on.

-dcf