Tom's Blog

As major league baseball comes to an end and football is beginning, we have the hockey seasons or training camps beginning.  

As most professional leagues are going to training camp this weekend, the Lewiston Maineiacs and the rest of the Junior Major hockey teams began their seasons last weekend.  The Maineiacs are 1-1 on the season as they have some games this weekend and next week at home.  I'm planning to go to the game next Sunday against Victoriaville.  It should be a good game and I'll get to see some prospects of NHL teams while I'm there.

For my trips to Portland, I'll have to get used to seeing different players that have been there the last few seasons as the Buffalo Sabres prospects will be there not the Anaheim Ducks prospects.  At least the Providence and Manchester teams will have some familiar faces.  Maybe I'll go to Worchester or Lowell this year too.

Do you see the same pattern with the Indians and the Browns that I do?

Last year, both the Indians and the Browns had good seasons.  What did both teams do during their off-seasons?  They both figured that they could rest on their previous season laurels and do very little to improve to get to the next level. 

The Indians watched a few players leave and only picked up two players.  Yes, injuries to Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez didn't help, but there was little depth until they were out did we find out that Kelly Shoppich is a very good catcher and Ben Francisco was really ready out of spring training to play with the Indians instead of waiting until late May-early June.  Also, I still feel that if Astrubel Cabrera played every day instead of sending him to Buffalo he could of been this year's Dustin Pedroia instead of making a late season push again to stick with the team for next year. 

As for the Browns, its early yet...but when Donte Stallworth goes down yet again with an injury and you lose a key person in your defensive line and no depth because you didn't pick up anyone that could help.  Well, the Browns need to pick it up now and beat Baltimore on Sunday or it will end up looking like a replay of what the Indians did for their season.

While all the attention of this season stadium closings is going to Yankee Stadium in New York, there is a gem down in Columbus that is closing too.  That stadium is Cooper Stadium.

I went down to Columbus to see the Clippers play while I was out in Ohio for my class reunion to see the stadium that some of the players that became Cardinals, Pirates, Yankees, and now Nationals baseball players played in.  I was amazed that the condition of the stadium was still in good condition and from where I was sitting was a good seat to watch a game.  I got to look around the stadium concourse and see the banners of a few of the players that played at Cooper Stadium like Mike Lowell, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Butch Hobson, and others that played there. 

The main reason why I wanted to go was to see if I could remember some of the games that I watched on tv back in the late 70's and remember what it would of been like to see games in person rather than on tv.  I was really fortunate to be able to see a game at Cooper Stadium before it closes at the end of the season. 

I also drove by where the new ballpark is being built, and if the Blue Jackets make the playoffs, there could be major traffic problems at the Nationwide Arena/Huntington Park area.

I remember telling my wife when the Red Sox got Manny Ramirez from the Indians that I couldn't understand why they want the headaches that Manny would bring.  Two World Series championships later the $64,000 question is has Red Sox Nation finally had enough of Manny's antics?  I guess we can say that Dan Duquette could be a general manager somewhere like in Dodgertown and then acquire him from the Red Sox since he didn't see anything wrong with Manny. 

I remember hearing about all the stuff Manny would do in Cleveland and after a few of those stories, I had enough...and two World Series losses later Manny was in Boston with his stuff.  I was glad that Cleveland got rid of him...but they should of found a closer by now!  Or maybe the Indians could find a better general manager than what they have now.

Since Mark Sharpiro has now traded CC Sabathia and Casey Blake for minor leaguers that only the scouts for the Indians have seen (except for Dan LaPorta which I seen three years ago when he was on the USA baseball select team) how do we know much about these players other than what is on the internet? 

So, that makes me wonder if the Indians have any scouts in the New England area that watches the Cape Cod or the New England Collegiate baseball leagues or the independent baseball in the region?  If they don't have anyone here...I'll volunteer for the job.  I do go to watch Keene play and see scouts there...and the SF Giants must of had a scout watching some Nashua Pride games last year to pick up Olmo Rosario and a pitcher for their organization after the season last year.

Well, there is the NFL season coming soon and hopefully the Browns will build on last season...and hockey is coming soon as I'll go watch Lewiston on September 28th as they will be in their second week of regular season play.  I hope the new players for the Blue Jackets will make them a better team...hopefully Jonathan Sigalet will make the team since he would still be in Providence waiting for a chance in Boston.  At least I have something to look foward to since the Indians are doing auditions for next season.  Why else do they still have Andy Marte and Jhonny Peralta anyhow?

As the Indians have moved to the basement of the AL Central and for all intensive purposes done for the season, they are finally doing something off the field.

The first player to be purged was Joe Borowski on Friday which I don't understand why they got him in the first place.  Now, the winner of the CC Sabathia sweepstakes is...the Milwaukee Brewers for three minor leaguers at least one being on outfielder.  One of my questions to Mark Shapario is why make the deal now instead of next week when maybe you could get a pitcher that could help for the rest of the season?  My other question is why another outfielder when you have Francisco, Gutierrez, Sizemore, Choo, and Dellucci who should be shown the door too. 

So, curious minds want to know is who's next?  I have some ideas of who should be purged.  Let's see now...the ones that should go is Andy Marte who should of been charged an error that helped contributed to the latest loss, Jhonny Peralta who has not hit for average this year and really not a good shortstop,  Rafael Bettencourt and Paul Byrd who have been awful this year and David Dellucci who really haven't contributed much anyway. 

One other thought...what if Mark Shapario would of signed Tim Lincecum a few years ago instead of watching him become an All-Star for the Giants?  Or better yet, why has he picked up non-contributers like David Dellucci, Andy Marte instead of pitching help? 

As we get closer to Independence Day, the Indians are still not playing the way they should be playing by now.  When the only off-season move you make is picking up Jamey Carroll instead of maybe making changes in the pitching staff, you are going to have problems. 

The starting pitching is slightly better as CC Sabathia is pitching better, but without Fausto Carmona and Paul Byrd pitching very poor...then that's part the problem.  The bullpen for the most part is very awful.  Other than Masahide Kobayashi, which at times has sat around in the bullpen waiting to pitch, the rest of the bullpen has been horrible.

Which brings me to the offense...which has been mostly a mystery of why has it been so lacking considering the talent we have.  Its about time that Travis Hafner was put on the DL a few weeks ago since there has been a problem for a while.  And the other big mystery is with Victor Martinez and no home runs prior to him being put on the disabled list too.  Its pretty bad when your lead off hitter is also one of the team leaders in home runs. Then there is the lack of runners on base which if the management thinks that Josh Barfield is the answer once he comes back from his injury...they are very mistaken.  Maybe the Indians should of done a little more during the off-season, as well as sticking with Astrubel Cabrera longer (surprise... he is hitting in Buffalo) and finally playing Franklin Gutierrez more than they had been from mid-May to Mid-June.  Ben Francisco better start hitting more or he will be sitting too...or be shipped back to Buffalo too.

Hopefully, the Indians will begin to play better and win two or more in a row without losing many more games and get back into the race, or else the line will get longer for the CC Sabathia sweepstakes.

As the New England region had yet another parade for the NBA Champion Boston Celtics, I was listening to a local sports talk show about how the other teams support each other during their seasons.  For example, you had some of the Red Sox and Patriots going to Celtics games, and then there are some Patriots and Celtics players going to Red Sox games...and you know where I'm going with this.  For years, the Bruins have been owned by Jeremy Jacobs from Buffalo.  All of the other major teams (including the Revolution) are owned by local groups.  The Bruins are the only team out of the four major sports that has not won a championship for a long time.  I feel that the fans relate better to teams if there is local ownership and they see players from other teams supporting each other. 

By the way, if anyone else noticed that the Portland Pirates will no longer be the Anaheim AHL team but the Buffalo Sabres will make the Pirates their new AHL team. 

As we go beyond the first third of the season, there are some interesting things in baseball.  First of all, the game the other night...did everyone forget that Dustin Pedroia did get hit by a James Shields pitch in the first inning?  And the other thing that was interesting about the game was that Jon Lester hit a couple of batters and got suspended too.  Really don't understand that one considering that a Red Sox pitcher had to at least hit one of the Tampa Bay batters. 

Secondly, we need to have more people to go see the other baseball teams like the PawSox, the Sea Dogs, the independent league teams in Nashua, Worchester, and Brockton, and soon the summer collegiate teams either on the Cape or the different NECBL teams...since getting a ticket to the Red Sox is tough and expensive. 

Then there is the question of which team in the NHL will send their prospects to Portland.  As the Anaheim Ducks have left Portland, I have to say that I will miss seeing their prospects (seeing the Stanley Cup was pretty cool last October) but it will be interesting if Buffalo or someone else will put their prospects in Portland.

Lastly, listening to sports radio...primarly Fox Sports Radio, I am getting tired of the pro-LA tune by some of the commentators.  Of course, ESPN would probably want LA to win because of Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson.  However, I would rather have the Celtics win to shut all the LA fans up.

Well, as the basketball playoffs roll on, my two teams have finally played better once they came back home.  The Cavs finally beat the Celtics which I was happy about and my wife was disappointed.  Meanwhile, the Utah Jazz beat the Lakers to even that series yesterday.  Of course, when I was talking to my sister on the phone, she was getting ready to go watch her team play... the San Antonio Spurs.  Oh well, hopefully the Cavs will beat the Celtics tonight and win the series.  If everyone on the Cavs play as a team, then they should beat the Celtics.

First, I would like to congratulate Lakewood St. Joseph's for winning the Ohio HS Hockey Championship earlier this week.  Also, while I was in Lewiston watching the QMJHL game, New Hampshire was also crowning their HS Hockey champions in Manchester this past Sunday.  The Division 1 champion is Bishop Guertin from Nashua, Division 2 Champs is the Dover High Mean Green, and the Division 3 champs is Souhegan from Amherst.

And now, we will see who will go to the NCAA men's tournament on Sunday, and while you have the people who are into the brackets...I look at each region and pick the four who will make the sweet 16.  I know that most likely I'll pick Xavier as one of the teams...and whomever else from Ohio.  I'll also pick Gonzaga and George Mason for my 16 teams.  For the other teams, I'll wait until Monday to figure it out.

Meanwhile, there is also college hockey as the league championships began this weekend.  Hopefully one of the teams between Miami, Ohio State, or Bowling Green makes the tournament.  I know most of the college teams that I follow need help to get into the tournament.

I can't wait for baseball to begin as I need to figure out which games beside the two in Keene against Tean USA and North Shore on July 3rd.  I know I want to see Akron when they play in the region and hopefully Buffalo when they go to Pawtucket.  If I'm lucky, I want to go the the Eastern League All Star Game in Manchester.   

While Ohio was digging out from the storm of the weekend, I was driving up to Lewiston, Maine to watch the Quebec Junior Major game between the St John's Fog Devils and the Lewiston Mainiacs.  It was amazing the amount of snow still on the ground in Maine...after the rain we had on Friday in the region.  The Maineiacs won the penalty filled game 3-1 before a sellout crowd.  It was also their last regular season home game before the playoffs.  The best player of the game was Jonathan Bernier who will be playing for the Los Angeles Kings within a couple of seasons.  The drive was relaxing but long as I was going on around 5 hours of sleep.