Events Calendar
Most Read Stories
Family found dead in Ohio home
Man gets 3 years in prison for having sex with horse
Robbers order bar patrons to empty pockets
Sex-toy study at Duke University raises some eyebrows
Akron man turns himself in after authorities turn up heat
Man appears alive at own funeral
Take comfort in knowing Browns could be bigger losers
Blogs:
Pets:
Not 101 Dalmations…but close!
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your perusal
Akron Zips:
No. 1 UA soccer remains perfect, Zips football defeats rival Flashes
Tribe Matters:
Tribe makes roster moves
Cleveland Browns:
Lewis doesn't like boycott
Kent State Sports:
Kent State falls to Akron, 20-28
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Knicks
Buckeye Blogging:
Weekly ‘B’ Deck Report – New Mexico St.
Varsity Letters:
Wrestling, bowling teams prepare for season
All Da King's Men:
Bigger And Better Boondoggles
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Dems Message To Women: Don't Enjoy The Sex
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (62) The Stupak Amendment
See Jane Style:
Muffle Your Muffler
Car Chase:
Perfect Weather for an Autumn Drive
Let's Talk Real Estate:
RUMORS: Downtown Restaurant Explosion
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jack is looking for a trip to Southern Ohio the week of November 16.
Sound Check:
The Black Keys to perform benefit concert at Musica on November 27
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – Why People Do Not Live in Northeast Ohio
Akron Gamer:
New 'Call of Duty' could set entertainment record
Sheldon Ocker
Insider to coach Tribe pitchers
Front office assistant who played for 7 teams is ready for challenge
The Indians didn't have to look far to hire a pitching coach. Tim Belcher has been working for the team the past eight years as special assistant to baseball operations. In that role, he has done advance scouting, instructed pitchers in spring training and filled in as pitching coach at several minor-league levels.
Indians insider to coach pitchers
The Indians didn't have to look far to hire a pitching coach. Tim Belcher has been working for the team the past eight years as special assistant to baseball operations. In that role, he has done advance scouting, instructed pitchers in spring training and filled in as pitching coach at several minor-league levels.
Sheldon Ocker: Tribe fans should give Acta chance to prove himself
CLEVELAND: Who did you expect, Joe Torre, Tony La Russa, Ron Gardenhire? They all have jobs, and if they didn't, they would command top dollar in the marketplace. Would that disqualify them to manage the Indians? Who knows? It doesn't matter, because that's not reality. What's real is Manny Acta, the Tribe's new skipper.
Triple-A's Lovullo looking to step up to Indians manager
CLEVELAND: Torey Lovullo is on General Manager Mark Shapiro's short list to be the Indians' next manager, but why have him go through the interview process?
Valentine interviews with Tribe
CLEVELAND: Bobby Valentine not only knows who he is, but he also expects you to know who he is. Been there, done that is the deal with Valentine, the once and maybe future major-league manager. He has been field boss in nearly 2,200 big-league games, and that doesn't count six years as skipper of the Chibe Lotte Marines in the Japanese Pacific League.
Acta eager for chance with Indians
CLEVELAND: You'd think anyone who had managed the woeful Washington Nationals for 21/2 seasons would beg to be retrained for employment in a different industry.
Indians' Cabrera, Perez on the mend
From staff and wire reports
Indians head trainer Lonnie Soloff is hoping that Asdrubal Cabrera and Chris Perez are fully recovered from two relatively minor surgical procedures performed by team orthopedist Mark Schickendantz at the Cleveland Clinic on Wednesday.
Tribe has plan for manager search
CLEVELAND: General Manager Mark Shapiro will forgo throwing darts at a target to choose a new manager for the Indians.
Hafner struggles to find bat
BOSTON: The Indians' lineup hasn't been nearly as robust since Travis Hafner was regularly hammering pitches into the seats in 2006.
Indians notebook: Choo makes 20-20, hopes to reach 30-30
BOSTON: Shin-Soo Choo became the first Asian-born major leaguer to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in a season when he went deep Saturday night.
Tribe season ends in oblivion
BOSTON: After learning a week ago that he was being fired as manager of the Indians, Eric Wedge decided to see the season to its miserable conclusion.
Sheldon Ocker's the Write Stuff
Sheldon: My wife and I went to the Tribe game against the Tigers. We had not been to a game in a few years. We used to go to a lot of games in the past, when they had all those sellouts.
Tribe's dazzling moments brief
BOSTON: If Saturday night's 11-6 loss to the Boston Red Sox was a marker of how far the Indians have to go to become an elite team, the Tribe is in trouble.
Next year might not be so bad for Tribe
BOSTON: Nobody wants to confront grim reality, but sometimes it's unavoidable. So how bad will the Indians be next year?
Indians notebook
Westbrook returns
to throwing program
BOSTON: Jake Westbrook has become an expert at playing long toss. Since undergoing Tommy John elbow surgery last year, he has made three attempts at completing a throwing program, twice suffering minor setbacks.
Sowers back to old ways in Tribe's 6-2 loss to Red Sox
BOSTON: Jeremy Sowers made an unintentional cameo appearance in his final start of the season Friday night at Fenway Park. Now you see him, now you don't.
Martinez says Wedge isn't to blame for Tribe troubles
BOSTON: Victor Martinez didn't get his wish, but maybe he got something better: a trip to the playoffs and a chance to win the World Series.
Westbrook returns to throwing program
BOSTON: Jake Westbrook has become an expert at playing long toss. Since undergoing Tommy John elbow surgery last year, he has made three attempts at completing a throwing program, twice suffering minor setbacks.
Carrasco, Indians bruised in Boston
BOSTON: What's the worst way Carlos Carrasco could have ended his season? No, not by giving up a home run to Kevin Youkilis or walking the bases loaded, then giving up a homer to Youkilis.
Tribe's Wedge carries on
BOSTON: It's not often that a man is dismissed from his job and keeps right on working at the same assignment.
Indians notebook: Hopeful Indians manager Farrell speaks carefully
CLEVELAND: Boston Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell has stopped talking about the possibility of becoming the Indians' next manager.
Tribe splits doubleheader
CLEVELAND: Nobody can know if Fausto Carmona's last two starts of the season are positive indicators for the future, but better to finish with a flourish than with a whimper.
Indians notebook: Fans cold to Wedge, GM says
CLEVELAND: Northeast Ohio fans never warmed to Eric Wedge, who was fired after seven seasons on Wednesday.
Losing Wedge not easy for Tribe
CLEVELAND: For most Indians players, Eric Wedge is the only big-league manager they've known, and they probably are not anxious to make a transition to a new boss.
Carmona to end suffering tonight
CLEVELAND: Mercifully, Fausto Carmona will make his last start of the season today against the Chicago White Sox.
Doubleheader on Wednesday with one admission
CLEVELAND: Tuesday night's game against the Chicago White Sox was postponed because of rain, even though there was very little precipitation in the forecast for 7 p.m. and afterward.
Soggy, cold game does little to spark Tribe motivation
Crowe error in ninth makes play turn ugly
CLEVELAND: Playing out the string in September has few rewards and more than its share of hazards. Some players need the final month of the season to prove they belong in the big leagues, others use the last few weeks of the schedule to pad statistics. But becoming motivated to play meaningless games isn't automatic.
Marte status is up in air
Tribe wants him to focus on third
CLEVELAND: One of the many decisions the Indians must make in the offseason concerns Andy Marte. Do they keep him on the 40-man roster and give him a chance to make the team in spring training or leave him unprotected and allow him to seek employment elsewhere?
Huff makes case to start next season
CLEVELAND: David Huff can rest on his laurels. At least until spring training. ''I've had my talk with [GM] Mark Shapiro,'' Huff said after the Indians' 9-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday at Progressive Field. ''There are going to be spots open, and we're all going to be fighting for them.''
Aubrey gets big chance with Orioles
CLEVELAND: At 27, Michael Aubrey finally has begun a major-league career that was stalled for years by injury.
Indians notebook: Tribe's Joe Smith done for season
CLEVELAND: Joe Smith will not return to pitch the last week of the season. ''He can pitch, but he can't move around very well,'' manager Eric Wedge said.
Indians notebook
Rain and inflamed left hip
keep LaPorta out of lineup CLEVELAND: Manager Eric Wedge did not want to take a chance on aggravating Matt LaPorta's inflamed left hip in wet weather and left him out of the lineup Saturday night.
Tribe starts streak of a different kind
Peralta's single brings second win. Sowers lifted after 5th inning
CLEVELAND: Things were looking up for the Indians in the fourth inning Saturday night. Andy Marte ripped a two-run homer, Shin-Soo Choo whacked a solo, and Asdrubal Cabrera added an RBI single.
Tribe starts streak of a different kind
CLEVELAND: Things were looking up for the Indians in the fourth inning Saturday night. Andy Marte ripped a two-run homer, Shin-Soo Choo whacked a solo shot, and Asdrubal Cabrera added an RBI single.
Sheldon Ocker: Indians' tear-down, rebuild strategy makes title chances slim
Under the Dolan ownership of the Indians, it has become an article of faith that the way to fame and glory is an unending sequence of tear-downs and rebuilds every six years or less.
Sheldon Ocker's the Write Stuff
Mr. Ocker: It's back to the future, 1970s-style. Can anyone say Beene, Buskey and Spikes?
Tribe casts off burden of an epic losing streak
Relief fills clubhouse after Carmona steers team from historic skid
CLEVELAND: History will have to wait. The 2009 Indians soundly rejected the chance to enter the hallowed pages of the record book, proclaiming with a victory over the Baltimore Orioles: ''We don't need no stinkin' losing streak.''
Tribe casts off burden of epic losing streak
CLEVELAND: History will have to wait. The 2009 Indians soundly rejected the chance to enter the hallowed pages of the record book, proclaiming with a victory over the Baltimore Orioles: ''We don't need no stinkin' losing streak.''
Averages can hide Peralta's low spots
CLEVELAND: It's been a struggle for Jhonny Peralta this year. But when you look at his numbers, there is little indication that this has been anything but a normal season for the Indians' new third baseman.
LaPorta back in lineup as designated hitter
CLEVELAND: After missing two games with inflammation of his left hip, Matt LaPorta was back in the lineup as the designated hitter Friday night against the Baltimore Orioles.
Tribe one away from record losing streak
CLEVELAND: Next stop: the record book? Having lost their 11th game in a row Thursday night, a 6-5 decision against the Tigers at Progressive Field, the Indians can tie the 78-year-old franchise record for losses tonight against the Orioles.
Masterson wants to finish as starter
CLEVELAND: Manager Eric Wedge says Justin Masterson is a starter, which fits with Masterson's career plans.
Wedge calls meeting to encourage players
CLEVELAND: Less than two weeks ago, manager Eric Wedge called the Indians together for what amounts to a pep talk.
Wedge will have made impact no matter what
CLEVELAND: Managers are made, not born, but who makes them? In just 10 days, Eric Wedge will complete his seventh season as manager of the Indians. Even though he has a contract for 2010, Wedge might not be back. More than likely, we will learn Wedge's fate one or two days after the schedule has been played out on Oct. 4.
Indians notebook: LaPorta's hip is hurting; held out of Tribe lineup
CLEVELAND: Matt LaPorta (inflamed left hip) took batting practice Wednesday but was held out of the lineup.
Tribe does as expected: loses again
Team drops 10 in row, closes in on loss streak set way back in 1928
CLEVELAND: If the Indians are bent on reaching negative milestones, they might as well make them historic negative milestones.
Tribe losing streak reaches nine
CLEVELAND: The Indians should have no trouble working up a hate for the Detroit Tigers next year. The Tigers already have beaten the Tribe 12 times in 16 games and have a chance to make it 14 out of 18 the next two nights.
AL Central could be better, Wedge says
CLEVELAND: The American League Central Division is being panned as the worst in the majors, with the first-place Detroit Tigers only nine games over .500 going into Tuesday night's game at Progressive Field.
Youthful mistakes grease Tribe skid
CLEVELAND: Lots of attention has been paid to the Indians' novices lately, mostly because there are so many of them in the lineup or on the mound.
Indians notebook: Top draft pick could be Tribe's only bright spot
What is left for the Indians to play for? No matter how many of the last 13 games they win, they will not induce the fans to visit Progressive Field next year. Neither can they significantly improve their place in the standings nor come close to finishing .500.
Indians notebook: Wedge says LaPorta is favorite to play first
OAKLAND, CALIF.: Manager Eric Wedge agrees that Matt LaPorta should be the favorite to win the Indians' everyday first-base job next year, but he qualifies his words.
Tribe achieves total humiliation
OAKLAND, CALIF: It might not seem like much of an accomplishment for the Indians to lose four in a row to the Oakland Athletics, even at Oakland Coliseum, the team's faded home field.
Tribe's Lewis proud in Cleveland colors
OAKLAND, CALIF: Jensen Lewis wasn't the only Indians player to attend a game between the Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns in Phoenix during training camp in March. But Lewis was the only member of the Tribe wearing a genuine Mo Williams jersey.
Sheldon Ocker's the Write Stuff
Sheldon: I understand teams need to rebuild sometimes. But the problem with the Indians rebuilding is that it is being done with an owner, a GM and a manager that I don't believe in.
Tribe coasting on downward ride
OAKLAND, CALIF.: The Indians picked up where they left off Friday and the day before that and the day before that, going back seven games.
Brantley to work on bunting
OAKLAND, CALIF.: Michael Brantley has foot speed, but he still needs to refine his techniques. That doesn't just mean stealing bases.
Wedge's fate is anyone's guess
OAKLAND, CALIF.: Remember when Eric Wedge's job was the biggest issue on the planet? Less than three months ago, fans and many in the media demanded that Wedge be fired as manager of the Indians. General Manager Mark Shapiro cut off the speculation and lowered the temperature by announcing that Wedge would remain at his post until the end of the season, at which time the entire realm of baseball operations would be scrutinized and evaluated.
Indians notebook: Manager says Brantley should get chance in 2010
OAKLAND, CALIF.: Will Michael Brantley have a chance to compete for an everyday job in the Indians' lineup next spring?
Games still count, even as season winds down
OAKLAND, CALIF.: Slumps don't mean as much at this time of year if a team is not in contention for the playoffs. Even defeat loses much of its impact when a club isn't going anywhere but home when the schedule concludes.
Masterson stumbles, Tribe falls 5-2
OAKLAND, CALIF.: The Athletics are a team in pain. They play in a ballpark etched with yard markers, owing to the presence of the Oakland Raiders. Their roster is filled with players who might be future stars or future stiffs, and nobody comes to watch.
Tribe novices need time, attention
OAKLAND: Rookies wear big-league uniforms, but they aren't fully formed major leaguers. Nobody is more aware of that than manager Eric Wedge, whose young Indians tested his patience during the three-game series (all losses) against the Minnesota Twins that concluded Wednesday at the Metrodome.
Indians notebook: LaPorta smacking them to center for change of pace
OAKLAND:Since being called up from Columbus Aug. 19, Matt LaPorta has hit five home runs, the first three to left, the last two to center.
Twins sweep young Indians
MINNEAPOLIS: What will it take to break the Indians' run of losing baseball? Improved pitching and hitting? Fewer novices on the roster? A new start next year?
LaPorta enjoys time at first base
MINNEAPOLIS: Matt LaPorta doesn't have an official description yet, as in Indians starting right or left fielder or regular first baseman.
Carmona, Tribe fall short again
MINNEAPOLIS: In baseball, the operative phrase often is, ''What have you done for us lately?'' In the case of Fausto Carmona, the Indians' answer would be ''Absolutely nothing.''
Crowe has ball hitting first homer
Trevor Crowe is thinking about what to do with the ball he hit for his first big-league home run Monday night at the Metrodome.
Indians Notebook: Carrasco makes habit of picking off runners
CLEVELAND: Carlos Carrasco is proving that a pitcher doesn't have to retire a batter when he's at the plate. He can wait until he reaches base, then pick him off.
Rebuilding likely to continue for Tribe next year
CLEVELAND: Austerity has been the watchword for the Indians this season, especially the past three months. Trades have trimmed millions of dollars from the payroll, which could fall $20 million next year to $60 million or less. The loss of Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Mark DeRosa, Ryan Garko, Ben Francisco, Rafael Betancourt and others clearly shows that the club is headed for at least one rebuilding year.
Carrasco has more command in third outing, despite Tribe loss
CLEVELAND:On Sunday at Progressive Field, giving up five runs in six innings was something to take pride in, a building block in the establishment of a new career.
Indians notebook: Wedge stands by decision
CLEVELAND:Manager Eric Wedge had no second thoughts about sending Asdrubal Cabrera and Michael Brantley to the plate on shallow singles to left in the ninth and 11th innings of Friday night's 2-1 12-inning loss to the Kansas City Royals.
Tribe deep thinkers wrong about Carrasco
Would Carlos Carrasco be on the Indians' roster if he weren't a key piece of the trade that sent Cliff Lee to the Philadelphia Phillies?
Sheldon Ocker: The Write Stuff
Hey you: If you have access to the Indians' clubhouse, then tell them that they are in Cleveland — they know that so lay off, and now for you — well, no hope there.
Indians notebook
Smith is throwing,
but no timetable
set for his return
CLEVELAND: Joe Smith (sore knee) is throwing again, but manager Eric Wedge doesn't know when he will return to the bullpen.
Olivo's homer in 12th lifts Royals over Tribe
Masterson pitches well, but Greinke again mows down Indians
CLEVELAND: No less than interleague play, what the sporting public craves is an extra-innings September matchup between the Indians and Kansas City Royals.
Future uncertain for Indians' Carroll
Utility infielder has been solid for Tribe but might not fit in plans for 2010
CLEVELAND: Jamey Carroll has been one of the Indians' more valuable players the past two years, but there is no assurance he will be asked to return in 2010.
Indians Notebook: What happened to Perez?
The top of the ninth of the Texas Rangers' 10-0 win over the Indians Wednesday was almost comically bizarre. More to the point, it was a microcosm of Rafael Perez's troubled season.
