Written by Brian McPeek

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Mondays after losses like that just stink, don't they?  What a colossal disappointment.  In the "Weekend Wrap", Brian McPeek looks back at yesterday's complete and total no show by the Browns, using some sarcasm to help him deal with what appears to be another season down the toilet.  Aside from that though, it was a good weekend.  The Tribe fought back to win the last two with the Angels, essentially clinching a playoff spot.  And Meat-chicken lost again.  Brian hits on it all for us.

So Very Close - Man. I don't understand all the fuss regarding yesterday's Browns game. I can almost hear the teeth grinding and hands wringing from here in Eastern Lake County. I honestly don't understand it. Maybe we watched a different game. If baseball is a game of inches then football is a game of yards. And I saw the Browns being very close (in many cases only a couple of yards) to walking out of there yesterday with a victory. And if not a victory, there were a lot of encouraging signs. For example: 

• The number of Charlie Frye completions (4) was damn close to equaling to the number of times he was sacked (5). God willing, Frye gets a chance to play all four quarters next week because he was on pace to complete 16 passes and get sacked 20 times over an entire game and I'm pretty sure at this point that people wouldn't mind seeing one or both of those numbers reached next time out.
• It was only a few yards that separated Browns defensive backs from Santonio Holmes on Holmes's 40 yd TD reception. Furthermore, safety Sean Jones almost didn't throw his arms in the air, glare at and show up fellow safety Brodney Pool afterward. That tells me these guys are nearly pulling for each other and almost have each other's backs out there.  Which is close to nice.
• We're talking only a few measly feet between either Frye or Derek Anderson hitting an intended target in stride. The sheer numbers of throws behind receivers is encouraging though. We've been demanding consistency from these guys and the hell if we're not seeing it on 90% of their throws. Plus, after about 80 of those 8 yd routes, the defensive backs are often draped all over the receivers. That means the DBs usually have no chance to intercept a ball that's also a yard or two behind them. It is a bit annoying when Anderson throws behind and short of his receivers though. Looks to me like he's purposely trying to show up Frye and it reeks of pure showboating. Frye, to his credit, usually battles right back by throwing a ball behind his receiver and late over the middle into coverage to keep pace.
• Head Coach Romeo Crennel was this close to winning a replay challenge. Those things are a coin flip folks. You're 50/50 in that you're going to win them or you're not. If only the official had seen something completely different than what actually happened, Romeo wins one of those challenges.
• Anderson, Jamal Lewis and Braylon Edwards were mere inches from not fumbling Sunday. Seriously, a finger placed just an inch either way, the ball tucked just an inch or six closer to their bodies and we're talking about retaining possession there on all three of those plays.
• On their first punt the Browns, sticking with the solidarity theme, nearly had half of the 11 players on the field called for a penalty. In the spirit of fairness, punter Paul Ernster shouldn't really count against the number. Especially since it was his near catch of a perfectly snapped football that set the whole free-for-all into motion.

Seriously. A month ago I wrote this about the Browns. Did you really expect things to be different when the real game planning and hitting started? And it really isn't all bad. A couple more of those outings and the QB of the future will be the QB period. I'm close to being ready for that day.

Steady As She Goes -   The Tribe ended the week 6 games up on the Tigers after splitting a 4-game weekend series with Anaheim. The Indians lost the first two games of the series before C.C Sabathia continued to pitch himself out of the Indians salary range for 2009 and completely dominated the Angels on Saturday night.  All Sabathia did last week was pitch 17 innings, giving up 11 hits and one run in going 2-0 against the Twins' Johan Santana and Ervin Santana of the Angels. He flat-out owns most of, if not all, the pitching Santanas. Sabathia did show a wild side and had the audacity to walk one batter in each of those games, which is major cause for concern going forward. Buckle down a bit C.C.

Sabathia stepped up Saturday night in a game the Indians had to have, coming off the prior two night's losses to the Angels. He is a legitimate ace at this point in his career and, oddly, not a single concern about his weight or his training regimen has been heard in months.

The Indians head to Chicago for a three game series against the White Sox before returning home for their final home stand of the season. They'll face the Royals, Tigers and A's when they get back.  

They'll do so with a lineup that's been putting together consistent effort and results for the most part. Ryan Garko hit a couple big HRs in the Angels series and Grady Sizemore showed signs of coming out of a mini-funk as well. 

It would be perfectly acceptable if the Tigers series starting September 18^th was devoid of any drama and meaning. Winning the three series leading up to that point would be an excellent way to minimize the importance of the Tigers series and would allow the Tribe to begin to set up their rotation for October.  So why is it so hard to believe that will be the case?  
 
It Beats Michigan - No, that's not a Jeopardy answer with a question consisting of "Who is everybody?" I'm talking about Ohio State's result on Saturday against Akron. Although I guess I could be talking about Oregon or Appalachian State as well. Actually, pretty much everyone is beating Michigan right now, which is always fine with NE Ohio sports fans. 

Anyway, the Buckeyes improved to 2-0 on the young season with a 20-2 victory in the ‘Shoe in a game that is best quickly forgotten. The defense played spectacularly once again. The offense played, well, less than spectacularly as was evident by the 3-2 halftime score.  

I don't pretend to be an OSU or college football expert. Pretending to be a Browns and Indians expert takes up way too much time to branch off into yet another area. But am I the only one who's a bit concerned about this Ohio State team? Todd Boeckman and the Buckeye offense did their best Chad Henne/UM impression for 30 minutes yesterday against a MAC team. Chris Wells rushed 18 times for 78 yards before gaining 65 on his last two carries. I know it's early, but my fear is it isn't early enough. I'd like another 1-AA or MAC warm-up game (or maybe even move up the Michigan game?) before heading out to Seattle to face the Huskies. It would be nice to allow Boeckmann and Wells and the rest of the offense to get into sync a bit more before leaving the little guys and stepping up to the Pac-10.  

And the Buckeyes are catching the Huskies on a high. Washington bounced everyone's favorite mid-major, Boise State. That ended the Bronco's 14 game winning streak, the longest winning streak in major college football until Washington's 24-10 win. The Huskies are 2-0 on the season and going out to Seattle isn't easy to begin with. Throw in the fact that UW is playing for something other than pride for the first time in a couple years and the fact that the Buckeyes offense hasn't gotten untracked and this one could be dicey.

Speaking of Beating Michigan - There's no doubt in my mind that you, me and nine of our friends running the spread offense could hang 40 points on the Wolverines right now.

Oregon strutted into the Big House Saturday and laid waste to whatever was left of the Wolverines reputation after last week's Appalachian State embarrassment. In a 39-7 pasting, the Ducks rolled up 624 yards of total offense, 330 of which was on the ground.  Oregon gashed Michigan with deep passes early and then ran the ball down the throats of the Wolverines late. 

It would be sad to watch Big Blue if it wasn't so knee-slappingly funny instead. To add insult, shame and pain to injury, Michigan starters and All-American candidates Jake Long, Chad Henne and Mike Hart suffered the insult, shame and pain of losing their first two games this season and were all injured in the Oregon game. Those guys are going to have to get healthy quickly and be more effective for them to realize the goal of a national championship season that brought each of them back for their senior years. 

It's going to be tough to pass up that classic Notre Dame (0-2)-Michigan (0-2) tilt this coming Saturday.  Personally, I'm pulling for the Irish even though Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen strikes me as an arrogant, unlikable, cocky kid who's had life handed to him on a platter for all his 18 years.  I just can't pass on the possibility of 107,000 Wolverine fans throwing up all over themselves one more time.