Written by Brian McPeek

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Only a couple of things going on this weekend since Browns camp isn’t close yet and the NBA Draft isn’t worth spending much time on, and can be summed up as follows: Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist or Bradley Beal. After that? Meh…

What is going on is an up and down Tribe season that’s up and down not only from a team perspective but also as it pertains to individuals on the roster. We’ve recently seen Justin Masterson take off while Carlos Santana flounders about. We’ll talk some Tribe and we’ll put the LeBron-athon to bed for 2012. He did win a ring, if you hadn’t heard. And man, did he earn it.

On Par

A couple weeks after I suggested the Indians were no better and no worse than a middle of the road, .500+ team and also suggested we simply enjoy them for what they are (and that the division is winnable even with the Tribe’s inadequacies); they’ve taken my words to heart by playing really well in St. Louis, getting swept by the Reds, playing poorly against the Pirates and sweeping the Reds.

And I’ve admittedly grown tired of winning the first game of a series (many against crap teams like the Royals and Astros) only to piss away the next two. That’s depressing and that’s about the living definition of mediocre, but there are a couple of really good signs.

Justin Masterson has been 2011 Masterson the last four times he’s taken the hill. In the last 28 days Masterson has made five starts, thrown 35.0 innings and has an ERA under 2.85 with a WHIP under 1.00

That’s dealing. Unfortunately Masterson is but 2-3 in those five starts because the Tribe offense has also seen fit to pretend it’s 2011 and they’ve given him no support. If you look at the last two starts he’s even better with 16.0 IP (including a complete game), has an ERA of 0.00 (which is pretty good) and a WHIP of .625

Masterson is also averaging a strikeout per inning pitched over the past five starts and his K/BB ratio is a really healthy 5.83. The bottom line is Masterson always has really good movement but over the past five starts it seems like the big right hander actually has an idea of where the ball is going. You couldn’t say that earlier in the year.

There’s no need to exaggerate just how important it would be for the Indians to get an ace-like June through September from Masterson. He’s beaten Justin Verlander once this season and might actually be the one Tribe pitcher, when he’s right, who can go batter for batter with Detroit’s Cy Young winner. That’s not to put Masterson in the same category, but he can stand out there and be dominant when he’s right. You can’t say that about any other Indians pitcher, including Ubaldo Jimenez who can still implode nearly instantaneously in each outing.

Ubaldo has been somewhat better though.

In his last 28 days he’s pitched 26.1innings in four starts and is 2-1 with a 3.57 ERA and a WHIP of 1.063. He’s trending the wrong way over the past two starts mostly because his K/BB ratio remains a pedestrian 2.33/1. He doesn’t throw enough strikes but he is performing better at this point than he was a couple months back which is likely a tribute to his side sessions and the Indians’ attempt to straighten out his soup sandwich delivery as well as the willingness of Jimenez to put in the work.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Jim Thome has as many HRs as C Carlos Santana in 2012 and Thome has 160 fewer Abs under his belt. Santana is also about 200 points below Thome in OPS. He’s struggling.

He’s really struggling. And it’s odd to see Santana struggling at the plate rather than behind the plate. The catcher has been much better defensively this season in terms of calling the game, moving behind the plate and throwing out would be base stealers. He’s thrown out 35% of guys trying to run on him which is nearly 50% better than what he did last year.

The problem is that the Indians are offensively challenged already. They NEED Santana to be a big presence in the middle of the lineup. Right now he’s not hitting left handers much at all, he’s not hitting on the road and he’s not doing much hitting outside of the 5^th spot in the order.

It could be that Santana is wearing some of the burden in trying to carry an Indians offense that has lost Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner as well as Jack Hannahan, etc and one that is carrying guys like Johnny Damon, Shelly Duncan and Casey Kotchman in its lineup. But much like the Indians need Masterson to step up as an ace they also need an anchor in the middle of their lineup.

An anchor as in something you can build around and between. Like Macy’s or Dillard’s on either end of the mall. Not an actual anchor that sinks to the bottom and keeps the SS Tribe from actually moving.

 

Please Hate with Credibility

I’d like to punch the jag offs and tools who tell us to, “Get over it, Cleveland” right in the face. Maybe smack their kids upside the head on general principle just knowing they’ll be as dumb as their parents who just don’t get it in regard to LeBron James.

I can’t stand the guy. I think he’s a narcissistic asshole who has no understanding at all of the real world and who also has no comprehension for the words ‘humble’ and ‘humility’. He uses the words all the time to describe himself and he couldn’t be any less humble or show any less humility if he made an effort.

He reminds me of Vizzini in “The Princess Bride”.

After listening to him misuse the word a dozen times or more, Inigo Montoya finally has had enough and says, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

I honestly can’t think of anyone LESS humble than LeBron James.

Other than maybe his mother, Gloria.

LeBron was arrogant enough to believe The Decision was not only a good idea but that he was justified in going forward with that spectacle. And he did so while callously treating his former owner and millions of fans here and around the globe. Someone knew it was a really bad idea. Someone thought it bad enough to involve the Boys & Girls Club in the shenanigans to serve as human shields in the whole disgusting affair.

That whole ridiculous display put on by James and his pilot fish flunkies like Maverick Carter, and in conjunction with the World Wide Leader, ESPN, was a pig. Planting a hundred kids on the floor that LeBron ignored the entire time was some shitty shade of lipstick. At the end of the day it was still a pig wearing lipstick.

So yeah. I can’t stand the guy. I find him a despicable individual who cares nothing of anyone, has no redeeming social graces or class and who’s stone-cold ignorant given the fact he was raised by a she-wolf who gave away her child to men running AAU programs when it became clear he was their way out of poverty and desperation.

So don’t tell me to get over it. I’ll never like the man. Why don’t all you Ohio State fans just get over your dislike of Michigan? Will Buckeye fans embrace Clevelander Desmond Howard and Youngstown native Mario Manningham now, after time has passed, and given they are Ohioans? How about you Browns fans stop acting like children in regard to the Steelers? Just get over that hatred and support the orange and brown. How about Cleveland fans just get over the fact that Ben Roethlisberger is a borderline sexual predator and, instead of the derisive comments, offer him encouragement to beat those demons and live a productive life? Why don’t all those millions of Red Sox fans stop with the bitching and whining about the Yankees and have a “Bucky Effing Dent Day” at Fenway to show they are above all of that hatred and have moved on like healthy human beings?

Seriously, who do these talking heads think they are? When individuals are ready to move on they will. When more have moved on than haven’t then collectively and by definition we’ll have moved on. You can no more will yourself to look past the LeBron disloyalty than you can put a time limit on someone mourning a death or a break-up. Some have already forgotten his betrayal. Some never will. Most of us are in between somewhere.

I watched Game 5 all the way through the celebration. I didn’t think I’d watch long enough to hear the final horn if Miami was going to be crowned as champion.

But it wasn’t what I feared. I made it through the game, the series and LeBron’s first title and I’m healthy and happy and otherwise just fine. Because it doesn’t change anything about him off the court. He’s still an entitled douche bag who hasn’t had to fight in his life for a single thing off the court.

On the court?

He was freaking brilliant. He was everything we all knew he could be even as we watched him refuse to be that here in Cleveland and last year in Miami. He was easily the best player on the floor and he is the best player on the planet and his game matured this season to the point there is no doubt about any of that.

LeBron James dominated that series from start to finish on both sides of the ball. He was unstoppable offensively and he was nearly impenetrable defensively. He owned Kevin Durant, he abused James Harden and, perhaps his greatest trick of all, and he made Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier and Mike Miller relevant and productive.

I’m not one who believes the Heat’s role players are any better than what the Cavs surrounded James with here in Cleveland. Miller, Battier, Udonis Haslem, Norris Cole, they’re all guys. They aren’t difference makers and they aren’t much (if any) better than Mo Williams, Daniel Gibson, Anderson Varejao, et al. But LeBron had Chris Bosh back and healthy and that was huge. That’s a guy he never had in Cleveland. And yeah, Dwyane Wade, though just about dead in terms of being an elite player, is still dangerous at times and still commands attention.

But look at the series James had. Look at the shots he took (go to any ESPN box score and click the shot chart and drop down James’s shots alone). There were very few LeIso jumpers and hero shots to beat the shot clock that LeBron had run down 30 feet away from the basket. Instead James did what we implored him to do here. He took the ball to the basket time after time, game after game and he either converted the shots or got to the line and, in many cases, he did both.

And I grudgingly have to say he led that team on the floor emotionally as well. It was James pointing out and screaming out switches and picks and it was James who snuffed out Chalmers in Game 5 when the Heat PG started concentrating more on whipping the crowd into a frenzy than on the Thunder. James came down the court and shook his head menacingly at Chalmers and told him, “Play ball…just play ball”.

The series was a defining one for James. He made the leap from great individual talent to NBA Finals MVP and all that entails. And he earned it and deserved it. He was ridiculously good. And maybe he’s made the leap from choreographing fake camera shots and dances on the sidelines to actually leading teammates on the court like we saw him do with Chalmers in Game 5.

At the end of the day LeBron James the player finally reached the potential we all saw in him. That’s great. It’s just too bad he may also have already reached the upside of potential as a human being. Some people go their entire lives being an asshole. It could be that LeBron is one of those people. And there’s no amount of winning on the floor that fixes that. But he has his ring and what I didn’t want to happen has happened. But it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I feared it would be.

Maybe that means I’m moving on.

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