Written by Brian McPeek

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Thank God for the Cavaliers this weekend.  Because the Indians continue to display impotence offensively, scoring just five runs this weekend en route to dropping two of three against the Johan Santana-less Minnesota Twins.  Peeks loves what he saw from the Cavs though, and thanks DeShawn Stevenson for waking this team up.  Brian hits on it all, as well as the looming NFL Draft in this Sunday night's Weekend Wrap.

Way to Represent 

Too bad DeShawn Stevenson was unable to attend Saturday's Cavs-Wizards playoff opener at ‘The Q'. The guy that played in his place allowed LeBron James to go for 32 points and scored just 3 points of his own, missing 8 of his 9 shots from the field and not getting to the free throw line even once. 

Wait. That was DeShawn Stevenson? That's what stands as his attempt to back up his ignorant and ridiculous comments that LBJ is overrated? 

What a tool.  

Stevenson might want to save the wind escaping from his cake hole and use it to try and stay with LBJ in the 4^th quarter of Monday night's game. Or maybe he wants to make another asinine statement that can be run over the air so that people actually know who he is when he's standing out on the court. Right now he's just the moron who called out Superman and shot the basketball like he was playing one of those rigged carnival midway games.  

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When did the NHL come back to Cleveland? Contested shots, physical play, a few crosschecks and a mild dust-up at center ice right before the end of the second period?  

That was enjoyable. That was as entertaining a Cavs game as I can remember going all the way back to Friday, February 22^nd when the Cavs beat...... yep, the Wizards, 90-89 with 6 healthy players, two of whom were called up from the Developmental league that night. 

If familiarity breeds contempt then Saturday showed these two teams are, well, very familiar with each other.  

Just when there were doubts about the Cavs desire and ability to focus the Wizards provided the loud wakeup call with Stevenson's yapping and Brendan Haywood's standing over a prone LBJ after committing an offensive right before halftime. The King took exception with Haywood's ‘disrespectful' stance and shoved the 7-footer from his position on the floor. 

Then all hell momentarily broke loose with Haywood, Antawn Jamison, Ben Wallace, James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas as the central figures in the playoff drama. Jamison was incensed and could clearly be screaming things too foul for the Soprano's much less an athletic event.  Nothing much came from all of the preening and strutting and screaming but it certainly appeared to knock the Cavaliers focus and intensity up a notch or two. 

We should thank the Wizards for helping get the Cavs heads where they need to be and for bringing the Wine & Gold together as a team. We should also thank them for shooting like crap in the 4^th quarter.   

In an article a couple days back I stated that injuries and not playing could haunt the Cavs in this first round series. I'll gladly eat crow if the skirmish at the half is the coalescing moment for this Cavs team. I also stated that LBJ needed his mates to hit the innumerable shots he set them up with through the course of any given series. Consider the contributions of Ilgauskas, Delonte West and Daniel Gibson as proof positive that is possible.

Feeling a Draft? 

With the 122^nd pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns select...? That gets your blood pumping, no? 

Well, for the past few years we've been begging to see the Browns not having a record bad enough to have to pick in the top 10 of next year's draft. 

Mission accomplished.  

By virtue of a couple trades, one last season and another couple this season, the Browns brass gets to sleep in Saturday while other squads gather for the annual made-for-TV event in New York City. 

Of course that isn't true. They'll probably send someone there to announce the trade of Derek Anderson to a quarterback-starved club. 

In all likelihood, and in all seriousness, barring a trade the Browns won't even make a selection until Sunday afternoon. And despite the fact those 120 players or so will be picked before the Browns are on the clock Phil Savage and his staff is still under the gun to acquire some players who can help sooner rather than later.  

I'm not Mel Kuiper Jr. or John Clayton. And for that I'm actually eternally grateful. But I'm not going to pretend to be able to project who's going to be available when the Browns ultimately do draft. I will say that due to trades and marijuana arrests, the defensive back position is an area where some depth is now required. Linebacking help would also be nice. And it would not surprise me in the least if the Browns take a flyer on a potential replacement down the road for RB Jamal Lewis.   

You can find some talent on the 4^th round and after. A couple quality players the Browns have mined in past fourth rounds include WR Brian Brennan, CB Anthony Henry and S Harlon "Bang Stick" Barnett. Okay, Barnett was marginal at best, but I love the guy's nickname. But in the past few years Chiefs DE Jared Allen, Charger's LB Shaun Phillips, Bengals RB Rudi Johnson and Broncos WR Brandon Marshall and DE Elvis Dumervil were each taken in the 4^th round. 

Whatever route they go Savage & Company are about to earn their money. This isn't a no-brainer taking LT Joe Thomas or moving up to select QB Brady Quinn. But if the Browns do their homework and come away with a couple guys who can play and contribute sooner rather than later this organization will be even stronger for it. 

It's Always Darkest Before Hitting the Bottom of the Rock (Or Something) 

I'm not sure the Indians have actually hit rock bottom yet. Chances are good they've swung and missed at rock bottom, tapped rock bottom slowly back to the mound or lofted rock bottom softly to short right-center field though.  

Remember March when the Indians were on fire and were averaging ten runs a game? That was a fun day. But in April they've been.....whatever the opposite of on fire is.  

The suck-free portion of the everyday lineup right now consists of Ryan Garko and Victor Martinez. That leaves a lot of suck still in the lineup. And that explains how the Indians walked into Minnesota Friday and walked out Sunday losing 2 of 3 to a Twins team that might finish 3^rd in the Triple A International League. 

These things happen when you score 4 runs. Not 4 runs in any given game. No, that would have been an eruption. The Indians managed to score 4 runs in the series. 3 of those runs came Friday night in their only win in Minnesota. They were then blanked, handcuffed, throttled and laid waste to by future luminaries Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker and pretty much every other hurler the Twins threw out on the mound Saturday and Sunday.  

What more is there to say about how this club is currently performing? The starting pitching (with one large, soon to be free agent exception) has been brilliant. The bullpen seems to getting back to normal after the Indians did hit rock bottom with the ‘Let's Send Borowski Out There Hurt' experiment. Most of you watch the ballgames. I'm not telling you anything you're not seeing and hating yourselves. 

All the coaching, screaming, team meetings and fan forums ain't changing the fact that the majority of these guys are lost right now. 

The way I see it there are two options.

1.  Wait until they change their approach (or come up with one Mr. Peralta) and turn things around. Or;

2.  Shut up and continue to heavily bet the under.