Cleveland

Most mock drafts have the Cavs, prior to Tuesday's draft lottery, picking Georgetown small forward Porter if their first pick stays at No. 3. Cavs also have the 19th pick in the first round.

Baseball, specifically pitching, fascinates Trevor Bauer. Trevor Bauer fascinates me. So does baseball, but that’s not what this is about. The 22-year-old Bauer was made available in trade talks this past offseason because the Arizona Diamondbacks turned what should have been fascination and inquisitiveness into contempt and a myriad of misconceptions. Without knowing what was said or how Bauer handled himself when questioned by the Diamondbacks front office, I’m perfectly happy to consider their loss our gain and welcome the chance to see Bauer pitching for the Indians for the next several seasons. To call Bauer a student of the game seems like a monumental understatement. Studying the art of pitching consumes Bauer. He will stop during bullpen sessions to evaluate his mechanics on a high-speed camera. He looks disgusted with himself on the mound when a pitch winds up going where it shouldn’t. He challenges the conventional wisdom of pitching on a daily basis, from his long-toss routine to his beliefs on how to pitch.

The Juice returns for season No. 6! It’s almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more. With their desired lineup intact for the first time in 40 games, the Atlanta Braves offense turned it up a notch in their 8-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jason Heyward, who just returned from the disabled list on Thursday after undergoing an emergency appendectomy in Colorado last month, reached base three times to help set the table. Justin Upton then cleared it in the sixth, cracking his third career grand slam off Paco Rodriguez. ”As soon as he took that swing, I knew that ball was going to be out of the ballpark,” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. ”That was one of the prettiest swings I’ve seen put on a baseball.’ After traveling an estimated 461 feet, we’re sure the baseball agreed with Gonzalez’s assessment. It was Upton’s tenth homer — out of 14 — to travel over 420 feet this season. He’s averaging 427 feet on all of his home runs, which is the most for any players with more than five. Just awesome, game-changing power. As we’re about to learn, though, the Diamondbacks aren’t exactly lacking that type of player despite trading Upton during the offseason. But boy how nice would it be to have two of them? Good as Goldy : How about the start for Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt? After going 4 for 5 with two more home runs and 4 RBIs in the D-Backs 9-2 win over the Marlins on Friday night, the 25-year-old slugger is up to .338 on the season with 12 big flys and 35 driven in. Only Upton has more homers in the National League with his 14. Goldschmidt is also second in RBIs to Brandon Phillips. An all-star bid seems more likely with each passing day. Hiroki Special: For the fifth time since the beginning of the 2012 season, Hiroki Kuroda gave the New York Yankees eight plus innings of scoreless baseball. Only Felix Hernandez has more during that time with eight. Kuroda didn’t have much room for error on this night as Mark Buehrle nearly matched him through six innings. New York did manage single runs in the first and fifth, and then finally broke it open with a three spot in the seventh to lock up their 5-0 win. Rosales strikes again! And this time… it counts! After hitting a game-tying home in Cleveland last week that was incorrectly ruled (despite a review) a double, Adam Rosales left no doubt on Friday. His eighth inning solo home run was the difference in Oakland’s 2-1 victory over James Shield and the Royals. ”I think I was pretty sure about that one,” Rosales said with an ear-to-ear grin. ”It felt good to get over that hump. Every ballfield I went to, they all were saying, ‘Oh, it was a homer,’ or you talk to family and friends and like, ‘Yeah, it was a homer.’ So, now they’ll be talking about something else. They’ll talk about a real homer.” And more importantly, a real win. MORE SCORES Mets 3, Cubs 2: Matt Harvey gets the win on the hill and the game-winning RBI at the plate. He’s already 5-0. Phillies 5, Reds 3: Philly gets two in the eighth after bullpen blows lead for Cliff Lee. Pirates 5, Astros 4: The Astros lose in the most Astros way possible. Indians 6, Mariners 3 (10 inn.): Three-run, walk-off home run by Jason Kipnis sends Indians fans home happy. Your browser does not support iframes. Rays 12, Orioles 10: Camouflaged Rays strike early and often, then hold on as O’s rally for six runs in eighth. Red Sox 3, Twins 2 (10 inn.): Boston steals another game late on the road. Jonny Gomes’ sac fly in the tenth is the difference. Tigers 2, Rangers 1: The pitching duel scheduled for Thursday arrived one day late. Cardinals 7, Brewers 6: David Freese’s long-awaited first home run in 2013 was a grand slam. That helped St. Louis overcome two

Posted in ArtsCultureEventsFreeHotJohn BensonNewsOpeningPetsPhotography[ May 25, 2013; 4:00 am; ] Sat 5/25 @ 5 - 11pm By John Benson There’s something about the attraction of the meow that beguiles people into worshiping the cat. Obsequious to a fault, dogs just don’t have the same appeal. Sure, they can be a man’s best friend. They see for the blind and smell crotches like their life depended on [...]

Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Ray Horton met with the media following the conclusion of the team's first set of organized team activity sessions on Thursday. I have organized the transcript of what he said by topic below: If It's Tough to Figure Out New Personnel For His Scheme (On if it’s hard to know what he has on defense since everything is just coming together)- "It may not be hard, but it’s fun. It’s exciting. The guys are working very, very hard and that’s the most important thing – that they are applying what they are learning. They are doing a great job. They are being diligent in the workouts, not only on the field but also in the class room." (On what the biggest adjustment is for the players switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3)- "It’s a totally different defense so there is a lot of adjustments – terminology, drops, the way I call games, the way I ask them to learn the defense. Right now I am just asking them to trust me and trust the defense and they are doing that. We are pleased with where we are at day three of OTAs." (On how important the tempo of practice is for an aggressive defense)- "The first thing you need to do is know what to do. The tempo of everything, sometimes we slow it down, sometimes we speed it up. To me, you’ve got to know what to do before you can do something fast." Utilizing OLB Barkevious Mingo, and His Skills (On how long it will take for Barkevious Mingo to get into the flow and take a bunch of snaps)- "I don’t know. We are not putting a timetable on anybody. All we are really doing right now in these OTAs is trying to install the defense and trying to get our guys to understand our system and play hard. We aren’t putting a timetable on anybody. We are just trying to get better." (On what he saw from Mingo prior to the draft and what we has seen since he has been here)- "Before, obviously it was all on tape and it was an explosive player. He is a young man that played with his hand in the ground at LSU and now we are asking him to stand up and do different things. He’s got a learning curve and we don’t want to rush him. We don’t want to say this is what we expect day one or day two. We want it to be a growing process. This is not a simple defense. It’s a complicated defense. He’s got a learning curve and we want to make sure that he learns it." (On Mingo’s weight and what type of player they want him to be)- "I want him to be a dominating player. Weight? Some guys are too big, some guys are too small. Some guys aren’t fast enough, some guys aren’t slow enough, but they learn how to play. We want athletic players. He is an athletic football player and that’s what we want him to be." Jabaal Sheard's Transition to OLB (On Jabaal Sheard’s transition to linebacker)- "He’s been doing great. We ask him to do different things. If you would have asked me what I am most excited and happy about is the way the guys have come in and trusted and applied themselves. We’ve had almost 100 percent participation. The guys are attentive and they are doing what we ask them to do. The participation and the trust factor right now has been fantastic." "Jackpot" Defensive Acquisitions, and Paul Kruger (On if he feels he has hit the jackpot with the all of the defensive acquisitions)- "I bought a Powerball ticket last night, I didn’t check it yet (joking). I am very pleased with how Mr. (Joe) Banner, Mr. (Jimmy) Haslam and how coach (Rob) Chud (Chudzinski) have stockpiled the defense. We have got a lot of talent and we are going to try to figure out who fits where best for the Cleveland Browns to play very good defense. Everywhere I go I hear about the Dawg Pound. I meet people and they are in the Dawg Pound third row or this or that and they are excited. We are excited to put a good product on the field

Cleveland Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski met with the media following the conclusion of the team's first set of organized team activity sessions on Thursday. Some of the information he discussed was covered in our post about the team's depth chart last night, but I've organized the transcript of what he said by topic, nonetheless: Opening Statement - What They Worked On (Opening statement)- "Thanks for coming. We had a really productive week. I am really pleased with the tempo that the guys have practiced with. Their approach, again, has been outstanding. We got a lot done this week. As far as the OTAs themselves, the structure of it has been that we bring them in, they have a lift session. We get a chance to meet with them for an extended period of time where we will correct the previous tape as well as install for a particular day. Then we have a chance to come out here and practice. The past three days we have done that. We’ve had a chance, situation primarily, where we have been working on our first and second down packages, offensively, defensively and then really getting into some third downs. We got into some shorter third downs the first day of the week. There have been some medium third downs and some longer third downs. We are in process of installing those situations. It’s been a good week for us. It’s been good to get a chance to go out on the field against each other and see guy’s execution. That’s been the focus and really what we are trying to work on and see the execution level after being in phase two, which is basically working on air, for the past three weeks." Mixing it Up at Offensive Guard (On why Shawn Lauvao is playing left guard and if that change is permanent)- "We are moving guys around at the guard position. (Jason) Pinkston has been back. Just this week is his first week back so he is not getting the normal amount of reps. We will slowly work him into it. We are working all the guards at all the different spots." (On if the guards need to get outside a lot in the run game)- "They need to be able to block inside, pass block and be able to get outside as pullers as well." (On if they did a lot of pulling with the guards)- "We did. That’s part of what the install was this particular day, the plays where you saw those guys getting outside a lot." Brandon Weeden's Learning Curve (On how Brandon Weeden has been able to translate from the classroom to the field)- "I think he’s done a good job with that. It starts, really with those guys with calling the play. Getting in the huddle and being able to go through that process. We had a play clock, I don’t know if you guy’s noticed. We’ve had a play clock out here on them to really try to really work on that tempo because that’s the difference. Guys can learn it indoors in the classroom and the application out here is what we are looking for. Part of that is the process of having to do it when there is a time constraint going on. That’s a big part of it." (On how much more he knows know about Weeden than he did in January)- "You get to know about him. How he picks things up. How he translates and that’s what we want to see is how he is translating to decision making on the field. That’s what we are looking at right now at this step. Obviously, things are slowed down up front a little bit so you are not getting the total pass rush. It’s not completely 100 percent guys going against each other." (On if it’s different world for a quarterback during his second year in the league)- "Every year is a different world for a quarterback. The minute they get comfortable – you can’t do that at that position. It will help, that experience under his belt of what it’s like to be in a game. It’s obviously a brand new system so there are a lot of things where it will be like a first-year g

Add this to the long list of recent walk-off wins at the expense of the Mariners. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a batter into the sixth, but by that time he'd thrown over 100 pitches. He struck out 9 batters, but if the Mariners put the bat on the ball, chances are it would be a base hit. But he left the game having only given up a run. Rich Hill made the only mistake of the night by an Indians reliever, a hung slider to Raul Ibanez. The resulting two-run homer tied the game 3-3. That's the way the game remained until the bottom of the tenth inning. After starter Brandon Maurer left the game, the Indians did get a runner on base until Drew Stubbs drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the tenth. Then Stubbs got picked off first by Lucas Luetge, but he beat the throw to second to keep the inning alive. Michael Bourn kept it alive longer with an infield hit, then Jason Kipnis sent the raucous crowd home happy with a walk-off homer. Source: FanGraphs Roll Call (40 Commenters) Game Thread (673 Comments) # Commenter # Comments 1 emily522 72 2 johnf34 71 3 9James 70 4 PyroKinesis 38 5 engtribe48 37 6 westbrook 36 7 Chief Wahoo 35 8 Danieldelamaiz 34 9 tabler84 33 10 jayme 31 11 JulioBernazard 30 12 barsham 26 13 Matt Y. 17 14 LosIndios 16 15 VA tribe fan 13 16 roar888 12 17 Ryan 11 18 mauichuck 10 19 emd2k3 9 20 bourn supremacy 9 21 baerga1 9 22 Mr. Bad Example 8 23 notthatnoise 5 24 Turkmenbashi 5 25 NoChorus 5 26 Lukehart80 5 27 troyflowers 4 28 weareallkipnisses 4 29 Zaza Braggins 3 30 kendaru.geter 2 31 MooneysRebellion 2 32 justin.rusnak 2 33 27ftBaja 2 34 new zealand tribe fan 1 35 Brad D 1 36 Josh Finney 1 37 T.O. Tribe 1 38 PortlandVinny 1 39 RAMS000 1 40 SpecialBrownie 1

More details came in today about quarterback Brian Hoyer, who officially signed his two-year deal. According to Adam Caplan, Hoyer's contract from the Cleveland Browns includes $250,000 in guaranteed money: $250 K guaranteed area. RT @ruiterwrongfan: Bryan Hoyer signed his 2-year contract w/ #Browns today — Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) May 17, 2013 That's not an amount that makes him impossible to release by any stretch, but it might be more incentive to keep him on the roster as a third quarterback over a Thaddeus Lewis. Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski was asked about the signing of Hoyer, to which he commented, "Brian brings experience and a solid reputation to our squad. We are looking forward to getting him out on the field." Both quarterbacks were grilled about their thoughts on the signing of Hoyer at a Charity Golf Outing (what a buzzkill, eh?). Mary Kay Cabot from the Plain Dealer had a lot of quotes from Brandon Weeden and a couple from Jason Campbell; here is a highlight from each of them: "I was surprised, but that's the nature of the beast," Weeden said. "It's part of this business and if you start worrying about it, that's too much to worry about. That's my mentality going forward." "You usually go into training camp with four quarterbacks," said Campbell. "You knew somewhere along that it would probably happen." To make room for Hoyer, the Browns released undrafted free agent fullback Garrett Hoskins. That is one less fullback in camp for Owen Marecic to worry about. The Browns will have to release another player once running back Brandon Jackson officially signs his contract.

After letting go most, if not all, of the members of their scouting department following the NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns are now getting set to rebuild it. According to reports, at least one name has been brought on board: Confirmed #Browns have hired Florida director of on-campus recruiting Brendan Donovan. Role yet to be determined. @coachingsearch had first. — Keith Britton (@KeithBritton86) May 17, 2013 In a roundabout way, Donovan's reign at Florida had something to do with the state of Ohio. When Mark Pantoni, the former director of administration and recruiting for Florida State, left to join Urban Meyer at Ohio State, he was replaced by Donovan. Early reports indicate that Donovan will be the Browns' College Scouting Administrator: According to the Facebook page of Donovan’s high school football team and 247Sports’ Luke Stampini, who first reported the news, Donovan has been named the College Scouting Administrator of the Cleveland Browns. Donovan declined to comment when reached by phone and calls to a UF spokesman were not returned.

As the measurements of this year's top draft prospects emerged from the NBA combine, I started wondering how each prospect compared to the current members of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In order to find those answers, I searched through the wealth of historical data provided by DraftExpress.com. I was unable to locate measurements for Anderson Vareajo, C.J. Miles, Mo Speights or Daniel Gibson. I did find the predraft measurements for Tyler Zeller, Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters, Wayne Ellington, Kyrie Irving, Shaun Livingston, Alonzo Gee and Omri Casspi. I compared those eight Cavaliers to the top-rated big man, shooting guard, point guard and small forward on most people's boards by selecting Nerlens Noel, Ben McLemore, Trey Burke and Otto Porter, respectively. I then made the following chart in excel to answer my initial question. Data gathered above via DraftExpress.com For more of a power forward comp, I tried using Anthony Bennett. He measured 6'7" with shoes, weighed 239 points and has a 7'1" wingspan but he wasn't measured in the other three areas. As far as Bennett is concerned, though, he weighs 12 pounds more than Thompson did at the combine and is almost two inches shorter. Zeller, meanwhile, weighed 41 pounds more than Noel in case you were wondering. Ben McLemore is about an inch taller than Waiters and in a little better combine shape from a body fat perspective. Trey Burke is not as tall as Irving and doesn't weigh as much as Kyrie did either, which suprised me for some reason. Otto Porter's 7'1.5" wingspan was pretty surprising too in the sense that he's not only longer than Alonzo Gee, he also has a longer wingspan than both Thompson and Zeller. Or is it wider? Either way, Porter has some freaky measurements for a small forward.