Cleveland

Rob Chudzinski is inheriting a better quarterback than he did when he worked here as the Browns' offensive coordinator. So why not give it a chance, Bud Shaw writes in his Sunday Spin.

What, it's draft season again? Well, lottery first, but the Cavaliers are next on the draft calendar.

Kip, after his walk off 3-run blast on Friday night, is demonstrating what we are all feeling. via www.morningjournal.com Before I begin, let me preface this by saying that this is my first FanPost. I'm still getting a little used to how to edit everything so bear with me if it doesn't look as pretty as it should. The Tribe, as everyone knows, has really taken off this year. The hitting has been stellar, the bullpen has been rock solid, and the rotation, which had the huge question mark as we began in April, has proven to be dominant at best and serviceable at worst. But how does the Tribe this year stack up against the Tribe in previous years? Someone mentioned that we had hit the "40 poll" in the game thread today, and it got me thinking: why not analyze the Tribe's first 40 games in a few key seasons? For this particular analysis, I have chosen four years. They are: 1997: World Series run 2007: ALCS run 2012: Previous Year 2013: Current Year Courtesy of baseballmusings.com, here are some offensive stats to get us going. Keep in mind that all of these stats, unless otherwise noted, are dealing only with the first 40 games of each season (the data wasn't updated for today's game): AB Hits RBI BB K BA OBP Slug% 1997 1399 397 222 192 232 0.284 0.372 0.497 2007 1392 374 215 168 311 0.269 0.353 0.424 2012 1369 337 168 181 258 0.246 0.339 0.384 2013 1372 361 190 137 325 0.263 0.333 0.457 I think it's safe to say that no one expects to hit the numbers that the '97 Tribe put up. It's also safe to say that everyone is hoping that we can stay away from the 2012 version of the Indians. But the interesting part is the comparison to 2007. The 2007 Tribe wasn't the golden standard that we saw in '97 (hell, I didn't even see that golden standard. I was 4 at the time), but they were a damn good team. Cleveland 2013 is also a damn good team. Expanding the stats of both 2007 and 2013, here are the results: AB Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SF BB IBB HBP K BA OBP Slug% 2007 1392 374 67 7 45 215 12 168 16 21 311 0.269 0.353 0.424 2013 1372 361 83 9 55 190 14 137 5 14 325 0.263 0.333 0.457 There are a lot of comparable things about the 2007 Tribe and the 2013 Tribe. But the key things are the differences. Today's Tribe is playing the game a lot differently: mainly, they are a much more powerful team than in 2007. 16 more doubles, 9 more triples, and 10 extra home runs are helping bring the overall slugging up by over 30 points. Runs are being generated by hitting the ball and hitting it hard. It seems elementary, but it could turn out to be the key to making this team a serious contender. Looking back to 2007, here are the full season offensive stats. AB Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SF BB IBB HBP K BA OBP Slug% 2007 5604 1504 305 27 178 784 59 590 56 80 1202 0.268 0.343 0.428 After 40 games, the 2007 Tribe's stats accounted for: 24.8% of total At-Bats 24.9% of total Hits 22.0% of total doubles 25.9% of total triples 25.3% of total home runs 27.4% of total RBIs 20.3% of total Sac Flies 28.5% of total BBs 28.6% of total IBB 26.3% of total HBP 25.9% of total Ks So what happens if the 2013 Tribe has the exact same ratio of offensive statistics as the 2007 Tribe? We get this: AB Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SF BB IBB HBP K BA OBP Slug% 2013 5532 1450 377 35 217 693 69 481 17 53 1255 0.262 0.325 0.461 Side by side, here are the two tables: AB Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SF BB IBB HBP K BA OBP Slug% 2007 5604 1504 305 27 178 784 59 590 56 80 1202 0.268 0.343 0.428 2013 5532 1450 377 35 217 693 69 481 17 53 1255 0.262 0.325 0.461 What do we take from this? Well, since it's all speculation and extrapolation, potentially nothing. But the main point is this: the Indians, compare

The prospects for the former defensive ends tops this week's mailbag.

Ladies and gentleman, I am happy to announce that caption contests are back at Dawgs By Nature! In 2012, we made this a regular feature from mid-May until the end of June, which is otherwise known as a "dead spot" in terms of news with substance in the NFL. It is the perfect time to have some more light-hearted discussions or stray off-topic a bit more than usual. Ground Rules for Caption Contest: In the comments section, come up with a caption that you believe other readers will enjoy. Readers: if you like a caption, "rec" it. Whichever user gets the most "rec's" by the time the next caption contest is posted will be deemed the winner of that contest. We'll try to keep a running tally of how many wins members for 2013. New contests will occur several days per week. Today, we begin with Cleveland Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden on a cell phone at an OTA session. I'm sure you guys can get creative with who he was talking to or what is being said, so get at it!

According to a report by FOX 8, the removal of the "Cleveland Browns Stadium" signage is now complete, and will soon be replaced by signage for the new name of the stadium, "FirstEnergy Stadium." FOX 8's website had a picture from when some of the letters in the old signage were being removed. As for what the new signage will look like, the team released a sketch artist rendering back in January, which you can see in the lead-in photo for this article. In other news related to the stadium, if you are a soccer fan, then you should be salivating at the thought of attending the friendly match between USA and Belgium on May 29th. If you are not interested in spending the money on tickets but would like to get into FirstEnergy Stadium for free, Team USA will hold a free practice session on May 28th, starting at 5:00 PM. Who knows; maybe the signage will be all complete by then for FirstEnergy Stadium!

Hopefully Rob Chudzinski is trying to channel all of the momentum the Cleveland Indians have going for them over to the Cleveland Browns. The Browns' new head coach was at Progressive Field on Saturday for the Tribe's afternoon game against the Seattle Mariners. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch: Here's the pic you all want to see! #Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski throwing out the first pitch! twitter.com/Loede923TheFan… — Matt Loede (@Loede923TheFan) May 18, 2013 Chudzinski also met Indians manager Terry Francona before the game and gave him his own souvenir jersey for the Browns. #Browns HC Rob Chudzinski met Terry Francona and threw out 1st pitch @indians on Sat prior to Tribe's 5-4 win! RT! twitter.com/Browns/status/… — Cleveland Browns (@Browns) May 18, 2013 The Indians ended up prevailing 5-4 in the 9th inning for their second walkoff victory in as many days against the Mariners. For more coverage on the Indians, be sure to head on over to Let's Go Tribe.

Michigan's Trey Burke has the look of the top point guard in the 2013 NBA Draft

The Indians blow a 4-0 lead only to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. Current Series Indians lead the series 1-0 Fri 05/17 WP: Vinnie Pestano (1 - 0) LP: Lucas Luetge (0 - 1) 6 - 3 win Seattle Mariners Lookout Landing @ Cleveland Indians Let's Go Tribe Saturday, May 18, 2013, 1:05 PM EDT Progressive Field TV: ROOT-HD (SEA)/STO-HD (CLE)/MLB.TV RADIO: KIRO (SEA)/WTAM (CLE)/MLB Audio Joe Saunders vs Zach McAllister Partly cloudy,rain. Winds blowing in from center field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 75. Complete Coverage > Sun 05/19 1:05 PM EDT Mon 05/20 12:05 PM EDT Pre-Game Reading Material Series Preview: Seattle Mariners - May 17-20 Mariners at Indians Series Preview: Q&A with Let's Go Tribe - I answer some questions from Lookout Landing's Jon Shields. Latest News Brett Myers pitched three innings in Akron last night. He'll probably need one more rehab start before coming off the DL Today's Lineups Cleveland Seattle (TBD) CF Michael Bourn . 2B Jason Kipnis . SS Asdrubal Cabrera . DH Nick Swisher . 3B Mark Reynolds . 1B Carlos Santana . LF Mike Aviles . C Yan Gomes . RF Drew Stubbs . Today's Lineups

May 18, 2013 Indians 5, Mariners 4 Chapter 41: A walk-off on a foot-off For seven and a half innings the Indians had this game under control. Zach McAllister was cruising, the offense had a medium-sized lead, and the bullpen was waiting to close it out. Three home runs later (and two coming with two outs in the ninth inning), this club was staring a gut-punching loss in the face. Zach McAllister only struck out one batter on the afternoon, but made up for it by getting outs quicker in the at-bats. Mike Aviles, who was starting in left field so that Michael Brantley could get a day off, made seven putouts in seven innings before moving to third base in the eighth inning. Most of those putouts were of the lazy fly variety, although a couple made it necessary for Aviles to cover some ground. When McAllister left the game, he had thrown only 95 pitches, but as he just given up a home run to Brendan Ryan(!), Francona apparently saw that as a sign that he was done for the day. Even with those two late runs allowed, McAllister added another start to what's becoming an impressive streak. If you count today's start, McAllister hasn't given up four or more runs in a start all season. Now some of the starts he's only gone 5-6 innings, leaving the bullpen a lot of game to cover, but of later he's been going deeper into games (7.0, 7.2, 6.0, and now 7.1). The Indians struck for one run in the first inning, hung onto that lead until the fifth, then score three times between the fifth and sixth innings. Mark Reynolds got the scoring going with a two-out single to right, plating Asdrubal Cabrera. Then in the fifth Reynolds muscled a changeup out of the park, cutting through a wind that was blowing in from left field. In the sixth, Michael Bourn's inifield hit allowed a third run to score, and Jason Kipnis knocked out Seattle starter Joe Saunders by blooping a single over the drawn-in infield. The Mariners, who hadn't really showed any signs of scoring all day, struck suddenly via the longball. Brendan Ryan knocked McAllister out of the game in the eighth his a two-run shot, his first home run and only second extra-base hit of the season (his first came in last night's game). Then in the ninth, after Chris Perez retired the first two batters of the inning, he left two fastballs over the inner half of the plate to Raul Ibanez and Justin Smoak. And the crowd who up until then had been cheering for another Tribe victory turned to booing Perez, which isn't the most heinous crime a crowd can commit, but still seems strange to me. For Perez, love him or hate him, has been one of baseball more effective closers since he came to Cleveland. But thankfully the Indians quickly made that top of the ninth inning irrelevant. Jason Kipnis dumped a single into left-center field against Oliver Perez to start the bottom of the ninth. Then Asdrubal Cabrera, after failing to bunt Kipnis to second, drove him to third when he doubled down into the left field corner. Seattle manager Eric Wedge then ordered Perez to walk Nick Swisher to load the bases, thus creating a force at any base. Wedge brought Yoervis Medina, a right-handed hitter, to pitch to Mark Reynolds, and it looked like the strategy would pay off, for Reynolds hit a sharp grounder that shortstop Brendan Ryan fielded. Ryan made a strong throw home, and Kipnis would have been out...except that catcher Jesus Montero didn't have his foot on home plate. Keep in mind that Montero didn't have to stretch for the ball, or reach for it in any way. It was an unforced error bordering on a mental error, but it gave the Indians a 5-4 victory. Source: FanGraphs Roll Call (38 Commenters) Game Thread (472 Comments) # Commenter # Comments 1 tgriffith1992 99 2 johnf34 33 3 VA tribe fan 33 4 ferociouswalrus 32 5 Heavysoviet 30 6 westbrook 29 7 PyroKinesis 25 8 troyflowers 24 9 mauichuck 18 10 roar888 15 11 jayme 15 12 Jul