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And wait patiently watching ESPN for stuff like this all day long. I'll just buck conventional thinking all day long and not listen to a word anyone on BBTN says. Here's why:

Eric Young's key to Cleveland winning game 7:

"The key to the Indians winning game 7 is their top 3 hitters. If Sizemore, Cabrera and Hafner hit well, they tend to score more runs."

I'm not kidding. At all. Nope. Still not kidding. I bet you're thinking I'm going to say I am pretty soon here. Nope. Still not. Dead Serious. Wish I was. Ok no I don't. But really guys, I'm not kidding. And Eric Young is seriously serious about being serious about this being the serious key to the Indians seriously winning game 7.

The top 3 hitters need to hit well in order for the rest of their lineup to score runs. If we're gonna be this generic and mother humping obvious, here are a few more keys:

"The Indians need to get to the stadium on time to play game 7."
"The Indians need to field 8 defensive players to win game 7."
"The Indians need to score more runs then the Red Sox do to win game 7."
"The best hitters in the Indians lineup (the top 3) need to hit well."
"Westbrook needs to win for the Indians to win game 7."
"The Indians need to win to win game 7."

Yes, all of these are the keys. See how the Indians best 3 hitters needing to hit well just snuck into the middle of all those other blatantly pathetic obvious statements about game 7.

Labels: Eric Young, game 7, Indians, Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox had an 8:00 pm game last night. It was Game 2 of the ALCS--pretty important by many standards. You very rarely (if ever) see an 8:00 pm start time on the West coast, because that would mean that those living on the East Coast wouldn't see the game until 11:00.

That said, 8:00 isn't too late, and it wasn't an awful choice. The problem? The Red Sox just take forever when they play.

While I wasn't watching the game, I remembered that the game was on at about 1:00 am. I checked to see who won. When I saw the box score that it was still going, I didn't really think about how late it was. Then, I realized that the game was being played about 2 miles from me, just across the Charles River at Fenway Park. I found that the game was on FOX and watched the top of the 11th.

If you're a baseball fan, you know the rest. Trot Nixon, former Boston fan favorite, singled in the go-ahead run, and was followed by an onslaught. 6 more would come around, capped off by a 3-run home run by Franklin Guttierez to break the game open, 13-6. By now, it was about 1:20 am.

Kids were long asleep, Boston turned cold(er), and the fans still in attendance were having their rides home threatened by the fact that the "T," the Boston subway system stops running about 1:30.

And there was still another half-inning to go.

Thankfully, it ended quickly, and Boston failed to score in the bottom of the 9th. But, this is just another awful example of East Coast sports gone bad. 1:30 in the morning, really? This game is supposed to be prime-time. Granted, I realize that this one just went ridiculously late, but come on. 5 hours and 14 minutes for only 11 innings? We all know the Red Sox take forever; start the game (at least) an hour earlier than that.

And then, of course, there are those games that happen on the West Coast and you have to watch them on the east coast. I'm not a fan of watching Laker games until 2:00 a.m. And it happens often. Games at 7:30 in Los Angeles start at 10:30 in Boston, and finish between 1-2 am. Not cool.

Even the newspapers are unable to report those scores the next morning, it's so late. That even happened last night here in Boston, with the Sunday Boston Globe headline saying simply that the Red Sox were "caught in another classic." No results. No score. Sad.

Undoubtedly, many fans were irritated this morning after falling asleep in front of the television a little after midnight only to find out that their beloved Sox had been ripped apart in the 11th by the Tribe. At least we've got a series again.

Labels: ALCS, Baseball, Beantown, East Coast, fans, Indians, Kevdog, Lakers, playoffs, Red Sox

Our journey began on Saturday with a 6 hour drive from Arlington, VA to Cleveland, OH. A little traffic, a stop for lunch, and a stop in Pittsburgh to pick up tickets for our Monday night Pirates vs. Giants doubleheader, and we arrived in Cleveland about 4:30 for the 7:05 game. Blasting "Cleveland Rocks" (of "The Drew Carey Show" fame) on the iPod, we drove through downtown, by Lake Erie and past the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

We parked and headed towards Jacobs Field. On the way was Quicken Loans Arena, where LeBron and the Cavs just surrendered their chance at the NBA Championship to the San Antonio Spurs. After a stop in the Cavs team store, we headed to the baseball game.

We arrived at Jacobs Field to pick up our seats from Will Call in the left field bleachers. The instant we walked into the stadium, I was a fan. We went through the gate in the "Toyota Home Run Terrace" to watch batting practice. After a few chances at grabbing a home run ball during BP, we walked around the stadium before heading to our seats.


It felt a lot like PetCo Park in San Diego. Very clean and new looking, despite opening in 1994. There's a big bar area in Centerfield, which was packed throughout the game, as well as a "Marketplace" food court area out there. There was also a gaming area with a radar gun to try out your pitch speed in right field. If I remember right, Michael threw 63.

We headed up to the nosebleeds (see picture below) to our seats to watch the game. The Yankees were in town, which was pretty entertaining to see. One look around the stands, and it was easy to see that there were more Yankees fans in the world Cleveland than there were Indians fans. Chants of "Let's Go Yankees" were prevalent, while only about 3 people even put forth an effort of a "Let's Go Tribe" chant.


A Victor Martinez sacrifice fly gave the Indians' fans something to cheer about in the first inning, but a 7-run second inning for the Yankees shut them up quickly. Yankees fans were loving it, and it was pretty entertaining to see. Paul Byrd got ripped on, as A-Rod hit 2 homeruns in the Yankees 11-2 victory. The first 2 innings had that sort of playoff atmosphere at fans jeered back and forth at each other. Then, the Indians fans were forced to simply shut up.

As for the ballpark itself, it probably ended up being my favorite of the trip. It didn't quite have the location as Pittsburgh and Cincinnati did (right on the water, more on that later), but the stadium itself was the best. A restaurant with big glass windows in left field was a nice touch, as well as the bar area in center so Indians fans could drink away their sorrows and have fun after the game still in the park was pretty sweet too. Also, the Indians Hall of Fame in center was fun to see.

All in all, a cool city and a great ballpark.

Labels: A-Rod, Byrd, Cleveland, Indians, Jacobs Field, Kevdog, Road trip, Yankees