The Cavs, Indians Pitching, and The Unstoppable Lance Berkman

Well start off with the bad today. The Cavs. I'll be honest and say that I don't watch a whole lot of NBA ball. I just can't get into guys not trying and standing around and horrible jump shooting and the amount or arguing the players do with the refs. But, when the Cavs are in the playoffs I, being from Cleveland, am required to watch.

So I've watched most of the Cavs-Celtics series. Which sometimes means the game was on when I was reading, or the game was on when I was working, or making dinner... You get the picture, I just am not that interested.

But when LeBron James missed as many shots, who am I kidding, I think he took 4 shots in the first 2 games, the rest of the 45 he missed were layups, it is just painful to watch. Not only that, but the offensive strategy of, "...Give LeBron the ball, and the rest of you get out of the way. If he feels like passing the ball, look ready, otherwise, just stand there!" Is just miserable. And now that Daniel Gibson, the only guy that can hit a jumper with some regularity, is out with a shoulder something. I think they're pretty much finished.

There is no way the Cavs should have lost game 1. Same with game 5. This series should be over. But, when LeBron starts missing, the offense just falls apart, because there is no No. 2 option. I don't think there ever was a No. 2 option.

If the Cavs had some sort of offensive strategy, like moving around and trying to find an open shot/lane, Lebron would be averaging his 30 points and probably 15+ assists. Oh yeah, I guess you need one of those guys to be able to hit a regular jumper too.

Learn how to hold a lead guys...

Anyhow, The Indians pitching is unreal! The starters went 44.1 innings without giving up a run! Cleveland completed a 6-1 homestand in which it allowed runs in just four of 64 innings! If the O can start to generate some runs, these guys could be dangerous. Cliff Lee has given up 4 earned runs in his 7 starts. He's 6-0 with an ERA of 0.67. CC has started to really show signs of life pitching real well in his last 4 starts, and Carmona is getting back into the shape he was in last year. If these 3 can rub off a little on Byrd and their 5th starter (Laffey, Sowers, Westbrook) or whoever else it may be, look out. Pitching wins championships...

My one problem I have with Wedge is that he doesn't manufacture runs. I understand that waiting for the 3 run jack is a good way to score some quick runs, but when Hafner is having the problems that he's having, Victor is having trouble hitting for power, and Garko blows, where are you going to get that 3 run bomb at?? Sizemore should steal at least one base everytime he gets on. Maybe this could put some pressure on the pitchter, and get a ball up to one of these guys and they could get back on track. Maybe a hit and run sometime? Put Dellucci in motion with Hafner at the plate, take the decision out of his time at the plate and force him to make contact.

Victor is, or maybe was, leading the league in hitting. As I was sitting at work the other day on my lunch break I was checking out the league leaders. And there's Victor, up at the top, I think he was hitting .344 at the time. But had only scored 9 runs. The next lowest total on that list had scored 17 runs, I don't remember who it was, but that's just horrible. All those times on base have been completely squandered by the guys hitting behind him, Hafner and Garko. Wedge has got to do something to get these 2 back on track.

I did see that Hafner rose his average up to .222. So it looks like he's showing signs of breaking out, but he needs to get Berkman hot in order to get things really turned around.

My solution for the Indians offense? Not that anybody is listening, but they need 1 of 2 things. Either a power hitting outfielder/3rd baseman to hit in the 4 spot after Victor, before Hafner. Or they need a leadoff 2nd baseman. So they could then have fast 2nd baseman/leadoff hitter, Francisco, Sizemore, Victor, Hafner, Garko, Peralta, Blake, (other outfielder insert here).

Which brings me to my final subject. Lance Berkman and Chipper Jones. These guys are hitting out of their mind right now!!! Chipper is hitting .416 right now and Berkman is hitting somthing like .546 over the last month or something!!

I don't even know what to say. This is simply amazing. They just hit. If Chipper can stay healthy, which will be a feat in itself, he has an opportunity to really do soemthing special. And if Berkman can keep this up, he's going to do wonderful things on my fantasy team for the next 3 seasons!

Good Stuff!