Between an orthodontist appointment for my daughter and driving to the office to meet with the boss, there won't be much time for blogging. But I'll try. And I did notice that Mark Shapiro put to rest any question about Eric Wedge's status with the team this season.
Wedge will remain the manager – and his coaching staff will stay. This is reasonable. I mean, Wedge has a house and his coaching staff does too and people have put down security deposits and things. No need to upset that apple cart.
A few thoughts:
- Is anyone surprised? And can anyone figure why the type-face just changed? Way bothersome for a person as anal as me.
- An interim manager is not going to do anyone any good, or change the fortunes of this team. It is what it is. If the Indians are going to make a change – and it would not be at all surprising if they did after the season because Wedge has been here seven years – it makes sense to take the time to get the right guy rather than the guy who is available at the moment.
- This mess really isn't Wedge's fault. I actually agree with Shapiro when he says that he's responsible for what happened more than Wedge. He's the one who built the bullpen, though I must admit everyone in baseball thought the Indians bullpen would be a strength.
- This team must address three things. First is the lack of development by its young players once they reach the major leagues. The last two years there has been a shocking lack of growth by some young players. Second is the pitching staff. Good luck with that one. The state of pitching in the major leagues is not exactly strong – Shapiro is right when he says 26 teams are searching for pitching – and finding it isn't easy. Third, it must address the high draft picks. Something simply isn't clicking. I'm not naïve enough to think the Indians aren't addressing these things anyway; I just thought I'd put on record what I think. Because that is what a clog is all about, right? Putting down your every thought for the world to see?
- The most disappointing part of this scenario? The Indians have now officially screwed up and put an end to the odd-numbered year thing. No longer are they good in odd-numbered years.
It's hard to believe what happened to this team since Game 5 of the ALCS two years ago, but it's happened. Solving it won't be easy either. Off to the orthodontist …
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A few questions and comments:
First, is this the daughter Elizabeth with these zany, wacky teeth? And, is she really posting sports blog comments to Dear Old Dad? I've noticed a few of those.
Second, do they still tighten rubber bands on braces? I hated those damn things. Those bastard orthodontists screwed your head in like a vice, as if the mouth full of canker sores from the braces wasn't enough. That is, if they weren't recommending teeth be pulled, which, five decades later, it turns out they don't even freakin' do with kids anymore! So now, I have giant gaps in my mouth where teeth are supposed to be! Jews aren't supposed to look like Cletus from the West Virginia hills! Freakin' pompous arrogant white-coated schmucks.
Third, I guess my over/under bet on Wedge would have missed its mark. Oh, well. My forte for bullseye predictions has always been the Cavaliers, anyway. Post-idiot Ferry, pre-idiot Ferry, hasn't mattered. I don't know why, but for 40 straight years of that God-forsaken basketball franchise, I've almost always right, it's incredible. But the Indians, my sixth sense has never been able to get a firm handle. Maybe I'm revealing too much here, but I think it all dates back to that day Gabe Paul lured me into his guest house with Girl Scout cookies and gave me the same powerful sedative that Michael Jackson apparently gave to kids. It's since made my existential Indians senses go foggy.
My prediction for manager of the 2010 Cleveland Indians: Meadowlark Lemon.
The team is such a mess, I don't even know how to respond. Other than to say, perhaps, that Indians fans are just sick and tired of looking at the current players and hearing how they're this "great core/foundation." Not even their so-called "stars," Grady and Victor, are anything above average.
Garko? Peralta? Hafner? It's a disaster from top to bottom. Luis V. the answer at 2B? Hitting .200. Part-time starting C Shoppach….hitting .200. Ben Francisco? One game on, and the next 20 off. These are just NOT players an organization can build around. The talent is vastly overrated or non-existent.
If it's any consolation, things could be a lot worse. Two words: Pittsburgh Pirates.
Two words—11 championships since 1964—WHY would Pittspuke fans care if the Pirates suck??—us on the other hand….
The WHOLE organization needs re-vamped, starting with the LOUSY scouting and player evaluation departments—clean house like the Brownies did.
And when we start over, why not build a base on SPEED, ala the Rays—as the boys last night on the ESPN game kept stressing, speed not only directly results in runs but also causes all kind of problems leading indirectly to offensive production—aren't we all TIRED of watching those elephants trudge to 1st(Victor, Peralta, Shoppach, Garko, Hafner…).
Who cares what happened 30 years ago? Based upon that logic, right now Oakland fans should be going nuts about the Raiders. Based upon that logic, Bernie Kosar is a very good college prospect, not some guy eating bugs and slicing a loaf of Wonder Bread with tools used in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Even the Indians can't say they're about to break an all-time record by finishing under .500 for 17 consecutive seasons. That's quite a feat.
Nobody explained the change in type-face, though.
Maybe the typeface was due to the use of the "bullet points"?
And after reading Alan's first posting, I feel a little like that kid David after his dentist appointment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs
That video is HILARIOUS. Really funny stuff. I'm guessing everybody else had already seen it but me, that has a lot of ratings. I really liked the part where the kid is still so spaced out by the gas, he goes, "Is this real life?" Come to think of it, the exact same thing Windhorst, Pluto and Broussard say without the gas!