Advice For The Cleveland Indians Draftees

The Cleveland Indians recently drafted 50 new players from Major League Baseball's Amateur Draft. These new players have a long road before their dream of playing in the Majors comes true. I talked to some Akron Aeros (AA-Cle) on what these draftees should expect.

Akron's Stellar Pitching Helps Take Two From Portland This Past Weekend

The Aeros had a successful weekend taking two out of three games from the Portland Sea Dogs (AA-Boston). Pitchers Ryan Edell and Hector Rondon pitched great over the weekend and helped Akron top Portland.

Edell & Rondon's Combined Stats From This Weekend:
IP---R---H---K---BB
9----1----5---9----4

Saturday June 13, 2009

----------------R---H---E
Sea Dogs---1----7---0
Aeros--------5---11---0

Sunday June 14, 2009

----------------R----H---E
Sea Dogs---0----2----1
Aeros--------8----9----1

Left Fielder Matt McBride was activated from the disabled list prior to Saturday's game and came out on fire! He homered twice, including a grand slam in the first inning on Sunday, off of Portland's ace Junichi Tazawa.

Here's McBride's Stats From His Career Weekend:

AB---H----2B--RBI---HR---R---K---BB
8-----4-----2------6-----2------3----2----1

The Aeros improved its record to an Eastern League best 40-21 and is currently 3.5 games ahead of Reading in first place in the Southern Division.

*Stay tuned to Talkin' Sports With Sabol, as I will be posting exclusive interviews in the next week from Aeros players, including Beau Mills, Nick Weglarz, Jared Head and Kyle Haines.

Aeros Beat Harrisburg For Best Record In The Minors

The Aeros Beat the Senators 6-0 on Military night at Canal Park. Akron starter Jeanmar Gomez pitched a stellar game. He went 7 strong innings, struke out 5 and only gave up 3 hits as the Aeros shutout the Sens.

--------------------------------R H E
Harrisburg Senators----0 3 1
Akron Aeros --------------6 6 1

Cavs Season Ends With a Magic Disappointment

Now on the shelves of bookstores everywhere is the newest copy from the never ending series "Cleveland Sports Collapses." You have all read the the previous volumes, "The Drive", "The Shot", "The Fumble", "Mesa Blows Game 7 of 1997 World Series" and "The Collapse of the 2007 ALCS." But now add one more novel to the already best selling series titled "The Choke." Actually, call it whatever you want. The Cavs just like the teams above blew another chance of winning a championship.

This current novel should have never been written. This Cleveland Cavalier team was supposed to end the series and the so-called "Cleveland Curse" but they did not. So much promise. So much anticipation. So much expectation, but once again, we fell short.

Okay, enough of talk about our teams mishaps, lets talk about the game.

From the start of the second half back in game one, I had a bad feeling about the way this series was going to turn out. The Cavs had a 23 point lead, but it was dwindling away. The way the Cavs came out of halftime, playing lackadaisical, lethargic and flat, I knew something was not right. We know how the rest of the game went. The Cavs blew its lead and the Magic won...game one goes to Orlando. But from that moment on, the Magic stole the momentum and energy away form Cleveland and never gave it back.

The Cavs blew a 16 point lead in game two but still won, thanks to LeBron's clutch three at the buzzer. But still, the feeling in my stomach was not right.

Game three and four went to the Magic, Cavs stole game five, but game six was all Orlando. The fact that the Magic beat the Cavs by 13 was not what hurt the most. What hurt the most was Orlando continued to hit 3-pointers and no one could stop Dwight Howard.

Superman's 40 pts and 14 reb Help Guide Magic to 103-90 Win.

The Magic drained 12 3's and none of the Cavaliers low post players could stop Howard's 40 points and 14 rebounds. Zydrunas Illgauskas, Anderson Varejao and Ben Wallace looked like JV players playing against an NBA All-Star. They were over worked, looked sloppy, slow, weak and worst of all, did not play DEFENSE! The Cavs need to thank Dwight Howard because he just exposed the Cavs biggest weakness for next year: No Athletic Big Man.

Howard dominated Z in Game Six.

I have been watching basketball my whole life and I have never witnessed any team shoot the three like this Orlando team. The ball movement rotated around the arc almost every offensive set and with the Cavs struggling on the rotation, almost every time there was a Magic open for a three.

This was the ongoing theme throughout the entire Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs looked foolish on defense guarding the perimeter and even trying to defend Howard on the low block. When that happens, Orlando will dominate you.

The Magic tied the NBA record for 62 3-pointers in a six-game series. It was not just one guy that kept hitting the 3's. Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, Mickael Pietrus, Anthony Johnson, Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee all contributed. That is just plain ridiculous. Once again, we need to thank the Magic for showing us another weakness to work on for next season: No Quick/Shut-Down Perimeter Defender.

Mo shot a dismal 39% in the series compared to his 47% in regular seaosn.

Mo Williams did not show up this series, well, except game five, but still no Mo = Too Much LeBron. Delonte West struggled mightily, Andy and Z never got going either. One only bright spot besides LeBron's play was the reemergence of Boobie Gibson. He hit some big 3's down the stretch, but I am still not sure where he fits on this team.

James averaged 36.6 ppg this series and shot 51%.

LeBron James could only do so much. He willed the Cavs to victory in games two and five. After scoring at least 35 points in each game this series, James finished with just 22 points in game six and was held scoreless in the second quarter (just the 2nd time that happened this postseason).

You must give credit when credit is due. Orlando was the better team and played lights out. They outplayed and out coached the Cavs. Howard stepped up when his team needed him and so did Lewis. The old adage, You live be the three, you die by the three, has yet to be applied to this team. You would think sooner or later it will catch up to them and it still might, but unfortunately, it did not happen for the Cavs. The Magic deserves to go to the NBA Finals, now let us see what they do against the Lakers.

Orlando will make its second Finals appearance (1995 vs. Rockets)

The Cavs became the third team in NBA history to win 65 games and not make it to the Finals. This loss hurts, but in the end, the better team won. It was a historic season for the Cavs and everyone in Cleveland thought a championship was on its way, but once again we will just have to wait. Even though this was an amazing regular season, no one is really going to remember it. What they will remember is how the Cavaliers got over matched and choked their way out of the playoffs.

There will be changes in the off season, most notably what to do with free agents to be Wally Szczerbiak, Anderson Varejao and Joe Smith. Ben Wallace said after game six that he is contemplating retirement, which in all reality would not be a bad thing. After all, Big Ben is 34 and is not the player he use to be.

Cavs General Manager Danny Ferry and the rest of the Cavalier front office has a lot of work to do. The questions remains who will he sign or trade to help his team next year? Let the countdown began to 2010 when LeBron is a free agent and can choose whether or not to leave Cleveland. Ferry might have won the Sporting News Executive of the Year, but now the pressure truly begins to defend his award and find the missing pieces for this team.