A week ago, Corey and I were faced with a tough call: given the Browns' bye in Week 4, should we write our weekly "Born and Raised on the Cleveland Browns"? Last season, the Browns' bye was in Week 8, basically allowing us to write a first-half awards post. But this time around, there just aren't many accolades to hand out after only three games of play. So, there we were, minding our own business, when we were simultaneously struck with a genius idea: Born and Raised on the Cleveland Indians! It was going to be the last day of the baseball regular season! The Indians were going to be setting their playoff rotation! There was going to be dancing in the streets! It would be lunacy not to do it!

Never has a great plan backfired on me quite like this before.

As we all know, this past week for the Tribe ranks among the most excruciating and horrible weeks in Cleveland sports history. More momentous chokes like The Drive, Red Right 88, etc., only take a single game into account. This past week, though, the Indians managed to lose six games by, in total, seven runs. Pardon me while I jump off the Detroit-Superior Bridge.

In the spirit of the true, pathetic, rationalizing Cleveland sports fan, however, I will attempt to remain positive. Just bear with me on this one as I present the Top Five Reasons Not To Be Discouraged About The 2005 Indians:

5. The Indians would have won the NL something-or-other. In fact, the Indians' 93 wins would have won the AL Central and/or Wild Card in every year dating back to 1829, or something like that.
4. It is reasonable to expect this team might actually be even better next year, by essentially fixing the few [gaping] holes in the lineup (three holes in particular come to mind). Ryan Garko, anyone?
3. The White Sox are due for a horrible collapse, and I'm going to enjoy it. Teams don't consistently outproduce their expected winning percentage by 12 wins. This is going to be good, heh.
2. The Indians were the best team in the majors by a reasonable margin. How comforting it is to be reminded of this now, I don't know. But Baseball Prospectus's Adjusted Standings Report shows the Indians' true level of play as that of a .602 team--good enough for 98 wins, best in the majors. The bad luck of the Tribe and ridiculously good luck of the aforementioned White Sox are what contributed to the Indians' tragic end.
1. Think of it this way: this was our 1994. Of course, the circumstances are a little different this time around, but essentially we can think of the '94 Indians as a young team battling for a playoff spot. We all know that the '95 Tribe went on to completely own the AL, and the only differences were the additions of Orel Hershisher and Julian Tavarez and the young players having an extra season of experience. The fact that we can reasonably expect Grady Sizemore and Jhonny Awesomestix, among others, to improve next season is truly exciting.

And now, your regular items.

Play of the Week

Alex says: Ronnie Belliard's diving stop on a ground-ball up the middle and no-look flip to Peralta for the force at second base on Wednesday. Simply amazing. Once again this season, Belliard has had a groundswell of support from the Cleveland media for the Gold Glove. However, this time around, Ronnie doesn't just have the highlight reel--he has the stats to back it up. He knocked his Defensive Runs Above Replacement from 18 in 2005, to a whopping 38 this season. A lot of that, I suspect, is due to a huge improvement in the Indians' pitching staff; but nonetheless, it's impressive. And Belliard is nothing but deserving of a Gold Glove.

Corey says: First of all, I have to agree with Alex--that Belliard's blind flip and Peralta's barehanded grab of said flip was quite possibly the finest-looking play of the season, let alone the week. But I'll go in a different direction, since, if anything remained solid for the Tribe this week, it was the pitching. Thus, my co-Plays of the Week are the nine strikeouts recorded by C.C. Sabathia in his outing Thursday against the Devil Rays. It was the lone victory of the week and perhaps the finest pitching performance of C.C.'s career. His line of 8 IP, 104 pitches, 0 ER, 5 hits (for 6 total bases), 2 walks and 9 K's closely mirrors Kevin Millwood's line from the following night (7 IP, 1 ER, 0 walks, 9 K's). You certainly can't accuse these two pitchers of contributing in any way, shape or form to the team's choke-job.

Player of the Week

Alex says: He was a master in the field, and a master at the dish; once again I go with Ronnie Belliard. Over the week, he hit .364/.462/.682 to lead the team in just about every hitting category imaginable. Of course, the Indians' bats slept furiously throughout the week, so a pitcher is probably more deserving of this award. But the only non-Elarton starter to pitch twice this week was Jake Westbrook, and he was merely good--nothing special.

Corey says: Ronnie wasn't the only Indian to do well at the plate this week, although he was close. Jhonny Peralta hit an impressive .333/.407/.583, and even though it barely made a difference in the run-scoring department, he deserves some credit. This week Jhonny hit his 24th and final homer to finally edge Woodie Held for the franchise shortstop record, and also tie him for second in the major leagues by a shortstop in 2005. Incidentally, Jhonny led the majors in slugging percentage by a shortstop, with a .520 mark.

Quote of the Week

Alex says:

"...We're not using the 1990s as the measuring stick. That would be unfair. That was an aberrational occurrence that probably won't happen again. It had never happened before in the history of the game anywhere. We should hardly hold ourselves to that same standard when the reality is the factors that brought the '90s together are more than likely a onetime occurrence not to repeat themselves." --Paul Dolan, Indians President

Corey and I have touched on it before, but Dolan is more qualified to talk about the factors going into the Indians' popularity in the 1990's than I could ever be. One should almost feel sympathy for the current Indians front office--always being compared to the success of the mid-90s teams. The comparison may be apt in terms of on-the-field ability, but the fans' interest in those teams likely peaked for a number of circumstances that will never happen again (unless, of course, the Browns move away again and the Indians for some reason build another stadium and the Cleveland economy takes another huge but all-too-temporary upswing).

Corey says:

"If you don't tie your shoelaces the right way and you trip on them going into second base, then you make sure to tie them the right way the next time" --Coco Crisp.

What a master of metaphors, that Coco. It's probably what makes him such a successful rap artist. In short, what Coco is trying to say is that this type of collapse isn't going to happen again because from now on the Indians will make sure to tie their shoes, or something. I would tend to agree, in that this type of collapse isn't going to hapen again, but my rationale would have nothing to do with the tired cliché of "learning from your mistakes", which implies that the Indians somehow weren't ready to make the playoffs this year (which is ridiculous).

Ryan Pontbriand Honorary "Other Play of the Week" of the Week

Alex says: What did you expect, special teams? During the Indians' 6-0 dismantling of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Thursday, I (and the rest of America) wrongly assumed I had seen the turning point for the Indians, who would then kick the White Sox' lowly ass. A lot of that feeling came from seeing The Pronk hit a laser into the centerfield picnic pavilion off Casey Fossum, a.k.a. Squirrelly Guy. For a minute, Hafner was back. And then, he wasn't. What a shame.

Corey says: How about another fine defensive play by Ronnie Belliard, the leaping catch he made on a scorching Timo Perez line drive in Saturday's ballgame which led to a 4-6 double play. Once again, Ronnie played very well throughout the Indians' losing stretch. I have to say he really surprised me this year by significantly improving upon his surprising (but still overrated) 2004 campaign, to the tune of 2 whole points of WARP (7.5 vs. 5.5; this despite appearing in fewer games).

Obscure Indian of the Week

Alex says: Franklin "Frankline" Gutierrez, who posted an amazing 1.000 OBP this week! This was after drawing a walk from Neal Cotts in the 11th inning on Friday, thereby boosting his career OBP from .000 to .500. In case you're confused, Gutierrez received his nickname after I misspelled his name in a Mistake by the Lake Sporting Times poll.

Corey says: I'm choosing the 2006 American League Rookie of the Year, Jeremy Sowers, although his status as "obscure" is something of a technicality (his career hasn't, um, started yet). Sowers, one of the best prospects in baseball, is ready to step into the rotation next spring, and, barring injury, is going to make Indians fans quickly forget about whatever starting pitchers the team doesn't re-sign, whether that's Millwood, Elarton, or both. Just one more reason to keep a positive attitude.

Fashion of the Week

Alex says: It's definitely not the weekend vested jerseys, which I detest. I would have to say it is definitely a big drum, if that can be considered fashion. Seriously, John Adams deserves major props for his dedication and ass-kickingness. And I mean more than just a measly article in the Akron Beacon Journal. How about some free tickets for the man's drum, eh, Indians?

Corey says: Alex's "Fashion of the Week" selections have gotten more and more detached over the last few weeks, to the point where he's now naming musical instruments and questioning the very purpose of the category as a whole. Myself, I've always enjoyed the emphasis on cool Browns jerseys I see and/or think people should wear, but as it stands, we are thinking of disbanding this item, perhaps in favor of something else, provided that we can think of something else. Anyway, my choice this week is the #24 SIZEMORE, which I predict will become the best-selling Indians jersey over the next few seasons. Grady possesses all the essential qualities for becoming insanely popular in Cleveland: he's white, he's a gamer, and apparently, he's attractive (though this came as news to me; I always thought he had a little bit of a duck-face). Please bear in mind, I bought my own Sizemore jersey when Grady was still in the minors; I'm cool like that. Or something.

Idiot of the Week

Alex says: I name everyone who had an official at-bat for the Indians this week. Except for Ronnie Belliard, because that would make me hypocritical. I don't have the patience to expound on why I hate Aaron Boone, Casey Blake, and Ben Broussard right now. Sorry. Try me again in about six weeks.

Corey says: My co-Idiots of the Week are unquestionably Hawk Harrelson and Darrin Jackson, the TV announcers for the White Sox. Being forced to listen to their dreck (because I live in Chicago) is nearly as bad as watching the Indians piss away a 90% chance at a playoff spot. Not only are they annoying in tone, their self-admitted White Sox bias is sickening beyond compare. But the worst quality these two announcers share is, in my opinion, ignorance--of baseball, yes, but also of other things. I can't recall the exact quote, but during one of the games, the cameras showed John Adams beating his drum, and Jackson said something like "It seems like every time we come to Jacobs Field, there's at least one fan who brings a giant drum to the ballpark". And this guy has been to Jacobs Field, what, 70 times?

Number of the Week

Alex says: 2.62, Kevin Millwood's ERA for the season, which led the American League. This number includes Kevin's masterful 7 innings on Friday against the Sox, when he allowed just a run, striking out 9--one of the best starts for the Indians this season. That the hitters decided to nap through the game shouldn't reflect upon Millwood. He was brilliant, as he was for just about the entire season. If the Indians had managed to score some runs for him here and there, he would've been a landslide Cy Young winner.

Corey says: My Number of the Week is actually a set of numbers, namely .229/.301/.374--that's what the Indians hit over their final 7 games--and .246/.283/.348--that's what the Indians' opponents combined to hit over the final 7 games. Now, the collapse of the Indians over these last 7 days is largely the fault of the offense, which, as you can see, performed considerably worse than the season's average of .272/.335/.454. But consider the fact that the Tribe pitching staff, in those 7 games, held the Royals, Devil Rays, and White Sox to a worse combined batting line than the one the offense put up, and you begin to realize that pure, horrible luck had a lot to do with losing 6 of those games. Basically, the Indians played well enough to win at least 3 or 4 of those games and therefore make the playoffs. Knowing that makes this whole thing all the more frustrating.

Is it time for LeBron season yet?

Next week: Mercifully, the Browns return to action against the highly-esteemed Chicago Bears. No worries though, as not only will the Browns be winning by at least 40 points, Corey and I will be reporting live from deep within Cleveland Browns Stadium, including a visit in the booth with our new best friends, Jim Donovan and Doug Dieken! Hang on, Cleveland, we're comin' home.

P.S.: We will be bringing you plenty more Indians "season-wrap" coverage over the next week or two, including our yearly awards and some actual analysis, complete with graphs and stuff.