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I'm skeptical about this. If, indeed, Kluber was hurt, then Tito was foolish for pitching him at all. The most I would have done, was put him in the bullpen. This year, our rotation and staff was healthy. While it would hurt somewhat to have Kluber out of the rotation, we had enough arms -- Tomlin, Salazar, ... and of course a healthy Carrasco (who was great) and Bauer. The Kluber we got was disastrous -- a 12.1 ERA. Tito stuck with his big names this year, and it cost us the series IMO. I love Brantley, but no way he and Chisenhall both should have been on the roster, and I definitely don't understand Kipnis in center. Too many guys that contributed to the win streak didn't even make the cut while guys that were injured for a good part of the season and probably not ready to come back were on it. It's really weird about Brantley. As good a guy as he is and as good a player has he is, he's been like the Indians kryptonite. Consider: -- 2 years ago, when Brantley was healthy and played, we missed the playoffs. -- last year, when he was hurt and out all season, we were thrilling and played to Game 7 of a thrilling World Series. -- this season, when Brantley played at the beginning of the season, we struggled to stay above .500 and our bats often disappeared. -- after he was hurt and left mid season, we went on the tear that netted an historic 22-game winning streak, and the AL best 102 wins. -- then Brantley returns to the playoffs, can't hit and, well, ... you know the rest. Conclusion: for whatever reason, we're a better team without MB but it's hard to figure out why.

Yeah, JRam sucked, but I can't pick on him alone -- this was a total team no-show. It's much easier to highlight the guys who DID show up, like Perez, Bruce, Santana, Carrasco and the bullpen (save Miller's Game 3 losing HR pitch to Bird and the Game 4 train wreck).

I'm skeptical about this. If, indeed, Kluber was hurt, then Tito was foolish for pitching him at all. The most I would have done, was put him in the bullpen. This year, our rotation and staff was healthy. While it would hurt somewhat to have Kluber out of the rotation, we had enough arms -- Tomlin, Salazar, ... and of course a healthy Carrasco (who was great) and Bauer. The Kluber we got was disastrous -- a 12.1 ERA.

This is definitely worth checking out. Certainly Mark Souther, by his own self description, seems like an interesting, Renaissance guy. He has a bit of a different take on Porter and his subway killing. I'm not sure I can agree that, "... despite their failure, the subway plans also set the stage for a long series of efforts to use downtown to renew Cleveland’s image." It wasn't about using downtown to renew Cleveland's image, but saving downtown ... and Cleveland, period, following Porter's heinous acts. To this date, Cleveland is still trying to remake and revive downtown to counter Porter-ism... Bert Porter, in killing the subway and advancing freeways, malls and sprawl, set 'set the stage' for depopulating the city, killing downtown business and retail further exacerbating racial, ethnic and demographic tensions in greater Cleveland by separating people from people, people from jobs, retail, etc. That said, I think it's great Souther is the first (that I know of) that is undertaking a serious study of the 1950s subway fiasco and its ripple effects to the present, and for that "Believing in Cleveland" sounds like it's worth a look.

Doesn't need the help. It's still in better shape than any of the hotspots. And half the neighborhood is in Lakewood so neither side feels responsible to promote it alone. I'm just talking about Edgewater, which is entirely in Cleveland. The Lakewood areas are nice and I realize the Shoppes themselves literally sit across the street from Lakewood, but Edgewater, including the Detroit corridor (from W. 110 to W. 117), is attractive in its own right (although I realize there's some blight around Detroit).

^Drove by there this past weekend just to check it out. The Clifton Shoppes are coming along quite nicely. It will be a nice addition to such a great neighborhood (easily one of my faves)... For all its greatness, Edgewater gets very little booserism from Positively Cleveland and other groups as compared to places like Tremont, downtown and Ohio City. Wonder why that is?

Van Aken is doing its best imitation.

I would have to believe that parking lot is next. The RE in the Uptown/LI area is sizzling hot and, even though financing new-start, multi-units in Cleveland is dicey given the area's lower rent charges, you would think an ugly parking garage sitting across the street from all this development won't last long. As for ground floor retail, Centric's property is challenging on the Mayfield side because, heading east, the street slopes sharply as it dips under the RR/Rapid bridge. I wonder how they'll handle this... I'm guessing there'll be a level sidewalk-like portion that will split from the main Mayfield sidewalk at the top of the embankment.

I was by Centric this past weekend and noticed they are painting gray onto the wood on the facing Uptown. Is this just to seal it it? (hopefully with high-quality, homegrown Sherwin-Williams paint). I would assume this facing will not be the ultimate facade over the residences.

... btw, I was very fearful (and still am) of Aaron Judge. But Indians pitching has reduced him to a bailiff.

Someone went to bed early! :-D :-D Thankfully Encarncion could recover from this, and if not, the team is plenty deep with guys willing to step up! Actually, while it's true I gave up on the Tribe, I had switched over to Cavs-Pacers preseason (btw this new-look Rose/Wade led team looked pretty impressive, even without No. 23). When I switched back after the 1st quarter and saw it was 8-7 Yankees, I nearly fell out of my chair; totally missed Lindor's Slam (although later I watched it on YouTube synced up with Tom Hamilton's crazy call). This Indians club is beyond amazing; perhaps the team of destiny, who knows... We're clearly going to be hampered without Encarnacion -- Brantley just isn't there right now from his injury; his swings are weak. But we just seem to manage to find a way, even when our ace collapses, as Kluber did yesterday... I think New York is done -- stick a fork in them; we very well may end it tomorrow night in the Bronx. I see the up & down Cubs handled red hot Washington last night... Rematch anyone?

Wow, who'd a thunk Cory Kluber would get destroyed for 6 runs in 3 innings? I could tell in the dugout interview, Tito is regretting not having an earlier hook on Kluber before the roof caved in despite Kluber's pedigree. On top of that, we've likely lost Encarnacion, one of our key power hitters, for the playoffs. Bad day. Need to bounce back in NYC on Sunday. This team is more than capable.

Jefferson looks to be the odd man out. Shumpert may survive, esp after his heart-to-heart with Lue... then again, maybe not. Iman's biggest problem is that he often doesn't play within himself -- tries to do too much and hasn't improved his 3-point shooting. Overall, he's very erratic offensively, and when he plays poorly offensively, his defense often slips, too.

Tito and Antonetti (for snagging Bruce at the trade deadline), look like geniuses after last night.

Everyone is looking for someone else to pay. That's the Cleveland way, and the Ohio way. Isn't that the "Everywhere in the USA way?" I get the sense that transit is not funded fully in any state in our nation, especially when compared to Canada, Europe, Australia, etc. That's true, but there are some parts of the country that 'get it' in terms of stepping to the plate dollar-wise to build/maintain transit -- ie most old Eastern metropolises and more enlightened Sun Belt and western formerly sprawl cities like LA, Denver and Dallas. Cleveland's in a particularly bad situation. It's the only metropolis in the state with a serious rail (rapid) based transit network, but it sits in a relatively liberal/progressive corner of a very conservative state where Cleveland, unlike say Chicago, does not dominate. Worse yet are the downstate rural and ex-urban conservative types who resent Cleveland and despise transit, and jump at any chance to stick it to the City in any way they can.