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Cleveland Indians hottest team in baseball, yet remain last in attendance May 19, 2013 By AJ Kaufman 6 Comments There’s a scene in Major League where Bob Uecker, portraying the radio voice of the Indians, bemoans, “In case you haven’t noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven’t, the Indians have managed to win a few here and there, and are threatening to climb out of the cellar.” Well, that was nearly 25 years ago and fictional, but today’s reality is that Cleveland has won 17 of its last 21, and currently tops the AL Central with a mark of 25-17. No one in the majors is better than the Indians in the past month (20-7). That’s great news. The bad news, however, is the Tribe somehow remain in the MLB cellar when it comes to attendance. How can this be? The fact that I wrote on this same topic almost to the day last year – when only Tampa Bay drew fewer fans than Cleveland - may be even more troubling. Though roughly 34,000 watched a walk-off win Friday night against Seattle, perfect weather and free caps weren’t enough to draw more than 36,000 Saturday and Sunday combined. What did the Indians do in those tilts? They nabbed another walk-off win on Saturday, then the Indians crushed the great Felix Hernandez Sunday behind Justin Masterson, arguably the AL’s best pitcher right now. Fun fact: The Indians have already faced eight Cy Young Award winners in 2013: Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Jake Peavy, David Price, Justin Verlander and Hernandez. They have won seven out those eight matchups. Simply astounding. This offseason, the much-maligned Indians front office finally made a legitimate attempt to improve the team through free agency. I’m not talking an Ubaldo Jimenez-like trade, but rather smart acquisitions that brought veterans Mike Aviles, Michael Bourn, Jason Giambi, Scott Kazmir, Brett Myers, Mark Reynolds, Drew Stubbs and Nick Swisher to Cleveland. In addition to being a fantastic place to watch a game due to great egress and ingress, with extremely affordable tickets, the best promo lineup anywhere, Jacobs Field boasts overall, cooler, less muggy summer weather than most Midwestern locales. The team also lowered beer and hot dog prices to $4 and $3 respectively. What other professional stadium in any sport offers that? I have visited 28 of the 30 current Major League Baseball stadia, and few top The Jake when all angles are considered. I say that as a baseball fan, not an Indians fan. As for the putative “economic” angle, these are the same people who spend insane amounts of money to watch terrible football every fall and show up in decent numbers for putrid basketball in the winter. Irrespective of season length, those sports charge up to 10 times the price for a ticket, and the atmosphere isn’t half as fan-friendly as baseball. I understand fans’ lack of willingness to get on board to some degree. A decent recap of Cleveland’s decade of “rebuilding” can be read here and the team suffered a horrific collapse last August. However, in addition to all the benefits of attending games at Jacobs (now Progressive) Field, fans should also realize the team has potential and often exceeds preseason aspirations at any point without warning. Cleveland hosts the rival Detroit Tigers — heavy favorites to repeat as AL Central champs — Tuesday and Wednesday nights before hitting the road. The temperature should be pleasant at first pitch each evening so you’d expect The Jake to be full to watch the best hitter on the planet right now — but don’t count on it.
We tackle four or more topics we haven't yet touched on today... the worst HR call ever in MLB?, Lying, Belichick and Tebow and more.
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Daisuke Matsuzaka might have actually done it this time. It's easy to take Monday's Jacobs Field outing and jump to the conclusion that eight innings of giving up just four singles -- leading the Red Sox to a 4-1 win over
was," said Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell when asked if he believed the Red Sox' 6-4 win over the Indians at Jacobs Field was the beginning of Lester's current run toward excellence. "I believe that was the game he went through the first
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region of Francona’s upbringing in Western Pennsylvania that Tito Francona regularly made the two-hour trip to Jacobs Field when the Red Sox visited there. In other words, there are a number of factors that could make the Indians job
DeBoer responded: “Comical.” ♦ Indians closer Chris Perez is not happy with the fans — or lack thereof — at Jacobs Field , and he let out his anger after being booed by a sparse crowd Thursday for allowing two Mariners to reach base before
batting .238 this season with San Diego. That low average may in part be due to spacious PetCo Park: Ludwick bats 40 points better on the road than at home. Ludwick batted .247 for the Indians, hitting slightly better (.252) at Jacobs Field .
———————– * – Crawford has a .202 career average at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, including 8-for-50 (.160) with zero extra-base hits over the last
Pete joined the show to discuss Tebow's signing with the Patriots. He said that Tim Tebow cant play and that he has trouble learning NFL playbooks.
On this episode of the It Is What It Is Cast, Chris Price talks with the Boston Herald's Jeff P Howe about the Patriots offseason, Rob Gronkowski's back surgery, Danny Amendola replacing Wes Welker, and how this seasons team will stack up against last seasons.
In the latest edition of the It Is What It Is Cast, Chris Price talks with Will Carroll. Injury expert and lead writer for Sports Medicine, Bleacher Report. They talk about the injury to Rob Gronkowski and what his back surgery could mean for his season.
Jeff joined the show to discuss the rumors of Doc heading to the Clippers. Jeff said that he will not discuss his future but that his brother would be a great candidate anywhere.
Stephen A. joined the show to discuss the status of trade negotiations between the Clippers and the Celtics. Stephen said that it is a 50-50 proposition that Doc ends up in Los Angeles.
Grande and Max take more calls on the Celtics and discuss what lies ahead for Doc Rivers with Steve Bulpett.
John Farrell postgame press conference
Joe & Dave talked to the Sox outfielder, who pounded the ball out of the park to win the second game of the doubleheader against the Rays.
John Farrell postgame press conference
Pierre McGuire joins Mut and Merloni after a Bruins win and discusses the play of Rask and the defense, the Hossa injury, and Jagr.
Tony Amonte calls out Marian Hossa for missing Game 3 and recaps the Bruins win.
Barry joined the show to discuss the Bruins 2-0 win over the Blackhawks in game three. Barry continues to be impressed by the play of Bergeron.
Barry joined the show to discuss the Bruins 2-0 win over the Blackhawks in game three. Barry continues to be impressed by the play of Bergeron.
Jeff joined the show to discuss the rumors of Doc heading to the Clippers. Jeff said that he will not discuss his future but that his brother would be a great candidate anywhere.
The guys opened the show discussing the Bruins' dominating Game 3 win over the Blackhawks. Gerry thinks the series is over.
Pierre McGuire joins Mut and Merloni after a Bruins win and discusses the play of Rask and the defense, the Hossa injury, and Jagr.
Tony Amonte calls out Marian Hossa for missing Game 3 and recaps the Bruins win.
Andy Brickley joins Mut and Merloni in studio to take phone calls from the listeners and to preview Game 3 of the Stanley Cup.
Salk and Holley break down a big Bruins win over the Blackhawks in game 3 at the garden.
We talk all Bruins, all the time with the man himself, Jack Edwards from NESN gets us ready for game three and beyond.
Four guys, four topics we haven't yet touched upon today. TO visits Ocho, Bob Costas has enough smarm for us all, stupid beauty pageant contestants and more.
Mikey gets a surprise call from Bernie Carbo, they talk about old time baseball and Bernie's new book.
Mikey talks with Tom and Luke about their new movie, Plimpton! and finds out what it was like to try to encapsulate everything Plimpton accomplished during his life.
Today on the Daily Planet, the Red Sox and Yankees face off in the Bronx, Claude Julien doesn't want players wasting energy, and Dwight Howard and free agency.
You ask, we answer. Today featuring NESN's Jack Edwards.
The new way we end the show. You ask, we answer.
You ask, we answer... anything!
Stephen A. joined the show to discuss the status of trade negotiations between the Clippers and the Celtics. Stephen said that it is a 50-50 proposition that Doc ends up in Los Angeles.
More from this showShawn joined the show to discuss the Bruins' OT win in Chicago. Shawn said that there was a heated discussion during the first intermission Saturday night in Chicago after the team's poor first period.
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