Who can it be now? Who can QB now?

The Browns have a ton of holes and a ton of questions heading into the 2007 NFL season but the one in the front of every one's minds is "Who's gonna be QB1?"

Charlie? Brady? DA? It sure as hell ain't gonna be Ken Dorsey. Will they trade for an established veteran? The recently cut Kelly Holcomb need not apply.

I hope to break down the pros and cons of all three in the coming week and give my $0.02 on who it's gonna be. Enjoy the Memorial Day holiday.

No Excuse... The Real Test Awaits

You can't lose 2 of 3 to the Royals. You can't. I don't care that Jeremy Sowers actually pitched well. I don't care that the Indians scored 10 runs. I don't care that Jason Michaels continues to shine in a platoon role and I don't care that Ryan Garko is knocking the crap out of the ball. You can't lose 2 of 3 to the Royals.

Last year the Indians were awful in the Central Division. Losing record. Versus every team. Bad Sox, check. Tigers, check. Twinkies, check. Worst team in baseball, the Kansas City Royals, check. They are 10-4 as of this morning in the Central Division this year. Better. You still can't lose 2 of 3 to the Royals. Unacceptable.

Yet they still remain 1/2 game behind Detroit for first place int he AL Central. The real test begins tonight. Three games at Detroit. Three games at Boston. Followed by four games at The Jake against Detroit. That's ten games against arguably the two best teams in the American League.

Normally a 6-4 record in those 10 games would be great. Not after you lose 2 of 3 to the Royals. I want 7-3. The Tribe needs 7-3. They need to make a statement. They made one early on after getting swept by the Yankees. That was Crossroads #1. Now they need one to redeem themselves after the Kansas City showing. Crossroads #2.

Grady needs to stay hot. Pronk need to heat up. Dellucci needs to actually produce. Cabrera, Mastny and Koplove need to define themselves. The defense needs to remain steady. The starters need to go deep into the games. And the collective bullpen unit needs to get their heads out of their asses.

It's go time.

Eat a fat (bleep), Hargrove!

Thanks again to clutching hitting by Casey Blake and Josh Barfield and an appearance by "Good" Joe Borowski, the Indians took Game #1 of the Snow Make-Up games against the Seattle Mariners, 5-2 at The Jake. C. C. Sabathia pitched five, trouble plagued innings, but managed only to give up one run despite having multiple runners on base in almost every inning. Tom Mastny and Rafael Betancourt combined to contribute 3 innings of scoreless baseball to give the Indians time to take the lead on Blake's solo home run in the 6th and Barfield's two run double and Grady Sizemore's sacrifice fly in the 7th.

A solid effort all around as Trot Nixon and Jhonny Peralta contributed 2 hits each, Victor Maritnez contributed yet another RBI single with a runner in scoring position and aforementioned pitching effort by the staff. Joe Borowski inherited a bases loaded, no out situation created by Roberto Hernandez and held the Mariners to one run on no hits after he came into the game. So as long a the Indians aren't up by 3 or more, Joe is good to go.

The Indians improved to 17-4 at home as next up is the start of a three game series against the Royals in Kansas City.

Tribe Takes 2 of 3 From Reds

Another strong outing from Paul Byrd backed up by superb bullpen support from Aaron Fultz, Rafael Betancourt and Joe Borowski keyed a 5-3 win for the Indians as the took yet another series, 2-1, this time against their interleague "rival" Cincinnati Reds.

Jhonny Peratla and Josh Barfield continue to heat up as both delivered clutch hits and it was an overall team effort to secure the series win. Fultz and Betancourt worked out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the eighth inning by giving up only one run.

Peralta, Sizemore and Garko led Friday night's barrage as Sizemore continues to be hot. As Clif Lee was solid yet unspectacular. Hafner seemed to get on track a bit but I do still wonder when he will "explode" this year and go on a tear of 2006 Pronk-like proportions.

The only major causes for concern are young Jeremy Sowers whose ERA swell to 7.13 for the campaign after his 7 run, 6 inning performance on Saturday, and Fernando Carbera who gave up another 3 runs (1 earned) in 1/3 of an inning in the same game. Sowers is going to make the Fausto Carmona decision an easy one in a few weeks when Jake Westbrook is slated to come of the DL. Jeremy Sowers will be headed to Buffalo if he doesn't start to get in gear.

Andy Marte was activated off of the DL and Franklin Gutierrez was optioned to AAA Buffalo. But in a smart move it was announce he will split time at 3B with Casey Blake who has been hot since moving back to third base and into the #2 hole in the batting order. Marte will start against lefties with Blake moving to RF allowing Ryan Garko (with a sprinkling of Pronk and Vic) to man 1B full-time. If it ain't broke don't fix it. And for a change Eric Wedge has decided to follow that philosophy.

Tomorrow: Make up game #1 of the Snow Series from April against the Mariners before heading off to Kansas City for the start of a 9 game road trip against the Royals, Tiger and Red Sox. A true test of just how good the Indians are.

Indians Respond, Sweep Twins

After the bad taste that Joe Borowski left in every one's mouths after the Indians' recent 10 game road trip, nothing could be sweeter than a bounce back sweep of the rival Minnesota Twins at Jacobs Field.

After two power packed wins Tuesday and Wednesday, Fausto Carmona notched his first career shutout as he out dueled Johan Santana to secure the sweep with a 2-0 victory today.

Not a lot of negatives for the series other than Fernando Cabrera's continuing downward spiral and Travis Hafner's continued recent funk.

The positives were, but not limited to:

• Grady Sizemore breaking out of his May haze and looking like the MVP candidate many were calling him. Including upping his stolen bases to 14 (in 14 attempts!).


• Casey Blake starting to produce, and in the 2 hole, none-the-less.


• Fausto Carmona upping his record to 5-0 despite his impending demotion back to Buffalo.


• C. C. Sabathia bouncing back to re-establish himself as a legit Cy Young candidate.


• Trot Nixon and Victor Martinez continuing to deliver in the clutch.


• Jason Michaels contributing nicely in his rare, platoon appearances in LF.


• Roberto Hernandez working out of a jam someone else created and looking good doing it.

But make that sweep #2 of the Twins this year. 5-0 Tribe. Ever since Ron Gardenhire took over for Tom Kelly I have disliked the Twins. He is so whiny and animated it's just old. Torii Hunter, despite being an amazing defensive center fielder, is an uppity SOB and they have a collection of hitters who just aren't real good, just kind lucky. Slap, dink and dunk guy that drive you nuts. If it weren't for Joe Mauer replacing A. J. Pierzynski it would be worse. Mauer, class act. Pierzynski, douche bag.

Battle of Ohio this weekend as the Cincinnati Reds are in town for 3.

Peace.

At A Crossroad

It's only May 14th but the Indians are at a crossroads. Where do they want to go this season? Do they want to tease us with hanging around all year or do they want to be a serious contender in the American League and for the World Series.

They got off to a better start this year instead of their normal April swoon and they still are only 1 1/2 games behind Detroit for first place in the Central Division. Paul Byrd and Fausto Carmona have been wonderful surprises. Casey Blake and Josh Barfield actually have started hitting the ball and overall the defense hasn't been as glaringly bad as 2006. It does look like the verteran influences they brought in have been a positive and calming influence on the team.

But they still are missing something that the great teams have. A killer instinct. Yesterday's game was a prime example. Two runners left on in the 1st, base left loaded in the 2nd, two runners left on in the 5th and two runners left on in the 9th. The pitching (both starting and relief) have had the habit of giving up runs the inning immediately after the Tribe takes or adds on to the league. Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner haven't been the dominating players they were last year. Jeremy Sowers looks completely lost on the mound. Cliff Lee has been up and down after coming off an injury. Jake Westbrook looked just as lost as Sowers before he went on the DL. Joe Borowski is 12 of 14 in save opportunities but he has a 9.00 ERA. Fernando Cabrera has given up walk off homers in his past two appearances after looking dominant to start. There is a lot wrong with this team.

But like I said they are still only 1 1/2 games out of first place. They've managed to hang in their despite their shortcomings. There's nothing wrong with kicking your opponent while they are down. If anything they'd have 3-4 more wins out of it.

I hope they adopt that philosophy against the hated Twins this week at The Jake.