YES! 3-2 series lead for Cleveland!

Simply put: LeBron James was unstoppable, and led the Cavs to victory in the biggest game that they have ever played in. He scored 48 points, including the game winner that broke a 107-107 tie with 3 seconds to go to give Cleveland a 109-107 win. Actually, to put it into perspective, LeBron scored 29 of the Cavs last 30 points. He more or less won the game by himself. Until tonight, the farthest the Cavaliers have ever come to the finals was winning 2 game in the conference NBA finals, but that has now changed, as the Cavs now have an excellent chance to win the Eastern Conference as they are now up 3 games to 2. This simply an awesome game, despite the fact that the Cavs blew several chances to win it earlier in the game. They should have won in regulation, and in the first OT but missed free throws and bad possessions late in each of those periods allowed Detroit to tie it each time. But enough bitching, the Cavs won, and I am ecstatic. Game 6 will be in Cleveland on Saturday night.

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In Tribe news, the Indians beat the Tigers 11-5 on the strength of several big innings. Hafner had 4 RBIs including a 2 run HR, Martinez also had a 2 run HR, and Sizemore had a 2run triple. Cleveland is now 33-19, and 3.d games ahead of Detroit for first place.

Series Tied, 2-2

After losing two close games in Detroit, the Cavs needed to win both games in Cleveland to get back into the series, and that's just what they did, as Cleveland has tied Detroit 2 games to 2 in he Eastern Conference finals. The Cavs won tonight 91-87 on the strength of a solid game by LeBron, and a great performance off the bench by rookie Daniel Gibson, who scored 21 points. James had 25 points to lead the team, as well as 11 assists and 7 rebounds. Gooden had good game as well, scoring 19 and grabbing 8 boards, while Z scored 9 and grabbed 7 boards. Game 5 of the series will be on Thursday in Auburn Hills.

Cleveland vs Detroit

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Basketball

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Monday (5-21): Pistons 79 - Cavaliers 76. The Cavs lose game one and Detroit takes a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

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Thursday (5-24): Pistons 79 - Cavaliers 76. The Cavs blow a late opportunity to take the lead and Detroit takes a 2-0 lead in the series.

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Sunday (5-27): Cavaliers 88 - Pistons 82. Home sweet home for the Cavs, who come through for a big win, and cut the deficit in the series to 2-1.

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Tuesday (5-29): Cavaliers 91 - Pistons 87. The Cavs win again at home, and the series is tied 2-2

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Thursday (5-31): Cavaliers 109 - Pistons 107 (2OT). LeBron takes the game over late, and the Cavs win in Auburn Hills and now have a 3-2 series lead

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Saturday (6-2): Cavaliers 98 - Pistons 82. The Cavs blow the Pistons away in the 4th quarter, and clinch the Eastern Conference final.

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Baseball

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Friday (5-25): Indians 7 - Tigers 4. WP- Paul Byrd, SV- Joe Borrowski. The Indians take game one on the strength of early homers and late insurance runs. The Indians improve their record to 29-17 and retake 1st place by 1/2 game over Detroit.

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Saturday (5-26): Indians 6 - Tigers 3. WP- CC Sabathia, SV- Joe Borrowski. The Indians come from behind to tie the game in the 7th, and then take the lead for good in the 8th on a Dellucci 2 run homer. The record goes to 30-17, and the lead for first is now 1.5 games.

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Sunday (5-27): Indians 5 - Tigers 3. WP- Fausto Carmona, SV- Joe Borrowski. The Tribe scores 4 in the first, including a 3 run homer by Ryan Garko, which ended up providing the winning run. The Indians have swept Detroit and are now 31-17, with a 2.5 lead for first place in the central division.

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Thursday (5-31): Indians 11 - Tigers 5. WP CC Sabathia. The Indians use some big innings as well as the long ball to blow by Detroit and take game 1 of the 4 game series. The Tribe is 33-19, 3.5 games ahead of the Tigers for first place.

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Friday (6-1): Indians 12 - Tigers 11. WP- Roberto Hernandez. The Indians entered the 9th inning trailing 11-7, but rally to score 5 runs and win in walk off fashion. Victor Martinez had 2 home runs in the game. The Tribe is now 34-19, 4.5 game ahead of the Tigers for first place.

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Saturday (6-2): Tigers 9 - Indians 5. LP- Cliff Lee. I was at this game, the Indians lost but the Cavs game made me forget all about any feelings of frustration. The Indians are now 34-20 and 3.5 games ahead of the Tigers for first place.

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Sunday (6-3): Tigers 9 - Indians 2. LP- Jeremy Sowers. Sowers continues to struggle as the Indians lose for only the 6th time at home all year. The Indians are now 34-21, and 2.5 games ahead of the Tigers for first place.

Big Ten Tournament Champions!

The baseball Buckeyes have come from out of nowhere to win the Big Ten Tournament Championship. The #6 seed (the lowest seed) Buckeyes went undefeated in the double elimination tourney. They beat Penn State, Michigan, and then Minnesota twice, once on Saturday, and again today 4-2 in the championship game.

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That means that for 2006-2007 Ohio State sports won the following Big Ten titles:

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football

men's basketball (reg season and tourney)

women's basketball (reg season)

baseball (tourney)

softball (reg season and tourney)

men's tennis

men's gymnastics

field hockey (reg season)

Indians stay hot, Cavs blow game 1

Tonight the Indians played the first game of a series that will take 4 months to complete. Because of the snow out on opening weekend, the 4 game series with Seattle has been rescheduled for date including today, June 11th, August 27, and September 26. Tonight CC Sabathia struggled, but managed to only give up 1 run, while the offense was also struggling early. But Casey Blake hit a solo HR in the 6th and Josh Barfield hit a 2 run double in the 7th as the Indians went on to win 5-2. Joe Borrowski earned his 14th save of the year when he came on to shut down the Mariners in the 9th in a bases loaded situation with no outs. The first Place Indians are now 27-15 on the year.
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Tonight in Auburn Hills the Cavs played the Detroit Pistons in game one of the Eastern Conference finals. The Cavaliers controlled the game early and had a halftime lead, but let the Pistons back into the game in the 3rd quarter. Late in the 4th the Cavs had a chance to take the lead but Donyell Marshall's 3 pointer came up short and the Pistons won 79-76. Detroit leads the series 1-0. LeBron only had 10 points, but the Cavs still managed to almost win, and should have won. Maybe that's a good omen.

Battle of Ohio

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This weekend was the first series of the 2007 version of the annual inter league face off that has become known as "The Battle of Ohio" between the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians.

The first 3 games were played at Jacobs Field, and this is how they went:

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Friday night:

The Indians put up a 6 run 2nd inning, and go on to beat the Reds 9-4, with Cliff Lee getting the W.

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Saturday night:

I was at this game with the OSU athletic band, and had a pretty good time, despite the result. Tribe starter Jeremy Sowers further demonstrated why he deserves a trip to Buffalo as soon as Westbrook comes of the DL by giving up 2 three run homers and allowing 7 runs as the Reds won 10-5.

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Sunday:

The Indians scored4 in the 4th including a Peralta bomb and a Barfield 2 run double, as well as erased the Reds Ryan Freel from the bases twice on a pick off and a caught stealing as the Indians went on to win 5-3. The last out of the game was recorder when Travis Hafner made a great diving catch at first base to rob the Reds of a double that would have allowed the tying run to come to the plate. Paul Byrd got the W and Borrowski earned his 13th save.

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The Indians won the series 2 games to 1 and now have a record of 26-15, and are in first place in the AL central. The Reds are 17-27, and in last place in the NL central. The second half of the Battle of Ohio will be played in Cincinnati on June 8-10.

The Indians now hold a 28-20 record all time against the Reds.

The Cavaliers are heading to the Eastern Conference finals!

Tonight the Cavs had a chance to close out their series with New Jersey in game 6 of the eastern Conference semifinals at the Meadowlands, and that's just what they did. The Cavs dominated the Nets in the first quarter by outscoring them 32-15, and went on to have a 53-38 halftime lead. In the 3rd quarter, the Cavs fell apart and let New Jersey back into the game, and when the 4th quarter started they lead the Nets 61-60. However, they would turn their game on again in the 4th, as they outscored New Jersey 27-12 and won the game 88-72. LeBron James scored 23 points with 8 rebounds and 8 assists, but the story of the game for the Cavs was Donyell Marshall. Today was Marshall's birthday, and he celebrated that by coming off the bench and hitting 6 three pointers for 18 points, as well as 5 rebounds. Drew Gooden also had a great game, scoring 16 and grabbing 7 boards. Another Cavalier with a good game off the bench was Daniel Gibson, who hit 2 threes and a two for 8 points. Z and Wild Thing each had 6 points and Houghes had 5.

For Cleveland, this will be the 3rd trip to the Eastern Conference finals in team history. In 1976 they made it that far and lost to Boston, and in 1992 they made it that far and lost to Chicago. In 2007 the Cavs will face the Detroit Pistons to decide who goes to the NBA finals, with game 1 of that series coming on Monday night in Detroit.

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Tonight the Indians won their 4th straight game, beating the Reds 9-4 in game 1 of the Battle of Ohio. Ryan Garko had a 3 run HR in the 6 run 2nd inning for the Tribe, and Sizemore hit a 2 run homer in the next inning. The win puts Cleveland at 25-14, and in first place in the central division. Tomorrow night I will be at the Indians/Reds game with the OSU athletic band.

The Cavs sucked tonight, while the Indians are on the rise

The Cavs more or less didn't show up for game 5, and got beat by the Nets 83-72. And that score is closer than it should have been. They now hold a 3-2 lead in the series, and will play game 6 in New Jersey on Friday night.

The Indians however have awakened from their mini slump on the road by coming home. Tuesday the had two 6 run innings and beat the Twins 15-7, and tonight CC Sabathia shut down Minnesota as the Tribe won 7-1. Cleveland is now 23-14 and 1/2 game behind Detroit for the division lead.

Cleveland splits the two game in New Jersey, leads series 3-1

On Saturday the Cavaliers lost 95-87 in New Jersey in game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. At the time it cut the Cavs lead in the series to 2-1. Tonight however, the Cavaliers were victorious by a score of 87-85. I didn't get to see either of these games because on Saturday I was at Cedar Point and tonight I was working. Tonight LeBron scored 30 to lead the team, and Houghes had 19. Z had 13 points and 11 boards, Gooden had 8 points and 10 boards and Pavlovic scored 9. Cleveland holds a 3-1 advantage in the series and game 5 is on Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena.
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In Tribe news, the Indians went 2-4 on the west coast, beating LA and Oakland just once each. They are now 21-14 and in 2nd place in the central division.

Game 2: Advantage Cleveland

The Cleveland Cavaliers are undefeated in the playoffs thus far in 2007. Last night, the Cavs hosted the Nets in game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, and sent them back to New Jersey with a 0-2 deficit by beating them 102-92. In a few days, the Cavs will also head to New Jersey, to play game 3 at the Meadowlands on Saturday night. Game 2 was close the whole way through, just like game 1. And just like game 1, the Cavs, led by LeBron, dominated the last half of the 4th quarter to take a permanent lead. LeBron scored 36 points, had 12 assists and 3 steals. Drew Gooden was a rebounding machine, grabbing 14 boards as well as according 10 points. Pavlovic scored 17, Houghes had 12, and Z scored 13 and grabbed 9 rebounds. "Wild Thing" Anderson Varejao contributed by keeping 6 possessions alive with offensive rebounds (and had 9 rebounds total) and also scoring 6 points, including a nice slam dunk.

If you add the playoffs and regular season together, the Cavaliers are 56-32.

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Also last night, the Indians won again. Cliff Lee pitched a complete game, allowing 1 run on 3 hits. Victor Martinez had 2 RBI, including a solo homer (4), Casey Blake also had 2 RBI and Grady Sizemore stole his 11th base of the year. The Indians defeated the Angles in Anaheim, 5-1.

Cavs win game 1

LeBron wasn't feeling too good on Sunday due to cold symptoms, but he still managed to lead the Cavs in scoring with 21 points as the Cavaliers defeated the New Jersey Nets 81-77 in game 1 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals. The game was close the whole way, with over 15 lead changes. In the closing seconds, LeBron scored to give the Cavs a 4 point lead with 19 seconds, and then blocked Bostjan Nachbar's shot with 7 seconds left, which lead to a series of panic passes and a meaningless shot attempt by NJ that missed as time expired. One of the key moments in the game was when Jason Kidd stole the ball and had is easy lay-in attempt blocked by Sasha Pavlovic. The Cavs had 20 offensive rebounds and played great defense, which is no doubt to me the reason they won, because their shooting and passing was just plain shitty.

Larry Houghes had 17 points and Pavlovic had 15. Z and Gooden each had 14 rebounds, and 8 and 14 points respectively. Game 2 of the series is on Tuesday.

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In Indians news, the Tribe broke out of a 2 game losing streak by beating Baltimore 9-6. Trot Nixon went 5-5 with 4 RBI, CC Sabathia got the W to go 5-0 on the season, and Borrowski got his 11th save. A crucial point i the game came in the 6th when with 1 outs and the bases loaded, CC battled and fanned Millar, and then Grady Sizemore made a diving catch to rob Corey Patterson of a would be 3 RBI double to end the inning. The Indians are now 18-10, and tied for 1st place with Detroit.

Indians on a roll, sweep Toronto

The Indians are just seemingly unstoppable at the moment. Today they defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5, sweeping the three game series. It didn't look good at first, with the Jays jumping out to an early 4-0 lead. But the Indians answered the early Blue Jay onslaught with 3 runs in the third inning to cut the Toronto lead to 4-3. In the forth a fight almost broke out when Barfield was tagged out trying to score, and got into an altercation with the catcher, who also began to argue with and shove Dellucci (who had been on deck at the time, and must have heard the choice words that started the problem). Both benches cleared, but nothing happened as the umps and coaches calmed everyone down before any ejections could happen. Then, in the fifth, the Tribe added 2 runs to take the lead on an RBI single by Martinez and an RBI triple by Garko. Toronto tied it at 5 in the sixth, and the score remained tied until the eighth, when Grady Sizemore hit a ground rule RBI double that scored the go ahead run, making the score 6-5. Joe Borrowski came on in the ninth to earn his 10th save, and the victory went to Fultz. Cliff Lee started the game after coming back from an injury.

The Indians are 17-8, and lead the Tigers by 2 games for first place in the Central Division. They finished this home stand 7-1 and have won 10 out of their last 11 games. The Indians winning percentage is now .680, which is currently the best record in baseball.

Post # 50 - A Tribe win

This is my 50th post. Woot.
Anyway, I started watching the Indians game, just in time to see CC Sabathia give up 3 solo homers in the first inning. Then the Tribe blew a scoring chance in the bottom of the first, and I left for work thinking all was lost. But then I get home and see that they won 12-4. That was a surprise, but I'll take it. I guess the rain delay they had snapped CC out of it, as he went on to dominate the Jays from there on, and get his fourth win of the year (he's 4-0 with two ND's.) Hafner hit a 2 run homer in the and Peralta hit a 2 run double in the 3rd. Then Peralta hit a 3 run HR in the 5th, followed by a Martinez 2 run double in the 6th. In the 8th, Trot Nixon hit a 3 run home run to finish off the scoring for the game.
Cleveland is in 1st place with a 15-8 record.