Here’s what happened today:
Inadequinn got benched. D.A. will start on Sunday.
“Red” aka Delonte West continues to be M.I.A. from practice.
Eric Wedge was fired.
It’s early (I’m writing this at about 6:00pm Cleveland time) but the prevailing attitude I’ve been hearing is that this is an “Only in Cleveland” day. The thinking is that cosmically bad things happen in Northeast Ohio, Cleveland is cursed, and it’s impossible for anything positive to occur here.
Certain things in life can be controlled; others can’t. Let’s start there. Not a single individual reading this blog could have helped the Indians begin the season with a winning record in April, enabled Quinn to improve his third down conversion rate, or gotten Delonte to show up at practice (I don’t think - unless Jamario Moon accepted Holland’s Friend Request).
In this case, we’re all merely impartial observers who care deeply about the Cleveland sports triumvirate but can’t get on the floor or on the field, and aren’t even capable of navigating the front offices because we haven’t dedicated our lives to scoring one of those positions (although maybe we should have).
In other words, it’s out of our hands.
Having said that, here’s my take on 9/30/09 - the day of tumult.
The Browns
In the relatively small amount of time we’ve been able to watch Quinn and Anderson this season, both have sucked. I’m beginning to think this is more of a product of Brian Daboll’s offensive scheme than anything else, but it’s hard for us to imagine that playing D.A. instead of Quinn will result in an outcome far worse - or even just regular worse - than what we’ve seen so far.
Yes, it’s somewhat of a desperation move on the part of Alpha Dog, but he already went for the Hail Mary when he pulled Inadequinn at the start of the second half. Plus, going to D.A. now is going to result in one of two things - success of some kind or more failure, in which case Mangini will have created what I believe he’s been trying to create ever since he traded the 5th pick in the draft…and that is a pathway to naming Brett Ratliff his starting QB.
The Cavs
Delonte’s continued status as a “no show” is clearly the most troubling of any of today’s developments. I understand that we’re reaching a point of no return with Red - there’s a lot at stake this season, and the team needs him…but the team needs him. Is anyone comfortable with a 2 guard rotation that consists of Anthony Parker and a hodgepodge of combo guards (Boobie Gibson and Coby Karl), an unproven rookie (Danny Green), and a D-League All-Star (Jawad Williams)?
That’s what I thought. As a result, unfortunately, the Cavs are going to have to continue to manage the Delonte situation with care because, really, he holds all of the cards at this point.
A trade isn’t going to happen - at least not one where you can get equal value - and cutting Delonte would be unconscionable for basketball and ethical reasons.
The Indians
Would anyone have been happy if Wedgie had started the 2010 season as the Indians manager?
I didn’t think so.
In other news, Justin Masterson struck out 12 and walked 1 in 9 innings tonight, without giving up a HR. Further, Fausto Carmona had 5 K’s and 2 BB’s in 7 innings, also without giving up a HR. At one point, Fausto had thrown 20 of 26 first pitch strikes.
I leave you with this quote from Don Draper in Mad Men, which incidentally is the lead quote in my novel:
“…and let’s also say that change is neither good or bad; it simply is. It can be greeted with terror or joy. A tantrum that says, ‘I want it the way it was’ or a dance that says, ‘look, it’s something new.’”
Plus, did anyone really say “Only in Cleveland” the day the Cavs won the lottery in 2003?
