Daily Archives: April 11, 2021

Shorthanded Cavaliers lose to Pelicans 116-109

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The Cleveland Cavaliers were without several key players and still were competitive in a 115-106 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

This game was always going to be an uphill battle for the Cleveland Cavaliers even if they were 100% healthy. The problem is that they weren’t and ultimately that played a factor in their loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Cleveland was without Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Larry Nance Jr. The lineup that was put together looked more like a surrender lineup than a competitive one. But credit where credit is due, the Cavaliers put up a much bigger fight than anyone could have expected.

Cleveland came out firing with a starting lineup featuring Mathew Dellavedova, Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade, Kevin Love, and Isaiah Hartenstein. The fact the Cavaliers scored 39 points with this starting five is sort of amazing. Cleveland even held a first half lead and played well in the 3rd quarter, holding a 94-90 lead heading into the 4th. The problem is that at some point they were going to run out of gas and that was during the final quarter. Cleveland was outscored 26-15 in the 4th and that lead to what seemed inevitable from the beginning, a Cavs loss.

Game notes

The Cavaliers surprisingly made more three-pointers than the Pelicans (13-7). The fact Cleveland attempted 40 shots from deep is sort of perplexing considering their usual low volume and low 3PT% on the year.

Dean Wade led the Cavaliers in scoring with 21 points, a new career-high. Wade did most of his damage from deep as he made five three-pointers.

Isaac Okoro had himself a nice night offensively, finishing with 19 points on a 6-10 shooting effort including 2-4 from three. Okoro also made all five free throw attempts on the night.

Apparently Kevin Love was on a mission to essentially shoot three-pointers as he went 5-14 in that regard and 1-3 from two. Love was tied with Okoro for the second-highest Cavaliers scoring effort.

Matthew Dellavedova was supposed to be on a minutes restriction, but was on the court the most of any starter (34 minutes). Delly finished 10 assists and 7 points on the night on a pretty ugly shooting effort (3-11).

It was a rare efficient shooting night from Cedi Osman as he went 7-11 and scored 15 points. Osman also had 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 steal on the night.

Like many others, Taurean Prince was not a consistent shooter for the Cavaliers. Prince went 4-11 (0-4 3PT) and ended up with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block.

The Cavaliers have a few days off before returning to action April 14th in Charlotte.

Cleveland completes sweep of Tigers

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It was a 5-2 win for the Cleveland Baseball Club as they completed the three game sweep of the visiting Detroit Tigers at Progressive Field.

Cleveland came into Sunday with the chance to complete their first sweep of the season and seized that opportunity with a 5-2 win. A fairly consistent offensive approach produced 7 hits in 8 innings and combined with their 7 walks and a few Tigers errors paved the way to victory. Unlike their win the previous night, no long balls were needed this time around.

Things were dicey early with Logan Allen on the mound as Detroit took an early 1-0 lead. The Tigers lead combined with the high pitch count early did not look like the recipe for success. Luckily Allen would calm down as he did not allow another run in his 5 innings of work. Allen calming down and settling in after a bumpy start allowed the offense to naturally get into the groove of the game and back him up.

The Cleveland offense was able to score three unanswered runs to take a 3-1 lead through the middle innings. Some hustle from Eddie Rosario highlighted their first run scoring in the 2nd while Cesar Hernandez was still swinging a hot bat for the second game in a row to drive in their second run.

With Nick Wittgren on the mound Detroit struck back on a Wilson Ramos to cut the Cleveland lead to one. The home run from Ramos was the only hit allowed by Wittgren in his single inning of work.

Never too late for drama

James Karinchak came on in the 8th with Cleveland clinging to a one-run lead and did some work. After walking the leadoff batter Karinchak struck out the next three in order to end the inning. This ability to rattle off three strikeouts in a row is why Karinchak has the trust of Terry Francona.

The bottom of the 8th provided some insurance innings for the Cleveland bullpen. Franmil Reyes came through with a single allowing Jose Ramirez and Eddie Rosario to score. With Cleveland’s lead now at three, Emmanuel Clase came on to close things out.

After walking Jemier Candelario to start the inning, Clase bounced back with a strikeout of Wilson Ramos. Jonathan Schoop provided some hope for Detroit with an infield single, but it was all for naught. Clase would get the much needed double play ball off the bat of Nomar Mazara to end the game.

With the sweep Cleveland will travel to Chicago to take on the White Sox for a four-game series starting Monday.

With A Jimmmitude: deGrom, A-Rod, Miggy

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No help for deGrom

It is like some cruel joke is being played on Jacob deGrom every time he takes the mound for the New York Mets. deGrom was outstanding in his start on Saturday as he allowed 5 hits and stuck out 14 in 8 innings of work, more often than this should lead to a win. Not for Jacob deGrom. You see the issue is that deGrom gave up a solo home run to Jazz Chisholm in the 2nd inning and that is all Miami needed to win. The Marlins did add two more runs in the 9th off of Edwin Diaz, but one run is all they needed in their 3-0 shutout of the Mets.

It is just so incredibly disappointing to see someone like Jacob deGrom put together an outstanding start and come away with a loss because of a one minor mistake. In most of other games that one run does not matter since the pitchers offense usually picks him up. For some bizarre reason the Mets bats go silent fairly often on a deGrom start which leads to some mind boggling statistics. deGrom has 33 no decisions in the last four years and his ERA in those games is 1.76, that is absolutely insane! The majority of these games are wins for most teams, but here is deGrom getting stuck with no decision after no decision.

The fact the Mets are 11-22 in games that Jacob deGrom receives a no-decision is crazy, especially with that ERA. I just hope that whatever curse that was placed on deGrom that he is doomed to get stuck with no-decisions gets lifted and he starts getting the wins he deserves.

A-Rod taking his talents to the NBA

After failing to buy the aforementioned New York Mets, Alex Rodriguez has turned his sights to the NBA. Rodriguez, along with Marc Lore are buying the Minnesota Timberwolves from current majority owner Glen Taylor.

It seems that Rodriguez actually does have some legitimate interest in owning a sports team. The interesting aspect of this is that he did not go the route of buying a baseball team like when he attempted to buy the Mets. Perhaps this is a stepping stone towards buying a baseball team, but switching the focus to basketball is a smart move by Rodriguez. The NBA basically prints their own money and is extremely popular, more popular than Major League Baseball that’s for sure. If in the future Rodriguez wants to get into baseball, being a part owner of a NBA team should help generate enough money on his own that he could work his way towards owning a larger percentage of a team.

Miggy on the IL

When an older player keeps making trips to the injured list it is incredibly sad to see, that is the case with Miguel Cabrera. The Detroit Tigers have placed the 37-year first baseman on the IL with a bicep injury.

For those who do not remember, it was a left bicep injury in 2018 that ended his season prematurely. Cabrera suffered a rupture in his left biceps tendon that required season ending surgery. The Tigers need to just be careful with Miggy because of his past injury history in that arm.

As a fan of baseball Miguel Cabrera is someone to watch and be amazed with his talent. The fact that there were some career milestones possibly in his future this year makes this just a little bit more depressing. With 488 career home runs, 500 was definitely within reach this season. Cabrera also has 2,869 career hits which a good season could put him in striking distance of reaching 3,000 next season.

I just hope to see a speedy recovery and a return to play for the future Hall of Famer. The fact of the matter is that baseball is better when Miguel Cabrera is on the field.

Cavaliers take on Pelicans at home

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In search of a much needed bounce back performance, the Cleveland Cavaliers take on the New Orleans Pelicans at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Saturday night was not a great endeavor for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs can turn things around in their second game of a back-to-back as they take on the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Pelicans come in winning five of their last 10 games, while Cleveland is 3-7. Both teams are several games out of the playoff picture, some things will have to go their way to change that by the time the season is up.

The last time the Cavaliers faced the Pelicans it did not go well for Cleveland. The Cavs were blown out by a score of 116-82. Cleveland should be able to close that gap and make things more competitive, but that does not seem likely.

When it comes to New Orleans it is about one player, Zion Williamson. Zion is averaging 26.5 points per game which leads the Pelicans. Lonzo Ball is the team leader in assists (5.7) and steals (1.4). Steven Adams is the Pelicans leader in rebounds (8.8) and blocks (0.7).

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 P.M. at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse

Cleveland takes on Detroit in final game of series

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The Cleveland Baseball Club is looking for a series sweep against the Detroit Tigers in their final game of their three game series.

Saturday night provided the Cleveland Baseball Club with everything they could have hoped for. A dominant pitching performance from Aaron Civale with five home runs leading to an 11-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Cleveland now has the chance to sweep the Tigers after nearly being swept a week before.

It will be the second start of the season for Logan Allen. Allen pitched in a losing effort on Monday as Cleveland was shut out 3-0 against the Royals. The young lefty allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks in 5 innings. Both runs that came across to score against Allen were on a two-run homer from Whit Merrifield. Allen has only faced the Tigers for a handful of at-bats (15), allowing 4 hits, 4 walks, 3 RBI, and 1 home run to Grayson Greiner.

Jose Urena will be the Tigers starter in what is also his second start of the season. Minnesota pounded Urena in a 15-6 loss, allowing 5 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks. The former Marlin has not been the most consistent pitcher in his career, but at his best he is better than his previous start. There are two batters in the Cleveland lineup with with extensive history against Urena, Amed Rosario and Cesar Hernandez. Rosario is 6-15 with 2 doubles while Herndanez is 9-33 with 3 home runs and 1 triple. Franmil Reyes has also homered once in six at-bats and so as Josh Naylor in just two.

First pitch is schedule for 1:10 P.M.