Burn On Big River…

Cliff Lee AL Cy Young Winner

On July 26th 2007, against the Boston Red Sox, Cliff Lee pitched 4 innings; he gave up 9 hits and 8 earned runs in those 4 innings. Lee’s ERA for the season had climbed to 6.48, and shortly after, he was demoted to Triple-A Buffalo. Cliff Lee joined the bullpen towards the end of the season and had 4 relief appearances (none very promising). At this point in time, no one could imagine Cliff Lee would be the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner. Well, nobody besides Cliff thought it was possible. On Nov. 13th 2008, Cliff Lee was named the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner. He led the league in wins, 22, and he also won the ERA title with a 2.54 ERA. The stat that stands out is Cliff Lee was only 9th in strikeouts in the AL. In the past ten years, the lowest a pitcher has finished in strikeouts and still won the AL Cy Young was 8th (Bartolo Colon in 2005). All that this really means is Lee had great command and concentration. Instead of overpowering hitters, Lee hit his spots and made hitters ground out and hit his pitches. With the confidence Cliff has built, the Indians hope he will continue his freakish command and be a staple in their rotation for a long time. Cliff Lee becomes the 3rd Indians pitcher to win the award and second consecutive AL Cy Young Award winner for the Tribe. C.C. Sabathia won the award last year, which ended the Indians Cy Young drought of 35 years when Gaylord Perry won the Indians’ first Cy Young.
*** Grady Sizemore won his second Gold Glove in 2008, and Grady joined Torii Hunter of the Angels and Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners to round out the AL Gold Glove outfield.

Buckeyes Invade Northwestern

On November 8th, The Ohio State Buckeyes held their second homecoming game at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois home of the

Northwestern Wildcats. Well, it sure felt like a second homecoming. The home colors turned scarlet and gray. Buckeye fans out numbered Wildcat fans a heavy 2 to 1. I was fortunate enough to make the trip and witness Terrelle Pryor have an incredible rebound game and reassure the Buckeye faithful he is the future. However, the most overwhelming sight of the game was the Buckeye takeover of Ryan Field. The Best Damn Fans in the land shouted O-H-I-O around the stadium as if they were back at The Shoe, and Brutus spent more time in the end zone waving the Ohio State flag than Northwestern’s offense did. During the ride to the game, on Chicago’s famous El Train, one Buckeye fan did his best to sing a slightly drunken “I Wanna Go Back To Ohio State”. Many fans joined in, and it was loud and proud. During the ride, I thought to myself, man I would probably be pretty annoyed if I wasn’t a Buckeye fan right now. That thought passed quickly before I heard the first O-H and proudly returned my I-O! Go Bucks!

LeBron Finds New Stroke From The Charity Stripe
Take a moment out of your day and check out this incredible dunk by LeBron James. LeBron takes off with his left heel practically on the foul line. What makes this amazing is LeBron did this in a game situation.

BURN ON!

J.V.