Wild Thing goes wild on Team USA

Team USA narrowly escaped defeat at the hands of Brazil yesterday. More importantly, Anderson Varejao played 33 minutes and grabbed 16 rebounds (seven offensive). He went 3-6 from the floor for a respectable 11 points and, according to the AP report of the game

Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao dictated play under the basket, racking up six defensive rebounds and three offensive boards in the third quarter.

Varejao did so well, in fact, that the good people at the Wages of Wins Journal wrote a post about the importance of role players, using Varajao as the prime example of how players can be very productive even if they don’t score many points. Cavs fans can be thankful that Ilgauskas is one more year past his prime while Varejao is one year closer to his prime, but should be wary one of the best kept secrets in the league might lose that status, primarily because he’ll be a free agent next season.

More bad Buckeyes news

OSU starting tight end Marcel Frost has been suspended for the upcoming season. The battle among OSU, OU, and the Bengals for most suspect players on one team is quickly becoming a two man race between the Buckeyes and Bengles. Good ole Ohio.

More Landis misrepresentations

Floyd Landis was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night. The Associated Press wrote about it. Here is an excerpt:

Both of Landis’ “A” and “B” samples taken after that stage turned up a testosterone/epitestosterone ratio of 11:1 — far in excess of the 4:1 limit. Further tests also showed that the samples contained synthetic testosterone, indicating that it was from an outside source…He and his defense team initially claimed that any of numerous factors could have led to the high testosterone readings…

Nowhere to be found is a statement that clarifies what ‘high testosterone readings’ actually means in this case. The language makes it sound as though Landis had high testosterone in his body. He did not. He had low testosterone and very low epitestosterone. Once again, the press does a terrible job reporting.

Clarett arrested

Former OSU standout Maurice Clarett was arrested in Columbus early this morning when, after making an illegal U-turn, he refused to stop when the police tried to pull him over. Eventually he did pull over, at which point the police tried to subdue him with a stun gun--they were “tussl[ing]“–only it “was ineffective because the electric shock couldn’t penetrate his bullet-resistant vest, Sgt. Michael Woods said.” Um, wow. Clarett is apparently dressing as if every day is Extra in a Rap Video Day. Fortunately for police Clarett wasn’t wearing sunglasses; they maced him.

Clarett had four loaded guns in the back of his SUV. He is 22 years old.

31-56

Over the last two seasons this is the Indians’ record in one-run games. Last year the Indians set a record for most losses by one run since divisional play began. This season the Indians are still losing more than a fair amount of close games (for a rough analysis of the Indians’ wins and loses through early July click here) and after tonight’s 4-5 defeat against the Los Angeles Angels of Our Team Name Makes No Sense passionate rage is coursing through message boards and talk radio call-in lines, manifesting itself in the form of demands to see Eric Wedge fired.

The one run loss tonight is troubling, no doubt, but many people seem equally bothered by Wedge deciding to pinch-hit Todd Hollandsworth for Andy Marte in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and a runner on second. The reason Marte is on the 25-man roster so early in the season is because there isn’t much of a season left. If the Indians were in a playoff race Boone would still be starting at third and Marte would still be in Buffalo. But since the Indians have no chance of making the playoffs (well, .00152% chance) Marte is in Cleveland and Boone is on the bench–all so that Marte can gain experience. Benching Marte is the diametrical opposite of that goal.

Of course, there is a slight problem with those who are upset both because Eric Wedge blew another one-run game and because he pinch-hit Hollandsworth for Marte. Marte is not doing well with the bat since his call-up, and was not doing well in the minors in the weeks leading up his call-up; he admits as much with earnest candor. Marte is also a right-handed batter facing a nasty right-handed closer in K-Rod. Whatever Marte’s chances of getting a hit in that situation are, Hollandsworth’s chances are probably better. Hollandsworth isn’t worth much, but he plays the role of pinch-hitter well (he’s quite experienced in this regard) and is only effective anymore against RHP. If the Indians were to win the game it would be at the hands of Hollandsworth, not Marte. Wedge played to win, so he benched Marte.

Fans can either be upset that Marte was denied a valuable experience–crucial at bat late in a close ball game–or be upset that Wedge blew another one-run game, but you’d be hard pressed to convince me that you can simulatiously hold egregious mistake.

[Aside: There is an argument to be made that without Wedge the team would never even be in a position to lose (or win) so many one-run games, that they'd lose by more runs more often. It's not hard to imagine a lesser manager guiding the team to a record number of three-run defeats, a significant portion of which Wedge is able to turn into one-run defeats solely by managing so well. I suspect most people won't offer this argument in defense of Wedge, however.]