Ray was at Ohio State as provost in 2001, was involved with Tressel's hiring in Columbus.

Oregon State/The OregonianOregon State president Ed Ray

COLUMBUS, Ohio - In a phone interview with The Plain Dealer today, Oregon State University president Ed Ray didn't back off his "hanging judge" comment when it comes to the punishment he might hand to Ohio State coach Jim Tressel for his NCAA violations.

But the former Ohio State provost, who was involved with Tressel's hiring in 2001 before leaving Ohio State in 2003, made the point that it's a good thing the decision isn't up to him.

"I am pretty judgmental and pretty hard about these things, if these things have been done," Ray said. "The context I said it in is that it's a good thing I'm not on the Infractions Committee. Whenever anyone crosses the line, I tend to be judgmental and hard about it, but it's a good thing we have a lot of experienced people on the committee to look at it and focus on the facts and do what they believe is right, rather than have me from 2,500 miles away do it."

Ray's comments to The Oregonian, published Thursday, added another layer to the discussion about Tressel's future, with someone who knows the coach clearly believing his actions - not informing his bosses for nine months about his players selling memorabilia in violation of NCAA rules, while forwarding that information on to Terrelle Pryor's mentor - warrant strict penalties.

Ray said then:

"If I were in their position, I'd be a hanging judge. ... I think there are lines you don't cross in your own life.... I'm not a big mercy guy. I'm not a big understander of extenuating circumstances. We all sort of engage in thinking about situational ethics. But I'm kinda old-school. And I think you're either ethical or you're not ethical."

He backed up those feelings today.

"If it is true, it's very, very serious, and it needs to be dealt with in a very serious way," Ray said. "We have the Infractions Committee that knows how to weigh and measure the degree of severity. But to purport that somebody knows about improper behavior and doesn't report it for a period of time and shares it with some people and not other people and doesn't go through the proper channels, that's a very serious matter.

"So much of what determines the integrity of the whole system is that people come forward when they know something improper has happened. People make mistakes or they do wrong things, but very often things are self-reported because everyone is trying to get it right. Everyone makes mistakes, but if people aren't forthright, then the system isn't going to work."

Ohio State did self-report the findings about both the players and Tressel. But Tressel, as an individual, never came forward to admit his previous knowledge until Ohio State found the emails that informed Tressel of the situation starting last April.

Ray had praised Tressel in his quotes to The Oregonian as well, but he added today that he believes Tressel's favorable  reputation could be considered when the NCAA makes its ruling.

And while Ray hedged several times today about waiting for the allegations against Tressel to be known, they are already known. Ohio State and Tressel have admitted to them. What remains is the punishment, and that's there the discussion is most relevant.

"I have about as much experience as a judge as you do, but let me give you my gut reaction," Ray said. "When anything goes to any kind of trial or final decision, you do look for mitigating circumstances, and courts do show leniency in some cases and not in others.

"If you've broken the rule, you've broken the rule. I don't buy extenuating circumstances, so it's a matter of whether the rule was broken, yes or now. But even once that has happened, there is a question of what are the remedies.
 
". . .I think if someone has a life's work that says this is wrong and this shouldn't have happened, but this person is remorseful about that, it's not a matter of indifference what kind of person they have been for the last 40 or 50 years. In any kind of legal proceeding, that always gets looked at.

"I think you do look at the person you're looking at and say, 'Is this part of an ongoing pattern of playing things close to the line and finally getting caught, or is this a person that anyone who ever had anything to do with him said this is a good person who has been a positive force in the community?' In the normal scheme of things, that does lead to perhaps less of a harsh outcome than if you have the feeling that this is a person who should have gotten caught a long time ago.
 
". . .Everything I know and I have seen that has anything to do with Jim Tressel is incredibly positive and would lead me to, as it does ultimately, to be startled that the allegations that have been made could possibly be true."

But they are.

"The Jim Tressel I know is such a good person, I hope that somehow this situations isn't what it appears to be, I really do. Because I really think he's such a terrific person, it's very hard to fathom where we are."

A fella could make a fortune if he had the X-ray concession in Valparaiso, Chile, during the urban downhill bike racing.

A friend sent this youtube.com video to Starting Blocks.
Now, we have 13 skydives. We've spent close to 200 hours underwater, in depths ranging from 30 to 155 feet (don't tell the divemaster). We rode bulls as kids in Texas a few eons ago. We've flown with the Blue Angels, handled punts with Josh Cribbs and tried (emphasis on tried) to catch a Class A league curve ball.

Shoot, we even taught middle-school English.

But we ain't crazy enough to try the urban downhil mountain bike racing in Valparaiso, Chile! Watch this video, then click here to see some more videos, including a tumble or two.

Rocco was 20-of-23 for 270 yards and six touchdowns as the Gladiators hammered the Tampa Bay Storm, 66-26, last Sunday.

View full sizeAFL photoFormer Mount Union QB Kurt Rocco makes his second start for the Gladiators on Saturday.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Gladiators quarterback Kurt Rocco has been busy on two fronts this week:

• Preparing for the formidable Chicago Rush.

• Trying to convince people that the arena game is not as easy as he has made it appear.

Rocco, a Mount Union product, will make his second career Arena Football League start when the Gladiators (2-0) host the Rush (3-0) on Saturday afternoon at The Q. It is Cleveland's home opener.

In the Gladiators' season opener March 19 in Spokane, Wash., Rocco came off the bench in the fourth quarter and threw one pass -- a 12-yard touchdown -- in a 61-55 victory over the Shock. Rocco finished the game for veteran John Dutton, who had torn his left Achilles' tendon.

Gladiators coach Steve Thonn decided to give Rocco essentially a two-game tryout for the full-time job, the games occurring before a bye week. Part of Thonn's thought process stemmed from calls for outside help coming up empty, but much of it was based on his favorable view of Rocco since the opening of training camp.

Phase one of the tryout went swimmingly. Rocco was 20-of-23 for 270 yards and six touchdowns as the Gladiators hammered the Tampa Bay Storm, 66-26, last Sunday. Rocco also ran for a score.

"For the first start of his career, Kurt had a great game," Thonn said. "He was very poised and made excellent throws and smart decisions. He protected the football. You couldn't have asked for much more."

The start was Rocco's first in a game that mattered since the Stagg Bowl in 2009, the finale of his Mount Union career.

"I was nervous going in, but my teammates really helped me relax," Rocco said. "After I got the first pass out of the way, I took a deep breath and said, 'OK, here we go. Just do your job."'

Rocco said he was unaware of the degree of accuracy until Assistant General Manager Phil Tesar showed him the stat sheet.

"I said, 'That's pretty cool.'"

What Rocco did not say was, "This is cake."

"I have so much to learn, trust me," he said. "I've got a long way to go. The success against Tampa Bay happened because our offensive line protected very well, our receivers caught everything near them, and our defense was unbelievable."

Thonn said the defensive performance, which helped build a 25-0 cushion, was one of the best he's ever been involved with.

Now comes phase two of Rocco's unofficial tryout. It will unfold against arguably the best team in the league.

"No disrespect to Tampa Bay, but Chicago is better," Rocco said. "They're very good. I know it, everybody knows it. That's why I was hoping no one came up to me after the first start and said, 'You're definitely the guy.' This is going to be a big test."

Presumably, Rocco does not need to be near-perfect Saturday to earn Thonn's endorsement as the Gladiators' starter going forward. Winning ugly might suffice.

"This game is going to be totally different than the first two we've played," Thonn said.

Adam Dunn homered and had four RBIs in his debut for Chicago, which withstands Tribe's rally from 14-0 deficit.

View full sizeChuck Crow / The Plain DealerFans along the left-field bleachers fumble away a souvenir from Friday's home opener, as the home run hit by Chicago's Carlos Quentin drops to the field in the fourth inning at Progressive Field.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Carlos Quentin homered and drove in five runs, Adam Dunn homered and had four RBIs in his debut for Chicago and the go-for-broke White Sox built a huge lead and held off Cleveland's scrappy comeback, beating the Indians, 15-10, in their season opener Friday.

The White Sox splurged during the off-season in an attempt to win the AL Central after finishing second to Minnesota in 2010, and the club's $125 million payroll looks like money well spent -- so far.

Chicago built a 14-0 lead after four innings for starter Mark Buehrle (1-0) and roughed up Cleveland ace Fausto Carmona (0-1) for 10 runs and 11 hits in three innings.

Quentin and Dunn each hit two-run homers in the third, and the White Sox added eight runs in the fourth.

The support was more than enough for Buehrle, who blanked the Indians for five innings before giving up five straight singles and four runs in the sixth. Starting his ninth consecutive opener, the left-hander allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings.

Carlos Santana went 3 for 5 and hit a two-run homer for the Indians, who made it interesting by scoring four in the sixth, three in the seventh, two in the eighth and one in the ninth.

Chicago's motto this season is "All In," a poker reference that also describes their spending spree this winter when their biggest moves were signing Dunn to a four-year, $56 million contract and re-signing popular captain Paul Konerko to a three-year, $37.5 million deal.

With the beefier payroll, the White Sox can't afford to fold.

"This is the most expensive ballclub that I've ever managed, now we need to live up to that," manager Ozzie Guillen said before the game in Chicago's dugout. "Is there pressure on me because of that? No way. If we don't play good, then I should be fired. If we win, then keep me around."

View full sizeChuck Crow / The Plain DealerA very difficult day for Fausto Carmona ended in the third inning after the White Sox had built a 10-0 lead.

For four innings, the White Sox looked unbeatable.

They pounded Carmona, who was making first his start on opening day. When he was mercifully lifted by manager Manny Acta in the fourth, Carmona was booed by Cleveland fans unsure what to expect this season from a team that lost 93 games last season.

The Indians started without center fielder Grady Sizemore, who may not be up for a few more weeks as he recovers from knee surgery.

The White Sox signed the 6-foot-6, 280-pound Dunn in December, hoping he would add more punch to an already powerful lineup.

After Gordon Beckham singled to open the third, Dunn, who hit 354 homers in 10 NL seasons, crushed a 3-2 pitch from Carmona deep into Chicago's bullpen to make it 4-0. Konerko singled, and one out later, Quentin homered to left, a shot Acta disputed but the umpires confirmed after briefly leaving the field to watch the TV video replay.

There was no arguing Carmona's ineffectiveness.

In the fourth, he gave up a two-run double to Dunn and was replaced. Justin Germano, who didn't allow a run during the exhibition season, was touched for a two-run double by Quentin, an RBI single by A.J. Pierzynski and two more two-run doubles by Alexi Ramirez and Brent Morel.

Before the game, the Indians said an emotional goodbye to the great Bob Feller, the Hall of Famer who died on Dec. 15. This is the first time since 1936 that Feller isn't part of the Indians, who are honoring his legacy throughout the season.

All of the Indians players wore Feller's No. 19 during introductions, and in a touching moment, his widow, Anne, was escorted to the mound and gently placed a baseball on the rubber, a silent ceremonial first pitch and salute to the greatest Indian of them all.

On the ball, she wrote: "Bobby, Keep Pitching, Anne."

The White Sox took a 2-0 lead in the first off Carmona, who needed 36 pitches to record three outs and faced a tight strike zone.

Juan Pierre singled and Beckham doubled into the left-field corner. Carmona struck out Dunn and appeared to get Konerko, too, but plate umpire Mike Winters ruled a 2-2 pitch was a little high and Konerko dropped an RBI single into right.

Carmona fanned Alex Rios, but Quentin's RBI single made it 2-0 and the White Sox were on their way.

Washington rookie John Wall is Eastern Conference rookie of the month a day after the NBA suspended him for a game.

View full sizeNick Wass / Associated PressJohn Wall's scuffle with Zydrunas Ilgauskas on Wednesday led to a one-game suspension for the rookie guard and his absence for tonight's game against the Cavaliers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- It almost seemed like an April Fool's Day joke.

One day after suspending Washington rookie John Wall one game for throwing a punch after being elbowed by Miami's Zydrunas Ilgauskas on Wednesday night, the NBA named Wall its Eastern Conference rookie of the month for March.

Wall, who sat out Friday against the Cavaliers, ranked third among all rookies in scoring (18.1 ppg), first in assists (7.3 apg) and first in steals (1.67 spg). He became the first Washington rookie to record at least 32 points, 10 assists and five rebounds in a game since Earl Monroe in 1968. Wall put up those numbers in a 127-119 double-overtime loss at the Los Angeles Clippers on March 23.

Though the Cavaliers haven't typically taken advantage of an absent player on an opponent, coach Byron Scott admitted, "I'm not going to cry over [Wall] not playing tonight."

Wizards coach Flip Saunders, who said Wall's absence would provide some minutes for other youngsters and might force the Wizards to go inside more, was not surprised by the suspension. He did seem to think the officials could have handled things differently.

"Z kind of took three swings at him, with three referees, and he's got the ball," said Saunders, the former Cuyahoga Heights High School star. "You'd hope someone would call a foul on the first one. Maybe the whole situation wouldn't have escalated. But unfortunately they didn't."

Making his pitch: On Thursday, Baron Davis tweeted, "We have to see if I can get a opening pitch at one of the games for the Tribe soon." Indians president Mark Shapiro, who apparently was forwarded many copies of Davis' request, responded, "I got all the Baron Davis tweets. If he really wants to throw out a first pitch, we will make it happen."

After Friday, he could earn a spot in the rotation.

TV time: The Charlotte game on Tuesday will be televised by NBA TV. Charlotte is trying to earn the eighth and last seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The last word: From Antawn Jamison, who has missed both games against the Wizards this season after being traded last season, "I definitely wanted to come back and give the fans something and play in front of them. To think that it has to be next year before that happens is kind of disappointing. I definitely didn't see that happening."

Fausto Carmona blames overthrowing, not nerves or the cold weather, for his bad start in the Indians' 15-10 loss in the home opener.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Opening Day often seems to be an unofficial holiday in Cleveland, but the Indians' home opener Friday began more somberly.

In the still of a cold, bright afternoon, a crowd of 41,721 bowed their heads in prayer and tribute to Bob Feller. Anne Feller, the Hall of Fame pitcher's widow, walked to the mound at Progressive Field in the brittle sunshine and there she placed a baseball. The Silent First Pitch, it was called.

Only the oldest fans in the crowd actually saw Robert William Andrew Feller, "Rapid Robert," "Bullet Bob," "The Heater from Van Meter," pitch. But the nicknames were the way he played the games. He would come to the plate, leg kicking, arm catapulting, with the best fastball you never saw.

Unfortunately, we have had our near century's worth of Feller. The last memorial service for him was held Thursday, more than three months after his death at the age of 92.

The pitcher who eventually picked up the ball was Fausto Carmona, of whom much is expected. Carmona threw 82 pitches over his three innings work. Not many of them produced quiet results, other than in the crestfallen fans who saw the Tribe's would-be ace give up 10 runs.

Eventually, the Chicago White Sox would take a 14-0 lead, the Tribe would get a touchdown and field goal back, and the game would end with Chicago's "good hands" team on the field in case of an onside kick. Or something like that.

It ended 15-10 in favor of the White Sox, who did not look that good themselves against the non-Carmona portion of the Indians' pitching staff. Starter Mark Buerhle was not dominating, giving up four runs in six innings; the Chicago bullpen hemorrhaged runs; and 14 White Sox hitters struck out, five against Carmona.

In three innings and four batters worth of another, Carmona got only nine outs, allowed the Sox to hit .555 against him and surrendered home runs to Adam Dunn and Carlos Quentin. Indians fans may hope fervently that this was Just One of Those Days, and not evidence of performance anxiety, Opening Day jitters, inability to cope with the cold, or unsuitability to lead the rotation.

"Don't pitch up, pitch down," Carmona said, discussing a sinkerballer's game plan, which he was unable to execute.

Indians manager Manny Acta was having none of the nerves theory, the cold weather theory, or the pressure theory.

"Fausto pitched against the Yankees [in the 2007 playoffs] with bugs in his face," said Acta, recalling the midge swarms that a placid Carmona brushed aside while New York's Joba Chamberlain went to the bughouse.

"He couldn't get the ball down," he continued. "A sinkerball high in the zone doesn't go on the ground. He got two strikes and couldn't finish a lot of hitters off."

Carmona had two strikes on 13 of the 21 hitters he faced. Seven got hits.

Carmona discounted the 43-degree weather at the start of the game and blamed his problems on overthrowing. Still, that is often the result of trying too hard.

There is no doubt that Carmona, 27, has stuff that can be almost electric as it dives through the strike zone. He has also had the composure and self-belief to weather a nearly disastrous attempt to make him a closer in 2006. In 2007, he won 19 games. In the bug game, Carmona fell behind, 1-0, to Andy Pettitte, went nine innings of an 11-inning 2-1 Tribe victory, pushing through the unseasonal heat, the rain forest humidity that evening, and the midges.

Then he had two terrible years before bouncing back last season to be an All-Star.

The Indians could be better than many think this season. They showed the requisite character in Friday's abortive comeback. But it only happens if Carmona is a better legatee of the tradition Feller established and has better command in the task that has been delegated to him.

Follow Bill Livingston on Facebook and on Twitter @LivyPD

The Cleveland Indians Home Opener is an un-official holiday. Take the day off. Fill it with hope for warm days and hot bats.

Chuck Crow / The Plain DealerTribe Manager Manny Acta, wearing Bob Feller's number as a tribute to the Indians Hall of Fame picture, is introduced before the start of the Opening Day game Friday afternoon.

Oh, and there was a baseball game, too, in the middle of the 41,721-strong party throng. A 15-10, three-hour-and-nine-minute loss that started ugly and prettier and prettier as the party wore on.

But the game hardly seemed to matter.

The Cleveland Indians Home Opener is an un-official holiday. Take the day off. Fill it with hope for warm days and hot bats.

Friday it was a day of blue skies and sunshine that went a long way toward burning off the last vestiges of a brutal winter.

So what if the first two batters reached base safely for the Chicago White Sox? Who cares that they jumped out to a 6-0 lead in just three innings? A 15-10 final? A few boos early and playoff-size cheers for a "we're not dead yet" rally in the sixth and seventh innings? Those just added to the party's soundtrack.

It could have been a cricket match they came to see at Progressive Field. Or a lawn dart tournament. Bocce, even.

Opening Day features a baseball game, but it is so much bigger than the game.

Where else can you find tailgaters in the usual Cavaliers parking lot talking about an Indians third-base prospect while rocking to tunes blasting from a van painted like a Browns helmet?

"Opening Day is Cleveland's best tradition. This is my St. Patrick's Day since I was 7," said Tiffany Rabung, 30, of Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood. Paul Konerko slugged a single to bring in the first of many Chicago runs. She didn't care.

"Doesn't matter. This is an all day event," she said. "We took a cab."

Opening day is about the peanuts -- drop the shells at your feet -- and the beer slightly colder than the evening shadows. It's about fathers and sons and mothers and daughters and old friends who want to party like it's 1997. If only.

It's about painted faces and fans wearing jerseys bearing the names of long-gone players - Bell, Belle and Vizquel. No need to re-stitch the names with the guys we have now. It's the one on the front of the jersey -- red block INDIANS on first-game white -- that matters most.

Cleveland became a town where parking lots were full and cups were empty, a refill always at the ready. Where streets were packed and impatient drivers lay on the horn and the Rapid Transit trains were packed like a New York subway. It was a town where ticket scalpers alternated the soft sell and the hard sell as street merchants wandered the through crowds pitching noisemakers and feather boas in Indians red and blue.

For one day, Cleveland had grown to be a strapping cleanup hitter of a town. All muscle and heart, a great smile, jaunty with a drink in hand, an all around good egg.

"Everybody's in a good mood. It's a party," said Jeff Lugar, 36, who brought his 7-year-old son, Trenton, to the game. The kid was in awe, regardless of who won. He'll wonder, later, where the sellout crowd has gone. If he's lucky, in his lifetime, they'll be back for an entire season of sell-outs like they were in the salad days.

The game over, a Friday night ahead, the party roared on. There'll be 80 more games here. But, sadly, no more openers.

Catcher Carlos Santana took a beating, but kept on hitting in Friday's 15-10 season-opening loss to Chicago at Progressive Field.

View full sizeChuck Crow / The Plain DealerCarlos Santana watches his seventh-inning home run head toward the left-field bleachers Friday at Progressive Field. The second-year catcher carries many of the hopes of the Indians' future.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Manager Manny Acta keeps saying Carlos Santana was born to hit in the middle of the lineup. It's hard to argue the point, because ever since Santana arrived from Class AAA Columbus on June 1, he's done just that.

The Indians lost the season opener, 15-10, to Chicago on Friday. Not a good way to start the year, but it could have been worse considering that they trailed, 14-0, after five innings.

The reason they weren't driven from the field in embarrassment was because Santana and others started to hit. Santana singled home the Tribe's first run in the sixth to make it 14-1. Then he hit a two-run homer in the seventh to make it 14-7. The homer had to be reviewed, but the umpires approved.

"I think I got lucky," said Santana, 3-for-5 with three RBI.

Said hitting coach Jon Nunnally, "The guy just finds a way to put the barrel of the bat on the ball. He doesn't miss his pitch very often. The thing is, he's patient. He'll take a pitch. When he decides to get aggressive, he doesn't miss and he doesn't chase."

Catching is a hard business. Santana lost a big chunk of last season when he needed surgery on his left knee because of collision at the plate in August. On Friday, a ball in the dirt hit him in the neck and a foul ball on the next pitch hit him in the left shoulder.

It makes one wonder how long it will be before Santana moves permanently to first base.

"I don't worry about injuries," said Santana. "I like to catch. I know everyone knows I'm coming off surgery. My knee is a little tight, but I can play."

Final message: Anne Feller, Bob Feller's widow, placed a ball on the pitcher's rubber before the game at Progressive Field. The Indians called it a silent first pitch in honor of the Hall of Famer who died on Dec. 15.

On the ball was written this message: "Bobby Keep Pitching, Anne." She was accompanied to and from the mound by Chief Petty Officer Todd Green of the U.S. Navy.

Under review: The umpires reviewed Santana's homer in the seventh and Carlos Quentin's two-run drive in the third. Both passed inspection.

Final test: Josh Tomlin and Mitch Talbot stayed in Goodyear, Ariz., when the Indians broke camp Tuesday so they could make one more start in good weather to put themselves in line for the first start of the season.

Tomlin, pitching for Class AA Akron, went 5 2/3 innings. He allowed on run on two hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one. He'll face Boston's Josh Beckett on Tuesday at Progressive Field.

Talbot, who opens as the Tribe's fifth starter, pitched five scoreless innings with five strikeouts and two walks. He allowed five hits. Like Tomlin, he pitched for Akron. Talbot will face Daisuke Matsuzaka on Wednesday.

Mr. K: Indians pitchers struck out 14, including five by Frank Herrmann in two innings.

"I had a good fastball," said Herrmann. "I'm a fastball guy and I'm going to throw it until the game dictates that I don't have to."

In this corner: Justin Masterson on why he wore a bathrobe with Jensen Lewis' name and number sewn onto the back during pregame introduction Monday in Columbus in an exhibition game against the Clippers -- "I wanted to give you guys something to tweet about."

Finally: Jason Donald (left middle finger) played catch on Friday. He'll field grounders on Saturday. He still isn't close to swinging a bat. ... Grady Sizemore is still in Goodyear, where he'll continue to play games until he's ready to play nine innings. Then he's expected to join one of the Indians' minor-league clubs on a rehab assignment.

Notes and observations from the Cavs game against the Wizards on Friday night in Verizon Center.

View full sizeNick Wass / Associated PressWashington's JaVale McGee (34) fends off the Cavaliers' Ryan Hollins for a rebound in the first half of Friday night's game in Washington, D.C.

Halftime update: Cavs 57, Wizards 52. Andray Blatche has 22 points and 12 rebounds -- 11 on the offensive end -- and is keeping the Wizards in it.

J.J. Hickson has 16 points and five rebounds in the first half, while Ramon Sessions has been big off the bench again with 12 points. Baron Davis already has eight assists, and Cavs are still shooting 53.8 percent, while holding Wizards to 44 percent with seven turnovers.

First quarter update: Wizards 29, Cavs 26. In spite of shooting 55.6 percent (10 of 18) in the first 12 minutes, the Cavs got hammered on the boards by the taller Wizards, who took a 16-10 edge in rebounds and 16-12 edge in the paint.

Andray Blatche, in his second game back after missing 10 with a strained right shoulder, had 12 points and eight rebounds for Washington, while J.J. Hickson had eight points and two rebounds for Cleveland.

Cavs starters: F Alonzo Gee, F J.J. Hickson, C Ryan Hollins, G Anthony Parker, G Baron Davis.

Wizards starters: F Othyus Jeffers, F Andray Blatche, C JaVale McGee, G Jordan Crawford, G Maurice Evans.

Injuries: Semih Erden (strained right adductor), Antawn Jamison (fractured left little finger), Samardo Samuels (sprained right wrist) and Anderson Varejao (torn tendon, right foot) are out for Cavs. Trevor Booker (fractured right foot), Josh Howard (left knee tendinitis), Rashard Lewis (sore right knee), John Wall (suspension) and Nick Young (bruised left knee) are out for Wizards.

Inactives: Erden, Jamison and Varejao for Cavs. Booker, Howard and Lewis for Wizards.

Officials: Pat Fraher, John Goble and Josh Tiven.

Three things to watch

1. How will the absence of point guard John Wall impact the Wizards' offense?

2. If Washington tries to go inside, and the Cavs bigs get into foul trouble as they did at Charlotte on Wednesday, will coach Byron Scott resort to a zone?

3. Can the Cavs keep the much bigger Wizards off the boards?

There are home openers, then there's 15-10! Terry Pluto scribbles...

View full sizeThomas Ondrey / The Plain DealerThe pregame tribute to Bob Feller had Indians fans standing and cheering. Once the game started, the cheering quieted for quite a while.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Scribbles in my Tribe opening day notebook:

1. In the fourth inning, when the Indians were losing, 14-0, I found myself thinking, "I bet this is some kid's first home opener ... welcome to Indians baseball."

2. I know the Indians were losing 14-0. ... I'm not sure that I've ever written that line before. ... I know that I've never seen a game where Tribe pitchers gave up 15 runs ... and struck out 14 ... and walked only two ... and the defense made no errors. Giving up 15 runs usually comes with errors, walks, wild pitches, and assorted other baseball mortal sins.

3. If the rest of the season is like this ... you're right, I can't even finish that sentence.

4. Lost in the disaster that was losing pitcher Fausto Carmona (3 1/3 innings, 10 earned runs) was the fact that Justin Germano was nearly as damaging. The long reliever allowed four runs in three innings, and permitted two of Carmona's runs to score. No one knew at the time that the Tribe bats would come to life, but if Germano had shut the door -- at least it would have been more interesting.

5. Frank Herrmann fanned five in two innings, the Harvard product blowing away the White Sox as if they were Dartmouth. Vinnie Pestano looked as if he'd been in the majors for five years instead of a few weeks (in 2010) as he fanned the side. Pestano and Herrmann allowed one run in three innings, eight of the outs being strikeouts.

6. Carlos Santana had three hits, all from the right side of the plate. The switch-hitter was only 7-of-48 (.146) from the right side last year. He worked hard on his swing, and it paid off. He batted .314 (1.002 OPS) as a lefty hitter in 2010.

7. This was written on the blackboard in Manny Acta's office: The road to success is not a freeway. it's a toll way always under construction.

8. Friday's game felt like a major detour, the only thing missing were the orange barrels. There is no need to panic after Carmona's horrible game, but it's obvious his sinker wasn't sinking. This wasn't like his usual bad games where he'd be too emotional and start walking and hitting batters. Instead, he was just hit hard.

9. The Indians actually trailed another game, 14-0. It was June 10, 2006. They trailed 14-0 heading into the ninth, and scored twice to make it 14-2. So at least they finished better in this one.

10. There was some good stuff. Santana looked like a legitimate cleanup hitter. Travis Hafner had two singles, but one was a 400-foot shot off the center-field wall. He stayed at first, as the runners ahead of him hesitated. Jack Hannahan had three hits, including a homer.

11. Most impressive because of his terrible spring (.153) was Matt LaPorta. He had two singles, but hit the ball squarely. He seemed comfortable at the plate. LaPorta also made two superb scoops of throws in the dirt at first base.

12. I predicted a .300 season for Asdrubal Cabrera, and he was 3 for 5.

The Cleveland Indians opened their 2011 season at Progressive Field in Cleveland with a 15-10 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Before the game the team honored Indians Hall of Famer Bob Feller. Watch video

The Indians' veteran journeyman was 3 for 5 with three runs and an RBI in the opener.

View full sizeChuck Crow / The Plain DealerJack Hannahan homer earned congratulations all around in the Indians' dugout in the seventh inning Friday.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Third base was one of the Indians' big question marks entering the season. You might even call it a hole.

For game one, anyway, Jack Hannahan plugged it.

He plugged it in the field, which is not surprising, given that the glove is his big-league meal ticket. But there he was, number nine hitter in the Tribe's 15-10 Opening Day loss to Chicago Friday at Progressive Field, a guy who wasn't even in the majors last season, plugging at the plate, too.

White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle had cruised through the season's first five innings, allowing just two hits and discarding 10 straight Indians when Hannahan led off the sixth with a sharp single to center. The hit ignited a four-run inning that busted up Buehrle's shutout and launched the Indians on a chip-away march at the two-touchdown lead they spotted the White Sox in the first four innings.

Hannahan, who was 3 for 5 with three runs and an RBI, was responsible for much of it. Leading off the seventh inning, the 31-year-old lefty hitter sent an 0-1 pitch over the right-field fence -- his first blast in the majors since Aug. 26, 2009.

Last season was spent in Class AAA, splitting time between Seattle and Boston.

Hannahan, whose first big league hit also came off Buehrle, said he relied on the scouting report, which says the White Sox pitcher loves his slider. So he waited, laying off a first-pitch fastball. Then boom.

"I don't hit many of them," he said. "I didn't hit any in spring [training]. I like to save them for when they count. It counted today."

Hannahan, who made a nifty diving stop near the line in the second inning, may not have homered in Goodyear, Ariz., but he pretty much hit everything else. After batting .340 this spring, it's huge, he said, to keep doing what he and hitting coach Jon Nunnally have been working on, which is maintaining a simple approach.

"I told him," Nunnally said, "'Hey, you've got a great glove. You play a good game of catch.' I said, 'When you're hitting, think the same way. The way you go about catching it is the way you go about hitting a baseball.' He grabbed a hold of that and just took off. He put the barrel to it every single time he went up there."

In the eighth, Hannahan drilled a two-out single to spark a two-run inning for this third straight hit before striking out to end the game with two men on base.

"I was just looking for a ball away and just either hit it up the middle or the other way, and got a couple balls to do that," he said. "And then the one slider, he hung and I pulled that."

Chicago's powerful DH finished 2-for-4 with four RBI in his American League debut.

View full sizeChuck Crow / The Plain DealerWhite Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and catcher A.J. Pierzynski greet Adam Dunn after the team's new DH belted a two-run homer in the third inning Friday off Fausto Carmona.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Adam Dunn hit at least 38 homers in his previous seven seasons, leaving him tied with Babe Ruth (1926-1932) for the second-longest such streak. Rafael Palmeiro hit 38-plus in nine straight from 1995 through 2003.

Dunn wasted little time -- one at-bat -- getting busy extending the power run. His two-run homer off Fausto Carmona in the third inning helped the White Sox defeat the Indians, 15-10, Friday at Progressive Field in the season opener.

Dunn finished 2-for-4 with four RBI as the designated hitter in his American League debut. He signed with the White Sox in the off-season after hitting 354 homers in 1,448 combined games with Cincinnati, Arizona and Washington.

The White Sox amassed 18 hits, including six doubles and two homers. They led, 14-0, through four innings.

"This is the first game; I'm assuming we're going to do this every time," Dunn said. "We're 1-for-1, right?"

Opening Day brings out the beast in Dunn. He is 10-for-36 with seven homers and 19 RBI in those games. The homer total is one shy of the record held by Frank Robinson and Ken Griffey Jr.

"Opening Day is such a special day because of all the hype surrounding the season, and everyone's tied for first," Dunn said. "What I set out to do all off-season and spring training is to be ready for Opening Day."

With runners on second and third and none out in the first, Dunn struck out swinging. Carmona made him look bad with a backdoor slider. Dunn's payback came in the third. After Gordon Beckham opened with a single up the middle, Dunn homered to right on a full-count pitch.

"I was actually just trying to get a pitch I could put in play, and I kind of caught one of his sinkers out front," he said.

Indians right fielder Shin-Soo Choo's body language indicated that he planned to catch the ball well in front of the track. But it kept carrying. Estimated distance: 386 feet.

As a Texas schoolboy quarterback, Dunn once threw a football 80-plus yards in warmups before a playoff game. So it should be no shock when a seemingly harmless fly ball hit by the 6-6, 285-pounder ends up traveling over the wall.

"I don't really care how far they go, as long as they go over," he said.

Dunn's two-run double in the fourth knocked out Carmona.

In landing Dunn, White Sox General Manager Ken Williams significantly improved his club's chances of overtaking the Twins in the Central Division. Last season, the White Sox finished 88-74 and in second place, six back.

"The people in Chicago are expecting him to do well," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of Dunn. "When you start the way he did, all of a sudden you create confidence in yourself. I don't expect anything less. That's the reason we brought him here."

Keeping a close eye on the early signals from the brand-new baseball season. Watch video

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Firsts from Indians-White Sox game on Friday afternoon:

First career Opening Day start: Fausto Carmona, who was also the first Dominican-born pitcher to start an Opening Day for the Indians since Bartolo Colon in 2002. It was one to forget: 11 hits and 10 earned runs in three innings.

Debut on a major league Opening Day roster: Carlos Carrasco, Shelley Duncan, Frank Herrmann, Vinnie Pestano, Carlos Santana and Josh Tomlin.

First pitch: Called strike from Carmona to White Sox left fielder Juan Pierre (3:08 p.m., 43 degrees).

First sellout: 41,721 was the official count.

First hit: A single to left-center by Pierre, leading off the first inning.

First extra-base hit: A double past third base by Chicago's second batter, Gordon Beckham.

First strikeout: Chicago's Adam Dunn, in the first inning with runners on second and third and none out. He made up for it later with a two-run homer in the third inning and a two-run double in the fourth.

First run: Paul Konerko lofted a single to right center on a 3-2 pitch in the first inning to drive in Pierre.

First Tribe hit: A pop-up by lead-off batter Michael Brantley fell just in front of White Sox left-fielder Pierre and just inside the line.

First homer: Dunn drilled a Carmona 3-2 pitch 386 feet into the right-field stands for a 4-0 lead in the third.

First video review: Chicago Carlos Quentin's home run just over the yellow line atop the left-centerfield wall to take a 6-0 lead; umpires took just a minute and 45 seconds to figure it out.

Visit to the mound: By Indians pitching coach Tim Belcher after Carlos Quentin, sixth batter of the game, hit RBI single to center.

First yank: Manager Manny Acta finally pulled the struggling Carmona, down 8-0, with no outs in the fourth inning after Dunn's two-run double to right; Carmona jogged off to boos.

First very, very vocal fan complaint: "You're ruining my birthday!" he screamed after a Brent Morel double (his second hit of the fourth inning) down the left-field line to drive in two more runs, pushing the score to 14-0.

First 1-2-3 inning: For the Indians, anyway, mercy finally arrived in the fifth, inducing mock cheer number four.

First Tribe run: Catcher Carlos Santana drilled a single to center, scoring third baseman Jack Hannahan, who had started the sixth with a single, cutting the White Sox lead to 14-1. Two more singles later, a shot to the wall in right-center by designated hitter Travis Hafner and another by second baseman Orlando Cabrera, made it 14-4.

First Tribe homer: Hannahan drilled an 0-1 pitch to right in the seventh -- his first major-league home run since Aug. 26, 2009 against Kansas City while with Oakland.

Double play: Grounded into by Indians right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, ending first (1-6-3).

Excellent defensive play: By Indians third baseman Hannahan, who made a diving stop near line and erased Morel for second out of second. First baseman Matt LaPorta scooped the throw.

Staff writers Bill Lubinger and Dennis Manoloff contributed to this report.

Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta talked with the media after the Tribe's 15-10 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Opening Day at Progressive Field. Watch video

Lake Erie missed a chance to forge a first-place tie in the North Division with Manitoba, dropping to third behind second-place Hamilton.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- If there ever is such a thing as a typical night in minor-league hockey, this certainly was not it.

While 12,407 fans and several dozen dogs on Pucks and Paws Night created a playoff-like atmosphere in Quicken Loans Arena, Lake Erie turned Friday evening inside out with a strange and costly 4-1 loss to Hamilton.

Lake Erie owned an 18-8 shooting edge deep into the second period, but trailed, 2-0. Monsters center Ben Walter continued his hot streak and scored at 15:25 of the second to halve the margin.

Hamilton, one of the league's best third-period teams, scored the clincher on a power play 3:49 into the final frame.

Lake Erie missed a chance to forge a first-place tie in the North Division with Manitoba (90 points), which lost to last-place Rochester. Instead, the Monsters fell to third place, behind second-place Hamilton.

The top three North teams are guaranteed playoff berths, and the fourth team could also qualify. With five games remaining, Lake Erie plays at fourth-place Toronto Saturday. The Monsters saw their eight-game winning streak end Wednesday. They have lost two in a row for the first time since Jan. 22-23.

"You don't want a losing streak at any point in the season, particularly at this time," Lake Erie coach David Quinn said.

Playing far more aggressively than it did in Wednesday's loss to Rockford, Lake Erie out-shot Hamilton, 28-17. Hamilton scored an empty netter with 41 seconds left.

"I thought we played very well tonight," Quinn said. "Tonight was an example of this game is funny when you get bounces and you don't."

Hamilton wing Danny Masse collected a rebound in the crease and pushed the puck past John Grahame's outstretched glove in the first. A crowd blocked Grahame when Olivier Fortier tipped in defenseman Brendon Nash's 60-foot wrist shot at 5:51 of the second for a 2-0 lead.

Walter, who has 15 points in his last 10 games, walked the puck through a cluster and slipped in the back door for the Monster's lone goal. Hamilton's clincher in the third came on a power play. The puck ping-ponged in front of the crease and off defenseman Shawn Belle's skate to Dustin Boyd, who had an open look.

Andray Blatche's 16 offensive rebounds reflected the Cavaliers' woes on the backboards Friday.

View full sizeNick Wass / Associated PressAndray Blatche and the rest of the Washington front line towered over Luke Harangody and the Cavaliers in dominating the boards as the Wizards earned their 19th win of the season Friday night.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For Cavaliers coach Byron Scott it was a numbers game.

"I've got a few numbers on my mind -- 68, 30, 19 and 62," a grim-faced Scott said after the Washington Wizards' 115-107 victory over the Cavaliers on Friday night in Verizon Center.

Then he went into detail about the Wizards' front-line production from Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee and Maurice Evans:

• 68 points.

• 30 rebounds.

• 19 offensive rebounds.

• 62 points in the paint.

"You can't win," Scott said as his Cavs fell to 15-60. "If you don't come with a little bit more of a toughness and a presence in that paint area, you can't win. Blatche and McGee dominated our guys. Period. That's something you can't account for. When we have to change the game plan to double team those guys, you're in trouble.

"We got what we deserved. They were ready to play a lot more than we were tonight."

Blatche, in just his second game back after missing 10 with a strained right shoulder, tied his career high with 36 points and set a career high with 19 rebounds, including an incredible 16 offensive rebounds.

The Cavaliers couldn't get that many offensive rebounds with a ladder. It was a Wizards franchise record, the high in the NBA this season, the most in 14 years and more than doubled Blatche's career high of seven. It also tied the Cavs' franchise opponent record set by Chicago's Charles Oakley on April 22, 1988.

Meanwhile, McGee added 25 points and eight rebounds, while rookie Jordan Crawford, playing the point in place of suspended John Wall, finished with the first triple double of his career -- 21 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, plus two blocked shots, as the Wizards improved to 19-56.

Coupled with earlier triple doubles by Wall and McGee, the Wizards became the first team in NBA history to have two rookies with triple doubles in one season and the first team to have three players with a triple double in one season since the Los Angeles Lakers in 2003-04, when Kobe Byrant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton accomplished the feat.

In short, it was all about the Wizards on Friday.

Scott knew his team was in trouble going in with 7-0 Ryan Hollins and 6-9 J.J. Hickson facing 7-0 McGee and 6-11 Blatche, with 7-footers Yi Jianlian and Hamady N'Diaye coming off the bench. Scott was without 6-9 rookie Samardo Samuels, who missed his third straight game with a sprained right wrist.

But Scott was not willing to concede before the game. He had no choice afterward.

"They just took it to us," he said. "I felt they wanted it a lot more than we did tonight."

Ramon Sessions led the Cavs with 26 points, and Luke Harangody chipped in with 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Hickson added 21 points and 10 rebounds and took the blame for the loss.

"I'll be the first to say a lot of the reason why they got rebounds is my fault," he said. "I was watching the ball and not boxing out. ... I can guarantee it won't happen again."

Harriet Kitay of Solon will never forget a star-studded visit to watch the Indians in 1952.

View full sizeAP file photoThe chance to see Al Rosen in action was a big thrill for 11-year-old Harriet Kitay in 1952.

This spring, we asked readers to tell us their best memory at an Indians game. The five finalists and winner were featured during the week leading up to Opening Day. All season long, The Plain Dealer will publish other fan memories -- one each day the Indians are scheduled to play. Here is Saturday's essay by Harriet Kitay of Solon:

It was a Saturday in the summer of 1952 and Ladies' Day at Cleveland Stadium (all home games on Saturdays were Ladies' Day). We were on the bus (by ourselves -- imagine!) on our way to the Indians game. I was 11 years old and was taking my brother Arnie, who was 6 years old. This was our routine for every Saturday home game. Today was the Cleveland Indians versus the Philadelphia Athletics.

We needed to get there early to catch the players for autographs before practice. Since it was Ladies' Day, the admission was 35 cents for me and 60 cents for Arnie.

I was anxious to get the autograph of my idol, Al Rosen (I was president of a small local fan club). Who were we going to see today? Would this be our lucky day?

As we waited, Bobby Shantz, a pitcher for the A's (1952 MVP and 24-game winner that year) stopped to give us an autograph. Bobby, at 5-foot-6, looked at Arnie, 3-foot-5 (on tiptoes), and said, "Now I feel big." A few minutes later, Luke Easter walked into the group of autograph seekers, picked my brother up on his shoulders and walked us to the front near the entrance. That day, we got the autographs of: Al Rosen, Larry Doby, Bobby Avila, Jim Hegan, Ray Boone, Early Wynn and, of course, Luke and Bobby.

We then went to our seats, upper deck section 19, which was near the press box. On this day, walking by us and stopping to give us autographs were: Jimmy Dudley, Hank Greenberg and Tris Speaker! What a day!

These are memories that we will never forget. Now, 59 years later, the thrill is still there.

Jim Tressel may survive his NCAA violations -- precisely because he is Jim Tressel.

View full sizeLightfoot Law photo"While the violations are very serious, they are not the kind of violations that somebody makes a movie out of," said former NCAA infractions official Gene Marsh.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Although history does not work in his favor, Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel may survive his NCAA violations -- precisely because he is Jim Tressel.

A former chairman of the NCAA Committee on Infractions told The Plain Dealer on Friday that Tressel's positive reputation could help him a great deal when Tressel finally appears before the Committee on Infractions, maybe sometime this summer.

"I think if you have a lifelong good record, that should weigh into how things turn out," said Gene Marsh, a 1978 Ohio State graduate who was member of the infractions committee for nine years, and its chairman from 2004 to 2006. "If it doesn't, then what is the use of living life right?"

Last month, Ohio State announced Tressel's violations and self-imposed penalties, including a five-game suspension and a $250,000 fine. Since then, the relevant questions around Tressel have moved toward whether the violations will cost him his job, and whether the NCAA may punish Ohio State and Tressel far more harshly than they have already punished themselves.

The data back up what has become a common assertion that both the coach and the program could be in trouble.

According to SI.com, since 1989, 78 of 81 coaches and administrators found to have provided false or misleading information to the NCAA lost their jobs, because they quit or were fired. Those 81 violated NCAA bylaw 10.1, which Tressel has admitted to doing by not revealing to his superiors emails he received last spring about two of his players, Terrelle Pryor and DeVier Posey, who sold memorabilia in violation of NCAA rules.

Tressel did, however, share the emails with Ted Sarniak, a mentor of Pryor's in his hometown of Jeannette, Pa.

Marsh, who said he has attended one OSU football game in the last 25 years and has no personal relationship with Tressel, emphasized that precedent does matter. But he spelled out two reasons why Tressel could be viewed more favorably that other 10.1 violators: the nature of the violations he did not report; and the previously solid reputation he built.

Unlike some 10.1 violators, Tressel wasn't lying about or covering up his own act; he was hiding violations committed by his players, a distinction that Marsh said he would find to be important.

"While the violations are very serious, they are not the kind of violations that somebody makes a movie out of," said Marsh, who specializes in NCAA compliance issues with the Alabama law firm of Lightfoot, Franklin & White. "It's not some gigantic academic fraud, it's not some slush fund that a coach was using for paying players. Although they are serious ... I'd say after nine years on the infractions committee, they don't break the bank as far as severity."

Then there is Tressel himself.

Often cited in the past for his values and leadership, Tressel saw his fall from grace exacerbated by who he was: the coach once seen as a saint by some, now lumped in with the rest of the cheaters.

That's not how Marsh expects the committee to see it.

"There are human beings on the enforcement staff and human beings on the committee," Marsh said. "It's not a machine, it's not a calculator. It's folks. In the end, folks take a look at things like a life's work, the inner workings of their entire profile and their character in their life as a coach and in their life as an individual.

"I hope it's the case that we all, if we're sitting in judgment as I did for nine years, weigh in on what is the integrity of the person who may have made a mistake and may have made a big mistake and otherwise is a good person in his life, as opposed to other coaches we know who are like Pigpen in the Peanuts cartoon, that have that cloud that follows them everywhere."

Tressel does have a similar violation in his past at Youngstown State. Also, he had a player, Troy Smith, take $500 from a booster on his watch with the Buckeyes; and several allegations made by former running back Maurice Clarett that were never proven.

Marsh said one player (Smith) taking money one time isn't necessarily viewed as a mark against a coach, and he clearly thinks Tressel will be viewed in a good light.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and Ohio State president Gordon Gee said Tressel's lifelong story mattered to them when he retained his job after the violations were discovered.

Now a former insider, who ruled on these cases for nearly a decade, said it will matter to those Tressel will face.

NCAA president Mark Emmert addressed the issue of integrity in a news conference at the Men's Final Four in Houston on Thursday.

"The single biggest concern that I have among the threats to the collegiate model is simply the threat of integrity," Emmert said. "And when we have people that don't want to conduct themselves consistent with the integrity of these games, we need to be ready to deal with that appropriately."

The Committee on Infractions must balance how Tressel may have aided that integrity in the past, and how he may have sullied that integrity with these actions.

Whatever the decision, whatever the past, Tressel will be more than just a number.

Fausto Carmona made history on Friday in his first opening day start. Unfortunately, it's the kind of history he'd sooner forget.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Fausto Carmona's performance on opening day was bad. We all knew that.

We did not know it was historically bad until Elias Sports Bureau went to work on the numbers. Elias says that the 10 runs, all of them earned, that Carmona allowed in three innings against Chicago on Friday were the most ever allowed by a starting pitcher who threw no more than three innings in his team's first game of the season.

Baseball has been played a long time. The Indians started in 1901, but they're the new kids on the block when compared to the National League. The Cubs and Braves started playing in 1876. The Reds, Pirates and Cardinals joined in 1882. The Giants opened for business in 1883 and the Dodgers in 1884.

So we're talking about a significant amount of time, and a significant amount of opening days, yet no pitcher has ever did what Carmona did on Friday. As a reminder, Carmona allowed 10 runs on 11 hits in three innings. He gave up two in the first, four in the third and combined with Justin Germano to give up eight in the fourth.

"He's a sinker-ball pitcher who was pitching up in the zone," said manager Manny Acta. That's never a good thing, and on Friday it put Carmona in the history books.

One more thing, if you're into irony -- and what Indians fan isn't -- the performance came after the late Bob Feller was honored in a stirring pre-game ceremony at Progressive Field. Feller, who died on Dec. 15, was the best starting pitcher in Indians history.

Opening up the opener: More stuff on the Tribe's 15-10 opening day loss thanks to Elias:

• Chicago 14 runs in the first four innings were the most ever scored in the modern era by a team in its season opener. The modern era starts in 1900. In 1890, in the Players League, Buffalo scored 16 runs in its first four innings against Cleveland in its season opener.

• Chicago's 15 runs were its second-most ever on opening day. They scored 17 in 1951.

• Chicago's eight-run fourth was the most runs its scored in one inning on opening day.

• The 25 combined runs by the White Sox and Indians were the most on opening day since San Diego beat the Giants, 16-13, in 1983.

• Carlos Quentin's five RBI were the second-most by a White Sox on opening day. Minnie Minoso had six in 1951.

• Adam Dunn hit his seventh opening day homer, tied for the second most ever. Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Robinson each have eight. Dunn is tied with Hall of Famers Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays and Babe Ruth.

Traveling men: Grady Sizemore and Joe Smith are expected to play in an exhibition game between Class AA Akron and Class AAA Columbus on Monday in Columbus. They opened the year on the disabled list, but stayed in Goodyear, Ariz., to continue rehab.

Sizemore (left knee) played center field and went 1-for-4 for Class A Kinston on Friday. Smith (strained abdominal muscle) threw a simulated game.

Broken bridge: Chad Durbin and Germano, bullpen bridges between the starters and late relievers, collapsed against Chicago. Germano relieved Carmona in the fourth on Friday with Chicago already leading, 8-0. By the time he ended the inning, the score was 14-0.

In Saturday's 8-3 loss, Durbin relieved Carlos Carrasco in the seventh with two out, one on and the White Sox leading, 6-3. He walked a batter and gave up a two-run double to Quentin to ice the game.

Asked if he was concerned, Acta said, "I feel good about my team. I'm not going to judge my team in two games."

Finally: The Indians released Preston Mattingly on Saturday from minor-league camp. Mattingly is the son of Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. They acquired Mattingly from the Dodgers in September.