Briscoe had a top four-lap qualifying speed of 226.484 mph to Hinchcliffe's 226.481 mph, both running with Chevy power.

View full sizeAJ Mast, Associated PressRyan Briscoe celebrates winning the pole for next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500. He was .003 of a second ahead of James Hinchcliffe.

INDIANAPOLIS -- By a margin closer than a whisper and slimmer than a shadow, Ryan Briscoe sits on the pole for next Sunday's Indianapolis 500 by the record margin of .003 miles per hour.

That tiny margin of victory was the only story that could eclipse the domination of the bow tie during Saturday's qualifying at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Chevrolet, which has used a bow-tie emblem as its logo for nearly 100 years, is back -- and in a big way. Eight of the top nine cars in the field are under Chevrolet power in the manufacturer's first trip to the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway since leaving in 2005.

The distance between Chevy and Honda, the lone engine supplier since 2005 for the Indy Racing League, appears light years behind the separation between Briscoe and the No. 2 man on the grid, James Hinchcliffe of Canada. Briscoe had a top four-lap qualifying speed of 226.484 mph to Hinchcliffe's 226.481 mph, both running with Chevy power. The fastest Honda was seventh on the grid.

"I can't tell you how proud I am to run with the bow tie here," a beaming Briscoe said after qualifying.

The native Australian, 30, and Hinchcliffe were followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay to round out the front row of the 33-car grid. Hinchcliffe made it interesting, bettering Briscoe's speed for the first three laps of his four-lap run. But a final tour around the speedway at 226.137 mph dropped his four-lap average a tick behind Briscoe.

That .003-mph difference was measured by the speedway to be .0023 of a second over the 10-mile run, the equivalent of 9.168 inches.

"Two-two-six, four-eight-four," Hinchcliffe began. "Those numbers will haunt me the rest of my life."

Hinchcliffe's best lap was actually his warm-up lap, at a sizzling 227.009 mph. That did not count. But with Briscoe sitting in the pits, it gave his heart a flutter.

"I said to myself, 'He's going to make four [laps],' " Briscoe said. "It was exciting. I was shaking. I felt like I had the speed to do it again, but I didn't want to."

This capped a day when Chevrolet's season-long dominance was on full display at the expense of the sputtering Hondas. Chevy has won the pole at all five races this season and has won the first four races. Rookie Josef Newgarden qualified his Honda inside the third row, but it was with a disclaimer as the next two Chevys, belonging to Tony Kanaan and EJ Viso, never took a lap in the shootout and were slotted into the eighth and ninth spots.

Hinchcliffe started a 2-3-4 parade of Michael Andretti cars on the grid, with Marco Andretti fourth at 225.456 mph. Briscoe's two Roger Penske teammates, Will Power and Helio Castroneves, slide in next, all badged with the bow tie.

"The Chevy power was just awesome, it really was," Hinchcliffe said. "We're disappointed to miss it by such a slim margin."

He also said the hot warm-up lap could have taken just enough off at the end to keep him from the top spot.

"Could have been," Hinchcliffe said. "One of those freak things. That last lap, the car felt the best I've had it."

Nothing freaky about Penske being up front. This marked the 17th Indy pole for the Shaker Heights native. Those top qualifying efforts have come from 11 drivers, including former Indy winners Castroneves, Rick Mears and Mario Andretti, among others.

A hint of the upcoming action came early as the 8 a.m. practice session included a pair of hot laps from former Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves. One lap after posting the fastest lap of the month at 227.555 mph, he topped that with another even better circuit around the 2.5-mile oval at 227.774 mph.

It was a clear signal he had visions of being among the nine fastest drivers in the late-day shootout for the pole, even with some tenuous moments ahead.

And after a week of clean driving, several drivers pushing the envelope found the wall instead. With limited parts for equipment, any wall-banger is considered critical, but all three drivers were immediately checked and cleared to drive. The first eight rows were filled, 24 drivers, before the 90-minute shootout, and the benchmark was set pretty quickly.

Marco Andretti set the stage, going first and posting a four-lap average speed of 225.456 mph. But the Indy icon, Penske, sent Briscoe out next to shoot that down with ease. Briscoe, who did not waste a hot run on his warm-up, went consistently between 226.621 mph and 226.334 mph for his four laps.

"The last lap won it for me," Briscoe said.

When his teammate, four-time Indy pole-sitter Castroneves, followed and could not come close to that number, Briscoe was clearly the man to beat.

While it was not the best day for Honda, it was not by itself.

No Lotus, the third engine competing at Indy, made the first-day cut. But the low power engine looks to get at least some help from the Indy Racing League powers that be. For Chevrolet and Honda, the extra turbo boost given to them to enhance qualifying will be taken away for the race. However, Lotus might be allowed to keep the extra boost for race day, seeing as these engines are between 6 mph and 14 mph slower than their competitors.

"We're monitoring right now, the various pace of all the competitors and deciding whether or not to [allow Lotus the boost]," IRL vice president of technology Will Phillips told the Indianapolis Star. "From a safety standpoint, we'll do anything we need to do."

The uncertain status of the Orlando big man earns this week's top question to our Cavaliers beat writer.

View full sizeLonnie Timmons, The Plain DealerDwight Howard wearing wine and gold instead of Orlando blue appeals to at least one Cavaliers fan, but Mary Schmitt Boyer advises against too much off-season daydreaming.

Hey, Mary: What are the chances the Cavs try to trade Anderson Varejao and maybe the Lakers' first rounder and a second-round pick and rent Dwight Howard for a year and try and convince him to stay with Kyrie Irving?

When LeBron James left, Dwight said what a great basketball city Cleveland was with great fans. We would have solid starting five with Kyrie, (draft pick) Bradley Beal, Alonzo Gee, Tristan Thompson and Howard or we could bring Thompson off the bench and sign a stretch. -- Ken Dieckhoner, Brooklyn, Ohio

Hey, Ken: While I admire your optimism, I am 100 percent certain there is no chance of this happening. First of all, I don't think that would be enough to get Howard. Second, the Cavs have worked hard to acquire their assets and aren't going to gamble them away and risk the chance of being left with nothing. Third, I think it has been proven that Howard will say anything. I'm not sure he knows what he wants, but I'm quite sure he doesn't want anything to do with a team that's rebuilding, although acquiring him certainly speeds up the rebuilding process.

-- Mary

LaPorta belts 13th homer in Columbus loss, Carolina can't hold lead vs. Potomac, Captains twirls two-hitter, but fall to Lansing, Crushers drop second straight to Schaumburg.

AA Akron Aeros

Aeros 15, Flying Squirrels 5: RF Thomas Neal (.291) had four runs batted in, SS Juan Diaz (.240) had three RBI and they were two of five players for host Akron who had three hits in an Eastern League victory against Richmond (Va.). LF Ben Copeland (.170), DH Adam Abraham (.275) and 1B Chun-Hsiu Chen (.324) also had three hits each for the Aeros. Copeland doubled twice and scored four runs. Akron LHP Giovanni Soto (4-2, 4.10) allowed one run in 51/3 innings.

AAA Columbus Clippers

Yankees 8, Clippers 6: 1B Matt LaPorta (.328) hit his 13th homer of the season, but Chris Ray (0-3, 2.79 ERA) blew a save chance for the second time and host Columbus lost to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) in International League play Saturday. LaPorta has 28 RBI. 3B Lonnie Chisenhall (.337), DH Russ Canzler (.273) and RF Chad Huffman (.260) each had two hits for the Clippers. SS Jason Donald (.350) had a double, an RBI and scored a run. LF Jared Goedert (.286) went 0-for-4.

Advanced A Carolina Mudcats

Nationals 6, Mudcats 5: RHP Jose Flores' first blown save of the season allowed host Potomac (Va.) to walk off with a Carolina League win against Carolina. Flores (0-1, 1.47), who has seven saves, gave up two runs -- one earned -- in of an inning. CF Tyler Holt (.310) tripled, singled and scored a run for the Mudcats. LHP Francisco Jimenez (3.05) allowed four runs in five innings.

A Lake County Captains

Lugnuts 2, Captains 1: Right-handers Joseph Colon, Mason Radeke and Cole Cook combined on a two-hitter, but host Lake County lost to Lansing (Mich.) in Midwest League play. Colon (4-4, 2.92) allowed two unearned runs, two hits and one walk in six innings. He struck out two. Radeke (3.43) gave up three walks and struck out three in two innings. Cook (4.01) hurled a scoreless ninth. LF Todd Hankins (.221) drove in a run for the Captains, and RF Jordan Smith (.272) and C Alex Monsalve (.236) each had two hits.

Independent Lake Erie Crushers

Boomers 6, Crushers 2: 1B Jason Taylor (.500) and DH Russell Moldenhauer (.143) both homered, but host Lake Erie lost a Frontier League game against Schaumburg (Ill.).

The Gladiators (6-3) have won three straight. They never trailed in avenging a 69-48 loss at Tampa Bay on April 13.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Gladiators typically talk enough trash to fill dumpsters in the bowels of arenas. Saturday night against Tampa Bay, there were not enough plays in the game for the Gladiators -- specifically, their defensive backs -- to get in all they needed to say.

The Gladiators backed up the non-stop smack with a solid performance, racing to a 14-point lead in the first quarter and cruising to a 53-34 victory at The Q. The Gladiators (6-3) have won three straight. They never trailed in avenging a 69-48 loss at Tampa Bay on April 13.

The Storm slipped to 5-5 overall, 0-5 on the road. Its defeat would have been even more decisive if not for a kickoff return for touchdown as the final horn sounded.

During pregame warmups, several players from both teams got together to exchange unpleasantries. The intensity -- and animosity -- remained high until postgame handshakes.

"They came in with a lot of confidence after beating us," defensive back Joe Phinisee said. "They were talking before the game. They set the tone, and we had to finish it. When somebody beats you, you've got to come back with a chip on your shoulder."

Phinisee and his top-ranked scoring defense held Tampa Bay to a season-low for points. Storm quarterbacks Stephen Wasil and Matt Grothe combined to complete 20 of 39 passes for 206 yards.

The Gladiators scored on the game's opening drive, quarterback John Dutton connecting with Thyron Lewis from 10 yards. On the ensuing possession, Tampa Bay moved deep into Cleveland territory but came away with nothing after a field-goal attempt went begging.

Dominick Goodman's one-yard run made it 14-0 late in the first quarter.

Tampa Bay pulled within a touchdown when Prechae Rodriguez caught a nine-yard pass from Wasil early in the second quarter. The Gladiators answered with a one-yard run from Jeramie Richardson. In a victory last weekend in Milwaukee, Richardson rushed for three TDs and recovered a blocked field goal in the end zone.

The Storm never got closer than seven, at 20-13 late in the second. Trailing, 27-13, in the final minute of the half, the Storm threatened the end zone but came up short on an untimed down.

The Gladiators held a 33-13 advantage after Robert Redd's 10-yard reception. Grothe replaced Wasil and immediately threw an interception. Levy Brown's pick turned into six points for Cleveland when Dutton found Redd from five yards.

The Storm made matters mildly interesting late in the fourth, pulling within 39-27. But the Gladiators scored the next 14.

"In Tampa, we didn't play our best," Gladiators coach Steve Thonn said. "The difference this time was, we took care of the football. We sustained drives and didn't turn the ball over."

Dutton finished 22-of-41 for 254 yards and five touchdowns. Goodman caught 10 passes for 129 yards and one touchdown; Goodman has at least one TD catch in eight straight games.

Redd had five receptions for 45 yards and two TDs. His TD reception streak is 12, including postseason.

On Twitter: @dmansworldpd

Jimmie Johnson joins Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon as the only three-time winners of NASCAR's All-Star race.

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — It's not often a race car driver intentionally cruises slowly at the back of the field.

Jimmie Johnson did it for roughly 60 laps Saturday night, and it earned him a cool $1 million payday.

Johnson used a calculated strategy — he drove hard for the first and last segments, and coasted for the three in between — to join Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon as the only three-time winners of NASCAR's All-Star race.

The five-time champion won the first 20-lap segment of the Sprint All-Star race, then deliberately faded to the back for the next three 20-lap segments at Charlotte Motor Speedway. His plan was to keep the No. 48 Chevrolet out of trouble, then make his play for the win in the fifth and final segment.

"We did a strategy that we thought was best for our team," he said.

It certainly was, even if it was the antithesis of what race car drivers do for a living.

But it worked for this year's new format, which guaranteed the winners of the first four segments would be the first four drivers down pit road for a mandatory stop before the 10-lap sprint to the finish. Johnson's win in the first segment meant he was guaranteed to be the first driver down pit road, and he had the first stall — the reward for his Hendrick Motorsports team winning Thursday night's Pit Crew Competition.

His race, after winning that first segment, was simply to beat everyone else off pit road. Johnson raced Matt Kenseth down the lane, and edged him across the line.

He then needed a clean and quick restart, which he executed to perfection, to pull away for the win. This win comes a week after his Darlington Raceway victory gave Hendrick Motorsports its 200th Cup win.

"Man, I don't want this week to end," Johnson said.

He celebrated by picking up team owner Rick Hendrick, who climbed halfway through the window of the Chevrolet for Johnson's celebratory lap. It was Hendrick's seventh All-Star race win.

"He said come pick me up, and once I got to him, he didn't want the ride," Johnson said. "I'm like, 'No, no, I came to get you, Get on the car.' It was great to take him around."

It didn't look very comfortable — or safe.

"That was the dumbest thing I've ever done in racing," Hendrick said. "I thought I was going to be a busted watermelon."

Brad Keselowski, winner of the third segment, had no chance to catch Johnson over the closing 10 laps. The final segment was the shortest by 10 laps, but Keselowski didn't think it mattered.

"I don't think it was going to make a difference if it was a hundred laps at the end; Jimmie was just that fast," Keselowski said. "You can't really steal any of his thunder on that. I was doing all I could to get by, but wasn't meant to be."

But Keselowski, who won the third segment, wasn't all that disappointed.

"It's all about the restart," Keselowski said. "The high line on the restart just wouldn't go. I don't know if I would have been able to do anything, but I would have liked another shot. We got beat by a five-time champ and two-time All-Star winner, so I think we're doing pretty good. We didn't have enough to pull it off."

Kenseth, winner of the second segment, finished third. He had some tense moments after teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle had engine failures — Biffle's exploded into a giant fireball — and initially wasn't all that comfortable following Johnson's lead of running around the back until the final 10 laps.

"I watched what the 48 did. They won the first one, so they didn't race until the last 10," Kenseth said. "They seem to know what they're doing, pretty smart. We watched that, kind of hung back. There wasn't any reward for racing up through there. You knew you were coming on pit road second."

And after losing the race off pit road to Johnson, and the restart, too, Kenseth knew he couldn't catch the winner. It was Kenseth's fifth top-five finish in 12 All-Star races.

"For me, you got somebody as fast as him out front, there was no way I was going to have a shot in 10 laps," Kenseth said. "Ten laps is kind of short, but yet the fastest car was out front. It was hard to beat that."

Kyle Busch finished fourth and was followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the fourth segment and advanced into the All-Star race by winning the qualifying race earlier Saturday night. Busch, the pole-sitter, wasn't surprised by the finishing order.

"It was exactly like everybody thought it would be; Anybody who wins the first segment will win the race," Busch said.

What factors are causing the profusion of prodigies among NBA players?

View full sizeScott Shaw, The Plain DealerRookie of the Year Kyrie Irving is just the latest example of precocious talent able to perform at a high level immediately in the NBA.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Kyrie Irving won the Rookie of the Year award with the Cavaliers this season after only playing 11 college games. By doing so, he was a distant mirror of man-child prodigy LeBron James in his first year. James won the same award straight out of high school.

James easily beat Carmelo Anthony for his ROY award. Anthony had spent one season at Syracuse, where he was occupied with leading the Orange to the national championship.

Anthony Davis of Kentucky, who turned 19 as March Madness was just starting to gear up, was the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four for the champion Wildcats and will be the first player taken in the NBA Draft. Kevin Durant spent one season at Texas, was the national Player of the Year, and just won the NBA scoring championship for the third straight year for Oklahoma City, which is one of the favorites to win it all.

It was not ever thus in the NBA, however. There was a time when players went to college, some for four years, like Larry Bird. Even when Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant entered the league straight out of high school in the 1990s, it took them some time to mesh their competitive gears.

Is NBA basketball too easy? Can't be, can it? But the promise of excellence comes at such a young age in the NBA. Major league baseball requires too many learned skills to foster prodigies, except for strong-armed pitchers. The NFL is too punishing for teen-agers or even college underclassmen.

"For whatever reason, if you're talented at 18 or 19 years old and in some cases, like LeBron was just so much bigger and stronger than most guys at his level in high school, you can come up here and in a couple of years be pretty successful," said Cavs coach Byron Scott.

What causes this profusion of prodigies -- nature or nurture?

The best of the young marvels seem to have one physical trait in common -- quickness. It can be shown in crossovers (Irving), or quick jumping (the young Moses Malone), or baseline-to-baseline acceleration (former No. 1 pick John Wall, a Rookie of the Year runner-up), or simply as a surprising component in a tight end's body (James).

Red Auerbach always said basketball was a game of quickness more than size. It was an astute observation. Quickness can be incrementally improved, but there are limits because genetic inheritance is a big component of quickness. That's the nature argument.

The gene labeled ACTN3, the so-called speed gene, is one of the most thoroughly studied performance genes. All people have two copies of that gene, each of which comes in one of two variants. One of them leads the body to produce alpha-actinin-3, a protein found only in fast-twitch muscle fibers. These are the fibers that contract rapidly and violently and allow, say, the Clippers' Blake Griffin to be explosive at the rim.

Nurture means the player's personal experiences, the environment in which he grew up.

Sometimes, it seems to be a matter of the loneliness of the long-distance shooter. World B. Free came to have cat's eyes as a boy, playing into the night, alone, on playgrounds in Brooklyn. In Gary, Ind., so did Dick Barnett, the backcourt mate of Walt Frazier on the famous 1970 New York Knciks championship team.

"I always loved basketball," Jerry West once said, "because it was a game a boy could play by himself."

A player who puts in the time, even in solitary practice in basketball, given serviceable mechanics, will improve.

At the same time, basketball is a team sport. It sometimes seem to a takes a village to make -- or break -- a player. "The good players all play year-round in AAU ball," said former Cavs general manager Wayne Embry, now a consultant with the Toronto Raptors.

Team-stacking and amassing one's stats often thrive in AAU leagues. What each player takes away from the experience depends on what he brought to it. It's better if it's not just his posse. "It's always good if their parenting is stable," said Embry.

Kyrie Irving was raised by his widowed father, Drederick, who was a strong male role model. Kyrie also was exposed to the discipline of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski for a single injury-shortened season.

Any education is good. So is any discipline. The former informs decision-making and the latter shapes character. Some teams don't examine such things as closely as raw young talent, as the Cavaliers' prodigies then and now show. Maybe they should.

On Twitter: @LivyPD

Justin Meram, making his first MLS start, scored for Columbus in the first half.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Alan Gordon scored in the 90th minute to give the San Jose Earthquakes a 1-1 tie with the Columbus Crew on Saturday night.

Gordon scored for the third time this season, connecting six days after he scored San Jose's only goal in a 1-1 tie with Chivas USA. He came off the bench in the second half to score both goals.

Gordon took a pass in the center of the box from Chris Wondolowski and sent a shot than went off the crossbar. Gordon got the rebound and beat goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum with a shot to the right corner.

Columbus' Justin Meram, making his first MLS start, scored during stoppage time in the first half.

Meram took a pass in the left side of the box from midfielder Tony Tchani and curved a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Jon Busch and into the top right corner of the net.

Busch, who played his first five MLS seasons for Columbus, hadn't allowed a goal against his former team in three previous games before Saturday.

The goal was Meram's second of his career, coming a week after he scored the Crew's first goal in a 2-1 comeback victory over FC Dallas. Meram had the Crew's only shot on goal against San Jose.

San Jose is 7-2-3, and Columbus 3-4-3.

Wondolowski, who leads the MLS in goals with 11, failed to score for the second straight game, the first time that's happened this season.

San Jose dominated the first half everywhere but on the scoreboard. The Earthquakes had six shots on goal to just one for the Crew and launched 17 total attempts to only three for Columbus.

Gruenebaum made a handful of spectacular saves in the first half.

In the 22nd minute, Wondolowski lined up for a penalty kick after Crew midfielder Eric Gehrig took down San Jose forward Steven Lenhart from behind in the box on a breakaway.

Wondolowski ripped a right-footed shot toward the right corner, but Guenebaum made a diving save. Seconds later, Gruenebaum made another diving save, this one on Lenhart's header from the center of the box after a crossing pass from Rafael Baca.

In a race that was a virtual repeat of the Kentucky Derby, I'll Have Another raced from behind Saturday to beat the pace-setter.

View full sizeMike Stewart, Associated PressI'll Have Another (9) took a second step toward the first Triple Crown championship since 1978 by nosing out Bodemeister at the Pimlico finish line in Saturday's Preakness Stakes.

BALTIMORE -- I'll Have Another waited a little longer to catch Bodemeister in the stretch this time, and now that he's done it twice in a row it's time for a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes.

With a breathtaking closing rush, the smooth-striding colt won the Preakness Stakes by a neck at Pimlico Race Course on a sunny Saturday, a nail-biter of a finish that topped his win two weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby.

The race unfolded the same way as the Derby, with the speedy Bodemeister moving to the lead under Mike Smith, with I'll Have Another hanging back in fourth in the 11-horse field. The early fractions were slower than the Derby, but when it came time for Bodemeister to hang on, I'll Have Another found another gear under young jockey Mario Gutierrez and ran down trainer Bob Baffert's horse in the shadow of the wire.

"We're thinking Triple Crown, baby," an elated trainer Doug O'Neill said. "He's a special horse. We'll see how he comes out of it, and if he comes out of it in good shape, we're heading to New York, baby."

It's been 34 years since Affirmed swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont and became the 11th and most recent Triple Crown champion. Since then, 11 horses have won the first two legs only to come up short in the Belmont. The most recent try came in 2008, when Big Brown was pulled up around the turn for home and did not finish. Before that, Smarty Jones was run down in the final 70 yards by Birdstone in the 2004 Belmont.

With the two victories thrusting the colorful and controversial O'Neill squarely into the limelight, scrutiny is sure to intensify about his violations for giving his horses improper drugs. He was fined $1,000 and suspended 15 days in one incident. He is contesting another.

"We know we play by the rules," O'Neill said. "It's all about the horse, and we're just going to focus on the horse."

If margins are an indication, perhaps I'll Have Another has a Triple Crown in his future. Affirmed won the Derby by the identical 11/2 lengths over Alydar, and then beat his rival by the same neck margin in the Preakness.

"I didn't feel confident we were going to get there until 10 yards from the wire," owner J. Paul Reddam said.

I'll Have Another, sent off as the second choice at 3-1 over 8-5 favorite Bodemeister, covered the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.94. The winner returned $8.40, $3.80 and $2.80. Bodemeister returned $3.20 and $2.80, and Creative Cause paid $3.60 to show.

Creative Cause was third, 83/4 lengths behind hard-luck runner-up Bodemeister, followed by Zetterholm, Teeth of the Dog, Optimizer, Cozzetti, Tiger Walk, Daddy Nose Best, Went the Day Well and Pretension.

Baffert, a five-time Preakness winner, thought his colt -- named for his 7-year-old son, Bode -- could pull off the win.

"I felt really good about where he was," Baffert said. "I really thought he was going to do it. The winner is a good horse. He should get the respect now that he deserves."

The chestnut colt has never been favored in any of his seven races, but won five of them along with $2,693,600 after he was purchased by Reddam for $35,000 on the advice of O'Neill's brother, Dennis.

"He showed he's the real deal. He's a real race horse. He gutted it out," Reddam said. "The other horse was not stopping. He ran a bang-up race, to come and catch him, how can you criticize that? For those who have followed the horse and bet on him, that's been pretty rewarding. I don't know if that will be the case next time, though.

Gutierrez, who was riding at Hastings Park in Western Canada until showing up in California last winter, displayed the calm and cunning of a veteran.

"It's not me, it's him. It's all about the horse," the 25-year-old jockey from Mexico said. "He just keeps proving people wrong. I'm so happy for him because he's such a great horse. He has a tremendous kick in the end."

Sure, Brandon Weeden could do something to not be the Browns' starting QB in 2012, but there's nothing to indicate any issues so far.

View full sizeJohn Kuntz, The Plain DealerPat Shurmur (left) and the Browns are taking pains not to publicly anoint Brandon Weeden as the starting quarterback for 2012, but that doesn't change the reality of the situation, says Terry Pluto.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Minicamp is over, veteran camp hasn't begun, so we're talkin' ...

About the Browns and the QB competition ...

1. The Browns can call the set up of Brandon Weeden and Colt McCoy a competition. But it's not like 2009 when Eric Mangini had his staff counting preseason snaps to make sure Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson each had a fair chance. The Browns don't want to anoint Weeden the immediate starter simply because he was picked No. 22, or because he had a strong rookie weekend.

2. Weeden indeed was superb in rookie camp. One Browns football man told me, "He wasn't just accurate, he was ridiculously accurate. And his arm is strong." They had him under center more than 90 percent of the time. He had "zero" problems making the adjustment from the shotgun, which he used at Oklahoma State most of the time. Maybe this will change once people are being rushed and tackled, but the Browns went into rookie weekend with high expectations -- and Weeden exceeded them.

3. Weeden has the job to lose, even though the Browns don't say it. Can he lose it? Of course. He can gain 20 pounds. He can cop an attitude and stop working hard. He can act like a jerk around coaches and teammates. While the Browns would be shocked if that happened, they want to guard against it.

4. Also, the Browns want to let the veterans see both McCoy and Weeden in practice and scrimmages. Veterans need to realize the rookie has more talent so they can buy in, especially when it comes to quarterbacks. Weeden is bigger, stronger and throws a better ball than McCoy. That will be obvious. The players say NFL stands for Not For Long, and they want to win now. They will support anyone who helps them do that and make more money in the process.

5. The real issue is not "Have the Browns been fair to Colt? Wouldn't Colt be better with Trent Richardson and all the new players?" Of course having Richardson and improved blocking will help any quarterback. But the real question is, "What quarterback makes the team better -- Weeden or McCoy?"

6. While it's not all McCoy's fault, the Browns were 6-15 with him starting the last two years. This is not Bernie Kosar being benched after years of success. Teams with quarterbacks such as McCoy are usually looking for someone else to be that impact player behind center. The Browns are determined to learn if Weeden can be that guy.

7. Is McCoy a viable quarterback? Of course. He may play 10 years in the NFL, and have some periods where he starts. But his lack of size and history of injuries means durability is an issue. He was hurt in the title game for Texas, and injured in his first two years with the Browns. McCoy was emotionally and physically beat up by the end of last season. If he is your starter, you'll need a good backup.

8. Maybe the Browns will trade McCoy, but they seem in no hurry to do so. They like the idea of depth at quarterback, and assume McCoy will continue have a good attitude and work ethic. Also, quarterbacks in Cleveland get hurt. Only once (Tim Couch in 2001) has the same quarterback started all 16 games since the team returned in 1999.

About the Browns ...

View full sizeJohn Kuntz, The Plain DealerThe Browns are hoping Mitchell Schwartz is the final piece to a cohesive offensive line.

1. They believe second-rounder Mitchell Schwartz will solve the right tackle spot, and fifth-rounder Ryan Miller can add depth at right tackle and guard. Both rookie linemen looked very promising. Between starting 51 games at California (35 at left tackle, 16 at right tackle) and having an older brother (Geoff Schwartz) in the NFL, Schwartz impressed as a guy ready to start. Some scouting services had him ranked as the top right tackle in the draft.

2. Suddenly, the top six offensive linemen are all 27 or younger -- Joe Thomas being the oldest. The key will be how fast this young line can blend. The good news is the Browns will be adding Schwartz to four others who started last season -- center Alex Mack, guards Shawn Lauvao and Jason Pinkston and Thomas at left tackle. Veterans John Greco (27) and Oniel Cousins (27) and the 22-year-old Miller are the backups.

3. Everyone knew Travis Benjamin was fast, but team officials were impressed by the receiver's hands. The fourth-rounder from Miami has a chance to play a lot, if his 172-pound frame can handle the physical part of the game.

4. Trent Richardson can't show his real stuff as a runner until tackling begins, but the Browns were extremely pleased with how he caught the ball. The running back in the West Coast offense needs to serve as a receiver, and the Browns want to keep Richardson on the field for most of the game.

5. The Browns are anxious to see Emmanuel Stephens, who beat out Jayme Mitchell for the starting spot at defensive end in Game 9 and had three starts before being injured. They think he brings depth to the line at defensive end. It seems the Browns are set there with Frostee Rucker, Juqua Parker and Jabaal Sheard, but they want depth.

6. Linemen do get hurt, as happened to Phil Taylor (pectoral injury). Maybe he will come back this season, maybe not. But the Browns can't count on him. They have Ahtyba Rubin at one tackle. They will look at rookies John Hughes and Billy Winn along with veterans Scott Paxson, Brian Shaefering and possibly Brian Stanford. They also plan to alternate players on the line more often this season than a year ago.

7. Pat Shurmur was excited by the performance of his coaching staff, especially adding Brad Childress. They will formulate game plans together. Childress will run offensive meetings. They say they will work on the play-calling together, Childress in the press box with Shurmur on the field. It seems Childress will often suggest plays with Shurmur making the final call.

About the NBA ...

I'd love to see the San Antonio Spurs win the NBA title.

I'd love it because Tim Duncan has spent his entire 14-year career with the Spurs. Duncan is from the Virgin Islands.

I'd love it because Tony Parker has spent all 10 of his pro seasons with the Spurs. Parker is from France.

I'd love it because Manu Ginobili has spent all nine years of his pro career with the Spurs. Ginobili is from Argentina.

I love that this Big Three came together from three different spots on the globe -- and stayed together in San Antonio, the NBA's second smallest market. I love that Duncan will be after his fifth championship ring. His last was in 2007, when the Spurs beat the Cavs. Duncan, who also stayed all four years at Wake Forest, is now in his 14th year in San Antonio.

I love that these stars in a small market have hung together through some lean times -- they lost in the first round in 2009 and 2011. They have not been to the Finals since 2007, but they have kept Gregg Popovich as coach since 1996.

Just as it was gratifying to see Dirk Nowitzki win his first title after 13 years with Dallas in 2011, it would be great to see the Spurs or several other teams that stay together knock off Miami and its quick fix approach to a title.

About the Indians ...

View full sizeChuck Crow, The Plain DealerJohnny Damon's "spring training" has just about been completed for the Indians, who desperately need some production from left field.

1. The team believes the next few weeks will reveal much about Johnny Damon. He entered the weekend with 54 official at bats along with nine walks. Manager Manny Acta said most players receive about 60 at bats in spring training. At 38, Damon is trying to play the game the hard way -- with no spring training, and with a new team.

2. Baseball is unforgiving for almost every hitter at some point. Just ask Albert Pujols (.214, .573 OPS, 3 HR) as the future Hall of Famer struggles with the Angels -- and he went to spring training. Damon entered Saturday hitting .167 (.481 OPS) with only one double and one triple in 15 games.Damon has not hit the ball hard, and left field has been a battle after spending the last two years mostly as a DH.

3. Shelley Duncan also is struggling, hitting .198 with 3 HR and 10 RBI in 98 at-bats. Part of it is losing time to Damon, and the other part is his swing is very long and slow right now. He's 3-of-25 in May.

4. Some fans have wondered about Matt LaPorta as a left field option. He's hitting .333 with 11 homers and 25 RBI at Class AAA. But you need to look a little deeper. LaPorta is hitting .387 with 9 HR and 21 RBI in 75 at-bats in Columbus. But on the road, it's .255 with 1 HR and 4 RBI in 57 at-bats. Columbus is a notorious hitters' paradise. He also is batting only .260 with 4 HR and 10 RBI in May.

5. In other words, left field remains a problem unless someone (Duncan or Damon) starts to hit. Or unless LaPorta puts together another hot streak and the Indians are desperate enough to try him again. So far, things are going well for Grady Sizemore's return from back surgery. But he may face the same challenges as Damon -- trying to start over as the season is moving along at top speed.

6. The Indians really hope Casey Kotchman has figured it out at the plate. After hitting .149 (.494 OPS) in April, he's at .283 (.776 OPS) in May. They love his defense and want to keep him in the lineup. But he has to do more than hit .208.

7. The Tribe needs Zach McAllister to continue pitching reasonably well because all the starting depth they thought they had at Columbus -- well, there are problems. Kevin Slowey is 3-3 with a 5.14 ERA, not looking much better than the guy who was 0-8 with a 6.67 ERA with the Twins last season. David Huff (1-1, 3.52 ERA) has been bothered on and off by his spring hamstring injury and has pitched only three games. Scott Barnes (0-2, 4.44 ERA) has some minor arm problems. Now healthy, Barnes has been moved to the bullpen.

8. The good news is the team is extremely pleased with Nick Hagadone because the lefty reliever throws hard enough to be effective against all types of hitters. He has shown the ability to throw more than one inning, something they also need.

Derek Lowe is almost 39 years old, and his 6-1 start to this season wasn't exactly expected. But Lowe has never acted his age. Why start now?

View full sizeChuck Crow, The Plain Dealer"If you play a long time, you're going to have good years, bad years, some in-between," says Indians pitcher Derek Lowe, who goes for his seventh win of the season today against Miami. "I think there's not always an answer when you have a bad year."

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Every time grainy images from long ago flash on a screen somewhere, whenever there are black-and-white photos of serious players with baggy, high-waisted pants or references to Abner Doubleday and the beginning of time, someone in the Tribe clubhouse inevitably speaks up.

"Hey, D.Lo, how'd you like playing for those teams?"

Derek Lowe laughs right along with his Indians teammates. What else can he do? The right-hander turns 39 in less than two weeks, and that makes him old enough to know when to take some good-natured teasing. He gets it. He's old.

In his 16th big-league season, having served every role from ace to closer to setup man, Lowe is experienced enough to know, too, that his 6-1 start this season is pretty special. Given his 0-5 finish in 2011 with the Atlanta Braves, it's especially gratifying.

But Lowe also is quick to put the victories -- which included a complete-game shutout in his most recent start -- and his awful finish with the Braves into perspective.

"No one remembers what you do in April or May," Lowe said last week. "Everyone remembers from August 15 on. You just try to stay afloat until then, you just try to stay in it one way or another. The last six weeks is where the fun begins."

Such thoughtful wisdom from someone who helped the Boston Red Sox capture the 2004 World Series is to be expected. But such masterful pitching from someone who is so old?

Let's just say Lowe never has acted his age.

One of the loudest and most loquacious players in the clubhouse, he's the first to burst into song when a quiet moment hits the room, and immediately elbowing his 6-6 frame into the fray when a teammate shows off a new toy helicopter in need of flight testing.

While in Boston -- and even long after he left -- Lowe was a mainstay in newspaper gossip columns. He's been labeled a "party boy." Stories of stepping behind a Boston bar to bartend and launching into a pub crawl just outside Fenway Park are legendary. So, too, are salacious details of his divorce from Trinka after news of his affair with a Los Angeles Fox Sports Net reporter, Carolyn Hughes, surfaced. Lowe and Hughes married in 2008, but the beginning of their relationship is the part that is recounted most often.

Adding to his bad-boy image, in April 2011, Lowe was arrested in Atlanta on drunk-driving charges -- though the charges were dismissed a month later. But his year got worse on the field when his 5.05 ERA was the second-highest of his career.

Lowe is quick to remind people that the worst statistical year of his career actually came in 2004, when he was 14-12 with a 5.42 ERA. But everyone forgets the bad parts of that season since Lowe was 3-0 in the playoffs, with victories coming in the deciding game of each series.

"If you play a long time, you're going to have good years, bad years, some in-between," Lowe said. "I think there's not always an answer when you have a bad year. I think people want answers, and say: 'What happened? Was it this, or this?' Whereas, if you don't have a bad year, you're in Cooperstown. And I'm obviously not going to go there, so I'm in the clump. You're going to have a wide spectrum when you play a long time. That's how I took last year."

But he also took last year to heart, taking off only two weeks in the off-season before launching into a conditioning program aimed at helping him maintain his weight (which last season was 15 pounds below his current 230, he said) and work on mechanics that would revive his sinkerball. The sinker has been Lowe's career go-to pitch, but last season it was so unreliable that he estimates he threw it for only 40 percent of his pitches.

Now, after months of working on his release and strength, he's back to throwing the sinker 80 to 90 percent of the time.

Highlights from Lowe's shutout of Twins

"The commitment he made over the winter to his conditioning was exceptional," said Tribe pitching coach Scott Radinsky. "He really put the time in, and you can see the results physically. That enables him to repeat his delivery, which is something he did work on. He just put himself in a better spot. He's creating a little bit better angle, coming over the top of the ball instead of flying off and spinning around and flapping. And he got back to using his sinker."

The sinker has helped Lowe achieve the highest rate of ground balls -- 65.4 percent -- among MLB starters this season. He also has induced 10 ground-ball double plays, which nearly equals his strikeout total of 13.

"If all goes well, I should get to 40 by the end of the year," Lowe joked of his paltry strikeout tally.

True to form, Lowe had no strikeouts in his 127-pitch, 5-0 victory over Minnesota in his most recent start. The shutout was the fourth of his career, and Tribe manager Manny Acta gave Lowe the option of staying in the game to complete it, in part because he knew Lowe was fit enough for the extra pitches not to be a factor. Lowe, who never has been on the disabled list, chose to stay.

"He works as hard as anybody," Acta said. "You'd be amazed by what he does between starts with his preparation. Age, to me, is just a number with him. He's never been a power pitcher, so what he does is he gets ground balls with his sinker, and that's what he's doing. A case like him, a guy who prepares himself the way he does, age is not such a factor."

So when the grainy images surface and teammates tease Lowe about his old-man status, he will laugh right with them. He knows something they don't, something that comes only with the wisdom of age.

"I believe in the body of work I've had my whole career," Lowe said. "I never looked at last year as, 'God, my stuff is diminishing.' And it will at some point where you have to have that heart-to-heart talk and say, 'It may be time to start golfing more.' But I didn't feel that way. My velocity is the same as it was 10 to 12 years ago. There's been no dip.

"I've never played the game to try to prove anybody right or wrong. You have to be self-motivated, and you have to be honest with yourself. [Last year], did I do everything I possibly could? And I had to answer myself, 'No.' So you try to change it and fix it, and here we are."

After all, why should he start acting his age now?

The Cleveland Indians wrap up their three-game series with Miami today.

Chuck Crow/The Plain DealerCleveland Indians Shin-Soo Choo gets congrats from manager Manny Acta.

SUNDAY



</1908c>Auto racing 

</sgraf>IRL: IndyCar, Indianapolis 500 Bump

Day, noon, NBC Sports Network 

<va2>NASCAR: Nationwide Series, Pioneer

Hi-Bred 250, 2, ESPN 

<va2>ARCA: Menards 200, 2, Speed 

<va2>NHRA: Summernationals, 7 (tape),

ESPN2 



<va3></1908c>Baseball 

</sgraf>Indians vs. Miami, 1:05, SportsTime

Ohio and WKYC Ch. 3 

Boston at Philadelphia, 1:30, TBS 

Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs, 2,

WGN 

St. Louis at L.A. Dodgers, 8, ESPN 



<va3></1908c>College softball playoffs 

</sgraf>NCAA Division I regionals: Game 6, 1,

ESPN 

Game 7 (if necessary), 3:30, ESPN2 



<va3></1908c>Cycling 

</sgraf>Tour of California: Final stage, Beverly

Hills, Calif., to Los Angeles, 6:30

(tape), NBC Sports Network 



<va3></1908c>Golf 

</sgraf>European PGA Tour: Volvo World

Match Play, semifinal and

championship matches, 7 a.m., Golf

Channel 

||ýPage=002 Column=003 OK,0003.04þ||

<va2>Nationwide Tour: BMW Charity Pro-

Am, final round, 2, Golf Channel 

<va2>PGA Tour: Byron Nelson

Championship, final round, 3, WOIO

Channel 19 

<va2>LPGA: Sybase Match Play

Championship, semifinal and

championship matches, 4, Golf

Channel 



<va3></1908c>Hockey 

</sgraf>IIHF World Championships: Gold-

medal game, 9 (tape), NBC Sports

Network 



<va3></1908c>Men’s college lacrosse playoffs 

</sgraf>NCAA Division I quarterfinals:

Virginia vs. Notre Dame, noon, ESPNU 

Colgate vs. Duke, 2:30, ESPNU 



<va3></1908c>Motorsports 

</sgraf>MotoGP World Championship: French

Grand Prix, 8 a.m., Speed 

MotoGP Moto2: French Grand Prix, 5

(tape), Speed 



<va3></1908c>NBA playoffs 

</sgraf>Eastern Conference semifinals:

Miami at Indiana, Game 4, 3:30,

WEWS 

<va2>Western Conference semifinals: San

Antonio at L.A. Clippers, Game 4,

10:30, TNT 



<va3></1908c>NHL playoffs



</sgraf>Western Conference finals: Phoenix

at Los Angeles, Game 4 (joined in

progress after Indians game, which

starts at 1:05), WKYC Ch. 3 



<va3></1908c>Rodeo 

</sgraf>Pro Bull Riders Series, 6 (tape), CBS

Sports Network 



<va3></1908c>WNBA 

</sgraf>Phoenix at Minnesota, 12:30, WEWS

Ch. 5 

Kenyan's Julius Kibet, for the men, and defending Cleveland champion Everlyne Lagat, win the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon's 10K on Sunday.

Joshua Gunter/ The Plain Dealer Runners in the half and full marathon cross over the Flats on the Rt. 2 bridge during the 2012 Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Sunday, May 20, 2012 in Cleveland.

Kenya's Julius Kibet won the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon's 10K on Sunday in 28:44 - matching the exact time of his winning performance in 2005.

For Kibet, who pratically led from start to finish, his victory was also the event's fastest time since 2003. 

Simon Ndirangu of Kenya finished second, 16 seconds behind Kibet, while Alene Reta of Ethiopia finished third.

In the women's competition, defending Cleveland champion Everlyne Lagat of Kenya repeated her first-place finish with a time of 33:58.  

Eshter Erb of the United States finished second, 25 seconds off the pace, and Kenya's Lillian Mariita was third.

The top local finishes were Luke Grau, 23, of Chardon, who finished eighth in 31:01, and Lisa Burnett of Chagrin Falls, who placed seventh among the women at 36:44.

Abraham Kogo, 31, of Kenya won the first marathon of his career on Sunday morning with a time of 2:19:59 in the 2012 Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon

Joshua Gunter, The Plain DealerRunners finishing the half marathon pass through a cool mist from a water hose at the finish line of the 2012 Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Sunday, May 20, 2012 in Cleveland.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Abraham Kogo, 31, of Kenya won the first marathon of his career on Sunday morning with a time of 2:19:59 in the 2012 Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon.

Peter Kemboi, 32 of Kenya, who won the 2011 Akron Marathon, finished second in 2:23:29, while Matt Levassiur, 30, of Alamosa, Colo., was third in 2:24:07.

Mary Akor, 35, of Hawthorne, Calif., won the women's marathon in 2:39:49, and Venera Sarmosova of Russia was second in 2:44:16.

Andy Schweitzer, 24, of Beavercreek, OH, won the men's half marathon in 1:10:38.55, while Michael Capriolo, 28, of Akron was second in 1:12:08, followed by Bouke Onstenk, 31, of Germany in 1:13:37.

Christie Forster, 23, of Colorado Springs won the women's half marathon in 1:19:47, followed by Heidi Greenwood, 27, of Cleveland Heights in 1:21:30, and Andrea Gravue, 27, in 1:22:12.

"The fans are going to come, I know that,'' Perez said. "It's just a slap in the face when you're in first place and last in attendance. Last. It's not like we're 25th, 26th -- we're last. Oakland is outdrawing us. That's embarrassing."

Associated Press fileView full sizeCleveland Indians pitcher Chris Perez gets the save against the Los Angeles Angels in the ninth inning on April 29, 2012, at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Indians closer Chris Perez was called into the principals' office this morning to explain himself after comments Saturday night that were critical of the fan base.

Perez told reporters later this morning that he met with Indians General Manager Chris Antonetti. Indians President Mark Shapiro said the meeting also included him.

"I didn't get reprimanded or anything,'' Perez said. "I'm not suspended or fined or anything. It was a good talk, but I don't really want to get into what we talked about.''

Saturday night, long after Perez struck out the side Saturday night to earn the save in the Tribe's 2-0 victory over Miami, he cracked the fans who booed him Thursday during an appearance in which he did not allow a run. But he saved his biggest blasts for those who have not been attending games.

The Indians entered today ranked last in attendance in the majors with an average of 15,518 (for 22 dates). No. 29 Oakland was at 19,573.

Perez continued to express his frustration in the dugout this morning. Because so few reporters had been present for his comments Saturday night, Perez made himself available to everybody in order to "keep it out of the locker room and do it all at once.''

Perez said he was not instructed to talk. If he had been, he probably would have apologized to some degree or backed off his assertions. Instead, he held his line.

"The fans are going to come, I know that,'' Perez said. "It's just a slap in the face when you're in first place and last in attendance. Last. It's not like we're 25th, 26th -- we're last. Oakland is outdrawing us. That's embarrassing.

"I'm not doing anything to bring extra attention to myself or distract from what the team's doing. I don't have an ulterior motive. I'm here to win. I want to win here. I care. We all care. We want to win. But right now, we're winning for ourselves, basically.''

Within five minutes of Perez wrapping his session, Shapiro sat in the same spot and responded to Saturday's flareup. Because Perez's comments today were similar, Shapiro could have been responding to them, as well.

"I, myself, and we, as an organization have a lot of respect and appreciation for Chris,'' Shapiro said. "He's been one of the more dominant closers in Major League Baseball this year. What drives him to succeed in that role are emotion and competitiveness and passion, and I think a lot of that was behind what he said.

"In talking with him, and talking with him and Chris Antonetti, it's clear that what's behind the emotion is how great he feels our situation is -- how incredible he feels the team is, the ballpark is, and his desire for more people to experience it. (But) I can tell you that we as an organization clearly disagree with him about our fans. We appreciate our fans, we respect our fans.''

Shapiro mentioned "respect'' several times, including when asked if he worried that Perez's comments might alienate the base even more.

"No, I don't,'' he said. "I really feel like it's a moment in time, a story for right now. The reason I feel like that is, if you polled our players, by and large, and if you talk to our fans, by and large, and if you talk to every single person in this organization, what you'd see is a largely universal appreciation for our fans, a largely universal respect for our fans.''

Shapiro was asked if he thought Perez disrespected Tribe fans.

"I don't, but I'm not going to speak for Chris,'' he said. "He probably spoke to you in pretty clear terms. I'm guessing he was pretty crystal clear in how he felt. Obviously, he's a guy with strong opinions and a smart guy. He had thought out what he said and had reasons behind what he said. We agree on a lot of fronts and disagree on a few.''

Perez, as one of the Indians' most accessible players, has been asked numerous times this year about the attendance issues. He has been adamant that he is not disrespecting fans in any way, just hoping that more come to watch a first-place club.

The reason this particular set of comments got so much play is because he was still running hot after being booed in the 10th inning Thursday against Seattle. Having entered in a tie game with one out, Perez gave up a single and issued a walk on four pitches. When each of the next two pitches were balls, he was booed lustily. After rallying to get a pop to right, Perez was hit with a Bronx cheer.

Perez struck out the next batter to escape unscathed. The Indians won, 5-4, in 11.

"Thursday was the last straw for me, and Saturday night was the first time I'd spoken [to reporters] since then,'' he said. "I just didn't understand the booing when I hadn't even given up a run. I don't understand the negativity, in general. Why? We have a first-place team. How many teams in the country would want that right now?

"You think the Tigers are happy? The Tigers are in third place. We're in first place -- enjoy it. We could be in last place. We could be the Royals, we could be the Pirates, who haven't won anything in 20 years.''

Perez said some of his teammates feel the same way he does about the attendance woes, "they just won't say it.''

As expected, Perez's comments have touched more than a few nerves. Perez has received plenty of support, but the blowback has been intense, as well.

"I expected it, but I really don't care anymore,'' Perez said. "I'm here to do my job and play for this team. If the fans come, they'll come. If they don't, it will be just like it was in April, so who cares?''

Perez said the perception exists that playing in Cleveland is not fun, that the atmosphere is not good. He said it keeps select players from signing or re-signing with the Indians.

Not surprisingly, Shapiro disagrees.

"My experience has been that guys want to be here,'' he said. "I'm sure there are some who don't, but I think a lot do. You've got two recent examples in Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana, who signed extensions.''

Shapiro does not think Perez will be adversely affected going forward.

"He's certainly not one to shrink from responsibility,'' Shapiro said. "He can handle the heat.''

Here in the United States, one sees hand-lettered signs at every long race, held aloft by a friend or family member so that the stumbling or sprinting runners can see them: "In our minds, you're all Kenyans."

Michael Sohn, APPatrick Makau crosses the finish line in Berlin Sept 25, 2011, knocking a full 21 seconds off the marathon world record. Behind him is the landmark Brandenburg Gate.

By Earl Pike

Last year, the top finisher in the Cleveland Marathon clocked an astonishing 2 hours, 26 minutes, 59 seconds -- a grueling minutes-per-mile average of 5:36 over 26.2 miles. But just a few months later, Patrick Makau set a record in Berlin by running a marathon in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 38 seconds -- a minutes-per-mile average of 4:42 for the entire course. Makau is, like many of the fastest runners in the world, Kenyan.

Kenyans dominate long-distance running around the world, as Adharanand Finn's book attests: "In 2011 the top twenty marathons of the year were all run by Kenyans," he writes. "And of the top twenty fastest marathons of all time, seventeen were run by Kenyans."

How athletes from the equatorial African nation came to rule the world of distance races has been a source of much fascination and few answers, Finn notes in "Running With the Kenyans." The author, who writes for Runner's World and The Guardian, decided to look for clues.

He moved his family of five from rural England to the remote village of Iten in Kenya, home to 4,000 people -- 1,000 of whom are, at any given point, world-class runners. And there he trained for six months with the fastest people on Earth, asking, at every turn: What is the secret to their speed?

Is it the effect of high-altitude training? Is it the fact that many young children run miles to and from school every day? Is it the Kenyan style of running, shunning clunky Western shoes and racing on bare feet as much as possible? Is it the simple diet rich in carbohydrates and vegetables, or the emphasis on rest, or the total dedication Kenyans have to their sport?

Yes.

"You people come to find the secret," Finn quotes a running coach in Iten, "but you know what the secret is? That you think there's a secret. There is no secret." By this juncture in the interview, the coach is fuming.

"What intrigues many scientists (who descend on Kenya for research) is the fact that most of Kenya's top runners come from one particular ethnic group," Finn writes, noting "presuming a genetic advantage . . . diminishes the incredible achievements of the Kenyan athletes."

View full sizeRunning With the Kenyans, Ballantine, 265 pp., $26

Living in one-room homes, often without running water, subsisting with the meager financial help of family, runners in Iten get up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. and, stumbling in the darkness, they run. Sometimes the course might include trailing lions and hyenas. And then again the next day, and the next, and the next.

For Finn, there is no answer, only inspiration. Here in the United States, one sees hand-lettered signs at every long race, held aloft by a friend or family member so that the stumbling or sprinting runners can see them: "In our minds, you're all Kenyans."

And most of us know what it means and smile, racing, for a moment, taller, faster.

Part journal, part exploration of the science of human physiology, "Running With the Kenyans" is well-written and clear. It also works as a hymn to the spirit, to the heartbreaking beauty of tenacity, to the joy of movement -- those moments when "we start moving away from the carefully constructed world of reason, into the wild heart of existence."

Earl Pike is a distance runner and critic who lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Marlins defeat Indians, 5-3, to take first interleague series of the season.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians are in first place, a potential feel-good story, but they have issues beyond attendance and the inability to hit left-handed pitching.

They need more consistent production from the middle of the order. They need successful, high-leverage innings from more than just three relievers.

And they could stand to have the wind stop blowing in from right field at Progressive Field, which might begin to turn home field into an advantage for a lefty-heavy lineup.

The Marlins capitalized on the Tribe's vulnerabilities -- and got help from nature -- in the finale of a three-game series Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Josh Johnson gave up one run in seven innings during a 5-3 victory in front of 23,668 paid.

The Indians slipped to 23-18 overall, 11-12 at home. They are the only first-place club in the majors with a losing home record.

Ozzie Guillen's Marlins (22-19) won the bookends of a series in which their starting pitchers -- right-handers Carlos Zambrano, Anibal Sanchez and Johnson -- combined to give up five runs in 21 innings.

The Tribe competed in every game because its three starters were just as stingy. Righties Justin Masterson, Jeanmar Gomez and Derek Lowe combined to allow four runs in 191/3 innings.

"You knew, looking at the matchups, that runs would be hard to come by," Lowe said.

Lowe, coming off a career-high 127 pitches in a six-hit shutout at Minnesota, showed his 38-year-old arm has resiliency. The six-inning, two-run performance was his sixth consecutive quality start and eighth in nine to begin the season.

Lowe (6-2, 2.15 ERA) threw 55 of 94 pitches for strikes. As usual, he got the majority of his outs via the ground ball.

The Marlins took a 1-0 lead in the first. Jose Reyes led off with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice fly and scored on Hanley Ramirez's grounder to second. Greg Dobbs made it 2-0 in the third with a two-out double to drive in Ramirez, who had singled.

The Indians cut the deficit in half in the fifth. Michael Brantley led off with a single and stole second. With one out, Jose Lopez had an RBI single.

The Indians thought they were still in business after Lou Marson walked. Shin-Soo Choo grounded to first baseman Logan Morrison, who threw to shortstop Reyes to erase Marson. Reyes held the ball as Marson ran into his field of vision wide of the bag.

First-base umpire Mark Carlson ruled an automatic double play based on Marson interfering with Reyes. Indians manager Manny Acta argued.

"The explanation I got was that Lou couldn't reach the bag from where he was running," Acta said. "The explanation and reasoning behind Mark's call were the right ones. It's just that I didn't think Reyes was ever going to make an attempt to throw to first."

Marson said he was simply trying to force Morrison into a mistake, which could include hitting him.

"I got a little wide, but Reyes wasn't even going to go to first," Marson said. "I probably should have slid, but if he was going to throw it, I would have slid."

The Tribe threatened in the seventh. Carlos Santana led off with a single. After Brantley lined to right, Johnny Damon drove Johnson's first pitch high and deep to right. Giancarlo Stanton caught it at the base of the wall in front of the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland sign.

No luck for Damon this time.

"I knew I hit it well, I knew it had some backspin," he said. "Unfortunately, the wind was blowing in. The guys have told me the wind always blows in from right, and that's certainly been the case since I've been here. It would have been nice to get my first home run as an Indian, but when things go bad, they go bad."

Damon finished 1-for-4 and is hitting .172 in 16 games, though he has been getting on base more and seeing the ball better recently.

Lopez doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Casey Kotchman, pinch-hitting for Marson, grounded to third on a full-count pitch. Johnson had fallen behind, 3-0.

The Marlins scored three in the eighth to take a 5-1 lead. They did the damage against Nick Hagadone and Jeremy Accardo. Acta said he can't keep relying on setup men Joe Smith (2.95 ERA in 18 appearances) and Vinnie Pestano (2.70 in 19) ahead of closer Chris Perez (3.31 in 18).

"If you put the best guys in when you're ahead, when you're tied and when you're trailing," Acta said, "they're all going to have Tommy John surgery by the end of the season. We can't do that every single day. Other guys have to step up."

The Indians pulled within 5-3 in the ninth on Lopez's RBI double and Kotchman's grounder. Choo flied out with Lopez on third.

The Tribe's Nos. 4 through 6 hitters went 2-for-12 and were 3-for-33 in the series. Two who spend the vast majority of their time in the middle, Travis Hafner and Santana, are hitting .238 and .261, respectively.

Bottom line on a Chris Perez: A decent guy who got a few things wrong, says Plain Dealer columnist Terry Pluto.

Amy Sancetta, Associated PressEmotion is a big part of Chris Perez's game, and the Tribe closer let loose with some harsh, and ill-advised, comments after Saturday's win over the Marlins.

My brother Tom Pluto coached Chris Perez for a few summers at the IMG Baseball Academy in Florida.

It was when the Tribe's reliever was in his early teens. Back then, Perez was mostly a catcher. A former baseball coach at Cleveland Central Catholic, my brother moved to Florida in 1973 and coached summer teams for decades.

Several times, my brother has said how amazed and impressed he's been by Perez, because the young Chris Perez was a volcano of emotions. His nickname is "Pure Rage," and he earned it with his words, actions and eruptions.

As a closer, Perez is operating in baseball's most pressurized job, one that St. Louis wondered if he had the self control to handle. That's part of the reason Perez was traded by the Cardinals to the Tribe for Mark DeRosa in 2010.

Perez likes to say what he feels, as many people do.

Problem is that what we feel doesn't always match reality, as was clear by the words of Perez the past few days about the fans and the franchise.

Let's start with what Perez had right.

Some fans have been too tough on Perez, as they were on Bob Wickman before him. Those fans believe every ninth inning should be three-up, three-down. They don't like base-runners, they don't want drama. They tend to forget every save and remember every failure.

Perez trashed a 4-1 lead on Opening Day, then saved the next 12 games before he allowed a couple of runners and heard some boos on Thursday.

That really upset Perez, who believes he's earned more good will from the fans.

Since he's 49-of-54 in saves since the 2011 opener. . . .

And 24-of-27 in one-run saves. . . .

And his 90-percent save conversion rate was even higher than Mariano Rivera in 2010. . . .

A GOOD JOB

The guy deserves some grace and patience.

It's understandable when Perez said: "They booed me against the Mariners when I had two guys on. . . . It feels like I can't even give up a base-runner without people booing me. It's even worse when there's only 5,000 in the stands, because then you can hear it. . . . They haven't even scored yet and you're booing me? You're saying, 'Get this bum out of there.' "

I was at that 6-5 win over Seattle on Thursday. Most of the fans were not booing him. The problem is when the crowd is small (12,894) you hear those who scream the loudest -- and some guys were bellowing at Perez.

Was he too sensitive? Perhaps.

But was he wrong? Not really.

Closers are blowing up all over baseball. It's a job that tends to attract strange and outrageous personalities.

No matter what the stats geeks insist, racking up the final three outs of a close game is different than a pitcher trying to get any other three outs in any other inning.

Almost every time manager Manny Acta hands the ball to Perez, the game is in his hands.

And more than 90 percent of the time since Opening Day 2011, he has delivered. In that span, he ranked No. 3 in the American League in save conversions.

WANTING SUPPORT

Perez then talked about the lack of attendance, how the team deserves better support. But he said it after Saturday's 2-0 victory, and two consecutive games where the Tribe had nearly 30,000 fans.

Just as the fans were grabbing on to the team, Perez was angry about them staying away. He sounded a bit like some pastors that I've heard over the years when they finally have a full church for a holiday service -- and they spend part of their sermon complaining how no one comes to church.

I've been told that Perez realizes that his timing was not the best. But he does believe it's embarrassing the team is last in attendance while being in first place in the Central Division.

And he's right when saying other players agree with him, they just don't say it.

And there is a case to be made for Perez's plea for support.

The problem is the Indians came off seasons of 93 and 97 losses in 2009 and 2010, and they never had back-to-back losing seasons of 90 games before. And there was the trauma of losing Cliff Lee, C.C. Sabathia and Victor Martinez to trades in those seasons.

No team had ever traded back-to-back Cy Young winners before.

The Indians have not had back-to-back winning seasons since 2000-01, and ownership has a major public relations problems in terms of trust with the fan base.

But from the view of Perez, the team was exciting for most of last season (finishing 80-82), and it's been fun this year. So where are the fans?

The trouble is rather than turn it into a plea for more support, it came off like a whine of feeling underappreciated by a guy making $4.5 million who was given a chance to establish himself as a closer in Cleveland. No matter how Perez sees it today, the view of most fans is Cleveland has been the land of opportunity for this young man from Bradenton, Fla.

GOING WRONG

Perez also talked about how players don't want to come here -- and he said it was because of the fans.

He then mentioned Carlos Beltran.

Let's see, Beltran was offered $26 million for two years from the St. Louis Cardinals.

And $24 million for two years from the Tribe.

So he took the offer of more money to play for the World Series champions.

You can't blame the fans for that.

Yes, St. Louis has outstanding fans. And Albert Pujols owned the city and married a woman from St. Louis. The Cardinals did everything possible to make Pujols happy, and he apeared to be happy.

But then Pujols signed for more money with the Angels.

When Sabathia became a free agent, he said he preferred to play in the National League because he also wanted to bat. He was leaning toward the West Coast.

But he signed with the Yankees, an American League team in New York.

Why? Money. Lots of money.

If the Indians had offered Beltran $30 million instead of $24 million, and the Cardinals offered him $26 million, a safe guess is that he'd be in Cleveland today.

Is Cleveland one of the top destinations for players who mostly grow up in the south, the West Coast or Latin countries? You know the answer to that. But when the check is big enough, they will come to the Midwest. Just look at Detroit's payroll.

NOT A BAD GUY

Perez is 26 and a ballplayer, not a 56-year-old statesman who graduated from the Harvard school of diplomacy.

He doesn't look at the world through the eyes of fans who grew up with the Tribe, nor does he understand the different hot spots that some of his remarks have touched.

He's in his middle 20s, and not all of us can say everything we did at that point in our lives was wise and well-spoken.

I know that Perez doesn't run from the media or fans. He is buying tickets to give away. He signed autographs for kids before Sunday's game. He shakes hands and has generally been a good ambassador for the team.

He's not acted as if he can't wait to leave town.

Tribe President Mark Shapiro was correct when said Perez "is driven by emotions, passions and a drive to succeed."

It also can led to frustration and words uttered in anger. He also is active on Twitter. Like other forms of media, it's the most extreme voices that seems to receive the most attention.

I know from my brother the progress made by Perez. And I look at a man as more than what he might say in a weekend of anger, even if all the rage isn't justified.

One day, ballplayers may learn never to complain about the fans -- you always end up doing it in the wrong way at the wrong time.

Keep in mind that what a ballplayers says really doesn't amount to much in the big picture of the team, much less life. What counts is how he pitches and acts with his coaches and teammates.

So far, Perez has done very well in those areas. I disagree with some of his points, but I still like and appreciate guy and pitcher.

Tribe front office meets with Chris Perez, but does not crack down on reliever after comments on fans.

Chuck Crow, The Plain DealerAbout 30,000 fans were cheering Chris Perez on Saturday as he gives a fist bump to Carlos Santana after striking out the side to earn a save in a win over the Miami Marlins. A few minutes later, the Tribe's closer ripped the team's fans.

Indians closer Chris Perez was called into the principal's office Sunday morning to explain himself after comments Saturday night that were critical of the fan base.

Perez told reporters later Sunday morning that he met with Indians General Manager Chris Antonetti. Indians President Mark Shapiro said the meeting also included him.

"I didn't get reprimanded or anything," Perez said. "I'm not suspended or fined or anything. It was a good talk, but I don't really want to get into what we talked about."

Saturday night, long after Perez struck out the side to earn the save in the Tribe's 2-0 victory against Miami, he criticized the fans who booed him Thursday during an appearance in which he didn't allow a run. But he saved his biggest blasts for those who haven't been attending games.

The Indians entered Sunday ranked last among the 30 big-league teams in attendance, with an average of 15,518 fans for 22 dates. No. 29 Oakland was at 19,573.

Perez continued to express his frustration in the dugout Sunday. Because so few reporters had been present for his comments Saturday night, he made himself available to everyone in order to "keep it out of the locker room and do it all at once."

Perez said he wasn't instructed to talk. If he had been, he probably would have apologized to some degree, or backed off his assertions. Instead, he held his line.

"The fans are going to come, I know that," he said. "It's just a slap in the face when you're in first place and last in attendance. Last. It's not like we're 25th, 26th -- we're last. Oakland is outdrawing us. That's embarrassing.

"In 2010, I wouldn't have made those comments [the Indians went 69-93 that season]. We deserved to get booed. We deserved to have nobody here. But we've been building up for this season. We're good. We have a good team. We haven't even played our best ball and we're in first."

Perez said some of his teammates feel the same way about the low attendance, but "they just won't say it."

"I'm not doing anything to bring extra attention to myself or distract from what the team's doing," he said. "I don't have an ulterior motive. I'm here to win. I want to win here. I care. We all care. We want to win. But right now, we're winning for ourselves, basically."

Within five minutes of Perez wrapping his session, Shapiro sat in the same spot and responded to Saturday's flare-up. Because Perez's comments Sunday were similar to those he made Saturday, Shapiro could have been responding to them as well.

"I, myself, and we, as an organization, have a lot of respect and appreciation for Chris," Shapiro said. "He's been one of the more dominant closers in major league baseball this year. What drives him to succeed in that role are emotion and competitiveness and passion, and I think a lot of that was behind what he said.

"In talking with him, and talking with him and Chris Antonetti, it's clear that what's behind the emotion is how great he feels our situation is -- how incredible he feels the team is, the ballpark is, and his desire for more people to experience it. [But] I can tell you that we, as an organization, clearly disagree with him about our fans. We appreciate our fans, we respect our fans."

Shapiro mentioned the word respect several times, including when asked if he worried that Perez's comments might alienate the fan base even more.

"No, I don't," he said. "I really feel like it's a moment in time, a story for right now. The reason I feel like that is, if you polled our players, by and large, and if you talk to our fans, by and large, and if you talk to every single person in this organization, what you'd see is a largely universal appreciation for our fans, a largely universal respect for our fans."

Shapiro was asked if he thought Perez was disrespectful of Tribe fans.

"I don't, but I'm not going to speak for Chris," he said. "He probably spoke to you in pretty clear terms. I'm guessing he was pretty crystal clear in how he felt. Obviously, he's a guy with strong opinions and a smart guy. He had thought out what he said and had reasons behind what he said. We agree on a lot of fronts and disagree on a few."

Perez, as one of the Indians' most accessible players, has been asked numerous times this year about the attendance issues. He has been adamant that he isn't disrespecting fans in any way -- he's just hoping that more come to watch a first-place club.

The reason these particular comments got so much play is because he was still running hot after being booed in the 10th inning Thursday against Seattle. Having entered a tie game with one out, Perez gave up a single and issued a walk on four pitches. When each of the next two pitches were balls, he was lustily booed. After rallying to get a pop-up to right, Perez was greeted with a Bronx cheer.

Perez struck out the next batter to escape unscathed. The Indians won, 6-5, in 11.

"Thursday was the last straw for me, and Saturday night was the first time I'd spoken [to reporters] since then," he said. "I just didn't understand the booing when I hadn't even given up a run. I don't understand the negativity, in general. Why? We have a first-place team. How many teams in the country would want that right now?

"You think the Tigers are happy? The Tigers are in third place. We're in first place. Enjoy it. We could be in last place. We could be the Royals, we could be the Pirates, who haven't won anything in 20 years."

To the surprise of no one, Perez's comments have touched more than a few nerves. Perez has received plenty of support, but the blowback has been intense.

"I expected it, but I really don't care anymore," Perez said. "I'm here to do my job and play for this team. If the fans come, they'll come. If they don't, it will be just like it was in April, so who cares?"

Perez said the perception exists that playing in Cleveland isn't fun, that the atmosphere isn't good. He said it keeps select players from signing -- or re-signing -- with the Indians.

Shapiro respectfully disagrees.

"My experience has been that guys want to be here," he said. "I'm sure there are some who don't, but I think a lot do. You've got two recent examples in Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana, who signed extensions."

Shapiro doesn't think Perez will be adversely affected going forward.

"He's certainly not one to shrink from responsibility," Shapiro said. "He can handle the heat."

The series is knotted up 2-2 between the Heat and the Pacers

AP photoMiami Heat's LeBron James, right, hugs Dwyane Wade during the second half of Game 4 of their NBA basketball Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series against the Indiana Pacers, Sunday, May 20, 2012, in Indianapolis. Miami won 101-93.

Cleveland native Jason Dufner gives himself a belated wedding present by winning the Byron Nelson Championship in Texas.

Tim Sharp, Associated PressJason Dufner holds up the trophy after winning the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas, on Sunday.

IRVING, Texas -- Jason Dufner made a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole Sunday for a one-stroke victory in the Byron Nelson Championship, his second victory in four weeks.

The winning putt wrapped up a closing 3-under 67 for an 11-under 269 total, one ahead of Dicky Pride.

Dufner got his first PGA Tour victory at New Orleans on April 29, then took a week off to get married. He also led alone by one stroke after the second and third rounds at the TPC at Four Seasons course.

Pride, whose only PGA Tour victory in a 20-year professional career came in 1994, was at 10 under with a par-saving 22-foot putt at No. 18 after hitting his drive into the water.

Moments later, Dufner made a putt that was only a few feet longer but on virtually the same line as the one Pride made to finish his round of 67.

J.J. Henry, who had an early hole-in-one, was in the lead at 11 under after consecutive birdies at Nos. 15 and 16, overcoming a bad tee shot on the first and a greenside bunker on the second.

But Henry, in the final group with Dufner, hit his tee shot at the par-3 17th over the green. The former TCU star lost the lead with a double bogey after a 4-foot putt slid just outside the cup.

After watching Henry's meltdown, Dufner made a tap-in par at No. 17 and then hit a big drive on No. 18 in the middle of the fairway. He hit his approach to the middle of the green, avoiding a playoff with the long putt and joining Hunter Mahan as the only two-time winners this season.

Pride had made a 13-foot birdie putt at No. 17.

Joe Durant, who was the final alternate added to the Nelson field, shot a 65 to finish in a tie for third at 271 with Henry (68), Marc Leishman (66) and rookie Jonas Blixt (66).

Phil Mickelson, making his first Nelson start in five years, had four consecutive birdies on the front nine and went on to a round of 66 to finish four strokes back. He tied for seventh with Ken Duke, who also had a string of four birdies in a row in his own 66.

While Henry and Dufner were playing the 17th hole, Pride drove his tee shot at No. 18 left into the water. After his drop, Pride hit his approach to 22 feet and made that par-saving putt to remain at 10 under, letting out a scream when the ball dropped into the hole.

Pride, who went to the University of Alabama, then watched the final group play the 18th hole and waiting to see if he would be in a playoff. Even he had to applaud on the clinching putt by Dufner, who went to rival Auburn.

Matt Kuchar, the fifth-ranked player who won The Players Championship a week earlier, had 70 and finished at 276 in a tie for 15th. He was trying to become the first PGA Tour player since Tiger Woods in 2009 to win in consecutive weeks.

Henry's ace came at the 154-yard No. 5 hole, when he hit a pitching wedge. When the ball rolled back into the cup, Henry thrust both of his arms in the air, then had an emphatic uppercut and he celebrated with the gallery.

After Henry's drive at the 504-yard 15th was way right and under a tree, he hit his approach to the middle of the green and made a 32-foot birdie putt that led to another, though more subdued fistpump. His approach at the easier par-5 16th went in a greenside bunker, but he blasted inside 2 1/2 feet for a birdie to get to 11 under.

Then came the tee shot at No. 17 that carried over the green on the opposite side of the hole.

Dufner had consecutive bogeys at Nos. 2 and 3, but quickly responded with consecutive birdies on the following two holes.

After a bogey at No. 11 following a bad tee shot, Dufner got back to 10 under with his birdie at the par-5 16th, when he blasted out of a greenside bunker to 6 feet.

The last of Mickelson's four birdies in a row came when he holed a 30-footer at the 461-yard eighth hole. That got him at 6 under at about the same time the final group of Henry and Dufner were finishing at No. 1, both at 8 under.

Mickelson was 8 under after a birdie at the par-5 16th, but his 3 1/2-foot par putt at the following par 3 circled the cup and rolled back toward him for his first bogey of the day. He finished with another bogey at No. 18, though that could have been worse after his approach from the rough went into the water. After his drop, his 54-foot par-saving putt rolled over the cup, banged into the edge but didn't drop.

Vijay Singh, a 34-time PGA Tour winner whose last victory was in 2008, was within two strokes of the lead after his third-round 66. But he hit his first tee shot Sunday into the rough and his second into a greenside bunker on way to bogeys on his first three holes and a 71 for a ninth-place tie at 275.