The beat goes on for Tribe fan John Adams, as Seattle fans learn.
View full sizeJohn Adams bangs a dirge for Cleveland Municipal Stadium after the last Indians game there in October 1993. And he's STILL banging his drum for the Indians, capturing the interest of the Seattle media in town for the Tribe's series with the Mariners.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- OK, it's true the Indians are not having a bang-up year. Their most exciting player -- and possibly their best player -- is a rookie with a total of 46 games in the big leagues who's out for the year with a knee injury. The bad breaks began with their shortstop's arm, and just got worse as the season progressed.
But the reality is that no one expected them to do much this year, even with catcher Carlos Santana and SS Asdrubal Cabrera. And once the fire sale began, there was trouble coming.
Not so with the Seattle Mariners. Some pollsters, including a couple of reputable writers with ESPN.com, picked 'em to win the AL West. And even the experts who projected other winners in the West – Texas or Los Angeles – figured they'd at least contend.
The Indians' 49-69 record at this stage of the came probably comes as no surprise to anyone. The shocker is that the Tribe's 49-69 record is three games BETTER than Seattle's.
No wonder the beat writer for the Seattle Times figured it wouldn't really matter if he left the press box late in the game Sunday.
Still, ya gotta give Geoff Baker credit: He chose to use the time to interview John Adams, the drum-banging Tribe fan who's been such a fixture at Indians games.
The M's were in the process of getting throttled today, the game was dragging, so I decided to go and get the reader's question answered. I hustled down from the press box and made it all the way to the bleachers just as the bottom of the eighth was beginning.
First off, the drummer's name is John Adams, 58, who works for At&T during the day, but has season tickets and brings the drum in with him. He's been doing this for 37 years, so, no, as you'll hear in the video above, the security people don't bug him about it anymore.
Actually, he did have to buy tickets for the drum, since it's so big and takes up a seat. But the ballclub did give him his own bobblehead doll a few years back. He's been to more than 2,000 games and Aug. 24 will be his 37th anniversary of doing this.
So, that was our diversion from the game and the total collapse by Felix Hernandez and the Mariners in a 9-1 defeat.
Well, of COURSE he had to interview Adams. Didn't we SAY he was a beat writer?
More Milton Bradley games?
The Mariners' Milton Bradley probably is done for the season after surgery on his right knee on Tuesday. But the mercurial outfielder, who has had two tours of duty with the Indians in his career, may be jobless in Seattle after this year ends, anyway.
Seattlepi.com is speculating that may be the case for Bradley, who spent two weeks on the restricted list undergoing counseling treatment after he blew up at then-manager Don Wakamatsu.
Bradley has another year at $12 million on his contract, but it's reasonable to wonder where his future sits with the Mariners. He's hit just .205 with eight home runs and 29 RBIs in 73 games this season, hardly the kind of production the Mariners hoped for when they brought him aboard.
The assumption was Bradley might bring some headaches, but also a high on-base percentage and a little pop to the lineup.
Instead, he's become a nonfactor in the clubhouse, quietly going about his business, but his bat has been nearly as non-existent. His .205 batting average is the lowest of his career and his .292 on-base percentage is a shadow of his career mark of .366.
Is there a still a place for the 32-year-old in the M's plans? Hard to see it right now, that's for sure.
How about working a deal with the Bengals? It'd be like getting the baseball twin brother of Terrell Owens and pairing him with TO and their first-cousin, attitudinally speaking, Chad Ochocinco.
From The Plain Dealer
Travis Hafner is one of those all-or-nothing guys. For most of Sunday's game, he was the latter. But a grand slam like the one he ripped to the Indians' bullpen in center tends to erase bitter memories. Dennis Manoloff talked to Hafner, who was activated off the DL this weekend and chose to skip a rehab assignment, about the deed for his game story.
Dman also check with Tribe manager Manny Acta about pitcher Justin Masterson, who managed to pitch six innings, throw more balls than strikes and issued six walks . . . and neither won NOR lost the game. It's all part of the Indians Insider.