So, in a town that is so very desperate for a winner, the Cleveland Indians -- who, as of May 21, were in first place in the American League Central Division with a 23-18 record -- are struggling to catch the fans' attention.
Well, the only attention the Indians have gotten locally has been negative attention, which may play into why the team is 30th out of 30 Major League teams in attendance through their 23 home games at Progressive Field (they are 11-12 at home heading into a huge three-game series with third-place Detroit, who are just 3 games behind the Wahoos).
The most recent negative strike for an organization that just can't seem to win came from closer Chris Perez following Saturday's 2-0 victory over the Miami Marlins.
"I was tired of getting booed at home so I figured, 'I'd better throw some strikes.' You can quote that," he began, following a 1-2-3, 10-pitch ninth inning -- by far, his best outing in a few seasons.
Perez was apparently irritated that some fans began booing him two nights before in a 5-4 11-inning win over Seattle. Perez pitched the 10th and put two runners on before escaping the jam unscathed. However, the boos and catcalls began after he walked the second hitter on four pitches to put the two runners on base.
Asked if it bothered him to get booed at home, Perez said, "It doesn't bother me, it pisses me off. I don't think they have a reason to boo me.
"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. It pissess me off."
Perez ended the 10th by striking out Jesus Montero, but even that didn't ease his anger because the fans responded with a Bronx cheer.
"After I struck out Montero, the mock standing applause just adds to it," he said. "You see their true colors."
He was just getting started.
Perez said the fans' reaction to the Indians is one of the reasons they weren't able to sign free agents such as Carlos Beltran over the winter.
"Guys don't want to come over here and people wonder why," he said. "Why doesn't Carlos Beltran want to come over here? Well, because of that."
Apparently, Perez didn't realize that he plays for one of the biggest penny-pinching owners in the Major Leagues in Larry Dolan, who has never broken the bank for anybody. Beltran turned down the Indians' two-year, $24 million offer to sign with the defending World Series champions for two years, $26 million.
Pretty easy decision if you're Carlos Beltran. But not to the eyes of a guy whose nickname is "Pure Rage" and has already been fined by MLB for an inflammatory Tweet directed at the Kansas City Royals.
"That's part of it," he said. "It doesn't go unnoticed -- trust us. I'm not calling out the fans. It's just how it is. That stuff is reserved for road games.
"We don't want to deal with that crap. Here, good fans are supposed to help you try to get through the inning and say, 'Hey, you're only one pitch away. Hey, it's all right.'"
Apparently, Perez didn't get the memo that, as a professional athlete, sometimes you get booed, sometimes you get cheered, and sometimes you get booed at home. He also didn't realize that Cleveland fans are a pretty emotional bunch themselves and are pretty brow-beaten by 50 years of losing.
The Indians drew 29,799 to Saturday's game. It was their second-largest crowd of the season next to the sellout crowd of 43,190 for the season opener. Still, the Indians are last in attendance at 341,403.
"Nobody wants to play in front of 5,000 fans," Perez said. "We know the weather stinks, but people see that [attendance]. Other players know that.
"You had a choice of playing in St. Louis where you get 40,000 like Beltran chose to do, or you can come to Cleveland. It's going to take more money to get him to come to Cleveland. That's just how it is. That's another thing that you have to go against. It's not only the payrolls of the AL East teams, but that kind of stuff."
Never mind that the Indians have never drawn a crowd as low as 5,000 to Progressive Field this year, but he was rolling.
Perez tried to smooth things over when someone asked him about the economy, but he continued to dig a hole for himself.
"I completely understand, but the fans can't take it personal when the players don't want to stay here or players don't want to come here," he said. "It's a business. You didn't choose to get drafted by Cleveland. I'm in it for my family. Who knows? I could throw my last pitch tomorrow.
"At the same time, I'm here. I'm here to win. I'm here for my teammates and I want to bring a championship to Cleveland, to do my job and help the team win. I think I do a pretty good job of showing that on the field. I don't think I bring any undue attention to myself. I'm out there for the team. In big wins, I get excited and I'm like a kid again, because it's fun."
Given the chance the following day to retract or apologize for some of his statements, following a visit with team president Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti, Perez decided to do neither, instead bringing his bottle of kerosene to add to the fire.
"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."
Never mind that both the Pirates and Royals have won World Series titles sooner than the Indians' last win in 1948, and that, other than a playoff berth in 2007, the Indians have, by and large, not won anything since 2001.
Also, while Perez's Indians began last season at 30-15, they stumbled and bumbled under the spotlight and the sunshine of June, July and August and wound up 80-82, double-digit games behind first-place Detroit.
The blowback from his Saturday outburst was pretty intense, and Perez felt some of it on Twitter and on the Web. He basically said he didn/t care.
"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 tried to downplay his fan bashing by saying he expected more fans to show up. Unfortunately, his explanations didn't help anything.
"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."
That's a fantastic way of throwing his teammates under the bus, but then again, he's been a walking distraction for a long time,
"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."
Winning for ourselves ... A fantastic way of saying that you, as a fan base, doesn't matter because he, speaking for his Indians, are not playing for your benefit anymore.
They're not playing for the name on the front of the jersey, they're essentially playing for the name on the back (unless they're using those special uniforms where there is no name on the back of jersey, but whatever).
The Indians responded to Perez's critical comments by losing to the Marlins, 5-3. Perez didn't give fans the sastisfaction of pitching, since the Indians were out of the game for the get-go and only a two-run ninth-inning rally made things respectable.
Yes, Chris Perez, it probably is frustrating that your team is in first place, but nobody is going to games. However, you must not know the fans of Cleveland all that well. You claim to, but you don't.
It seems like, fair or not, the Cleveland Indians have to prove something to the fan base each year to get them to "buy-in." The Browns don't have to do that, but that's because Cleveland is a football-town and the Browns actually left town for three years. Absense makes the heart grow fonder, even if that team has been a stinking pile of dump since it returned in 1999.
The Indians, out of anyone, took advantage of the Browns leaving town the most. Jacobs Field was a palace when it opened in 1994. Dick Jacobs made some key free agent signings, and the team started to win.
They reached the World Series in 1995 -- the first Series berth since 1954 -- but lost. Their Game 6 loss came a few weeks before word of the Browns moving to Baltimore was leaked and then confirmed on Nov. 6.
Without the Browns, the Indians reached the postseason in 1996, 97, 98, 99 and 2001. They reached the ALCS in 1997 and 98 and reached the World Series in 97.
In fact, 1997 may have been the closest anyone from Joe Cleveland's generation has been to a championship. They led Game 7, 2-1, heading into the bottom of the ninth, before Jose Mesa imploded and gave up the tying run. The Tribe eventually lost in the 11th, 3-2, on a two-out single up the middle by Edgar Renteria off of Charles Nagy.
In 2000, the Indians were elminated from the wild-card on the final day of the regular season. That was the year they were sold to Larry Dolan.
Under Dolan's ownership, the Indians have had two postseason berths, one ALCS berth (2007) and three winning seasons (they went 93-69 in 2005 after a furious second-half rally, but choked in the final week of the regular season and missed out on the playoffs). The rest has been terrible.
In 2002, Mark Shapiro was promoted to general manager after John Hart took the identical job in Texas. Shapiro's first act was trading future Hall of Famer Robbie Alomar to the Mets, but his next trade was his best.
After firing Charlie Manuel at the All-Star break, Shapiro dealt Bartolo Colon (who wound up winning 20 games) to the Montreal Expos for Lee Stevens and three prospects -- Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips. While Phillips didn't emerge until Shapiro and manager Eric Wedge gave up on him and essentially gave him to the Reds, Sizemore and Lee became two of the better players in baseball.
Lee, who did little to contribute to the 2007 team, won the 2008 Cy Young Award after winning 24 games. CC Sabathia won the Cy Young in 2007, while the guy formerly known as Fausto Carmona caught lightning in a bottle and also won 19 games that season.
By 2009, only one of those pitchers will still be in Cleveland. Unfortunately, it was the artist formerly known as Fausto Carmona, who is currently being detained in the Dominican Republic under his given name of Roberto Hernandez Heredia and is three years older than he told the Indians and the U.S. Government.
Lee and Sabathia were dealt in back-to-back years in cost-cutting trades. Out of the two trades, the Indians have three players on the current big-league roster -- center fielder Michael Brantley, utility infielder Jason Donald and backup catcher Lou Marson.
The Indians also traded popular catcher Victor Martinez to the Red Sox for pitchers Justin Masterson and Nick Hagadone. Hagadone finally made the club this year and has become a decent end-of-the-pen guy. Masterson had a great season last year, but has struggled this year.
It's maneuvers like this that cause fan disconnect. The fans loathed that all of their heroes from the "Era of Champions" -- Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel -- all were allowed to walk away as free agents because the Indians couldn't afford to keep them. They loathed that others who replaced them and emerged in their absence, such as Brandon Phillips, Martinez, Lee and Sabathia, were dealt for prospects -- prospects that, for the most part, haven't emerged yet.
The Indians have drafted poorly during that time, which further depleted their farm system. They've drafted better recently, but two of their most recent first-round choices -- pitchers Alex White and Drew Pomeranz -- were dealt at the trading deadline to Colorado for pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.
To say Jimenez has been inconsistant since coming to Cleveland would be an understatement. One game,he looks like Cy Young. The next, he looks like Anthony Young.
(Joe Cleveland break -- if you don't know who Anthony Young is, Google him. Young went 3-30 over a two-year span with the Mets, which included a record 24-game losing streak.)
So, fans went into this season with a general distaste for the Indians' ownership and front office. Also, on the eve of the regular season, Forbes Magazine reported that the Indians turned the largest profit in the major leagues -- $30 million. Meanwhile, the Dolans continued to cry the poorhouse blues, and their denial of the report just reeked of lies.
Despite that, a whopping 44,000 people showed up to watch Opening Day against the Blue Jays, and, for 8 1/2 innings, the fans were enjoying a 4-1 lead.
Then Chris Perez showed up to undo all of the good tidings, giving up three ninth-inning runs.
By the way Chris, if you wonder why fans get restless and boo you when you pitch, it's performancs like yours in the home opener you can point to. Some fans just don't trust a lead with you on the mound. Want to shut them up and prove them wrong? Keep firing 1-2-3, 10-pitch innings at opponents. If it takes "not wanting to be booed" to do that kind of performance, Joe Cleveland can only wonder why you're not motivated to pitch like that all the time.
The Tribe wound up losing in 16 innings, and most fans tuned them out after that.
So, you factor in distaste for ownership, a lackluster offseason in which a lot of promised but nothing was delivered (Casey Kotchman and a bucket of crap constitutes as NOTHING), a spectacular blown home opener in front of a raucus capacity crowd, and a chilly April, and it's no surprise why they've been drawing 11,000 fans to their games on average.
Also, you have to go back to last season. Like last season, the Tribe came off of a do-nothing offseason and a miserable home opener to shock baseball by going 30-15 at the end of May.
There was no way a team 15 games above .500 would not win a division title, let alone clinch a playoff berth. And yet, the bargain-basement Indians found a way to do both.
This season has almost been a mirror-image of last season. Fans were skeptical about the Tribe's good fortune last season, but bought in during the summer with large crowds. Once the fans started coming, the Indians started wilting. They were relegated to bringing back legend Jim Thome in August and September to continue some of those large crowds into football season. By then, the team was toast.
So, to say the fans were skeptical again this season is perfectly understandable. Joe Cleveland, for one, is definitely skeptical. They just don't look like a playoff-calibur team to me.
Yeah, they're playing a gritty brand of baseball that Cleveland fans can identify with. They're underdogs, and we all love an underdog. However, everyone's waiting for that other shoe to drop.
All the fans who did so last year pointed to everyone who yelled at them and said, "I told you so." They are waiting to do that again.
Chris Perez's nuclear meltdown this past weekend can't help matters with a fragile fan base. Yes, fans are talking about the Indians more than the Browns today. However, it's mostly debating as to whether or not you side with Perez and/or will continue to support the Tribe.
If the Indians get swept by Detroit, or drop 2-of-3 games, the boo birds and buzzards will swoop in. Perez's meltdown will be the factor in many fans' eyes for their dismal performance, especially if Perez blows a save. Hoo-boy, buckle up for that one, Chrissy!
Who knows, perhaps an outburst like this will galvanize the team into rallying around their beleagured and outspoken closer. Baseball's a funny game.
But, as of now, Joe Cleveland will go back to paying attention to the Browns' OTAs and the Cavs' upcoming NBA Draft lottery. Chris Perez just burned his last bridge to this fan.
By the way, baseball fans, if you like baseball but don't want to pay $10 for a beer, there are cheaper and more family-friendly alternatives to the Indians. The Lake County (Eastlake) Captains to the East, the Akron Aeros to the South, the Columbus Clippers to the further South, the Lake Erie (Avon) Crushers to the West and the Mahoning Valley (Niles) Scrappers to the further East are minor league teams, but put on a great brand of baseball and promote fun for the entire family. Plus, you're not spending over $100 to take a family of four to a ball game.
Joe Cleveland took his 9-year-old nephew to a Crushers game last Saturday. The kid wound up with two foul balls, a couple of autographs, and ate like a champion for under $10.
Ironically, all but the Crushers are affiliated with the Indians, so they're basically competing with themselves. The Captains come highly recommended, as do the Aeros, Clippers and Crushers.
Some fans are saying that the low attendance will eventually lead to the Indians moving. Do these fans not remember all the times the Indians were going to "move to New Orleans" or "move to Miami" or "move to whereever" during the 1970s and 80s, when ownership was terrible and the team was even worse and they played in a dump of a stadium? They didn't move then, did they?
The Tribe's not going anywhere. They play in a great stadium with a great lease. If they do, Larry Dolan will have no one to blame but himself. But, that's a discussion for another day.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
