Indians Home Opener
The Indians played their first home game of the season last Friday night at the Vic. The sparse home crowd braved the wind, rain, and snow to witness the Tribe lose to the Columbus Clippers 4-11. The team came back on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons to beat Columbus 10-0 and 5-3 respectively. The Toledo Mud Hens handed the home boys a 13-3 loss on Monday. So even if the weather is not exactly Spring like, the Indians season is in full swing. GO TRIBE!
Andrew Luck’s Arm?
On Monday, the Colt quarterback admitted that while he is throwing in practice, it’s not with a regulation NFL football. Luck said his arm doesn’t feel “perfect.” Which begs the question — will it ever again feel perfect? More to the point, will he be able to play the 2018 season, or for that matter will he ever be able to play again? The rumors about his career being over are starting to pop up again and most power-ranking polls have the Colts ranked at 32nd and last in terms of winning potential because of Luck’s undetermined status. The Colts have the 6th pick in the upcoming draft after trading down with the Jets for more picks. More experts are calling for the team to use the pick on a quarterback. The Colts front office and GM Chris Ballard have not commented other than to say that all will be well come opening day. A number of draft prognosticators have the Colts trading down again. This time swapping their sixth pick to the Buffalo Bills in return for the Bills 12th and 22nd picks in the first round. The Bills have made it clear that they want a quarterback and will do whatever it takes to get one. This year’s draft is rich in available talent, so the Horseshoe could pick a few blue chippers as far back as 12 and 22. Mock drafts are like opinions — everybody’s got one. I believe that if Bradley Chubb or Saquon Barkley are still available at the 6th pick, the Colts will stay pat and take one of them. Luck’s status, however, remains the “fly in the oatmeal.”
IndyCar in the Desert
Last Saturday night, the Indy cars gathered at ISM Raceway in Avondale Arizona to run in the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix….say that three times fast! St. Petersburg winner Sebastien Bourdais took the pole in his Honda and Simon Pagenand lined up next to him in his Chevy. So the series two Frenchmen would led the start to the 250 lap race. Bourdais took the lead and held it until the first series of pit stops. While pitting, Bourdais hit and knocked over one of his crewman. The man was fine but Bourdais was penalized a lap for the incident. This effectively put him out of contention. Will Power led laps 44-127 but made contact with the wall and ended his day early finishing last.
Rookie Robert Wickens again drove a smooth and competitive race for Sam Schmidt and looks to be the series’ top rookie. Watch him at Indy. Josef Newgarden drove a “Rick Mears” kind of race. He started in contention, never falling too far back and then late in the race he made his move. Running second during the last caution period, his crew had him pit to take on fresh tires. On the restart Newgarden was able to blow past the leader Wickens and take the win. Learning from his crash in the last race, Wickens held on for a 2nd place finish. Alexander Rossi took third. Newgarden is once again the series point leader.
This coming Sunday it’s the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach — always one of the most exciting and popular races of the season.
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