W. Ross Clites Your City Sports-Cleveland Saint Louis, MISSOURI--Like the Dow Jones Industrial, Ubaldo Jimenez continued a downward slide last week. The Rockies ace left the door wide open for his fellow National League starting pitchers, Adam Wainwright and Josh Johnson, to dethrone him from the top Pitcher Rating spot he has held for the entire season. On Fox Network's nationally-televised Saturday game of the week, Jimenez lasted only two innings in Philadelphia. He gave up six earned runs and subsequently his PR dropped 2.15 points. Come Sunday morning, this decline was enough to put him in second place behind an idle Wainwright. Because the three arms--competing for the NL Cy Young--are not aligned in the days that they throw, it took until Tuesday for Wainwright and Johnson to respond. But when they did step on a mound again, one had a chance to extend his lead over Jimenez; while the other had the potential to leapfrog both pitchers ahead of him. For both, all it would take ...

W. Ross Clites Your City Sports-Cleveland Saint Louis, MISSOURI--This is my first installment since I moved west of the Mississippi on Wednesday. The Cardinals are sure glad I am here, while the Indians are sure glad I am gone. It could also be that the absence of LeBron has renewed Cleveland's faith in baseball and the team--playing pressure-free and finally healthy--is responding to an AL Central spoiler role. Any way you would like to spin it, since my U-Haul touched down in STL both teams have won 5 straight games and not lost once. Let me go on believing that I was the missing piece in the sports scene for the Redbirds. But if I am going to be that ego-centric, I must also accept blame for holding back the youthful bats of the Tribe. My apologies, Cleveland, and you're welcome, Saint Louis. Now, on to this week's Pitcher Rating highlights. Recently, a friend introduced me to an interesting section of espn.com's baseball page. Two gentlemen that definitely belong on...

W. Ross Clites Your City Sports-Cleveland Kent, OHIO--We should have expected this. 2010 has been billed as "The Year of the Pitcher" by everyone and anyone since mid-June. A bit of a snooze-fest in the All-Star Game is simply the undesired side effect to a pitching Renaissance. Pitcher Rating July 14 Leave Comments on my Facebook page or Email Feedback to w.ross.clites@gmail.com

W. Ross Clites Your City Sports-Cleveland Kent, OHIO--The days of multiple Cleveland Indians in the All-Star Game are unfortunately a thing of the past. The once-proud franchise will return to such greatness someday, but for now we are left with token representation. As much as it pains me to say, it might be time to reevaluate the league's "one team, minimum one player" mandate. If this game is to be taken seriously, then pitchers with 7-7 records should probably be passed. Fausto Carmona is a solid arm, and his Triple-A lineup does little to help his run support. However, he has a negative PR rating, ranking 96th overall. Think what you want about my stat, but it very nearly predicted the NL and AL All-Star rosters correctly. Furthermore, it doesn't take a concocted statistic to show that the Indians should not send a representative to this year's All-Star Game. The day that Shin-Soo Choo went on the Disabled List with a thumb injury is the day the Tribe should ...