FanHouse Cleveland

Having spent a little bit of time in Cleveland, I'm kind of with Chris Cooley on this one. What he wrote (apart from the unnecessarily salty language) wasn't that bad, and the fact that he got profane responses from Clevelanders speaks more to a collective inferiority complex on their part. Maybe it has something to do with losing their team to Baltimore a decade or so ago. Or replacing it with one that kind of stinks.

Still, it's not a fantastic move on the part of a player who might end up in a city to go to war with the fans in that city. And it makes you wonder how many more incidents like this we can expect with all of these athletes blogging and tweeting and doing all of this direct-fan-communication stuff that's all the rage these days.

Cliff Lee was worsening by the day, and now it's official: Lee will start the season on the disabled list:

Cliff Lee, a stalwart of the Cleveland rotation in the last three seasons, will start the season on the disabled list.

The left-hander will be out four to six weeks rehabilitating a strained abdominal muscle. Lee was scheduled to have a throwing session Sunday morning when he felt uncomfortable doing training room exercises.

Trainers said Lee won't throw for about 10 days and then will gradually get back at it.

Lee spent two months on the disabled list with a more severe abdominal strain in 2003. Since then, he's made every start for the last three seasons and compiled a 46-24 record.

Veteran Paul Byrd or Jeremy Sowers could move up into Lee's No. 3 spot in the rotation, with Fausto Carmona sliding in to fill the last opening.

That certainly puts a damper on Cleveland's start to the season; Lee is a pretty valuable guy in that third spot for them. Here's hoping the injury won't keep him out that long, and the Indians can challenge for the Central at full strength.