at times for his quirky personality and unorthodox train

Maryhelen Zabas walked into her local Applebees on a mission. Since she doesnt have cable, she needed a place to watch Game 2 of the American League Championship Series on Oct. 15 and figured there would be at least one TV in the bar area tuned to the game.But on a fall Saturday, it was college football as far as the eye could see, so Zabas politely asked a bartender if one of the stations could be turned to the baseball game. Upon noticing the Cleveland Indians T-shirt Zabas was wearing, the bartender readily complied. She herself was a Cubs fan and was hoping her team would face the Indians in the World Series.Zabas found a table with prime sight line of the game and, for the next several hours, she ate wings and watched as the Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1, to take a 2-0 lead in the series. (They would eventually win the series in five.)After the final out, Zabas paid her tab and started for the parking lot. As she stepped outside, she felt the crispness of a fall day in Bend, Oregon, hit her face and breathed in the fresh Northwest air.She was more than 2,000 miles from Cleveland, yet, in this moment, her heart was filled with hometown pride.For most of her life, Zabas was known as Sister Mary Assumpta and had a presence in Cleveland as tall as the citys iconic Terminal Tower. She became a Catholic nun at the age of 17 and was a longtime member of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit -- an order that ministers to the elderly at the Jennings Center for Older Adults, which serves as a retirement community and nursing home in a Cleveland suburb.Sister Mary Assumpta had a claim to fame in Cleveland as one of the most diehard Indians fans in town.She and her fellow sisters were fixtures at ball games at the old Cleveland Stadium, where it was hard to miss a group of nuns dressed in full habit eating hot dogs, yelling at umps and cheering on the Tribe with fervor.At the end of the games, if we lost, people who had a little too much alcohol would say, Oh, Sister, you didnt pray hard enough, and wed turn around and say, Prayer isnt just our job, Zabas said.It seemed no amount of prayer could help the Indians during their 1985 season when the team lost 102 games, so the nuns figured chocolate chip cookies might at least lift the players spirits. After the All-Star break that year, they began taking a batch to the team at the beginning of every homestand.It was just to let them know that somebody cared, Zabas said with a laugh.Over time, it became tradition for the Sisters of the Holy Spirit to bake a special batch of chocolate chip cookies for the Indians home opener each year.Strikeouts were baked in the cookies for the pitchers and home runs into the cookies for the hitters, explained Zabas.But sometimes they got them mixed up and would eat the wrong ones, she joked.Sister Mary Assumptas celebrity grew when she had a cameo in the movie Major League wearing her habit and an Indians jacket. She got her own Upper Deck baseball card, a write-up in People magazine and served as a special World Series correspondent for a local Cleveland TV station and CBS This Morning in 1995.But as much as she was recognized for her devotion to the Indians, it was only a small part of Sister Mary Assumptas life. After beginning her career as a high school English teacher, she transitioned into healthcare administration and became an expert in end-of-life care, traveling the country giving programs and lectures on the subject. She also was the backbone of her small group of sisters and worked tirelessly to keep the order thriving. However, her unending service to others and penchant for self-described overextension eventually took its toll.My soul was burning out, she said.So after nearly 50 years as a Catholic nun, she decided to leave her religious order and took a job with the Sacred Art of Living ministry in Oregon, which works with caregivers and the dying.In the summer of 2013, Zabas set off for her new life in the first car she ever owned -- a Chevrolet Sonic. Prior to that, she always shared a vehicle with one with the other sisters. She was no longer wearing a habit and had taken the name Maryhelen, comprised of her given name Helen and decided to add Mary to it.Along the way from Ohio to Oregon, Zabas made stops at national monuments and other attractions, including the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota. It was there that she met a member of the Cherokee tribe, who bestowed upon her an American Indian name: She Who Laughs at the Unknown.It was fitting as Zabas life has been guided by a certain fearlessness. Whenever she gets a bold idea, one way or another, shell find a way to make it happen -- especially if it involves helping someone in need. For instance, there was the time she turned the sisters cookie baking into a business, Nun Better, to support the endowment of the Jennings Center for Older Adults.To this day, at the age of 71, she still lives life at a vigorous clip. In fact, prayer and baseball might be the only two things in Zabas life that force her to slow down.Theres nothing fast about a ball game. With no game clock or time limit, theres only the ebb and flow of balls and strikes. Its essentially a chess match, and the drama is in the details, which Zabas loves.I learned [the game] from my mother, she said. Ive learned the nuances and know that its a game of strategy that a lot of people dont understand.One of the difficult parts about being so far from Cleveland is no longer being able to watch the Indians regularly on TV or go to games at Progressive Field, Zabas admitted.I just long to see a baseball game, she said.She gets her baseball fix by attending an occasional Bend Elks game, the amateur baseball team in town, and always makes room in her schedule for the Indians when she visits Cleveland during the season.This past summer there, she did something all too familiar. She whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and delivered them to the Indians.Perhaps the hitters and pitchers finally got the right cookies this season with the team only one game away from its first World Series title since 1948.Whatever the outcome, Zabas will always keep her faith in the Indians even if she has to do it from afar.I will not switch my fandom no matter where I live, she said. Brian McCann Jersey . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. Bob Uecker Braves Jersey .J. Ellis hit two-run homers and the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-0 Saturday night. http://www.baseballbravesproshop.com/adam-duvall-braves-jersey/ .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. Bobby Cox Braves Jersey . Both players have lower body injuries that will keep them out of the lineup until at least January 31, which is the first game they can be activated from IR. Sean Newcomb Jersey . Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on the indoor hard-court at Belgrade Arena. The victory improved the Czech pairs impressive cup doubles record to 14-1. CLEVELAND -- The Indians expect pitcher Trevor Bauer to be ready to start Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Monday in Toronto after scratching him from Saturdays outing because of a freak injury to the tip of his right pinkie finger.Josh Tomlin will start Game 2 at Progressive Field in place of Bauer, who cut his finger while doing routine maintenance on his drone. The free-spirited Bauer is a longtime drone enthusiast and has built and flown the devices for years.General manager Chris Antonetti said the cut is on the outside of Bauers finger and shouldnt affect his various grips. Bauer arrived at Progressive Field early Friday and lightly tossed all his pitches without incident. Manager Terry Francona said the biggest challenge for Clevelands medical staff will be making sure Bauers cut heals enough that the finger doesnt start bleeding while hes pitching.In the grand scheme of things, as long as Trevor is OK, all were doing is flip-flopping him with Tomlin, Francona told reporters at his pregame news conference. We have to win four games anyway. And they were both going to pitch twice.Nevertheless, the bizarre nature of Bauers injury made for a chaotic day for the Indians. Francona learned of the injury when he received a call from Antonetti on Friday morning.I was in the shower, and when I got out of the shower my phone was blowing up, Francona said. And Chris was like, Call me. You could have given me a lot of guesses, and I wouldnt have probably got this one.Bauer wasnt available for comment before Fridays ALCCS opener, which the Indians won 2-0.ddddddddddddThe injury is the latest in a series of disruptions to the Cleveland starting rotation. Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar both went down with injuries in September, and Corey Kluber missed 10 days with a strained quadriceps before returning to beat Boston in the division series.Francona said he was not angry or disappointed in Bauer, who has attracted attention at times for his quirky personality and unorthodox training regimen.Weve been together four years, and Trevor definitely has his own thoughts, Francona said. I think when its all said and done, some of its overblown. He actually has a lot of really good routines, to be completely honest.This was not malicious. He could have been opening a box in the kitchen. Things happen. I wish it wouldnt have, but it wasnt done maliciously. It wasnt done by being silly. It just happened.Tomlin, who allowed 36 home runs during the regular season (third-highest total in the majors behind James Shields and Jered Weaver), pitched five effective innings at Fenway Park to beat the Red Sox 4-3 in the final game of the ALDS.Rather than face?J.A. Happ?at home Saturday night, Bauer will oppose Marcus Stroman on Monday at Rogers Centre. In Bauers only regular-season appearance in Toronto, he pitched five shutout innings in relief of Tomlin on July 1. He earned the win in a 2-1, 19-inning Cleveland victory over the Blue Jays. ' ' '