Their reigning Cy Young Award winner seems have gotten back on track, although C. C. should hit the treadmill a little bit more for longevity's sake.
Their up and coming sinker ball superstar has had little drop off from his breakout year in 2007. Fausto es fantastico!
Their wily veteran junk-baller seems to have found his deceptive, control based arsenal that he used to perfection last year, all without any HGH from his dentist. Kudos, Byrd-man.
The fifth starter who was left for dead is pitching like, well, Cy Young. Who knew, Clifton Phifer Lee, who knew?
Even with Jake The Snake on the DL they have up and coming Professor Sowers and The Joker come in a contribute solid efforts their first times out.
The bullpen seems to have come together after the loss of Iron Joe Borowski. The Fightin' Raffy Brothers continue to anchor the back end. Masa K seems to have adjusted as the weather has gotten warmer and gives the Tribe a third option in the late innings without worry of him showing up in any seedy Japanese films.
Yet, the Indians offense continues to squander great pitching night in and night out with no signs of permanently coming out of its season long funk. Yes, the O has teased us for a game or two at a time but the ineptitude at bat has left more that a few wins on the field in 2008.
Coming into Tuesday night's game, Victor Martinez is hitting .365. No other Indians' regular is hitting above .270. The Looch is next at .268. Grady Sizemore is only hitting .266 and only has an OBP of .375. No good for the lead-off man. Number two hitters Jamey Carroll and The As-Man are both hitting .219. So is #3 man DH Travis Hafner. Hafner looks totally lost at the plate and his strikeouts are so, so bad it makes you wonder if this "Pronk" persona even really existed. .219 out of your #2 and #3 holes is not going to get in done in the NL let alone the AL.
Ryan Garko is in an 0-23 skid and looks almost as bad as Hafner. Neither guy is even hitting the ball well and just getting unlucky. They both look completely lost at the plate. No one in the bottom of the order is hitting above .250. The are getting little power from anyone in the line-up. The put together multiple innings with scoring threats but are lucky it they get more than 2 runs an inning as the batting with RISP has been atrocious.
Pitching does win championships but you do need to score to have a chance to win. The Indians have been frustrating because they do tease you night in and night out with the prospect of breaking through but just can;t string it together for more than a few games in a row. Until they figure out how to do so they will hover around .500 and out of serious contention. I have faith in you boys, but its not early anymore.
It's Tribe Time Now. Believeland.
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