They beat me to it!

Well I was going to rant about the moral quandary I was pondering as to why Roberto Hernandez still had a place on the Indians roster, but when I woke up this morning the Indians had answered my dreams, designating him for assignment, which basically means... CUT!

For those who missed it, the Indians managed to climb to within 1 run of the Phillies last night in the bottom of the 8th only to have Uncle Eric place a call to the bullpen for Roberto who promptly gave up 3 runs int he top of the 9th to effectively seal the game. It hurt even more when the Tribe scored 1 in the 9th, which would have tied the game and sent it into extra innings had Roberto not given up the aforementioned runs.

Now I was all for Mark Shapiro's plan of signing a bunch of veteran arms and hoping that a few stepped up and performed. But it has been apparantly obvious since the second week of April that Roberto Hernandez did not have it anymore, especially in the tougher American League. So Shapiro was 2 for 4, with Fultzy and Borowski seeming working, Foulke retiring and Roberto well... let's not lament the dead.

The only part of that plan that I didn't like was the seeming disregard of the Indians young talent. The last time I checked, two of the MLB's perennial playoff participants, Atlanta and Oakland, in addition to the locking down of a few key players and a tactical free agent signing here and there always seemed to bring up their young talent and incorporate them into the line-up effectively.

Carmona and Perez have made the most of their opportunities. Mastny and Cabrera remain works in progress. Would Mujica, Lara, Miller or Koplove be any worse that Hernandez was? I find that hard to believe. And yes, I realize that Miller and Koplove aren't young. But the point is when you realize something isn't working, you need to address it. Hernandez hasn't been working since Game 3. It should not have taken this long to act on it.

This applies to the field as well as David Dellucci is headed to the DL for an extended period after pulling his hamstring last night. I haven't given up on The Looch yet but he is not having a great year. Neither is Trot Nixon. So we get to have a look at Franklin Gutierrez and Ben Francisco. Shin-soo Choo is on the DL or he would be here and not Francisco. Jason Michaels will get some more PT but as I have stated before I think he has proven he excels in the platoon role but can not play every day. Maybe one of these guys will step up and we'll get a clear vision if they can ball at this level, a la Ryan Garko at the end of 2006.

The Indians are now forced to depend on some young guys, and maybe, just maybe, that's not that bad of a thing.

The real Cliff Lee?

Now that’s the Cliff Lee I remember.

Seven innings, five hits, one run, five strikeouts. Cool and calm when working out of a couple jams. Indians win 10-1. Done and done. This is the Cliff Lee the Indians locked up long term a year or so ago. I hope that this is a sign that Cliff has knocked off the rust from missing spring training and we can expect more of the same from now on.

If Lee can step up and Jake Westbrook can work his way back into form when he comes off the DL in a week it is a big step towards eliminating some of the issues that may hinder the Indians from “taking the next step” and contending for the AL Central and ultimately the World Series titles.

Here are some of the issues that the Indians need to sort out if the want to be a serious threat this season:

• C. C. and Fausto and pray for rain – The ’03 Marlins, the ’04 Red Sox, ’05 White Sox and the ’06 Cardinals all had one this in common. They all had 4 solid starting pitchers. Not 4 studs, just 4 solid guys that gave them a shot to win every night. As I said before if Cliff Lee gets back to form and someone else steps up, paging Jake Westbrook, the Indians can live with Byrd/Sowers/Stanford/Slocum/Miller going every fifth day.
• Bullpen Consistency – Despite the occasional Ernie Camacho impersonation, Joe Borowski is firmly entrenched as the closer. Rafael Betancourt is having a phenomenal season. Aaron Fultz is in place as the situational lefty. I think Rafael Perez has shown the benefit of having a second lefty, that he can eat up innings as a long man and that he’s got a shot to be a pretty good pitcher. They need two more guys to step up because Joe, Raffy and Fultzy can’t pitch every day. Whether they come from within or via trade someone please step up. Tom Mastny could be one of the guys if he reverts back to his April form. I think he’s such a different kind of pitcher than anyone else the Tribe has he would be great if he could just figure it out. Fernando Cabrera seems to be on the Jason Davis/Jeremy Guthrie track unfortunately and Roberto Hernandez is well, Roberto Hernandez. Mike Koplove, Eddie Mujica and Matt Miller all made cameos, maybe one of them are the answer but we can’t win with half a bullpen.
• Will an outfield not named Grady please produce? – To me this is priority numero uno. David Dellucci is a notorious second half player, so I hold out hope he will turn it on. Trot Nixon has lost all the pop in his bat. Jason Michaels has been great in his platoon action but that’s the role he excels in. He’s shown he can’t play in an every day role. If the Indians are going to make a trade then this is the spot I’d like to see them address.
• The Pronk Supremacy – Grady Sizemore may be one of the top 5 to 10 players in MLB today and may be on his way to being the top one once he hits his prime but Travis Hafner is the straw that stirs the Tribe’s offensive drink. Victor Martinez is having a monster year and letting Pronk get pitches to hit. He’s just not doing it. I don’t know if it’s mental or he’s just having an off year but if we want to see the consistent run producing from the Indians it has to start with Pronk.

In the mean time let’s make chopped liver of the lowly Phillies and beat up on my putrid Washington nationals in DC this coming weekend.

WTF Uncle Eric?!?

Eric Wedge, I dub thee Uncle Eric from this point forward.

Now up until this point I have neither been an Eric Wedge supporter nor an Eric Wedge detractor. But last night's inexcusable handling of the pitching staff may be the straw that broke the camel's back.

Let's recap. After being up 3-0 on Atlanta the Indians found themselves tied 3-3 after a number of weak ground balls found holes in the 6th inning. In the bottom of the 8th Casey Blake led of the inning with a solo shot onto the homer run porch at The Jake to put the Indians up 4-3.

And warming up in the bullpen... no one. Now C. C. Sabathia has shown this year to be one of the premier pitchers in MLB. He has shown incredible stamina this season despite his giant stature. And he was coming off back to back 9 inning, shut out performances. But he was coming off back to back 9 inning, shut out performances... Hello, McFly! This is not the 1970's. Pitchers rarely go back to back complete games let alone 3 in a row in the 21st century. I figured Uncle Eric would know this.

Add to that the fact that C. C. was not his overpowering self. He had given up 10 hits. Now they were all singles and most of those were weak flares or ground balls with eyes, but the Braves were still making contact with the big guy. He was well over 100 pitches, not overly dominant and coming off two consecutive 9 inning outings. It was the 4th and 5th time that the Brave hitters had seen him that night. He should NOT have been out there in the 9th inning.

But he was and was subsequently greeted with two absolutely crushed, I mean crushed, doubles off the big green wall in left (sandwiched around an error and a sacrafice bunt) and the Tribe was down 5-4. Game, set, match Bravos.

Now I do not care that Borowski, Betancourt and Perez were all used heavily over the past week and maybe weren't available. I don't care that Cabrera and Mastny have been shaky, and that's being nice, over the month of June. And I don't care that Roberto Hernandez is almost 50 years old. Someone other that C. C. should have been out there to try and finish off the game. Even if the bullpen would have blow it maybe we would have found out something about these "fringe" guys that seem to be lights out one month and garbage the other.

The manager's job is to put the ball club in the best position to win. Uncle Eric didn't do that yesterday. And now instead of being up on the Braves in the series, the Tribe must win the next 2 to take it. The Tigers are back within 1 game in the Central. The Indians can not afford to give game away, but Uncle Eric did that very thing last night.

The Conundrum That is the Cleveland Indians

On Tuesday, the Indians had lost 7 of their last ten games after being shut out 3-0 by the Florida Marlins and pitching powerhouse Scott Olsen. The day before, they let the Mariners jump out to a 7-0 lead, came back and tie it at 7, only to give up the losing run in the top of the 9th. The day before that, They spoiled 9 shut out innings from C. C. Sabathia (who SHOULD be 12-1), and lose a series to the last place Reds, after a 1-0 loss in twelve innings. Earlier that day they optioned the disappointing Jeremy Sowers to AAA Buffalo to hopefully work out his troubles. It looked as if bad baseball, bad managing and Interleague Play had caught up to them as they let a 4 1/2 game lead over the 2nd place Tigers disappear. They were deadlocked at 37-26 with the Tigers atop the AL Central. It looked as if their season may have peaked. Detroit was streaking. Cleveland was slumping. We had reached Defcon 1.

Then they were down 3-0 in Game 2 versus Florida after a piss poor 1st inning by Cliff Lee and nothing that resembled Major League hitting. Then something happened. Cliff Lee hit Miguel Cabrera with a pitch and half way to first base Miggy decided to make the lamest charge of the mound in baseball history. Benches emptied and the fire that had been missing from the Tribe suddenly seemed to rekindle. Could this be the awakening we needed like the series versus Toronto when Jason Phillips got in Josh Barfield's face only to be shoved out of the way by David Dellucci and the Tribe went on to win 6 of their next 8 games???

The Indians stormed back with a 6 run sixth and ended up taking the game 7-3. They followed that up by turning the tables on an opponent by calling up a soft tossing lefty (normally the Indians foil), Jason Stanford, and getting him his first win since 2003 in his first appearance in the big leagues since 2004. It wasn't pretty but the Indians did what they needed to do came away with a 3-2 win, and suddenly were 2 games up on the Tigers once more.

More than any other major professional sport, baseball is a marathon and a war of attrition. Teams are going to go through streaks, good and bad. The key is to maximize the hot streaks and minimize the cold ones. The Indians just went through a cold streak that was pretty bad, but it could have been a lot worse. They are coming home to play 14 of their next 17 at home, where they have the best record in baseball. They take on Atlanta, Philadelphia, Oakland and Tampa Bay (sandwiched around a trip to DC to take on the Nationals). None of whom are baseball powerhouses this year.

Can they step up and remain in first place until the All-Star game? That is the conundrum that is the 2007 Cleveland Indians.

Tribe Falls Flat in Battle of Ohio Part 2

Flat is an understatement. Ugly is a better term. Sunday the Tribe squandered nine shut-out innings from ace C. C. Sabathia and managed to lose 1-0 in 12 innings to the Last Place Cincinnati Reds. That left the Tribe with a series loss and a season series split of 3-3 against the hapless Reds.

The Reds were 15 games UNDER .500 when the series started. They have quite possible the WORST bullpen in the National League yet the Indians managed to drop 2 of 3 to them. It just seemed as if something was missing over the weekend. Where as earlier in the season, if the Tribe was down you felt they were gonna come back and win no matter how poorly they were playing. They would fins a way to win.

In Cincinnati, there was a different aura. You never quite got the feeling they were into the series. Dellucci, Hafner and Peralta all struck out in key situations Friday. The Indians got lucky on Saturday but once again a huge strikeout in a key spot as Ryan Garko whiffed with the bases loaded. No clutch hitting whatsoever from the team.

Travis Hafner remains in a funk, get solid contact at times but not finding a hole but looking completely over matched at others. C. C. Sabathia cost himself a victory Sunday by failing to advance to 3rd base on a passed ball that was so far away catcher David Ross he could have skipped to third easily, but no he chose to say put, leaving himself stranded on third after Victor Martinez's single rather than coring the winning run. Jeremy Sowers got a ticket back to Buffalo to sort out his trouble and Matt Miller greeted us with a one pitch cameo to allow the game winning hit.

Not a good start to the meat of the Interleague Play portion of the schedule where the Indians normally thrive. A quick cameo at Jacobs Field for a Snow Game versus Seattle and them off to Florida for 3, site of their last World Series appearance. If they want to make one for the first time in ten years they need to pick it up now, as their lead over Detroit has shrunk to 1 1/2 games.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The Indians completed their series with the Royals this afternoon, winning 8-3, to take the series 2-1 and even up the season series against Kansas City 3-3. It truly was a series of some great baseball, some bad baseball and some plays you downright couldn't stomach if you are a Tribe fan.

The Good

• C. C. Sabathia - Wow what an outing on Tuesday. Totally un-hittable. No runner past 2nd base after the second and every hit was a lazy roller or a bloop. No solid contact at all. This from a guy who normally turns it on after the All-Star break. I'm giddy to see how far he can take this.
• Fausto Carmona - Another solid outing. Ground balls, double plays, one run, seven innings. Niiiiiiice!
• Franklin Gutierrez - Is Eric Wedge actually playing a young guy? And he actually hits a couple of dingers? Huh. Too bad he couldn't come through in the 9th on Wednesday.
• Casey Blake - 16 game hitting streak. Actually having some pop in his bat. Delivering with men on base. Who thought a return to third base and hitting int he 2 hole would wake this guy up.

The Bad

• Tom Mastny - This guy is normally so cool, so calm. Recently, so bad. Two more runs in an inning. Yuck. We need him to find his form. He could be a valuable asset in the 7th and 8th is he gets it straight.
• Lack of Late Inning Magic - The Indians left 5 men on base in the last two innings on Wednesday and lost 4-3. And they looked particularly pathetic in doing so.
• The First Time Fear - First time facing Brian Bannister and the second time facing Jorge de la Rosa and the Indians bats wilted away. And all too familiar theme for Tribe fans for over a decade.

The Ugly

• Jhonny Peralta's Limp Wristed Throwing Style - It might have cost us the game Wednesday. If he throws to first or actually side-arms the ball to Barfield the Indians are out of the inning, down only 3-0, and the game maybe goes to extra innings. Instead he decides to do a Lamar from "Revenge of the Nerds" impersonation. Jackass.
• Pinch Running for Travis Hafner - In the eighth inning, when he is the tying run, ON FIRST BASE, with one out. Maybe I can see it if he were the tying run on second with one out but dear lord. Instead of Pronk against a righty in the ninth with the bases loaded, enter Franklin Gutierrez. Kid played well in the series, but he should not have been in that spot. Awful managerial decision, Eric.

Next up for the Tribe, a 3 game set in Cincinnati, followed by snow make-up game #2 at home versus the Mariners.