The Cleveland Indians Conundrum

The Cleveland Indians find themselves in a very interesting and puzzling situation. After a spectacular 2007 which saw them win their first division title since 2001 and come within one win of the World Series, they sit at a disappointing 33-37.

Their #2 and #3 starters, Fausto Carmona and Jake Westbrook, find themselves on the disabled list, with Westbrook out for at least a calendar year after Tommy John Surgery. Their #3 and #4 hitters, DH Travis Hafner and catcher Victor Martinez, are also on the DL after succumbing to nagging injuries that apparently have been affecting them for months.

Young, up and comers Jensen Lewis, Tom Mastny and Asdrubal Cabrera who were supposed to be part of the foundation of the team mind themselves in AAA Buffalo. On top of that their staff ace, C. C. Sabathia looks poised to leave the team via free agency for richer pastures after the season.

Until recently, the offense has been atrocious and unbearable to watch on a daily basis. Journeymen Jason Michaels and Jason Tyner have been jettisoned while Jorge Velandia and Yamid Haad occupy roster spots due to injury. Andy Marte continues to be glued to the end of the bench with no decision on his future with the team seemingly imminent. The magic number of four runs has only been achieved in barely half of their 70 games played to date.

The only thing worse than the offense may be the previous rock of the team, the bullpen. Closer Joe Borowski had injury/strength issues out of Spring Training which forced a realignment of the bullpen. Once un-hittable Rafael Betancourt now regularly brings a gas can to the mound in the late innings. Young lefty Rafael Perez is suffering through an inconsistent sophomore season. Japanese import Masa Kobayashi still has his moments where he struggles with location. Jorge Julio, Craig Breslow, Lewis and Mastny are either no longer with the team or in the minors.

But despite the injuries to two of their best starters. Despite missing their two best power hitters. Despite the offense woefully underperforming for 70 games. Despite the bullpen inconsistencies. And despite their 33-37 record they still only sit 5.5 games out of first place in the American League Central and have 92 games left to play.

The offense has seemed revitalized with young OFs Ben Francisco and Shin-soo Choo joining the line-up. Grady Sizemore has been on an incredible slugging streak and may be developing into the "superstar" player the Indians have lacked since 2001. Ryan Garko looks to have regained his hitting stroke which propelled him through the Indians minor league system.

Jamey Carroll looks to be the #2 hitter the Tribe has been sorely missing after basically being handed the second base job by default. Even oft criticized 3B Casey Blake continues to deliver in the clutch after being putrid in the same situation in 2007.

The starting pitching continues to drive the team and keep it in contention as Sabathia has looked like the reigning Cy Young Award winner his last 12 starts. Aaron Laffey has picked up the slack, providing almost a carbon-copy of Carmona's 2007 breakout performance. And what can be said about Cliff Lee? After looking like he may have lost it last year, all he has done is lead the AL in wins (10) and ERA (2.55) and could have 12+ wins if not for the stagnant offense.

Even the bullpen has started to be a little more consistent as Borowski has given up a run in only one of his appearances since returning from the DL. Perez and Betancourt still have moments of self-combustion but they are less frequent recently. Kobayashi seems to have tightened his control and veteran Scott Elarton keeps eating innings and keeping the Tribe in games when long relief is needed.

It all sets up a very interesting conundrum for the Cleveland Indians. Buy or sell? Make a playoff push in 2008 or realize it may not be their year and start planning for 2009? The fan base may be split right down the middle but I think each side can see the other's viewpoint.

If you are in the camp of it's not even June and they are only 5.5 games back you will point to the 2007 Colorado Rockies or the 2003 Florida Marlins. Teams left for dead that came out of nowhere to make it to the World Series.

You will say the offense has been a lot better in the last two plus weeks and can only improve once Hafner and Martinez return from the DL. When Fausto returns we have four good pitchers in Sabathia, Lee, Carmona and Laffey. The bullpen shows signs of getting sorted out and Lewis and Mastny will be back once they get sorted out in AAA.

If you are in a seller's mind set you will say the Indians have never made it to the playoffs when they haven't been within a game or less this late (as early as it may be) in the season as outlined by Jesse Lamovsky of The Cleveland Fan.

You will say that the starting pitching can not continue at it's amazing pace for the entire season. That the offense still throws in a clunker every now and again and shows no sign of bucking that trend. That Sabathia must be dealt for proven talent at his highest value as the two #1 draft picks they'd get if he leaves in free agency just aren't enough. And that this team just doesn't have the look, feel or vibe that last year's team did and may not find it this season.

The difficult part about the conundrum is that both sides are right and their points are valid. It is too early to tell where this offense will go from here, how far the pitching will drop off, if the bullpen can return to some sort of coherent form and what the injured players will do after their recovery. That's the great thing about baseball.

Personally, I think The Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto said it best. The Indians need to actively shop Sabathia to get an accurate gauge of what they can get for him. Some team will be desperate come the end of July and will be willing to overpay. In the meantime, offer him a more than generous 4-5 year deal that doesn't break the Indians' bank but will have him set for life. It will put the onus on Sabathia to make a decision, take the deal and stay here or be traded. It puts you in a position to be set both ways.

If the Indians falter, they can already have the offers on the table to evaluate and make a decision and can start sending out feelers on other veteran's that would be attractive to contending teams.

If they return to somewhat of a 2007 form, they can reevaluate their position, put out feelers on a young bat they may be interested in and hope the retuning sticks from the DL revert to their old, ball-crushing ways.

Other than that, they just need to wait and see how things play out. The minor don’t have anything more to offer than a few players who have already seen the big leagues this year. There will be no "blockbuster" trade due to the recent injury bug. All the Indians can do is suck it up, play baseball and show the fans what they are really made of.

Until then, it's just another Cleveland Indians Conundrum.

Padres-Indians: Tribe Falls As Disturbing Trends Continue

You should never let the team with the ugliest uniforms win. It is 1970’s weekend at Progressive Field for the Interleague Series versus the San Diego Padres and both teams sported uniforms from 1978. Unfortunately, despite wearing the 1978 garb, the Indians decided to turn the clock back to mid-May when they couldn’t buy a win for a number of recurring themes.

The Tribe took an early lead in the 1st as Grady Sizemore and Ben Francisco walked and were brought home by a Ryan Garko single and Shin-Soo Choo double, respectively. Now up 2-0, with runners on second and third and only one out, Jhonny Peralta stepped to the plate. The Jhonny Peralta of 11 homeruns and only 21 RBIs. Well Peralta at least made it 22 RBIs and a 3-0 lead by grounding out to short. Casey Blake flew out to center to end the inning.

Putting a three-spot on the board is great but when you are in the heart of your batting order, and I use that term very loosely, and you have two runners in scoring position with less than two outs you need to score them both. In essence, the Indians let the Padres off the hook and failed to potentially put the game out of reach right out of the gate and failed to do so. Even by just scoring that one additional run is important as we would find out later.

Worse than letting the Padres off with only a three run deficit was the offensive production in the next 9 innings. That would be none. The Indians went the next seven innings without getting a hit. Yes, you read that correctly. In innings two through eight the Tribe managed zero hits. Zero. Zip. Nada. A big friggin’ doughnut.

Well the Padres do have some great pitching with Jake Peavy and Greg Maddux you say? Yeah, it was Cha Seung Baek who was pitching, not Peavy or Maddux. After, making working Baek in the first inning the offense took the rest of the night off. In fact Baek, and Heath Bell combined to retire 23 of 24 hitters from the 2nd to 9th innings, including 19 straight. After getting two hits working two walks in the 1st inning the Indians got two this and one walk the rest of the game.

Thank the heavens for Cliff Lee as he was dealing again. He did give up eight hits in 6 1/3 innings but held San Diego to only two runs over that time. Lee knows first hand that if you do the math, you can’t let the opposition score more than 2 runs with the Indians offense. Tribe fans held their breath as Rafael Betancourt was summoned from the bullpen to get Lee out of a 7th inning jam. But Betancourt did his job as he retired the two batters he faced to hold the score at 3-2 Cleveland.

Disturbing trend number two reappeared in the 8th however as Rafael Perez took the hill. Perez promptly gave up a solo shot to former Indian Jody Gerut and it was tied 3-3 in a heartbeat. The trend with the Tribe bullpen hasn’t been that it’s been one guy going through a slump here and there. It is the fact that night in and night out it seems that whoever Eric Wedge sends to the hill could, and usually will, hand over the lead to the opponent. Perez was the culprit in the 8th.

Unfortunately, with Betancourt, Perez and Joe Borowski used after nine innings, and Masa Kobayashi unavailable after pitching consecutive nights, Uncle Eric had to turn to rookie Ed Mujica to pitch the 10th. It did not go well. Five runs, three hits and two walks that included Mujica walking in the go ahead run and then giving up a monster grand salami over the wall in left to another former Indian, Kevin Kouzmanoff. The 3-3 tie was now a 8-3 San Diego lead and the fat lady had sung.

After a decent, and once again I use that term loosely, run which saw the Indians split series with Texas and Detroit, and win their first series since May 15th by taking two of three from Minnesota, the Tribe failed to make it two series in a row.

More disturbing is how they lost. The Indians still have a tough time generating runs but lately they have been putting themselves in scoring opportunities. Saturday night the complete lack of opportunities, and base runners, returned. This coupled with the continued inconsistencies of the bullpen continues to plague the Tribe in 2008.

They still have a chance to win their second consecutive series on Sunday afternoon, but they won’t be stating down Cha Seung Baek. They get to take some hacks at 350 game winner and future Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux. With the second worst offense and second worst bullpen statistically in MLB that is not a good for the Indians. The only team worse that the Indians? The Sand Diego Padres.

Indians-Tigers: Tribe Loses in Same Old Fashion

I am going to keep this short and sweet because you can basically use the same script for every single game of the 2008 season for the Cleveland Indians. In fact, it was parodied quite accurately by Steve Buffman of The Cleveland Fan in his daily "B-List" game recaps. But I am more keeping it short and sweet for my health more than anything else.

For the 2008 Cleveland Indians to have a chance to win a baseball game three things must happen:

1. The pitching staff must give up 3 runs or less. This would hopefully include a quality start above and beyond a quality start for the Indians starting pitcher.
2. The Indians must score 4 runs in the game. They are 22-10 when they do that and that is very good.
3. The Bullpen, which I have named The Son of the Bullpen from Hell, has to pitch effectively and either keep the Indians in the game by not letting the opponent extend the lead or not blow the slim lead they have been handed.

Two out of three and the Indians have a shot. Sometimes the Tribe struggles to get ANY of the three and to quote Gilbert Gottfried. "That is not good." Today they managed only one of three, that being Item #3, as "crafty veteran" Scott Elarton and rookie Ed Mujica worked 4 scoreless innings in relief. Eddie Moo worked himself into a little jam in the 8th but worked his way out of it, something an Indians reliever hasn't done since the Summer Solstice.

Item #1 was not even close as newly promoted Jeremy Sowers was rusty in his third start of the season. Who knows if it has anything to do with him being up and down three times already this year but it will be interesting how he bounces back in his next start as he is here to stay for now. Aaron Laffey was able to do it after getting roughed up and Sowers will need to do so as well. With Jake Westbrook done for the year (and part of 2009) and Fausto Carmon still on the DL "The Professor" has a chance to show us that 2006 was no fluke for him.

With this offense, successfully completing Item #2 is a pipe dream right now. Two runs on five hits today. Only one double by Shin-soo Choo. Grady Sizemore had a single bounce off the wall. Nothing else got off the ground. Ugly just pain ugly.

Jhonny Peralta continues to be putrid when it counts the most and kills rallies like nobody's business. With runners on 1st and 2nd and one out in the 6th, he hit what could have been his team-leading 10th double play but he beat the throw to 1st.

With the Tribe down 5-2 with the bases loaded and one out in the 8th, he was ahead in the count 2-0 against Tigers' ROOKIE pitcher Freddy Dolsi. He then swung at two consecutive balls up and in that were not even close to being strikes. One again, this is against Tigers' ROOKIE pitcher Freddy Dolsi.

Somehow he laid off his poison pill, a slider low and away, when every Tribe fan expected him to swing. But don't worry, he whiffed on a high fastball on the 3-2 pitch for out number two. Ben Francisco struck out immediately after to kill the rally for good. Once again the Tribe can't get hits let alone productive outs if their lives depended on it.

The Indians are now 28-35, 8.5 games behind the first place Chicago White Sox. It is the further below .500 and the furthest behind first place they have been all year. They end their longest road trip of the year, 11 games, on Monday night in Detroit. They are 4-6 on that trip and can not get back home to Progressive Field fast enough.

The Tribe has not won two games in a row in over three weeks and they were held to three or fewer runs for the 31st time in 63 games this year. They are 6-25 in those games. With the White Sox heating up the Indians cooling down, if that's possible, it's looking like a very quick end to the summer for the Tribe unless something changes dramatically and fast.

Cleveland Indians - The Ugly Numbers

Baseball is one of the few sports that numbers stand out, sometimes larger that the game itself. Everyone knows that Joe DiMaggio hit in 56 straight games and that Ted Williams hit .406 and is the last player to hit .400 for a full season.

For Cleveland Indians fans there is only one number that matters, 1948, the last year the Indians won the World Series. 2008 was supposed to be the year that had the makings of ending the 60 year drought. Unfortunately for the Tribe faithful, there are a bunch of numbers that are preventing that and making Clevelanders sick to their stomachs.

4 - As in 4 Runs Per Game

For the season the Indians have scored three of fewer runs in 30 of 62 games. That is nearly HALF of their games. Their record in games where they score three runs or less, 6-24. Yes, you read that correctly, they lose 80% of the time when they score three runs or less. No "George W Fuzzy Math" there.

That would make the Tribe 22-10 when they score MORE than 4 runs a game. That's a .688 clip, folks. The Indians went 96-66 last year, that's a .593 winning percentage, for reference.

.242 - Team Batting Average (Coming into Saturday's Game)

That would be DEAD LAST in the American League, behind the .251 hitting Seattle Mariners, and 28th out of 30 teams in MLB only ahead of Sand Diego and Washington.

Number of regular players hitting over .242? Five. Ben Francisco, Victor Martinez, Ryan Garko, Franklin Gutierrez and Grady Sizemore. It would be worse but the last three guys have been hot lately.

Does it seem like it's been worse that that? Well yes. The Indians were last in MLB for batting average and runs in May. They hit .211 with 78 runs for an average of 3.4 runs per game.
The rarefied air of Arlington, Texas has heated the Indians bats up lately as they have score at least four runs in the last six games, but could only muster a 3-3 record.

10-14 - Record Versus the AL Central (3-10 in the last 13 games)

One of the things i DO like about Eric Wedge is the emphasis that he puts on the divisional match-ups in the era of the unbalanced schedule. Last year the Tribe went 48-24 (.667) in the AL Central. 11-7 vs. Chicago. 12-6 vs. Detroit. 11-7 vs. Kansas City. 14-4 vs. Minnesota. This year not even close. 3-6, 2-2, 1-2 and 4-4 versus those teams, respectively, in 2008.

21 - Record in the last 21 games... 6-15

On May 15 the Indians stood at 22-19, 1 1/2 games AHEAD in the AL Central. Now they sit at 28-34 6 1/2 or 7 1/2 games BEHIND depending on the outcome of tonight's White Sox/Twins game. Number are special in baseball but the one that matters the most is wins. The Indians have done little of that lately.

0 - # of Relief Pitchers that can be counted on every night

It's none. Zip. Zero. Nada. I like Joe Borowski but don't give me the BS that he hasn't given up a run since coming off the DL. He's JOE FRICKIN' BOROWSKI!!! He is an adequate reliever but he will implode from time to time, it's a proven fact. His ERA is still at 8.00 after five consecutive scoreless appearances. That has to be an Iron Joe record by the way.

The infuriating thing is when Uncle Eric makes the call to the bullpen he has no idea what he is going to get that night. No whatsoever. Rafael Betancourt is an absolute train wreck and now sports a 7.27 ERA. 7.27!?! He had a 1.47 ERA last year. WTF?!?

It doesn't matter who Wedge trots out there everyone has had a had in it. Masa Kobayashi has stretches of solid pitching but is good for a hiccup now and again. Rafael Perez has been hit or miss all season. Jensen Lewis and Tom Mastny find themselves in rustic Buffalo, NY for their performances. Craig Breslow and Jorge Julio are no longer with the team.

What makes it worse is that is if the starting pitcher one reliever gets into a jam it's been almost automatic that the oncoming reliever will fail to get out of the jam. This has been as much to blame as the Tribe's putrid offensive efforts.

With the margin of error so small the "lights out" bullpen form 2007 has been replaced "The Son of the Bullpen from Hell" in 2008. When the reliever you cringe least about upon entering the game is Joe Borowski you know you have issues.

100 - Games Remaining

For all the gloom and doom the 2008 season has been for the Indians they still have 100 games to go. An eternity. Despite the awful May, a sub .500 record, the bumbling offense and the Son of the Bullpen from Hell the Indians are still in the middle of the AL Central race.

They finish off their longer road trip of the season in Detroit before heading home for a date with the Twins and the start of Interleague Play. If they want to still want to have a chance to contend in 2008 they need to correct some of the numbers before hitting mid-season because right now the number say they have no shot at all.

Cleveland Indians Woeful 2008: Who's To Blame? Everybody.

As the Cleveland Indians aimlessly meander through 2008 failing to live up to the high hopes and expectations they generated in 2007 there are many questions being asked.

How could a team that won 96 games and came a game away from going to the World Series have regressed so much?

How many stellar outings by starting pitchers can they squander by scoring 3 runs or less?

How can every hitter be so bad simultaneously?

What happened to the rock solid bullpen?

But there is one question underlying question on every Tribe fan's mind.
Who's to blame?

There is only one answer. Everybody is. Every one's hands are dirty in this one. It starts at the top and trickles down the the end of the bench. Let's review:

Culprit #1: Mark Shapiro

I think very highly of Mark Shapiro and that I feel what he has done since he took over in the early 2000s can not be overlooked. Yes, he has made some mistakes, but to take the high dollar Jacobs-led Era Indians and transform them to the cost conscious Dolan-led organization they are today is nothing short of amazing. But everything starts at the top and Shapiro's lack of action in the off-season is where this whole mess started.

I hate cliches but there is an old sports cliche that goes "If you aren't getting better, you're getting worse." Coming off that 96 win season in 2007 all Shapiro did was to add Jamey Carroll and Masa Kobayashi. You could defend this and say the Indians didn't need to do much. This which is where Shapiro is culpable.

I do not fault him for not wanting to trade starting pitching. That, beyond all other things in baseball, is a trump card. Starting pitching can carry you in this game a la a hot goalie in the NHL Playoffs. And it has carried the Indians in 2008. I do not fault him for sticking with younger players like Franklin Gutierrez and Asdrubal Cabrera. They are still young, have potential and most player do go through a rough patch in their sophomore season.

However, all veteran players have a track record. A baseline for which you can judge how they will perform year in and year out. Players do have off or career years here and there but for the most part they stick to that baseline. Mark Shapiro knows this.
So it is totally indefensible to think that he would get anything more that what he has from David Dellucci, Casey Blake or Joe Borowski. It is totally indefensible to think he could have gotten more out of Jason Michaels or Jorge Julio. They all had track records that told you they were average or below average players at their respective positions. To think that the Indians would get any more production out of them in unfathomable.

To put this in perspective, the Cleveland Cavaliers had some needs at the trade deadline and made a deal. It may not have worked out perfectly but at least GM Danny Ferry knew they had a deficiency and he did something. Cleveland Browns GM Phil Savage knew he had problems on defense so he did something. It was unconventional and could backfire but he knew he had an issue and addressed it. Mark Shapiro did nothing knowing he had two obvious gaping holes in LF and at 3B. Inexcusable.

One tangent here... The 3B deficiency Shaprio created himself. He had a very capable, young 3B named Kevin Kouzmanoff that he traded for 2B Josh Barfield. Now Barfield may turn out to be a player in the future but it should not have come to that. Shapiro, and some one else to be mentioned later, felt he had to keep Ramon Vasquez over Brandon Phillips and that created a void at 2B. So he robbed Peter at 3B to pay Paul at 2B. Would Phillips and Kouzmanoff look nice at 2B and 3B respectively, for the Tribe right now? Yes... and back to task.

I am not advocating that he should have broken the bank like the Detroit Tigers did for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. But look what they traded to get Kenny Lofton last year, a minor league catcher. Unless they have been up to the majors, all minor league players are just prospects. Nothing more, nothing less.

Grady Sizemore and Cliff Lee were throw-ins in the Bartolo Colon deal. Minor leaguers are nothing until they actually make it to the bigs. Everyone has a big hard-on for Adam Miller. I hope he turns out to be what he could be and then some. I hope it happens in an Indians uniform. But I say forget Adam Miller. Adam Miller has done nothing in MLB and is constantly injured.

If it would have taken Adam Miller to get a Jason Bay or an Xavier Nady over the winter it should have been done. Even without the knowledge of Miller's most recent injury, it should have been done. It may not have not even taken an Adam Miller. Maybe two or three minor league players in the next tier. Maybe a minor league and a major leaguer, who knows, but a move should have been made.

Mark Shapiro did nothing and that's where he deserves blame. You can not fault him for the team's complete offensive struggles, but he knew he had two glaring issues in his line-up and did nothing about it. It may not be the sole reason for the Indians' woes but it is a big, contributing factor.

Culprit #2: Eric Wedge

I am neither an Eric Wedge supporter nor an Eric Wedge detractor. I like the fact that he focuses on the series at hand and enforces winning each series individually. I like how he focuses on winning division games in the era of the unbalanced schedule. I do not like the way he lets some position players and pitchers sit for weeks at a time without playing. I do not like the fact he is very bland and uses the same cliches day in and day out. Overall, I think he is an above average manager. Good but not great.

But when you are the manager it is your responsibility to get the club ready and motivated to play night in and night out. The Tribe, to me, has seemed lifeless for a month. It is the manager's responsibility to put the players in a position to be successful. If your DH and closer are injured to the point that they are hurting the ball club then they need to be removed from the playing rotation. I hate the fact that he is stubborn to a fault. Bottom line the Indians sit at 24-29 and that is a direct reflection on Eric Wedge.

To keep Jason Michaels over a Ben Francisco coming out of spring when Michaels was scuffling ans Francisco was tearing it up was just plain stupid. Eerily similar to the Brandon Phillips fiasco. (See I told you we'd get back to this.) That fiasco falls in the lap of Shapiro because he is the GM and he OK's the deal. He could have said no, but he didn't, and Eric Wedge is to blame as well.

Maybe Wedge was afraid of another Milton Bradley. That was a legitimate concern. But Phillips showed none of the tendencies of a Milton Bradley. Phillips was a young, frustrated player who struggled in his first full year in the big leagues and was sent back down to the minors.

Did he mope, get demotivated and have a bad attitude while in AAA? Yes. But he was a player early in his career who was immature. Bradley was a veteran player who had worn out his welcome in every level he played, and continues to do so.

Phillips outplayed Ramon Vasquez in spring a couple years ago and was shown the door. It was one instance in a line of them where Eric Wedge chose a mediocre, veteran player over a younger player with potential. He did it again with Trot Nixon over Franklin Gutierrez last year and again this year with Michaels and Francisco.

It's also happening with Andy Marte and Casey Blake. I understand Casey Blake leads the team in RBIs and average with RISP but he's still hitting only .216. As I stated above, minor leaguers are prospects until they get to the majors so they can be valuated. You can't evaluate Marte when he sits on the bench 28 of 30 days of the month.

How did Gutierrez do when he came up after Dellucci got hurt last year? How did Francisco do upon his call up this year? How did Grady Sizemore do after Juan Gonzalez got hurt in his 1st AB in 2005? Uncle Eric needs to shed his veteran man-love and realize he has to put some faith in his younger talent. Until he does he will remain average at best.

As far as putting the Indians in a position to win, he can not bat, pitch or field for the team. The fact that the entire team slumped at the same time is not his fault. They fact he didn't bring up Francisco sooner is partially on his shoulders. The Borowski and Travis Hafner injury debacles are also things Uncle Eric is to blame for.

I understand that in today's sports you look for any advantage you can. Smart strategy. But if your closer, who is borderline combustible every time he steps on the mound anyways, is hurt then he should not be pitching, let alone in pressure situations with the game on the line. That is just hurting the ball club. It is the manager's job to prevent that. Uncle Eric did not.

The same thing hols true for Hafner. The guy obviously has something wrong. Whether it is physical, mental, sexual or something else it doesn't matter the manager needs to step in so it doesn't hurt the ball club. Eric Wedge did not step in and that is on him.

Culprit #3: The Players

Listen guys, I am sorry you couldn't get it done against the Massholes in the ALCS last year. It sucked. It hurt. It was a giant kick in the beanbag. For the fans too. Trust us.

But the Indians this year look like they are going through the motions. The facial expressions, the post game comments the body language. The approach at the plate. The lack of execution. The brain cramps at the most inopportune times. Effortlessly handing over of leads right after acquiring them. These things rarely happened in 2007. Suck it up and grow a pair back.

Last year the Tribe were battlers. They were never out of it, always game and full of life. Even when they lost, they had a shot and things just didn't work out or they just got beat. That happens, it's baseball.

If you hold Uncle Eric accountable for being 24-29 then the players must be held accountable for their performance. If Borowski and Hafner are more hurt then the manager or GM knows then they need to say something about it, don't give me that ego BS, if anything you should want to look like garbage every night. Jhonny Peralta is swinging at high heat and sliders away again. He didn't do it last year but these tendencies have returned in 2008.

Wedge called out Betancourt for not pitching inside after yesterday's loss. I say good. He's got a 5.56 ERA, gives up more hits that innings and has given up more homers this year now, than all of 2007. Mr. Untouchable Grady Sizemore is batting .255. Yes his OBP is up and has been hot lately but you know what? Travis Hafner's trouble may be a huge part of the Indians' offensive woes but you know what else is?

The fact that Sizemore hasn't made the proverbial leap to a .300/30 HR/90 RBI/30 SB superstar that we all thought he would be. Maybe we had out hopes too high? Maybe he will still do it? But he isn't right now. Most of his major categories (AVG, R, 2B, HR, XBH, SLG) slipped from 2006 to 2007 he has failed to trend toward 2006 in 2008.

The younger players like Gutierrez and Cabrera are going to struggle at times, there is a readjustment period after the league adjusts to you, but it's no excuse for bad at-bats. How many times are you going to let a 2-0 fastball down the heart of the plate go for a strike instead of taking a cut at it? Same goes on 3-1 counts. That's just bad execution not inexperience or adjustments.

Other than the starting pitching the Indians have failed to execute at a highly maddening rate in every game for Tribe Fans. For them to be that bad in incredible and falls solely on the players. They are the ones playing the game. Not Mark Shapiro. Not Eric Wedge. The way they are playing the game right now is absolutely awful.

They showed some glimmers of hope in the White Sox series but not enough as they lost two of three. They have lost 10 of 12. They travel to Kansas City to take on the Royals, losers of 10 straight and in just as big of an offensive funk as the Indians. The they take on pitch-poor Texas and Detroit to complete an 11-game road trip, their longest of the year.

They may be 24-29 but they sit only 5 1/2 games out of the division lead. Shapiro needs to find a way to fill a hole he ignored. Wedge needs to open his mind to new ideas and new way to motivate and get the most out of his players. The players need stop feeling sorry for themselves, realize they are talented and just play the game. They can still make it Tribe Time Now, but they have to decide if they want to, and decide quickly... or it will be too late.

Tribe Falls to White Sox, Drops 10th of Twelve

The Cleveland Indians have now lost 10 of their last 12 games, botching two potential wins in the last three games against the 1st place Chicago White Sox in stomach-churning fashion. As the offense seemed to start to show some signs of life, scoring three, eight and five runs in the series, the once steady Tribe bullpen decided to flame out when they could least afford it.

Newly promoted Scott Elarton looked horrendous in handing the Sox the game on Memorial Day in the 12th inning. Honestly, I thought it was early season, injured Joe Borowski pitching. Elarton basically threw late night batting practice in the 12th inning of that game.

Wednesday's game was handed to the Sox by Rafael Betancourt immediately after the Indians had put up a three-spot to take a two run lead. Just when the Indians late inning relief looked to be back in order after the return of Borowski they served up a couple of stink pickles for the Progressive Field faithful.

Despite finally scoring some runs in the series, the Tribe continued to fail in situations where they had multiple times to succeed. Two men in, two men on, no one out in the bottom of the 1st Wednesday? Dellucci, Peralta, Aubrey. Strike out, line out, strike out. Instead of breaking the game open a meager 2-0 lead for the Erie Warriors.

Trailing 6-5, the first two men get on in the bottom of the 9th. A perfect bunt by Jamey Carroll to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Ben Francisco and Victor Martinez due up. Two weak pop ups. On absolutely horrible approaches at the plate. Ballgame over.

It is not coincidence that the only game the Indians won in the series on Tuesday saw them capitalize on these opportunities. They had an opportunity to get ahead early and did. When they had an opportunity to extend the lead they did. When the White Sox threatened late in the game, the bullpen cam in and shut the door.

The fact that the Indians had all three of those things happen in the same game in amazing considering for them to do JUST ONE of those things in any one ball game is difficult for them.

Right now, quite frankly, the Indians don't pass the eye test. They just don't look like a contender or winner let alone a good baseball team. To quote the movie Major League, "These Guys Ain't Too (bleeping) good." Other than the starting pitching they do nothing great or even fairly well.

They sit at 24-29, 5 1/2 games behind the AL Central Division leading White Sox. After 53 games last year they were 34-19 with a 4 1/2 game lead in the AL Central. Last year the Indians went into a post All Star Weekend funk but even through that time they looked like a team that was just working through a rough patch. This year the Tribe just look like a bad baseball team.

Worse than that, a soft baseball team. One unable to handle expectations, adversity or pressure. In fact to quote Tribe skipper Eric Wedge after the game, "You look at that team over there, they're a little bit tougher than we are right now."

I wish I could say I disagree but I can not. After an off day tomorrow it's an 11 game road trip for the Wahoos. With an 8-13 record away from home, and they way they are playing right now, it's a very dangerous task for the Tribe right now.

They need to toughen up if they want to raise the spirits of the Cleveland Faithful because they are like the housing market right now. At an all-time low with no sight of making a comeback.