Can The Tribe Spare Some Pitching?

The Cleveland Indians have figured out a way to combat the hitting slump that has plagued the ball club all season long, they just don’t let their opponents score. If the other team doesn’t score, you can’t lose. At least that’s what it seemed like on the home stand that concluded yesterday with a 4-2 victory over the Oakland A’s. The Tribe starting pitching allowed just one earned run on the seven game set at Progressive Field, confirming that the hurlers are indeed the foundation of this team.

Now that C.C. Sabathia has overcome the mechanical problems or tipping his pitches, or whatever was ailing him early in the year, the starters are reaching the dominant level. Cliff Lee has put up unworldly numbers in his seven starts. Fausto Carmona is still walking too many hitters, but is keeping his club in every game he starts, and his ERA remains under 3.00. Paul Byrd has provided six or seven good innings most nights, and Aaron Laffey has stepped in for the injured Jake Westbrook and had an ERA under 2.00 in his four starts.

The question that has risen recently is do you deal some pitching to get a bat, which would help the offense? ESPN’s Buster Olney has reported a rumor where the Tribe would send Laffey and Jhonny Peralta to Colorado for 3B Garret Atkins. Remember, the Indians have a situation where they may have to replace 40% of their starting rotation after the season with the impending free agency of Sabathia and Byrd. Can Mark Shapiro afford to trade one of his young pitching prospects?

Beyond Laffey, the cupboard is not bare for the Indians. Jeremy Sowers has pitched well at Buffalo, and will get a spot start (showcase?) tonight against Cincinnati. Adam Miller, a seeming perpetual prospect, has recovered from a blister problem in spring training, and has put together several very good outings in Class AAA. His velocity is said to be in the mid-nineties on his fastball. At Akron, former first round pick David Huff has followed up a strong Arizona Fall League performance with an ERA hovering around 2.00 thus far, and another lefty, Chuck Lofgren, a top ten prospect for the Tribe, has recovered from a slow start, and has done well his last couple of outings. So, there are options on the farm.

It says here that Shapiro doesn’t want to include Laffey in the deal. If the Rockies would settle on Sowers instead, talks could move quickly. What is odd is that the Rockies would want Peralta. They just signed Troy Tulowitzki to a long-term deal, and although he is out until the All Star break, he was the complete package at SS for them last year. Unless they plan to move Peralta to 2B or 3B, I’m not sure where he fits. Second base is a position of weakness for Colorado, so perhaps they are asking about Josh Barfield’s availability?

Atkins is 28 years old and has some pop in his bat. His numbers have to be viewed with a jaundiced eye since he plays in Colorado, but he did belt 15 HR’s on the road last year. His batting average is more impacted at home, as he hit almost .350 at home in 2007, compared to .258 on the road. Overall, he’s a .300 lifetime hitter and has knocked in over 100 runs the past two seasons. He would be the right-handed power bat the Tribe desperately needs. If the Tribe gets him, where Casey Blake and Andy Marte fit in is anyone’s guess. The best guess is Blake becomes a utility man and Marte is designated for assignment.

Interleague play is starting tonight (insert yawn here) with a three game set against the Reds. The first place Tribe needs to keep winning series, and it would be nice to score more than four runs a game every night for a while. Keep an eye on Sowers tonight; he could be the bait that brings the Indians a hitter very soon.

Too Many Defects for Cavs

When the Browns would play a playoff game in the late 60’s, Plain Dealer sports editor Hal Lebovitz would do a preview of the game and write about how if the Brownies had “zero defects”, they would win the game. That meant they would need to eliminate mistakes. Last night, the Cleveland Cavaliers needed a game with zero defects to beat the Boston Celtics in Beantown. They didn’t get it, and so their backs are firmly against the wall after they lost Game 5, 96-89, and now trail the best of seven series, 3-2.

Having more turnovers than assists, missing 12 free throws, and getting your second best player just five shots does not constitute a flawless game. The Cavaliers made too many mistakes to beat a good team like Boston on the road. On defense, the superb performance the wine and gold put on the first four games deserted them with four minutes left in the second quarter, and didn’t return until the fourth quarter started. In that time period, the Celts outscored the Cavs 43-20, and that was essentially the game.

Rajon Rondo was a huge factor in this rally, hitting two consecutive threes to start the Boston comeback, and then penetrating and either hitting the short runners in the paint, or hitting his teammates for open shots during the Celtic surge. Rondo finished with 20 points and 13 assists. Kevin Garnett was also strong, getting 26 points and 16 rebounds, and scoring on some resounding dunks when he went inside. Paul Pierce wound up leading the C’s in scoring with 29, but many of those points came late when the wine and gold were fouling to stop the clock, sending Pierce to the line.

The ball movement on offense, which was a key to the Game 4 win, went missing last night. The Cavs had 11 assists and 12 turnovers for the game, a terrible ratio in such an important game. Two of the assists were by Anderson Varajao, of all people. Other problem with the attack was that Zydrunas Ilgauskas was ignored for the entire game. Arguably, the team’s best perimeter shooter, he took five shots all night. The wine and gold must make it a priority to get the ball to the big man. This is a problem that rears its ugly head every so often. Unfortunately, it occurred last night.

However, it was on the defensive end that the Cavaliers needed to hang their collective heads in shame. The Celtics hit 72% of their shots in the third quarter, most of them drives to the basket or uncontested jump shots. That’s the problem this team has with penetrating point guards, which Rondo became last night. When he gets into the paint, it causes the interior defenders to collapse on him, which leaves others to finish at the basket or have wide-open jumpers. It was only one quarter, but it was enough to bury the wine and gold in Game 5.

That was the game the Cavs needed to win in order to advance. It will be very, very difficult to win a Game 7 on the road. LeBron James and his teammates have their backs against the wall. However, if they lose this series, they can look back to games one and five, when the Celtics didn’t play well, and the Cavs let them escape with victories.

Back To Even

The one thing that is consistent with the Cleveland Cavaliers is that you never no who is going to contribute to victories other than LeBron James. Last night, in a virtual must win situation, the wine and gold got key contributions from Anderson Varajao and Daniel Gibson in an 88-77 victory to square the best of seven series with the Boston Celtics at two games apiece.

Varajao had been a huge disappointment throughout the post-season in the nine games played prior to yesterday, and actually was questionable for the game with a bruised knee. However, he clearly played his best game of the playoffs, scoring 12 points on 6 of 8 shooting, grabbing 6 rebounds, and playing outstanding defense on Kevin Garnett, helping hold him to 15 points, only 7 after the first quarter. The Brazilian finally showed the energy he had the first three years with the team. The Cavs need more outings like this from him in rest of the series, because the more guys they can run at Garnett, the better.

Gibson seems to make more of a contribution as a series goes on. After not looking for his shot in the first two games, Boobie was huge in Game 4. He scored 14 points, had 6 rebounds, and passed out 4 assists in 28 minutes. He hit two three pointers, but it was his scoring in the paint off the dribble that was a key to the offense. The Cavs need someone who can make shots like this on a regular basis, and the second year pro came to the rescue last night. It was needed since Zydrunas Ilgauskas played a rare subpar game.

There are two things that are constant for the Cleveland Cavaliers. One is their defensive effort, especially when it comes to the playoffs. Paul Pierce shot 6 for 17 from the floor, and outside of a brief moment in the third quarter, Ray Allen has not been a factor in this series. The combination of having to shadow James (they play a lot of zone, so he’s not really guarding him) and having #23 guard him is taking a toll on Pierce. He hit three shots in a row late in the first half with LBJ on the bench with three fouls. The Celtics shot 39% as a team, and hit only 3 of 14 from behind the three-point line. Outside of P.J. Brown, no one off the bench for Boston hit a field goal.

The other constant is James, who didn’t shoot well again, going just 7 for 20 from the floor, but dished out 13 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds. He took advantage of the swarming Celtic defense to find open teammates, and instead of finding them on the perimeter, he found them underneath the basket for lay ups. One very nice play had LeBron hitting a cutting Joe Smith, who delivered a touch pass to Varajao for an easy two. When the Cavs move the ball against the Boston zone, a lot of good things happen. Professional players are too good to show them a zone defense over and over again.

With the success rate of winning a potential Game 7 on the road very low, the Cavaliers face another must win challenge on Wednesday night in Boston. The wine and gold need to continue to attack the Celtic zone defense, and they need LeBron James to have one of those nights where he controls the entire game. He is definitely capable of this; we saw it last season against Detroit. If he can make some shots early, he could have a 40-50 point night and carry the Cavs to victory. Or, they need another hot shooting night from a Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, or Gibson. That’s what it is going to take to come back here Friday night with a chance to win the series.

A Little Home Cooking Helps

Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but once again, the only difference between the debacle in Game 2, and Saturday night’s 108-84 blowout over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 was the wine and gold made shots. They shot over 50% from the floor, and LeBron James still did not shoot the ball exceptionally well. It doesn’t mean they’ve solved the Celtic defense, and it doesn’t mean the Cavaliers should play better from here on out. There still is a lot of work to do.

Because in Boston, they are probably writing and talking about the Celts inability to win playoff games on the road. They are probably saying Doc Rivers’ team cannot be considered an elite team until they win away from Beantown. Therefore, Boston will be highly motivated to win Game 4 at The Quicken Loans Arena. They have a lot to prove with a win tonight. They don’t want to go back home with the series even because they will have to hear more talk about why they cannot get it done when playing on the road in the playoffs.

On the other hand, the Cavaliers can’t afford to feel good about themselvers. They still trail in the series, 1-2, and only won when they shot the lights out. Yes, the Cavs were more patient in Game 3 offensively, and they did look to beat the Boston zone, by hitting back side passes for easy hoops, but the game would have been much closer if not for Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, and Joe Smith making shot after shot after shot. Those three played exceptionally on Saturday, and based on history, it is difficult to believe they will play that well again tonight.

If you are a Boston fan, you have to be wondering when Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are going to put together some consistant performances. The chore of being the primary defender of James is taking a toll offensively on Pierce, who had poor games in both odd number contests. Allen looks to be showing some age, and his troubles are despite being checked by Szczerbiak, not noted as a great defender. Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo have had to play offense by themselves at times, and that has to concern Doc Rivers.

The hope for tonight’s game is that the Cavalier defense continues to play effectively. They have done a pretty good job of containing Rondo, and the Celtics aren’t exactly burning the nets like the old Denver Nugget teams coached by Paul Westhead. The biggest thing the Cavs need tonight is James making the mid-range jumpers which the Celts are giving him. If he hits those, it will open him up to go to the basket, and also give West, Gibson, Smith, and Szczerbiak more open looks, which they have to knock down on a regular basis.

This is the equivalent of an elimination game for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Win tonight and they have a shot to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for a second consecutive year. A loss would almost certainly mean the series will end Wednesday night in Boston. Both teams have something to prove tonight, because the Celtics , although ahead in the series, cannot be happy with their play on the road. The Cavaliers need their superstar to show up big tonight, his teammates picked him up in Game 3, now it is his turn.

An Offensive Plan Would Be Nice

We get it. Mike Brown likes defense. He’s made the Cleveland Cavaliers a very good defensive team, and previous to his arrival they were in the league’s lower tier teams on the defensive end. Unfortunately, you also need to score points to win. Against a team as good as this year’s Boston Celtics, scoring less than 75 points a night is not going to bring home a victory. The Celtics may very well be better on defense than Brown’s bunch, which means this could be a very short series, after the wine and gold dropped game 2, 89-73 in Beantown.

LeBron James is obviously frustrated by the Boston defense, resorting to firing up three point shots in the second half. If you are having shooting woes to begin with, logic says you are not going to break out of a slump by hoisting threes. However, wherever James goes on the court, he draws Celtic defenders like moths to a flame. The Boston defense is so tight it is a wonder The King can breathe. LeBron went 6 for 24 from the floor in Game 2, and the Cavs as a team shot 2 for 13 from outside the arc. The only Cleveland player who has proven he can make a shot is Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who had a solid game with 19 points on 9 of 12 shooting.

After leading 24-17 at the end of the first quarter, Cleveland led 27-20 after an Anderson Varajao free throw with 9:58 remaining in the period. They would not score for almost five minutes on a Wally Szczerbiak three. After that basket, they didn’t score again until less than two minutes remained in the quarter. That’s three points in almost nine minutes. Grade school teams have greater production. This is where the Cavs’ lack of an offensive plan kills them. You have to have a go to play to get a bucket and at least temporarily, stop the Celtics momentum. However, they don’t have one. Brown’s plan is to get #23 the ball and create something. The Celtics are far too good of a defensive team for that plan to work.

Also, for the most part, Boston is playing a 1-2-2 match up zone. Which means the Cavs have to combat this with crisp ball movement and less dribbling. Yet, player after player tries to dribble penetrate into the teeth of the defense, which is causing the wine and gold to turn the ball over with great regularity. As much as James is swarmed, he still took almost a third of his team’s shots. The trio of James, Ilguaskas, and Szczerbiak fired up 47 of Cleveland’s 73 attempts. Delonte West and Daniel Gibson have to be more aggressive looking for shots.

The Cavs’ bench is giving them nothing as well. Gibson took just two shots. Joe Smith hit just 2 for 7 from the floor. It doesn’t help that Mike Brown keeps one of his key substitutes this season, Devin Brown, anchored to the pines for virtually the entire series.

Ben Wallace’s premature absence from the game due to dizziness put Anderson Varajao on the floor far more than normal. Varajao did corral 10 rebounds, but shot just 1 of 5 from the floor. At least Wallace has the good sense to know his limitations on offense.

Things have to change in a big way before game three. The same kind of offense game plan will backfire unless the Cavs suddenly get red hot from the floor. Once the playoffs started, that has been the story: Shoot well, and the Cavs’ win, shoot poorly and it’s a loss. That’s what happens when there is a lack of structure on offense, you are dependent on hot shooting from the outside. All Boston is doing is what San Antonio did last year in The Finals. One year later, the coaching staff still hasn’t figured out how to attack the defense.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were down 0-2 to the Pistons a year ago in the Conference Finals. Somehow, the situation seems more bleak this year.

A Missed Opportunity for Cavs

If someone had told you that the Cavaliers would hold Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to a combined four points in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals, you would have felt very confident in a Cleveland victory. On the other hand, if that same person told you LeBron James would go 2 for 18 from the floor, you would be certain that the wine and gold would lose Game 1. Even though both events occurred, the latter scenario held true as the Cavs went down 76-72 last night in Boston.

It was too much Kevin Garnett for Boston, as The Big Ticket scored 28 points, including two big hoops down the stretch to give the Celtics two point leads in the final minute. And as predicted, Rajon Rondo hurt the Cavs, scoring 15 points and dishing out six assists. Twinsburg graduate James Posey was also a key player for Boston, scoring 8 points and contributing to the tough defense the green played on LeBron James.

Boston played excellent team defense, not just on James, but also in total. The wine and gold shot just 30% from the floor, and a paltry 4 for 18 from behind the three-point line. As has been the story in all seven playoff games, when the Cavaliers are making shots, they win. Last night, they didn’t and they lost a game in which they themselves played excellent defense. You have to figure if James has even a below average shooting game, Cleveland takes the home court advantage by winning Game 1.

However, part of LBJ’s problems was due to the design, or lack of it, of the Cleveland offense. The Celtics decided to put two, sometimes three men on #23, in an effort to get the ball out of his hands, and also to keep him from going to the basket. Why doesn’t Mike Brown have James come off screens and get the ball in motion? Also, is it against the rules to have James post up from time to time? It’s easy for a good defensive team to find LeBron James. He’s the guy with the ball dribbling at the top of the key while his teammates flatten out or to try to run a pick and roll with him. It’s too easy for a team like Boston.

The only Cavaliers who had a good offensive night was Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who scored 22 points on 8 of 18 shooting. Actually, Wally Szczerbiak wasn’t bad either, hitting 5 of 14, including two of the team’s four three point shots.

Another curious decision was the DNP attached to Devin Brown’s name in the box score. Coach Brown decided to go with the returning Sasha Pavlovic instead. D. Brown has outplayed Pavlovic all season long, and was a key contributor throughout the regular season. He deserves some playing time because he is such a versatile player.

The wine and gold now have to win Game 2, or they face an uphill battle. Remember, they lost the first two games against Detroit last year, only to win four straight, so they have overcome an 0-2 deficit before. James will be better, but so will Allen and Pierce. The Cavs need Anderson Varajao to step up and play Garnett, because the combination of Ben Wallace and Joe Smith struggled last night. Once again, and it sounds simplistic, the Cavs need to make shots. If they do, they can come home all tied in the series.

Can The Bats Rise Up?

The Cleveland Indians are lucky. They are lucky that no team in the AL Central has gotten off to a great start, so even though they have had a tough first month of the season, they sit just 2-1/2 games out of first place. They are lucky that the Cavaliers won their first round playoff series, so some of the attention has been removed from their lack of hitting. And they are fortunate that every once and awhile they score a substantial amount of runs, so they don’t rank last in the American League in every offensive category.

The hitting woes for the Tribe continued over the weekend when they were held to four hits in both games against the Kansas City Royals. First, Luke Hochevar did it, and then Gil Meche, who came into the contest with an ERA over 7. Not exactly Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale doing the deed, is it? The Tribe has scored four runs or less in more than half their games this season, and in today’s era of baseball, no team can win with that sort of offensive attack.

The Indians rank 10^th in the league in runs scored, ahead of just Baltimore, Toronto, Kansas City, and Minnesota. In OPS (on base percentage plus slugging percentage), Cleveland is ahead of only the Twins and the Royals, a lowly ranking indeed. Surprisingly, they have dropped to fifth in the circuit in striking out, but they have only walked more than five teams. Their team slugging percentage ranks third last, ahead of only the Blue Jays and Royals, meaning the extra base hit, which had been a staple of the offense, has all but disappeared.

What can be done? Well, there isn’t anyone red hot at Buffalo that deserves a call up, but apparently Ben Francisco will be back with the team in New York tomorrow night. Will the Tribe make a move with Jason Michaels, or take the easy way out by sending little used reliever Tom Mastny back to the minors? Another move that needs to be made is sending Asdrubal Cabrera back to Triple A, and bringing back Josh Barfield. Barfield isn’t hitting and still is whiffing a lot, but the youngster who provided a spark to the team last year appears to have no idea at the dish.

This is a broken record for this blog, but really, could Andy Marte do any worse than the rest of the guys who are playing? He has just 13 at bats for the year, and with Casey Blake’s defensive deficiencies starting to creep up again (two key errors in the past week), what harm can come from giving the youngster a shot.

Eric Wedge has tried just about everything. He has shuffled the lineup; he has even started to play some small ball, something he really doesn’t like to do (and I agree with that). The only thing left is to try some different personnel. Swing mechanics have something to do with it as well, as this team is hitting an unusual amount of pop flies. Perhaps a new hitting instructor should be looked at since the team hasn’t hit since before last year’s all-star break with the exception of the last six weeks of the season.

With three games at Yankee Stadium followed by Toronto’s fine pitching staff (we will see Roy Halladay on Friday night), the promise of improvement doesn’t look good. The Cleveland Indians are wasting some excellent pitching performances. They are lucky they have not been buried in the AL Central Division race.

On to Round Two

Sometimes. basketball is a simple game. You make shots, you score points, you win games. Much like last Sunday afternoon, the Cleveland Cavaliers hit almost 50% of their shots, including almost half of their three point attempts, and defeated the Washington Wizards 105-88, to win their first round playoff series four games to two, and advance to the Eastern Conference semi-finals against either Boston or Atlanta, who will play a seventh game on Sunday afternoon.

Wally Szczerbiak got the good shooting day started in the first quarter, hitting a couple long range shots, and as usual, LeBron James started to look for the hot man. James spent the first quarter as the playmaker, taking just two shots in the opening stanza, but the Wizards parlayed a good quarter of hitting the offensive boards into a six point lead at the end of one. Once the Cavs started blocking out the weak side, it was pretty much all over for Washington.

There is something about closeout games that gets Daniel Gibson going. A hero a year ago in the Game 6 clinching game against the Pistons, Boobie continued Szczerbiak’s three point barrage in the second quarter. He wound up with 22 points on the night, and showed that his coach was right in playing him the last few weeks of the regular season. Mike Brown knew that the wine and gold needed an effective Gibson to win in the playoffs, both offensively and defensively. Gibson provided both in the first round series.

Of course, you cannot mention the victory without discussing the performance of James. He had a triple double in hand with almost three minutes remaining in the third quarter! He wound up with 27 points, 13 rebounds, and 13 assists. And as ESPN’s Mike Tirico said in the second half, it was almost surprising when The King didn’t make a shot. He was that dominant of a figure in the series. For all of the physical play the Wizards tried in the series, remember it had no effect on the man who is really the best player in the world.

We have also said that Mike Brown is a better coach in the playoffs than in the regular season. After Caron Butler’s Game 5 outburst, the coaching staff took him away from Eddie Jordan in Game 6. With Antawn Jamison struggling to make shots early in the contest, the Wiz had no alternative. They scored just 57 points in the last three quarters. This type of game planning with continue to be important as the post-season goes on.

So, Tuesday night, the journey continues in either Boston (probably) or at The Q against the Atlanta Hawks. If it is the Celtics, the biggest problem facing the Cavs will be stopping the penetration of Rajon Rondo. The wine and gold have had problems with the quick point guards all season long, and in last year’s Finals as well (see Parker, Tony). Yes, the Celts have the big three of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, but Rondo is the x-factor. Gibson will get the responsibility to keep Rondo out of the paint. Don’t think that Mike Brown didn’t know this when he got Boobie back in the playing rotation late in the season.

It's Never Easy for the 2007-08 Cavs

Nothing comes easy this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They could have wrapped up their first round series against the Washington Wizards by winning at home last night. However, they played without a lot of playoff intensity and dropped an 88-87 decision last night to force a sixth game in Washington on Friday night. The wine and gold only have to win one of the last two games, but you have to believe the Wizards will be ready on their home floor tomorrow night.

The Cavs started off the game lethargic and didn’t show any playoff intensity until the fourth quarter. They trailed by seven after the first quarter, and at that point, the Wizards were a one-man team, with Caron Butler scoring 16 of their first 25 points. Cleveland trailed by two at the half, and by three after three quarters. The Wizards backs were to the wall, and they played like it. The Cavs didn’t match their intensity, as they didn’t even dominate on the glass, as they normally do.

Cleveland didn’t shoot the ball well, and the biggest reason was their continued use of the three point shot. When you are making almost half of these shots, it’s a good option. When you are hitting only 36% of these shots, it might be time to look inside. Particularly in the closing minutes of the game when you have the lead, you need to attack the basket, especially at home. Ironically, the wine and gold shot the same percentage from the floor overall, as no one outside of Zydrunas Ilgauskas could hit consistently from the floor.

However, I think the biggest flaw was one that is made by many coaches. The Cavs stopped running offense too early. With a five point lead and less than two minutes to go, Cleveland seemed to be running a stall, trying to run as much of the clock as you can, before taking a shot. Unfortunately, when you do that, it usually results in a bad shot. The Cavs needed to play at their normal pace until about 45 seconds remaining. They also reverted back to the give LeBron the ball, and everybody watches offense they lapse into far too often. They ignored Ilgauskas in the fourth quarter as well. Yesterday, it cost them a game.

Another disturbing development has been the performance, or lack of it, from Anderson Varajao. The Brazilian seems to be trying to do too much on offense, and it is dragging down his entire game. In 16 minutes last night, he hit just 1 of 6 shots and grabbed just three rebounds. Of course, he wasn’t the only one missing shots. The quartet of Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith, Varajao, and Devin Brown combined to hit just 3 out of 23 shots. One of those guys hitting one more shot would have resulted in a win.

So, now the Cavs have made it difficult. There is no reason they cannot win in Washington, heck they did it last Sunday. The Wizards’ backs are still against the wall. However, the Cavs need to put this series away. No matter how many statistics people will come up with on seventh games at home in NBA history, and how the home team almost always wins, it still would be one game, and anything can happen. The Cavs need to treat Friday night’s game like it is Game 7.

It Might Be Time for Worrying

The Cleveland Indians have now completed 1/6th of their season, and are sitting at 12-15 on the campaign. The good news is no one has gone off and ran away with the Central Division, as the Tribe is just three games behind the first place White Sox. The bad news is that our worst fears have come true. The offense is not up to championship standards, and Travis Hafner has not bounced back as of yet from a down 2006. GM Mark Shapiro likes to wait until about 40 games to evaluate his team. Don’t look now, but that’s a little over two weeks away.

This team has scored four runs or less in 18 of their 27 games. That’s 2/3rds of the contests if you are counting at home. That signals an attack that can best be described as mediocre. Right now, there are only a couple of players performing at an acceptable level, and that group includes the public whipping boy, David Dellucci, who is hitting above .280 with 3 HR (tied for second on the team) and 9 RBI. The others are Victor Martinez, who is hitting .364, but hasn’t homered and has just four extra base hits on the season, Grady Sizemore, hitting over .270, but he has only seven extra base knocks, and he had two last night, and Franklin Gutierrez, who’s recent surge has put him over the .250 mark.

Casey Blake, of all people, leads the Tribe in RBI with 18, and he had one-third of that total in one game. The slumping Hafner is actually second in ribbies with 16, a pace that would get him close to 100 for the season. The only Tribesman with more than three dingers is the hot and cold Jhonny Peralta, who has five, but has only knocked in 10 runs for the season. Peralta also leads the team in extra base hits with a paltry eight, several others have one less, including Hafner, Sizemore, Gutierrez, Garko, and the aforementioned Dellucci. Which means, I guess, that Pronk isn’t the sole reason for the hitting woes.

Clearly, Eric Wedge has to try something different. Perhaps moving Gutierrez up in the batting order is a start, since he has been hitting over the past week. I can’t for the life of me understand why Asdrubal Cabrera is hitting sixth or seventh. He has little pop, and seems ideally suited for the ninth spot, especially since the skipper was concerned about overexposure following his call up late last season. Ryan Garko is struggling, but he seems like a better fit in the five hole once he gets going again, than Peralta, who is prone to striking out.

I am not someone who thinks Ben Francisco is the next coming of Albert Belle, but I do think he deserves a shot at playing instead or Jason Michaels, who isn’t getting on base, nor providing any pop, two things the Indians organization covets. He’s the only candidate at Buffalo, since Josh Barfield is still having contact problems at Class AAA. Wedge has tried playing a little small ball since the hitting has struggled, trying bunts and sending runners more frequently than in the past.

One more concern is Fausto Carmona, who continues to have control issues. The righty has allowed 60 base runners in just 34-2/3 innings. It is a testament to his stuff that his ERA is 2.60 despite allowing that many runners. It is extremely unlikely this will continue unless he can start to throw strikes. A lack of control is a sign of fatigue. Remember, he had troubles with his command against Boston in the ALCS last fall. This is definitely something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

Last night, Craig Breslow and Tom Mastny had to come in after not pitching for 13 days. I understand how the manager likes to use his bullpen, but to not have the confidence to use either of these guys in any games over a two weeks span means they shouldn’t be on the roster. The Indians didn’t win all their games in this span, so there was an opportunity to use them. Perhaps in the ninth inning on Sunday or after Jensen Lewis threw an inning and a third on Monday with the team losing 4-2. That shouldn’t happen again.

The season isn’t going the way the front office or the fans thought it would. But, no two seasons are the same. There is plenty of time to get things going in 2008. Just remember, the definition of insanity to doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.