The Cleveland Indians’ hitting slump is now reaching the one-third point of the season.  It isn’t one or two players; it’s everybody on the team.  Really, when you think about it, only a couple of Indians are having acceptable seasons, and one of them, Grady Sizemore, is capable of a whole lot more.  Manager Eric Wedge doesn’t have a lot of alternatives at his disposal.  Travis Hafner is the hitter blamed the most, but he is hardly the only culprit.  What’s a manager to do?

GM Mark Shapiro always points out that he doesn’t want to evaluate his team until 40 games are played.  The Tribe has now played 45 games, so the time to make a change is here.  This team might just need a major jolt to shake it out of the doldrums.  Asdrubal Cabrera was a major spark on last year’s division winning team, but he is struggling mightily right now.  Why not call Josh Barfield up to see if he can do something with the big club.  He plays good defense, and even though he didn’t hit well last season, he still hit around .250, which is 70 points higher than Cabrera at this point.  The latter needs to regain his stroke, and why not let him do it by playing everyday at Buffalo?

Perhaps a new voice is needed on the coaching staff.  In 2005, the club replaced hitting coach Eddie Murray with Derek Shelton and the team took off, missing the playoffs on the last day of the season.  Is that type of move needed now?  Outside of a six-week stretch from the middle of August to the end of the season, the Tribe hasn’t been a good hitting team for almost an entire season.  It may be that they are collectively bad hitters, but the track record shows differently.  The Indians were in the top half of the league in runs scored each of the last three seasons, so the ability is there.  Wedge and Shapiro have to at least study the possibility that the hitters have tuned Shelton out.

Shelton preaches a patient approach, and for the most part it is a good idea.  The Yankees of the late 90’s wore pitchers out with this type of hitting, and the Tribe used it last year too.  However, sometimes it works against the team when it comes to situational hitting, it can work against the team.  As an example, in Sunday’s game against the Reds, Michael Aubrey came to the plate with Ben Francisco on second and no one out.  The rookie took an inside pitch early in the count, and then on a 2-2 pitch grounded to third.  Working the pitcher is great, but you have to pull the ball in that situation, and Aubrey failed to do that when he didn’t pull the inside offering.

Another thing you can do, and Wedge has tried this, is to bunch the guys who are hitting together.  The skipper did this last night by moving Francisco into the #2 spot behind Sizemore.  The result was they both went 0 for 4.  In fact, the first four hitters in the batting order went 0 for 16.  My suggestion would be to move Victor Martinez, who is not driving the ball into the #3 spot in the lineup and then hit Travis Hafner fourth.  By the way, it made no sense to hit Casey Blake eighth over the weekend with the pitcher hitting.  Blake has been hitting a little bit, but wasn’t going to be pitched to in any meaningful situation with the pitcher up next.  If Cabrera was playing, he should have hit in that spot.

Eric Wedge has prodded, cajoled, and held the hands of his hitters.  Now, it’s time to throw cold water in their collective faces.  The Tribe has the best pitching in the American League, but even that kind of pitching cannot win if the offense is producing only one or two runs per night.  This team is last in the American League in on base percentage and tied for last in slugging percentage.  A wake up call is most definitely needed.  You can’t blame Andy Marte, by the way, he has just 25 at bats.

MW

A disappointed LeBron James left the court without shaking hands with the players who ended his dream of going back to the NBA Finals.  He left the playing surface alone, ironic in that he competed in the contest pretty much without any help from his teammates.  Sure, Delonte West played hard, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas is always a constant, but the rest of the Cavaliers abandoned their leader.  The result was the end of the season for the wine and gold, as the lost Game 7 to the Boston Celtics, 97-92 yesterday.

James put on a show for the ages, scoring almost half of the Cavs’ points (45), and getting almost half of the team’s assists (6 out of the 13 that Cleveland had).  James sat out just a minute and twelve seconds of the contest, in which his teammates were outscored 5-0.  Those five points just happen to be the difference in the game.  It’s an indictment on the entire team that LBJ can’t even sit out a minute of such an important game without drastic consequences.  Of course, his coach didn’t help in that regard, either.

This has been alluded to the entire series, but why didn’t Devin Brown play more in this series.  Mike Brown gave (the proper choice, because they weren’t earned) Sasha Pavlovic 35 minutes of playing time in the most important game of the season.  He played more minutes than Ilgauskas.  The only Cavs who played more were James and West, who played hard the entire game.  Pavlovic hit three of his eight shots, including a three pointer, but contributed just three rebounds and an assist.  Devin Brown contributed in so many ways during the regular season, playing defense, passing, rebounding, and scoring.  It is difficult to understand why he rusted on the bench during this series. 

Also, the staff is at fault for not establishing Ilgauskas early in each of the last three games.  Z is a rhythm player, and getting him going early is important to the team.  That didn’t happen in Games 5, 6, and 7.

The mega-trade Danny Ferry made at the deadline wasn’t a success because the Cavs didn’t return to The Finals, but Delonte West might just be a contributor on the next Cleveland team to get that far.  West was arguably the only other Cavalier who didn’t let the game seven pressure get to him.  He scored 15 points and had five assists, but more importantly was willing to take the shot.  At his size, he could wind up being the starting two guard if the team acquires a point guard, or he could stay at the point with an entire training camp in Cleveland under his belt.  

Ferry probably wishes that Ben Wallace could have made as much of a contribution for the Cavs in yesterday’s game as P.J. Brown did for the Celtics.  The veteran hit all four of his shots from the floor, scoring 10 points and grabbing six boards.  Wallace did play solid defense on Kevin Garnett, but his inability to play offensively hamstrings the team.  Late in the fourth quarter, Wallace got the ball in the post with single coverage, and didn’t even attempt an offensive move.  In 29 minutes, he scored three points and had four rebounds.  It wasn’t enough.  The Celts’ Brown also delivered two hard fouls down the stretch, something Wallace never gave the wine and gold.

Joe Smith did a nice job, but I’m sure Coach Brown didn’t want him guarding Garnett late in the game.  Wally Szczerbiak picked a poor time to play a simply awful game.  The bottom line is LeBron James didn’t get enough help from his teammates and his coaches.  As a result, the Cavaliers are going home for the summer.  Hopefully, the front office will not be taking a summer vacation.

JK

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.

KM

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. 

JK

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.

JK

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.

JK

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.

KM