Tales from the Teepee Volume 6: Jerry Browne

December 6, 1988 was the end of an era. I was 9 years old and my favorite Indian was Julio Franco. I emulated his batting stance, and always listened for the guy at old Municipal Stadium to yell "JUUUUUUUUUUUULIOOOOOOOOO." When the Tribe shipped fan favorite Franco off to the Texas Rangers for Oddibe McDowell, Pete O'Brien, and Jerry Browne. I was upset. The club spun the deal as getting three starters for one, which was true. But two of the starters that were sent back stunk badly, and one guy was mediocre. His name was Jerry Browne.

"The Governor" was one of the few MLB players born in the US Virgin Islands, succeeding Jose Morales. His best year as a Tribesmen was his first year, when he batted .299 with 5 homeruns and 45 RBI. He was only 23 at the time, viewed as a top prospect to some. Browne's next two years were less than stellar, leading to his subsequent release at the ripe old age of 25. Jerry bounced around for 4 more seasons, evolving into a utility player. He ended his career with the Florida Marlins.

Was Jerry Browne good? Not at all, but he was the best player in the horrendous trade of the 1989 All-Star second basement and eventual batting champion. Julio ended up playing until he was 50, and Jerry played until he was 29. Despite this glaring difference, The Governor will always have his magical 1989 season where the team finished with 73 wins.

Ugly Series Win

The Indians won their third series of the season Thursday, defeating the Seattle Mariners 3-2 in 11 innings. Bullpen issues and poor hitting were prevalent throughout the 3 games, but the Tribe will take it. Today's lineup was an abomination, almost like Manger Eric Wedge put the names of the 9 starters in a hat and pulled out the order. Next game I would expect Casey Blake to lead off since he has batted in every other position. The Closer role seems to be in flux again. The team has been carrying 2 pitchers on the roster that before Tuesday had not pitched in 2 weeks. It really is amazing the Indians are only a game under .500, but we can attribute that to the outstanding starting pitching.

Timely hitting was again an issue in two of the games, but we all know what can cure a batting slump. May seems to be a pretty manageable schedule to rattle off a few winning streaks, heavy on home games. Also, no teams in the AL Central have been able to run away with the division. I predict that the Indians will have a very solid month of May, and be at the top of the standings come June 1st. The team cannot possibly hit worse than they have so far in 2008, so let's hope for the momentum to build.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Grady Sizemore: 4-11, 4 Runs, 4 Walks, 1 HR, 2 RBI. It gives me a warm feeling seeing Grady at the top of the order. Some say he strikes out too much, but the guys just produces. They do not have a better leadoff alternative, so I will take him batting first every time. No other Indians would I rather have up in a clutch spot than him and Victor Martinez.

Franklin Gutierrez: 6-13, 3 RBI's. Continues to rake, I will give him a pass on his awful at bat in the 11th Thursday. Need him desperately at the end of the lineup.

Cliff "The Stopper" Lee: 6 IP, 8 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 K's. Has stopped 3 three game losing streaks. If he keeps it up, the Tribe will never lose 4 games consecutively. AL pitcher of the month for April.

Asdrubal Cabrera: 1-11, Game winning RBI Thursday. Hit like garbage for 28 innings, came up huge in the 11th. Hopefully this will ignite his bat.

Areas of Concern:

Casey Blake: 2-11, 1 golden sombrero (4K's in 1 game). Needs to quickly regrow the beard, almost single-handidly lost the game Thursday. Looked pitiful in his at bat in the 9th, and blatantly missed a throwout by Victor Martinez that allowed the Mariners to tie the game. I expect him to get 6 hits against the Royals this weekend.

Jhonny Peralta: 0-7 2 K's. I have no idea what is wrong with him, his at bats have been mind-boggling. Also his range was poor Tuesday.

Rafael Betancourt: 1 1/3 IP, 5 hits, 4 earned runs 2 blown saves. Sure looks like a different pitcher in the 9th, but I do not expect his role to change. CONQUEST!

Joel Skinner: Does it seem like every move he makes is wrong? Me too. Bring back Ted Uhelander.

The Kansas City Royals come to town for a weekend 3 games series. CC Sabathia hopes to string a third consecutive solid start against some guy named Luke Hochevar. Another series win and the Tribe is mediocre!

Cardboard Flashback Pat Corrales

Nothing was worse opening up a pack of cards when you are younger and getting a Manager card, except when it was Cleveland Indians legend Pat Corrales. His well kept feathered mane had the look of a hair club for men client. This salt and pepper-follicled skipper compiled a 280-355 record over 4 season in a Tribe uniform. The team peeked under his tutelage in 1986 with a fifth place showing.

Senor Patrico did have a successful career as a bench manager for Bobby Cox for 9 years and now is right hand man of the Washington Nationals. When I get ticked off at Eric Wedge for keeping relievers in his bullpen that haven't pitched in two weeks or being frustrated that he often plays a chubby, golden-mulleted crappy 4th outfielder, I remember that we had this guy as our manager and feel a little bit better about management.

Fighting for .500

Aprils can be tough to watch baseball in Cleveland. Bitter cold temperatures, rain, snow, and even hail can contribute to rough viewing down at Progressive Field. A little over 20,000 fans froze their tails off tonight to witness a series split. To be honest, most fans would have been content with a series split with the Bronx bombers, but when your team scores 2 runs over 2 days it can get quite frustrating. Monday's game was a microcosm of the season, good pitching wasted and timely hitting was non existent. The Indians have scored 50 runs with 2 outs, but tonight they only manage 2 runs with multiple opportunities. After playing two great ball games Friday and Saturday, but struggled to string scoring opportunities together the last two days. Part of the reason the hitting woes continue relate to Grady Sizemore being out of the lineup. His propensity to get on base and be one of the few real threats on the roster right now really hurts the overall punch this team needs. The Indians have won 2 series this year in 9 chances, which amazes me as I thought that their record was a lot worse. Let's hope this cold front passes through Cleveland quickly as their hitting has not been good when the mercury drops below 50 degrees.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Victor Martinez: 5-14, 3 walks, one huge RBI: Even though Victor has been able to really drive the ball yet this year (only 4 extra base hits), he is batting .365 for the season. As the weather warms up, V-Mart will continue to mash as he is the only member of the team hitting over .270 who plays consistently.

Franklin Gutierrez: 4-10, 2 runs, HR. Franky G seems to be getting back to a comfort zone, still playing a great outfield anywhere he plays.

Masa Kobayashi: 3 IP, 2 hits, 2 K's 0 ER. Has settled in as the go to righty out of the pen in late innings. Seems to has gained confidence as the season has went on.

CC Sabathia: 8 IP, 4 hits, 8 K's 1ER. Pitched with emotion and spotted the ball well. Made one mistake to Melky Cabrera, seems to be back on track.

Jeremy Sowers/Aaron Laffey: Pitched very well in spot starts, will be major factors in the development of this staff in 2009 after CC inevitably leaves. Probably getting tired of the bus trips back and forth to Buffalo. They do have great wings, though!

Areas of Concern:

Ryan Garko: 0-10. Just looks lost at the plate, wouldn't be surprised to see him benched for a few days in favor of Kelly Shoppach or even the immortal Andy Marte with Victor moving to First Base. May need to stay out of the Warehouse District for awhile.

Casey Blake: 1-12, 4 K's. The roller coaster ride that has been Casey's season continues. He has 18 RBI, and 17 hits. I guess that means he has been productive with his hits, but pretty crappy when no one is on base. Blake used to be the polar opposite, possessing an awful average with runners in scoring position. Let's hope he decides to hit in this next series.

Travis Hafner: 2-12, 4 K's, 2 RBI, 4 walks. Needs to produce if this teams has any chance to repeat a playoff run. Has been taking many third pitch strikes.

Ben Francisco in Buffalo: The team was 4-0 when he was on the roster, now has went 1-2. Karma people!

Cleveland Weather: Really sucks the life out of their bats. Our players seem to prefer the nice weather, hopefully it will return Tuesday since I have tickets.

The Seattle Mariners come to town for a 3 game series and the Tribe is lucky to miss Eric Bedard and Felix Hernandez. Fausto Carmona takes on meatball throwing Carlos Silva Tuesday.

Power Outage

The Indians have been able to string together five wins over the past six games. For the Tribe to sustain any type of consistency, they will need DH Travis Hafner to figure out his hitting woes. It seems that Hafner has not been the same since being hit in the wrist by a pitch that ended his 2006 season. Pronk's vision of the strike zone has not been anywhere close to his pre-2007 years, and most times he makes an out it is ground balls to the right side of the infield. Unfortunately the Indians do not have any other real option to plug into the 3 hole while Hafner attempts to figure himself out.

Whether Hafner has been pressing or may have just lost his plate discipline are up for debate. Through 25 games, he is batting .226 with 3 homeruns and 13 rbi. While watching Saturday's game my friends and I observed that Pronk was let off the hook a bit by the wild pitch and subsequent intentional walk. Most fans would agree that they would rather have Victor Martinez batting in that pressure situation anyways, and he subsequently delivered. The real disturbing stat is Hafner's on base percentage of .324, showing he has been less selective at the plate. I also believe he has taken far too many called third strikes, proving he has been fooled on pitch selection and location.

What does this all mean? The 2007 Cleveland Indians were able to win despite an All-Star season from their Designated Hitter, but I feel this will be hard to duplicate. The lineup has far too many inconsistent holes (left field, right field, 2nd base, 3rd base) for the 3rd spot in the order to be struggling all year. Hafner may still have a sore shoulder since the club seems to hide other injuries lately (see Joe Borowski). Let's hope Travis can get his mojo back and be that feared hitter we depended upon years prior.

Royals Swept Away

When in need to end a whole team slump, what better destination is there in the American League than Kansas City? The Indians played a nearly flawless 2 days of baseball, vaulting themselves into 2nd Place in the AL Central. Miraculously the Tribe has pulled within 2 games of .500 with the dreaded New York Yankees invading Cleveland tonight. Solid to outstanding starting pitching was prevalent all series. Hitters who have been struggling contributed, and the team made zero errors. With six games remaining, it is not out of the realm of possibility for the team to finish April 4-2, resulting in a 14-14 record. That would be an amazing feat considering how bad the Indians have played so far this year. Hopefully Progressive Field will be jam packed with Tribe for this upcoming four game series, but more than likely there will be many Yankee fans in attendance.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Grady Sizemore: 5-14, HR, 3 RBI. Had a great first game of the double-header, not so great the other two. He has tee'd off on average pitching as of late, but against tougher pitchers, he has struggled. Grady has become an outstanding mistake hitter, but his eye has been a bit off on breaking stuff in the dirt.

Casey Blake: 6-8, Grand Slam Homerun, 8 RBI. Casey collected almost 40% of his hits in two games, was aggressive as he usually is with first pitch strikes. Leading the team in RBI from the 9 hole.

David Dellucci: 3-9, 3 runs, one huge late inning homerun, 3 RBI. David has broken the left field curse (even though he misplayed a double in the last game of the series). If utilized correctly, can be a huge part of this team against right-handers.

Ben Francisco: 2-6, double, 2 runs, 1 RBI. He's Back!! Even though it looks like his stay will be short, he proved in the first game yesterday that he should be on this team at least plattooning in left field. Great slide, good at-bats, should not be in Buffalo anymore.

Masa Kobayashi: 1 1/3 innings, 0 hits, 0 earned runs. Masa pitched in a semi-pressure situation in the first game yesterday and pitched well. Has elevated himself into the 7th/8th inning role.

Cliff Lee: 9 innings, 3 hits, 9 K's, 0 earned runs. Cliff has been the best pitcher in baseball this year, now posting a eye-popping 0.29 ERA. Lee will come back to earth sooner or later, but has been the one stable force on this team all year.

Areas of Concern:

Aaron Laffey/Jeremy Sowers pitching 2 out of the next 4 games: Hopefully one of them can hold serve against the dreaded Yankees.

Jason Michaels: Had 2 hits yesterday, 1/3 of his season total. Needs to be jettisoned off the team so Ben Francisco can help this team progress. I asked my friend Kyle why most Tribe fans hate him like I do, and he said, "Who likes a chubby curly-haired blond guy anyways?" So true.

Jensen Lewis: Fastball is below 90 MPH, has been struggling most outings. Seems to have pitched himself out of the 7th/8th inning, making the bullpen a bit weaker.

The Evil Empire invades Cleveland tomorrow. Andy Pettite will take on Paul Byrd in a battle of the HGH hurlers.

Down on the Farm Report: Adam Miller

It has been a struggle for Adam Miller to even get on the mound for a game that counts. Between elbow, shoulder, and blister problems, this farm phenom has been limited to just 19 games last year. The 23-year old Texan fire-baller has been rumored to be included in almost every Tribe trade possibility over the past few seasons. My friend Ryan has said that he is a myth, never to ascend to anything. I believe he will be our future closer. Yesterday was Miller's first appearance in a game that counted, and he pitched well. He threw 5 innings, gave up 4 hits, walked 2, 0 earned runs, while striking out two. The Indians plan for him is to keep Miller starting in the minors to stretch his arm out. If all goes well, we may be seeing this alleged number 1 prospect sometime this summer in an Indians uniform.

Tales from the Teepee Volume 5: Paul Sorrento

Special to the TTO

There was nothing better than the Tribe at the Jake in the mid to late 90's. The '95 edition of the Wahoo Warriors fielded an All-Star lineup that won 100 games in a strike shortened season. Belle, Baerga, Lofton, Ramirez - all household names. But no one Indian captivated the hearts and minds of tribe fans more than Paul Sorrento. Paul was blue-collar all the way. A first baseman with limited range, in '95 Pauley batted a cool .235 but mashed 25 monster bombs. It was all or nothing with the mighty Paul Sorrento. He was the Average Joe that every once in a while would be that bolt of lightning that would lead to a big inning. More often that not he would strike out or send a weak grounder to short, but he did just enough to share time with Eddie Murray at first base.

Whether it be his signature Soprano style mullet, or the fan favorite giant bowl of spaghetti and meatballs that glowed from the Jacobs Field scoreboard each and every time Pauley stepped to the plate; tribe fans will forever hold a special place in their hearts and minds for Paul Sorrento.

Teepee Trivia Note of the Week - Paul Sorrento was the 1st Cleveland Indian to hit a grand slam at Jacobs Field.

by Frisky

Westbrook Placed on DL, Francisco called up

In a somewhat surprising move, Jake Westbrook has been placed on the 15 day DL with a left intercostal strain. The Indians have not said yet when the injury occurred. Jake has been pitching great this season, so this adds to the quickly mounting issues for the Tribe. Ben Francisco will probably play the next four games as a sort of audition before the Indians need a starting pitcher for Saturday. Paul Byrd will now throw Friday, and I imagine Aaron Laffey will fill in Saturday. The developing situation will concern how well Francisco plays. If he is knocking the cover off of the ball, a move with Andy Marte or possibly Jason Michaels will be on the horizon.

Tribe Bats Go Back to Sleep

Travis Hafner was definitely not toasting his Budweiser to these last two games. Five runs in three games? That is all the Twins and Indians could muster over a three game series. The Twinkies took two of these pitching masterpieces, dropping the Tribe down to a 7-12 record. I understand teams go into hitting funks but this is borderline ridiculous. Pitching was finally not the issue in any game. This team looks flat and unable to string any momentum from game to game. The Cleveland media has said numerous times that GM Mark Shapiro will not make any drastic changes until the 40 game mark. If the offense continues to sputter, a change in the outfield corner slots or at second or third will become necessary. If I had an answer to this teams terrible play, I sure would not be blogging.

Here were some of the few highlights:

Cliff Lee: 8 innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, 8 K's, 0 earned runs. Pitched a gem, leading the AL with a 0.40 era, Has started almost half of the Indians wins. They are 4-12 when he does not pitch

Paul Byrd: 7 innings, 6 hits, 1 earned run. Byrd has seemed to put his early season struggles behind him, producing back to back solid starts. The lack of run support hopefully will not get to him.

Victor Martinez: 4-12 1 RBI. Is consistently making contact, pounding out hits, still is slower than usual on the basepaths. Needs more chances with RISP.

Casey Blake: (Friday's Game) 2-4, HR, 3 RBI's. Provided the offense in the only win of the series. Also hit the lone homerun. Looked bad at the plate Saturday and Sunday, but so did the whole team.

Areas of Concern:

Eric Wedge: Why on earth did he pitch to Justin Morneau in the tenth? He is the best player, most legitimate RBI threat and they already dodged fate by getting him out in the 8th. Also leaving Rafael Perez in was a stretch, let's see what these other guys in the pen are made of. Andy Marte probably will be gone by May, but why not let him play in a few games? It is not like he could do any worse than a lineup that scored 1 run in 19 innings.

Grady Sizemore: 2-13, 0 walks. As a leadoff hitter he has to get on base more. Just struggling along like the rest of the team.

David Dellucci's Defense: The guy may be able to climb a wall, but he is not good in left. He has made two diving catches but that is more due to his lack of range. Dellucci's arm is like spaghetti, and he covers zero ground.

Travis Hafner: 1-8, one sore shoulder. Pronk says he is OK but his swings and approach look more like 2007, which will severely damage the lineup.

Jhonny Peralta: 1-7. The hitting rollercoaster that is Jhonny's 2008 rumbles on. Looking forward to some consistancy.

The Indians get a much needed day off tomorrow as they travel to Kansas City to take on the Royals. CC Sabathia takes on Gil Meche. Hopefully the Tribe can win their first series since April 3rd.

Cardboard Fuzzy Memories

special to the TTO

When I was a little kid, you always knew that spring was around the corner when the local Convenient Food Mart put out the first box of Topps baseball cards.

There was usually still snow on the ground when we'd stop at the store on our way to church so my dad could grab a cup of coffee and pick the three of us up a package of those little chocolate doughnuts that John Belushi famously kept on his training table to fight over while we made our way to our Lakewood parish.

The day he'd come out with a pack for each of us--warning us not to even think about putting the gum in our mouths until after mass--was a big treat. Usually, I'd find a way to cheat or steal the best cards of my brothers' packs to get a leg up on my collection.

I collected for 7 or 8 year stretch, covering what I consider to be the Golden Age of card collecting (1987-1990), until I found more important things to do with my time and money.

Back in the day, you had three choices: Topps, Donruss, and Fleer. We collected only Topps; even after the glut of sports cards hit the market in the late 1980s, we were strictly a Topps household.

During that stretch, my dad, brothers and I embarked on an ambitious plan to put together a complete Topps set for every year that my brothers and I had been alive (1979 and later). We were pretty much successful, missing only a few cards that were out of our price range from some of the early sets.

Now, with Baby-Neg due to make his Major League Debut this summer, I decided that I'd get a leg up on the collecting and start putting away a complete set for every year of his lifetime. Later, when he's older, we can collect them together and when he decides he's too cool for me, he can do it on his own.

I started off at Target. I grabbed two packages of plastic pages and took in the chaos on the baseball card racket--I was shocked.

First of all, there are only two brands of baseball cards left--Upper Deck and Topps. It figures that once the market hit rock bottom in the mid to late 90s that only a few companies would be left, and Topps and UD were always among the best. But, each brand had several different varieties of cards.

From what I saw on the shelf, Topps has at least 5 varieties cards on the shelf this spring: Topps Series 1, Topps Series 2 (due May 2008), Topps 2007 Updated and Highlights, Topps 2008 Opening Day, Topps Bowman Heritage, etc. It's ridiculous.

With a little help from the Internet, I figured that I'd stick with the Topps Series 1 and, later, the Series 2. They seem to be the most "basic" of the card sets--the closest thing to the ol' 792 card sets of our youth.

However, the Series 1 cards come in two separate types of packs: hobby packs and flow packs. Hobby packs are the easiest to find. Each pack (10 cards) comes in at a whopping $3--a lot different from the $0.40 per pack that 1987 Topps went for. Not to mention that there are about 104 different subsets and special cards that you can find in the Hobby packs. I think that you can even pull a card with a piece of A-Rod's jock strap built into it.

The flow packs are the way to go. The packs come in at 7 cards and a piece of gum for about $1-$1.25. Better, though, is that they only come with the basic cards--you cannot pull any of the special subset cards from the flow packs. Sure, I might miss out on a one-in-a-million gold leaf Daisuke Matsuzaka "Elite" card, but really, with all of the special cards out there, haven't these lost all meaning?

The worst part about the flow packs is finding them. You can buy them by the box online, but the shipping charges make them even more expensive than the Hobby packs. The only local store where I've found them so far is Dick's Sporting Goods, and they only had a few packs on the shelf. According to the guys and gals on the Topps Message Boards, though, that the packs "repeat" themselves, leaving you with tons of doubles and lots of holes in your collection.

So, I've bought a few packs and I'm off to a pretty good start. I'm short on Indians players (I've got Wedge, Barfield, Byrd, and a Sizemore ALDS card), but I've got some other big names. I think that I should be able to put together a complete set of the 330 Series 1 cards by June without dropping a ton of cash. I suppose I could have waited until August and bought a complete set for a fraction of what I am paying for trying to collect the set, but what's the fun in that?

by J-Neg

Tribe Bats Wake Up to Split Series

It is amazing what one game can do to revitalize your enthusiasm for a baseball team. Thursday's game was a polar opposite of Wednesday, reassuring the notion that the season is a marathon and not a sprint. The Tribe was aggressive from the first pitch, loading the bases in the first. Fausto Carmona threw 30 pitches in the top of the inning but was able to escape unscathed. Everyone in the lineup was able to knock out a hit which was probably the first time that happened all year. Going to a game in mid-April when the temperature stayed in the 60's while sitting behind the Indians dugout also helps as well. Don't get me wrong, this team is far from even playing satisfactory, but for one night the stars aligned above Progressive Field.

Here were some of the highlights:

Fausto Carmona: 6 2/3 innings, 7 hits 1 walk 1 earned run. Took the role of Cliff Lee in stopping the third 3 game losing streak. Battled through some high pitch count innings to come through huge. May be materializing as the Tribe's true ace.

Jamey Carroll: 2-4 2 runs 2 rbi's 1 triple. Played a great game, really adding a spark off the bench, is on base percentage on the season is over .500.

Ryan Garko: 10 game hitting streak, has been the most consistent hitter on the team so far this

season.

Jason Michaels: 2-3, 3RBI's (today), threw out Gary Sheffield at the plate. First time he has appeared on this list, deserves his just due.

Today's lineup: Everyone had a hit, played together with fire and purpose.

Areas of Concern:

CC Sabathia: 4 innings, 8 hits, 5 walks, 9 earned runs. Has pitched terribly all year, has not been able to hit the corners. May be tipping his pitches.

Asdrubal "slow as a" Cabrera: 0-3, 2K's. Looks overmatched at the plate. Carroll may be sneaking himself into the lineup more often.

Jensen Lewis: 1/3 innings, 2 Walks. Has been inconsistent all year, needs to step up his game for this depleted bullpen.

Jhonny Peralta: 1-8, the roller coaster season with Jhonny continues at bat and in the field. Needs to develop into a solid five spot.

Homestand Record: 2-5. Not acceptable at any point in the season, even during a slump. Hopefully the lowest point of the season is now over.

The Indians look to inch closer to the .500 mark as they take on the Minnesota Twins. Cliff Lee takes on Francisco Liriano tomorrow night.

5-9

The Cleveland Indians were swept by the Boston Red Sox, losing 5-3. Typically I have been writing recaps of the series as a whole, but the same problems have been happening each game. The hitting looks lethargic, the bullpen looks terrible, and the team overall looks dead. I know the Tribe brass will say it is only 14 games but they look uninspired as a team. Franklin Gutierrez had a bad game, booting a ball in right as well as getting picked off of second base with no outs. Michaelucci is chugging along looking unimpressive, Casey Blake cannot find his stroke, and Asdrubal Cabrera looks over-matched. Wedge seems to have no clue how to pitch his current relief staff. Jorge Julio has generally been the first guy out of the pen during bad starts, but today was the first time he pitched with a lead. Jorge promptly walked the first two batters and was yanked. Perez looked ok, but Lewis struggled through both innings. And to add insult to injury, the Tigers could leave Cleveland with a better record than the Indians.

Here were some of the highlights:

Paul Byrd and Jake Westbrook pitched well in wasted efforts. Victor Martinez continued to mash, going 6-8 with 3 RBI's. That is it.

Areas of Concern:

Clutch hitting, bullpen, defense, special teams, 3rd line, 8 iron, back-up point guard, you name it they pretty much suck right now.

The Wahoo Warriors attempt to prevent having the worst record in baseball as they take on the Detroit Tigers for two. Armando Galarraga takes on CC Sabathia tonight at 7:05pm. At least the Chief is still smiling.

Tribe's Bats, Bullpen Cost Byrd a Victory

special to the TTO

Unlike his two previous starts of the season, Paul Byrd pitched well enough to get the W tonight.

Byrd gave up one unearned run--thanks to a bobbled ball in right by Franklin Guitierrez and a late, low throw from Cabrera to Garko while attempting to turn an inning-ending double play--over 6 innings tonight against the defending world champs. But the Tribe's failure to protect a lead late, as well as their failure to make the most of their offensive chances, cost the Byrd Man the victory.

Just like last night, the bullpen faltered late and gave up the lead. This time it was Jensen Lewis's turn to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by giving up a pinch hit homerun to 576 year-old Jason Varitek.

Don't get me wrong--I'm a big Lewis fan. I think he's really got the stuff to be a go-to guy in the 'pen this year. But he was in trouble in the 8th, with the bases loaded, 1 out, and the score tied at 3, until he got a fantastic play from Cabrera to turn an inning-ending DP. Yet Wedge didn't even have anyone else warming up for the 9th.

At least, we're spared Joe Blow for at least 15 days and perhaps as long as a month. He's on the DL with a strained triceps. He's actually lucky I couldn't jump through my TV screen, otherwise he'd be on the 60-day DL with a broken tailbone from me kicking him in the ass for that 82 mph fastball he threw Ramirez last night.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Indians brass has been keeping this injury on the down low since sometime in Spring Training. Way to go, Shapiro & Co--Borowski walks a fine line between success and failure as it is, yet you kept him out there even though he wasn't at 100%. Brilliant.

You've got to be happy with the starting pitching and long relief as of late. Byrd's 6 IP and zero earned runs are a dramatic departure from his first couple of starts of the season. Jake Westbrook looked great last night on a tough night to pitch and Cliff Lee was nearly perfect on Sunday--even after CC crapped the bed on Friday and Fausto's meltdown on Saturday night, the bullpen pulled together several good innings to give the bats a chance to get them back in the game.

We've got to hope that warmer weather will bring hotter bats. You can't expect to complete when you've got three guys in the starting lineup--four if you count BOTH halves of the Michaels/Dellucci dynamic duo--hitting right around $1.25. I don't have the official production numbers for the season on our 3rd basemen (Blake/Marte) and left fielders (Michaels/Dellucci), but I'd be willing to bet that even with all of their BAs added together, they're barely hitting .400. Combine that with Cabrera and Guitierrez, and that's almost half of our lineup that's not hitting.

And that's not going to get the job done.

For years in the 1990s, we had all the hitting in the world, but we just didn't have good enough starting pitching to get the job done. Now, with the best starting rotation Cleveland has seen since 1954, we're not holding leads or scoring enough runs to win games.

What a waste.

by J-Neg

Borowski Placed on DL, Mastny Recalled

As speculated earlier, Joe Borowski has been placed on the disabled list with a strained right triceps muscle. Tom Mastny has been recalled from Triple A Buffalo. Unless Borowski is able to rehab the injury, the Indians will be in search of new closer. Rafael Betancourt is probably going to fill in the roll, but don't be surprised if we see Adam Miller in the near future. Even though Joe has been pitching horrendous, this does make the bullpen a bit depleted as everyone must move up a spot. Rafael Perez needs to step up and fill Betancourts' former roll.

Hopefully the next move will be to get Ben Francisco up here and move Michaelucci out of here. The last 3 hitters went 0-11 yesterday and this offense needs a spark.