We Just Can't Streak

So the Tribe split their four-game series with Texas. It could have been worse (from a hitting perspective, as we've seen all year), and it could have been much better (our pitchers were smacked around all series). I'm not gonna get too high on our hitting in this series, or too low on our pitching. I think a lot of it has to do with the ballpark, the strength of the Rangers hitters, and the abomination that is Texas's pitching staff.

All I know after last night is that Kevin Millwood looks weird without his goatee (I don't think I've really even seen him pitch since his great '05 season with us), Rafael Betancourt can't throw strikes anymore (and when he does they are usually hit a loooooong way), and the Tribe can't string together consecutive wins anymore. The last time the Indians won two straight games was May 13-15. Since then they are 5-14. Yikes.

Old friend Milton Bradley finished the series with 4 HR and 7 RBI

Tonight, we head north to face the Tigers to start a three-game weekend series. It will be Paul Byrd against Justin Verlander in what I expect to be another slugfest featuring two lousy pitchers. I didn't expect going into this season that on June 6th we'd be fighting the Tigers to stay out of the bottom of the Central. Jayson Stark has an interesting take on what's going on in what was thought to be one of baseball's best divisions.

Yesterday was also MLB's annual June draft - here's a rundown of all the Tribe's picks. I don't know anything about any of them but I hope they can help us somewhere down the road. Today's ABJ had some more information on top-pick Lonnie Chisenhall. I especially like the part about him being kicked off the team in South Carolina on burglary and grand larceny charges. Awesome.

Cavs Update:
Brian Windhorst reports that Andy Varejao will not be playing for his native Brazil in this summer's Beijing Olympics. I hope he is serious about rehabbing his ankle - he will either be valuable trade bait this year, or an important piece to the puzzle if he can regain his form of last year.

I'm also proud to report that I didn't watch one single second of Game 1 of the NBA Finals last night. I saw the score this morning and felt sick to my stomach thinking that could easily be the Cavaliers in place of Boston. And I felt the same way about last year's World Series. F the entire city of Boston. I can't stand them.

Runs Aplenty

I'm going to miss watching our offense face the Rangers pitching staff. Like I said yesterday, if the Indians were in the AL West the offense might crack .250. Hell, if they keep it up tonight they may crack .250 before this series ends. Again the Tribe bats were on fire, this time banging out another 17 hits and 15 runs on their way to a 15-9 win. The team batting average raised another whopping 5 points, now up to .243 (they started this series at .233!).

Cliff Lee was clearly not on his game, but did get enough run support to notch his 9th win... and maybe even solidified his chances at an All-Star game start. The STO cameras caught him in the dugout punching the Gatorade jug in frustration (please use your right hand next time Cliff) after giving up his 6th run to tie the score. But the offense was able to pick him up with five big runs in the top of the 6th, capped by David Dellucci's three-run shot, and never looked back. Maybe tonight we'll be able to see things cool down with a good pitching match-up between CC Sabathia and old friend Kevin Millwood. Although I wouldn't bet on it the way the ball flies around in Arlington...

Ryan Garko went 4-for-5 with a career-high 6 RBI on Wednesday night

Tribe Mastnyed in Texas

I think that has a good ring to it - from now on when one of our pitchers gets pummeled I think I will call it "getting Mastnyed." Tom Mastny certainly was Mastnyed in his spot start last night, as expected. He was only able to go 1-1/3 innings last night while giving up 5 runs (2HR) and struggling through 56 pitches. And trust me, it could have been a lot worse than that. Eric Wedge was able to save the 'important' (if you can call them that) bullpen arms with mop up work by Jensen Lewis, Edward Mujica, and Scott Elarton. Rafael Perez and Elarton was able to complete the torching by throwing gas on the fire in the bottom of the 8th after the Tribe was able to cut the lead to 9-6. Final score 12-7 and the one-game winning streak snapped just like that.

The good news is that the Indians' bats were able to pound out 15 more hits last night and again raised the team batting average. It now stands at a blistering .239 (up six whole points over the last two games). So if we played in the AL West and got to face the Rangers 19 times a year, our team BA might even crack .250. But I have a feeling our ERA would also be a lot worse. Let's hope for some better results tonight when Cliff Lee hits the mound for the third of this four-game series.

The Rangers enjoyed facing Tom Mastny on Tuesday night

Cavs Update: Terry Pluto thinks the Cavaliers need to put more emphasis on regular season games. I tend to agree.

Browns Update: Phil Savage is in no hurry to re-work Kellen Winslow's deal. And Tony Grossi knows the Browns revamped defense will be put to the test in 2008.

Maybe?

Maybe the Tribe needed a 13-9 softball-type slugfest like last night vs. the Rangers to right the ship? Or maybe it's just an anomaly against a bad pitching staff in a hitter's ballpark. Either way it was fun to finally see the offense make some noise last night and pick up Aaron Laffey when he had a rare bad outing. It was one of those nights for the Indians at the plate - 4 HR's, 4 doubles, 16 hits in all, and 7 RBI by Casey Blake (all before the end of the 4th inning!). They actually raised the team batting average three points with last night's performance - still a paltry .236, but I'll take any type of progress at this point. Blake had two home runs and Ben Francisco and David Dellucci added the others.

Hopefully things can start rolling now but it will be even more difficult to keep the momentum going tonight, as Jake Westbrook has been put on the 15-day DL. To make matters worse, Tom Mastny gets the start tonight for the Tribe, since Jeremy Sowers just pitched for AAA Buffalo on Sunday. Jensen Lewis was also called back up today to help in the bullpen. Let's hope the bats can stay warm because I have a feeling they will really be needed in this one...

Casey was all over the bases on Monday night on his way to 7 RBI

Cavs Update: LeBron James was just named the #3 earner in pro sports over the past year, behind only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. All this in the dinky little godforsaken market known as Cleveland. Here's to hoping that he sees that market size does not matter and he will stay home in June of 2010. We need you LeBron... just look how much you mean to this city: www.lebron2010.com (brought to you by the great Glen Infante of RCF fame).

Stop me if you've heard this one before

It's beginning to sound like a broken record, but the 2008 Cleveland Indians really can't hit. They demonstrated that again over the weekend, losing two out of three in Kansas City to the lowly Royals (themselves losers of their previous 12 in a row before to Saturday and Sunday). So the Tribe now stands six games below .500 at 25-31, and five games out of first in the craptastic Central division. Oh, and just one game ahead of the Tigers.

Recapping the month of May, the team put up some shockingly bad offensive numbers on their way to a 12-15 record. Their .218 batting average and .297 on-base percentage really say all you need to know. That average was the lowest for the franchise in one month since August of 1968! It was also the lowest in the majors since September of 2003 when the Mets hit .217. Not really the type of records I was hoping for, one year removed from the ALCS. Sheldon Ocker of the ABJ probably does a better job summing up my feelings than I can this morning.

The Indians begin a 4-game series in Texas tonight with Aaron Laffey on the mound. Oh, and the Rangers are the best hitting team in the AL so you know runs will be needed in this series... looks like another week of fun for Tribe fans everywhere! Ugh.

Even the Royals have fun playing the Tribe this year

Another Weekend of Futility

Apparently my phone-wallpaper-switcheroo had no effect on the Tribe's play. I know you are all shocked out there. Over the long holiday weekend the Indians were only able to muster only one win, 5-2 over the Rangers on Saturday night. Sandwiched around that game were three losses (12-9 on Friday, 2-1 in extra innings on Sunday, and then 6-3 last night in extra innings to the White Sox). So here we sit, just 10 days after the Tribe was in sole possession of first place in the Central. Now they are 5.5 games behind the White Sox and closer to a trade deadline fire sale then another Central division crown.

Not to sound like a broken record, but the way this team plays on a daily basis still follows the same script. Poor execution with runners on base, sloppy relief pitching, and absolutely no scoring threats from the 7th inning on. Not exactly a recipe for winning the close games that we are inevitably involved in with this starting rotation and feeble offense. I've run out of ideas for solutions, short of giving Derek Shelton the axe. But apparently he walks on water and can do no wrong in the eyes of Eric Wedge. All I know is I'm sick of watching this team piss away games. I was at the Prog for Sunday's debacle. I knew it was over when the Rangers tied it at 1-1 in the 7th. Pretty sad when you know your team has no chance to score again after that... sigh.

Terry Pluto is also sick of watching the same thing every night. Ditto for Sheldon Ocker. Just to add more misery, Fausto Carmona will be out for at least a month. Fun time to be a Tribe fan right now. Maybe there is something to the odd year theory for the Indians ('95, '97, '05, '07). Does that mean we'll have to wait until 2015 if that pattern holds true? Shoot me now.

My last ditch effort to change the Tribe's luck - it's up to Jobu now