6/5/11 Indians vs. Rangers Don't let them get a sweep!!

[British_Pharaoh]

Everett makes me gag

[dazindiansfanuk]

I'm surprised they didn't give Wilson one more hitter.

Oh well, guess that means we MIGHT have a chance to score some runs.

[daddywags]

I know it seems like making excuses, but there is no way we match up well with a team that has 6 left handed pitchers. As long as I've watched Tribe baseball it seems no matter how much the names change we always struggle with lefties. (And, I'm sure there are counter examples, but that's just how it's always seemed to me.)

[dazindiansfanuk]

If Orlando reaches base, we'll win this!

Edit: Nevermind, Buck is hitting for him.... well, if you could call that at bat "hitting".

[statmasta]

Great at-bat, Buck. That was fantastic.

[skatingtripods]

That AB pisses me off. My fiance was sitting here laughing at me while I ranted aloud to nobody in particular.

[British_Pharaoh]

Boooooooooooooo

[FortheWin]

Have to go beat Minny tomorrow!

[Cerebral_DownTime]

3 goddamn hits?

Made me want to vomit all over my pulled pork sammich.

The line up is a mess. Stupid ass Choo!

[Symbolic47]

Sigh

[Bigfist]

It doesn't seem to me that Kearns is one of these guys who can play part time...unlike, say, Duncan. So, having him on the team in the role he is in seems like a waste. I would probably cut ties with him (he wasn't very expensive). I wouldn't mind seeing him replaced with Phelps, who could DH and play 2B and SS.

The downside is that, except for Duncan, we would have no RH hitting outfielders. I am assuming Laporta is permanently at 1B. But the way Kearns is playing, I can't see why he would be any better than say Grady or Brantley against a LH pitcher.

[Dnthateonthepronk]

[Dnthateonthepronk]

3 goddamn hits?

Made me want to vomit all over my pulled pork sammich.

The line up is a mess. Stupid ass Choo!

at least the pitching was solid

[Prosecutor]

Yeah, nice effort by the pitching staff. Talbot with his second quality start in a row against a good offensive team, except he was helped by some great defensive plays and a rest day for Josh Hamilton. Great job by Smith and then Sipp, who figured out his curveball was working today and stayed with it. I've never seen him throw so many breaking balls. Maybe those two dingers he gave up a couple of days ago finally convinced him that he can't get by against a good team with nothing but fastballs. It might make him a better pitcher.

The Indians are fundamentally flawed. The offense has no balance - they have almost nothing from the right side. The Tribe scored exactly one run in 21 1/3 innings against Texas lefties this series - a solo home run by LaPorta against a guy who came in with a 10.49 ERA.

On the positive side, I think Talbot is a very good #5 starter if he can stay healthy. And I'm enjoying watching Brantley grow. Seeing him reach base three consecutive times against Wilson from the leadoff spot when nobody else could touch the guy was impressive. Those were excellent at-bats. Now he just needs to learn how to steal bases.

We're not even in the same ballpark as the Rangers talentwise. Did we really let somebody go 8-for-11?

[Jumbo]

Wasn't able to catch the game. Checking the box score every few innings was enough to tell the story.

Silver lining: We have the Twins coming into town, and hopefully Texas can stay as hot against Detroit as they were against the Tribe this weekend. The Indians need to take advantage of the opposition the next few days.

10 games left in the pre-Interleague gauntlet: 3 vs Twins, 4 at Yankees, 3 at Tigers. A month ago, I (among others) saw the end of this stretch as the date when you could tell if the Indians were still "in it." So the Tribe needs to get the offense back in gear and have a good stretch these next 10.

(After Texas, Detroit has 4 against the suddenly-good Mariners, and a makeup game against the Rays before hosting the Indians.)

[WiscTribeFan]

The difficult thing that I've been dealing with is that the expectations for this team were fairly low going into the season. Most folks here had them around .500, many under. This hot start has stoked some fires and made people believe this team was potentially a playoff contender.

Is the team we've seen the last few weeks really the Cleveland Indians team of 2011, or was the team that started of amazingly hot?

The thing that I currently see is that we are a team that can beat lesser competition. When we go up against true playoff caliber teams we need to be nearly perfect to win.

Does anyone think the Tribe, as is, can win a 7 game series against the likes of a Boston, TB or Texas?

If not, should be deviate from the plan and start dealing some of our prospects for a shot at winning a playoff series? If yes, who are you willing to deal and who is off-limits?

I've been happy with the Tribe winning, but I look at the current roster and in the back of my mind I have strong doubts they can compete with the big boys over the course of this season, not with the likes of starters like Hannahan and O-Cab, and the ineffectiveness of Choo and Santana. I think we all expected Pronk to be fragile, so his being out doesn't really factor in that much to my equation.

The Tigers are 2.5 back. What's our next move?

[Erie Warrior]

I picked a good weekend to be out of town. Embarrassing. Regression toward the mean?

[TribeinLA]

LaPorta is a great golfer I bet.

Gotta do something. This team's not gonna hang around playing like that.

Kearns needs to be cut. He brings nothing. How are we in first place when we're putting him, Sloth, Everett, o Cab, and laPorta in the lineup? Brantley, A Cab, and Buck are our best hitters. WOW.

We went through minjor slumps in 2007, but knew that CC and the old Carmona wouldn't let it go far. Byrd was nice to stop here and there. I wish we had half of the hitting we had in 2007. I'd take Dellichaels right now over Slothearns. I'd just about take Mike Rouse over Adam Everett.

[WiscTribeFan]

The Tribe needs a big right-handed bat and another quality starting pitcher, neither of which will probably come cheap.

The question is, exactly how much of an upgrade to we need in order to stop the bleeding?

Would getting a Casey Blake be significant over Hannahan?

David Wright is a pipe-dream. The Tribe isn't going to mortgage the future to get him, and that's what it would cost.